"Status page."
—-
[
Status: Profile Active | In Training.
CURRENT LOCATION & STATUS:
Location: Bureau of Souls (Primary HQ)
Status: In Training
AIT-Z Interaction: Active
Training Focus: Briefing by AIT (Completed), basic mission understanding (Ongoing), role adaptation, narrative manipulation.
]
—-
"Miss Dina, please do concentrate; this is very important for your mission."
Dina smiled apologetically, "Sorry, my curiosity got the better of me."
"Not an issue," Zero-One glanced away lightly before continuing, "Your mission is very simple."
"Across the given worlds you're to travel, your purpose is to capture the target romantically. You're to gauge how much progress you've made through the meters assigned accordingly."
"Once you've progressed to 100%, you'll be extracted from the mission, in preparation for the next one."
Dina nodded calmly, eagerly scribbling down as much as she could in her holographic notes—not that she needed it, but certain habits were simply too difficult to let go of.
"Now on the topic of your role," Zero continued, "For each world, an in-depth calculation by the joint effort of the statistics team of the Transmigration Department and Archives Department has been made on the most effective way to prevent world corruption and eventual destruction of the world."
"This calculation gave birth to the concept of 'roles'. Hence, all roles, despite their purpose, have a singular goal: To prevent world corruption."
"I have a question—"
"Hold on, Miss Dina, you have quite the problematic habit of asking questions that'll eventually be covered due to your impatience."
Dina grimaced, "Ugh, fine."
"Continuing, this entails that as long as you do your role just fine, any other thing that's incapable of jeopardizing your role is allowed. I'd warn you though, there have been many recorded cases of newbies who enter mission worlds with that mindset and end up making decisions that eventually do affect their missions."
"Is that so?" Dina mumbled.
She completely understood. Who wouldn't be excited about traveling across various worlds? Something like that—it was kinda obvious many would fall into such traps.
"Yes. Thus, a new system was proposed by the AITS and, after much scrutiny, was accepted. This new system was termed the O—"
"OOC meter! I definitely know about this one!"
Zero stared at the overtly excited female in exasperation, causing her to recoil with a light apology. He sighed softly.
"Indeed, I presume you already know what it stands for. A swift summary is that it gauges the level of disruption your every action has, and with every 10+ increase you're given a light punishment that won't affect your mission in any way."
Dina felt a sense of foreboding, "Which punishment…?"
She was ignored.
"...And at 100% you'll be deemed to have failed your mission and extracted from the world. It's an exceedingly helpful system and has since helped us switch individuals effectively, avoiding cases that would have otherwise led to world collapse due to late intervention."
Dina squinted menacingly at Zero, who simply smiled. What a snake! Leaving the best as a surprise, huh?! Asshole!
"Another thing your OOC meter affects is an important value seen at the end interface of every mission—the NIS. The NIS, simply put, is a feature that improves your rewards—like a bonus feature if you will."
"Okay… so it's not important?"
"If you're not interested in additional bonuses, then yes. NIS gauges how well you interpreted your role in the mission world."
"An official example is this: You have a role involving going into a world to act as a hero who saves the day. There are many ways to fulfill this role, and the least hazardous is to be accredited a good NIS."
"If you use non-heroic means while still fulfilling your role, you get a bad NIS, but if everything about you is heroic, including your hidden behavior, you get a good NIS. Is this understandable?"
Dina hummed, "So basically, how you are in line with your role, like the ultimate form of OOC?"
"Not really," Zero negated, "You can conclude a mission with high OOC and still get a good NIS. It's a bit of a complicated system, but just know as long as you don't go around causing havoc just because it doesn't affect your role, then you're almost always guaranteed to get a good NIS."
"I see…."
As she trailed off, Zero materialized a slender book with a pure white cover—back and front.
Dina stared dumbly until he explained, "Although fulfilling your role is a sure guarantee to prevent a world collapse, there are still some actions by the transmigrator that could lead to mission failure, regardless of your role."
"After all, transmigrators are non-residents of the mission world and hence at a constant risk of forceful expulsion that has to be mitigated from every angle to ensure a successful mission."
"So I—"
"You have to memorize everything."
"...."
"I didn't know this training program would take so much time??" Dina complained while retrieving the slender book, which turned out to have quite a large number of pages within.
"I never said it wouldn't?"
"Damn it."
***
Since the flow of time was irrelevant in this place, Dina wasn't exactly sure how long it took for her to memorize the entire book.
The Bureau's flow of time was versatile, and thus any time given to her by Zero would be a useless replication of Earth's time or, in his words, "artificial nonsense."
Especially since a Bureau worker's time was calculated according to their work done.
Thus Zero, the ever so excellent teacher, decided he'd have to get her used to the timelessness of the Bureau—that was how she got banned from asking about time… outside the mission world.
Dina, who couldn't work anymore, momentarily fell into depression, but after seeing her work so hard, her heartless AIT finally gave her a much-deserved rest.
As a spirit, she didn't need one, but thank the Bureau heads, although things such as eating, sleeping, etc. weren't needed for Bureau workers, they still derived satisfaction from them.
Except excretion needs were completely erased… understandable.
