NoveLight ™
With a command to her apostle, the goddess Ren received a magical device offered as tribute.
The intangible divine energy in her hand lifted the device effortlessly into her grasp.
“What manner of device is this?”
Ordinarily, she wouldn’t spare a glance at the crude creations of mortals in the lower realm. Yet her irritation—and curiosity—about the game that had so brazenly used her name compelled her to act.
Bang! Bang!
She struck the device with her fist, but it refused to respond.
“...A defective product, perhaps.”
Despite its magically enhanced durability, the screen of the device shattered into shards under her blows.
Hours Later
Having smashed five devices to pieces, Ren begrudgingly accepted a sixth one from her apostle.
After enduring a lecture about its proper use, she finally managed to get it working.
“How dare they bring me such humiliation...”
The game itself wasn’t at fault, nor was the scolding from her apostle. Yet she grumbled at the game before activating the program.
Vrrrmmm!
[Dreamstory presents]
White text flashed across a black screen, followed by a logo, then—
Fwoom!
—Ren felt herself enveloped by the power of dreams.
“This is...?”
Her vision shifted so suddenly that Ren blinked in surprise, glancing around her.
A full 360 degrees.
Her entire field of view was swallowed by an infinite black void.
“Virtual reality...”
The level of immersion was stunning. No illusion magic could deceive even a fraction of her divine senses, yet this program overwhelmed her completely.
The technology clearly bore the touch of divine powers, either from a Constellation or an apostle.
“To think another Constellation dared to use my name without permission...”
Her irritation flared.
Perhaps a good smack on the head would set them straight...
Beyond the dark void, countless points of light began to appear, one by one.
A vast universe stretched out before her, filled with an uncountable number of stars.
Even as a Constellation, she had never witnessed such a breathtaking celestial display.
The mesmerizing sight drew her in.
“Perhaps I’ll watch a little longer.”
Though releasing her divine energy would shatter the illusion instantly, she chose to remain and observe.
[Please enter your name.]
A sudden prompt broke the spell.
Her name?
Ren opened her mouth to speak, then stopped herself.
She couldn’t use her true name in a game.
No matter how widely known she was, a god’s true name carried power and could never be used lightly.
“Wendy.”
She selected a name that came to mind, and the screen shifted.
[Welcome, Wendy.]
[This is the Akashic Archive.]
[The repository of all heroic sagas throughout history.]
“Akashic Archive?”
Ren muttered the name instinctively as white text scrolled by, accompanied by a narration.
[Within this Archive lie the spirits and souls of countless heroes who saved the world.]
[You are a candidate to succeed the previous Archive Administrator.]
Vrrrmmm!
The scenery around her spun.
When her vision returned, she saw a pair of indistinct figures—a man and a woman—floating nude and blurry within the void.
[Are you male or female?]
A holographic selection screen appeared.
It seemed this was her chance to create an avatar for the game.
Naturally, Ren reached for the female button.
But then she paused.
Was there any reason to mirror her real form in a virtual world?
The thought struck her suddenly, and she moved her hand to the other option.
Ding!
[Wendy, you will experience countless sagas recorded in the Akashic Archive.]
[May the light of the Constellations guide you.]
[May your saga reach perfection.]
The moment she selected "Male," her consciousness was pulled into the avatar.
Her vision faded to black.
“Wendy.”
A voice called her name.
“Wendy, wake up.”
“...Mmh.”
Her avatar stirred, opening its eyes against her will.
“You’re finally awake, Wendy.”
A young man with striking black hair, appearing in his late teens, came into view. His handsome face was framed by the glow of white light that filled the scene.
Ren turned her head to look around.
She was in a vast library, its shelves stretching endlessly, filled with countless books. The space was so massive that several imperial capitals could fit inside with room to spare.
Yet, aside from herself and the young man, the library was empty.
“Were you too nervous to sleep last night, knowing today was the first day of the test?”
The young man extended his hand toward the air.
Whoosh!
A book flew off the shelves, landing in his grasp.
“Not that it matters. I won’t go easy on you. This test is meant to determine whether you’re worthy of succeeding me as the Administrator of the Akashic Archive.”
He opened the book.
“This first test involves a heroic tale—a saga of a hero who saved their nation from the abyssal monsters. This story has inspired countless others, symbolizing the virtue of sacrifice.”
The young man tossed the open book into the air.
Its pages flipped rapidly, floating before them.
“But recently, a force from the Abyss invaded the Archive, corrupting parts of the story. Your task is to drive out the Abyss and restore the narrative to its rightful state.”
