Golden heart academy is a dating game set in a fantasy world of swords and magic called the Philia continent. There were two ways to play the game. As the main character, or as customized character.
As the main character, you’re given the option to pick a male or female character, each having a different story, love routes, and antagonists. Choices are limited, but you will proceed with the story with a good ending as long as you choose the right options.
However, as a customized character, you’re given more freedom. You will encounter all the main characters as an NPC and guide the story indirectly. You can guide the story to the good ending you want, or the numerous bad endings. You may also choose to not get involved in the story and let the story proceed without intervening and explore the vast world of the game instead.
That’s what made Golden heart academy famous as a game.
Giving the players the option to be an extra.
To watch as the story unfold without even doing anything.
“But where’s the fun in that?” Ethan said as he sat across a self-proclaimed god.
The god sighed. “You seem to be handling this situation well.”
“Didn’t exactly have a decent life, so being born in a new one won’t be a bad deal for me. You plan on giving me some kind of ability, right?” Ethan asked. “Isn’t that how this whole “reincarnated in another world” stuff work?”
The god nodded. “I’ll grant you any ability a player is granted for the game.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “I have a question before we proceed,” Ethan spoke, and the god gestured for him to continue. “Am I the only person being reincarnated into this world?”
The god looked impressed for a moment. “No. You’re the tenth and last. But do not worry, all of you will be born in the same year.”
“Figures,” Ethan muttered. “So... how does this work?”
“You may choose one passive skill with an uncommon rarity at most and I will set it at the maximum proficiency. You may also choose one ability granted to players of this world. But you may not choose abilities that have already been chosen by the other reincarnates and certain restrictions will be placed on the ability.”
“Well, that’s not fair,” Ethan crossed his arms. “They probably already took the good stuff.”
“That may be the case, but in exchange, you will be aware of their abilities,” the god pointed out. “Shall I list the abilities that have already been taken?”
Ethan shrugged. “Go ahead. Not like it would change anything.”
The god waved their hand and golden words appeared in front of Ethan.
Intermediate close combat mastery
Intermediate sword mastery
Null magic mastery
Minor regeneration
Beginner mana circulation
Intermediate spear mastery
Intermediate shield mastery
Intermediate dagger mastery
Beginner tracking mastery
Ethan raised an eyebrow when he saw the first list. Considering they were limited to only uncommon rarity skills, these were all decent skills to have, but they were all obtainable by simply progressing through the story.
“Am I missing something here?” Ethan turned to the god.
“What do you mean?”
“Assuming the world I’m going to no longer runs on game logic. Wouldn't these skills be learnable by simply training?”
The god nodded. “You are correct. Such skills can be obtained and improved by hard work.”
Ethan rubbed his chin thought. All of the skills listed were the ones commonly used while grinding in the game, so with enough time and hard work, the gap wouldn’t matter. Besides, there were a lot of better skills out there that he could obtain.
“Alright, show me what kind of player abilities they got.”
The god waved their hand once again and displayed another set of golden words floating in front of Ethan.
Player inventory
Male protagonist
Crafting
Female protagonist
Status screen
Fast travel
Pause
Mini map
Player HUD
Ethan had to admit that these were all abilities that he would have liked to have, but he was happy to find out that the ability he wanted wasn’t on the list.
The thing Ethan liked most about the game was the fact that you could create multiple characters without restarting the progress of the game. You could make a whole new character to build while still retaining the game features you unlocked in your other characters.
“State your choices,” the god spoke.
“For my passive skill. I want Quick learner,” Ethan answered.
“As you wish,” the god responded.
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Quick learner was a passive skill that enhanced the proficiency gain of skills. It wasn’t a skill that can be learned through training. The only way to gain it was through divine revelations or be born with it.
In this case, Ethan was gaining it through both methods.
“As for the player ability. I want the New player creation.”
The god was silent for a moment, seemingly trying to understand what Ethan just said. It took a while before the god even spoke again. “Can you clarify what ability you are referring to?”
“The one where we can make another character to build.”
The god just stared at him.
It wasn’t an ability that the player uses in the game, but it was still a feature that the players used.
“... very well,” the god stated. “You will be granted Quick learner and New avatar,” the god said with a wave of their hand.
“Great,” Ethan clapped his hands. “How will thi-”
Ethan was surprised when he realized that he lost the ability to speak. Not because his voice was taken, but because he was now in the body of an infant. In that split second, his adult body was turned into an infant and was transported into an unfamiliar place.
Ethan managed to move his head around to examine his surroundings. He seemed to be in some sort of bedroom and was laying on a cradle. The only person around was a black-haired maid with round glasses that was busy folding clothes.
