I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"Challenging God is itself... 'reckless'."

Perhaps due to the ongoing 'pixel war,' the originally spacious club activity room now felt quite cramped amidst the spray of various strange pixel skills.

Various pixel light effects, sword beams; slashing beams; lightning effects; fire effects; pixelated sword blade effects... it looks truly earth-shattering.

And the two sides in the battle... one of them was Momoi, who was not carrying a shield and was only carrying a pixelated longsword.

As for the other side... who else could it be but Little Green, who turned her short sword into a kunai and was using ninja skills to fight back?

Good heavens... This guy is playing the role of a Sword Soul from the neighboring Arad continent.

On the other hand... they even came up with a diagram of the ultimate technique?

As Amamiya pushed open the door, the pixelated scene in the club room paused for a moment, and Momoi and Midori, who were 'battling', were clearly stunned.

As for Yuzu, who was caught in the middle and didn't know what to do... she breathed a long sigh of relief as Amamiya entered the room.

"What are you doing?"

Looking around the club activity room where the pixel particles were gradually dissipating, Amamiya asked in an annoyed tone.

"That, that..."

Little Green lowered her head and sheepishly put away her weapon: "My sister... heard we're going on an adventure today, and she insisted on warming up beforehand..."

"I can't help it..."

Momoi probably realized she might have made a mistake, so she also felt guilty.

Having put away her weapon, she lowered her head and twisted the hem of her clothes, her voice softening and trembling with guilt as she subconsciously spoke: "Um, Sensei..."

Amamiya walked over and placed her hand on the girl's head, gently stroking her hair before softening her tone: "I didn't mean to blame you..."

"Weapons from another world can indeed be effective in the real world... but they are, after all, creations of 'magic.' In the real world, it's best to avoid using them if possible."

"Furthermore, even physical skills that don't consume magic will consume a lot of stamina if used too often... If you're just using them to warm up and then expend all your energy like that, it's really not worth it."

Momoi quickly put on a guilty and receptive expression—of course, whether she actually listened, and how long it would take for her to forget, was another matter entirely.

"I-I understand, Sensei!"

【~???~】

Momoi, who was thoroughly enjoying Amamiya's cat-petting techniques, quickly turned into a relaxed and comfortable 'chubby face'.

"Hey hey hey..."

Amamiya decisively withdrew her hand before she could feel 'more comfortable', and then, just like yesterday, began announcing today's 'to-do list'.

"Today's main task is to find the 'G.Bible'..."

Momoi immediately pulled out a tablet device that looked like a device tracker or something similar.

"Let me see... the coordinates of 'G.Bible' are here."

"Let's head in this direction... that should be fine."

After identifying the basic directions, Momoi put away her tablet and prepared her firearms. Just to be on the safe side, she even carried her pixelated sword and shield set on her back, just like Link in Breath of the Wild.

Seeing that Amamiya didn't seem to object, Yuzu put on the witch's hat that had been hanging on the clothes rack and picked up the staff that was also in the cabinet.

Xiao Lü then put the leather bag with the attached scabbard on one of her thighs, giving her outfit of black over-the-knee stockings and shorts a touch of 'medieval style'.

"Now that everything is ready, let's set off immediately."

Accompanied by the three members of the gaming club, Amamiya embarked on her journey, just like yesterday.

Following the coordinates deduced by Beritas, Amamiya and his group left the futuristic, sci-fi-style Millennium Campus and entered the outskirts of the Millennium Land.

Soon, Amamiya saw the ruins of buildings on the 'horizon'.

The once-high-rise buildings have now collapsed into huge ruins, with exposed steel bars and faded graffiti on the exterior walls. The broken walls and ruins seem to be full of traces left by this abandoned area.

Well... this place gives people a completely different feeling, a 'gloomy and terrifying' feeling.

It's just like……

The game scene is the same as that of NieR: Automata.

High-rise buildings stand empty in all directions, and the remains of buildings are spread out in any visible area;

The moss growing on the buildings, or some other unknown vine-like plant... adds a touch of absurd primitiveness to the ruins left behind by this high-tech city.

"The environment is so eerie... No wonder there are rumors that no one has ever been here..."

Looking around at the eerie scene that sent chills down her spine, Momoi sighed in a low voice.

"Although I already guessed that the restricted area would be a bit dangerous, it's still a little creepy... It's completely different from the 'other world' we went to the day before..."

"The style feels closer to the 'Demon Castle' we see in other worlds... Could it be that the Demon Castle in other worlds corresponds to this place in the real world?"

While Momoi was still letting her imagination run wild, Amamiya had already begun cautiously observing her surroundings.

The other world corresponds to the real world... Sometimes, it is necessary to make progress in both the other world and the real world in order to further advance the conquest of the palace or the space of impressions.

Momoi's guess was 'out of the ordinary', but in a sense it was in line with the rules of reflection between the other world and the real world.

But clearly, this ruin does not correspond to the "Demon King's Castle" in the other world.

If Amamiya's prediction is correct, this might correspond to the "mountains at the horizon" he saw in the other world.

The real world is a desolate wasteland, teeming with dangers.

So it's quite normal that the other world is the legendary 'Monster Mountain Range', which is said to contain all kinds of mythical monsters, right?

Shh... everyone be careful.

Using his phantom thief instincts, Amamiya keenly detected the approaching metallic sound and decisively led the three members of the game club into the 'blind spot' of the [Third Eye's] observation.

The three kids from the game club, hiding in the shadows, clearly saw a squad of what looked like 'elite' mechanical soldiers, deployed here by someone, patrolling past.

