Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The first thing he noticed was the soft cotton on his hands, different from the cheap polyester he was used to. The second was the agonizing pain. Zhou Mingrui rubbed his head and wearily opened his eyes. His head throbbed and his hands were buried in long, high-quality carpet. Something wet trickled down his cheek and onto the floor.

A mocking voice sounded above him. “How dare you talk back to me. Ungrateful! All you do is waste my money!”

Zhou didn’t move, his thoughts rapidly forming in his head. His vision was blurry and his head felt like it was splitting apart. The last thing he remembered was playing a game and the next thing he knew he was here. His head spun with disconnected thoughts and flashes of pain.

While Zhou tried to gather his bearings, he was interrupted by a sharp pain. He felt a harsh kick to his stomach and he flew a couple feet away. The pain left him curling in on himself whimpering in pain like a wounded animal. 

This wasn’t his body. 

This body was weak. He was malnourished and his legs had no strength in them. That one kick had probably caused a major bruise, perhaps even caused internal damage. 

Shit! What is going on? Stay calm, think Zhou Mingrui Think! 

Zhou kept his gaze low but glanced upward at the person who kicked him. It seemed to be a young man in nobleman’s clothes. From a distance, Zhou Mingrui could tell the clothes were high quality and that they didn’t have a speck of dirt on them. 

This doesn’t make sense! Who in this day and age wears that kind of clothing except for someone with a weird fetish?! Zhou Mingrui wanted to shout. 

“You’re useless! All you do is drink and spend money! Do something useful in your life for once!”

What Zhou should have done was get up and yell back at this cosplayer, but instea,d something stopped him. Those words echoed through Zhou Mingrui ’s head, sounding familiar. He swore he had heard those specific words before but where? 

“Speechless huh?” The voice above him scoffed. 

The words sounded so familiar, this wasn’t the first time hearing them…In fact it reminded him of–

“Ah,” Zhou Mingrui involuntarily exhaled. 

This was bad…very bad. 

Immediately Zhou Mingrui wanted to collapse back onto the carpet and let the noble in front of him beat him to a pulp. He had a sudden realization that was so devastating that it felt like all the wind had left his body. 

He had transmigrated into a game. And it wasn’t just any game. It was strange with no developer and no marketing, yet somehow overnight it had spread across the world. Most importantly: it was an otome game targeted towards men, something that was basically unheard of in the genre. 

In the game you played as a predetermined main character: Leonard Mitchell. A knight who is born as an orphan and works his way up in society, running into many interesting characters. 

Zhou Mingrui wasn’t the one to play games like that, but his sister had bought it out of curiosity. After playing it she had given it to him to play through. Immediately Zhou was confused about one thing: 

The main character had no chemistry with any of the love interests! It was insane, even using the predetermined options, nothing that Zhou Mingrui could say to the love interests or anything they said back sounded realistic. 

To make matters worse, the villain made no sense. It was plainly obvious for what purpose the developers had created him. He was a character with no sense of self, and no justified goals. Instead, he was just a foil for Leonard to beat up and show off to the love interests. 

What made Zhou Mingrui mad was that the “villain” did nothing wrong! His entire family had abused him and no matter how much effort he put into being a knight he couldn’t get stronger. 

After the villain worked so hard to no avail, the main character beats him up and embarrasses him for some minor transgression again and again. The villain tries again and again to somehow get revenge, but with limited power, he could do nothing. This results in the villain drinking himself into a stupor until he accidentally falls over a bridge to his death.

It had Zhou Mingrui yelling at the screen about how unfair this man’s life was. What kind of game made him have more sympathy for the villain than the main character? 

From that moment on, Zhou Mingrui decided to hate the main character. He seemed to have no problems other than his past, which was quickly forgotten plot-wise. He had multiple women who were ‘in love with him’ (although he seriously doubted that.) and he was a perfect swordsman for some reason. In short, Leonard Mitchell was an ungrateful man born with a golden spoon in his mouth. The villain was the real hero, putting in countless hours of work despite his family’s abuse, only to die a meaningless death. 

And after way too many days spent, finding every little secret in the game for a chance to get a different ending, he found a hidden option. A dark screen popped up with a couple of words: Do you want to play as Klein Moretti? Yes or No. 

Zhou Mingrui immediately searched online for any evidence of other people getting this option, yet after scouring the internet, Zhou Mingrui could find absolutely nothing. So he did the only thing that made sense: he clicked yes. 

Zhou Mingrui ’s obsession with that character is why he played the game over and over again, trying to get the best ending, not for Leonard Mitchell but for the villain, Klein Moretti. But no matter what he did, the ending was always the same: death. 