His gaze landed on Ren.
“Now, let the test begin.”
Thump!
He closed the book.
[Beginning access.]
A burst of light engulfed Ren’s vision.
BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions shook her as shockwaves sent her body flying backward.
“What is this?”
When the light faded, she found herself surrounded by the stench of iron and blood, standing on a dark, chaotic battlefield.
Ren was now a soldier in the thick of battle.
Screeeeeeech!
“Die! Die!”
“Aaaagh, my arm!”
Crack! Crunch!
The battlefield was filled with screams and grotesque monsters clashing with human soldiers in fierce combat.
“These monsters...”
Ren’s eyes widened.
The creatures were unmistakably familiar.
How could they not be? They were the very monsters she had fought against in her mortal life.
Screeech!
!!!
Suddenly, a monster lunged at her from behind.
Caught off guard, she couldn’t react in time.
Now stripped of her divine powers, her current avatar lacked the strength to fling the creature off.
The monster’s claws and teeth tore at her helpless body.
Fwoosh!
A flash of light cut through the air, slicing the monster in half.
Thud!
Green blood splattered across Ren as the beast fell.
“Are you alright?”
A voice called out.
Through the gore and chaos, Ren saw her.
A radiant knight clad in brilliant armor, cutting a path through the darkness.
It was the hero who saved a kingdom through sacrifice—
The figure before her was none other than her past self—
The Knight Ren, who had ascended to the position of a Constellation following her death.
***
The second day since the game's release.
The concurrent user count had already surpassed 100,000, as tracked by the system.
Word of mouth seemed to spread like wildfire, with the number of players skyrocketing at an alarming rate.
And along with it, the revenue was shooting straight into the stratosphere.
“I’m still hungry for more.”
In this era, even in a fantasy world, the widespread development of magitech meant that nearly every commoner owned a magical device.
With most of the continent as potential customers, there was still plenty of room to grow.
I scrolled through various community forums on my device to check the public sentiment.
Given the nature of the virtual reality game, most responses were filled with awe at the immersive experience.
Interestingly, it wasn’t just the game itself garnering attention. The protagonist of the prologue—Knight Ren—was drawing significant praise.
Despite being just an in-game NPC, the hyper-realistic experience clearly left players deeply impacted by Knight Ren’s story.
As a result, a substantial number of players were spending their currency to obtain the first limited character, [Knight Ren].
“Well, that’s excellent.”
In character-based gacha games, two things drive players to spend: the character’s performance and their charm.
Performance can’t be easily adjusted due to issues with power creep and maintaining balance, but charm? That’s where you can make people fall in love with the characters.
Using a tiered system, I could easily expand beyond [Knight Ren] to introduce variants like [Swimsuit Ren], [Christmas Ren], [Fallen Ren], and even [Constellation Ren].
Choosing [Hero Ren], a widely celebrated figure on the continent, as the star of the first story arc was clearly the right decision.
Not only was she a beloved heroic figure, but her life story had already been immortalized in history books, making it resonate even more with the audience.
…But why wasn’t anyone talking about the Akashic Archive Administrator?
The player character—the guiding mentor within the story and the previous Archive Administrator.
I’d based his appearance loosely on my previous life, refining the features to be more striking. I wanted to make him look just a bit cooler than I had been.
And yet, there wasn’t a single mention of him anywhere.
Everyone was fixated on Knight Ren.
This stung a little.
Should I increase the Administrator’s screen time?
I hovered over the draft for Chapter 1 of the storyline, debating whether to rewrite it.
But I shook my head.
No.
A developer creating a Mary Sue or self-insert character is one of the fastest ways to ruin a game.
With my life—and my Constellation’s very existence—riding on the success of this game, I couldn’t afford to indulge myself.
Ding!
A message notification popped up from my Constellation.
[Emergency! Emergency! cries the Dreamteller in a panic.]
Emergency?
[The Constellation Ren has invaded! shouts the Dreamteller, frantically.]
!!!!
The real-life version of Knight Ren, the Constellation herself, had shown up?
No way.
The infamous Constellation of Slothful Sacrifice?
The one known by her true name, Ren?
One of the seven great heroes embodying the virtues of the continent, her selfless sacrifice had elevated her to the status of a Constellation after death.
Ren was renowned not only as a major deity introduced to children through their earliest heroic tales but also as one of the least active Constellations in existence.
This was precisely why her story was the perfect choice for the game—compelling, heroic, and seemingly safe from interference.
But now, only two days post-launch, she’d come directly to confront my Constellation?
I might be facing the imminent shutdown of the game.