The travel from Fonyas to Mindsna usually took two days. A bit longer if one had to stray from the main road, but Fela was sure of herself and the fact that her caravan would be unbothered once they left the coast.

It was true, from the Seventh Lord of Mindsna I already knew that Exalted rarely left those few cities they overtook, and wouldn’t pursue someone into the countryside. And especially not if they were heading straight for the capital.

Gael and Fela talked with each other at the front of the cart, no longer paying me any attention. Hearing them laugh together and chatter like best friends, I finally understood why these two never interacted in the original book in the first place. They would halt the narration to stop and bore the reader with a mixture of crude jokes and alchemy-related technical jargon.

At least they had fun.

And I was left unbothered to plan my next move, after reaching Mindsna. I already decided to follow the plot of the book, and carve some spot for myself in the Protagonist’s vicinity. However, it still would be good to get to see Nocka before that. I wanted to change the course of the story, but still, I preferred to be cautious about my moves. Start with some smaller steps before everything spins out of my control…

Which, actually already happened, considering that I was in Fela’s custody. And just couldn’t come up with the idea of how to convince her to just let Gael and me go.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes tiredly. And then I had to blink a few time because I wasn’t sure I was seeing properly.

That weird notification box was once again in front of me.

「 Achievements unlocked. 」

To some extent, I might have hoped that I just hallucinated it last night. But apparently no, it was an actual thing, just like the fact that I took over the place of one of the characters in the book…

Thankfully, no one else seemed to see the floating letters. The driver of the cart behind ours looked like he wouldn’t be able to notice even the Elder Dragon, lights are on, but no one is home type of guy. His raptor seemed to be more aware, snapping its jaws at butterflies passing by, or blinking and making clicking noise at me like it hoped that I would give it some snacks. 

I expanded the floating box to read the achievements I apparently unlocked. I was surprised I got any in the first place, but let's see…

「 Achievement unlocked: Friends in high places!

Encounter one of the original characters of Seventh Lord of Mindsna.

Reward: 10 

***

Achievement unlocked: Self-awareness!

See your own characteristics. 

Reward: 20 points

***

Achievement unlocked: You’re on fire!

Cast your first spell.

Reward: 10 points

***

Achievement unlocked: In cold blood!

Kill for the first time.

Reward: 100 points

***

Achievement unlocked: Dreamwalker!

Enter someone else’s dream.

Reward: 20 points 」

Seriously?

These achievements seemed to make light of the whole situation. It was a life and death situation and they just rewarded me for looking into the mirror. And on top of that, to grand five times as many rewards for taking someone's life? What, is it suddenly some sort of a game?

Honestly, up to this point, I didn’t even think that the person who disintegrated in agony right in front of me, actually died. I was sure he just went to some other place…

Well, in a way he was now in the afterlife…

I just wanted to whip his memory, but I suppose that’s why Gate’s like Reyc are so dangerous. One simple mistake and people die like flies. I need to be more cautious in the future, and preferably not use my magic unless it’s completely necessary.

I wondered what I even could use these points for. The counter at the bottom showed that I had 160 of them now. 

The notification window changed after I confirmed reading my new achievements. Not there were a few tabs, a calendar in the corner, and a points counter. It all looked just like the interface of my mobile system, the same one that I used back in Birka.

The tabs read

「 Characters || Spells || Shop || Chat 」

It appeared that I might be able to exchange my reward points for something else in the Shop. However, when I selected that option a message appeared.

「 I’m sorry, but unfortunately this function is currently unavailable. Pwease, come back later ｡ﾟ(₌இᆽஇ₌)ﾟ｡ 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡠⠤⠒⠀⠈⠓⠠⠐⠢⠄⢀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⢀⠠⠤⠀⠀⠄⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠦⠤⠒⠒⠒⠠⣀⠀
⠀⡔⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⣣
⣔⠀⠤⠄⣀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⡂⠀⠀⠀⠲⣄⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡤⠒⠈⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠌⠀⠀⠀⢠⠖⣁⡀⠈⠀⠀⠀⡌⢠⣄⠑⡄⠀⠀⠉⠂⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⡜⠀⠀⠀⢠⠃⢸⣿⣽⠀⠀⠀⠀⠇⢿⣷⠇⠘⠀⠀⠀⡇⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢄⠀⠉⢉⡔⠀⠀⠀⠈⢆⠁⠀⢀⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠑⠒⠉⠀⢀⡴⣀⠀⠀⠉⠐⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀
⠒⠒⠒⠂⠘⡀⠐⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠒⠀⠠⠤⠃⠤⠠⠄
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢘⣤⠌⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠒⠂⠀⠀⠀⠁⠒⠤⡴⢁⣀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠒⠂⠈⠀⠀⠱⡴⠉⠑⠉⡵⠂⠀⠀⠀⡔⢲⠒⠖⠒⠊⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠣⠴⢇⡠⠅⠘⠉⠉⠁⢄⣀⣠⣀⠄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀」

“What the fuck.”

Accidentally I said it out loud, but thankfully beyond the raptor, no one seemed to pay me any attention.

The same announcement appeared when I tried to enter the chat function. Curious. What was even this system that tracked my achievements and spells? Did someone create it? Was it somehow a part of the book? 

Unfortunately, as of now, I wasn’t able to do much about it, no matter how curious I was. Hopefully, sometime in the future, I will be able to resolve this. Maybe once the chat function comes back online, I’m able to reach out to someone else.

For now, I moved to the Characters tab. It was a list of named characters I have already met: Fela and Gael. Nocka and Jacques de Asper were there as well, probably because I was aware of them, but greyed out and are unavailable for now.

On the list, there was also “??” instead of a name. Some mysterious new character? 

It wouldn't be all that surprising considering the events already somewhat strayed from the original plot…

Other than the brief information I already saw, I could now access more details about Fela and Gael. Some that I did remember from Seventh Lord of Mindsna, and some were completely new to me. A few of them seemed also to be just useless trivia…

Apparently, Gael’s favorite color was yellow.

The one interesting thing was the Memory Gallery on each character’s page. Reading the story descriptions and names of these memories, it seemed it was just a way to relieve the specific scenes from the book. I didn’t need it now, Seventh Lord of Mindsna, still fresh in my mind after, technically, finishing it yesterday. But it might have turned useful in the future if I was really cursed to now live in this world.

My eyes stopped at one of the memory descriptions. It was the opening scene of the book. Very moody and heavy, it successfully picked my interest. I wanted to see more of the protagonist because at first I just couldn’t believe that he was supposed to be the force caring this story. I suppose if not for this scene I wouldn’t really care to continue reading. It wasn’t any masterpiece of tension and mystery, but still… There was something about Jacques de Asper that picked my interest.

「 Do you want to launch “The Seventh” now?

Y/N」

I wondered if he looked anything like in my imagination…