Boom! Boom! Boom!

Nine-layered heavenly thunderbolts struck straight down upon the earth. The air was thick with scorching heat, and blue-purple flames crackled and blazed fiercely.

Llyn de Morsol, First Disciple of the Balance School of the Supreme Arcane Council of the Neutral City-States and Baron of Lotto Town, was now at the center of the storm, feeling the last wisp of magic within him fading away amidst the tearing of his soul.

"Cough, cough..." Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Llyn lay sprawled exhaustedly on the ground and took a deep breath. "It seems... I'm about to die."

His tone was indifferent, and that exquisitely handsome face, as beautiful as Pan An, showed not a ripple of emotion, as if he were merely relating a trivial matter.

"Llyn!"

A shrill, sorrowful cry echoed in his ears. A charming figure, full of allure, was pressed close against his side, frantically waving her delicate hands as she cast healing spells in vain.

"No, Llyn... you can't die!"

Patter.

Her tear-filled, dazzling eyes blinked again and again, her exquisitely beautiful features filled with sorrow. "It's all my fault, it's all because of me that you, Llyn... Why!"

The girl asked in utter anguish, "Llyn, why did you have to sacrifice yourself for me, for a fool like me..."

‘Why? That's a really good question.’

Llyn, on the verge of death, flashed a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

"Finally." He did not directly answer the pitifully beautiful girl. Instead, he murmured weakly with his dying breath, "My mission, my task... is completed."

"Just for that reason?! Senior Llyn, you didn't even care about your own life?!"

The girl's breathtakingly beautiful face froze in disbelief. Suddenly, she felt that Senior Llyn, usually so stern and unreasonable, so utterly different from the other men who constantly fluttered around her—the Number One Beauty of the Neutral City-States and Princess of the Bauhinia Kingdom—and desperately tried to curry her favor, was now displaying an indescribable dignity.

‘How unfair.’

Glancing at the girl's face—which, despite being drenched with tears and even snot, not only lost none of its charm but actually gained an added allure—Llyn suppressed the urge to roll his eyes with great effort.

‘Is this what you'd expect from a game's female lead? She can even create special effects while constantly weeping? On the other hand, a mere extra like me, even if I gave my all to play my scripted role perfectly, could only get such a tragic ending? This really is… All characters are equal, but some characters are more equal than others? Forget it. Anyway, everything is about to end.’

Feeling his life force draining away and seeing that he was about to perish on the spot, Llyn felt not the slightest regret in his heart; on the contrary, he was filled with anticipation.

Perhaps this is the fate of a nameless extra.

Using his own death to pave the way for the brilliant future achievements of the female leads and the male lead.

"Junior brother." Thinking of this, Llyn mustered his strength with all his might and shakily raised his head to look at the figure standing not far away, clad in a pitch-black cloak, on alert beside the female lead—His Excellency the Protagonist.

"Louise... I entrust her to you..." Llyn extended a finger, pointing at the girl. "Also, abide by the teachings our master gave before his death."

His consciousness began to scatter, and Llyn felt his vision growing increasingly blurred.

Whoosh—

A strong gust of wind blew.

In a daze, for some reason, Llyn had the feeling that the junior brother beside Louise, whose face was ordinary but whose eyes held an indescribable determination, seemed to have the corners of his mouth slightly raised?

‘It must be an illusion, right?’

The dignified male lead couldn't possibly be rejoicing over the death of the benefactor who had sacrificed his own life to forcibly save him from a legendary monster, could he?

With this doubt, Llyn departed from the mortal world.

In the boundless void, his hazy consciousness drifted continuously, like a leaf floating in a turbulent current.

* * *

Zzzz.

At last, after an unknown amount of time, brilliant light flickered once more, and amidst the gorgeous, multicolored hues, that "script" that had made Llyn wish for death yet forced him to obediently cooperate—the World-Saving Heavenly Scripture—once again appeared before his eyes.

Hah.

Llyn felt his consciousness beginning to rise.

‘What rotten luck.’

Llyn, being slowly pulled up by the light, glanced at the river of time flowing ceaselessly beneath his feet and the plot fragments within it.

‘When others transmigrate, they either replace the original protagonist or become the ultimate villain to reverse their destiny, and me? I ended up as a nameless extra?’

Llyn shook his body and confirmed that his soul remained intact.

"Congratulations, you're dead."

A wild cat with jet-black fur jumped out of the Heavenly Scripture. It opened its mouth, and a lazy voice reached Llyn's ears.

"Guide?" The moment he saw that black cat, Llyn felt goosebumps. It wasn't because he, a dignified transmigrator, was particularly timid; it was simply that ever since he had crossed over, this so-called "Guide," capable of countless transformations and possessing myriad forms, had brought him far too many painful memories.

Honestly, other transmigrators' golden-finger old grandpas are kind and amiable, and at worst they still bring plenty of benefits.

‘And what about this black cat? Other than supervising me in "guiding the destiny of the Child of Destiny," what else can it do? Wait a minute.’

In a flash, Llyn remembered his "situation": he was already dead.

Mm, more precisely, "he died the proper death according to the growth path of the Child of Destiny." In other words...

"What about my reward?" Llyn questioned with righteous indignation. "According to you, I sacrificed myself and brought the protagonist tremendous growth. Shouldn't we talk about the reward we agreed upon?"

"Really, traveler from another world." The black cat wagged its tail, a trace of disdain flashing through its emerald-green eyes. "Nurturing the Child of Destiny and saving the world from calamity—isn't that act itself the greatest reward?"

"You're messing with me?!" Llyn's eyelid twitched at those words. He raised his voice and snapped angrily, "Back then it was agreed that as long as I obediently cooperated with the script and played my part in nurturing the protagonist to save the world, I would gain immortal life and rank among the gods..."

