Xianzhou Luofu, Exalting Sanctum, inside a dilapidated house.
Seth had only just come to terms with having transmigrated when a notification tone suddenly rang in his head.
A surge of joy flashed through him, and he immediately cast aside the panic and fear from moments earlier.
[Congratulations to the host for awakening: Villain Simulator]
[In simulated roleplay, the higher the script difficulty and the more evil the actions, the higher the evaluation you receive. Evaluation tiers can be used to exchange for various traits/perks.]
Simulator, traits… none of this was unfamiliar to Seth!
Before transmigrating he loved reading web novels and playing mobile games.
Simulators were among the most common golden fingers: through repeated simulations you earn various traits and boost your own power.
Earlier, based on the information on the Jade Abacus—that is, the Xianzhou-version phone—he'd already deduced he'd transmigrated into the world of Honkai: Star Rail.
Star Rail calls itself a space opera, but in truth danger lurks everywhere in this world.
Take the Xianzhou Luofu where he was now, for example: before long it would face a series of major incidents—"Stellaron Eruption, Ambrosia Arbor Reborn," "The Alchemy Commission's Secret Revival," "The Lord Ravager's Sneak Attack," "Hoolay's Prison Break," and so on.
Reality isn't a game. These big events will rack up serious casualties.
If the plot deviates, the death toll only grows. In the worst case, more than half of Xianzhou Luofu's tens of billions could die.
If he didn't want to become one more unnoticed statistic in the news, he needed at least enough strength to survive that string of disasters.
The looming crisis filled Seth with urgency.
The Villain Simulator clearly wanted him to play the bad guy in simulations, and the more evil he was, the better the rewards.
Before transmigrating, Seth had been just an ordinary person—he might have had qualms about doing evil in reality. But a simulation was like a VR game.
Since it was a game, he had far fewer scruples.
It's like how no one cares how many slices of bread you've eaten, and no one cares how many you've killed or how much evil you've done in a game.
"System, can you briefly explain the basic rules of the Villain Simulator?"
Out of caution, Seth asked the system.
[This simulator divides script difficulty into three tiers: basic, intermediate, high. Higher difficulty grants higher rewards.]
[After completing a simulation, the system evaluates the host's actions. You can then freely keep one trait for free. Your evaluation tier can be used to exchange for traits of the corresponding tier or to upgrade trait quality.]
Mm. Similar to simulator webnovel rules he'd seen. Power growth was simple: repeat simulations to farm traits.
Trait types are usually diverse—some akin to talents or skills, others like equipment.
"All right, little system. Start the first simulation!"
After roughly understanding the rules, Seth could no longer wait.
[Drawing associated character…]
His vision blurred. In the boundless starry sky, dozens of cards fluttered like snow.
Seeing the familiar animation, Seth couldn't help but quip:
"Mm, nice gacha effects."
A card flipped over: icy moonlight, a proud blue-clad swordswoman, black eyepatch, long white hair…
"It's Jingliu!?"
Seth exclaimed.
She was the former sword master of the Xianzhou Luofu, known as the "Transcendent Flash," one of the Five High-Cloud Quintet, and the mentor of Arbiter-General Jing Yuan. She had defected from the Xianzhou and vanished.
But Seth knew that in the impending major incidents, Jingliu would set foot on the Xianzhou Luofu again.
"System, is it because I'm currently on the Xianzhou that I drew a script related to an Xianzhou character?"
Seth asked curiously.
[Yes. The host's current region greatly increases the odds of drawing scripts associated with local characters.]
Seth tapped Jingliu's card.
Swish, swish—three scrolls unfurled, but two were blacked out and unselectable.
He opened the only selectable scroll. A system prompt popped up:
[Choose this script for simulation? (Script difficulty: Basic)]
Seth rubbed his chin.
Looks like only by clearing the basic difficulty will the other two scripts unlock.
He didn't hesitate and chose "Yes."
Another interface appeared:
[Please choose two initial traits. After the script simulation ends, you can keep one for free as an inherent trait.]
(Trait rarity from low to high: white, green, blue, purple, gold, red)
[Noble Lineage (Gold): You will be born into a powerful family. Your starting point is higher than most people's finish line.] (This trait is a basic-difficulty benefit and cannot be chosen at settlement.)
[Slow and Steady (White): Whatever you do, experience accrues over time, making you more adept. The longer it lasts, the more obvious the effect.]
[Honeyed Tongue (White): Your lies are more believable.]
[Fickle-Minded (White): You cannot focus on a single task; your attention is often scattered.]
As expected of basic difficulty: aside from the golden system welfare, it's all white, not even a blue.
Seth glanced through them and immediately decided the gold trait was a must-pick—this trait would massively lower the simulation's difficulty.
Of the three white traits, "Fickle-Minded" was clearly a debuff and got tossed first.
Judging by effect, "Honeyed Tongue" would help clear the script better.
But after a moment's thought, Seth chose "Slow and Steady."
In the long run, "Slow and Steady" was clearly a promising stock.
Just before the simulation officially began, the system popped up another message:
[WARNING: AFTER THE SIMULATION ENDS, THE SCRIPT'S MAIN CHARACTER WILL ALSO RETAIN THEIR MEMORIES OF THE SIMULATION! PLEASE TAKE NOTE!!!]
Afraid he'd ignore it, the system used bold, enlarged red font.
After reading the warning, Seth frowned, but wasn't too shocked.
In many simulator webnovels, the heroine retains simulation-related memories, while the system deliberately hides this vital info from the protagonist, leading to misunderstandings, conflict, and melodrama—a so-called harem hell.
He hadn't expected his own system to be honest: not only did it not hide it, it practically begged him to notice.
After weighing pros and cons, Seth still chose to proceed.
The reason was simple: the upcoming chain of incidents on the Xianzhou Luofu could easily get him killed if he got caught up in them.
So gaining strength to protect himself was urgent.
As for offending Jingliu and being hunted by a beautiful, crazed sword-demon—that was a problem for later.
First, survive.