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It was the same darkness the girl had faced when she was in her original life. She welcomed the dark like an old friend, allowing it to embrace her in its clutches.

A voice pierced through the veil,  'Welcome back.'

The girl sighs, suddenly feeling cramps in her shoulder, gut, and thigh.

'Ugh, why do I still feel it?' she winces, clutching at where the wounds would be.

'They're phantom sensations, no need to worry. It'll fade in a few minutes.'  008 informs. 'Now, I'm going to inform you about your status. Would you like a visual?'

The girl shook her head to clear off the dissociative feeling she had in her chest right now.

Right, the points. Everything was just a game in the end...

'Sure.'

A glowing blue screen flickered into view.

WORLD CODE C038184937 OVERVIEW

Mission: Completed! +1000 Completed!  +1000

Overall gain: 2000 points

'Woah! I get double the points?'

008 sputters at this. 'What?'

'I suppose it's because I married twice into two different families...but still...' she murmurs to herself, continuing to scroll down the list that 008 had provided while 008 tried to figure out what had happened.

TITLE GAINS: 200 points in total

SIDE POINTS: 300

-overthrow oppressive government

-instate new government

-served a decent reign (1.4 years)

OVERALL POINTS: 2500

BONUS: WORLD LEVEL CHANGED FROM C to B (no points acquired)

'What does 'world change' mean?'

008 gasps. 'That's very rare... it means you changed the world' difficulty level from a C to a B. It can no longer be a starter world...how did I not foresee this?"

'So I must've really affected it, then...' she trails off and 008 laughs. 'Seems like you're ready for The Hub, then.'

"The Hub?"

008 lets out a series of whirs and the girl feels her body pulled down into a sitting position. Liliana blinks and sees she was now in an all-white room. A plain bed was to her left and she was sitting on a slightly uncomfortable white chair.

'Only V.I.Ps who pass their first world get access to The Hub,' 008 explains. The girl felt special for a moment... only to realize that this VIP was more about the program.

'Why?'

008 pauses for a moment. 'Most of the time, only 1/10 villains reach their goal. A hero's charm is especially hard to beat, even in a level C world...'

The girl shudders as she images what could've happened to her if she failed.

How horrible would my future be?

'The Hub allows other systems to interact and acquire new skills in between worlds, while the systems get everything in order for the next transmigration,' 008 explains. 'You use points to unlock lessons, bonuses, and other things. You can purchase new items in-world until you have enough points to complete lessons in that world. For now, if you wish to acquire a skill, you can get a skill cheaper in The Hub's mall.'

"But it took a long time to gain only 2500 points! That's a total rip-off!"

'New skills are necessary for harder worlds. Since you've changed a world from a C to a B, you are going to be placed in harder worlds from now on. Corporate can't have you changing all C-world to B-worlds, after all. Too much paperwork!'

She groans as she leans back into her chair.

I'll have to work super hard now to earn even more points! Ugh! This means that the work will never stop!

'Anywho, I recommend you leave the apartment and begin exploring.'

Standing up, Liliana awkwardly walked out the door of the white room, creaking it open. Her eyes shone in surprise at the sight before her.

It was truly named "The Hub" for a reason. A metropolis of skyscrapers of all the colors of the rainbow highlighted the city, each with architectural designs of its own. A simple glance at the sky displayed an ever-shifting pattern of names and symbols too hard for the untrained eye to make out. People attached by ropes hanging from the board moved around the tiles, swinging this way and that as the screen flashed new stats up.

It gives me anxiety just watching them do their job!

Gulping, she stepped away from her door and looked back at where she came from. '008' was immortalized on a golden plaque on her door. Other doors sat in a row seemingly going on forever. 'Hela's Hideaway' was scrawled on a big sign, indicating the name of the motel. It could be inferred that this is where the beginners lived, and most likely with more points, you could upgrade to city space.

Which kind of seemed like a waste of points.

Looking at the door next to her, she saw that it read '719.' This probably meant that rooms were allocated to survivors and weren't in numeric order...

An involuntary shudder crawled up her spine. She didn't even want to think of what would've happened if she failed.

She stepped a bit further and saw that there was a map. It appeared as if The Hub was on a Manhattan-like island, with an inky black surrounding the island called Elsewhere. Off towards the left was a bridge leading off the map.

