Is the person you sculpt as cute as me?

"Well, I remember that because by the time I got to the second book, I was getting used to the work... Then it became four books, and then I can't remember the rest... because they were so huge that I could never finish them."

Yu Man and Xiao Lu were speechless.

A strange feeling they had never experienced before lingered in their hearts for some unknown reason.

"Excuse me," Yu Man asked after taking a deep breath, "Who gave you this job?"

"A magician from the Old World, I think..." The princess wasn't sure. "I must have begged him... no matter the price... I want to call back my hometown, and bring back the days and time of the past."

"And the magician gave you this job and asked you to start transcribing?"

"Yeah...definitely."

Having said this, the princess's eyes became even more confused, although they were not very clear before.

Yu Man stopped asking questions and quietly picked up the book, wanting to see what was inside.

It didn't matter which one it was—they were all the same, but she picked up the one with the snowflakes falling on it, the only one lying by the door.

Yu Man turned it to the last page.

Relying on the old Esperanto language, which she did not fully recognize, she chewed on the words and tried to construct sentences.

However, the last line of text gradually became understandable - the translation suddenly took effect.

"Do you have a pen?" the text asked.

"With it." This time, Yu Man answered, "It's a pen that can rewrite the story."

029 Story

Looking at the book in my hand, and this endless garden of books.

Yu Man figured out some tricks.

In short, the princess who has been copying books here until now should not be an NPC or a boss.

But rather a... fictional character like in a story - something like that.

In other words, her courtyard, her palace, these books, and even the act of copying books itself.

All of this is just the embodiment of the story.

What players have to do is to unlock its mechanism... and influence the story.

But this is a bit complicated. Yu Man is not sure how his choice will affect the progress of the story, because the amount of information so far is too little...

If it was Xiaolu who solved the puzzle, should he just go all out and hack the princess to death? Probably.

However, this may be the correct answer, because it will most likely trigger a good ending condition such as "ending the endless fate of the copyist", which is actually a good path.

But one thing is for sure.

The story of this book-copying princess is just the beginning of the entire copy process.

In that case... there's still a long way to go. No matter what choices you make at the beginning, there should be a chance to make amends...

Thinking of this, Yu Man chose the simplest method.

——She tore up the book that she had not finished copying.

"Your work is done. Let all the images created by that pen be shattered."

The princess' response was not anger... or relief.

Instead, it was a line of faint system text.

"The past of Princess Ginting has been buried.

Breakthrough the story level.

I have reached the narrative level and have become qualified to be a writer."

Although the amount of information in the system text was not large, it still confirmed Yu Man's idea.

Normally, there should be multiple solutions to this little story.

Kill the princess, blow up the palace, destroy the library... or, like me, read through the half-baked Old World language, thus perceiving the potential of the story, and then act as the person who announces the end of the work - all of these should achieve the same goal...

"Did you solve the puzzle successfully?" The deer also saw the hint and asked.

"I've only solved one of them. Next, I should get into the main topic of this dungeon."

Arriving at the narrative level...writer...these clues allowed Yu Man to probably guess what would happen next.

In a trance——

They saw that the closed silver door was emitting a faint guiding light.

And everything here, whether it was the princess, or the flying papers torn into pieces by Yu Man and thrown into the sky, had been frozen in place by the magical black and white, as if time had frozen.

Yu Man and Xiao Lu did not stop, but followed the instructions and pushed open the silver door.

They left the book.

……

This also has disadvantages.

Trying to step out of the book spread out on the table into the reality of the outside world...means that your feet are walking towards the ceiling.

But before they fell due to weightlessness, they were supported by some kind of light magic.

The wind-like force gently supported their shoulders, helping them regain their balance and land safely.

When his feet touched the bottom, Yu Man immediately observed the surrounding environment——

Yet, it was familiar.

"What's going on? The study room again?" This was Yu Man's first thought.

But this should be the best one.

Because this is a relatively ordinary study.

Two bookshelves and a long table.

The candlesticks of the magic lamps flickered, and the old ship's wooden floorboards were mottled.

There were tiny ink marks, scattered notes and food scraps everywhere.

as well as--

A writer standing by the window, quill in hand.

"Are you both safe? " the writer asked.

"Thank you for your help." Yu Man replied immediately.

