Chapter 0: Not In Kansas Anymore
...
The sun hung high over the village of Iliasville, bathing the cobblestoned streets in warm summer light. The sound of birds chirping echoed as the villagers worked their livelihoods in peace.
In the town street, a person can be spotted carrying two buckets filled with water on his neck. The buckets were heavy, but he carried them with ease.
He was a teenager. He had white skin, short light purple hair, and sky-blue eyes. He stood about five-six, wearing a tan long-sleeved tunic tied with a black belt, along with charcoal trousers and brown boots. His face, while clearly young, which was normal for his age, was beginning to show definition. Though young, the growing muscles earned from his daily training couldn't be hidden under his clothes.
On his way, he passed by a few of the village children playing around and waved to them. Seeing him, the three children stopped what they were doing to tag along with him.
"Be careful with those, dear." A senior woman carrying a basket of fruits told him as she went up the steps to her home.
"No worries, Ma'am. I will." He replied with a smile as he went on his way, the kids following in tow like little ducklings.
"Big bro Luka, let's play!" a small girl called, kicking up dust with her small feet. "You can carry us on your shoulders."
"Yeah, pick us up!" The blonde boy beside her shook his head rapidly in anticipation, a feeling shared with the other boy beside him.
They always liked it whenever their big brother would spend time with them, but lately that has been happening less and less because of his sword training and guard duty.
Seeing their bright faces, Luka chuckled, brushing the small bits of sweat from his forehead. "Sorry, kiddo. I'd love to, but I can't do it. After I'm done carrying this water to the chief, I need to go help with guard duty."
The children gave downcast looks, the little girl looking like she was about to cry. Feeling weak from their sad puppy-dog eyes, Luka balanced the weight of the water buckets with his right hand and patted the girl's head. "Maybe I can make some time, but only for a little bit, got it?"
The children beamed with joy at the news and immediately cheered. They clapped their hands together as they raced around him, getting an exasperated smile from their big brother figure. Since he was an orphan himself, he had a bit of a soft spot when it came to children. He always made sure to look after and entertain the kids when the adults were too busy with work. For that reason, the children came to love him like their big brother and looked up to him the same.
Luka simply smiled at their antics, not minding that they were in the way. He was fourteen years old this year, and while it was surprising that he could help guard the town at his age, he was actually one of the strongest swordsmen in the village.
Tilting his head upward, he glanced up at the blue sky above. The clouds drifted lazily across the sun.
Like anyone, he had his own hopes and aspirations. As a young boy, he grew up hearing amazing stories of heroes from his mother and wanted to be just like them. His world was one where humans and monsters live in, let's just say, tense times. His dream was to someday become a great hero that could slay the Monster Lord and create a world where humans and monsters could coexist.
But he knew it would be a daunting task. His home village was a testament to that. They were all followers of the goddess Ilias, whose teachings dictated that all monsters were a threat to humanity and must be purged. Iliasville was in fact one of the biggest believers of the goddess and had a large shrine dedicated to her in the center. Every year his village would get many travelers from all over to visit their shrine and gain Goddess Ilias' blessing to become heroes.
While he wanted nothing more than to be one of those heroes, he also wanted to find a way to make peace between humans and monsters rather than use violence. He wanted to make a world that his long-gone mother would have been proud of.
Thinking of his old lady, his face became somber. 'Mom...'
It hadn't been easy for him since his parents left this world. His family had arrived in the village years ago when his mother was pregnant with him. Unlike now, Iliasville was a lot less kind to strangers. In the past, the previous locals were very hostile to outsiders.
That all changed after a plague appeared, taking many lives, his mother included.
Because of the decrease in population, foreigners began taking up residence, working together to bring the village back from those dark days. "Dad..." At the thought of his father, his tone changed.
While he loved his mother, the same couldn't be said about his father. Because of personal reasons, he didn't like to talk about him, much less think about him.