'What's Elsewhere?' the girl asks.

'Elsewhere is...well, exactly as it sounds. I suppose it's like Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and reincarnation combined into one. It's nothing that you could imagine, quite frankly, and I don't have the clearance to tell you,' 008 explains to the best of their ability. 'Personally, I wouldn't go over there, though. It's uncharted waters and is unpredictable. Only a super-high up in corporate can access it, but even they don't bother going there. Besides, you need verification just to get into the area.'

'And the bridge? Where does that go?'

'That goes off to special facilities, reserved for only the top. You're basically in the Hub until you climb up the ladder. But don't worry, you're almost never here but there's always plenty of stuff to do. And, once you feel like upgrading, there's plenty of houses and penthouses in the city. The Hub is a wonderful place to live.'

All of a sudden, 008 goes silent.

'I've got to go. When I'm gone, I'll put in your next world application, so I'll be offline for a while.'

'World application?'

'I can't just willy-nilly throw you into a world, after all. Corporate has to find a plot line that needs influencing. There's always enough worlds, it just takes a lot of paperwork.'

008 clicked off and the girl now felt alone for the first time in years.

She began walking in the direction of the city and felt the smooth pavement underneath her bare feet. Others milled around her, all dressed in different fashions from different eras. Bright pink hair seemed normal compared to multicolored hair that looked like it was made of pixels or hair that was made of literal flames. Clothes were of all eras as well, some even looking futuristic. Skin could be either a glowing orange tan or scales. The only similarity between all the citizens was that everyone's eyes shone like diamonds in the rough, no matter what hue they were.

She awkwardly stumbled into the center and felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. Liliana turns around and gulped at the figure behind her.

"Hey! You're a newbie, right?"

She nodded awkwardly at the perky girl in response. "Yeah, is...is it that obvious?"

"Anyone barefoot in a white toga is obvious," she laughs and sticks out a pale hand covered in winding silver tattoos, shifting and crawling slowly across her skin like a snake. "I'm Jarabelle. Call me Jara."

"Nice to meet you, Jara," she responds. "I'm-"

"I already know who you are," Jara interrupts before covering her mouth with her hand, an adorable pink spreading across her face. "Sorry, it's a habit. Unless your last name isn't Eman, then ignore that."

"No, you're right," Eman nods. "How'd you know I'm...well, me?"

"You're the latest gossip, sweetie. No first-timer in eons has gone and changed a world ranking like that on their first try." Jara pauses before a sarcastic smile comes onto her face. "And your photo is attached to your profile. Newbies don't get recruited too often to be a V.I.P on their first try...or even make it here..."

"I don't really get how it's that important..." Eman mumbles in response.

Jara laughs. "Gods, your system hasn't explained anything! Hey, how about you join me and a few other people for a quick lunch? We can explain everything to you...call it a tutorial or something. You'll need all the friends you can get here, after all."

"Sure?"

Jara grins, showing off silver-dipped canines. "Come on! Let's go!" She whips her pink-haired head around and beckons for the girl to follow as she sits on a motorcycle.

Awkwardly, Eman gets on and wraps her arms around Jara. Jara speeds off quickly through the city with pink light trailing behind the motorcycle. Jara presses a button and Eman watches as a black doorway appears.

"Jara...?"

She laughs wildly. "Don't worry, sweetie! I'm not kidnapping you!" She picks up speed and zooms through the door. The two enter a black space with an onyx tiled floor pulsating in a steady beat with white light between the cracks. Other drivers in cars or motorcycles went in different directions as they entered different doors all around us.

"Don't ever enter the highway without a car or else you won't get out," Jara advises with a quick shout while turning to the left. She zooms through a pink door and ends up back on the streets of the city. She slows to a stop before looking back at the newbie.

"What do you think about your first ride?" Jara asks breathlessly as her golden eyes twinkle. Eman felt her heart pounding rapidly in her chest.

"Interesting?"

"That's good to hear! Now, let's go in."

She hops off the bike and Eman follows, slightly motion sick. Jara leads her to a large glass building that towers up into the clouds, filled with all colors of light.

"What's this?"

"The mall, AKA the center for all your needs."

The two walked through the glass sliding doors and see people milling about.

"Jara!"

