Hero.
A term used to define someone who can be either strong or weak, but that follows a certain pattern of actions and has prefixed beliefs.
That would be a rough description of what a hero is.
Considering this, what would be the most memorable or remarkable thing that every hero has?
Power?
Fame?
Wealth?
Companions?
Cheats?
The answer is relatively simple:
Plot armor and the consequent ability to escape from death's jaws.
Now, not every hero necessarily has those two all the time, but it's still possible to observe those characteristics in them, even if it's in different shapes or forms.
Then, would it be correct to say that every main protagonist is a hero, even if of their own?
This is the question that Hai has always been asking himself ever since he was reborn in this novel.
After all, he wasn't a bad person or anything in his past life, but he died by a plane and was reincarnated as a third-rate villain that was only a stepping-stone for the protagonist of this world.
And this made him question himself.
Ye Chen checks all the boxes of a standard hero.
Good looks? Check.
Physically strong? Check.
High IQ? Check (?)
Able to do anything? Check.
Plot armor? Double check.
Virtually perfect? Check.
Then, does this makes him a hero?
Hai always had this doubt but as this wasn't exactly important, he maintained it in the back of his mind.
However, during the Phantom Assault on the power plant, when he found several corpses of "Ye Chen", he finally understood the answer to that question.
"Wh… What is this…?" Stella asked with trembling hands and an astonished look as she gazed at the notebook in her hands.
Inside it, there wasn't much written but the few things there were already more valuable than anything Stella has seen until now.
Living beings by nature have desires, and one of those is the one to possess/ have certain thing(s).
It's when this desire starts to become common and the frequency increases that it becomes greed, and the longer someone lives, the higher the chances of them becoming greedier.
This is especially true for the vampire race, which is long-lived by nature.
In the year of 3802, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds.
People can now not only achieve aesthetic satisfaction but also physical one with cybernetics implants.
The body has become something that if someone doesn't like theirs, they can simply change it entirely by having enough money.
And this is where the vampires, or in this case, the Cruenta-Anima family comes into play.
With magic and technology, it's not impossible to create artificial blood, hence, problems like bloodthirst wouldn't be something to worry about.
However, the Cruenta-Anima seems to want more.
Hai already had some guesses about it, but Stella's reaction further confirmed it.
What comes after the body and blood?
The answer is:
The soul.
For whatever reason, the project which Stella is in charge of is most likely to create or to discover the means of creating an artificial soul or something along those lines.
Maintaining his calm gaze, Hai picked up the teacup and took a sip.
"A freebie." He explained in a plain way.
Was he giving it away because he is a good person helping Stella, who is in need?
Was he giving it away because it has no use to him?
Such thoughts crossed Stella's mind but she quickly shook them off.
She has some understanding about the man before her to know that he isn't the type to do such a thing.
Then, the most obvious answer is also the one at the top of her head.
He was trapping her.
Luring her into accepting his deal with the sweetest of honey.
And the most frustrating thing is that even if she knows this, she can't do anything but follow.
Noticing her falling into her thoughts, Hai didn't say anything and let her think.
What was written in the notebook was just some parts of what he understood about the orbs and the whole thing.
However, even if not for the knowledge about the soul, he had already gotten something that is absurd enough from that operation.
Ye Chen is the protagonist of the China Federation.
He is someone that could be described as the protagonist of a cliché chinese novel.
He is strong.
Smart(?).
Can virtually learn anything.
Has insane luck.
Has the looks.
He is basically a perfect human or so it could be said.
However, the most notable thing about him is his plot armor.
How could he always come back alive from situations in which people would die?
How could he remain alive for 30 minutes despite his critical condition back at the hotel where one of the heroines nearly killed him?
How could he always come back from a seemingly certain death and triumph over all the odds against him?
Hai finally found the answer.
And that is:
By being unable to die.
A simple, direct, and somewhat obvious yet dumb answer.
Ye Chen isn't immortal or something like this, however, the world's will found quite an intriguing way to give plot armor to him.
If Ye Chen were to be seriously injured and was on the brink of dying, and had no one near him, nor anything that could help him survive, would his plot armor still be able to save him?
Not by natural means, at least.
And this is where things got interesting.
With the current technology and the aid of magic, building a body isn't something hard to do.
But in the end, no matter how strong the body, if someone dies, they die.
Then, wouldn't the solution be just not to let the "core" of a being not die?
And what would be the core of a being?
As far as science has advanced, the answer would be: the soul.
With all of this said, Ye Chen didn't need "to not die" to come back.
He didn't need to survive per se, nor to pull out an impossible feat.
He just needed to have his "core" preserved.
And this could be easily done if the "core" was to be switched to a vessel that wasn't dying.
Basically, no matter how many times he got injured, beaten, or trashed, Ye Chen could always escape death by having the world's will transfer his "core", his soul, to a new vessel.
This would be the explanation for all those bodies that were identical to Ye Chen back in the power plant.
However, Hai also noticed one thing.
Wouldn't having one's soul switched over and over again damage it or the person's mentality/ rationality?
No human being should be able to endure having their soul repeatedly transported from one body to another. It would make them lose their sense of self or reasoning in the best case.
