[Chapter:5][Meeting the main cast (I) .]

"How strange…", a certain white haired and scarlet eyed youth muttered to himself.

(What's strange?)

Grace's eye twitched at the sight of the tiny little loli hanging before his eyes, using his hair as a rope. Dea looked straight into his eyes, which were almost half as big as her entire body, before slowly twirling around while still clutching to one of his bangs and rotated to look at what he called strange.

(Hmm? Ah, those two, I feel like I saw them somewhere~~?)

Grace decided to ignore her antics and instead focused on the sight before his eyes.

"Pink with white stripes huh."

(…)

The little loli blinked at the sudden unexpected sentence, but then it hit her and her face practically began steaming.

(Yo-you!?)

Quickly, she let go and flew back into Grace's hair, her hands clutching her skirt, while Grace merely chuckled softly.

"Nice taste."

(Sh-Shut up!)

Dea screamed at him with a face that was almost as red as Grace's wine red eyes.

What were they talking about, you ask? Well, dear readers, I'm afraid you're too innocent to keep reading this kind of book if you still haven't figured it out yet.

And as for those that realised what was pink with white stripes mere seconds after they read it, my condolences, you all are already beyond saving.

((A/N : I feel personally attacked…))

Grace smiled, but then a scream brought him out of his thoughts.

"Those two girls…Misuzu Ichijou and Toshimi Niki right? The two best friends…but I remember one of them betrayed the other."

Grace muttered softly, making sure only he himself and the red and blue little loli atop his head could hear him.

And yes, the scene before him was several of 'them' running after two girls, one with blue hair and another with brown.

The blue haired Toshimi was holding onto the hand of the brown haired Misuzu tightly, as the two ran with tear stricken faces.

Now this wasn't a strange sight, as it was obvious one would run when faced with walking corpses rushing to kill or eat them alive. And since these two appeared near the end of the first or second episode, it's similarly obvious they must have survived for a while at least.

What is strange in Grace's eyes, however, is the fact that Misuzu Ichijou, someone who had in a certain sense betrayed and abandoned her supposedly best friend Toshimi Niki to save herself, wasn't marked Gold.

Just as he was about to ask Dea, however, he noticed a certain icon blinking.

'Quests?'

He swiftly ended the three of 'them' that tried to approach him as he glanced at what appeared to be a new quest.

......

Quest : Fickle fate.

Description : Fate has destined several in this world to die, and few to live. Changing fate is supposed to be unfathomably difficult, yet to you, it is absurdly easy. Change the fate of ten people.

Completion : (0/10) fates changed

Rewards : 3 Golden Points, 3 Silver Points

Note : The quest duration is till the main cast escapes the campus through the bus.

......

(Oh? A new quest?)

Grace blinked at how fast the tiny blue head had recovered, but smiled as he decided not to bring it up when he saw the tips of her ears still sporting a faint blush.

"Yes, and it should be relatively easy.", he muttered, as he rushed forward and began to systematically dispose of 'them' that had been chasing the two girls.

Recalling the single hot teacher 'Kyoko Hayashi' he had saved at the very beginning of the apocalypse, Grace assumed that, since the count was still '(0/10)', she had either died, or the count would only increase when she was close to him, meaning he could keep her from dying.

Seconds later, he had finished gaining another 6 Points, and turned around to see the two girls panting in exhaustion.

One of them, the brown haired Misuzu, took in deep and long breaths to calm herself down before she looked at him with slightly wide eyes and…a blush?

'Right, I forgot this world is full of fan service. So what if there are a bunch of corpses all around you? Blushing and falling in love with a complete stranger that saves you from zombies is more important.'

Dea chuckled at Grace's thoughts, which he noticed could only be heard by him as the two girls didn't show any reaction to the sight of the tiny blue head sitting on top of his head, using his hair as both a cushion and a bed sheet.

A few seconds later, the situation quickly became awkward as Grace merely kept staring at them, or rather at Misuzu, silently, as her blush becomes more pronounced. Toshimi, who had finally caught her breath, didn't notice the strange atmosphere, however, as she quickly bowed to Grace.

"Th-Thank you so much, mister! You saved us from t-them."

Grace took his eyes away from Misuzu, still unable to understand why she's not considered 'Trash' considering she did abandon her best friend even if she knew the former was as good as dead, being bitten by tens of 'them' and all, and looked at Toshimi who, while also blushing, still appeared more modest.

'Goodness…this is ridiculous. Will it be even worse in hentai worlds? What, will the girls start panting and get wet from seeing a blood soaked figure just because he saved them or something?'

Just the thought weirded him out, thus Grace promptly shook it out of his head and smiled.

"Your welcome. I am, no, my name is Grace. You can just call me that."

Seeing as how there aren't any of 'them' around, Grace decided to introduce himself since he might slip up and mention their names later on and it would be suspicious if he knew them without them introducing themselves.

Misuzu, who had gotten control over her expression, bowed lightly.

"M-my name is Ichijou Misuzu, and thank you again for saving us, Grace-san."

"I'm Niki Toshimi, but you can call me Toshimi! Thanks for saving us too!"

While Misuzu, the one who had blushed more, unexpectedly turned out to be rather shy, the blue haired Toshimi quipped with a cheerful smile that looked awkwardly out of place compared to the blood covered and corpse filled corridor.

'Author-san…do you perhaps have a thing for Yanderes? I don't really mind them, I have the confidence of 'bending' them to my satisfaction, but…'

(Author-san…)

((A/N : Hey! Don't judge you bastards! I created you two, don't you dare forget it!))