The two turn to see a man approach them. He had long, navy blue hair that floated around him like he was underwater. His eyes were a matching sapphire, twinkling in delight. He gave a shark-like grin, with literal shark teeth, as he strutted towards the two girls.

"Lucor," Jara greets, beaming at the man. "How was your last run?"

"Horrible! I got killed by guillotine!" Lucor groans before a gleam comes back into his eye. "After I robbed half the palace, of course."

Jara laughed before turning to Eman. "Lucor, this is the girl who made a C into a B on her first run."

He gasps before grabbing Eman's hand and shaking it. "Unbelievable! Congrats girlie! Not many can do that so easily, especially on the first run!"

"I still don't get its importance...?" Eman trails off and the two exchange glances.

"Well, we'll grab something to eat and explain it to you. Okay?" Lucor asks and Eman nods.

"Where do you want to go?" Lucor asks as Jara's eyes glitter.

"Chili's!" Jara yells out.

"Chili's?" Eman echoes. "Why is there a Chili's in The Hub?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Lucor responds as he points at the mall map. Sure enough, there was a Chili's on the map alongside other food conglomerates, some unrecognizable to the girl.

Eman was quickly led there and sat down from across the two in a comfy booth. When they all sat down at the table, screens flash upon the table's surface.

"Is it necessary we eat in The Hub?" Eman asks and Jara shakes her bobbed head. "No, it's not necessary. Food is actually free at Rank 1 and 2 restaurants. It's more about the experience. Makes us feel more...normal..." she trails off. "It's the least corporate can do for their employees. If it's just non-stop work, we feel like we lose a part of ourselves." Jara's tone was sad at the end before she gave a bittersweet smile. "The breaks we get are nice and force us to take a breather to be ourselves. Even if you don't really want one at first, you soon appreciate how valuable this time is. It can be either a minute to a month, but you're still satisfied with every second."

Eman glances back at the menu and orders some tacos and water that immediately appear on the table. She takes a bite of the taco and is reminded of family outings.

This does make me feel normal again, even if it's only slightly. If I closed my eyes, I'd feel like I was at the local Chili's and not in the afterlife with a pink-haired girl and a shark-like man.

"Where do you want to start?" Lucor asks as he bites into his fish tacos.

"The whole 'C-to-B world' thing and why it's important," Eman asks.

"The reason why it's so important..." Jara trails off. "Sweetie...what do you interpret the worlds as?"

Eman pauses, not knowing how to respond.

"I...I don't know. Almost like a game, it seems? I get an objective, and when I do it I get points," she responds. The two veterans exchange glances at this.

"I mean, that's kind of how it is..." Lucor mumbles before clearing his throat as he taps the table thrice. The table's screen manipulates and twists into a leader board, with labeled at the top. Lucor selected a list and pulls up statistics for different worlds, highlighted in red or green as they shuffled around the board. Some names scrolled across the bottom with the world code next to their name with a 'live' icon next to it.

"This," he points at a number code, "was C038184937. Now, it's B038184937. It's one of the millions of billions of universes that exist, and we're not even counting the parallel universes that spring up every second."

Eman's brows crinkle. "I...I don't understand."

"You, me, and Lucor, and everyone else in this whole mall are from different universes. Maybe they're slightly different, or completely different on the spectrum," Jara explains. "Some of our appearances used to be like yours and we edited them after we gained enough points so we looked different. Others actually look like that."

"These are my real teeth," Lucor clicks his teeth into a grin, "because of a common genetic mutation in my universe."

"All colors of the rainbow hair are natural in my world. Mine was green, but I liked pink better," Jara shrugs. "People change their appearance here, so it's kind of hard to tell. But, if you look around, you can tell that it's a hodge-podge of the everything and anything colliding." Jara hesitates, clearly having gone off track.

"Regardless," Jara interrupts herself, "Corporate...think of them as the gods of all the universes. When they believe that a particular pocket of the universe isn't advancing, or is just stuck in a rut, we come in."

"Villains and heroes, two sides of the same coin. One is needed to allow the other to exist," Lucor continues as he sips on some tea. "Villains were those who used to be insignificant, weak-minded and meek. Heroes are those who were too cocky, too rotten within their original world. When Corporate brings us to each world, they wish for us to reinvigorate it, so people can live on. Think of it as..." Lucor trails off, trying to think of an example. Suddenly, it hits him.