Shaking his head of the thought, Luka takes his mind away into his new life. Nowadays the relation between him and the villagers has never been better. Everyone treats him kindly. He'd train with his instructor and help around the village. He'd meet the passing warriors who visited their shrine and learn a lot from them. He'd even duel a number of them and won his fair share despite only being in his early teens.
Life for him here was good, but he still wanted to leave the village once he felt he was ready. When he became old enough, he was going to get the goddess's blessing and become a hero. He wanted to travel the world. To see those big kingdoms and cities he heard so much about from the visitors. And maybe find some answers on how to help close the gap between their two species. He didn't know how to go about it, so he figured if he traveled around, he might stumble upon the answer.
The children chattered amongst themselves. "Keep up, everyone." He called to them, laughing. "If you fall behind, you can forget about me giving you a piggyback ride!" Luka sprinted ahead fast but toned it down enough for them to keep up.
Their laughter rang across the village as they chased after him. Luka smiled happily, thinking to himself how he was going to miss this when he left for his journey.
Just then he felt a sudden sharp pain hit his head. He froze in place, his face twitching. Pain, unlike any he'd ever felt before, struck him like a hammer to a nail. His sky-blue eyes contracted at the excruciating pain. "Aaaahhhgg!!!—What the—yaaaaggh!" He gritted his teeth, dropping the water buckets to clutch his head.
The three children immediately stopped when they heard his cries. They went to him, fear flashing in their eyes.
"My head!—my head! Aaaaarrgh!" He staggered back and forth as he screamed, "HELP!"
The world felt like it tilted on its axis as Luka stumbled, his knees giving way as gravity took him. His arms flailed to catch himself, but it was useless as he hit face-first into the ground. What more, Luka felt a searing pain in his right eye. To others it would've looked like it was changing colors. Combined with the awful headache, he was being inflicted with more pain than any child his age should go through.
As he was on the ground, his vision flashed to weird things. 'What—what's happening to me!?' The flashes were brief, and he didn't know what they were. In those visions he saw things completely unfamiliar to his country-bumpkin self, like metal horseless carriages, buildings more than ten times bigger than his own home, and flashing red and blue lights with loud sounds in the background.
His vision began to go dark, the children's screams the last thing he heard before he went unconscious.
The children screamed, their voices shrill and frantic. "Luka!" Mary, the girl who had wanted Luka to give her a piggyback ride, ran to him.
"Help! Someone help!" The blonde boy ran to find an adult with the other kid.
…
"Mmm..." I wake up feeling groggy. "Ugh, my head..." I groaned, barely managing to open my bleary eyes.
I felt so weird. The air smelled like clean-cut wood, and my bed felt different. Maybe I was just imagining things. It always takes me a few more minutes to wake up.
"Mmmeeeghh..." I stretched myself in my bed as my vision became normal. "Huh?" For a second, I just stared up at the unfamiliar brown ceiling in my eyesight. 'Since when was my ceiling brown?'
I blinked a couple times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, but I wasn't. I pushed myself upright immediately. "Where in the carajo am I?" I whipped my head all over at the strange room I was in.
This isn't my room. This definitely wasn't my room. The place I was in looked shabby. Like I was in a cottage. Seriously, what the hell was going on? "How did I get here?" I asked myself, trying to remember the last thing that happened.
Did I drink too much last night? It didn't seem like something I'd do. I don't go out to drink. I try to wrap my head around it, but the only thing I could manage was flashing lights and the sound of screeching tires.
Just then the door opened, and an old man I knew for certain wasn't my grandpa stepped inside. He was wrinkled with a bushy beard, holding a brown wooden cane, and dressed in a greenish-brown robe like some World of Warcraft NPC.
Seeing me awake, the old man paused in surprise before that surprise changed into relief. He looked at me with a relieved smile as if he'd known me for a long time. "Luka, you've finally awakened." He then clasped his hands together and gave a prayer. "Oh, bless the Goddess." He murmured, giving a short prayer. "It's no doubt the work of Ilias that she ensured your safe recuperation. I'm so thankful you're ok."
