Chapter 164
Sometimes, I had thoughts like this.
In the novel, I was nothing more than an “extra childhood friend” who couldn’t play any role and would just die—so didn’t I actually have something?
Maybe it was because I was now living a life different from what I knew, or because I kept discovering information about a version of “me” I didn’t know, that these doubts would spring up from time to time.
Still, I brushed it off, thinking it was just because I’d read too many web novels in my previous life, that I was just having strange delusions…
That’s how I dismissed it.
[Displaying user information]
Name: Arelene Siegria Halbern
Title: Gift of Sione
Bloodline: Halbern, ■■■■ ■■■
Unique Traits:
-
[Reincarnator (?)]
-
[Music Genius (A+)]
-
[Blessed by Music (A)]
-
[Survival Instinct (S)]
-
[Mental Barrier (S)]
-
[Special ■■ (?)]
Inherited Traits:
-
[Secret Guardian (S)]
-
[Key Successor (S)]
-
[■■ of ■■ (?)]
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[Language of Babel (S)]
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[■■■ of ■■■ (?)]
-
[■■ of ■■ (?)]
I stared seriously at the endlessly long status window.
“What’s with all this…?”
Laplace’s Demon, is this for real?
“Let’s skip the name. Title?”
“Gift of Sione,” huh… That title felt awkward, and I made a strange expression.
“Maybe it’s because I’m like a ‘gift’ to Dad…?”
I vaguely knew, but seeing it written clearly in letters felt different. Embarrassing, even.
“Ahem.”
What really caught my attention was the Bloodline section.
Next to Halbern, seven characters were printed in black, unreadable. Curious, I kept touching them, and a warning popped up.
※!Warning! Access denied.
※User’s rank is insufficient. Some hidden information may not be displayed in full.
“Are you kidding me?”
I glared at the broken letters and went back to checking the status window.
“Reincarnator, Music Genius…”
Blessed by music?
Clicking on the new trait I’d never seen before, I found that it allowed me to perform perfect music under any circumstances and with any instrument.
“Oh.”
Survival Instinct was probably why I sensed danger even in the weakest situations, and the Mental Barrier explained why I was fine even when everything around me fell apart.
And then…
[Special ■■ (?)]
-
A variable that can break free from all predetermined things and change everything. The world watches you.
“…?”
The unusual description made me shiver.
The world is watching me? I’m not someone worth that much attention.
“Well, at least I roughly understand this part.”
Everything below, though… I really had no idea.
[Secret Guardian (S)]
-
Inherited from the blood of those who swore long ago to protect the secrets of this land.
[Key Successor (S)]
-
Can access Halbern’s secret archives in other worlds. Can be used to visit hidden locations.
Other than these two traits I apparently gained from being of Halbern blood, most sentences were broken and incomprehensible.
The only readable one was Language of Babel:
“All languages were originally one. Those who remember it can master all languages?”
Wait, wasn’t language mastery supposed to be a Reincarnator perk?
“Confusing.”
What confused me even more was the info at the bottom of the status window.
[Status Ailments: Weakness, Physical Deterioration, Mental Decline]
Three simultaneous status ailments.
How on earth am I still alive?
At that moment, a bright warning popped up.
[!Warning! Body is deteriorating]
[Progress: 78% (Divine Blessing applied)]
[Current Blessing Applied:
Power of Sleepful Laziness (Physical deterioration rate –2000%)]
Ah, that explained how I was still alive.
Learning new things didn’t shock me as much anymore.
My body is deteriorating?
Well, what am I supposed to do about that!
“I already knew I was on borrowed time!”
It wasn’t just a disease—it was physical deterioration. That was new and a little shocking.
“Yes, a disease with no miraculous cure. I remember that clearly.”
Would it have been better if it were a disease?
“Hmm.”
Now I understood why my body hurt as if it would tear apart if I didn’t take medicine. It wasn’t just “like it would tear”—it actually was tearing.
“Ah…”
So that’s why Dad dreams of losing me. The words about losing me no matter what felt almost like a prophecy.
