The ever-standing city of Belobog, humanity's last bastion.
Seven hundred years ago, the Anti-Matter Legion ravaged Jarilo-VI, setting the planet ablaze and turning the land to scorched earth.
In the face of annihilation, a great cold swept over Jarilo-VI. The vanguard of the Anti-Matter Legion was frozen into ice sculptures, and all fell into silence. Only Belobog stood tall.
The Architects built this city. Under the blessing of Qlipoth, the Aeon of [Preservation], the isolated city, though battered by the Eternal Freeze, still retained a sliver of warmth.
...It was a pity that even though the Anti-Matter Legion had been consumed by the cold, the mysterious phenomenon of the Fragmentum continued to appear on Jarilo-VI, and had already encroached upon Belobog.
Strange lifeforms not of this world extended their tendrils from beyond the dim, starry sky. Life and man-made objects were swallowed by the Fragmentum, where matter was annihilated and reconstructed, becoming twisted phantoms that wandered aimlessly.
Besieged by the Eternal Freeze and the Fragmentum, Belobog teetered on the brink. After more than seven hundred years of war, this final bastion of humanity was nearing its end...
Could humanity still have a future in this endless winter?
Bronya could not find an answer to this question.
As the future Supreme Guardian, Bronya had received Cocolia's strict tutelage since childhood. Piled high with Belobog's finest educational resources, she had grown into an outstanding [Architect].
In the foreseeable future, Bronya was certain to become a worthy Supreme Guardian, dedicated to the Preservation of Belobog until the end of her days.
Her reputation had even begun to surpass that of the current Supreme Guardian, Cocolia. Recently, subversive talk of looking forward to Bronya's succession had become rampant in the city. Almost everyone held great expectations and approval for Bronya—
—everyone except Bronya herself.
Lately, doubts had been sprouting in her heart, making her question her own ability to fulfill the role of Supreme Guardian.
The Silvermane Guards of the Overworld rushed to the front lines, but the defenses forged from their blood and fire could not halt the Fragmentum's advance, leaving only the wailing cries and phantoms of the dead to roam within its corrupted space.
Meanwhile, the Underworld had been sealed off for a long time. The kind of life its people were living remained unknown, but one could imagine it was no better than the Overworld, with its inflation and judicial corruption.
Life in the eternal winter grew harsher by the day. Bronya had tried to change this, submitting multiple proposals to her mother—the current Supreme Guardian, Cocolia.
Withdraw the front-line guards, rectify the corruption in the military's logistics department, address the monopoly of daily necessities by the old, aristocratic families... all these suggestions were dismissed by Cocolia as "worthless jokes."
Bronya had always been unconditionally obedient to the mother she respected. In her eyes, if Cocolia said so, then her ideas were naturally without merit.
Although she had her own doubts about Cocolia's policies, she directed that doubt more towards herself...
After all, Cocolia had the advice of the Architects. She only had her own thoughts. How could the wisdom of one person compare to that of an entire institution?
To think she had eagerly run to her mother with those useless suggestions... it seemed laughable now.
Could someone so foolish and self-unaware truly bring a better life to the people of Belobog?
The questions festered in her heart, leaving Bronya mentally and physically exhausted.
Though she maintained the facade of a decisive and efficient commander in her daily life, she was, after all, still just a young woman. Under this immense pressure, her spirit was a tightly wound string, ready to snap at any moment.
...It wasn't until today, when a strange screen of light materialized before her, that her attention was finally diverted from the endless cycle of self-doubt.
[Life Simulation Game has logged in.]
[Welcome, Player Bronya Rand.]
[This game will use the player's personal experiences and personality traits as a reference to simulate all of the player's actions.]
[After each simulation ends, the player can receive a reward. The reward will be drawn from all items the player obtained during the simulation.]
[Begin the game?]
[Yes / No]
She was bewildered when she first saw the screen, but after confirming it was real, she immediately calmed down.
A life simulation...?
Bronya couldn't help but fall into deep thought. The real Belobog was already on the verge of collapse, leaving no room for trial and error...
But if it was a simulation, then she would have immense space to experiment... If she could achieve something in the simulation, she could replicate it in reality.