I blinked dumbly, wondering if I was still asleep because what the literal fuck was he on about? And who the hell was Ilias? Due to my confusions, the panic didn't spike in me yet. "Who the eff are you, viejo?" I demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.
The old man looked back at me like I'd asked what color the sky was. He seemed just as confused as I was. "You don't recognize me? Luka, it's me, Alabaster, the village chief. Do you not remember?" He walked closer to me.
"Hey, stay back!" I shouted at him, and he stopped. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I don't know you. I've never even met you before today. Better yet, how did I get here?" I glared at him.
"You really don't remember me? Oh no. Dear boy, how many of your memories did you lose? Tell me, what's the last thing you remember? Do you still know your name?" He asked, his tone growing more worried.
I stared right back into the man's eyes and seriously considered whether he was high, senile, or just plain both. "Dude, I do not know what the f—Ahhhh!!!" I reeled back, grasping my head at the sudden migraine.
Calling it a migraine was putting it mildly. It felt like a baby was using my head like a maraca. The worried voice of the old man was drowned out by my screams.
I felt like I was dying. In rapid flashes I could see countless images I've never seen before and experiences I've never felt before. The pain continued nonstop as more information of a life not my own was being sent to my brain. Swinging swords. Hardcore exercises. Delicious Cooking. The good moments and the bad—all of it was flooding in. Memories I knew for sure weren't mine were being overlaid with my own, as if someone had decompressed a zip file straight to my noggin. Was that even safe? Shouldn't I be dead or something?
The pain stopped and began fading, but I wasn't focused on that. At the moment I was too worried about what I saw. It had to do with a particular H game I fell in love with because of its really amazing storyline and sexy monster women.
It was all coming to me.
Luka.
Alice Fateburn.
Ilias.
I let out a low hiss and held my head until the pain ceased entirely. "Maldita sea…" I whispered as I realized exactly where I was.
I had reincarnated as Luka from Monster Girl Quest!
I—I couldn't believe it. I felt like passing out. I mean, one moment I was hit by a speeding car and died on the way to the hospital, and the next thing I know, I landed in a world where monster girls go after men for their semen. What else was I supposed to feel? Scared. Excited. Horny. I don't know!
Before I could ponder on that for much longer, the village chief went up to me. "Luka!
He held my shoulders. "What's wrong? Do you need some medicine?"
I stared at the old man for a moment, unsure what to say. From my memories of Luka, they were quite close. The old man was like a grandfather to him. He looked after him after he lost his mother. I didn't know what to tell him, but I did know what I wasn't going to say.
"I—I'm good," I replied, waving off his worries. "I'm fine, really. Sorry about how I acted earlier. I guess that fall scrambled my brain a bit, but I'm feeling better now. Honest." I assured, giving a small laugh.
"Are you sure? You didn't recognize me at first. I'd feel terrible if you had lost your memories, my boy."
I simply nodded with my best easy smile. "Don't worry, village chief… I didn't forget anything." I told him, mentally snorting about how it was just the opposite of what happened.
Contrary to the anime and manga I read and watched, there was no universe where I casually explained, 'Hey, I'm actually a guy from this place called Earth who played this world as a hentai-adjacent RPG before dying and somehow ending up in the body of the protagonist of said hentai RPG with information on future events.' Yeah… that definitely wasn't going to fly well in this medieval time period. There was a reason why most reincarnated characters didn't reveal the truth about themselves.
I mentally shuddered at how one accidental slip of the tongue might end with me being burned, experimented on, or possibly getting my head on a spike. Hard pass.
I slid off the bed, ignoring the chief sputtering something about how I should stay in bed to recuperate some more, but I ignored all that. Right now, I wanted space. "Hold on, Luka, you should at least have some—
"Sorry, old man, but I want to go home right now." I glanced back. "Thanks for letting me rest in your home. Bye." I went out the door before the old man could say anything else.
…
Stepping out of the village chief's house felt like stepping into another world. Pun intended.