Maybe Dad read novels too.
“Hmm. It’s okay. At least I know why I’m dying.”
It was then that the previously unresponsive status window reacted.
[User info checked. Answering previously unanswered questions.]
[Your body cannot handle multiple supernatural abilities. Physical deterioration is occurring due to excessive supernatural presence. Therefore, to ‘live longer,’ raising your body’s rank is recommended.]
Blinking at the straightforward answer, I muttered,
“Uh, how do I raise my rank?!”
If you’re going to tell me, tell me everything!
Laplace’s Demon, having just spat out a mountain of information, immediately went on an incredibly long cooldown.
This useful yet useless thing…
[Next question cooldown: 108 days 12 hours]
How am I supposed to ask how to raise my rank now?!
“Ah, so frustrating.”
There’s an all-knowing being that answers anything, but I can’t use it whenever I want? Madness.
Whirrrrr—
Ethel tried to appeal, saying her cute, charming self could be more helpful, but it didn’t work on my annoyed self.
“Arel, why are you so mad?”
“Hmm… maybe because you haven’t checked our affection yet?!”
It was the long-awaited music practice meeting.
Not all the kids had arrived yet.
The twins, who had arrived first, came up to me and pretended to be friendly.
“Your affection?”
“Yup!”
For context, my affection scanner had been destroyed last time by Dad repeatedly testing it against Pession because he couldn’t believe this reality.
The highest value recorded from those tests was 49, never reaching the 50 mark.
Even the Regent Duke I tested as a side note couldn’t get out of –70.
“We prepared this for you, Arelene!”
“Ta-da!”
The twins brought out a new affection scanner.
“It’s a simplified version, so it doesn’t recognize the owner, but it was hard to get!”
“Luckily it was in the Sperom treasure vault.”
“We traded with Dad to buy it!”
The Sperom vault really did have everything, huh.
“You bought this?”
“Fun, isn’t it?”
“Exciting, right?”
Noel emphasized.
“We should check our affection too.”
“Right!”
Noel and Siel said seriously.
But they already liked me, right? So I didn’t really care to check the numbers and just looked lazily. The numbers appeared with familiar light.
[♥77 Curiosity/Fraternity]
“Oh…”
Why so high?
“I want to try too!”
Siel’s number was also 77.
Do twins have the same number?
“You like me that much?”
The twins exchanged a strange look.
“True, but why do I feel bad?”
“Maybe because you like us 36 points?”
“We like you 77.”
“Is this defective?”
Seeing the twins grumble, I couldn’t help laughing.
Cute little things.
“So you don’t hate me?”
Tilting my head, the twins looked at each other.
“Siel, I think Arelene is getting bolder by the day.”
“Right. Who is she learning from?”
Those ridiculous little things.
“Who else? You two.”
“We were wrong.”
“Reflect!”
Watching the twins reflect, more kids slowly gathered for the music practice meeting.
“New kids are coming today.”
“Do you guys know?”
The chatter and restlessness of the day was palpable.
Ah, today was the first day of the reorganization.
“Twins, do you know who’s coming?”
I asked without expectation, but these little devil twins were surprisingly competent.
“Many are coming, but the ones I remember…”
“Prince Gremwatt and a student from the Magic Tower? An apprentice mage is coming!”
An apprentice mage?
My eyes widened without realizing.
‘Was this when the heroine joined the childhood friend group?’
I had ignored the novel for so long that I had completely forgotten. Now I tried to forcibly recall the plot I barely remembered.
“Oh? Here comes…”
The idol of the music group, Pession, entered along with Harun.
And behind them, several new faces appeared.
Among all the new kids, the most noticeable was the heroine, Chloe.
‘So this is how it happens.’
I wasn’t sure if I was happy or uneasy seeing the events flow as I remembered from the novel.
“Uh…?”
My eyes met a familiar gaze.
“…?”
I restrained a scream at those gentle, curving eyes.
No… why the hell is he here?!