"Think of it as the smallest pocket in purgatory, so you have to meet a super-specific requirement in a gray-area to be applicable," he says lightly.

"When villains are implemented, it's usually to be a block in the road so that in the future people can rise up. Or, so future rulers or important figures will learn some cheesy life-lesson which allows for that world to improve," Jara explains as she takes a sip of a strange bubbling blue drink. "Sometimes, villains need to die to allow change to be enacted. Or sometimes, they just need to sit there to dissuade societal norms. Either way, they have a purpose."

"When heroes are implemented, that means the current body isn't doing their job or adhering to fate. Regardless, for both hero and villain vessels, they weren't properly doing their job in Corporate's eyes, so we come in and save the day, in a sense," Lucor informs. "Even if you're in the villain system it doesn't mean you're evil, and even if you're in the hero system doesn't mean you're good. In fact, the heroes and villains are no different from each other in The Hub, it's just easier for Corporate to categorize us and place in a world accordingly. If a hero was doing a villain's job, it wouldn't go too well; and vice versa for villains. After a while of being 'the bad guy,' you get pretty good at your job."

"It's an overall nearly perfect system. When a villain loses, or a hero doesn't meet their quest, it allows for another chance for other employees to fix it in the future. The points are our paycheck, a motive to do work. And this," she gestures out the window at The Hub, glamorously shimmering in thousands of lights, "is our way of living."

She clicks on the table and swipes over to where a leader board comes up. She scrolls down the list and Liliana looks over at the users and their systems. All at the top have hundreds of worlds under their belts.

"So, when a person, who only has one world completed, is seated at 363rd out of thousands of VIPs," Jara laughs, "it's bound to get some attention. The leaderboard isn't about points, it's about actions. Even if an action doesn't get you points, it can still pull you up or down. And people don't so easily get on the board."

Eman's brows furrow as she clicks user. A picture of her came up beside her name. When was this even taken?!

She looks at missions and notices that B038184937 was checked off.

"Is all of this public?"

"Nothing to be embarrassed about. To us, it's just another day at work," Jara informs as she clicks on the code. The awards came up and she scrolled to the bottom and pressed =EXTENDED=.

A whole list came up that showed a picture of Liliana Marzinal at the top. Next to her name was a string of code.

"That's odd..." Jara trails off and Eman arches a brow. "What is?"

"That's where other transmigrators in your world are listed, but it seems to be blocked," Jara notes, clicking on the code. On the screen, thousands of twitching symbols appeared before crashing back onto the picture of Liliana.

"Whoever transmigrated into that world must've been doing it for the hell of it. No one who hasn't been here for a while would be able to do this," Lucor mutters, looking at the screen with intrigue. "At least 4 million points, I reckon, unless they have extremely good connections."

"They must be pretty close to getting out, then?" Eman asks, causing the two across from her to burst into laughter. Eman's face falls. "What did I say that was so funny?"

"You...you honestly think you're getting out?" Jara wheezes as she wipes a tear from her eye.

"Only three people ever have done it," Lucor continues as he clutches at his stomach. Eman's brows furrow.

"What do you mean?"

"People...people come in with hopes of reincarnating. But after a while, you realize it's not really worth it. When you've gone through so many different worlds, you realize how reincarnating into the life you want is like the blink of an eye...then you're gone," Jara informs as she crosses her arms over her chest. "After acquiring lots of skills and getting more practice in, you realize how you can manipulate the world you're in into one you want."

"Is that why it seems that everyone's fine with spending points, then?" Eman asks. The two nod fervently at this statement.

"As long as you have a thousand points on you at all times, you're good to go," Jara informs. "So if you lose a world, you're not forced into debt if Corporate collects interest on your losses."

Eman nods at this. "I think I'm starting to understand this..."

"It'll get easier as you go," Jara encourages. "Believe me, I was super confused at first, too. But over time... all of this," Jara gestures out the window at the Hub, "becomes your new normal."

"You'll meet other villains and heroes over time," Lucor continues. "You should try to make as many friends as possible because it's very rare when our shifts end at the same time. It's sad, being lonely for eternity."

Eman nods, feeling slightly dismayed.

"Hey! Don't worry." Jara pulls out a screen from her jacket as she types rapidly on it. "You'll see whenever we're in The Hub if you add us. Where's your tablet?"

