#i do think an apocalypse otome game and the thought of you landing in certain routes might make things different

[matchanon]

you know that doomed apocalypse isekai plot had given me some thoughts too and as the inspirator for this im holding u responsible for these ideas so im dumping these in your inbox (im sorry haha)

<<being isekai'd into an rpg-like otome game>>

- first of all, unlike the other reader, this one had lowkey highkey been playing this game and all its routes so they KNOW their shit. maybe this game is notorious for its difficulty and bad endings, maybe it's rng bullshit all together, who knows but the reader lmao

- the moment they wake up they either go panic mode until they realize what world is this or they excitedly roam around and figured out which faction they had woken into.

- if they had awoken into castrum kremnos, it's the hardest faction to stay alive and keep yourself afloat in the original game. it has so many hard events and scenarios, not to mention even meeting the main guy of this route (mydeimos) is a task and a hurdle. but wooing him is probably the easiest when you can prove yourself worthy and stay by his side.

- waking up in the grove is the easiest place you could start at as the beginning stages are the best places to level up and grind, only at the end is where the big harder events come in (and in game by the time you get there, you should be fully equipped and leveled) the hardest part about this route is no doubt the guy (anaxagoras) as he takes nearly as long as the entire route even for him to begin acknowledging you as he's much more interested in uncovering the secrets of the tide.

- the third route in okhema seemed to be the most balanced out of the three. There would be random battles and scenarios that would be hard when you are unprepared but it's nothing brain-numbingly hard like in castrum kremnos. and the main guy (phainon) isn't half bad or too easy to go for either! no, the main game isn't the hard part--it's the endings he would pursue. care too much and he becomes the villain deadset in only caring about YOU and not the world. care too little and why would he bother with anything else except for his revenge? make a minute mistake and he ends up as flame reaver rather than the deliverer. forget to do something and he fails his final trial.

so, what where would reader end up in and what route would they choose?

i didn't want to air out this ask cuz we were VERY close to anaxagoras banner, so i waited a bit for it, though it doesn't make particular difference in this case, the outline remains pretty much the same. anyways... have you ever watched overlord? i personally find it fun when game translates terrifyingly into reality :3

since we don't have an actual otome plot to go off from, i will be free balling this.

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you, the reader, do not have the luxury of choice.

and of course you don't have a choice. if you did, you wouldn't be here. you would've never chosen this world from all the games and novels you could've chosen. you wouldn't have chosen to transmigrate, period. in this reality that should've remained a game, you do not choose the hows, the whys, the whens, or the whats.

games are games, novels are novels, they are fun to play or read after 8 hours of work, but the real thing is decidedly not fun.

in fact, it’s downright horrible.

no matter where you start off, it’s a very horrible world years (in the two digit numbers at most) away from utter annihilation. the people are on edge. the regulations are strict. the food is managed and the population in each city kept an eye on. the monsters are hideous and smelly and terrifying. they have dinosaurs for pets and one of them almost crushes you beneath its foot. this world sucks balls.

a world based off an otome is still a shitty world. you are not protected by a screen nor do you get to go back and redo your mistakes. you work, eat, sleep, except this time you're utterly alone. you're also kind of useless in stuff except game knowledge.

you can't use swords or bows. you don't know how to plant corps, sew a straw basket, or even skin an animal. you don't know the protocols and unspoken rules set in place. you only know that the world is real. you bleed. you hurt. you can die (or worse). a seven year old here has more survival skills than you do and had even comforted you when you had broken down like, twice, patting your back like your mom used to do when you were small (and what humbling experience that had been).

no one knows you. no one cares about you. you are truly, horribly, indescribably alone. you are terrified, and you must fight for your very survival now. the world is going to end soon. you are going to die if you don’t do something, but what can you do?

if “you” try to “wander” around, you are going to die either by monsters or fellow humans. if you stay without doing anything, the world marches to destruction. any day there is danger of corruption swallowing the place you live. what is knowledge worth when you had been a law-abiding civilian form the modern era and cannot act, fight, or survive on your own?

you know the characters. you know the routes. you know the items, the cheats, the lore. things you used to pour over in forums and discussion groups for fun are now things you desesperately try to recall and depend on for survival.

after mere weeks living in this game world, this knowledge is exactly why you can understand just how fucked you are.

the world is infamous for its bad ends, fights, and rng (oh god, the rng is the worst, you are NOT lucky), and so far none of it looks pretty in person. you certainly haven't been very lucky. if a single dromas can almost accidentally send you to heaven (not a fun experience, 0/5 stars review, despite the cuddle afterwards that left your face wet from licks), what makes you think you can survive fighting by the capturable targets' side and aid them?

drastic circumstances, you think, call for drastic measures.