Although the Preservation of Belobog wasn't something she could achieve alone, if it was within a simulation, she could always find helpers...
Then, she could finally find the answer to whether or not she could become a worthy Supreme Guardian.
Filled with such hope, in a deserted corner of Qlipoth Fort, Bronya awkwardly swiped her fingers across the screen of light, trying to figure out how this thing worked.
More than seven hundred years had passed since the founding of the city. The technology tree that should have existed on Jarilo-VI had completely regressed.
Bronya had never seen such an advanced device. She fumbled, swiping at the empty air for a good while before she finally understood how to operate it, tapping on the [Yes] on the screen—
[Please select a game mode:]
[Future Simulation, Past Simulation (Unlocks at World Level 15), Fantasy Simulation (Unlocks at World Level 35)]
She glanced at the top right corner of the screen. UID: 1000000006, Player: Bronya Rand. Her World Level was a pitiful 1.
It seemed she could only choose Future Simulation...
Bronya tapped on Future Simulation. The text on the screen cleared and was replaced by new words:
[In the year 700 of the Fort-Building Era, the Fragmentum corrosion has grown more severe, spreading completely into the Administrative District of Belobog.]
[Faced with the Fragmentum threat, Supreme Guardian Cocolia chooses to mobilize the entire populace, conscripting more guards to enter the Fragmentum-corroded streets in an attempt to launch a counterattack.]
[As the acting commander of the Silvermane Guards, you are well aware that the Fragmentum is treacherous and its creatures are difficult to fight.]
[You advise your mother to consolidate the guard's defensive line and hold the peripheral passages to avoid needless sacrifices.]
[However, Cocolia rebukes you for your lack of fighting spirit and single-mindedly pushes for the counterattack.]
[She revokes your position as acting commander of the Silvermane Guards, forbids you from going to the front lines, and assigns you only a few guards to watch over the armory gate.]
Reading the text on the screen, Bronya felt a sense of daze.
Although she was long accustomed to her mother's stubborn nature, she still found her actions hard to comprehend.
The Fragmentum had been raging for over seven hundred years, and there had never been a single successful counterattack.
The Fragmentum creatures were endless, and anyone who ventured deep into their territory would also be corroded, easily losing their sanity and being assimilated and reconstructed into one of the monsters within.
It was already a great feat to hold the line against the onslaught of the creatures and stop the Fragmentum's spread. How could one possibly force a counterattack deep into its territory?
This was simply courting destruction...
With a heavy heart, Bronya watched as the text on the screen continued to scroll:
[Dejected, you accept the order and head to the armory in the logistics district to guard the gate.]
[A squad of Silvermane Guards becomes your direct subordinates and joins your team—]
A row of character cards popped up on the screen. Each depicted a personal portrait of a guard, looking like simple sketches without any color.
The vast majority of these character cards were white, with only one or two glowing with a faint blue light.
Bronya carefully read the descriptions on the cards, only to find with disappointment that they were all slackers from the guard teams, whose usual duties consisted of nothing more than standing post.
The few guards with blue character cards had some ability, having served on the front lines with Captain Gepard, but their combat records were unremarkable, making them of little use.
Faced with such a miserable start, Bronya couldn't help but sigh.
A squad of Silvermane Guards under her command, yet not a single one of them was capable... It seemed she could only rely on herself.
She was about to tap the screen to let the simulation continue when she accidentally swiped it, revealing a character card she had missed—
[Ron]
[Talent · Peerless Talent: Possessing the wisdom of a king's advisor, his passion is unmatched. Under his grand strategy and vision, any opportunity will be firmly seized... Given enough time, he can solve any problem.]
[Bio: A Silvermane Guard Officer, formerly a sentry at Qlipoth Fort. Now transferred under Logistics Officer Bronya, temporarily serving as the captain of the armory guard team.]
On his character card, brilliant golden starlight flowed around its border. The animated and exquisite portrait showed him hastily adjusting his disheveled armor. Once he was neat, he stood at attention and saluted Bronya, his armor and halberd gleaming under the sun, a beautiful, dazzling gold.