After her rest and a free sumptuous meal of pasta that Dina swore not even the best restaurant with its highest star ranking could replicate, she stopped groaning and mourning about dying a second time and restarted her training.
The next training done was role adaptation.
To begin, she was required to pick a mission and hence an interface filled with varying missions was opened before her.
—
{
Access Level: AIT-Z (Zero) & Assigned Transmigrator
Status: Profile Active | Mission State: Selection
> USER PROFILE: VERALDINA, GERALDINA
Transmigrator ID: TS-2510-∞
Alias: "Dina"
Classification: F-Class Transmigrator
Transmigration Age: 0 Years (Instance Initiation)
AIT Assigned: Zero
---
MISSION STATUS: SELECTION
Mission Type: "To hold a god's heart (F-Class)"
Role: Romance Division - Capture the target designated as the Male Lead (ML).
Plot: The Beast King has reincarnated into the modern world. Oppressed as a child, betrayed and cast out as worthless in a world bred full of prejudice and injustice, he recalls his memories and enters a quest for revenge.
World Ending: Using his powers as the Beast King, he triggers a 'savagery' within the bloodstream of the Beast Kin, whom he now deems as tainted, and they destroy themselves.
Objective: You have been transmigrated as the Beast's maid who dies in the first half of the story. Before your death, groom the Beast King to love his people once more.
Time Cost: 1 year.
---
Mission Type: "Once Upon a Tail (F-rank)"
Role: Romance Division - Capture the target designated as the Male Lead (ML).
Plot: "Emerging from within the dreadful waters of the dark resides a curse born and bred by two vengeful rivals. This curse will devour the world."
A prophecy was declared. A merman finally of age emerged from the deep. On the right side of his heart was hate for the demons, and on the left, disdain for the angels.
But he bore both bloods and would bring the world to its end.
World Ending: He began a fierce war between all races that ended the world.
Objective: His heart is as divided as his race. Let love sew them as one and his blood will lust for not war, but you.
Time Cost: 5 years.
—
Mission type
.
.
.
.
> [Transmigrator is advised to make a selection within 5 minutes or a mission will be assigned at random.]
}
—
"Since you're a beginner," Zero explained, "All choices are F-rank worlds."
Dina studied each mission intensely before coming to a draw between the first two.
She asked, "Any advice?"
Zero shook his head, "I'm obliged to say very little, but here's a little hint: Surety is a good pick."
"Surety huh?" Dina muttered.
When she studied the two options even more clearly she understood: the first one specified her role as a maid while the second was left ambiguous.
A maid… Couldn't be that bad, right?
After much pondering, she made her decision.
"I'll take the mission type 'To hold a god's heart'."
The interface changed and on the display was a message:
"Yes."
<...>
—
[
Mission Type: "To hold a god's heart (F-Class)"
Role: Romance Division - Capture the target designated as the Male Lead (ML).
Plot: The Beast King has reincarnated into the modern world. Oppressed as a child, betrayed and cast out as worthless in a world bred full of prejudice and injustice, he recalls his memories and enters a quest for revenge.
World Ending: Using his powers as the Beast King, he triggers a 'savagery' within the bloodstream of the Beast Kin, whom he now deems as tainted, and they destroy themselves.
Objective: You have been transmigrated as the Beast's maid who dies in the first half of the story. Before your death, groom the Beast King to love his people once more.
Time Cost: 1 year.
True Role: Fill the entrancement meter to 100%. Beware! A meter below 50% will be deemed a failure and trigger immediate extraction of the Transmigrator!
—
(T/N: ^ means extra information)
Training Recommended:
Housekeeping & Maid Skills ^
Basic Defense & Emergency Response ^
Understanding Trauma & Emotions ^
Love Psychology & Trust Building ^
Communication Skills ^
Emotional Anchoring ^
Note: Completion of the first three training modules is mandatory for the safety and survival of the Transmigrator. However, it is strongly recommended to complete all six modules to maximize mission success. For access to supplementary training routines, the AIT may consult the official Bureau Store.
]
—
Dina hummed, "So that's the meter you were talking about! But, a Bureau Store…?"
"Too early."
She pouted before shrugging it off, "Something about this mission rubs me the wrong way."
"Hmm?"
"I won't have to groom a child… would I?"
Dina's weary eyes met Zero's pretty green ones, and with a light hum, he explained.
"Not necessarily. Your mission is to train him to grow up into a king who won't vanquish his people. Unless that's the method you desire… but you must be ready to face the consequences of whatever method you choose."
Dina stared into the male's cold eyes and decided to end the questions. Of course, their moral ethics wouldn't be the same as humans', but it was good to know she wouldn't be forced into doing something immoral… for now.
She frowned lightly, "So many rules. So we're doing all six, right?"
Zero nodded, "What do you think of more—"
"Yes! Six of these sound great!"
"...."
Looking at Dina who was beaming, perhaps from getting back at him, Zero rolled his eyes.
"Then shall we begin?"
"After you recite the rules one more time."
Dina gasped exaggeratedly, which was met with a blank stare.
"Okay, now you're just being petty!!"
Her cries were unheard, and with a wronged expression, she recited the hateful rules one last time.