Volume 1 - Chapter 8: The World's System

Cathedra woke up with a loud gasp as though she was surfacing from a long dive down the ocean. She panted uncontrollably, gasping for air to fill her lungs. She realized she was involuntarily clutching at her neck, grasping for it as though she was afraid it got cut off from her body.

"Why am I still alive?" Cathedra asked out loud. Tears ran down her face. She was quite sure she committed suicide. It wasn't a dream, she really did try to kill herself.

So why didn't it work?

After the initial shock of being alive wore off, Cathedra surveyed her surroundings. The place was familiar: the edge of a landform surrounded by water filled with nothing but rocks, grass, and more rocks.

To the left was a forest with gigantic trees that were so tall it looked like it towered towards the heavens. If Cathedra strained her ears enough to listen, the forest was filled with a chorus of snarls and growls, like an army of vicious beasts have made it a nest.

To the right was a vast, empty scenery of sea and sky. In the distance, Cathedra can make out another island like the one she was in, but much bigger and populated with more buildings and structures, unlike this one.

It can't be.

Cathedra walked towards the island's edge, right at the boundary between land and water, and held her hand out.

Automatically, a network of roses lit up and revealed itself. It was an invisible barrier that appeared whenever it was touched—a barrier forming a cage around the island.

"Impossible," Cathedra covered her mouth in shock as tears ran down her cheeks once more, "This scenery, this island, this barrier . . ."

No wonder the landscape looked familiar. She has dwelled here for such a long time, the vision of this world so vivid in her mind because she's traveled here for countless hours, for days even.

It was the world she has visited day by day in her imaginations, in her fantasies, in her novels. It was the world of her wildest dreams—the world where she'll find friends and will never be alone again.

Cathedra was inside her stories.

"Is this a dream?"

She pinched herself once. Then twice. She slapped herself hard on the right cheek. Then the left. When that still didn't work, she slapped her cheeks with both her hands until they stung so badly that Cathedra was sure they were red.

She was still here.

In her joy, Cathedra gave herself a little dance while jumping up and down. In her mind, she was sure she looked like a graceful, world-class, professional dancer that would instill awe in the hearts of any spectators. In reality, she looked like a cross between a waddling duck and a twitching, wriggly worm that would make any onlooker avoid her for fear that she was a lunatic who escaped from a mental institution.

In the heat of the moment, Cathedra forgot that she was clumsier than an elephant in six-inch heels. One step in smooth, even ground is enough to make Cathedra lose her balance and trip. A few movements of dancing and then Cathedra tripped on landed on her buttocks.

She groaned in pain. But she was still here. "I'm feeling pain. I'm still alive and this isn't a dream. It's true, it's really true . . ."

At her words, a menu screen popped into Cathedra's vision. It had her face with a huge, goofy grin as she held out both her hands in a peace sign.

Cathedra couldn't help but chuckle. It's been so long since she smiled like that. Now that she thought about it, was there even a time when she smiled so freely like that?

Beside her avatar was her Cathedra's name with her last name blank.

Rank: S

Level: 50

HP: 999999999/999999999

SP: 999999999/999999999

Cathedra chuckled at her stats. She was an ultimate cheat. Since she was the creator of this world, she made the system give her the highest rank out of all the 5 ranks which was D-C-B-A-S in ascending order of superiority. Each rank had a maximum level of 50, so when someone reaches the level 50 in their rank, they would have to undergo a trial to upgrade ranks from one letter to the next.

Her HP and SP was also a cheat. Since she wanted to make sure that she stayed alive inside this world, she made her HP and SP go over the normal levels. Both HP and SP increase as a character levels up and increase in rank, but the maximum stats of an S-rank, level 50 is only 1,000,000.

Basic attack: 1,000 dmg per hit

Skills:

Creation (50 SP, Creation HP: 5,000)

Cathedra let out a laugh at her list of skills. She didn't expect that she was going to be actually inside her world, so she only included one half-assed skill, believing she won't be able to use it anyway. If only she knew, she would have created something awesome like lasers that would shoot out from her fingers or elemental powers or something.

"Well, I'm the creator anyway. Maybe I can just add in new skills later.

Cathedra waved her hand and her Stats was replaced by her inventory list. There were 3 things inside her inventory written in bold letter with their descriptions and uses written beside them.

Black Cloak. A basic black cloak to hide your face and shield yourself from bright lights.

Novel. In case when things go awry and you want to change something.

Magic Pen. A clock-shaped pen you can use with item: Novel and skill: Creation

Cathedra tapped all of the listed inventory with her finger, and in the an instant, she was equipped with all of the items. She donned the black cloak over her own clothes which covered her entire body up to her ankles. It shielded her eyes from the sun and brightness, which she appreciated very much because she hated bright lights. The magic pen came with a chain that dangled from her neck a put the clock on display.

She couldn't hide her grin in giddy at the thought of finally living out her fantasies.

A red window suddenly popped up. It had an exclamation point symbol on it inside a triangle. The words "Alert! Alert! Alert!" were written in the middle of the pop-up window. There was a clickable button below the words, which contained "More Info" on it.

Cathedra clicked on the "More Info" button. More words appeared on the screen.

"Use magic pen to track time. First encounter on 8:58 am. Countdown to first encounter starts now.

First encounter.

The words woke Cathedra to reality (or as real as it can be considering she was now living out her fantasy life). If her novels really did come to life, then there was only someone she would be meeting right now.

Someone who was in grave peril inside that forest.

Roxanne Wisteria.