Chapter 1-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
"My Lady Saintess, the team you healed yesterday would like to meet you to express their gratitude."
The burly man in a suit bowed, his voice deliberately lowered as if not to disturb the girl in his sight.
A colossal gilded statue stood in the vast cathedral, depicting a man in a cleric's robe raising a sword, exuding a thunderous aura. Even as a static statue, it commanded respect.
However, the man in the suit wasn't looking at the magnificent statue; his gaze was fixed on the tiny figure kneeling beneath it.
Glimmering light danced on the girl's loose black hair, making her appear sacred and mysterious. Even from behind, she was captivating.
When the girl turned her face, her raven-black eyelashes fluttered, as if an exquisitely sculpted statue had come to life. Charles felt as if he had become Pygmalion, his wish fulfilled.
"Let them go. Healing them is my duty, it has nothing to do with them. No thanks are necessary."
Her ethereal voice made Charles's heart flutter. As expected of the Saintess, she performed good deeds without seeking recompense.
"Understood. I'll go send them away now."
Charles breathed a sigh of relief. That team was from the Lower City, just a bunch of poor, ordinary ability users. Receiving the Saintess's healing was already the highest honor. He didn't want the Saintess to be too involved with such people.
The Saintess should remain untainted by any dust, pure and flawless.
After the man in the suit left, the vast cathedral was once again left with a solitary figure.
Ye Zheng, kneeling on the ground, looked around and let out a sigh of relief.
The holy and dignified Saintess could finally rise unsteadily. Even though she had to kneel for four hours every weekend, her body still couldn't get used to it.
Despite her numb legs, Ye Zheng had to maintain a steady gait. She was the Sei Curia's image ambassador and couldn't let anyone see her unseemly side.
Thankfully, after kneeling for four hours, the remaining time was relatively relaxed.
[The protagonist's team is leaving! Hurry and talk to them to build a bond!]
A strange voice echoed in Ye Zheng's mind. Her steps faltered, and she furrowed her brow slightly.
"A mental ability user? Don't play tricks in the cathedral. If you leave now, I won't report you to the Sei Curia."
No sooner had the girl finished speaking than a blinding white light instantly enveloped her.
Ye Zheng opened her eyes again to find herself in a pure white, boundless space. Besides her, there was a suspended book.
A book?
Ye Zheng picked up the colorful book in front of her. Its cover depicted various characters.
In the center was a black-haired man with an expressionless face, one of his arms transformed into a greatsword, as if always ready for combat. The others clustered around him, each possessing Ability characteristics—flames, ice, vines, and so on—making Ye Zheng a little dizzy.
Ye Zheng's gaze suddenly fixed on a corner of the cover.
There was a girl in white, her black hair cascading along her slender curves. Compared to the other aggressive characters, she appeared quiet and delicate, completely out of sync with the overall art style.
…Although the girl's large eyes took up half of her face and the art style wasn't very realistic, Ye Zheng recognized her—
It was herself.
And the man in the center of the cover was the leader of the ability user team she had healed yesterday.
Ye Zheng had a bad feeling. She looked at the large characters printed on the cover—"King of the Demonic Domain".
[That's right, you are the female protagonist of this manga, "King of the Demonic Domain"!]
The strange voice spoke again.
A manga female protagonist?
Ye Zheng wasn't unfamiliar with mangas. The Sei Curia had drawn many mangas featuring the God of Hope as the protagonist to spread doctrines to the public and showcase the great deeds of the divine saving the world.
Therefore, Ye Zheng didn't like reading mangas. The themes made her laugh; they either praised the divine, the Sei Curia, or the Imperial Royal Family.
Boring and laughable, the Saintess thought, rather disrespectfully.
[In the real world where your manga was created, mangas are very popular and come in various genres, but the most popular are shonen manga.]
Ye Zheng became interested. “What is shonen manga?”
[Generally speaking, it's about the male protagonist leveling up, counterattacking, fighting monsters, gaining friendship and love, saving the world, and becoming the strongest, and so on.]
“That should be called shonen manga for boys, shonen is a general term for a certain age group. Your description is inaccurate.”
Ye Zheng corrected.
The strange voice choked. [Most protagonists in shonen manga are male, that's not important.]
[What's important is you, our female protagonist, you're about to be forcibly taken offline (强制下线 - forced offline, meaning written out of the story) due to low popularity!]
“Low popularity… But my reputation in the Sei Curia and among the public has always been good.”
Saying "good" was an understatement.
Ye Zheng became the Saintess of the Sei Curia at 14 and, up to her current age of 17, had never made a single mistake. Even the Royal Family, which was at odds with the Sei Curia, praised her.
If one were to ask who the most perfect woman in the entire Empire was, Ye Zheng would undoubtedly be elected by a landslide.
[That's the problem. You're too boring.]
