Prelude of Pearls: The 1st Prelude – New World

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Preamble

Alright. Now that it looks like we’ve got a bit of momentum going, I’ll also post my entrance to the new world.

I won’t say much cause it’s kinda late where I am and I wanna go to bed.

Anyway, for those who have read my first log, this won’t be that new. With that said, if you’ve noticed, I’ve got a new interface which I’ve been (painstakingly) trying to get to look good.

And so, with that said, enjoy.

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Prelude of Pearls: The 1st Prelude – New World

 

A breathtaking, almost otherworldly view.

Above me, the sky, darkened by night, was coated with a breathtakingly gorgeous aurora. The wispy lines of faded hues, foreign to the sky, swirled, wandering through the night sky like some lost soul drifting through a desert without a purpose. Seemingly consumed by the flourishes of rainbow, the brilliant majesty of the night sky continued to glow subtly as it showered the earth with its captivating image.

My eyes wandered downwards.

Tall spires, somewhat being overshadowed by the fascinating light show above, stood in solitude, collectively forming a city off in the distance. From said towers, a large, long structure entered my view. It stretched all the way towards the ‘cityscape’ as it loomed above a vast body of dark blue. On the opposite side, a small shack could be seen near the base of the structure.

Needless to say, the structure was undoubtedly a bridge.

Yet, identifying this large, man-made overpass was the least of my concerns.

 

「…where am I?」

 

Unable to recognize the unfamiliar surroundings, I involuntarily voiced my concern as I massaged my pounding cranium. After a short period of time, the pain in my head began to relieve itself before a sharp sting assaulted my mind.

 

(…-wait a minute?!)

 

Suddenly, the past events came rushing back to me.

The monochrome girl. AKA Silvia, the gothic lolita who desired world domination.

The void. AKA, the black space of 【Silver Lining】.

The chaos. AKA, the 4 other individuals who had also joined me in this world.

 

「…so I guess that means I’m in a different world?」

 

Voicing my conclusion with a skeptical tone, I began to survey my surroundings.

I noticed a green, grassy field expanding underneath my feet. From the cottage, a dull, orange light shone within the encroaching blackness of the dark night. Shades of violet and indigo blended into the river underneath the spectacular night sky as the stars, reflected in said body of liquid, flickered, their image distorted through the riverside lense. Dots of red light could also be made out from the city far in the distance.

Although I could make out a variety of different hues, there was absolutely no sign of what I had been looking for.

My teammates. In other words, the members of the 【Realm of Chaos】.

Kiriko, Anri, LoliQ and ST.

No matter where I looked, nor how long I continued to search, there was absolutely no trace of them.

The place was completely deserted.

 

(Well, not much I can do about it now, is there?)

 

Seeing as I wasn’t able to locate my friends within the immediate vicinity, I dragged my slightly fatigued body up off of the ground and towards the large body of liquid I had found earlier, bending myself over as I peered into the makeshift mirror. Reflected into it was a figure that I did not recognize. A boy with features that I did not acknowledge as my own. Nevertheless, I was convinced that the person I saw in the water was, without a doubt, “myself”, mostly due to the fact that said person mirrored my every move precisely and without fault.

While I wasn’t able to discern the proper color of my hair and eyes (due to the dim lighting), I was able to catch the strap of my knapsack which ran across my rather slender shoulder. Moving away from the water, sat myself down as I began to search my knapsack for a certain object.

My tablet.

After pulling it out of my bag, I quickly turned on the device, unlocked it, and began to make several gestures as I foraged through its files in an attempt to locate a certain application. Incidentally, I was slightly surprised at myself for being capable of operating my tablet with fluid motions, despite the fact that fatigue was still deeply ingrained in my flesh.

Perhaps this was a result of my millennial tendencies? Or maybe I was just overly familiar with handling technology?

Regardless, it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for.

 

(…it’s still there, huh.)

 

Finally finding what I had been looking for, I commented inwardly as my eyes fell upon a certain application.

 

〘Domination Note〙

 

As I studied the application’s icon with a skeptical gaze, I couldn’t help but feel slightly concerned about the symbols that presented itself on my screen. While the large D was acceptable (if not obnoxious), the depiction of a lock hidden behind it gave me quite an eerie feeling.

Almost as if it was telling me that this was something that I shouldn’t open.

In other words, opening this might very well be the equivalent of unlocking “Pandora’s box”.

Nevertheless, this was (apparently) the “guide” that was bestowed upon me by the monochrome girl, Silvia.

 

(…but did it really have to have this name?)

 

As I read the text which was displayed underneath the lock, I felt my facial muscles spasm slightly as a sensation of weariness swept over my entire body.

 

(Domination Note? Does this mean I’ll need this to conquer the world?)

 

I pondered as I couldn’t help but feel that this note had some sort of connection to world domination. While I had no idea what the note aspect of the application had to do with anything, the impression I received from the word Domination was quite ominous, to say the least.

 

(Anyway, it’s probably better if I opened this up now.)

 

I opened the application once again as I question the title of the so-called ‘application’.

However, just as I opened the app-

 

*flash*

 

「O-Ow!」

 

A violent burst of light assailed my eyes, blinding me temporarily as my vision was dominated by a dazzling veil of white.

But of course, this stunning sight was only temporary as my vision returned, slowly but surely.

 

(……what the hell was that?)

 

Wondering what in the world had happened, I cautiously returned my gaze towards my tablet, causing me to realize that the app’s layout, if not merely its appearance, had significantly changed from when I first laid my eyes on it moments ago.

