OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 253: Born In Ruins

Chapter 253: Born In Ruins

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Sometime later.

"You took a nap yet since yesterday?"

"I don't sleep... I just dream."

Morgiana and Emir stared blankly at Ragnar, causing him to flinch.

"What?"

Emir sighed and relaxed back in his seat, just like the many figures next to him who had done the same.

"Just stop saying weird shit man."

Their room appeared to be purposed as an observation platform, with chairs lined up against tall windows that wrapped around the entire room.

Their view was the students in the academy's sports arena.

A massive field where an obstacle course was set.

Besides that, there was a long-running orange track outlining the grassy field.

'Not bad...'

His eyes remained still on the students, while his mind ignored Ragnar's drivel.

He watched as they pushed themselves to their limits, trying to achieve their best score. After all, if they failed here, the true test wouldn't even be available for them to participate in. So the students were stressed out to the max, and that was to be expected, not because of the stakes, but since they spent the last two days going through medical checkups, legal forms, and 'general' knowledge exams.

"C'mon, you can do it son!"

"Don't fail me Jason!"

"Be careful sweetie!"

"Don't hurt yourself!"

"You son of a bitch! I taught you to run faster than that!"

Those next to him were the Elite, a few representatives of the Big Eight, Academy professors, and all the top dogs of the ten most popular hunter groups.

Some were screaming at the top of their lungs, supporting their children, while others appeared to be noting down talents and picking out those with potential.

Ragnar and Morgiana were now talking with Amon once again, but their words didn't reach Emir as he was, like usual, off in his own world thinking of many things.

But his thoughts took pause as someone requested to enter his neural link communication channel.

He accepted and asked:

[Status?]

[Arthur's arriving at the academy right now, Sir!]

'Hmm, late as usual...'

[Alright, when's your shift over?]

[In an hour after now, Sir!]

Emir leaned back on his chair and supported his head with his arm.

[There's a change of plans; they're hurrying up the test... Have only Ben track him.]

[Understood, Sir!]

The prince had tasked those who previously worked under Nathan to keep watch over Arthur's every move.

It started way back when they won the court case.

Like a hidden blade, he kept this elite task force of theirs under wraps.

It was only heard in rumors, something done on purpose by Lyra.

Because if one faced his enemy with a sheathed blade, its simple existence would be a threat.

This would deter even those stronger than it with its unknowns and possibilities, no matter how unlikely.

Another card that Emir had crafted in his ever-growing arsenal.

And speaking of... He gained another piece of information recently.

Or rather, it would be more appropriate to describe it as 'confirmed' as Emir knew this beforehand.

Arthur's story truly unfolded before his eyes.

His every action was similar to that of what he did in the novel.

He woke up, freshened up, got bullied, ate, got bullied, went outside, got bullied, ate again, and got bullied till he slept.

The average backstory one would expect out of a self-fulfillment fantasy.

Emir, at the time, wondered why such a recipe of clichés was so loved by old-world readers. After all, his fabricated memories, which included everything about the 'novel,' were based on the old world.

This meant that those readers were once real, alive, and they really enjoyed this type of novel. Were they abused that much? Were they the same dregs in society? Or was that just the norm back in the day?

The reason such questions popped up in his mind was because it was so distasteful to see and hear Arthur going through all of that.

He was just so... pathetic.

There was a reason why Emir once rated the Born in Ruins 'novel' six out of five stars for six

feet under.

Not because of the world but because of the characters.

He in fact loved the world-not only through his fake memories, but his real ones as well.

This world was unimaginably massive and full of lively unknowns.

Yet the 'characters' took him out of it.

Especially Arthur and his entourage of so-called misfits.

Arthur, like most MCs, had no anger management issues but righteousness management

issues.

A compulsive justice disorder, one could say...

Born from the constant bullying he experienced throughout his life.

Something that Emir absolutely hated.

Since the beginning, he planned for his death, but that would have to wait, as he didn't want

to ruin all his plans before they even began to take shape.

So for now, he would lay everything out, grab whatever he needed, complete whatever goal he

could, all before...

The 'result' would come out.

After all, this world was real, Emir truly could kill Arthur right this second.

It was quite unlike the thousands of novels out there that he avoided like the plague, where

the protagonists opposing the main character were protected by the world.

Arthur didn't have such a 'cheat.'

However, he had something even better.

A relatively unknown path to those on Earth, one of luck...

The Fortune's Wheel.

