World

"Since you don't like it, I'll switch to a different style."

Instructor smiled, unbothered.

He reorganized his thoughts, then said, "Anecdote Envoys generally don't appear in market cities. Their hiding place lies inside the belly of a whale called Qikana'ou. A vast world is hidden within that whale's stomach, and we generally call the world inside its belly the—Whale Garden Box."

Seeing Ji Minghuan silently drawing circles on the table with his finger, he continued:

"Judging from the whale's size alone, you could never imagine how vast the world inside it is. A series of enormous structures have been built within the Whale Garden Box: Seaborne City, the Royal Palace, and the Anecdote Envoys' royal family resides within that palace."

Ji Minghuan's eyelids drooped as though he were about to fall asleep.

Puzzled, he said, "I'm not interested in whether they live in a whale's belly or a shark's belly. Can you first explain what Anecdote Envoys actually are and what special abilities they have?"

Instructor said flatly, "Every Anecdote Envoy awakens at a certain age and obtains their own Anecdote Codex. The Anecdote Codex can help them locate nearby anecdote secret realms... and Anecdote Fragments are hidden within those realms. If they can conquer an anecdote with their own strength, they will obtain the corresponding Anecdote Fragment."

He raised a hand to straighten his glasses and continued on his own, "They use the Codex to draw out the anecdote power lingering within the fragments. That is how they fight."

"Exactly. Couldn't you just get to the good stuff?"

"Can't help it. I was afraid you'd fall asleep."

Ji Minghuan rested his chin on his folded arms, sprawled across the tabletop like a puddle of sludge.

He casually asked, "And then... what exactly are those Anecdote Fragments you pick up like trash good for?"

"Anecdote Fragments are generally stored within an Anecdote Envoy's Codex. Based on their strength, they are usually divided into four grades: Mythic-Grade Anecdotes, Epoch-Grade Anecdotes, Popular-Grade Anecdotes, and Common-Grade Anecdotes."

Instructor paused. "The most powerful among them are—Mythic-Grade Anecdotes. As their name suggests, they are closely tied to myths from around the world. Very few Mythic-Grade Anecdote Fragments have appeared throughout history. According to records, fragments belonging to only the following deities have ever appeared: Zeus, Chief of the Gods; Sun God Ra; Hades, King of the Underworld..."

"Oh, then what about the slightly lower Epoch-Grade Anecdotes?"

"You've probably heard of most Epoch-Grade Anecdotes: Santa Claus, Titanic, Hyakki Yagyō... These anecdotes all fall under the Epoch Grade. At present, the strongest among the Anecdote Envoys are those possessing Epoch-Grade Anecdote Fragments. Every one of them has the power to awaken history."

Ji Minghuan raised his brows, finally showing a little interest.

He said, "Never mind familiar names like Santa Claus and Hyakki Yagyō. Wasn't the Titanic the ship that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1912? I remember it was later adapted into a romance film."

Instructor nodded. "That's right. After these events are passed down by word of mouth, they become anecdotes. As long as an anecdote exists, fragments of it will remain, and Anecdote Envoys can extract the anecdote's power from those fragments... It's no exaggeration to say that if an Anecdote Envoy possessed a Mythic-Grade Anecdote Fragment, they would have gained part of an ancient deity's power. Destroying a country would only be a matter of time."

"Sounds like these Anecdote Envoys are even more dangerous than I am."

"Leaving aside the fact that only a handful of Anecdote Envoys in history have ever conquered a Mythic-Grade Anecdote, the power to destroy the world and the power to destroy a country are fundamentally different."

Ji Minghuan rolled his eyes. "So I'm basically a lone star of misfortune."

"I hope you understand that we're here to help you."

As he spoke, Instructor clasped his hands together, his voice becoming much more serious. "Only by understanding how your ability works will you have a chance to leave this place. To put it simply, you are a nuclear bomb, and we need to find the 'launch' switch on you. If we can't find that switch, then we can only keep you sealed here. Otherwise, there's no guarantee that one day, while you're walking down the street, you won't suddenly detonate without warning. That would kill thousands upon thousands of people, and they would all be innocent."

At that point, his tone suddenly relaxed and became gentler. "But if we can find the switch, it'll be different. Something controllable and something uncontrollable are absolutely two different concepts."

"You make it sound like a nuclear bomb with a switch is qualified to walk down the street."

"At least there's a chance... Better than being locked up here forever, isn't it?"

Ji Minghuan sighed. "Even if you say that, I don't know where that 'switch' is."

"That's why our job is to keep wasting time here with you until we understand where that 'switch' on you actually is. And if you refuse to cooperate, there isn't really anything particularly effective we can do."

Instructor replied calmly.

"Who exactly are the 'we' you keep talking about? I still don't know who you people are."

"That has to remain confidential for now."

"Aren't you people from the Esper Association?" Ji Minghuan probed.

"Wrong... Our work is far more dangerous, and far more noble, than that of the Esper Association. Likewise, we do not belong to the forces of either the Anecdote Envoys or the Exorcists."

Seeing that Ji Minghuan gave no reply and merely lowered his head in thought, Instructor slowly spoke, changing the subject:

"Where were we? Right... that's enough about Anecdote Envoys."

A series of key intelligence regarding the "Anecdote Envoy worldview" has been acquired.

The development progress of the "Anecdote Envoy" branch worldview has changed: 1% → 30% (As development progress increases, the probability of generating higher-potential "Anecdote Envoy" characters during the "character creation phase" will also rise accordingly.)

Ji Minghuan glanced at the words on the panel and thought, Huh... it jumped straight to thirty percent. Looks like Instructor's information wasn't just nonsense.

He could no longer wait to create an Anecdote Envoy character and test it out. Though it had only been two days, he was already getting a little tired of Black Cocoon, that ribbon-wielding esper character.

So Ji Minghuan looked up at Instructor and continued trying to pry information from him.

"Now that you've finished talking about Anecdote Envoys, what are Exorcists?"

There will be another update at midnight tonight. The protagonist will create his second Game Character. If you're still awake, you can wait for it and go to sleep after reading it.