'Why?!'

'What's going on... Didn't the Federal Student Council's security personnel already withdraw?'

Although there were no obvious markings or other special standard parts to prove that this was the work of the Federation Student Council, Momoi still assumed, based on the information she had, that the 'Federation Student Council' was just making a feint and had not actually withdrawn.

Xiao Lü placed her hand on the hilt of the pixelated short sword on her belt and activated a game skill.

'Thief skill... Eagle Eye.'

After temporarily enhancing her vision with magic and carefully observing the robots gradually moving away, Xiao Lü drew a conclusion.

'...It doesn't look like an automated robot from the Federal Student Council.'

Inspired by Xiao Lü's words, Youzi quickly realized what was happening, waved her staff, and the stars on her witch's hat began to shine.

'Mage skill...Mirror Entity.'

An almost invisible beam of light was refracted outwards, and then quickly projected back, transforming into a 'real light and shadow' that landed in front of the three little ones in the game development department.

The mage's mirror image entity can directly copy the target's mirror image or its own mirror image in the 'other world' to disrupt, confuse, or increase damage.

In the real world... this is nothing more than a temporary 'optical magic' that clones the image of someone else.

The robot chosen by Yuzu as the skill target was still moving, so the cloned mirror entity was also sitting still, stopping from time to time to observe the movements around it.

After confirming that the enemy had gone far away, Amamiya brought the three members of the game club out and gathered around the robot that had been cloned by the mirror entity, and began to carefully observe this strange design.

"Hmm...it certainly doesn't look like something the Federal Student Council would have set up. So who could have deployed it here?"

"It feels more like the style of our Millennium Science and Technology Academy..."

"It's similar, but not entirely..."

"█████■■■█……"

Momoi, who was about to try to touch the 'mirror image', was startled: "It...it spoke!"

"Sister, what are you doing... Aren't a mage's mirror image entities supposed to mimic the target's actions? If the target is speaking, then the mirror image entity will mimic speaking, isn't that just a matter of course?"

Momoi thought about it and felt that there didn't seem to be any problems.

"That's true... By the way, Yuzu, do you have any magic specifically for translation? What is it saying... I can't understand it. Can you give us a language-comprehension buff?"

Yuzu lowered the brim of her hat slightly, looking quite embarrassed.

"Most RPGs...don't have this kind of hardcore setting..."

After all, where can you find a so-called "hardcore game" setting where you actually create a dedicated language system and then have to make your character learn translation magic to display normal text, or else you get a bunch of gibberish from another world?

If such a game truly exists, it's either a piece of garbage with overwhelmingly negative reviews, or an extremely niche and bizarre game...

The 'Administrator's Weapon' can only use relatively common skills. Rare skills like "Translation Magic" are really a problem.

Momoi was slightly disappointed: "I see..."

"I thought I could eavesdrop and get information this way."

Looking around at the three members of the game club who seemed a little lost and couldn't find any clues to the main storyline, Amamiya smiled mysteriously.

"It is indeed possible to obtain information."

He took out his phone and waved it.

"Sophia, why don't you come out and say hello to everyone?"

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Nameless Gods...The Princess?

As Amamiya called out, the phone screen lit up.

Immediately afterwards, a red-haired AI girl jumped out of the screen.

"I heard it... Jok's call!"

"Sophia, humanity's best friend... appear here~ Jok, what's up?"

Upon being awakened, Sofia immediately used the phone's front and rear cameras as well as the microphone to observe her surroundings.

"Eh... Are these Jok's new friends? Hello, I'm Sophia, the AI ​​Jok met during his adventure."

After greeting them, Sophia began to observe the three members of the game club who had fallen into a brief silence due to shock or other emotions.

Their reactions were not much different from those of the 'celebrity' Rikko—they were in a state of varying degrees of stunned silence due to excessive surprise or other emotions.

'He spoke...'

'So the otherworldly adventure story Sensei described... wasn't entirely fabricated?!'

'Now the game is really going to be "based on real-life events"...'

After a moment's reaction, Momoi was the first to step forward, staring excitedly at the screen and asking, "You're that... the AI ​​that Sensei 'picked up' from another world, the one whose weapon is a yo-yo?!"

This time, Sofia was a little surprised.

"Eh... Has Jok already told you my story...?"

"That's right, I am the AI ​​from that story, and my weapon is a yo-yo."

Although it was a bit unexpected, Sofia still answered the questions enthusiastically and actively.

"Can you summon your 'Personality' and show it to us?"

Ever since experiencing the allure of the 'Personality Mask' yesterday, Momoi has been filled with curiosity about the legendary fact that everyone has the opportunity to awaken a different Persona Mask.

Out of curiosity, she tried asking.

Sofia's eyes were slightly dark, and her expression showed embarrassment and disappointment at not being able to meet someone's request.

“I’m currently living inside Jok’s phone, and can only perform these kinds of routine activities… Summoning the Persona to the real world requires energy, which I can’t do right now…”

"It's possible... but only for a moment, and it will immediately drain Jok's phone battery..."

"Sister...alright, shall we continue exploring?"

Feeling that her request was indeed a little presumptuous, Momoi decisively withdrew.

"But speaking of which... since Sensei said we'd see your true face in another world, why didn't we see you during our last adventure?"

Sofia answered 'honestly': "Because Jok told me that it's not good to add too many 'new members' at once. So I didn't participate in the last adventure."

Midori couldn't stand the situation of the topic being constantly veered off course any longer, so she looked directly at Amamiya.

"Sensei...did you wake Sophia for something?"