[Next Day.]
[Player Spectral, You can now return to Galaxy Fall... When ever you are ready.]
Mirabella slowly nodded her head, the fruity scent of the candy stick in her hand a familiar comfort. Cupcake stood sentinel on her shoulder, tail twitching. The ruined city was quiet, the stench of ash and forgotten battles still heavy in the air.
"I don't even know what to do anymore," she sighed, finishing the last bite of candy. "I created a Guild purely out of boredom."
She tapped her Galaxy Bracelet, pulling up the Guild's profile, a wry smile touching her lips as she read the ridiculous statistics.
[Guild Name: Ghosts.]
[Guild Level: Lv1.]
[Guild Strength: 500,000.]
[Guild Member: 1.]
[Guild Ranking: 1st.]
"Five hundred thousand strength with only one member," she muttered, a dark humor in her tone. "It's all thanks to the overlord blessing and system, but it looks utterly ridiculous. Still, with this, I can start taking the specialized quests—the ones that are less about grinding and more about impact."
She looked out at the dead border for the last time. An hour spent monitoring for the rumored World Boss had yielded nothing but silence.
"Come on, Cupcake," she said, turning away from the edge of the world. "If that monster was going to show, it would have. Let's get back to where the rules hold."
She raised her bracelet and tapped it.
WHOOSH!!
A swirling white light enveloped them, and they vanished, leaving the ruined city for the vibrant, rules-bound reality of Galaxy Fall.
__
[The Gates of Galaxy City.]
"Phew! I finally made it!" Ethan yelled, collapsing onto the cobblestone road just outside the massive wooden gate of Galaxy City. His relief was loud and immediate, a stark contrast to the weary silence of the soldiers.
Jessica, her face grimy and etched with fatigue, surveyed the scene. Two burly guards, armored in polished leather that looked expensive and custom-made, frowned down at the panting Ethan.
Miranda, always quick to aggression, marched forward.
"Stop, you have to pay your gate fee before entry." The guards stopped her.
"Hey! We are all humans here! Shouldn't you at least give us a moment to recover before demanding money?" she shouted, placing her hands on her hips.
"Miranda, stop," Alice whispered, pulling on her friend's sleeve. "Look at them. They are Galaxy City citizens. They've been here, they have a system. We're the newcomers. In here, they're not NPCs, they're just people who live here."
Jessica stepped past the hushed argument. She had to take the lead.
"How much is the gate fee per person?" she asked, her voice steady and professional despite her exhaustion.
The muscular guard on the right crossed his arms. "Ten gold coins."
Jessica counted the faces in her group: herself, Ethan, Miranda, Alice, Angela, and her twenty remaining soldiers. Twenty-five people total. She felt a grim pang of memory for the soldiers they'd lost on the journey—each loss an un-payable debt.
She reached into her inventory and pulled out a heavy, embroidered pouch.
"We lost some on the way. Here are 250 gold coins." She handed the pouch to the guard.
The guard tapped his personal Galaxy Bracelet, which instantly scanned the contents and verified the gold. He gave a sharp, business-like nod. "You may pass. Welcome to Galaxy City."
As they walked through the gate, Jessica's eyes widened. She froze, taking in the spectacle.
Stalls lined the street, not selling salvaged junk, but fully crafted items. Health potion stores, armorers, textile shops—a functioning economy based on a circulating gold currency. She saw other players, easily identifiable by their modern clothes, but also countless City citizens in robes and custom armor, walking with purpose.
'They also have Galaxy bracelets... they're integrated.' Jessica realized. 'My gem gives me crucial intel, but it can't tell me the core rules of this world.'
Then she noticed a group of humans huddled by a wall, crying. Their clothes were tattered, and they looked utterly defeated.
"Seems we all have a lot to adjust to," she muttered, feeling the immense weight of the world they had just entered.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by an exclamation from the gate.
"Ahhh! Neutral Reputation!"
Jessica turned back, followed by Ethan and her group, to see the two guards—the same men who had just treated her with cold professionalism—bowing deeply to a lady with vibrant blue hair and a pristine white cat perched on her shoulder.
"Miss Mirabella, due to your Neutral Reputation, there is no fee. Please, welcome to Galaxy City. If you require anything, please see the Duke directly." The guard's smile was sickeningly flattering.
"Hey! He didn't treat us like that! Why is he treating Mirabella, who's only Lv10, like she's some Queen?" Miranda hissed, deeply offended.
'Neutral Reputation.'
The phrase sparked a question in Jessica's mind. She checked Mirabella's profile with her bracelet, only seeing the basic stats.
[Information.]
[Name: Mirabella.]