Having thought about it for some time, Hai found the answer to this question recently.
The answer to this is ironically Stella's project.
An artificial soul.
A soul created by someone's hands.
A body created to transfer this soul to.
A supply of said bodies in case of emergency.
A "perfect" human that is virtually the epitome of what a man can achieve in several areas or fields.
All of this culminated in one thing:
An artificially created perfect superhuman being.
In other words…
A protagonist.
A "hero".
Someone who can bear the fate of being the Chosen One.
In short, all this time,
Ye Chen,
Was a homunculus.
A being created by the world's will, to play the role of the Chosen One while ironically being a puppet to this very same world's will.
Putting the cup down, Hai rose from his seat without any trace of being in a hurry.
"Well, you can think about it for the time being. However, I would like to receive an answer in the near future, Stella. Well then, shall we go back now?" Hai glanced at Elena just to see her nodding back.
Not even a few seconds after, Jia appeared in the room.
Not wasting time, she teleported everyone back to the palace.
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'Yeah, I can't read a single word.' Hai nodded to himself while smiling.
Walking down a corridor of his aunt's mansion, he had the {Artifact Crafting – beginner} in his hands while walking.
A few days had gone by after his discussion with Stella, and currently, his plans were already facing some trouble before even starting.
To sum things up, the girls themselves are doing well, but Hong Li-Wei isn't.
Hai expected it to some extent but her emotional state those days has been worsening.
Although he is taking care of it by pampering her and talking it out, it seems that facing her past is harder than Hai originally thought.
Also, Stella seems to be facing a dilemma.
It seems that the decision to "ally" herself with him is hard to make due to that potentially and indirectly implying that she could or would be betraying her family.
In short, those two are one of the most troublesome out of all the girls.
Bing Qing also seems to be one but she has been strangely quiet and struggling with something, however, she is definitively more open to whatever she is doing compared to the other two.
*TAP*
*TAP*
*TAP*
Calmly strolling down the hallway, a staff member, a maid, appeared at one turn.
"Please this way, master." She said before walking in another direction.
Hai nodded before following her.
Putting Hong Li-Wei and Stella aside, everything else seems to be going well.
He regularly sleeps with Elena and Chang Hua when he is alone with one of them.
Kryn seems to be slowly opening herself more with each passing day.
Bing Qing seems to have calmed down whatever was bothering her before.
Jia has developed a weird obsession with being a better maid.
Charlotte cusses him at every training session.
Akame always drags him into a battle whenever possible.
It was pretty normal in general.
"We are here, master." The maid turned around and bowed.
Beside her stood a plain wooden door with no catching characteristic on it.
"Thank you, you may return to your post, Xue." Hai thanked her with a smile.
The maid smiled back and walked away without doing anything else.
Not wasting time, Hai pushed the door open and came face with a dark room.
Entering, he closed the door behind him and strode inside.
With a chilly temperature and dark ambiance, the plain room gave off the atmosphere that anything but a good one could happen here.
Not minding it, Hai used his magic to make a metal chair.
Sitting on it, he further controlled the metal and made it softer enough to be confused with a cushion.
Crossing his legs, he waved his hands, and suddenly, 5 shadows came from the corner of the room.
Making a desk out of metal, Hai put his elbows on it and supported his chin on the back of his hands while crossing his fingers.
The shadows approached him but stopped around 2 meters away from him.
Then, they started to reposition themselves in a more organized manner.
After waiting for it, one of the shadows came forward and stopped just one meter away from Hai.
Willing his mana, Hai broke a part of the ice.
*GASP*
There, a figure desperately gasped for air and tried to take in as much air as they could.
Watching everything unfold with indifferent eyes, Hai waited for the figure to grasp the situation.
Almost a minute later, the figure calmed down and looked around before their eyes landed on Hai.
Smiling, Hai opened his mouth.
"It's been quite a while now. How have you been, Regulus?"
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A/N: Hello there, I hope you're having a wonderful day!
Quick notice: I'm currently doing a survey/ casting votes on the Discord server to decide on the theme of the rewrite of my second novel, so if you want to give your opinion/ chose a theme you wish to have a novel written with, join our Discord community and give your vote.
So, what do you guys think about this chapter? We are approaching the part of the novel where there will be more planning and some action in it, but it won't be as slow as it has been until now, so look forward to it.
Comment what you thought about this chapter. If you liked it or not, I want to read your opinions and interact more with you guys.
Another thing: Please give your feedbacks. I want to know what you guys think, if there are things that could be better or if I could have done something in a simpler manner. If you could also leave a review, that would help me to understand what you think about the novel in general, so it would be really helpful.
Also, join our Discord community, there you can interact with other readers or with me in case you have questions or ideas about/ for the novel.
Discord server: https://discord.gg/NZV2EtdJY8
(The link is also on the novel's synopsis).
...….
Power Stones' rewards:
100 Power Stones = 1 bonus chapter;
200 power stones = 2 bonus chapters;
500 power stones = 3 bonus chapters.
...….
That is all for today, thank you all for reading! 🍷😎