[In a manga that focuses on Ability battles, you have no highlight moments in combat, only beauty and noble status. Your yasashii (亚撒西 - a Japanese term for gentle/kind, often used to describe a certain type of bland, overly kind character) personality is unremarkable even in anime/manga (二次元 - referring to anime, manga, and light novels here).]
[For male readers, you're not as interesting as other hot and powerful female characters.]
[For female readers, you're a love-brained (恋爱脑 - someone who lets love control all their decisions) character who would abandon family and your Saintess status for the male lead, which is what they hate most.]
Ye Zheng caught the keywords and her brows furrowed even more.
"Me? Giving up my status to be with that man?"
She recalled the leader of the ability user team she had healed yesterday; his face was covered in blood, she didn't even remember his appearance.
"What do you mean by forcibly taken offline?"
[Because readers are very dissatisfied with you, this "flower vase" (花瓶 - literally "flower vase," meaning someone who is only pretty and useless) female lead, the manga author decided to have you take a fatal blow for the male lead in an Ability battle. This will both stimulate the male lead to become stronger, escalate the conflict with the villain, and satisfy the readers.]
Ye Zheng's beautiful, flawless, almost unreal face showed a look of bewilderment.
"Do people dislike me that much?"
The mechanical voice stopped speaking and presented Ye Zheng with a strange scene—dense lines of text arranged before her.
[#1: Curious, who's everyone's most hated character in King of the Demonic Domain?]
[#2: You might as well ask why everyone hates Ye Zheng.]
[#3: Dare not say, or they'll call me a misandrist. Female fan moms (女宝妈 - literally "female baby mothers," a slang term for fans who overly protect female characters) will immediately label me.]
[#4: Ye Zheng is useless. In terms of healing, she's not even as good as her brother. She constantly causes trouble for the protagonist's team trying to save people. Today is another day I want Ye Zheng to go offline.]
[#5: Ye Zheng was created just to flatter otaku bros (宅男哥 - literally "otaku brothers," a derogatory term for male fans who like certain types of female characters). It's normal for women to hate her, she's totally a Saintess imagined by men.]
[#6: I hate her too even if I'm a man. Being weak is the original sin. There's no need for her to join the protagonist's team; just leave her at home.]
[#7: Ye Zheng fans are also annoying. So what if I don't ship your official pairing (拆你家官配 - literally "demolish your official pairing," meaning to dislike or break up a canonical ship)? Who likes a soulless female character? They're all male lead dream girls (男主梦女 - literally "male lead dream girl," a term for female fans who self-insert as a character and imagine themselves with the male lead) using her as a skin (皮套 - literally "skin suit," meaning a self-insert character/avatar).]
[#8: Catching the PerSy CP (嗑西塞 - literally "shipping PerSy," referring to shipping two male characters whose couple name is likely PerSy) sister upstairs! Male-male strong CP is the best!]
…
Ye Zheng found many of the terms strange. She clutched her chest, feeling a dull ache.
Even if she couldn't fully understand what they were saying, Ye Zheng could feel that they truly hated her.
[Don't be sad. I will help you change your fate, achieve a popularity comeback, and become a qualified female protagonist.]
[This was the evaluation of you in the later stages of the manga's serialization. You've only just appeared now, there's still a chance to change the future!]
Ye Zheng looked up blankly. “How will you help me?”
White light flashed again, and Ye Zheng found herself back in the empty cathedral, the shadow of the colossal statue enveloping her.
[I will spoil certain plot points and reader feedback for you. You can adjust your actions to receive better evaluations.]
[Changing the manga's plot requires action points, and popularity can be converted into action points.]
[Current Action Points: 1]
Ye Zheng understood. She needed to use action points to change the parts of the manga's plot that made her unlikeable, gain higher popularity, and avoid the tragic ending of dying for the male lead.
"I understand. Now I need to go back to my room and think this over properly."
The girl's ankle-length black hair swayed with her skirt as she slowly walked down the corridor, nodding and smiling at the Sei Curia staff she passed.
The Sei Curia staff members returned shy smiles, flustered. Today, too, the Saintess was radiant!
But if they looked closely, they would see a hint of suppression in Ye Zheng's gentle eyes.
"This is not the way back to my room."
"I shouldn't be going this way."
[Because your plotline has begun.]
[Right now, the protagonist's team is waiting for you. According to the original plot, you will blush and fall in love at first sight with the handsome male lead after he washes off the blood.]
Actually, the system found it a bit strange. Ye Zheng refused to meet the protagonist's team? How was that possible?
According to Ye Zheng's original character setting, without external interference, she would definitely have cordially met the protagonist's team.
Although readers criticized her for being so gentle and kind that she was soulless, her gentleness and kindness were undeniably part of her character.
The system wondered if its arrival had caused a butterfly effect. For example, perhaps Ye Zheng was suddenly feeling unwell today or had family matters, which led her to refuse the meeting with the protagonist's team.
