"Gilan from the first playthrough...?!"
Gilan was stunned.
Of course, he was no stranger to this gaming term.
"A first playthrough" referred to clearing a game for the first time.
When a Player started from the initial state with no save data, completed every stage and challenge in the game, and ultimately achieved the game's objective, that was considered completing a first playthrough.
After completing a first playthrough, if the Player chose to start the game over, it would be called a second playthrough, and so on.
Since Dream Lord said that face belonged to himself from the first playthrough, that meant the other him had already "cleared" the game once...
But this world was not a game.
Then what would count as "clearing" it?
Gilan thought—
Becoming a Hour-God?
No.
That probably still could not be called "clearing" the game.
Because even after becoming a Hour-God, his fate as a chess piece would not yet be complete, much less escaped.
"By your logic, does that mean we all belong to the 'second playthrough'?"
Gilan asked Dream Lord in a low voice.
Dream Lord nodded.
"You could understand it that way."
With both hands behind His back, He looked down at the enormous sleeping face below. After a moment of silence, He continued:
"In fact, the Gilan of the first playthrough had already successfully summoned the Leap Month and become the Leap-Month Hour-God."
"?!"
Gilan's pupils constricted sharply.
An expression of utter disbelief appeared on his face.
"The me from the first playthrough was already the Leap-Month Hour-God?!"
Gilan stared fixedly at Dream Lord, his voice turning cold.
"So you've been deceiving me all along?! If He was already the Leap-Month Hour-God, then why are we still trapped within countless Secret Histories... This proves that method simply doesn't work. We