[Nickname: N/A.]
[Level: 10.]
[Attack: 100.]
[Health: 200.]
[Defense: 100.]
[Agility: 100.]
[Magic attack: 100.]
"I'm Lv15, and my base stats are five times higher than hers," Jessica muttered, a knot of confusion forming in her gut. "Why isn't the Reputation visible, and why does it command that level of respect?"
Mirabella nodded to the guards with the air of a noble accepting homage, then walked into the city, moving with a confident, effortless gait as if she had lived here her entire life.
"Baby!" Ethan yelled, rushing toward her.
The two guards, still staring after Mirabella, blinked in surprise. "Did that moron just claim to know her?" one whispered.
"I'm equally shocked," the second replied.
Mirabella stopped. She saw Ethan, Angela, Miranda, and Alice. Her gaze swept past them to Jessica and the remaining soldiers.
'They survived.' Mirabella thought, her expression utterly detached.
'Jessica got them through. Good. It proves they can survive. I did what I could for them in my previous life. Now, they must learn the true nature of the game.'
"Bestie!" Angela rushed forward, trying to grab her arm. "How did you make those guards treat you like that? You're only Lv10!"
Mirabella subtly shifted her body, forcing Angela to stop short.
'All of you are Lv5 now, thanks to the General. A decent foundation.' she thought, an internal bitterness mixing with her determination.
'But 'bestie' is a title that belongs to a different reality.'
"Please," Mirabella asked, her voice cool and devoid of emotion, "do I know you people?"
"......?!"
A stunned silence fell over the group.
"Huh?"
"Mira? I'm your boyfriend," Ethan said, his face a mask of surprise turning to indignation.
"Yes. I'm your childhood best friend. You can't forget me," Angela insisted, hurt replacing confusion.
"I am sorry," Mirabella said, staring directly at Ethan and Angela. Her eyes held no malice, only an unnerving emptiness.
"I am not your girlfriend, and we are not friends. In this world, strangers should keep a respectful distance from one another. Can you please leave my personal space?" Her tone was laced with an undeniable edge of disdain.
"....?!"
Ethan's face went scarlet with a fury born of wounded ego. "You bitch! You dare pretend you don't know us because you're Lv10 and have a higher reputation?!!"
WHOOSH!!
A sudden, sharp bolt of lightning erupted from Cupcake, arcing down and striking the ground directly in front of Ethan's feet, leaving a smoking black hole.
Ethan stumbled backward, horror replacing rage. "You... you!"
"I knew you were evil from the start, can't even help your fellow humans," Miranda sneered, trying to recover some dignity by attacking Mirabella's character.
Jessica, the onlookers, and the Galaxy City guards watched the dramatic confrontation in silence.
"What is happening here?"
A massive man in pristine black armor, flanked by two City Guards, strode toward them. This was the City Captain, his presence commanding immediate respect.
"Sir! She attacked us!" Alice immediately seized the opportunity, pointing accusingly at Mirabella.
The Captain looked at Mirabella, then casually scanned her profile with his own bracelet. The moment he saw the hidden reputation, his professional demeanor dissolved into a flattering smile.
"Ah! Miss Mirabella, why are you detained?" he asked, ignoring Alice entirely.
"These fools stopped me on my way, and he," she said, pointing a finger at Ethan, "insulted me. He broke the rules of civil conduct. I know killing is restricted within Galaxy Fall, so I will only ask that he be given ten disciplinary slaps."
The Captain's smile didn't waver. He turned to the two guards behind him.
"You heard the lady. Carry out the disciplinary action."
"Yes, Captain!"
Ethan's eyes darted wildly. "Hey! What are you doing?! She attacked me first!" He backed up quickly, but the two Lv10 Guards were faster. The Captain, a chillingly competent Lv15, made it clear there would be no appeal.
SLAP!!!
The sound of the first slap cracked through the city square, stunning everyone into motionlessness.
Mirabella watched, her face a mask of cold resolution, as the two Guards delivered the punishment, adding a few gratuitous kicks when Ethan fell. When they were finished, she stepped forward.
Her voice, amplified by her spirit energy, rang out clear and cold to every ear in the vicinity.
"Listen! With my power and reputation in Galaxy City, anyone who provides aid, food, shelter, or jobs to these four—Ethan, Miranda, Angela, and Alice—will be designated as my personal enemy within this City!"
She looked at the defeated, humiliated group. "Remember this. You wanted to know the rules of this new world. Now you do."
Her eyes met Jessica's for a fleeting second—a look that held both a warning and a strangely desperate plea—before she turned and walked away into the bustling life of Galaxy City, her white cat, a silent herald on her shoulder.