Soulless Players

As Philip perused the list of quests in his system, he couldn't help but notice one that caught his eye: the task of uniting an entire continent.

'What is the meaning of this? Is the system advocating the players to conquer countries and kingdoms to form a new united nation?' Philip pondered. At the same time, his mind brought to the information regarding the prophecy of the Nordic Empire, which also aimed to unite the continent.

'Could there be a correlation between the two? Did the empire know about the existence of players or the impending apocalypse 22 years later?'

Unfortunately, Philip had no way of knowing the answers. However, it still gave him an eerie sensation on his skin. He could not help but wonder that the world seemed chaotic and out of the norm.

'Is the world really a simulated place created just for the soulless game? I feel the world is just too perfect to use as a battlefield. I could not help but think that there's more to it...'

'Or maybe it's just my ignorance speaking. After all, I knew nothing about the mystery side of the universe.'

This information had made Philip overthink. Still, whether the world is real or not, he chose to save it. His decision wasn't only for his parents but also for himself. He felt a strong sense of foreboding that if he didn't do his best for the world, he would regret it in the end.

As he pondered, Philip's eyes grew heavy and he eventually drifted off to sleep.

***

"Little brother! Little brother! Wake up!"

Philip was awakened by a young girl's loud voice and shaking. He slowly opened his eyes, yawned, and looked at Maris lethargically.

"We are finally safe! Those scary men outside are gone!" Maris quickly recounted what had happened earlier.

Philip listened drowsily, still wanting to linger in the realm of dreams.

When Maris noticed Philip was slowly going back to sleep again, she leaned forward, blew his ears, and whispered,

"Wake up! It's dinner time already. We need to eat."

Feeling ticklish, Philip scratched his ears as he let out an inaudible response. It was only a few minutes later that he had fully awakened and stood up. He followed Maris to the kitchen to eat while rubbing his eyes.

Upon arriving at the basement kitchen, Philip saw one of the three staff members serving their meal on the dining table. He thanked her and invited her to eat with them.

"I'm good. I have already eaten." Matilda, the kitchen staff, smiled as she stared at him with a clear and explicit gaze.

Philip just nodded. He knew she would decline as he had been inviting her to join them for days yet always ended up with a refusal.

This was also similar to the other employees. He could only say that they seemed to respect the distance between the employer and the employee.

"Older Brother, look at my drawing!" Seeing that Matilda was still present, Maris pretended to call him his original brother.

"Where?" Philip asked. He also wants to see what a ten-year-old child draws in school.

Maris then quickly went to her bag and pulled out her sketch. It was also at this time that Matilda went outside, leaving the two of them alone in the kitchen.

Seeing the salivating food on the table, Philip initially wants to eat but noticing that Maris isn't present yet, he fights himself against it.

"Here look! I included you in my drawing!"

Curious, he takes his gaze away from the food and darts at the drawing she had presented.

The drawing was almost realistic, and Philip was stunned by how talented Maris was. Featured on the drawing is Conrad on the left wearing a unique smile on his face. Philip is in the middle, sitting on a chair with complete limbs. On the right side was Maris smiling cutely. In addition, the two siblings held a lifelike picture of their parents.

This was the first time Philip saw their faces and could not help but be enamored by them. On Conrad's hand, he held a picture of a man in his 40s. He has black hair like Maris', blue eyes, and a mole on his cheeks like Conrad's.

On Maris' side, she held a picture of a young and beautiful woman. She has golden blonde hair and her black eyes are piercing. From this, you can tell that the woman looked dignified and strict. It was as if she held great authority and was used overlooking from atop.

'Didn't they say that their mother is a headmaid in a Dukedome? So that's why Maris drew her like that. Maybe it's Maris' impression of her mother?' he mulled.

"You are very talented Maris." Philip complimented honestly. If he didn't know that it was drawn by a child, he would have thought it was made by a professional artist.

Maris giggled, "I drew you a left leg and right hand so that in the picture you're complete, unlike what's you in reality."

She then raised her hands and gestured, "Chop! chop!"

'Hey, you don't say that. That's hurtful you know,' Philip's smile froze for a second before petting Maris in the head. "Yes, yes, thank you."

He then noticed that other than them, Maris also drew a pack of people behind them.

There he saw the three employees: Dino the receptionist, Sita the cleaner, and Matilda the chef. In addition, there were four more people unknown to him. The seven of them have distinct figures and glamour yet their eyes are the same cold, detached, and lifeless.

He was about to ask Maris about them when his stomach whined loudly, making Maris giggle.

"Let's quickly eat little brother."

Philip could only eat first and decided to ask later about them.

***

After dinner, Philip and Maris returned to their quarters. Philip glanced outside the window to see whether the Evans' men were roaming outside or not. However, when he didn't see their foot above, he finally concluded that they were not coming tonight.

He sighed, closed the curtain, and sat on his bed. He observed as Maris was preoccupied with her reading for the first couple of minutes and then eventually fell asleep.

"..."

Philip was speechless for a moment before letting a chuckle. He carried her to her bed and covered her with a blanket.

Shortly, he returned to his bed but remained seated, seemingly preparing for something. He still remembered what had transpired early in the morning, when he had to use his transformation ability much earlier than usual because of the abnormality of his real child body.

'This is it.' Philip waited patiently as the time stopped at 10 p.m., the time when his ability expires for the day.

"Arg..." Philip groaned as his body slowly turned small.

As soon as the transformation came to an end, Philip's skin started to itch uncontrollably, causing him to feel as though a bunch of tiny worms were wriggling inside him.

'What is happening to me?' Concerned, he hurried over to the wall mirror and gazed at his reflection.

To his surprise, he noticed his face was rippling like waves, and a part of his skin wrinkled for a moment before returning to its usual state.

'Is this the side effect of upgrading my Physique to the limit?' Philip's face darkened, not expecting this outcome.

However, after realizing that his pain was not severe enough to warrant immediate medical attention or life-threatening, Philip decided to return to bed to rest.

Despite feeling as though he was being bitten by a swarm of black ants, he opted to tough it out as he lacked any means of remedying the situation.

A minute turned into an hour until midnight came but Philip still couldn't sleep.

'Argh!!' Philip's anger finally surged. He could not contain his restlessness and always had the urge to move his legs.

'I feel like it is more severe than the restless leg syndrome I felt in the past.' Philip thought as he recalled something similar he experienced in his previous book life.

Philip wanted to transform quickly to stop the unpleasant and uncomfortable sensation on his body. However, when he remembered the time limit of his ability and that he still needed to attend a Club meeting tomorrow afternoon, he summoned all the will to control himself.

'Should I use my other uniqueness level-up card...' Philip thought but quickly abolished the plan. His karma is still negative and there would be a time where he would be forced to use all of his hidden cards. If he chose to use it and exhaust his cards, he would have less to counter this bad luck. This would place him in a much more troublesome situation.

'I will just see it as a training.' Philip decided, thinking this was a good thing for him.

It was then, for the whole night, that Philip suffered not only from discomfort but also insomnia.