This was the manifestation of his cheat.

So, while he didn't have a thing such as 'Karma' protecting him, he had Aether, an even better

ally.

It wasn't something Emir could exhaust, as it was infinite.

Instead, it needed him to plan Arthur's death to the last detail, accounting for every

conceivable and inconceivable variable.

A feat impossible to even think about, but one that he needed to cross nonetheless.

And adding to the already long list of problems...

The novel was 'axed' or so his fake memories told him.

This meant that Emir's knowledge of the future was incomplete... due to an 'unfinished'

ending.

However, he at least knew of the 'Major' and 'Minor' disasters that would occur during

Arthur's stay in the academy.

And his stay would be a long one, as the novel wrote about two years of the kid's life.

One that the now-sighing Emir would cut short.

'Well... let's pull up the info sheet.'

A hologram materialized before his invisible irises, showcasing a long wall of text that described Arthur's circumstances and backstory.

To summarize, Arthur could only be described as the type of man who often cried when

attempting to parallel park his rented cruiser.

Five feet four, D-ranked appearance, and a weak-looking body.

But he was also smart, or rather, he suddenly grew to be.

Why? Well, 'reincarnation.'

Or, more accurately, it was another form of it.

His mind was to be invaded by two men and a single woman.

His 'systems' and THEY were geniuses.

They came to him out of nowhere, about twenty 'chapters' before the weapon selection one.

Since then, he acted like the typical protagonist, dumbly taking revenge on his bullies.

But before that, he was but a pitiful young man, only writhing in the misfortune of his own

making.

Yes, it was unfair, but he didn't even attempt to fight back.

That mattered a lot to Emir.

So he only saw the boy as weak, as pathetic.

One that caught a lucky break and was 'mysteriously' invited to the academy.

Yet again, this to Emir was no mystery.

He knew that it was because of Arthur's status as Isidore's bastard child.

As usual with Elite family heads, Isidore had many children out of wedlocks; however, Arthur

was the only one who survived due to his 'mercy.'

Arthur was treated as a bastard in the family until one day Isidore's main wife planned to kill

him on one of their trips.

The boy was delayed from joining them, stuck at home.

But when he finally emerged from the mouse trap...

Death knocked on his door.

His 'lifeless' body was then disposed of in a ruin.

However, as time passed, it turned out that death hadn't knocked on his door but his

neighbors.

His 'killers.'

Isidore, his father, sent his men, and those kidnappers were no match.

And after the whole ordeal, Arthur was born in that ruin under a new family.

To outsiders, it truly seemed that Isidore loved the kid but was unable to show it.

But was that the truth?

No one knew, not even Emir.

Now Isidore was under the watch of the Ebonfyre elders, and his wife's anger wasn't any help

as the moment she knew of Arthur's survival...

The UEF would know.

So Arthur's father helped him behind the scenes, manipulating a middle-class family into

adopting him.

Then he sent an invitation for him to join the academy.

He, of course, didn't register Arthur with their family name but instead with the ones who

adopted him, so he wasn't found out.

After passing the test, Arthur, like usual, got bullied in the academy until one day he received

a Nano-bot injection. With the nanobot injection came the 'reincarnated' people, the systems.

It also included an OP art, a skill, and finally an Aether core... for some reason.

Since that day, he gained immense strength, topped the ranks, and formed a harem like a

typical protagonist.

Or so the 'story' went.

Emir couldn't help but chuckle at how cliché this all was.

It felt unpleasant to even involve himself in such a shitshow of a play, but he had no other

choice.

To him, the plots and conspiracies in the novel were like poorly wound balls of yarn in a

child's hand.

The technique was clumsy, the execution laughable, and the material of the threads was

inferior.

Unraveling them required little thought, just a tear, nothing simpler.

And that's what he planned to do.

During the eight years under Lyra's mentorship, Emir had not only learned how to fight.

He learned how to lie, deal, plan, control, manipulate, inspire, and command.

Like a sponge, he absorbed everything.

His experience was limited, but his knowledge was that of a library.

And now his mind truly was a library, a repertoire, a database of all that he acquired at one

point in his life.

Emir's control over the nanobots increased, which allowed him to transfer his memories and

store them as he wished.

After all, that wasn't only for the test since the skill he gained was indefinite.

In essence... He was quite ready for what was coming.

'It's time.'

Emir looked to his right and asked:

"So, do we go tour the academy now?"