"So, I'll often be forcibly controlled by the plot in the future?"
Ye Zheng asked abruptly.
[That is power from a higher dimension (高维 - higher dimension, a concept often found in sci-fi/fantasy where beings from a higher dimension can manipulate a lower one).]
[You can change parts of the plot using action points.]
[For example, the upcoming plot where you fall in love at first sight and blush—that's too love-brained! It completely loses the Saintess's "gravitas" (逼格 - a slang term for prestige, dignity, or cool factor).]
[You could change it to giving them useful gifts or something, to gain some goodwill from the male lead and readers.]
The system thought that as a healing ability user, Ye Zheng's potential was limited, making it difficult for her to have exciting combat highlights. It would be better for her to be a useful support character to gain goodwill.
[I can spoil the items the protagonist's team will need in the next dungeon (副本 - literally "copy," but in online fiction, it often refers to a separate instance, a challenge, or an arc/storyline in a game or novel), and you can use action points to add a gift-giving scene for yourself.]
The system instructed with ample experience.
Ye Zheng lowered her eyelashes, like a docile doll. She nodded gently. “Alright then, I want to use an action point—”
"To refuse the meeting."
[?]
[???]
King of the Demonic Domain is one of the hottest mangas on Blue Star, with countless readers following it and each chapter sparking intense discussions.
It tells the story of the demonic domain (诡域 - referring to a strange or mysterious realm) descending upon the Holy Sei Empire five hundred years ago. Wherever the Demonic Domain went, strange beasts and plants ran rampant. At the same time, humans awakened abilities, and ability users were responsible for eradicating the Demonic Domain and protecting their homeland.
The most interesting aspect is the manga's ranking system. Only one in ten humans awakens an ability, and every ability user must undergo a talent assessment after awakening.
Talent ranks range from E to S. The Empire allocates resources based on ability user talent ranks, prioritizing the cultivation of powerfully talented ability users.
The strength of ability users is divided into levels 1 to 10, and the ability guild assigns tasks based on strength levels.
However, low-talent individuals often have poor strength levels, starting far behind high-talent individuals. With meager cultivation resources, their strength usually hovers between levels 1 and 5.
The male protagonist of King of the Demonic Domain, an E-rank ability user from the Lower City, was assigned to the worst ability academy. Yet, his strength assessment was more powerful than that of his S-rank talented peers.
He leads his academy team to defeat the Demonic Domain beyond their rank, "slapping the face" (打脸 - literally "slapping face," meaning to humiliate or prove wrong) of the Upper District Royal Academy, achieving a counterattack for low-talent individuals!
So satisfying!
That was Li Yixin's biggest feeling watching this manga. As a high school girl with heavy academic pressure, reading such a plot was truly relaxing and stress-relieving.
Another feeling was "handsome!". The characters inside were all very good-looking, especially the male lead and supporting male characters who were strong and handsome. She often screenshotted battle scenes to use as her phone wallpaper.
Recently, the protagonist's team encountered a fierce battle, and the author provided a "male lead battle-damaged famous scene" (男主战损名场面 - literally "male lead battle damage famous scene," referring to a popular trope where the male lead is injured in battle, often appearing more attractive or sympathetic). The fragility of a strong person made her both heartbroken and moved.
Fortunately, at a critical moment, they met people from the Sei Curia who helped treat the protagonist's team, and Li Yixin breathed a sigh of relief.
The previous chapter left a cliffhanger: a mysterious high-ranking official from the Sei Curia stepped in to treat them, leaving her itching with anticipation for a week.
A new handsome guy must be appearing! A powerful and mysterious healing type, perfectly matched with the male lead's metal type!
Finally, Friday arrived. Li Yixin, phone in hand, eagerly opened the new chapter.
The new chapter was a transition after the dungeon ended. It opened with the male lead waking up in bed with a frown.
A few days later, the protagonist's team, recovering from their injuries at the Sei Curia, was almost fully healed. They wished to personally thank their benefactor and offer gifts, but the Sei Curia rejected them.
More precisely, that important figure didn't want to see them…
…and unceremoniously expelled them out (打包丢出 - literally "packaged and threw out," meaning to summarily dismiss or expel).
"Huh?"
Li Yixin first looked confused, but soon her brows relaxed.
What to do? She was even more excited about this character now! They seemed like a very individualistic and powerful person!
Leaving so much mystery, the creator must be brewing something big!
Translator's note: I like this story a lot so I want to share it with more girls, it's edited MTL, if you like this novel, please leave your comment to let me know someone is reading, or I may don't have the motivation to continue, thank you!
We made a Youtube channel and made audio book based on the translation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6OTYeSpbIA you can now enjoy the story by listening
Discord server: https://discord.gg/uqzyeSQday
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