ROUTE #1: YOU WAKE UP IN 《 "MURMURING WOODS", GROVE OF EPIPHANY》

one of the most hated routes ever because the gameplay used to have math problems in real time :) in the real world, it's even shittier.

after you transmigrate, you suddenly have to cram religion, quantum physics, history, agriculture, arquitecture, magic voodoo, alchemy, and math. you are not going to survive. might as well lay down and wait for death.

time is ticking. you don't have the time - nor the brain cells - to get into any of anaxagoras' classes. just thinking about studying masters degree levels of stuff makes you want to pass out. he might think you are lying, and by the time you can for sure prove you're not, you are pretty sure it's going to be late and you're all going to die.

this is the real world. you are not constrained to routes and choices in a screen. you must use think outside the box. think hard, and realize this: your only option is not professor anaxagoras.

instead, before doom decimates the grove of epiphany and you become a faceless face amongst the statistic, you must find a way to attract the gaze of cerces, the titan of reason residing at the core of the academia.

alriiiight, time to prep yourself to spout some of the biggest bullshit in your two lives.

gods, you can't believe all those hours pouring over game lore for shipping purposes is going to save your life.

(of course, your other option is to shoot all your subjects to hell and get yourself expelled, but that runs the dangers of being sent to a city that is not okhema.)

ROUTE #2: YOU WAKE UP IN 《 "BLOODBATHED BATTLEFRONT", CASTRUM KREMNOS》

simply put, you are fucked.

figuratively speaking, the dynasty of castrum kremnos had long since become an abandoned fortress by the time you meet the warrior of okhema, mydei, in the main storyline. it becomes a plot device used to bond with mydei and something many fans had gushed over and cried about. despite being a mere plot device, there is enough lore on castrum kremnos for you to know enough and understand that when you wake up in the still standing city of castrum kremnos, you are in deep, deep trouble.

the city was not felled by the black tides, instead, it had been taken down in rebellion against its current king eurypon by the banished and presumed dead crown prince, mydeimos. by the timeline of the main story, castrum kremnos is only an abandoned wastelant of madness and rubble.

(you don't know, you don't know when and where mydeimos is...!!! what year did castrum kremnos fall? when did he finally leave the sea and meet his comrades? how many years did he spend wandering? how long did the rebellion last? has aglaea already sought him out in alliance?)

it is not a kind city for the weak. glorious though its walls and warriors might be, its customs are steeped in might and war. people die for pride, glory, and senseless slaughter, something you have read in the game but cannot truly understand when seeing it with your own eyes.

even now, lurking in the whispering crowd, you watch as men and women venture into a labyrinth and come out as mangled corpses. more keep going in, and just as many come out. the kremnoan warriors are proud and seek glory through strife. your problem here is not the supernatural forces that will destroy the world, but the human civilization you find yourself locked within, like prey surrounded on all sides by predators.

you have to survive until the rebellion. you must.

but hey, at least you didn't wake up in the castrum kremnos ruins of present day, right? you would've died five minutes in, either because of titankins mobs or the boss monster itself, lmfao.

ROUTE 3: YOU WAKE UP IN 《 "ETERNAL HOLY CITY", OKHEMA》

you spill the beans to aglaea.

before aglaea decides you're a threat and kills you, you seek her out and swear to help okhema reach the most optimal ending to the prophecy. you would've even fall to your knees if necessary (it doesn't come to that, gratefully). of all the characters, she's the one you know will believe your words because you cannot lie to her strings.

all routes, all hidden endings, all enemy weaknesses, all hidden npcs, all the tricks, all the hidden items and weapons, all the knowledge you can remember-- you will offer it all up to the flamechase prophecy. you have seen the endings and the devastation of the world. you cannot presume to be smarter than aglaea or tribbios or even crown prince mydeimos, but by the gods, you will offer everything and also use your tiny brain to pour through everything like a good, obedient, obsessed fanfiction writer and seasoned reader of novels and games.

you do not even consider taking phainon's route. his routes are infamously easy to enter and just as infamously hellish to progress. even on other routes, he is the epicenter of the game and is embroiled in all manners of political nitpicking and conflict.

of all the targets currently stationed in okhema, he had been one of your favorites otome targets ever, but the fondness for character does not translate well to reality when you realize this is the very same man involved in approximately 325 endings (both his and the others'). haha, no, you are not touching him. you don't have the brain cells to deal with him. get out.

no, no, your best bet is the golden weaver, aglaea.

she's beautiful and smart and scary as hell. you regret not taking her seriously in the game. she is your most dependable benefactor for survival in this world-game. her goal is the completion of the prophecy and the era nova of amphoreus. just as well, they coincide with your survival.

no, your survival depends on her.

ironically, despite your allegiance to aglaea, anaxa might be interested in you if you land first in okhema, because you can't lie your ass about your faith and aglaea's strings pouch for it. your knowledge (which is affirmed as your truth by aglaea's strings) will also keep him close.

.