Recalling all the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy experiences since his transmigration, Llyn grew even more furious.

As a transmigrator, had he not harbored ambitious aspirations from the very beginning?

But who could have known that this world, far from being as simple as he thought when peering through the fog as the game's protagonist back on Earth, would be so bizarre and eerie?

When he had just transmigrated and reincarnated as that nameless extra baby, he lost count of how many times he tried to defy the script, only for everything to end in tragedy, even dragging those around him into misfortune.

Over time, Llyn had no choice but to reluctantly and obediently follow the arrangements of the so-called World-Saving Heavenly Scripture, assisting the original male lead and the other female leads as they grew step by step.

"Calm down, traveler." Finally, as if even it felt it had gone too far, the black cat tilted its head slightly away, as if not daring to look directly at the furious Llyn. "As the World Will, I would naturally not break my word. It's just... we failed."

‘Failed?’

Llyn blinked in confusion.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The World-Saving Heavenly Scripture flipped page after page, finally stopping on a single image.

A certain familiar figure was lying in a pool of blood, that plain face filled with despair and terror.

"Ivan." Llyn recognized him at a glance—he was the male lead, the one played by the player in Worldwide Heroes, the game he had played before transmigrating.

Had he known, he shouldn't have stayed up all night gaming after getting home from 996 work.

But who could blame him when that game was so captivating? Even the first playthrough was that amazing?

And of course, more importantly, even though it had reached the grand finale, not a single romance route with any female lead had been unlocked—it had to be a shameless developer trying to sell DLC...

"Yes, Llyn. The Savior is dead. The world was swallowed by that indescribable darkness."

The Guide, the black cat, said thus: "So, if only for the sake of your companions, Llyn, strive once more."

‘Companions?’

Llyn gave a cold snort, but deep in his heart, several familiar faces surfaced.

"Very well." Although at first he had indeed only regarded others as game characters, as they spent time together day and night, Llyn gradually came to understand that those people were by no means the two-dimensional paper cutouts he had once assumed; they were flesh and blood, laughing and crying, living human beings.

Besides...

"This is also for the reward." He shrugged helplessly. "But what should I do?"

"In the terms of your world... load a save?" A pleased expression appeared on the black cat's face.

‘…Wait, that expression of yours…’

"Hey!"

Bzzz—

Before Llyn could question it, a dazzling white light swallowed him.

* * *

"Your Excellency the Prefect!" A hurried voice rang out. "A lowly Dust Clan servant was actually eavesdropping outside the door on the instructor's lecture!"

‘Huh?’

In a haze, Llyn's vision gradually regained clarity.

What met his eyes was a figure forcefully pressed to the ground, looking utterly bedraggled.

Ivan.

That same Child of Destiny and Lord Savior, who in the late game had been so high-spirited and triumphant, was now covered in dirt and grime. Yet even in such a perilous situation, that seemingly ordinary face shimmered with an unyielding light.

‘What era is this, still pulling that underdog comeback routine?’

Llyn suppressed the urge to snark. He took a deep breath, glanced at the surroundings, and the memories lurking deep within his heart began to surge.

‘Neutral City-States, Five Rings Academy... the first chapter of the story's opening? Come to think of it, did we fail last time because my acting wasn't refined enough?’

Thinking of this, Llyn pondered for a moment, then dismissively waved his hand.

"Since he is of the Dust Clan, yet dares to eavesdrop on the Meditation Secret Method that we Sun Clan Arcanists study, let's teach him a lesson."

As he recalled the original plot, Llyn waited for the protagonist's destined savior—Louise.

"Sun Clan, Dust Clan? Bah!" The protagonist, beaten black and blue, licked his lips and struggled vigorously. "Arrogant bastards, do you think bloodline determines everything? The humiliation you've inflicted on me today, I will repay double in the future!"

‘Here it comes, here it comes! That's the "unbending spirit"! Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west?’

Merely the lowest of this world of strict racial hierarchy, a member of the Dust Clan, and yet so "proud." In the original work, it was this very quality that caught the attention of the female lead Louise, who then pleaded for him, intending to give the protagonist a chance to be accepted as a disciple into a school's faction.

As for why, in the world's setting, only the highest Sun Clan could meditate to send their souls traversing the Astral Plane and resonate with magic, why could the protagonist, a lowly Dust Clan, do it?

Of course, that would only be revealed in the late game—the "protagonist's background," he actually has the most noble bloodline~

In short, Llyn's current role was akin to an early-game villain extra humiliating the protagonist.

As for the subsequent plot, depending on the player's choices when playing the protagonist, anything from falling into depravity and turning into a monster to becoming a lackey under the protagonist and sacrificing himself was possible.

"Llyn..."

Just as Llyn's thoughts were tangled, a voice as clear as silver bells rang out. Deep within the grand building, that graceful and enchanting figure was walking towards him with measured steps.

The crucial scene has arrived!

The female lead is about to plead for the protagonist!

‘This is a key juncture. If my acting is better, maybe I can get a bigger reward from the Guide than last time?’

Llyn raised his head excitedly and feigned impatience, curling his lip. "Oh, it's Junior Sister Louise? I apologize for letting you witness such a filthy scene. Rest assured, as the First Disciple, I will definitely handle this thief properly."

Heh, according to Louise's kind and good-natured personality in the original work, this line would definitely stir her sympathy and opposition, right?

Llyn eagerly awaited Louise to follow the original plot.

"..."

However, what responded to Llyn was not the innocent naivety he had anticipated, but a pair of dim, lightless, deep eyes filled with glacial coldness.

"Your Excellency the Prefect speaks truly. This despicable low breed should be hacked to pieces and scattered, as is in accordance with the righteous laws of heaven and earth."

Llyn froze. Did he just...

Did he mishear something?