Grace and Dea suddenly felt a chill run up their spines, yet it wasn't a chill that was comfortable like what happens when Grace integrates or in the future ranks up his skills and abilities, no this was an ominous chill that made them shudder in fear for a brief moment.

'The hell…did a Author-san just try and give us a warning?'

(That's…even though it was for a brief instant…I never felt so powerless before…)

((A/N : Haha! Serves you right, bastards! Try to bully poor little me will you!?))

But then Grace chuckled.

'Nah, no way. That fat guy couldn't have done that. After all, he'll be the one flamed to death if he does something to us out of spite.'

(Oh, yeah, guess you're right. We have the readers behind us as long as we don't go overboard after all. I'm sure they'll prefer to support cute little me than that fatty otaku.)

((A/N :…mother*******!! @%@'#&-/=,;=,)&"*#@$4|<€|^))

With that brief yet rather informative incident, implying the poor Author-san's powerlessness at how much his own characters bully him by breaking the fourth wall over and over and over again over, pun unintended but welcome either way, Grace looked at the two girls before him.

'I'm almost 101% sure these two are included in that huge harem Author-san expects me to make…Eh, whatever. I'll let nature take its course. I'm sure the readers can't expect me, a little 'ol virgin, to seduce them like a God-Tier playboy.'

With a casual shrug, he smiles at the two.

"So? What are you two going to do now?"

Misuzu and Toshimi look at each other, their eyes flashing with panic, confusion, fear, and anxiety. Before they could come to a decision, Grace asked them again,

"Ah, right, do you know the way to the infirmary? I need some medicine from there."

As for why he was going there? To meet the bubbly school nurse and the sword chick, of course.

But that isn't all. Grace glanced at his quest tab that showed a '(2/10)', meaning that the hot teacher had indeed either died or must remain with him, in other words, remain safe, before she could count.

Grace recalled that there was a certain nameless male student (not nameless, just that he didn't bother to remember it even with his 'Mind Palace') that dies trying to protect the bubbly air headed Nurse.

If he makes it in time, saving that guy should count as one more, right?

"Ah, y-yes, of course."

"W-we will show you the way."

With a light stutter, perhaps from the notion of having to go back into the now scary looking campus, the two nod at Grace who smiles at them.

"Thank you in advance then."

The two blush lightly at his smile, before they quickly walk in a direction after gesturing him to follow.

(Ho~~? You're flirting right in front of me even though you said I'm your first? And without even doing anything for me? My Affection Points will go down at this rate, you know~~)

"…"

Grace sighed as a teasing, 'Onee-san' voice resounded in his mind as a certain tiny blue head looked at him with a teasing smile.

"This'll be a long day huh…", he muttered to himself with a smile of his own, although it was a bitter one of helplessness.

......

*Beyond the fourth wall*

*yawn* I'm feeling so sleepy writing this chapter…please don't flame me if there are errors that I forgot to correct…

A-anyway, where did I stop last time? Wait a second, let me remember…

Ah! I remember now. I explained to you all about Authorities didn't I?

Well…what's left to discuss? Nothing much, really.

Let's see…I finished the topic of Grace's cheats, except for the last one which I will keep a secret till the time comes. I discussed about the Skill and Ability Ranks, about the different Life Tiers / Realms…

Ah, right, how about a little backstory?

Gabriel Grace Godkin, that's our MC's full name. His original name is simple Grace Godkin, and Gabriel is the name of someone important to him. Someone he lost. Well, I'll give you a hint. She'll come back.

But I guess I'll keep that story for another day. Might as well mix it up with soma salt and pepper and turn the entire backstory into another chapter or two later on…

Anyway, this time, I'll give you guys examples about Mortals, Transcendents, Divine Beings, but not Exceeds since there are currently no Exceeds in my story.

So you can expect Grace to be the first, as well as the last.

A mortal is basically any being that lives similar to how we humans from 21st century Earth live. No special energy, no supernatural stuff, other than perhaps how my mom manages to find me every. Single. Damn. Time. I slip in an extra sweet into my belly. She's psychic, I tell you. Anyway, I basically based Mortals on ordinary humans.

Also, martial artist from anime like Kengan Asura (That's the name right?) are considered Mortals, even if they can typically break rocks like eggs. And people like Tank Top Man from One Punch Man is also a Mortal despite being able to lift and throw entire buildings like bloody boomerangs.

Tornado, and Blizzard, even if she's far weaker than Tank Top Man or Metal Bat or Silver Fang, are Transcendents, simply because they wield psychic energy. Garou, despite being considered a 'monster', Sea King, that Giant guy at the beginning of the series, King, Child Emperor, hell, even Zombie Man, what with his pseudo-immortality and all, are all Mortals.

Where as even extremely weak psychics, like children that can barely bend spoons, Gyoro-Gyoro, that Alien Guy who's name I forgot and am too lazy to google, and others all are considered Transcendents.

Genos is considered a Transcendent, since his cyborg body is fuelled by and can marginally control electricity.

Now, the question of the hour which I'm sure you all are reacting to ask.

What is Saitama, then?

The answer is…

…

…

…

CLIFF HANGER DA!

Ha! So long suckers! I'll tell you next time!

And now I'm not sleepy anymore, so I'll have to wait for my tuition sir to come…*sigh*…

…yes, in case you all haven't figured it out yet, I'm making you all suffer simply because I, too, am about to suffer.

Angry? Heh, bite me.