The writer was slightly surprised by Yu Man's calmness, but soon felt relieved.

He slowly retracted the pen that had just written "No Falling Here" in the air.

Then use your free finger to point to the top of your head.

But not the peaked cap, nor the few gray hairs emerging from it.

But -

"Can you see it? My name."

Hearing this, Yu Man didn't immediately understand what he was saying.

But a second later - this time it was Yu Man who was surprised.

Where the writer pointed, there's a player-visible thing... called a name bar.

"Ginting's Chief Writer, Sloth, Kite."

This is the boss's name column. It will have a title and full name, which means it is the master of this place. There are exceptions, but at the very least, they are important mini-bosses... If you are lucky, they may even be the guardian of a hidden level.

but……

"Logically, does Boss know that he has such a convenient name bar above his head?" Xiaolu couldn't help but ask, using the friend channel.

"No, according to common sense, I don't know."

But the one who answered her was the writer - Boss himself.

The writer wore a unique, loose-fitting white suit and had a middle-aged face blurred by ink stains. But his eyes were more useful than they looked.

At this point, Yu Man and Xiao Lu couldn't help but stare, and even began to suspect whether this was a player pretending to be someone else.

But the writer did not fulfill his duties as a Boss and had no intention of taking action.

He sat in the chair, not at ease.

My feet were shaking slightly from the unconcealed nervousness. I didn't know where to put my hands: the table, my knees, my arms folded... Nowhere felt right.

"This may seem strange to you, but I have no hostility towards you. I hope you will believe me," the writer said. "The story you just participated in is one of my works. Let me start with this."

"...The story of the copyist?" asked the deer.

“Yes, to be exact, it is an unfinished work.”

Focusing on the words, the writer's anxiety faded a little.

He continued, "I am a magician serving the Silver Court... but my main job is a writer. For a long time, my pen has been dry of inspiration. To maintain my creation, I must do something new... So, inviting someone to write for me became my choice."

"How to write for someone else?" Yu Man asked.

"For example, in the story you just participated in, the protagonist is a princess from a fallen country. I made a contract with her: no matter what form it takes, I will restore her homeland."

Yu Man asked: "Then how did you achieve it?"

"I used magic to construct a blank book, sent my ghostwriter into it, and gave her a pen, allowing her to compose her own world... That is her world."

Hearing this, Yu Man turned around.

The book—the book they had participated in—was lying open there.

"But as you can see, the princess actually didn't know what her own kingdom would look like. All she could build was a courtyard surrounded by flowers and plants, and a palace for living and eating."

"Then... the ruins?" asked the deer. "When we first entered, it was a ruin."

"After all, she is the princess of a fallen nation, and death and destruction are part of her memories."

So...she was endlessly copying the only part of the story she knew in that narrow world?

But that book has now been finished by Yu Man.

Therefore, we were able to leave the story that had already ended.

"That's right—when you take your eyes off the book, you leave that world," the writer said calmly. "Then, you look out at the world you belong to... and return to this world."

"Did you hire many people to write for you?" Yu Man asked.

"Indeed—people call me a wish-granting writer. But all I can do is give away blank books and pens, and receive every story written by the ghostwriter. All this is voluntary."

He spread out his hands towards all the bookcases - those various books.

Are there also various ghostwriters inside...who are immersed in stories of wishes being fulfilled and whose books are forever closed?

The writer put his hands away and stabbed the visitor with his eyes.

"Fellow souls from a foreign land, please listen to me. This isn't what you'd call a plot introduction, nor is it a decryption section for a dungeon level, nor is it a pre-battle announcement—I have no intention of becoming your enemy."

Hearing this, Xiaolu was dumbfounded. This was completely different from the game she understood.

Is this an Easter egg the developers have buried? Trying to make the game feel like it's in another world, where the boss even knows how the upper-level game mechanics work?

Yu Man was still skeptical, thinking this was actually part of the dungeon's mechanism...

But there is a way to completely eliminate this suspicion.

"Well, take out the treasure chest you're guarding and offer it to me with both hands, and then I'll listen to you."

"If you can promise not to fight me and are willing to listen to me quietly, then I agree."

"...You really agree? Come on."

It's impossible that this link is also fake, right? Yu Man was not idle either. He took out the treasure chest expert from the package, which was also an NPC box.