Life has dreams? Everyone shines in their own way?
Wait, what? Bro, what's going on?
After reading the sudden system message, Guinevere felt her head buzzing.
Main quest cleared? Does that mean the test server version is over? No more standard simulations? In other words... my golden cheat system is about to run away?
"Hiss—"
Guinevere sucked in a sharp breath.
Damn it, what am I supposed to do now?
But it wasn't just Guinevere. The same message appeared on every simulator player's system interface. Of course, for Artoria and her group, the system announcement was slightly different:
[Detected: The final boss of the standard simulation in Queen Simulator: Eternal Fairyland 1.0 Official Version—"Curse Catastrophe Cernunnos"—has been defeated... Life has dreams, may we all shine in our own way.]
"Huh?"
Artoria blinked, still trying to process what had just happened. Meanwhile, Bavanzi had already jumped up in frustration:
"Damn it! You mean I don't even get another shot at being queen?! I wanted to make that Knocknarea girl serve under me for once!"
Too unfair! She had been forced to serve Knocknarea in two consecutive simulations, watching her sit on the throne while she herself was stuck as the new Lord of Darlington. Outrageous! Why did Knocknarea always get to reap the rewards at the end?
Knocknarea had her northern fairies as her faction, sure. But Bavanzi wasn't without forces or subordinates either! Guinevere had already proven that with proper development, Darlington had a real shot at conquering all of Britain! If it weren't for that dumb dragon Lancelot hunting them down constantly, forcing Bavanzi to run from her own territory like a moving target, did anyone really think she wanted to keep playing second fiddle?
She had just discovered last simulation that Lancelot had become an ally and was no longer a threat. She had planned to use Water Mirror Gate to teleport back to Darlington and have Guinevere lead her to a perfect Blood Lord ending... but now the standard simulation mode was gone?
...Not quite.
Suddenly, she slapped her forehead. The simulator couldn't let her kidnap Guinevere again and redo the Blood Lord save file... but she could still do it in real life, couldn't she?
In fact, doing it inside the simulator would only alert the others and make them more cautious. But doing it outright in reality—wouldn't they be caught completely off guard? Wouldn't that mean a huge win for her?
...That's a good thing!
Bavanzi's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Why does Bavanzi suddenly look... happy about losing the simulator? Could this somehow be a good thing?" Gareth whispered to Artoria in confusion.
"Don't mind her. She's definitely cooking up some bad idea—probably planning to kidnap Guinevere now that the simulator won't warn us. That's about as far as her ambitions go," Artoria replied, rolling her eyes before turning back to the glowing system screen. Compared to that, losing the simulator brought far bigger problems.
Up until now, each simulation had thrown them into vastly different challenges, uncovering the many unknown dangers lurking in the Fairy Kingdom.
Chief among these was the Curse Catastrophe, Cernunnos.
Though they had defeated him this time, Artoria knew their victory was hardly replicable—it came at an unacceptable price. She didn't even have the artifact that could revert Bag's corrupted state in real life. She could set aside Woodworth and Lancelot's deaths for now, but sacrificing Guinevere for victory? Never. Just as Guinevere would never accept winning at the cost of Artoria's life.
And though the system claimed they had cleared the main quest, Artoria was certain there were still secrets they hadn't uncovered—just like Cernunnos himself, who hadn't appeared until this final simulation. What other horrors were still hiding in the shadows, biding their time?
...............
"...Without the simulator to keep trial-and-error testing, how are we supposed to fight from now on?"
The thought of future battles gave Guinevere a headache.
Especially since Grim had casually mentioned at the end that some unknown god had tampered with Cernunnos. The idea alone sent a chill down Guinevere's spine.
"In the original storyline, there wasn't some death god pulling strings behind Cernunnos... Did my arrival in this world cause a bizarre butterfly effect?"
He groaned, covering his face.
"Bro... how are we supposed to win this?"
Fortunately, just then, Guinevere noticed a few new lines under the system's farewell announcement:
[Although standard simulation mode is now closed, "Fate Simulation" mode will remain available and will open from time to time. We hope players will continue to enjoy this mode.]
[In addition, the system will retain inventory, status display, personal panel, and other basic functions. All skills, Noble Phantasms, and related data you have acquired will remain accessible and usable via your interface.]
[Furthermore, all player data will be synchronized to the server cloud, and can be imported into future versions of the simulator by entering your preset password.]
Oh, so that's it. Only standard simulation is gone. Fate Simulation remains. My gacha pulls remain. My cheat hasn't completely run away—just... partially.
[Additionally, rewards obtained during gameplay may now be drawn with increased rates for high-tier rewards.]
"Oh ho?"
Guinevere's eyes lit up.
Increased drop rates? Post-clear bonuses? Now we're talking!
He quickly checked his remaining pulls.
First, the guaranteed reward for earning another Legendary rating and ascending to the Hall of Heroes:
[Due to your outstanding performance, you receive one reward draw. As this run was rated Legendary, your chance of high-tier rewards has greatly increased, with a bias toward simulation-related items.]
Then came the accumulated Saint Quartz Fragments:
[Each Legendary Event grants 5 fragments. You achieved nine such events this run, totaling 45 fragments.]
Nice! Just the Legendary Events alone gave him two extra pulls. Guinevere could only thank Bavanzi, Knocknarea, all the drama-stirring troublemakers—and maybe not that damned cat Fit. No thanks to him.
On top of that, there was one more special reward:
[Dear player, congratulations. Since you have cleared the main storyline in test mode, you are granted higher information clearance. Some data previously hidden will now be revealed. Furthermore, special Fatebearer Skills have been unlocked (Beta-exclusive; will be removed in public release).]
[Additionally, you receive one Fatebearer Skill draw.]
"Huh? Wait—does that mean I have hidden skills I didn't even know about?"
Guinevere blinked, then opened his skill panel, scrolling quickly until he found something new:
[Skill: Information Concealment; EX]
[This passive skill is exclusive to Life Simulator beta players.]
[Your Fatebearer Skills are hidden, appearing as other unique skills to others.]
[It also creates a subtle mental interference, concealing your player identity. The more abilities you gain, the stronger the interference against high-intelligence targets.]
[However, if someone deduces your identity through logic or prior knowledge, the effect will fail for that target.]
"Fatebearer Skills? Hidden ones?"
Guinevere scrolled down further—and there they were. Skills he had long thought mundane were now framed in ornate stone-carved borders, faint light shining through cracks—radiating power far beyond even gold-framed skills:
[Undying's Endless Trial; EX (Fatebearer Skill)]
[Appears to others as Intuition A]
[Upon meeting special conditions, evolves into Lord of Cinder]
[Tarnished Rune Conversion; EX (Fatebearer Skill)]
[Appears to others as Bond Power A]
[Upon meeting special conditions, evolves into Elden Lord]
[Old Hunter's Forbidden Knowledge; EX (Fatebearer Skill)]
[Appears to others as multiple lesser skills]
[Upon meeting special conditions, evolves into Dreaming Old God]