Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith - Chapter 12: The Linchpin

“I hesitated before, I turned back to face my shred of hope, yet still no one cared.”“Later the thick fog arose, you said you loved me so much, but why is your love even fainter than the fog, so faint that I can’t even see it clearly.”

A Betrayal of Fate--- Anos Voldigoad, a young man of noble spirit, faces a devastating turn of events. Betrayed by his own kind and the woman he loves, he’s thrust into a world of darkness and despair. His world shattered, his parents murdered, and his beloved forced into the arms of his sworn enemy, Anos questions the cruel hand of fate. As he succumbs to his mortal wounds, a final, haunting image lingers: the smug grin of his tormentor, taunting him with promises of his lover’s destruction. In his dying breath, Anos wonders: Why has God forsaken him? Is it because of his weakness, his goodness? As the darkness claims him, a seed of vengeance is planted, a promise to rise from the ashes and exact his revenge, no matter the cost.

In a mind-blowing twist, I found myself reborn into a steampunk-themed JRPG made by a Japanese game company. To my shock, I was appointed as an executive of the villainous faction. However, the protagonist’s party was way too diligent.

Ye Bai was cryogenically frozen ten thousand years ago, and upon awakening, she found that Earth had entered the interstellar era.As an ancient human, merely surviving required exorbitant costs to filter out various viruses and radiation.At her wit’s end, she looked up and saw a massive game advertisement spanning half the sky—In her time, Ye Bai had been a renowned game developer.The ad displayed her unreleased game, *Boundless Realms*, which she had created before being frozen.Three years ago, *Boundless Realms* burst onto the scene, causing a massive stir across the universe.This was because the game could actually enhance players’ real-world mental and physical abilities, leading interstellar scholars to believe it might hold secrets of a higher civilization.However, the game was notoriously difficult. Despite investing immense effort, players couldn’t even complete their first class advancement.That is, until Ye Bai decided to enter the game to monetize her insider knowledge…Not long after, interstellar players received an unprecedented server-wide announcement, the first in the game’s three-year history:【Congratulations to the Milky Way Region’s Earth player ‘Baiye’ for becoming the first Lord in the game!】The entire universe was in an uproar!Who was this reclusive Earth-based expert? How did they unlock the method to become a Lord? After all, players had been wandering and adventuring for three years, only to be labeled as drifters by NPCs!Meanwhile, Ye Bai: “…Wait, was everyone in the universe playing on guest accounts before?!”