The bright sun was hot as a warm breeze billowed. Everywhere my head turned there were wooden houses. This place really felt like some town of beginnings you'd see in video games. In the distance I spotted a large grey building reminiscent of a Greek temple.
"I'm not in Kansas anymore." I muttered as I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. "Yup, definitely not dreaming." I sigh as I go to my house.
I walked around the village, staring at everything like a tourist. It all felt so surreal. I was walking in the streets of a medieval village. It was all so unfamiliar to me, and I'd thought I'd get lost, but Luka's memories fill in the blanks, helping me make this world not feel as foreign as I imagined it.
I passed by some people who knew me. They were two young teens. They waved to me with smiles on their faces, happy to see I'm ok, but I ignored them. I wasn't trying to be rude. My brain needed buffering time.
I bet you're wondering who I am. My name is Syrus, and before getting Isekai'd, I was a twenty-one-year-old Hispanic young adult going through life to save money for a car. Long story short, I finished work early one day and was driven to a food place I frequented a lot whenever I had time. A family member dropped me across the street when, out of nowhere, I got hit in the typical Isekai fashion via a speeding vehicle. car. Shocker.
"Fucking shit." I cursed, pinching the bridge of my nose and breathing through it. It hurt a lot. The feeling of not just getting hit by a car but also skidding on the pavement with my head bouncing everywhere was one I did not want to go through a second time.
My thoughts then drifted to the people I left behind. I thought of my mom and two brothers. I had no idea what happened after my death. There was no warning, no final goodbyes. Just a sudden cross-dimension isekai courtesy of divine bullshit or something along those lines.
I grit my teeth, my fist clenched angrily. This was so frustrating, and that wasn't even getting into the issues of me now being Luka. What did this mean? Did I replace Luka? Did we merge? Why am I here? I didn't know.
As I was in the middle of an existential crisis, two elderly women spotted me. "Oh, Luka dear, you're ok." They walked over to me.
I blinked at them, not sure what to do, but like before, Luka's memories filled in the blanks almost immediately. These grannies were just some of the few people he—I—we helped. Oh god, this was getting confusing.
They frowned at my pale expression. "Are you alright, Luka?" She asked.
"It's nothing. Just a slight headache." I tapped my head. "But I just need some sleep, and I'll be good as new, hehe." I said automatically, trying to do my best Luka impression.
While I knew how he acted from his memories, it wasn't like we completely merged or anything. At least that's how I viewed it. I gained his memories and experiences, but it was ultimately my ego that was on the wheel, I think. Like Ishtar from Fate.
In my stupor one of the grannies placed a bag into my hands. Apples, onions, and other ingredients to make a meal with. "Well, take these, deary. Make something warm at home to make yourself feel better."
"Wha—No, I can't take these." I told them, but the granny wasn't hearing it.
"Oh, hush, child." She admonished and pinched my cheek. "You need your strength."
The other lady nodded in agreement. "She's right, honey. The children were absolutely terrified when you collapsed suddenly. It wouldn't be good if something happened to you. You're our best protector from monsters ever since that horrible day all those years ago."
She was right. In this village I was the strongest fighter at only fourteen aside from the soldiers who were here to teach and guard the village. "Uh, thanks. I appreciate it." I managed a small smile.
But her words triggered an ugly chain reaction. Years ago, a plague hit Iliasville, killing off a large number of the population. Luka's mom included. Nobody knew how it happened, but from my memories of the game, I knew the truth.
Ilias.
The cause of the plague was the very goddess this village worshipped. In the game she was the final villain. That crazy goddess had a hate boner for monster girls and was the reason for a lot of what was wrong in this world.
'And I'm currently living under her nose.' My stomach dropped. 'I'm going to be sick. 'I visibly grimaced. I never felt more cornered in my life.
When my face tightened, the grannies asked what was wrong, but I sidestepped it with an excuse that I must be hungry. "Anyways, I need to go. Thank you for these. "I quickly left for my house.
Confusion flickered between them. "I wonder what that was about?" She turned to her friend.
