I Became The Mafia Boss Inside The Novel

2 Tragedy Transmigration

Hearing that, Elias fell into a daze. System? What system...

However, he immediately snapped out of his daze and realized that it was his cheat to this completely new world.

'Cheats are still a thing? Thank god...'

Although he was a successful author and acted a bit snobbish and gloomy, Elias was actually still twenty one in age and an avid novel reader in his spare time.

He wasn't unfamiliar with the system trope per se; in fact, it was a trope he knew and disliked very well. But at this moment he couldn't erupt any dislike to it at all.

Amidst this confusing situation, his chance could perhaps only rest on the system.

Thinking of that, Elias didn't hesitate to ask.

"System, tell me my current situation."

However, contrary to his thoughts, the system didn't answer.

"...System?"

Confused, Elias raised his head and suddenly felt the wind breeze, making his body tremble from the cold.

The system which was quiet, suddenly shook, glitchy overlays appearing on its surface as the letters on the screen turned blood red.

[Hello, Elias Roan.]

At that moment, Elias felt the room turn cold.

[Or should I call you by your pen-name, Eroan?]

Internally shook, Elias felt an indescribable chill suddenly spurt from his throat.

"Who... are you?"

[Me? Hm... It would be anti-climatic to reveal myself at the start, wouldn't it? That's not interesting at all. More importantly, that's not what you should be concerned about.]

Unable to understand the thought process, Elias' lips twitched as he deeply breathed, calming down his nerves in the process.

"Who--no, what are you? Are you the one responsible for transmigrating me here?"

[Good. You're calming yourself more quickly than I imagined, impressive. I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now. But I figured, wouldn't it be more fun if you solve the mysteries yourself?]

Despite there having no sound, Elias could feel the entity's low chuckle echo.

[Though, I'll give you a headstart. The world you're in now is a very, very familiar place for you. Not Earth though. Far away... or perhaps very close? Who knows.]

Elias was confused.

[The world of Aegis, familiar?]

Hearing that name, all manner of colour suddenly drained from Elias face as his expression paled.

Aegis... Elias widened his eyes at that word. He immediately thought of something, but he denied it fiercely. No way! There's no way!

As though taking relish over his suffering, the blood red text suddenly changed.

[Indeed, the exact Aegis you're thinking about. Be happy about it! It's the world that you created! A world that you know very well, with your knowledge, even becoming the strongest is no impossible task!]

Despite the confirmation and encouraging words by the glitchy system, Elias could no longer keep the horror he desperately contained inside him from those words.

[Heh. What a twist of fate, right? Of course, I won't leave you helpless. I'll give you this system as a cheat, I won't take it back. Its only downside is that it kills you when you fail a mission... and you can't reject a main mission either.]

[But I'm sure the great Omniscient Author can handle that! Goodluck! I hope you survive until we meet, Elias Roan... or should I say, Elias Vito Castellano.]

As soon as the last words fell, a harrowing silence erupted in the prison cell.

Afterwards the glitchy overlay vanished along with the blood red words, returning the system to its former state, like nothing happened at all.

Despite the harrowing and incomprehensible entity already leaving, Elias was still paralyzed in terror with a pale face.

The rest of the contents of the glitchy system fell flat to him and entered one ear to leave to the other, only the word Aegis was resounding in his mind like a broken cacophony.

Why?

It was because Aegis--the world where [Heroes of the New Age] occurs was headed into a certain, inevitable future.

It was a future he meticulously weaved. The ending that Elias rigorously planned and written for years out of spite.

The last chapter of blanketed tragedy.

A future without life, a world of desolation.

Aegis was headed into an absolute, certain inevitable future of destruction. In other words, a tragedy that could not be circumvented.

***

After a few minutes, Elias returned to reality, his face still pale while his eyes slightly regaining luster.

The impact of the realisation of his situation left him in deep seated despair. However, he also realised one side of the situation that gave him hope.

"Even if the world is going to get destroyed, It doesn't matter, as long as I can return to Earth. I can't give up yet..."

Elias reminded himself. At that moment, various questions arose in his mind to distract him from the fact of his situation.

'How could the world I created come alive? Who was the person speaking behind the system? What's my purpose in all of this? How can I return to earth?'

His mind was full of questions with no answers. Elias grimly sighed as he temporarily let every concern including his current situation be buried for the moment.

Currently, he had no answer to any of the questions. He had some preliminary guesses from experience based on reading novels, but those were just some nonsense; this was reality.

Shaking his head, Eliad looked at the most pressing matter right now.

[Hero Creator System]

From the words of the entity earlier, this system could be considered their help to him. However, he couldn't verify if it was safe or not.

But upon careful consideration, if the entity wanted to kill him--it wouldn't be using such a difficult and troublesome way.

Thinking of that, Elias murmured a word he had read in the past: "Status."

At that moment, the system screen displayed itself to him.

[Name: Elias Vito Castellano (Elias Roan)

Race: Human

Talent: Indomitable Spirit

Rank: E+

Level: 17

Unused status points: 150

STR: E+ (78/100)

AGI: E+ (70/100)

STA: E+ (58/100)

CONST: E+ (65/100)

INT: E (51/100)

MAG: E- (43/100)

GROWTH: D (50/200)

SKILLS: [Way of Castellano], [Ferocious Underdog], [Gaze of Intimidation]...]

'Isn't this kind of stats... a pile of shit?'

Elias was stunned as he looked at it. In the world of Aegis, there were classified rankings implemented to measure strength.

Rank F pertains to people as strong as ordinary humans, usually people below level 10.

Rank E pertains to people above average, with levels around 10-19.

Rank D pertains to those with levels around 20-39.

Rank C pertains to those with levels around 40-59.

Rank B, Rank A and beyond those... were above level 60 and almost unmeasurable.

There was also a system status screen in the world.

But unlike the status system people use in this world, the Hero Creator System he currently has seems to have more advanced uses and additional tabs.

For example, the latter has something called status points which have the ability to grant the user immediate power up at moments notice or instantly increase their familiarity in skills.

That was a very broken ability, considering the way people raise their strength in Aegis is through either training, killing monsters, subjugating dungeons and enlightenment.

There was also something called Mission Tab which immediately caught Elias' notice as he remembered what the entity said.

[MISSION TAB]

Looking at the shining section, he recalled what the entity said before.

'It's only downside is that it kills you when you fail a mission...'

Elias hesitated to touch it as it may give him a sudden mission. But he had a feeling that regardless of his intentions, the system would force him a mission anyway.

Before he could decide whether to touch it or not, the Mission Tab glowed brightly before a new screen override the status.

[Main Quest: No. 1]

[Rule the Underworld]

[The Underworld has plunged into chaos, all the organisations and the long order within it has been broken down as a new ruler sat on the ghostly throne. The Ghost King killed all those who wouldn't swear fealty to him. You, Elias Vito Castellano must rise up, kill the Ghost King and rule the Underworld to change your fate of death. Use any means necessary.]

[Time Limit: 1 Year]

[Rewards: ???]

Beneath it, two new quests suddenly formed and entered Elias' sight.

[Subquest: No. 1]

[The Don]

[Create an organization and become the head honcho.]

[Time Limit: None.]

[Rewards: [Godfather], [Honor Among Thieves], [Master of Crime].]

[Subquest: No. 2]

[Student of Arcana Academy]

[Enroll as a student of the famous Arcana Academy.]

[Time Limit: 3 Months]