 

(Is that……me?)

 

As my eyes were drawn to the foreign individual’s profile, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat strange. I mean, while this relatively stern-looking entity seemed to suit my slightly serious personality, I still felt awkward about acknowledging this unrecognizable figure as my own.

 

(……enough about that. I better take a closer look at the rest of this stuff.)

 

I shook my head before focusing on the other aspects of the screen. From what I could see, most of everything on the left side of the screen had remained unchanged.

Therefore, I decided that it would be as good a place as any to start my “research”.

Gazing at the information that was presented on my tablet’s display, I began to try and decipher what exactly each piece of data represented. Needless to say, the first item that immediately caught my attention was my class.

 

(So I’m a Dominator? Although I get why my subclass is the Half-Asser, why am I a Dominator?)

 

Although I realized that both my class and subclass were quite unusual in the context of normal RPGs, my mind began to wonder about whether or not this 【Domination Note】 of mine possessed a certain functionality.

Often, applications have the ability to provide support for the user. It’s one of the most important aspects of developing good programs. After all, it was pointless to create and sell a program that no one was capable of using.

And one of the most common and widely used user support strategies, in my opinion, is Context Sensitive Support.

To put it simply, the program gives the user help based on what the user requests or is doing with the program at the current time. In most video games that I was familiar with, this context-sensitive support often appeared in the form of tooltips, description windows and other interfaces that are designed to supply information to the user.

 

「In which case, if I were to tap on this-」

 

As I spoke aloud, I brought my finger over the Class field, Dominator, and tapped it. Before the tap, I thought I caught a glimpse of something appearing. However, I disregarded it as a help screen was immediately shoved into my face.

As I had thought, this 【Domination Note】 proved to be quite useful. Although I have no idea how it was capable of gathering this sort of information (let alone how it functioned at all), I should be glad that I could use it to my benefit.

Yet, after confirming my suspicions, I noticed that there were more details within the help screen that seemed rather peculiar.

For example, the first demerit.

 

The name sounds terrible

 

(Can that even be considered a demerit?)

 

I made this tsukkomi in my mind as I brought my finger to the demerit, hoping to obtain more clarification regarding this particular demerit.

Yet, immediately after I tapped the screen, I was met with the following dialogue box.

 

 

「…」

 

In the face of this rather sarcastic message, I was rendered utterly speechless. Well, to be fair, I didn’t really have any intention of talking in this desolate location in the first place.

In any case, it appeared that the context-sensitive help was quite sensitive to the context as it appeared to have replied to the question I had in my mind.

 

(…I’m quite interested as to how much time the creator put into this program.)

 

As I couldn’t help but have these sorts of thoughts running through my brain, I closed the dialogue box and began to address my next concern.

 

[Control Orientated Skills]

 

I once again brought my finger towards the screen, tapping the second term that had piqued my curiosity.

 

 

(…interesting.)

 

I felt my face contort into a rather obvious smirk. Why? Because this 【Domination Note】 displayed itself in a format quite easily understandable. To be completely honest, it was almost as if it were I, myself, who was writing these entries.

And because of that, I paid particular attention to a specific word embedded in the dialogue.

 

Current

 

Why? Because ‘current’ implies that I am capable of obtaining more later.

 

(Man, this interface is actually quite helpful.)

 

Chuckling to myself as this thought flashed through my mind, I began to tap on more dialogue entries.

 

 

(I see. So each item has some sort of important information to extract.)

 

I rubbed my chin as I made a mental note of what I had observed through utilizing the support interface. To summarise, every field in the status is interactive. All fields will open a dialogue box which will explain the selected field’s function, as well as other relevant information.

 

(…hang on? How come that one’s different?)

 

Realising a slight discrepancy with regards to the contents of the dialogues, I opened up one of the skills that I had viewed earlier.

 

 

The discrepancy that I had picked up was the fact that the Manipulation Skill [Logical Reasoning] had no Skill Level, nor DP Usage. Furthermore, it held several unique fields that came under a category called “sub-skills”.

As I was once again overcome with curiosity, I tapped on several of the skills.

(…I see. So it appears that these skills are a set that becomes merged into the passive skill [Logical Reasoning].)

 

I muttered to myself as I began to [Analyse] the data presented to me.

 

(These sub-skills seem to have a higher level when compared to the other skills. I wonder if that’s because I’m using them right now?)

 

Indeed. That was the only logical conclusion I could come up with. Considering my actions up until this point, I had been forced to do quite the amount of observing. This would most likely explain why my [Observe] sub skill is unusually high, granted that I haven’t really been doing much of anything except gaining information.

 

(…wait a minute! Isn’t the [Observe] skill past level 5?)

 

Realising that a new skill might have become available to me, I began to move my finger towards the Dominator class field.

However, just as I was about to tap the screen-

 

 

「…ha?」

 

I involuntarily voiced my surprise as I tried to process the information that had been literally thrust before my face.

 

(…Silver Devil? What the hell is that?)

 

My question was quite simple and obvious. After all, I had absolutely no clue what ‘Silver Devil’ was or meant.

 

(Hold on…silver? It couldn’t be…)

 

The figure of a certain, silver-haired girl formed in my mind.

 

(…well, I guess I’ll find out.)

 

「Ohayo! Onii-chan!」

 

XCrossJ’s List of Movements

The 2nd Prelude – 2 Choices