Black silk-clad long legs, absolute territory, silver hair and black armor, gentle and wife-like...
Was this Cecilia Schariac, the one he most regretted not getting aboard in his previous life?
But Otto's gaze suddenly turned strange.
Why was the last one a married woman?
Though he did quite like Cecilia... she was already dead... and had even been killed by the original owner of this body...
Oh, right, there seemed to be a clone there too...
Nope! If he kept thinking about this, he'd achieve the miracle of getting the book banned in a single chapter!
"Because if Otto had grown tired of the original Kallen," Void Archives said in Cecilia's synthesized voice, as though she had guessed Otto's thoughts, "then perhaps he might be interested in a Kallen with a different personality~"
From This Day Forward, I Am Otto
Uh...
Come to think of it, they were both Saintesses, both loved humanity, both had been the face of Schicksal in their time, both had been supported by Otto himself, and their values were quite similar... Cecilia really did overlap with Kallen in several respects.
And the ways Cecilia differed from Kallen... seemed rather to his taste too...
If a man had grown tired of cleaning up after an innocent little fool like Kallen, there seemed to be nothing wrong with wanting to push the jade hips of a gentle, refined, domestic silver-haired Saintess...
Tsk, tsk, tsk...
Was this also a kind of pure love? Would I always love white-haired girls?
Otto's urge to mock burned fiercely before being suppressed. He looked expressionlessly at the Cecilia Schariac version of Void Archives.
But Void Archives believed she had figured out the nature of the Otto before her.
Arrogant, smug, greedy, and lecherous—this was everything about the new version of Otto.
—This was amazing!
Otto had been weakened in every aspect!
She, Void Archives, was finally about to escape her suffering!
She might not have been able to handle that five-hundred-year-old scheming bastard from before, but could she not deceive this young brat?
Hehehe, I'm invincible this time!
Void Archives, wearing Cecilia's skin, brought her pink lips close to Otto's ear and softly blew on it. Only after his earlobe had reddened did she whisper:
"Be careful and keep it up. Don't let anyone discover you. After all, the Otto from before frightened even me."
"We can join forces, weave a lie, and turn the world into our hunting ground. After that, we can each take what we need."
"All right, do your best, little Otto. I hope you fool everyone. Once it's done, I can take any form you want~"
After saying that, Void Archives blew into Otto's ear again, then turned into a cloud of white mist and vanished.
"Heh."
The instant Void Archives left, Otto completely regained his composure. His fingers tapped idly against the tabletop.
Come to think of it... did all Herrschers have some kind of puffed-up pufferfish state? Not even Herrscher cores were exempt?
Though he really was a pervert, he was still a man with ten gigabytes of porn on his computer. If he wanted to hide it, he would not reveal so many emotions.
But... why should he hide it?
Wasn't it great to watch a fool think she had found his weakness?
It would be best if she thought she could control him, then did everything possible to help him adapt to this Honkai world, smugly eliminate every unfavorable factor, and even go a step further by helping him build connections, all while believing that once she confirmed that Otto's death, she could possess him completely...
Then, when it came time to reveal the truth, she would stare in shock as he charged in and out seven times, wearing the expression of a defeated maiden as she dazedly said, "Lord Otto is incredible"—
Wow, that was absolutely wonderful, my dear Void Archives!
After hoodwinking Void Archives into joining his side, the next thing Otto needed to consider was how to make his every gesture and appearance resemble Otto's.
That was somewhat difficult, because it concerned his future survival.
Should he... strike first?
A plan quickly took shape in Otto's mind: put Amber into hibernation, tell everyone that he had messed up again, resulting in a clone failing to assassinate him before fleeing Schicksal, while Amber had taken the blade for him and...
No.
Asking for too much at once would leave him with egg pain.
Playing on a tightrope could only be saved for the final step.
To arrange this murder, he would need to contact quite a few people. If even one of them sensed something was wrong, his life would be in danger.
After all, no matter what clues appeared, they might assume the real Archbishop was the one who had escaped, while he was the clone disguising himself as the victim.
His first move could not be such a clumsy trick.
Amber could not be taken out of the picture. The resulting turmoil would be too great.
More importantly, he did not want to personally sort through documents from every continent.
Thinking of this, he could not help sighing. Being Otto was not a problem, so why had he not been sent back to Otto's childhood to take things slowly?
Could an Otto who did not simp really fail to win over little Kallen, who had originally been his fiancée?
He could make Kallen cling to him like a little bird in minutes, with Yae Sakura as part of the dowry!
But a newbie should play on a new account. If you took over an account ranked first on the national server, who wouldn't realize the player had changed?!