And it was those hours spent staring at that “restart” screen that made him familiar with the scene in front of him. 

This was the villain’s first scene explaining his backstory. Klein could replay the scene in his head perfectly. 

Why can’t you get any stronger? You failed your knight certification again!

“Why can’t you get any stronger? You failed your knight certification again!”

Three floating options appeared in front of him. 

• Shut up! 
• Fuck you! 
• I’m not talking to you! 

Immediately Zhou Mingrui , no– Klein wanted to sigh. He almost forgot how unfair this game was. 

Why are these my only options…Klein, this world is too hard on you…

Klein thought over his options, only one of these would result in him living. If he picked one of the first two he would be kicked again and rupture his internal organs leading him to bleed out and his death being covered up. 

Klein had no choice but to pick the last option. He internally chose it and the screen in front of him disappeared. 

When Klein’s mouth opened he tried to say something else a bit more polite, but the only thing that came out was “I’m not talking to you!” 

I really can’t say anything else…

“You insolent brat–!” The nobleman above him shouted. That man yelling at him was his older half-brother. Behind him stood a few maids who did nothing but watch. Their expressions differed, mostly disgust, anger, and satisfaction, although one woman in the back had an expression of pity. 

Klein paid them no mind as he tried to control his body. It took more effort to move with his weak and damaged body. 

He spit out a mouthful of blood as he hoisted himself up. Pain shot through his body as he leaned heavily on the wall to look up at his brother. 

Another screen appeared in front of Klein. 

• You don’t understand me at all! 
• You’re one to talk. You’re not even a legitimate son of the Duke!
• *Yell for help*

Klein quickly ruled out the second option, which would immediately result in his death. That was a piece of information known by everyone in the palace, but something could not be spoken aloud. Klein shuddered at the memory. When he picked that option in the game in the blink of an eye, Klein’s head had ended up on the ground and a bright red restart screen had appeared. 

The most logical option would be to yell for help, or so Klein thought. When Klein had first picked that option he was sure that would allow him to progress. So when his ‘brother’ beat him up until he bled out on the floor, Klein wanted to quit the game for good..

“You don’t understand me at all!” Klein yelled out, feeling the frustration from Klein’s original body well up. 

“What is there to understand? You’re a failure. You can’t do basic swordsmanship!” 

“That’s not my fault!” Klein yelled out. 

“Sure it’s not. You are a scorn of the noble Moretti family.” Lanevus said, his head raised high. 

You’re one to talk… Klein lampooned. 

• *Hit him* 
• I will try my hardest in the future.
• One of you back there, help me! I’m a noble!

Klein had a lot to think about at the moment, but his main goal was to survive. In order to do that he had to stay low and not anger Lanevus. 

“I will try my hardest in the future,” Klein stated, his head bowed.

“That’s a good response. I hope to inform Father of good results in the future. Now go clean up the blood all over the floor before he gets back, Klein .” He spat out the name like it was vicious poison. 

Klein only dared to raise his head once he heard the tell-tale slamming of the door. He immediately collapsed, his entire body was shaking involuntarily. He was scared, but this shaking wasn’t him. No, it was the original owner of this body. The amount of abuse the original Klein had to go through made Klein furious. 

He made a vow in that moment, with his blood dripping onto the carpet and his body sprawled across the floor. He would survive and return home. Klein Moretti would get a good ending this time.

Klein shakily got up and sat down with a grunt at the nearby desk. There was still blood dripping down his head so he grabbed a tissue, put pressure on the wound, and began to think. 

He looked at himself in the reflection of the window. His appearance was European-looking with ordinary features. He had short black hair and brown eyes. His face was a mess, with blood stains and scratches all over his skin. 

Klein shakily brought a hand up to caress his face, feeling warm skin there. He pinched himself and quickly let go when it hurt him. 

I’m Klein Moretti…This isn’t a dream. I’m really in Lord of the Mysteries. 

Klein immediately grabbed a piece of paper from the desk below him and a quill. It seemed this world had a different language, Hermes. For some reason, he could read it perfectly and had many memories from the original Klein already floating in his head. For the time being it was like he was two people, he had suddenly gained memories foreign to him, yet he still remembered his past clearly. 

Klein began to write in Chinese everything he remembered about the game. 

First, he was the villain Klein Moretti, a man destined to die a meaningless death. He was in the country of Loen and lived in the city of Backlund, the capital. Currently, he knew of three love interests he would have to avoid at all costs. 

The reason wasn’t the love interests themselves, but their connection to the main character. Leonard Mitchell, the cause of his eventual death. Thinking about that privileged character who didn’t give Klein a second glance made his blood boil.

