What Is Happiness?

After boarding the airship, Nimel closed her eyes to rest at Caroso's command.

Caroso sat on his comfortable sofa, listening as the chat explained what a game was.

Caroso merely had an information gap with the Netizens; he was not stupid.

In truth, many transmigrators made the same mistake: they believed that ancient people or people from other worlds were inferior to them. It was a rather absurd notion.

"Whew, so I'm a character in a game—the villain. And you are the people controlling those two characters." Caroso frowned.

[More precisely, we control one of them. Once we choose a gender, the other one goes dormant. Our greatest goal is to create a God Card called 'Revival of the Dead' and resurrect our loved ones.]

[And, of course, resist your tyranny.]

[Your path to godhood conflicts with ours.]

[We don't know that character's past. We don't even know what they're called. If it's my character, my name is Tao Ni Houzi.]

[Mine is Ye Ao Nai Wo He.]

[Mine is Eight-Star Major General.]

[Mine is Hedgehog Cat Duel King Awei.]

Looking at the chaotic mess of IDs, Caroso rubbed his temples.

My world was actually a game in their world?

Whew...

Caroso closed his eyes and began to think carefully.

Perhaps the vanished gods had created this.

They believed I was a character in a game. Then they might also be characters in another work, and perhaps even those observing us were ants from a higher-dimensional world.

This was far too complicated for the current me to figure out.

They knew the general course of our world, but they were unclear about certain details...

Then, when I had the time, I should conduct an experiment and see whether the future could truly be changed.

Caroso swirled the wine in his glass. I can't offer them much help, yet they can provide me with endless assistance. This...

"I think that if this continues, our exchange will become very unfair," Caroso said. "If I help you study cards, it merely gives you a little more entertainment. You gain no tangible benefit from me, while I can obtain many tangible benefits from you."

"The cards I can research are limited, but the cards you can research are limitless. You don't even need to consume materials; you can simply use this so-called simulator to continue researching forever."

"In the end, I'm still the one who profits."

[But you really can't help me with anything.]

[My Baby Caro is just too sensible. It's fine, just treat us as your cheat code.]

[There's someone at my school who borrowed my bus card. I told him I needed it tomorrow, and he actually said I could use money instead? Damn it, a college student with worse manners than a teenager.]

[You've helped us a lot. Just seeing you makes us happy, at least.]

[Helping others is the foundation of happiness. You don't understand the joy in your heart after helping someone.]

[I get it. Boss Caro is the type who never accepts a free lunch. If we don't need anything from him, he'll feel like a clown.]

[The question is, what can he help us with?]

[Don't we have plenty of stories and characters that we can't get over? Boss Caro can help us with those!]

[Right, then it'll be mutually beneficial.]

"Helping those people... what benefit does that bring you?" Caroso was somewhat confused.

[Boss Caro, not everything in this world is done for a purpose.]

[Yeah. Humans are emotional creatures. Being able to find happiness is already enough for us.]

[What about you? Wouldn't you ever do something for happiness?]

"Happiness..." Caroso frowned at the word, which felt so distant from him.

His father had once said that happiness belonged to the ignorant.

Because they were ignorant, they could easily be happy and easily satisfied.

Caroso did not think the people speaking in the chat were ignorant.

Was happiness important?

[Boss Caro, take your time and feel it. We'll help you gradually understand what happiness is, what love is, and what it means to be alive.]

A day later, Caroso arrived at the airport outside Cantwell, the royal capital. Faculty members from Mal Magic Academy drove him and Nimel to Mal Magic Academy.

Today was the day of the entrance examination. Caroso and Nimel had arrived just in time.

Though it was called a magic academy, it was practically a city.

Mal Magic Academy did not only teach magic. It contained the Warrior Academy, Mage Academy, Nature Academy, Cleric Academy, Alchemy Academy, and Mechanics Academy.

Although this world already had guns and cannons, in this supernatural world, individual power was not necessarily weaker than massive warships and artillery. The chat said that the future Caroso could take on an aircraft carrier and countless masters aboard it by himself. That was the reason the Warrior Academy existed.

The Magic Academy taught elemental magic.

The Nature Academy was rather interesting. It had once accepted only elves as students, but after some humans mastered nature spells and the elven population steadily declined, it evolved into the Nature Academy of today.

To enroll in the Cleric Academy, one had to believe in the Goddess of Dawn and possess exceptionally devout faith.

Even though the gods had already vanished from sight, it did not stop some people from believing they would return.

It was just that the academy's enrollment declined year after year.

The Alchemy Academy followed the path of card makers. In many specific situations, cards were the only way to fight in this world, and soul-bound cards were incredibly convenient to carry. There were no other spatial storage items in this world, so the Alchemy Academy was the most popular academy.

At the Mechanics Academy, students could learn to build machines and operate them. As for which path to choose, that decision could only be made in the upper years; lower-year students tried everything.

The Mechanics Academy was the largest academy and was also known as the commoners' academy. Many ordinary people attended simply because it would be easier to find work after graduation.

In contrast, the Magic Academy was reserved for nobles. Ordinary people simply could not afford the expenses of being a mage.

[Come to think of it, which academy do you think Boss Caro is suited for?]

[Definitely the Warrior Academy. Boss Caro gets insanely strong later on!]

[If Boss Caro enters the Warrior Academy, is there anything we can help him with?]

[The Warrior Academy is all unknown plot...]

[Uh... come to think of it, which academy do we know best?]

[Do you even need to ask? Definitely the Alchemy Academy. 'I' am the dean of the Alchemy Academy, and my entire team is there.]

[Right, lots of characters come from the Alchemy Academy.]

[If we help Boss Caro recruit people, does that count as stealing our own girls?]

[Damn it, steal them! We can steal them all!]

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