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Elias Gray leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh, and took a swig from a half-finished energy drink that tasted like melted batteries. The hum of his old PC was the only sound in the room, aside from the faint tapping of rain outside his apartment window.
"…Whatever," he muttered, minimizing the stats. "Doesn't matter."
He cracked his knuckles and scrolled down to the blank page.
Elias wasn't writing for fame—not anymore. That phase had passed around Chapter 10, when his peak performance was seven views and one guy accusing him of ripping off both Eastern fantasy and Western magic clichés.
Now? He just wanted to finish the damn thing.
Not for readers. Not for validation.
Just for himself.
The world he'd created had started as a random idea, a "what if" that got out of hand. Now it was a full-on epic stuck in the weirdest genre fusion imaginable.
A planet split by the Voidsea—an impossible ocean of broken space and swirling storms. On one side: Arcanis, the land of spellcraft and kingdoms, knights and bloodlines, magical universities and cursed relics. On the other: Tianxuan, ruled by ancient sects and spirit beasts, where cultivators lived for millennia chasing immortality and enlightenment.
Two continents. Two power systems. Two completely incompatible ways of life.
No one crossed the Voidsea. Ever. That was the point.
Except, apparently… his main character.
Lin—half-mage, half-cultivator. A walking contradiction. Born in the slums of Arcanis with a rare affinity for mana, but secretly carrying a spirit root inherited from a mother he never knew—a cultivator from Tianxuan who had "mysteriously disappeared" before he could speak.
It sounded cool when Elias came up with it.
Lin was supposed to be the bridge between two worlds. A pariah in both, a hero in neither. Gritty. Relentless. The guy who clawed his way up not because of fate, but because he had no other choice.
Symbolic. Tragic. Epic.
But now?
Now it was starting to bother him.
Elias leaned forward, elbows on the desk, eyes narrowing at the screen.
The Voidsea wasn't just dangerous—it was a cosmic firewall. Warped time. Shattered physics. In Chapter 6, he'd written that even light couldn't cross it properly. Entire fleets had vanished. Archmages had tried. Cultivation sects had thrown divine treasures into the sea just to watch them dissolve into nothing.
So how the hell had a cultivator from Tianxuan ended up in Arcanis, gotten close enough to a mortal, fallen in love, had a kid, and then disappeared… all before Chapter One even started?
"I literally made that impossible," Elias muttered, rubbing his temple.
Maybe he'd planned to handwave it later.
Some secret Voidsea technique. A rift in space. An ancient prophecy. A forgotten god.
All the classic plot-saver moves. Maybe around Chapter 52 or so.
But he was only at Chapter 38.
Lin had just survived his second near-death encounter with a knight commander from Arcanis.
The rain outside had picked up—tapping harder now. Rhythmic. Soothing.
Elias sat there, fingers still on the keyboard, not typing. Just thinking.
There were still pieces missing. Not just in the plot—but in the feel of it.
Something… or rather, someone, was missing.
Two someones, actually.
He stared at the outline pinned to the edge of the screen. Names crossed out. Arcs half-finished. The next part of Lin's journey was supposed to take him deeper into the capital. Court politics, magical bloodlines, corrupted nobles.
That was where she could appear. Mysterious. Regal. Dangerous. Golden light and sharp words. A believer in order, in divinity. The kind of woman who saw weakness as something to be corrected.
Not now. But soon. Maybe Chapter 41. Maybe later.
And the other one?
Someone softer. Still strong, but hidden beneath layers of quiet grace. A calm storm. Someone bound by duty—but still willing to bend the rules for someone who made her feel again.
She didn't need a flashy entrance. No wings. No declarations. Just one moment: high cliffs, wind in her robes.
Yeah.
He didn't even need to name them yet. Just shadows on the horizon. Let the readers fill in the gaps. He'd make them his. Different enough. Legally distinct.
The soul would be the same.
He allowed himself a small smirk, then returned to the keyboard.
Chapter 39 was waiting.
His eyes burned. Maybe from the screen. Maybe from too much thinking. He blinked a few times, rubbed at his face, then leaned back in his chair with a sigh that felt like it came from his soul.
"Twenty-minute nap," he muttered to no one. "Then I'll figure out how to fix the Voidsea mess."
He let his eyes close. Just for a bit. The soft patter of rain was almost hypnotic now.
Silence.
Then—
A breeze.
Cold. Crisp. Real.
His brow furrowed.
Was the window open?
But no—the windows were always locked shut, sealed tight to keep the city noise out.
So why did it feel like wind was brushing across his face?
His eyelids twitched. The chair under him didn't feel like a chair anymore. It felt… like nothing.
His eyes snapped open.
No desk.
No screen.
No buzzing PC fan or blinking taskbar.
Just… sky.
Pale morning sunlight poured through gaps between wooden rooftops. Cobblestone streets stretched out beneath his feet. Somewhere in the distance, a blacksmith's hammer rang out in rhythmic clinks. People bustled past him—cloaks swaying, boots echoing, carts creaking over stone.
Elias turned slowly, mouth slightly open.
Stone walls. Ivy climbing across timber frames. Market stalls opening for the day. The smell of fresh bread, dirt, and distant smoke filled the air.
"...What?"
The word dropped out of Elias's mouth before he could stop it.
This wasn't his apartment. This wasn't even Earth.
He stood in the middle of a cobbled street, surrounded by people in cloaks and armor, carts rolling past, the smell of smoke and bread in the air. A blacksmith's hammer clanged in the distance.
"What the actual—"
Ping.
A soft chime echoed in his head. Then, right in front of him, something flickered into view—a faint Yellow screen, hovering in mid-air like a game menu.
[Creator Tools]
That was the header. Nothing flashy. Just white text on a clean Yellow background.
Beneath it:
Save File(Create or load a world state. Unlimited saves.)