After all, not everyone was Cecilia, able to surpass Otto's game achievements forged over five hundred years after playing for only a short while!
Besides, once he was acknowledged, as the Archbishop of Schicksal, he would have to fight Honkai...
So what should he do...
Otto helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead, but the instant his arm touched it, the spot between his brows throbbed for some reason.
What was this?
Otto was not so jumpy as to panic at every shadow, but he still had to be concerned.
After all, this time, he was in the original body, not Soul Steel.
After resurrection, who knew whether the one to awaken again would be him or the original owner?
He did not particularly want to die yet, so he had to be cautious—more cautious than ever.
What was causing the problem between his brows...?
He calmed his mind and probed the painful spot with his thoughts.
After investigating for a long time, his eyes suddenly widened, his face filled with astonishment.
There was actually a self-contained space between his brows, and at its center... was the ancient book that had caused him to transmigrate?!
A stream of information flowed from the book between his brows into Otto's mind, turning his expression from astonishment to delight.
This ancient book... could actually alter the past!!!
As expected, the thing that sent me through time was no ordinary object!
This book was called the Book of Void, and it possessed a certain ability to distort time.
Using certain people as anchors, it connected the past and present, changing vague points in time around that person and thereby influencing the known reality.
For example, regarding the original owner's long-cherished wish to revive Kallen, he could completely use Kallen as an anchor to travel five hundred years into the past and alter the history of Kallen's death.
This cheat... was absolutely incredible!
Though it could not directly grant him immense power... as long as he used it properly, everything in this world would be possible for him!
Otto stretched lazily, feeling confident for the first time since transmigrating.
And just as the tension in his heart eased slightly, the surging thoughts made it impossible for him to control his emotions. The fear he had forcibly suppressed since transmigrating made his head feel as though it were splitting apart.
But his excellent habit of maintaining appearances allowed him to sit properly in his chair without making any major movements. Only his back trembled slightly as he began to laugh softly.
"Ha ha ha... chaotic time... disorderly fate... fools who believe themselves wise beneath a veneer of stupidity... an artifact that overturns the past... ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha..."
A tear fell from the corner of Otto's eye. It was unclear whether it came from empathy or pity.
Yet the corners of his mouth were raised high, fixed in a joyous smile so exaggerated it seemed absurd.
False god, false god. Who would have thought that even after your painstaking five hundred years, with your mind filled only with the obsession of reviving Kallen, all your efforts would ultimately be worth less than a single page here?
How absurd and laughable, twisted and cruel reality was. You gave everything for that so-called Saintess, yet the moment it came into my hands, it was so easily denied?
Hahahaha...
Heh.
After venting his emotions, Otto gradually calmed down. He raised the wineglass on the table and looked through its rippling reflections at the not-so-warm midday sun outside the window, his expression solemn.
After a long while, he curled his lips into a smile and turned the glass upside down.
"A toast to Otto Apocalypse."
Then, with a clatter, the wineglass fell and shattered on the floor.
From this day forward, I am Otto.
Newbie testing the limits.jpg
Cecilia Schariac
"Who should I use as the anchor, and which vague points in time should I alter...?"
As Otto analyzed and familiarized himself with the information provided by the Book of Void, he also considered possible candidates.
Though the Book of Void had not said so directly, judging from the information it conveyed, it still had certain limitations.
At the very least, its ability to alter the past did not completely ignore the rules of the Imaginary Tree.
For now, these limitations seemed to have four consequences:
1. Minor trends could be changed, but major trends could not;
2. He could not move more than one hundred meters away from the anchor;
3. Relying on the Book of Void's own recovery ability, he could only make one alteration per month;
4. There were predetermined points in time that could "temporarily" not be altered.
"Cannot completely ignore the rules... then what if I mastered the rules?"
Otto smacked his lips, immediately finding a loophole in the information.
"Also, altering historical timelines... are future plots historical timelines? If so, could I..."
Countless ideas sprang up in an instant, but unfortunately... he did not have time to prepare for them yet.
He first needed to find a way to protect himself through the alterations, then pursue other plans.
The Book of Void's most obvious use right now was bringing the dead back to the present, strengthening his foundation.
Then... who should he save first?
That was the question.
Otto considered suitable candidates, mentally crossing things out and making notes.
On the surface, the most reliable first step would be reviving Kallen. That way, even if the original owner awakened, he should have no complaints.
But Otto scoffed at the idea.
He remembered a friend once telling him while drunk that every boss's ambitions were inflated by their career.
As long as people did not die, their desires would be like boulders rolling down a mountain—the longer they rolled, the greater the impact when they hit the ground.
Especially Otto.
No one with that name was worth trusting.
That's right. He thought he was one too.
Before you continue