There was the rich high-ranking noble Audrey Hall. She was from one of the wealthiest families in the North and had notable power over the region, even though she was only 4th in line for the head of the Hall family. Klein would inevitably have to run into her as another noble, albeit not as a low-ranking one.

There was also Fors Wall, who ran a fashion store in the town square. It wouldn’t be hard to avoid her, as long as he didn’t buy any dresses in the plaza which shouldn’t be a problem. 

The last love interest was Xio Derecha, a knight just like Leonard. She would also be difficult to fully ignore, but there was no reason for Klein to get too close to her. 

Klein Moretti, the son of the viscount of Tingen. He was the youngest son, and so he wasn't next in line for the title of head. That was good, Klein wasn’t aiming for power, he was aiming for a way to get stronger and most importantly a way to get home. 

The game starts with Klein being abused by everyone around him, notably his older brother Lanevus, an illegitimate son of the viscount. Klein can’t get stronger throughout the game despite putting more work than all of his peers into becoming a swordsman. But because of his failure, he was overlooked and abused by his family and his maids. The original Klein also wasn’t a very mentally strong person, often either staying quiet or untactfully lashing out and making his situation worse.

But Klein already had a plan to fix that. 

The first step in avoiding his death was to eliminate these arbitrary multiple-choice dialogue options. Considering that two out of three answers resulted in death 90% of the time, one mistake could mean the end of his existence. The only problem was that Klein still needed to find a way to do that…

A warm trickle of blood dripped down on the floor abruptly ripping Klein from his thoughts. His plans for surviving in the long term could wait until later. The first thing he needed to do was call a doctor. 

Hopefully, this stupid system will at least let me do that. 

As if hearing his mind, the screen reappeared. 

Skill: <Call a Doctor> 3 uses left. 

Klein started with a blank face in utter disbelief. 

In what universe is calling a doctor a skill? This stingy system!

Klein froze for a second. This wasn’t a part of the base game. He didn’t remember the ability to use any skills freely. The only skills he could use were ones that the system prompted at certain checkpoints. He mentally made a note of this and shelved it in the back of his mind.

Klein stared at the skill screen and sighed heavily. 

“This is a scam–wait, I can speak!” Klein exclaimed in surprise. 

• Since it’s just the two of us you can speak like this :) 

Klein just about jumped out of his skin. A translucent floating screen had appeared in front of his face, just like the menu screen in the game. For a second Klein wanted to shake his head and dispel whatever illusion that was in front of him before he remembered this wasn’t a dream. Trying to shake off this screen would do nothing… 

Klein wanted to sigh heavily at the smiley face on the screen. What kind of broken, scam-like system, used smiley faces? It reminded him of a car salesman who made you pay for useless premiums with an unmoving grin across their face. 

• Do you want to use the skill or not? It doesn’t matter to me, my lord. 

A shrugging animation appeared on the screen and quickly disappeared. 

This system has a lot of attitude…

“I could do without the honorifics.” 

• Unfortunately, it's part of my programming :) 

Why is it so passive-aggressive? Klein lampooned. 

“Just use the skill” 

• As you wish Master XD

In all the manhua I’ve read, never have I seen a system with so much…uh…personality. 

Klein ran out into the hallway and his eyes landed on a young maid. While most of the maids would ignore him or run away in fear, this maid was different. When Klein was being beaten by Lanevus only one of the maids had an expression of sympathy and pity. 

“You!” 

“Y-Yes?” She timidly responded. 

“Please could you go and get me a doctor?” He asked, breathless after running. 

“O-of course” 

Skill <Call a Doctor> was used. 2 uses left. 

Shut up you stupid system! This world is a scam.

A couple minutes later an older man rushed into Klein’s room. 

“Young master!” The doctor exclaimed. 

Klein’s eyes widened abruptly. Perhaps…

“What did you do this time?” 

Klein’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. For a split second, he thought this doctor might be worried for him after seeing blood all over his clothes and face, but instead, he was only worried about what kind of minor transgression he had committed. 

Klein tried to open his mouth and reiterate his status as the son of the viscount, but his mouth remained shut. 

Just a little longer…I have to endure this just a little longer. He chanted internally. 

The doctor hastily and roughly treated his wounds, taking no care to make sure he wasn’t hurt. 

No wonder Klein became a villain when he was treated like this every day. 

The doctor didn’t even spare a goodbye as he walked out the door so fast Klein almost missed it. After Klein was sure the man had left and that no one would overhear him he cleared his thoughts and called out. 

“System?” 

• Hello master! 

I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that. Klein mentally commented.

