NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 59: In Need of Security
The name "Hera" was not unfamiliar to Xanthia.
After all, her relationship with Luciel was extremely close now. They talked about everything, and through Luciel, Xanthia learned some information about Hera.
Luciel had clashed with Hera before over standing up for Xanthia. Luciel herself wasn't afraid of Hera's retaliation, but she worried about Xanthia getting caught up in it.
She knew well that Hera wasn't a broad-minded person; bullying the weak was her style.
Although Xanthia had been warned by Luciel, she hadn't taken it too seriously.
In her view, she hadn't even spoken a word to Hera. They had no interaction at all. To think that Hera, as a high school girl, could harbor such malice to harm another innocent and "fragile" classmate—it was unbelievable.
Xanthia could only say that she underestimated the treacherous nature of people and underestimated high school students. Sometimes minors could be the most terrifying, purely emotional beings who didn't care about gains and losses but simply disliked someone and wanted to attack them.
Furthermore, Hera had a history. Back in junior high, she had played the game of isolating, bullying, and tormenting others, blatantly targeting the weak.
She believed that introverted, friendless individuals were easy targets because she assumed they lacked the ability or inclination to retaliate.
In her eyes, Xanthia was undoubtedly such a weak person. What made it slightly tricky was that Xanthia had aligned herself with Luciel, making it temporarily difficult for Hera to confront her at school.
So, Hera turned her twisted thoughts to the internet...
Being a day student, there might be opportunities in the future to take action against Xanthia outside of school grounds, where Luciel wouldn't be able to protect her.
However, what Hera never expected was that after spending so much time and effort online, trying to undermine Xanthia, all her efforts would be in vain due to Xanthia's academic improvement.
Hera was not the type to manipulate emotions without any fluctuations. Seeing Xanthia gaining even more popularity and a positive image in the school's online community, she was infuriated beyond measure, and her negative emotions surged.
All these negative feelings stemmed from Xanthia, and it was through these events that Xanthia received notifications from the system, exposing Hera completely.
Now, Xanthia's image in the school's online forums had transformed into that of a diligent student from a modest background, a positive and inspiring figure who had overcome adversity—the queen of resilience. After all, she was now the top student in Class 3, ranked 18th in her grade—a superlative achiever!
Regarding her personal ratings, they continued to soar, with comments from users such as:
"Like a sword honed from grinding, and plum blossoms fragrance from bitter cold!"
"I feel inspired by her. Coming from such a poor family, and enduring rumors and cyberbullying, yet managing to rise above such immense pressure—it's truly remarkable!"
"Xanthia is a goddess among high-achieving girls, beautiful among beautiful girls with the best grades. No doubt, right? Straight shooters, I love telling the truth!"
"I'm just so sick of those rumors that were being spread earlier. I've given her full marks to counteract those intentionally low ratings."
"Xanthia is definitely a hidden gem among this year's freshmen. I have high hopes for her. I feel she could become the face of our Thessaloniki First High. It's been a while since we had a prominent school beauty since the coming of foreign japanese and korean girls to our continent. Seems like the confession wall is dedicated to beauties from other schools—it's embarrassing."
"Feels good. Those rumor-spreading posts have finally been cleaned up. Suddenly, Xanthia's worth seems even more solid. Not being envied is mediocrity. Sometimes being beautiful is a sin. Thanks to those rumor-mongers, my impression of Xanthia has deepened."
Hera couldn't believe that her actions had inadvertently turned public opinion on the internet so positively towards Xanthia, fueling her with anger and frustration.
As Xanthia became even more popular, Hera might find it increasingly unbearable—this "pain value" was entirely self-inflicted.
What Hera didn't know was that Xanthia had already caught onto her schemes. Thinking she could hide in the shadows and manipulate from afar? Xanthia was far more adept at that game.
Xanthia was a true survivor. At this moment, she wasn't impulsively retaliating against Hera. She deemed such petty revenge beneath her. Xanthia wasn't immature. If someone wanted to ruin her reputation, she would retaliate in a big way later on.
Furthermore, Hera's actions had triggered an unusual sense of urgency in Xanthia, who typically feared confrontation.
She had simply wanted to enjoy high school life peacefully, yet someone couldn't bear to see her happy and wanted to shatter her joy. It was despicable!
And in the future, as her attractiveness and charisma increased, it felt increasingly unfair—being accused without cause. Even without Hera, there were surely others with ill intentions...
Hera was an impulsive spoiled child.
One could only say that in this capitalist nation ruled by conglomerates and politicians, not to mention under the hood of meritocracy, it was still very dangerous, especially for top-tier beauties. In the eyes of those already corrupted by money and power, they were nothing more than prey delicious to be consumed. One misstep could lead to a catastrophic downfall.
Xanthia didn't suffer from paranoia, but Hera's actions did make her more vigilant. She couldn't afford to treat this parallel world of hidden dangers like her previous life.
Fortunately, she had resources at her disposal. By now, she had accumulated quite a bit of "pain value" and it was time to spend some in the system store.
It was a new month, and the limited-edition blind boxes she had purchased in September had refreshed. Despite the summon creature "Little Firefly" being somewhat disappointing in practical terms, she still had three more boxes to open.
She wasn't one to rely solely on luck like a gambling addict. Instead, she intended to accumulate more "pain value" and then purchase a more potent tool or summon creature.
However, the more powerful the item or summon creature, the higher the cost in "pain value." She didn't want to become the kind of evil witch who inflicted pain on the world—what would she do with her happiness then? What meaning would life hold?
Kill a random person from afar that is dearest for someone and collect high amount of pain points?
No matter how much pain points she receive, Xanthia simply wouldn't cross the red line.
She can forgive but not a pushover either.
Stimulated by Hera's actions, Xanthia urgently sought security. After careful consideration, she settled on an item from the system store that she found extremely useful—a protective tool called the "Malice Notebook."
This information-based tool lacked the extraordinary abilities to harm others, which made its price quite reasonable.
Its function was straightforward: whenever someone harbored malice towards Xanthia and took action, the notebook would detect their intentions. It would then present their plans and future criminal activities against her in written form, with the option to enhance details and even include illustrations by spending additional "pain value."
The "Malice Notebook" looked rather ordinary, like a black notebook 'Deathnote' from a popular anime series. It could be stored in the system's inventory and would display a red exclamation mark if malice was detected. Only Xanthia, its owner, could see the specific contents.
With this tool, no puppeteer, mastermind, accomplice, or perpetrator could escape Xanthia's scrutiny. This naturally boosted her sense of security significantly.
At her current stage, this was the most cost-effective protective item she could acquire with a little effort.
Most importantly, this type of information-based tool was highly discreet, perfectly aligning with her intentions. Instead of harming others to gain points, she sought only self-preservation, which also aims to gain points then to use them for self-preservation purposes.
Her focus on increasing "happiness points" and enhancing her "health bar" reflected her approach to life.
Sometimes, fear stemmed from the unknown. With the ability to preemptively detect any conspiracy, Xanthia would have more confidence. Who knew? She might even strike first.
What's that? She still needed a bit more "pain value" to purchase the "Malice Notebook"?
Xanthia was prepared for this. She hadn't forgotten about the one-time-use item she had obtained from the blind box—the simulation of excruciatingly painful memories.