"It must not be a good memory for him. He was there when it happened, you know." She replied, getting a solemn nod from her friend, and the two walked away.
...
When I reached my home, I immediately placed the ingredients down on the table and went to shut the door and slammed all the windows closed. I wanted complete privacy. By the time I hit the stairs and slipped into my room on the second floor, I did the same as with downstairs. In the comfort of my own room, I finally let my mask free to freak out for real. It felt like the most appropriate time.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIIIIITT!" I cursed out loudly as I paced back and forth. "How the hell did I get here?"
My mind ran in circles, trying to come up with the answers, many of which had to do with the major huge elephant in the room, or to be more accurate, goddess.
Was this all Ilias's doing? Did she pluck my soul and put me in the body of Luka? If that was true, then this had to be part of some elaborate scheme of hers. Did she already know I was here? Did she know about the game? If she did, then why do all this? I was at a loss. I didn't know what to think.
I felt like I couldn't breathe. "I don't even know what to do! Damn it!" I yelled, swinging a fist at the wall.
*PUNCH!*
*CRACK!*
The part of the wall I hit cratered inward with a deep crack. I froze, taking a step back. I shouldn't have been able to do that. Syrus was never able to do that, not without getting hurt in the process.
Trying to calm myself down, I took a few slow breaths. At the moment there was nothing I could do, and the answers I wanted weren't going to come to me just by throwing a hissy fit. I needed to take this slowly.
As I was thinking about what to do, my gaze drifted to my white hand. I frowned. That wasn't my skin color. I was Puerto Rican from my dad's side and Dominican from my mom's, so I had a light-dark skin tone.
I always wondered what I'd look like white. Now that I do, I want to go back. I preferred my old skin color more.
Resisting the urge to crack a vitiligo joke because now simply wasn't the time, I lift up my shirt. I found myself staring at a faint row of abs that had absolutely no business being there. I wasn't overly obese in my past life, but I didn't exercise enough to have a flat stomach. I nodded in appreciation with a smile.
"Not bad… not bad at all." From Luka's memories, he was fourteen right now, so he hadn't reached his prime yet.
I turned my head to the mirror on the dresser, a gift from the village chief to Luka. I remove my shirt and check myself out. In the back of my mind I wondered if that was gay.
I had to admit I looked pretty good. I had a neat head of short, light purple hair. Sky-blue eyes. And a lean physique that I could only compare to Bell Cranel's from Danmachi. Speaking of which, I wonder if that world existed too, out of curiosity. Yep, that was it.
Moving on, I do poses in the mirror. "I really became him." I muttered, flexing my muscles.
While I was busy looking myself over, my eyes caught sight of the silver ring on my right index finger. "The Keepsake Ring…" I silently gasped.
I knew what this thing in my hand was. This ring was a gift from Lukas's mother. It wasn't just a normal ring either. I knew from the games just how much importance it held.
"I wonder, what if I…" I thought as I was about to take off the ring, but I felt my body tingle, warning me not to, and I stopped myself.
I didn't want to do anything rash, and if what I know from the games happened after I took this ring off, then it might alert Ilias. I wasn't sure of the logic, but I assumed that it was akin to sending out a signal flare. Now wasn't the time, not to mention the tingling sensation I felt earlier warned me of something. Instinctually I sensed that if I removed it, there would be consequences.
I then thought about something else. A very important thing to me. I glanced down and opened my trousers. "Diablo… soy un gigante!" A grin threatened to split my face.
A snort escaped me. Honestly, out of everything that happened today, this was by far the most normal. Now that I thought about it, it shouldn't surprise me that I had a twelve-inch bitch-breaker. It'd be weird if the protagonist of an H-game would have anything less. "I wonder if this means this is my legendary sword to vanquish the Monster Lord." I chuckled uncontrollably. After what I've been through, I needed it.
"Hahaha—woh!" I laughed so hard that I fell on my bed. "Hahahaha!"
