Shen opened eyes and immediately frowned because of the loud system calls:
[Congratulations! Story task «Awakening of an ancient evil» successfully completed! +100 points to main hero coolness! +50 points to the main villain's strength! +10 points to the main villain's multiplicity! Bonus for the main character's rescue -unlocked ability «Two powers»! Main character's morality was increased!]
«Oh» listening to these heart serenades, Shen said, «I'm of course very happy for mc's morals, but when the hell a simple argue between two users became a story task?! System, are you adjusting tasks to a plot or vice versa?!»
System wisely stayed quiet.
«More interesting, did user one receive any bonuses?»
[Activated the ability «Boundless patience»] System notified.
«...»
«Well, in his situation this ability is quite useful...»
"Teacher?"
Shen jumped in surprise! Only now deciding to take an interest in the real world, he found himself on a grey floor in one of the empty halls. Was it the kid who dragged him here?
[Right.]
"You changed a lot in these three months," Shen remarked, looking at the main character.
Al flushed as if he was complimented.
"Okay, help this old man get up," Shen declared, holding out his hand to Al.
Still flushed boy hastily grabbed the teacher's hand and helped him to get on feet.
Despite the terrifying pain that Shen experienced during the restraining of the Deep Darkness, now he felt surprisingly not bad. Perhaps, the darkness that lurked in his golden core actually had no intention to harm him.
"Well, it's pretty late now, and you've been away even longer..." Shen paused, embarrassed.
He couldn't admit that he knew nothing while his disciple was lying there for an almost entire week! What kind of a great mentor he would be then? The problem was that even if Shen won't tell Al anything, his classmates will tell him later anyway...
"Anyway, I'll walk you to the Peak of Lurking Wind" Shen concluded.
He was going to drop by on Shian anyway, and besides felt like walking across a bridge in the evening twilight, that's why he saw a quite natural intention to take there troublesome main character, who was able to find trouble on his head anywhere. Plus the «screen time» System kept him talking about. And even though they saw each other today, and her warning was formally fulfilled, extra screen time for the main character wouldn't hurt.
Only he didn't think that the young heart of the main character misinterprets his intentions.
Blushing and stuttering again, Al forced from himself:
"T-Teacher doesn't need to care so much about this disciple... Teacher must be very tired fighting with the Deep Darkness! This disciple doesn't dare to steal the teacher's precious rest time!"
Shen frowned slightly.
"Actually we are just on my way," he honestly admitted. "And I had no intention of going to sleep."
Al, who thought that teacher makes it all up just to calm him down, was really horrified.
"Teacher cares too much about this disciple!" he cried out, frantically bowing and backing away towards the exit. "This disciple is too low to waste so much of the teacher's time!"
Shen was stunned for a moment from such a reaction.
"Wait! You must've come to tell me something!"
He finished the phrase in an empty hall. Al simply ran away.
«And what was that?! What was so scary this time?!»
[+5 points to main hero's morality,] System reported.
Shen's brow twitched nervously at this news.
«Look, System,» he started by going to the bridge, as he had originally planned. «Don't you think that the main character has a little too low self-esteem? Or does he belittle himself so much only in front of me?»
[I guess, the main hero really has a low self-esteem,] System responded after some time, when Shen had already decided that she won't answer. [His scores on the «main character's ego» scale right now are frozen at -1000.]
«Minus thousand?!» Shen almost tripped. «And why frozen??»
[Probably, the story arc in which they would be available hadn't appeared yet. System is not omniscient.]
«Do you mean, that if they weren't frozen at -1000, they could have fallen even lower?»
[That's very possible.]
He needs to raise the main hero's sense of self-importance!
After all, this is a novel in the genre of «harem»! How he'll win all this «gentle flowery fauna», if his self-esteem broke through the floor?? He absolutely will not!
In the original story the main character was already sixteen and was getting all cozy wozy with lovely Yin. But what triggered this side of his personality?
Shen tried to remember what it was during all his trip through the bridge.
When the bridge was already coming to an end, he glanced up and saw a man leaning on the railing. In the next moment his accustomed to the darkness eyes unmistakably recognized the man as Shian.
"Are you stalking me here?" Shen clarified.
"Brother!" Shian threw himself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug. "I'm so glad to see you! Are you alright? Does everything ok?"
Shian occupied him with questions just like grandma. The only thing missing was him dragging Shen off to eat some pies!
"If you were so interested, you could have disturbed me during these three months!" Shen said reproachfully.
"Actually," his brother got serious, "I was a little busy too. We almost dealt with the Cold Flame Sect, in any case we completely destroyed its heart."
Shen was looking at Shian, flashing his eyelashes.
He just! Wanted! To make some points! With what matured mc will fight now??! The plot is completely out of control!
"Ow?" his brother was surprised by the weird reaction "I thought, you'll be happy about it."
"I... I'm just a bit startled. And also frustrated that all interesting events walk right past me!"
"Don't worry, Shen," Shian laughed, hugging him once more, "Autumn parade of spirits is soon, you'll definitely find something to entertain yourself with!"
«Autumn parade of spirits?» he asked System. «Is it what I'm thinking about?»
[User two absolutely right. This is analogous to the night parade of the hundred spirits of our world.]
«Why didn't I read about this stuff in the novel?» Shen wondered.
[Because in the novel the time before the main character had reached his sixteens was replaced with words «days passed by».]
«Thank you very much!» Shen snorted. «I've already experienced by myself the meaning of «three months like three days»!»
"Are you not happy, Shen?" his older brother was saddened.
"Don't know yet," he cautiously replied.
"Hm-m-m... Okay! I promise, this year you'll choose your spirit by yourself! Whatever you want to!"
«Choose a spirit?» nearly asked puzzled Shen, but bit his tongue just in time.
YOU ARE READING
Villain Path
FantasiaHe died and was reborn in the world of the novel he'd just read?! How banal, damn it! System, I wish I were never born! System: [You have been assigned the identity of the main villain] Have I sinned so badly in my past life?! System: [And by the...
