Fail at Playing Favorites and It’s a Bad Ending

Column pre-release: From a Nobody Summoner to a God in the Spotlight [Full-Dive VR]. Feel free to add it to your collection!

[Western Fantasy] + [Everyone's Favorite] + [Multiple Male Leads and a Jealousy-fueled Love Polygon] + [Master of Keeping Everyone Happy] + [All Points in Healing]

Anqianya opened a romance game called A Taste of Western Fantasy: Who Is Your Destined One? It took her just three days to clear the happy endings for all five male leads.

Each of the five had his own appeal: the pure and abstinent one, the ruthless and cold one, the haughty and noble one, the wild and valiant one, and the elegant schemer. Their looks covered every kind of handsome, and their physiques ranged from lean muscle to big, beefy bear types. They catered to every preference. And that was before you got to their devoted love, their incredible core strength, and how sweetly they made your heart tremble.

One day, Anqianya woke up to find herself inside the game, which everyone called The Fated One. She'd inherited a character sheet that let her become nothing but a top-tier priest. Armed with a beginner's staff, she gazed deeply into a slime's eyes.

Anqianya: ...I don't have any attack skills. Am I supposed to turn monsters good with love?

But once she entered the academy, Anqianya discovered that the slimes of the Beast Mountains were just an appetizer.

This was a game world with an exceptional degree of freedom:

1. No saving or loading: you only get one life, and failure means you can't start over.

2. No story choices: do whatever you like, and face the consequences.

3. No affection indicators: you'll have to guess whether things are heading toward a happy or bad ending.

Anqianya: I want to go home! I just bought a house and a car! I just quit my job so I could finally relax!

World Consciousness: [Clear the game and unlock all the happy endings in one go, and you can go home.]

Anqianya remembered the forum's pinned post, A Guide to High-Risk, Corruption-Fueled Bad Endings: Holy Light Prison, Chains of the Dark Night, Poisoned Kiss Beneath the Misty Moon, Beast-Fang Marks, the Golden Cage of the Imperial Palace... Every image made the girls in the fandom go wild.

With those male leads, choosing even one wrong option could land her on a steamy bad-ending route, with passion running rampant by day and all manner of games by night.

Worse still, all five male leads had appeared at once. Entering one man's happy-ending route would automatically trigger the other four men's bad endings.

Anqianya: Forget clearing the game! First I need to keep all their plates spinning and avoid those bad endings, aaagh!

[Bonus Scene]

Anqianya's game-clear CG:

The pure and abstinent Holy Son of Light lifted Anqianya's right hand. His tousled golden hair hid the desire in his eyes.

The ruthless Nightstalker guarded Anqianya from behind. Though the radiance burned him, he still smiled at her.

The haughty, noble Mistmoon Elf knelt at Anqianya's side, willingly submitting beneath the divine throne of life she occupied.

The unruly young Beastman lord curled up at Anqianya's feet. The low rumble in his throat betrayed his tamed obedience.

The power-hungry crown prince of the Empire raised the golden seal of imperial authority in both hands, letting the gold dust forged from his power flow into the starry river of her skirt.

Anqianya, Goddess of Freedom and Life!

[Reading Guide]

1. A magical-world adventure starring a girl adored by everyone. The beginning is a little slow, and the main story ends with her going home. The romance is one-on-one in stages, with no picking sides. The extras branch into separate routes, and the heroine travels between two worlds to fall in love.

2. The heroine is a master of keeping everyone happy and an elite tightrope walker. All the male leads she can pursue are virgins, the romance stays within the rules, and every male lead loves her more than she loves him.

3. The author has a writing system and guarantees a stockpile of chapters. Updates follow the ranking schedule when there's a slot, every other day otherwise, and daily after the story goes VIP. New chapters go up at 6 p.m.

4. Thank you all for reading my story.

A recommendation for my upcoming novel: From a Nobody Summoner to a God in the Spotlight [Full-Dive VR]

Before Zhao Xiling's consciousness faded, only one thought remained:

If only back then...

In her previous life, she sold her gaming helmet, struggled through ten years in the real world, and spent those same ten years lurking on the forums.

When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the launch day of Eternal Era.

This time, without hesitation, she chose the summoner class, widely considered a dead-end class in the current version.

With ten years of knowledge as a game-watching fan etched into her bones, player Lingling Dingdang turned the entire server's understanding of the game upside down with every move.

[System]: Congratulations to player Lingling Dingdang for being the first to defeat a hidden boss solo!

Entire Server: ??? Isn't that a five-player dungeon? Where are her teammates?!

[System]: Congratulations to player Lingling Dingdang for triggering the epic conditions! A brand-new expansion, ■■■■, is about to launch!

Entire Server: ??? God Ling, are you playing on a private server?

Later, the game became a massive hit, drawing in a corporate behemoth that put a price tag on everything.

They offered a sky-high sum to buy out her reputation, her team, and the miracle she represented.

Zhao Xiling looked behind her. There was the NPC princess whose fate she'd changed, the crafting masters she'd discovered among clueless beginners, and countless players like her who truly loved this game world.

She looked away and lazily declined. "That much money isn't enough."

Ten years of regret, a love woven across two lifetimes:

No amount of money could buy it.

Theme: The meaning of life is freedom.