Surviving in my Own Unpublished Failed Novel

Drowning with anxiety while feeling cold inside the air-conditioned Stream Bus, Russell flipped the School Trip Guide or a seven-page pamphlet where the information regarding the destinations was exquisitely printed.

[School Trip Itinerary — Seven-day Trip Guide.]

*First Day — Capital of Etheria, Magia.

1. Royale Palace's sightseeing – two hours only.

2. Ethereal Guild's Headquarters tour – two hours only.

3. Field of Harvest – two hours only.

4. Free time [Lunch] – 12 N.N. until 3 P.M.

5. Etheria Colosseum, Event – 3 P.M. until 6 P.M.

6. Free time [Dinner] – 6 P.M. until 8 P.M.

7. Wrap Up! – 8 P.M. until 8:30 P.M.

8. Ethereal Hotel of the Wanderer – 8:30 P.M. onwards.

*Second Day – Capital of Nereia, Enfiya.

*Third Day – Capital of Bhaskara, Basara.

*Fourth to Fifth Day – Capital of Arka, Afrostika.

*Sixth Day – Capital of Cassiopeia, Alapeia.

*Seventh Day – Capital of Alastor, Articor.

After the Stream Bus left at exactly five in the morning, it only took them fifteen minutes to reach the enormous Warp Gate centered in the Obelisk City or the Capital of Olympia.

A Warp Gate in the capital was connected to every other capital, as mentioned above, of each different country, but the destination could be set with the help of the players managing such a too-significant, towering artifact.

The Warp Gate was around ten meters wide and had a stature of at least twenty meters. The players or the workers of such Warp Gate were always informed regarding the school trip of the Obelisk Academy or any other academy, thus, the two operators weren't surprised to see lines of enormous, long school buses, which housed more than fifty students each.

"Alright. Designating location to Magia."

One of the operators spoke diligently, and as someone cognizant regarding the Warp Gates mechanism, he operated it and edited some runic language carved using an artifact meant to be used only for Warp Gates.

A deep woong intermittently resounded, and after double-checking the Warp Gate's endpoint destination, the two operators gestured to everyone, by thumbs up, on the Stream Buses that it was all set.

After that, the Stream Bus where Russell was assigned, as well as the others beside and those from behind, entered the Warp Gate that contained a bluish, because of Mana, vibrating concave mirror-like static wave.

***

At around 5:30 A.M, Russell and the others found themselves in the most luxurious hotel in the Orion Continent, the Ethereal Hotel of the Wanderer of the country, Etheria.

It was located at least more than a hundred meters away from the Ethereal Guild Headquarters. The latter, though, was located two hundred meters away from the Royale Palace where the Queen of Etheria resides.

"What a grand, majestic place!"

Amelie exclaimed. Her ruby eyes were wandering around as soon as they entered the Ethereal Hotel of the Wanderer, which was commonly known, to the natives of the country, as the Wanderer Hotel.

The hotel was around two hundred meters tall, consists of at least fifty floors, and had different sceneries worth sightseeing similar to an ocean park, zoos, playgrounds, and so on. There were also casinos, which Russell was tempted to try if not for his seemingly undying worries at the moment.

It was a massive tower hotel that cost trillions of Obel to be made. In the land that produced the most harvest or necessities in agriculture circulated throughout the continent, the Magia, or the country's capital could be said as truly magical.

Each floor consists of eighty guest rooms, which could accommodate at least two people each. Though it wasn't meant to be for couples only.

It's also the reason why the Wanderer Hotel was famous among those newly married nobles from Cassiopeia due to a certain reason.

Apart from exquisite, intricate architecture and magic engineering, the Wanderer Hotel contained some mysterious wanders when the clock exactly hit midnight. Because at that time, every guest room's ceiling and walls would become panoramic and the night sky with glimmering stars would be projected.

It was an illusory projection used with the help of the hotel's core, which was blessed by the Wanderer Goddess or with cosmic Title as the Wanderer of Cosmos with whom Eliana, the queen, had a Star Contract with.

It lived up to its name as Wanderer Hotel as it could bring the guest an otherworldly experience.

'Similar to having LSD, but with a few extras.'

Russell thought, remembering a certain drug in his past life.

"Hey, are they from the Sky Academy?"

Although the professors and the Student Council Body and Disciplinary Committee Officers already knew, the first years up to third years were confused when numerous students with different uniforms entered the extravagant hotel.

Russell was jolted awake by Amelie's words, causing him to turn his head to the wide automatic door powered by Magic Stones.

'Again with this cliche.'

Russell inwardly lampooned upon seeing the students wearing blue uniforms where a symbol depicting a sky was intricately printed. Some expressions of the students were of curiosity, but some others were wearing the kind of face that wanted to test another player's skill from the opposing academy.

Based on the itinerary, after lunch, in the Etheria Colosseum, there's an event to be held. As the author of a mysterious book, knowing what would happen, Russell couldn't help but inwardly let out a sigh.

​ "They ain't look strong, though."

"Hey, stop your mouths. If not for his death, you'd be only second."

One of the men with a well-built body from the Sky Academy whispered, clearly heard by some Obelisk Students.

Russell turned around, causing Amelie and Freya, who was now on cold shoulders with her older brother, to follow him as he just walked away from the cliche.

'I guess I'll let out some steam later.'

Russell inwardly thought as a grin was painted on his face.

***

Finding themselves in the wide theatrical stadium inside the hotel, the words regarding the official commencement of the school trip were then announced by the Student Council President, who was a puppet of Amelie.

"Ehem... Ehem... That will be all."

