"No, now is not the time to rest."
After An left, Moen flipped over and sat upright on the bed. Despite his still somewhat frail body, he got up and walked to the nearby desk.
Relying on his memory, he fished out a blank sheet of paper from the desk drawer, then picked up a feather quill and dipped it into ink.
"The current storyline has completely diverged from the original one, which means that all future events are now unknown to me."
"The original book no longer holds any reference value; I must rely on myself."
"First, I have to set some goals."
Moen rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then began to write down some neatly arranged text on the paper.
1. Survive.
2. Avoid the 'death by a thousand cuts' ending.
3. Become stronger.
"These are the three main goals for now."
Surviving, of course, goes without saying—for better or worse, he was a man who'd been almost dead twice. Up till now, he still felt unease at the thought of death.
Even though this world was decidedly hostile toward him, a blonde-haired villain, he genuinely wanted to live properly.
"Besides, about the ending foretold in the prophetic dream..."
Now that the 'apocalypse ending' had completely collapsed, the storyline seemed inexorably headed toward an ending in which he would be subjected to a death by a thousand cuts.
But...
Moen hesitated briefly, then picked up the pen again and added a few notes beneath the second point.
→ Not apologizing to the protagonist might avoid this outcome.
→ Apologizing to the protagonist is merely a speculative suggestion from the mysterious figure in the prophetic dream and may not be necessary; the storyline could still deviate to the 'death by a thousand cuts' ending.
→ The Black Book is unreliable.
"....."
Moen pondered for a moment before crossing out the last line.
He dared not promise that.
"In other words, my current situation is Schrodinger's death by a thousand cuts?"
The more Moen thought about it, the more his headache grew.
"Ugh, no, the lack of information makes everything guesswork at best."
The root of the problem lay in the vague nature of the prophetic dreams provided by the Black Book, with no additional clues to work from.
Moen didn’t even know whether these prophecies were immutable—destined to occur regardless of his actions—or if they could be altered through his choices.
"Forget it. Overthinking solves nothing. What I should focus on now is accomplishing the most urgent of my goals."
Moen’s gaze drifted to the third point on his list.
*Become stronger.*
This was undoubtedly the most critical objective for the moment.
Even though this world was hostile to a blonde-haired villain like him, it was ultimately a magic-fantasy world where strength dictated one's standing.
Power was the condition for survival and prosperity.
Without it, one could only resort to desperate measures like trading one’s life for another in the face of death—just as he’d done previously.
"And most importantly..."
Moen gritted his teeth, his face darkening with frustration:
"I swear, I’ll never let myself get pinned down and trampled by a woman again!"
The memory of being overpowered and thoroughly pinned beneath Celicia resurfaced in Moen’s mind—the bitter humiliation and helplessness. Though the experience had been, admittedly, quite stimulating for sensory feeling, his pride as a man refused to let it happen again.
Not even if the woman in question was Celicia!
...
...
"As for how to grow stronger, as the son of a duke, there are countless ways to achieve that. The problem is, those methods are too regular—they won't help bridge the gap between me and the protagonist."
The original Moen had wasted far too much time. After spending a full year studying at the St. Maria Academy of Magic, all this body could recall was just one basic Illumination Spell!
"Ridiculous. Did this guy sleep over every single class?"
How could you sleep at those hours?!
Moen wished he could travel back in time, slap some sense into the original version of himself, and give him a taste of the harsh reality awaiting him.
"Fortunately, though, this body’s physical constitution seems decent—about the level of a late-stage first-tier warrior."
...
In this world, the division of power follows a somewhat intricate structure.
Broadly, individuals fall into the following categories:
1. Those who follow the path of physical martial prowess, cultivating their bodies and mastering combat techniques as warriors.
2. Those who walk the path of magical mastery, channeling magic and honing their abilities as mages.
3. Those who follow the path of faith, devoutly worshiping deities to exchange their belief for divine strength, becoming clerics.
4. And finally, those born as Chosen—the inherently favored by divine beings who have been granted blessings.
Excluding the predetermined category of Chosen, the first three represent the basic paths available to everyone. While there exist unconventional paths beyond these, Moen had no intention of pursuing them.
Take, for example, the assassins who perform rituals and sacrifices to dark gods to receive temporary boosts in power—these individuals are known as "Dark Priests."
Dark Priesthood is one such unconventional route. While it enables rapid power acquisition, it inevitably involves dealings with dark gods. And the fate of most Dark Priests... tends to end ugly.
Essentially, Dark Priests are simply an offshoot of Clerics, differing only in that their devotion is directed toward malevolent entities.
...
At a cursory glance, the power systems appear not excessively complicated. To simplify classification and differentiation, nearly all systems follow a tier-based progression—ranked as Tier One to Tier Five—prior to reaching the "Crowning Tier."
All these systems have their distinct names for each tier.
For example, a first-tier warrior is referred to as "Tempered Body," while a first-tier mage is called "Quicksilver."
These terms, however, are largely symbolic and serve only as labels.
But the real complexity arises from two key reasons:
Firstly, nothing prevents anyone from dabbling across multiple paths. That soft-spoken, seemingly demure priestess who spends her days invoking holy light to save lives might secretly be a top-tier warrior who could bash in a dragon’s skull with her holy tome.
And no restriction says that distant-looking mage who bombards you with endless magic projectiles pull out a hammer the size of your head and smash you into paste at close range?
The truth is, there’s no restriction to sticking with a singular path; many people follow multiple.
Take the previous assassin, for instance. Not only did she display warrior skills of at least Tier Three, but she also wielded gravity-based magic and revealed her status as a Dark Priest at the last moment!
Ultimately, a single tier ranking alone cannot definitively indicate a person’s true prowess, because you never know how far they've progressed along other paths.
The second aspect of complexity stems from external factors—namely, divine influences.
In this world, gods exist anyway.
Whether they are righteous deities, malevolent gods, or Demon Gods, their numbers are countless.
Beyond offering stable power through faith, these divine beings love bestowing blessings upon individuals they favor, thus creating Chosen ones.
In other words, the author’s official "mass-production cheat system."
Take Celicia, for example. She possesses blessings from the Ice Goddess.
As for the protagonist, by the later stages of the original book, she had collected blessings from numerous gods, reaching a total in the double digits. She could be seen as having connections with almost every major deity—a Monkey King in disguise, constantly calling in favors from dozens of divine beings.
The sheer quantity of gods is not the issue here. Due to certain restrictions, gods cannot directly interfere with the human world but only project limited aspects of their power.
The real concern lies in the unpredictability of divine favor. No one can tell what type of person might be blessed next, nor do blessings reveal themselves visibly until activated. That seemingly ordinary beggar on the street? He might unexpectedly summon a magical nuke to blast you sky-high!
