Chương 41: The Register of Constants

Kurogami remained static at the mouth of the ancient cave, beneath the strong sun clarity that bathed the forest surface. Before his dark eyes, the device's screen gleamed sharply. Sliding his finger across the clean interface of the Goddess Game menu, he bypassed the initial warnings and accessed the device's main menu. The screen displayed only three main highlighted applications, gleaming beneath the header: Ranking, Register of Constants, and Ascension.

Pressed by the timer running on the lower display, Kuro tapped the first icon.

The Ranking application opened instantly on the interface, projecting the data of the official Top 5 chess pieces of that immortal entertainment: 1st Place: Queen Lia – Rank S (Location: Other World / Status: Active) 2nd Place: Queen Sofia – Rank A (Location: Other World / Status: Active) 3rd Place: King Kuro – Rank B (The only King on the board) 4th Place: Queen Kaede – Rank C 5th Place: Queen Aurelia – Rank D Kuro quickly closed the tab and accessed the Register of Constants application.

In the next millisecond, universal information and laws were thrown directly into his thoughts through the device's luminous screen: [Universal Rules of the Constants:] Oblivion Spell Active: None of the Queens maintain memories of the past. They are merely pieces playing chess completely blindly. Absolute Gender Restriction: No Constant changes gender through the board's cycles. General Appearance Registry: The features and face of all Constants remain completely unalterable across the eras.

No one undergoes changes in physical appearance between cycles. Primordial Divine Bond: King Kuro and Queen Aurelia are directly linked and respond to the same primordial Goddess of the board. Unique Race Exception: The piece Mireya is linked to a Demi-Goddess, being the only one on the entire board authorized to undergo a change of race and facial structure between cycles, keeping the gender restriction intact.

Additional Note: The registry clearly dictates that Queen Lia is the only anomaly identical to King Kuro on the entire board, being the only two who remember everything and retain each memory, playing with the same level of consciousness across the eras. Beneath the goddesses' notes, the device's screen flashed abruptly with a critical collapse warning in scarlet letters. I analyze the modification notifications that begin to leap before my consciousness.

[Critical Alert: Due to severe trauma, the record of individuals you killed in the past, and absorbed soul fragments, a biological collapse has been triggered. Estimated time until all your bodily EMOTIONS are erased forever and your soul's FEELINGS are reduced and stabilized at 60%: 10: 00: 00] Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I concentrate my focus to read my official technical sheet and the exact explanation of my current skills within the Ascension menu interface. * [Biological Analysis: Hybrid Organism Detected — 50% Human / 50% Shadows] [Support Classes: Alchemist – Silver Level] [Combat Classes: Assassin – Diamond Level / Shadow Class (Magic) – Level 2] [Active Skills:] Shadow Step – Level 1 (Traverse short distances, vanishing and reappearing up to 3 meters away. Cooldown: Once every 10 minutes).

Molecular Alchemy – Level 3 (Manipulation and reorganization of the structure of matter). Shadow Warrior – Level 7 (Advanced control over projections and concealment). Sword Skill – Level A (Elite mastery in handling cutting blades). [Magic Levels:] Internal Mana: Diamond Level External Mana: Gold Level Mana Quantity: Medium [Active Regeneration Mechanics: The shadow half consumes the organism's mana to seal tissues and knit broken bones in real time.] [Attention — Lethal Limit: Immortality is nonexistent. I will die definitively if my regeneration fails due to an absolute lack of mana, or if I suffer immediate total destruction caused by any impact or extremely high-potency magic that disintegrates my body before the shadows can act.] Suddenly, the applications' interface was completely frozen. Dark letters began to leap directly onto the device's screen, revealing direct messages sent by a divine female presence, the Goddess of the Void:"You survived beyond my expectations. You seek answers.

I merely observe your choices. Every truth has a price. Are you prepared to pay it?" [System] Registration Terminal shutting down. Self-destruction in 00: 10: 00. All registered information will remain in the Book of the Constants. Kurogami stared at the luminous display that now exhibited a severe ten-minute countdown to the final explosion, reflecting in his opaque pupils beneath the stone entrance sun.

He pulled the ancient dark-covered book from inside his wolf-pelt backpack and compared the first lines of textual names. So I am indeed part of a game... It's just as I thought from the beginning; in the end, I was right. Which means this entity is the very one to blame for everything. Now I have many reasons to take revenge on her. So Aurelia and Mireya are also involved in this now... Do they know about it? I believe not. I won't tell them yet either.

I'll read this entire book later; I have no time to lose with the timer running. I much preferred the cell phone; the screen makes everything easier. But it seems the goddess gave this device just for me to gather some temporary information as a reward for killing the Shadow Queen Boss. Will this paper book also update itself like the display of this device? Well, this world is driven by pure magic, so a physical book updating itself shouldn't be something impossible around here.

Regardless, I am not going to keep carrying a tracker from the goddess that is going to explode anyway during the countdown. I'm keeping the paper. In the next millisecond, the system's digital timer froze the remaining time and jumped straight to the final ten seconds, flashing in a scarlet warning of imminent thermal collapse. Acting under pure caution and pragmatism, Kuro stretched out his arm and dropped the device over the stone entrance cliff, ridding himself of the lethal threat before time ran out.

The device plummeted in a straight line as the digits rapidly counted down to zero. Upon hitting the dry impact against the sharp rocks of the ground far below, the divine charge contained within the display exploded in a violent snap of fire, turning the technology into dead, charred pieces amidst the dust. Kuro observed the trail of smoke vanish at the bottom indifferently, maintaining his cold countenance.

He closed the wolf-pelt backpack, adjusted the coat on his shoulders, and remained standing there at the mouth of the ancient cave, while his thoughts calculated the paranoia of his new survival route. So I always have the same face, and apparently Aurelia does too... I have the same face and appearance as when I was King Kurogami, and even when I reincarnated into the modern world, my face didn't change absolutely at all. Even the grey streak in the bangs of my black hair is identical.

It seems she and I will always be the same people and with the same appearances across the eras. The fact that we are linked to the same goddess explains it, plus the game's rule bars any gender change. Lia and Sofia seem to be active in an entirely different world from what the display pointed out, leaving only me and Lia as the only ones who remember everything across the eras. But Mireya... since she responds to a Demi-Goddess, she is the only one authorized to change race and face.

Why did her Demi-Goddess make her turn into such a beautiful feline creature? I have a real urge to grab her tail. Regardless, this is a much larger game. I cannot fail. Who am I truly in this second version? Who is Aurelia truly in this third version of hers? What on earth happened to them and Aurelia? Did Selene really invite her into the party on that day of the kiss, when I said to invite Aurelia to the party and said that I love her too?