Russell weakly elbowed Amelie to the side.

At this moment, there's no rule that everyone should stick together as long as they followed the rules and do not go to restricted places.

"Ken's with his friends on A-2, right?"

Amelie, standing from her seat, glanced to one side to see Ken, talking with his previous classmates. Russell didn't need to worry about such a thing, though Ken seemed bound by the secrets of Chaos, as long as he didn't divulge anything Chaos-related, the former couldn't care less about what the latter's business was.

Russell didn't answer her, instead, he looked at his younger sister with a solemn expression.

<Amelie, take care of her. I'll separate and do something first.>

His words also reverberated inside Freya's head. Russell didn't hide his concern for Freya's emotional turmoil regarding the ancient book, Incomplete Last Defector of Reality.

After Russell finished reading it, he gave it to Freya so that she could give it to the librarian of the Library of the Dead, Red, and Violet.

Russell thought that it was only him who could flip it since it was something shrouded in mysteries about his identity, but due to unexpected and unknown reasons, Freya could also read its contents, though it wasn't entirely processed in her head like a program being forcibly written. What's more, she didn't receive any aftershocks in her brain, unlike Russell's experience of torturing himself just to read it chapter by chapter.

In other words, due to his grave mistake, Freya now knew about the novel's existence.

It was anticlimactic to Russell's side, but he also realized that this was "reality" and the time was just right because the happenings or what was about to happen from the unpublished novel weren't even done on its 1/10th scale of the story. Though it could cause an existential crisis for those who would be aware, it could also be a way to establish a solid foundation to move forward with his Chaos Companions.

So far, it was only Freya who knew. Amelie, though, knew something was up, but she didn't pry about it since it was a sibling's matter.

Leaving the magnificent theater, Russell, who separated from them, and the others were now being guided to the Royale Palace as the first destination to sightsee.

They were only limited to areas that didn't contain controversial matters, of course.

Three hundred meters away from the Wanderer Hotel, each of them walked, which served as a morning exercise since it was only six in the morning, towards the destination.

***

"Will you guide me, Princess?"

Elizabeth seemed to be jolted awake upon hearing Russell's voice from behind.

'When did he get behind me?'

Elizabeth got chills upon realizing the man's ability to sneak around unnoticed.

"Haha, I'm not sure if I'm sufficient to be your tourist guide, but I'll be glad to be of service."

Elizabeth spoke as though she wasn't a princess, even if her words contained something regarding service.

"I'd be delighted with honor."

Russell spoke. At this moment, similar to what he designed about Elizabeth's character, although she was approachable, due to her status as a royal, other people were reluctant and only used their pair of eyes to reach her from afar.

'That d*mn Jiho.'

Russell inwardly cursed. It seemed like Jiho's relationship with Anya was closer than he thought because it was the former who was supposed to accompany Elizabeth, especially when she fumed over the fact that her mother lied to her about her father's death.

But voila! Elizabeth was left alone at the moment as her bestfriend, who was also a representative of the Student Council, was assigned to another group of students.

"Princess, why are you alone? I thought there are two guides per group, and where are the other students that you'd guide?"

Elizabeth glanced at Russell upon hearing such words. Tilting her head, Elizabeth, who fell into confusion, spoke in a perplexing manner.

"How did you know there are two guides per group? Anyway, I requested to be alone since I'm from this place, so I'm the most familiar and didn't need another one."

Ready with such a question, Russell answered casually.

"Well, you know... Connections."

Upon pondering for a few seconds, Elizabeth realized something.

"Ah! Azalea, right? You probably get advance information from her."

With a faint smile, she said.

Stopping for a moment and letting Elizabeth walk ahead of him with a few steps, Russell spoke seriously.

"Yeah. You're right."

"Oh! Here they are!"

A woman's voice interjected after Russell spoke. But at this moment, Russell and Elizabeth seemed to be lost in their own world as they were making eye contact after the former spoke.

"Hey! Princess, where do we go first?"

Celiya von Elydine, who didn't notice the short change in atmosphere, asked, whose words sent Elizabeth and Russell to reality.

"Ah, let's go to the Ethereal Artifacts Museum first!"

She reflexively answered Celiya's question. The latter was one of Anya's teammates during the first Virtual War against Leon's group, which was held in the Virtual Battleground: Desert of the Luminous Scorpion. She's from Cassiopeia and the elder sister of Erina von Elydine, also one of Anya's previous teammates.

After a few minutes of walking at normal speed, the respective groups arrived at different gates of the Royale Palace. Elizabeth, Russell, Celiya, and the others found themselves at the door of the Ethereal Artifacts Museum.

Glancing in awe as he was seeing it in person, Russell whispered.

"What both a luxurious and dangerous place. Surely, the security is tight, though."

"Haha, I appreciate your concern, but worry not. These artifacts, though only range from Normal to Rare rank, has a deep history dating back just a few years after the Emergence.

"And that's one of the best examples."

Walking around the museum, Elizabeth pointed at a long tooth displayed inside an artifact storage glass. In its description, the following was exquisitely calligraphed.

[Tooth of the Kraken]

Description:

A tooth that was acquired upon killing a marine-type monster. At that time, it was a sword.

This artifact's power lets someone modify it into the weapon of his choice, but its rank will be the same as the artifact itself.

Rank: Normal

'That's worth stealing.'

Russell jokingly thought. Not because it could transform to become any weapon according to the user's desire, but due to its origin that would certainly possess extreme durability.

Glancing and being guided for a few minutes, a wide smile spread across Russell's face upon seeing a specific item.

'Target locked.'