"Uh...I don't have one," Eman responds, causing Lucor to laugh. "Of course you do! Have you checked your pockets?"

"I have pockets?" Eman reaches into the folds of the toga. Sure enough, there was a cool object in the fold of the toga and she pulls it out.

"Everyone's screen is on them at all times. And..." Jara presses a button on her tablet, looking at Eman expectingly. A notification lights up and lets Eman know that Jarabelle Winthrop has added her as a friend. Eman adds her back and Jara grins.

"Great! So whenever someone's in The Hub, their name is green. If they're not, they're in a world."

Lucor adds Eman as well when a dazed look comes onto his face.

"I've got to run, another mission's come up. I guess I have to be some demon overlord now!" He laughs as he gives Jara a hug. "See you around, big guy," Jara jokes and he grins as he turns to Eman.

"It was nice meeting you, hope you don't die without points!" he waves before disappearing in the air. Jara looks at Eman and stands up from the table.

"I don't want to suddenly disappear on you, but my system will probably let me know I have a mission soon as well. I'll take you to the skill floor, and let you pick for yourself. You'll need to learn something soon, after all, after your C-B stunt you're probably going to end up somewhere hard..."

Eman follows behind her as Jara guides her to the escalator.

"If you ask me, sword fighting, cooking, hacking and shooting are the most important skills for V.I.Ps. Basic skills take 50 points to learn," she informs, leaning against the railing of the escalator. "It's best to have a basic skill, so in worlds if you have a chance to use that skill, you can improve it and maintain it without having to use points."

Eman nods as she steps off the escalator. Jara leads her into a long room where people are standing near walls, VR-looking headsets around their eyes. A five-foot radius is around all of them with fences caging them apart.

"The headsets stimulate situations to learn skills," she explains as the two walk down the line. They come across an empty space and Jara looks at Eman.

"Be careful, alright? B-worlds are a lot stricter than C-ones, so you have to adhere more to the character or just make a new one for yourself, which is a lot harder than you may think. Don't let emotions get in the way." Pain flashes in her eyes at the memories of her own past worlds. "Everyone has at least one bad world. Let's hope yours isn't so soon when you're so inexperienced."

A dazed look flashes across her eyes before it disappears. "It's time for me to go." She wraps Eman into a tight hug before pulling back.

"Bye, sweetie. Remember: do whatever it takes to get to your goal, even if you have to disregard your own morals. We all die at the end of the day."

Eman's gaze falters at this statement, but she accepts the reality of it.

"Good luck, Jara." Eman waves at her as she disappears. Sighing, Eman enters through the fence and puts on the headset as the world goes black.

There was a long, long list of skills she scrolled through. She soon came across 'sword fighting' and shrugged to herself. What's the worst that could happen? Selecting it, Eman confirmed she wished to waste 50 points on it and the darkness around her melted away. A man in a Knight outfit stood before her on a grassy plain. In the distance, a stone castle with a waving red flag sat in front of a shimmering lake.

"Welcome, trainee, I am in charge of your sword training today!" He gallantly declares. "Let's begin with the basics..."

=

Removing the headset, Eman wiped sweat from her forehead. That was one hell of a workout!

A click echoes through her mind.

'I'm back,' 008 informs. 'Are you ready for your next world?'

Eman nods and feels a sharp pain envelop her body as she disappears.

=====

A/N time!

Eman is our protagonist's last name from her original life. For now, I'll refer to her as Eman whenever it comes up in the text (much better than calling her 'the girl' every time). Her full name will be revealed in the future :))

I also have created a song playlist that goes with each chapter. Side A is wordless music while Side B has words to it. This music really inspired me while writing and also fit the mood. Character's themes have also been allotted per side. If you want to see what characters have which themes, go to 'Velvet' on my profile!

The book cover will change accordingly with the next arc, so if you normally search for Villainess and look at its cover to make sure it's the right online novel, make sure it's this story! (Or just add this story to your library and you'll receive notifications with every Tuesday update ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

I'd like to thank you for all your love and support during the first arc, it really helped me through writer's block and whatever else came my way!

Please like, comment and vote if you liked this chapter! And once more, thank you for all the support!

Villainess will return as normally scheduled next week with Arc 2.