Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

As Alex's deep voice echoed across the battlefield, all eyes locked on him. He held the glowing orb in his hand, its radiance casting soft, flickering light on the blood-soaked ground beneath him. With a smirk hidden behind the mask, he said, "There's only one of this, and so many of you… so, who should I give it to?"

The silence that followed was deafening, the tension so thick you could cut it with a dull blade.

Although they quickly started replying, he just didn't hear them while pretending to be listening.

He stared at the orb, twisting it slowly between his fingers. Inwardly, his thoughts were far removed from the chaos surrounding him.

All this nonsense, just for this…

The battlefield stretched out around him, littered with the bodies of void creatures, fallen elvin and other side warriors, and the remnants of what once was the Queen's forest. The air was thick with smoke and the tang of iron.

'This arc was really a mess,' Alex thought, his annoyance bubbling to the surface.

He'd been one of many readers who hated and complained about this event when it came up in the novel. The author had done Aurelius—the so-called protagonist—dirty, throwing him into a massive, overpowered battle where he couldn't even perform like an MC should.

His power level was embarrassingly low compared to the others. Even compared to other past events.

Like all the major characters of the event were above or at 4-star rank. Not to mention having a mastermind and a literal ticking bomb.

Sure, the bomb, ah sorry, the Queen of Nature had thrown him a bone with her buffs, but even then? He was just a good fighter. Not a hero, not a game-changer—just some guy who barely managed to hold his own and shine only one time.

Fending off the void creatures had been impressive on paper, sure. But it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The MC and his team had no control over this event, nor did they have the intellect or experience, which led to betrayal at a critical moment.

The Avengers turned on them, the Queen used her last resort, and boom—self-destruction.

The forest gone, the small world in ruins, all dead. Only a few lucky ones escaped, leaping into the portal back to Black Star in the nick of time.

And then there was that cliché solution.

The Queen, in her final moments, entrusted her core - the nature essence to Aurelius, asking him to avenge her people and their land as a last wish. Like, seriously?

She had a whole army of elvins who were literally her kin and probably way more qualified to continue their kind, and she gave it to some random guy she'd known for three days?

'Bad writing,' Alex thought bitterly. Even if it ended up useful for Aurelius in the other future events, it still remained a mistake.

He and many other readers asked the author to change or rewrite the arc - but the author only said he couldn't do it and it was necessary.

He even asked the author in a private message.

But the author said even if he wanted to change it, he couldn't do it.

Guess that was the thing about being a reader—you could complain all you wanted and ask so many times, but you had no power to change anything.

But now?

'I can do it,' Alex thought, a slow, thrilled smile spreading beneath his mask.

'No...'

'I will do it.'

The orb pulsed faintly in his hand, and he rolled it idly between his fingers. He was in this world now, he had the orb and complete control over the situation.

And he had the will to do it. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire

Even if everything about this situation was chaotic, unlike the characters scrambling around the battlefield, he knew exactly what to do.

He'd planned this down to the finest detail.

His Chrono Vision had been his greatest cheat code, allowing him to see the future and the outcome, and his 'superb' intelligence and knowledge of the novel & the characters had done the rest.

Although, there were a few hiccups along the way.

Like Irithel being teleported back to the town - probably mistaken as an Elvin. Then, the Black Star Lord controlling her to steal the core was unexpected, but Alex caught on in time to stop it. Not only that, but he'd destroyed the seal on Irithel's memories, just as he'd secretly done with Aria after the Queen's test.

'Sorry, Emeric,' he mused. 'Guess I forgot about you. Or maybe I just didn't want to.'

But it didn't matter. Everything was going exactly as he'd envisioned. All that was left now was to take the final step.

Alex struck a dramatic pose, raising one hand upward as if he'd just had the greatest epiphany in history. "Why don't we just multiply it?" he declared with mock grandeur. "Problem solved, right?"

At the same time, he sent out a mental signal. The faintest ripple in the air carried his message to her.

Without missing a beat, Alex began moving the orb, his gloved hands steady as he prepared to shatter it. The moment the others realized what he was doing, chaos erupted.

They all rushed toward him at once—traitors Sia and Laoric, elvin elders, hunters, and the rest of the characters, their expressions a mix of panic and desperation. Alex could sense their movements, their footsteps pounding against the earth. Oddly enough, they seemed slower than they should have been.

'So, the impostor's at work again,' Alex chuckled, his mind racing.

He could also sense the sneaky figure behind him, his grin widening as if he was savoring every second of the unfolding drama.

"Too late."

Alex slammed the orb into the ground, the shattering sound echoing like a thunderclap across the battlefield. For a brief moment, the fragments glowed with an otherworldly light, and Alex muttered a single phrase in his mind.

'Bright World.'

Then everything went white.