Shaking my head at my very blessed gift, my thoughts drifted back to Ilias and, more importantly, the future Monster Lord, Alipheese Fateburn XVI, or Alice for short. If I remember right, then she should be either competing to be the next Monster Lord or still being raised by Tamamo right about now. The thought of the sexy purple-skinned Lamia made my dick twitch. I may or may not have had a bit of a crush on her in my past life.
From Luka's memories and my own MGQ knowledge, I knew things weren't going to be quiet for long. In a couple of years things were going to get crazy. Monster girls and angels aside, there were humans like Lazarus, the head of the radical anti-monster organization, Ilias Kruez. And if my past life about terrorists had anything to say, they were not good for the world. Then there were other problems, like the former Monster Lord, Black Alice, and the angel scientist, Promestein. These two were people I didn't want anywhere near me.
"I'm so screwed."
Compared to monsters, I am pretty powerless. I knew I had the potential, don't get me wrong. But potential didn't do shit if I'm still going to get railed over in the early game. Canon Luka barely survived the early game thanks to his skill set, luck, spirits, and a certain snarky Lamia traveling buddy, but I didn't have that at the moment, at least not yet. That's why I wanted a leg up early on. With my game knowledge, I'd need to at least manage that.
I had to get stronger. That was an absolute necessity. If I played my cards right, I could manage. Thanks to game knowledge, I knew what I was and could attempt to learn how to use the power hidden inside me early on.
Then an idea formed. A stupid one. But an idea. If someone reincarnates you into a fantasy world, there's like a 60% chance they leave you a gamer system, right? Right? "Alright." I get up, rubbing my palms together. "Aaaaaand appear, System!"
.
..
...
Nothing.
"Maybe I need to try something else." I then raised my hand and called out, "Menu. Login. Status screen. Show stats. Command prompt." I tried everything that came to mind. I even went full Sword Art Online. "Link start!"
.
..
...
Still nothing.
I clicked my tongue, and sighing, I fell face-first into my pillow. "Tch, man, this is some more bullshit." It was official, no golden finger for me. Great. "So much for that."
I cursed at my lack of luck and my inability to fight a crazy-hot enemy like Ilias. Yeah, so I thought she was hot, so what? I've seen her art, and I liked it. You know what I'm talking about. "Ok, that was a bust. Back to the drawing board, I guess."
I am fourteen right now, so the plot won't begin until I'm somewhere between fifteen and twenty-one. In the best case, I had seven years to prepare and train. Worst case, I only have one. "That's great." I rolled my eyes.
That was not a lot of time when the final boss was a goddess with a huge ego and the ability to smite me with a snap, Thanos-style. I am screwed!
I briefly considered ignoring canon entirely and moving away to some deserted island but discarded the thought. Whether I followed the script or not didn't matter. Ilias already knew about me. I was the son of one of her most powerful creations, Lucifina. That made me a half-angel and, in her eyes, the perfect tool she could use against the Monster Lord without having to break her promise.
She was watching me. How? I didn't know. Where? No idea. When? Again, no idea, but she was keeping an eye on me, and that pissed me off.
'Ilias!' My eyes glared holes through the wooden ceiling.
I really didn't like that narcissistic psychopath for her hate boner against monster girls and her just overall terrible actions. I felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment at how Canon Luka managed to stay so loyal to her for as long as he had despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Like seriously, what was so wrong about monster girls? Sure, some of them were eldritch horrors that had me questioning life, but plenty were gorgeous and more than accepting of the idea of coexisting. Given a snowball's chance in hell, humans and monsters could get along very well together. They just needed to stop acting stupid. (Which, to be fair, was asking a lot.) Also, they needed to stop worshipping Ilias. That was a major factor in humanity being afraid of monster girls.
My mind drifted to the Four Heavenly Knights, who prior to all this had me fearing them but now not so much. In fact, quite the opposite.
