Descending Into A Novel

"See you two later. I’ve got to go now."

Now that Ellen was back from training, Erin wouldn’t be alone at home anymore and Raymond could go out with peace of mind that Erin wouldn’t cause any trouble.

Ellen frowned, "There’s no club meeting today is there? What are you even going out for?"

It definitely wasn’t for studying at the library or training that was for sure.

Raymond would rather just lay down and rot then pick up a book and study. With his memory, studying was practically useless anyways since he could memorize entire textbooks and regurgitate it all during exams.

He shook his head, "I’m auditioning for the play, the one by the drama club."

"You what?!"

Never before had Ellen ever turned her head back at such lightning speeds. Hearing his reply, her body practically moved before her brain could process the answer.

Ellen had heard of the academy play before, it was the same as in the previous timeline. But she had never watched it or joined the play so she wasn’t interested.

But it was precisely because she still remembered the play from the previous timeline that she was so shocked.

’Isn’t there a k-k-kiss scene..?!’

Even her brain was stuttering. A sign of just how out of left field this had taken her.

With Raymond’s looks and acting skills, he was definitely guaranteed to get in. Maybe even make the lead role! Then in front of hundreds of other academy students including her friends, he and someone she didn’t know would...

"Y-you can’t go!"

Dashing in front of him, she stuck her hands out to the side. Blocking the front entrance and preventing Raymond from leaving. Her fighting spirit roaring at the image she just conjured in her head.

Just thinking of it already made her heart beat faster, and adrenaline rush through her system.

Unacceptable! Raymond k-kissing someone else was absolutely unacceptable!

She was just doing this to protect her fellow academy mates. Yes, that’s all there was to it. Besides, Raymond was hers. He absolutely couldn’t do anything like that on her watch!

"Why not?"

"You can’t go. That’s all, listen to your master."

He narrowed his eyes.

Perhaps Ellen had gotten too used to Raymond listening to her commands, but she forgot one crucial thing. Without using her authority, she didn’t actually hold any power over Raymond.

Seeing how Ellen was so desperate to not let him go, it only made him even more enthusiastic!

She had had her way for too long. Now it was his turn!

"...Raymond. Listen to me, " her voice got stern. A sign of just how seriously she was taking this.

"..."

He didn’t answer her.

Putting a hand behind his back, he formed a hand incantation. Channeling his dimension-attuned mana into a teleportation spell and teleporting away right in front of her eyes.

Not before sticking his tongue out at her, just for the fun of it.

As he faded away, he could see Ellen immediately jump at him trying to cancel the spell. But she was a step too late.

Opening his eyes in front of the auditorium, Raymond quickly rushed in. Ellen would definitely be making her way over here at full speed in order to stop him. He didn’t know why exactly she was so averse to him participating but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that she didn’t get her way!

There was actually a lot of people inside, likely also auditioning. He even saw three familiar faces.

"Arthur? Thomas? Lin? You three are also auditioning?"

He knew Thomas was here, but Arthur shouldn’t have been involved in this at all. Lin Qingyi also being here completely shocked him.

"Figured I’d try and audition. No reason really."

Lies. Arthur was also connected to the theatre director. Naturally, his first move upon finding out the kiss scene was to try and make it as the lead role. The chances of him actually getting it were close to zero. His intentions were pretty easy to guess after all. Even if his acting was good.

As for Lin Qingyi.

"They wanted someone from Wulin to do the opening scene."

Only a few of them had received scripts so far, since it was still undecided which role would go to who. With Lin Qingyi being one of the few whose role was confirmed, she received a script early.

Looking at the script, it seemed to just be a small introductory scene during the Convergence of Realms. When the inhabitants of Terra first met the inhabitants of the other realm and gained access to mana. With Lin Qingyi playing a Wulin martial artist that later caused the term Arts and Families to be universally adopted in humanity.

"You accepted? You didn’t seem like the type to do these things."

She crossed her arms, nodding at his statement."I wasn’t planning on doing this. But I just got dragged into it because of Lucy."

So Lucy’s enrollment at the academy, which was already a butterfly effect triggered another butterfly effect in the form of Lin Qingyi also auditioning. How the two of them even communicated enough to do so was a mystery, with all their classes and activities and missions and exams. Learning a language on the side was practically impossible.

That and they were just lazy to do so.

"I see. I was just a bit surprised. I thought it would be only me and Thomas."

No wait, he had wasted too much time here talking to them already. Ellen was still on her way!

He held a hand up, pausing them before they could continue to trap him in conversation.

"I’m in a rush, Ellen’s on her way."

Leaving them with that message, he immediately cut the line once more. All the way to the front where another person was busy on stage crying their heart out.

Tears poured out of his eyes, spilling to the floor. His body trembled, arms shaking as he reached out in a direction. Reaching for something only he could see. Failing to do so in the end.

He could only collapse onto his knees, staring blankly at the gloomy sky.

"Cut!"

A loud snap stopped him, as well as a small groan.

"You’re doing way too much! It’s just a scene where a dog runs away for a while! Why are you crying so much?!"

She rapidly tapped her feet, firing off complaints about his performance. Holding a clapperboard in one hand and a megaphone in the other.

Goodness, the academy had nearly 2000 students! Sure the majority of them were busy with other things, and another vast majority wasn’t interested in joining a play. But even if only 5% was interested. That should still have been at least a hundred people!

How the leak had occured was unknown. Perhaps she shouldn’t have told so many people. But this was already the twentieth male looking for the lead role. Perhaps she should just give up at this point. Was there really a need to add a kiss scene at the end?

’No!’

The story of Killian and Viviana had to be told! Otherwise, how could she possibly just let their romance fade away into the annals of history like that! The artist inside of her practically screamed with all its might to keep going no matter what!

Holding the megaphone up, she loudly announced for the next person. "Next."

"Is it okay if I go first? Please it’s really important!"

A voice cut her off, pushing through the others and approaching her directly.

She recognized him immediately, Raymond Vance. Their club had already allocated a generous amount of their budget just to get him on, and now he thought he was so special he could just walk around and do whatever he wanted?

"Back of the line."

"It’s important! If I don’t do it now. I won’t be able to later!"

With the way he was pleading, it seemed more like his life was at threat then just a simple punishment from Ellen.

Well for him, they were both pretty similar.

She frowned, seeing his disrespectful behavior.

"What’s so urgent that you can’t wait a few minutes?"

"The devil."

"...fine. Here’s your script. Show me what you can do."

Success.

Snatchihg up the script and running onto the stage he ignored all the glares for him skipping. Skimming the script and memorizing the entire thing immediately.

Raymond would never ever have auditioned solely for the money. It was what motivated him sure, but the embarrassment he would get if he ever messed up would be enough for him to want to leave dimensions. Perhaps he would have to wipe the incident from everyone’s memory first, then he would leave dimensions.

But years of travel and interacting with others had honed his acting skills, in stressful situations like when he was being scolded by his boss. He could always maintain his poker face. Even in the funniest and most humorous situations. Raymond had always managed to keep a straight face, like the one time someone tried to flirt with Lin Qingyi. But that was a story for another time.

In other words, Raymond was extremely confident in his own acting skills!

Putting the script away, he briefly cleared his throat.

"Vi-

BANG

Before he could even get a word out. The double doors to the auditorium smashed open.

The distance between the stage and the doors was quite large, but the sound of the wood splintering and hinges being destroyed was still clear on his ears. Her stance and hard breathing indicating just how hard she had kicked the doors down.

Her feet stomped on the ground like thunder. Eyes locking onto him.

" RAYMOND. VANCE."