“What am I doing here? The last thing I remember was playing a trashy otome game and the next thing I know I’m here.”

• It’s as you said! You’re now in the world of “Lord of the Mysteries” :)

“ But I don’t want to be here. Can’t you send me back?”

• I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t do that…right now.

“Right now?” 

Suddenly a new screen appeared in front of him. 

*

New Quest!

Goal: ???

Reward: You will be returned home! 

*

• Ta-da!

“This is something else…” Klein exhaled. “What does that mean?”

• Hmm…I’m not sure!

“Didn’t you make it?” 

• Nope! I’m only the messenger I’m afraid. 🙁 Although I can promise one thing, the reward isn’t fake or an illusion. If you complete that quest you will absolutely return home. 

Klein exhaled heavily. None of this made sense. Being transported into a game was impossible right? Yet when he moved his gaze over to his hand and flexed it a couple of times, he could feel the tendons moving, and the blood thrumming under his skin. This was real. 

“So if I ??? I’ll be returned home, isn’t that helpful? If this was a game released back home it would immediately be bombed with 1-star reviews” Klein lampooned He sighed heavily, “Okay…I guess that can wait until a later date…” Klein rested his head on his hand in thought. 

The first thing he wanted to do was get rid of the multiple-choice options, but of course that was currently impossible. He had tried and tried again to somehow bypass the options or perhaps add more, but there was no cheat. No Konami code or /cheatsEnabled, Klein had tried everything in the book to no avail. 

“Hey, System? Shouldn’t I get a starter package or something? It’s unfair that you give me nothing” Klein reasoned. He had read manhuas like this before and usually, there was something that gave the main character an edge. He had knowledge, sure, but that was easily balanced by the extreme difficulty of this game. 

• You get the doctor skill!

Klein made a deadpan face. 

• You’re no fun 😣. Come on, one of these days you’ll laugh at my jokes. Either way, yes I have been instructed to give you a gold starter reincarnation package!

“Wow…gold, how generous.” Klein sighed. 

• Of course, this is a package designed uniquely for you. This is an extremely high-difficulty reincarnation you’ve found yourself in.

“Isn’t that wonderful… Either way, I have to make the most of this situation.” Klein reasoned.

A few moments later a screen appeared in front of Klein. 

Gold reincarnation package received! Open Now? 

Klein clicked the yes button, still feeling a little embarrassed by poking his finger around in the air at a screen most likely invisible to anyone but him. 

Received: 

Unique Skill : ███████ ██████

Innate Skill(Can be upgraded): Seer lv. 9

Legend Skill: Observer’s Eye

Legend Skill: Curse Resistance

Topaz Pendant

Tarot Deck

 100 pounds

Klein’s eyes suddenly widened in shock. The skill was censored? Was this some kind of glitch? 

“What's wrong with this skill?” Klein questioned, pointing to the first unique skill on the screen.”

• It is as intended

“What do you mean? I can’t read it!” Klein exclaimed frustratedly.

The system remained silent, completely ignoring Klein’s complaints. 

Klein tapped on the skill, and to his chagrin, the entire summary and explanation was censored in a similar way. In place of every letter was a black box, telling him nothing about the skill. 

“This just keeps getting better and better,” Klein lampooned. “Let me at least check the other abilities and hope that they're better than that one” 

Unique Skill(Can be upgraded): Seer: 

A Seer is one who has insight into the future. They are skilled at divination and unlocking the underlying truths of the world.

• Enhanced Memory

• Enhanced Spirituality 

• Rare Skill: Divination Lv. 1

• Uncommon Skill: Danger Intuition 

Klein read through the text in front of him, his head tilted in thought. 

It’s all about divination? Don’t I have any strength or fighting abilities? How am I supposed to defend myself? Klein inwardly complained.

Legend Skill: Observer’s Eye Lv. 1

Allows the user to see statistics of characters from Lord of The Mysteries. This includes name and stat points.

The two items that were included were a topaz pendant and a tarot deck used for divination. And last but certainly not least was 100 pounds. 

The Moretti family was a falling noble family, now only having enough money to scrape by. 100 pounds was much more than he had expected. With 100 pounds he could buy all kinds of new things that he would need for the future. 

Klein smiled to himself and nodded with renewed vigor. 

• “Creepy, I’ve been assigned to a money hoarder.”

Klein ignored the text from the system and began to check his stats. 

“Stat window,” Klein flatly stated to the air. Yelling out words to an empty room would get him branded as crazy. He would have to make sure he didn’t do this around other people. 

Klein Moretti ( 周明瑞? )

Vitality: 3

Intelligence: 8 (+1)