I was looking forward to meeting those four. Alma Elma with her absurdly hot succubus body and stacked boobage. That woman was the definition of 'open about her hobbies,' and I did not dislike that. Granberia with her attractive warrior code and searing passion for fighting. I wonder if she was into wrestling. I was. Then there was Tamamo, who in her true form was a downright fox. Pun intended. And last but not least, Erubetie, the slime queen herself. Now that I was here in this world of swords and magic, I couldn't help wondering if she was really see-through. No explanation needed on that one. Hehe boi.
Of course I couldn't forget about their head honcho herself, Alice.
Just thinking of her name had my dick saluting. Silver-white hair, striking amber eyes, and cold confidence. A hot, monstrous body perfect for wrapping around you in my sleep. Dangerous in the best way and a tsundere too. You son of a bitch, I'm in.
I couldn't for the life of me understand why Ilias would want to genocide so many monster girls that were DTF off the planet. Was she self-conscious about her looks? Maybe that's the reason. "Oh right, world domination and vanity. Typical.' I scoffed.
That bitch definitely needed friends. If she weren't so crazy, I might've considered being her friend. If she were even slightly more chill, my life would be so much easier right now, but here I am trying to make plans to kick her ass because talking things out doesn't work. Ilias had an ego almost the size of my wang. Her reign of terror wouldn't end without a fight. She demanded worship and submission.
'Hmph, I'd rather worship her divine boobs and thighs. " I snickered. Who knows, maybe in the future I'd get to screw her someday. My imagination spiraled into a mental image of the goddess tied up.
*SLAP!*
The sound echoed across my room as I slapped myself back to reality.
"Nope. Nope. Stop it. Remember, she's insane." I stopped myself. Hot goddess or not, that was not a thought that would end well. Knowing her, I wouldn't put it past her to capitalize on that to catch me off guard.
Back on track. If I wanted to survive, I'd need more power. The Four Elemental Spirits were the obvious answer, but unless I felt like sneaking out in the middle of the night in search of them, who were very far away, mind you, I'd only be getting myself kidnapped by a monster girl who'd drain me of semen for the rest of my natural-born life. Not exactly a bad fate, but I prefer my freedom.
That left one path. Mastering my angel half early and then going after the Four Spirits.
Getting out of bed, I crouched and retrieved something from my bed. It was where I kept my sword. Unsheathing it, I admired the weapon. "Cool." I grinned. While it wasn't something absurd like Excalibur, as someone from the modern age, it still felt sweet to hold in my hand.
Unless I had proper paperwork, I couldn't even think of getting my hands on one of these. "I'm such a geek." I giggled as I swung it around.
*SWISH—SWISH.*
It felt natural. Using canon Luka's memories and muscle memory, I swung it around with more than decent skill. Being the village's best warrior at fourteen wasn't just for show. Unfortunately, I knew for a fact compared to weaker monsters, I wouldn't amount to much without any firepower. Not to mention that against the likes of Granberia, I couldn't hold a candle to her when it came to swordsmanship.
That's why I wanted to learn how to use my angel powers. I didn't know if it would work, but if I experimented with them this early, trained my body and sword work, and just tried everything I could think of, I could make it work and get to that level, if not somewhere close to it.
'That's why Ilias was so obsessed with him in the original story. He is the child of her greatest weapons, and now I'm in his body.'
From Lucifina, I inherited angelic abilities, making me a very rare existence in this world, a Nephilim. 'Cue Diablo soundtrack.' I broke out in laughter, slapping my thigh repeatedly.
Ok, I should really stop getting off track here. So anyways, with time, hard work, and guts, I could become a powerhouse given enough time.
"That is, if I don't become a statue." I breathed under my breath, lowering the blade as the memory of how Canon Luka nearly turned to stone when he exhausted his powers came to mind. "Why couldn't I just get a damned system!?"
Then again, there were worse places out there. I could've been dropped into worlds like AoT with a thirteen-year expiration date or, worse, spawned as a normal guy outside of the island and gotten stomped by the Rumbling. I'm so glad I wasn't born in that shitshow.
