0. Prologue
I've always been consumed by curiosity—not the simple kind, like wondering why the Sun exists, but a burning need to understand how it radiates light. This drive led me to explore every subject that caught my interest, earning me the title of a "gifted child." But what others saw as talent was merely obsession—one that ultimately left me isolated.
At university, I tried to change. I dove into games, read fiction, socialized, and even had a girlfriend. It wasn't a fairy-tale romance, but it brought color to my otherwise monochrome life. Eventually, I found my calling as a streamer for The Singularity, a VRMMORPG with a crafting system so sophisticated it felt like a paradise for someone obsessed with knowledge and tech.
As a top player and content creator, I built advanced armor, plasma weapons, and even giant mechas from scratch. My channel, focused on tutorials and scientific experiments within the game, drew thousands of viewers daily. I was no longer alone—until a hardcore fan made an absurd request, backed by a donation too substantial to refuse: "Play an otome game."
"Alright, folks, I'm installing Doki Doki Love Fantasy right now," I said mid-stream, still in The Singularity. Modern gaming tech was so advanced I could install another game while playing. "Any spoilers for this otome game?" I asked, scanning the chat.
The responses were wild: reverse harems, magic, swords, cliché palace drama, and a Demon King as the final boss. I chuckled. "Not my kind of world, but what's the harm in trying?"
I never got the chance.
A sudden jolt surged through my body. My game capsule buzzed, sparks flashing. I scrambled to log out, but it was too late. Everything went dark.
When I awoke, I wasn't in a virtual world—or the real one. I was somewhere else entirely, still in the android body I used in The Singularity. Stranger still, I could summon the Stargazer, my spaceship, through a dimensional gate.
"Apolo, activate."
A spherical drone with glowing blue lenses—Apolo, my AI companion—hovered before me. After scanning the environment, it delivered a shocking revelation: this world was infused with magical energy, not the cosmic energy of The Singularity. I had been transported to a fantasy world, straight out of the cliché isekai stories I'd skimmed when bored.
My android body was nearly invincible in a world of swords and basic magic, but I felt nothing—no fear, no joy, no sadness. Just the same hollow emptiness of my old life. Apolo suggested transferring my consciousness into a human body.
Wandering through a dense forest, Apolo cloaked behind me, I heard screams and clashing steel. A group fled from bandits, and a young man in ragged clothes slipped, falling into a raging river. His lifeless body washed ashore.
His face stopped me cold—it was identical to mine.
"What a strange coincidence," I muttered. A fresh human body, still warm, with no identity. The opportunity was too perfect. "Apolo, initiate the consciousness transfer and adapt this body to our tech."
My new human body, enhanced with my android tech, could wield telekinesis with effort and, astonishingly, channel mana—a mystical energy I'd only read about in fiction. Like any isekai protagonist, I decided to become an adventurer.
But before I could register at the Adventurer's Guild, an old butler ran toward me, tears in his eyes. "Young Master Rey! You're alive… Rey Lucien!"
Lucien? This body belonged to Rey Lucien, the son of a minor baron with a messy status, a complicated family, and a terrible reputation.
That only made things more intriguing.
As Rey Lucien, I lived in secret, my old obsession reignited. I studied magic, alchemy, and this world's social structure, experimenting in the shadows of the crumbling Lucien estate.
—Winter, Year 499 of the Tharsaros Calendar—
A year later, at seventeen, the same butler returned with a letter and grim news. "Young Master, come spring, you must attend Tharsaros Royal Academy."
Tharsaros Academy. That name. Too familiar.
I looked skyward and let out a dry laugh. "So this is that absurd otome world?"
Why was I transported to a world of charming princes, romance routes, and noble drama? Why not a proper fantasy world of monsters and true adventures?
"Well, damn it…"