"Yup, I'm super lucky." I shivered, giving a silent prayer to anyone listening. Not Ilias!
Moving on from the horrible cycle of hatred that was AoT, I began thinking more in-depth about the future. Judging by canon knowledge and my very, very rough estimates, Alice would fall from the sky from her scuffle with Ilias sometime between my being sixteen and twenty-one.
I frown at my lack of knowledge of when shit was going to properly hit the fan and if or not I would even have enough time to prepare.
Starting tomorrow, I needed to work a hundred times harder just to bump my survival odds. I didn't have the luxury of being clueless like canon Luka. I'd need to make full use of my knowledge to get powerful and stop that blonde bimbo.
I'd be lying if I said the possibility of failing didn't frighten me. If I did, that was it. Game over, no respawns, and I doubted I'd get a third try. The thought made my hair stand on end and a bead of sweat trickle down the side of my face.
I unsheathed my sword again and looked at the reflection in the blade to see my smiling face.
Was I scared shitless? Yes. I died once already, lost everything, and got dumped into a different world with future knowledge of very bad things about to happen. Nothing about that was comforting. But another thought crept in alongside the fear.
What if I win?
In my past life, I died a virgin. Not exactly my proudest achievement. But here on the other hand…well, that's a different story, isn't it? What if I went on an adventure, became stronger, traveled the world, met monster girls, and, assuming they were willing, had no-holds-barred fun with them? That didn't sound like a bad life.
The trembling returned, but it was different. This time it was out of excitement. If I lost, tough shit, but if I won and walked out of this alive, I could end up living the rest of my life with a harem of gorgeous monster girls, endless riches, and a damn castle on top of that. Oh yeah, that was a motivator if I ever heard any.
And had the tools to make it possible too. With my angel blood, plot awareness, and a dash of devil's luck, things might end very well for me, but if I grow strong enough for the inevitable war and defeat her, I'll end up getting everything I want.
"This is going to be hard. Really hard." I strode to my window and pushed it open, resting my hands on the sill. "I better get started. " I smirked as I stared at the orange sky. 'I'm coming for you, Ilias.'
As I said that, I didn't notice the faint yellow spark flicker in my right eye before vanishing just as quickly.
...
..
.
***
Name: Luka Daystar
Age: 14
Race: Human (Sealed Angelic Hybrid)
Background:
A once normal young adult from the modern world who died in a hit-and-run accident. Instead of moving on, he awakens in the body of Luka, the protagonist of Monster Girl Quest.
With knowledge of the world's future and zero interest in playing the chosen hero, Luka decides to live on his own terms, getting stronger, enjoying life, building a harem, and eventually challenging Ilias herself to stop her from getting in the way of his life.
Personality:
Rebellious, independent, and blunt.
Funny goofy.
Values freedom and friendship.
Prone to emotion.
Protective of innocent people.
Heroic but not to the extent of martyrdom.
Enjoys a bit chaos here and there.
Loves getting stronger.
Enjoys experimenting with his abilities.
Luka is a person driven by desire and power to attain everything he wants.
Items:
Name: Keepsake Ring
Creator: Lucifina
Function: Power containment & maturation regulator
The ring suppresses Luka's true angelic power, preventing premature awakening that would otherwise destroy his body. While worn, Luka operates in a safe zone, allowing extended use of weaker abilities without backlash and longer duration than without. Removing the ring and pushing past limits risks petrification. Removing the ring before maturation will kill him.
Name: Steel Sword
A regular steel sword gifted to him by his sword instructor.
Core Abilities (Age 14 – Suppressed State)
Holy Affinity (Innate):
Pure holy magic of nearly infinite quantity. Gives strong resistance to corruption, curses, and mental interference.
Swordsmanship (Formless Style):
Adaptive, intent-based combat focused on timing and precision rather than brute force.
Curse: ???
***
(Welp, here we are, everyone. My new project. This is something that has been on my mind for a while. It has a lot of everything I like, and I think that's the reason why I'm going to be working on this long-term.)