Why did he have to start as a baby?
What the hell was he supposed to do as a baby?
He tried to speak, but all that came out was random grunts and whines. Either way, it succeeded in getting the attention of the maid.
She approached the cradle and gently picked him up. “Are you hungry young master?” the maid asked as if he had the ability to actually answer. The only thing she got in response was whines.
Ethan didn’t expect anything interesting to happen. That's why when the maid started to undo the top half of her uniform, Ethan nearly choked on his own spit.
“Please don’t bite young master,” the maid said as she lifted Ethan to her breast.
Ethan no longer had any complaints about being a baby.
“Young master, please put on your coat,” Angela, the black-haired maid, approached Ethan with a winter coat.
“I don’t need it,” Ethan, now five years old, replied as he stepped out of the house.
His full name was Ethan Raystrom, the illegitimate son of Viscount Remus Raystrom. He didn’t know who his mother in this world was since his father took him away from her and sent him to live in an isolated house within the property with only Angela to take care of him.
Ethan was an orphan before being reincarnated, so this wasn’t new to him.
“You’ll get sick young master,” Angela said as she held up the coat to Ethan.
He sighed. “I’ll be fine.”
Ethan stepped out into the snow and approached a statue of a woman wearing a cloak and was holding up a sphere.
In the game, this statue had multiple functions. First was that these statues served as waypoints for players to teleport to get around the world, which he lacked. The statue also had minor healing abilities and exuded an abundant amount of mana. But the feature he found the most useful in his current situation was this.
Name: Ethan Raystrom
Race: Human
Class: None
Core: None
Passive skills: 2/5
Quick learner (Max) – Proficiency gains is increased by 50%
Beginner mana circulation (89%) - Mana control is enhanced by 10%
Active skills: 0/5
Divine skills: 1
New avatar (Sealed) - Create an avatar of yourself.
Golden letters floated in front of him. Without access to a status screen, this was the only information Ethan had about his abilities. Despite the minimal information being shown, more details were being sent directly into his mind. Like for his avatar skill, it was sealed until he reached the age adulthood in this world, which was 18. Even then, the number of avatars he would be able to create was restricted to his proficiency with the skill.
That gave him time to focus on obtaining other skills that he would need in the future. But since he was too young to do any form of physical training, he could only focus on learning how to use mana.
Angela wasn’t a mage, but she knew how to use mana. With her help, Ethan learned a mana circulation skill. The past 2 years were spent training on mana circulation since Ethan had nothing else to do in a small house that was isolated from the world.
He had asked Angela if he could go anywhere else, but she couldn’t go against the orders of the Viscount. They were limited to a small two-story house, the small clearing around it and the statue, and the forest surrounding it. Supplies were delivered by a carriage that just drops off a crate before leaving.
So, for the next couple of years, Ethan had nothing to do but train. He dedicated everything to mana training in the first few years of his new life, and once he turned 10 years old, he began exercising.
Why was Ethan working so hard?
Wouldn’t you work hard if you were given a second life in a magical world?
He was put in a position where he had nothing else to do but train, so why wouldn’t he. He could just reap the benefits later when he was strong enough to take anything he wanted.
Quick learner has been upgraded to Young prodigy
After seventeen years, Ethan finally upgraded his passive skill that was already maxed out. Thanks to this new development, his growth will be sped up.
Heading to the statue, Ethan checked his skills. He already upgraded his mana circulation skill and after he started exercising, he gained a physical enhancement skill.
Passive skills: 3/5
Young prodigy (0%) – Proficiency gains is increased by 100%
Intermediate mana circulation (95%) - Mana control is enhanced by 30%
Physically fit (56%) - Physical abilities are enhanced by 10%
This was a good start, but there was a limit to how many skills a person could have, so he needed to be cautious. Sure, he could have it removed later by converting it into a skill stone, but that was an expensive and painful process.
“Young master.”
Ethan glanced behind him to see Angela approaching him with a plate of fruits. Ethan wrapped an arm around her waist before pulling her closer. Throughout his life in this world, Angela was the only other person she knew. He never got to meet the people delivering supplies since they intentionally avoided arriving while he was outside and nobody ever came to visit, so can he be blamed for developing an attraction to her?
Angela took care of him without complaint for seventeen years. Ethan died at the age of twenty-four before being reincarnated, so Angela took care of him for nearly half both of his life combines. Even with the body of a child, he had the mind of an adult and had all the time to admire Angela.
“Young master...” Angela was a bit hesitant considering the age difference, but she didn’t reject Ethan’s advances, and they certainly haven’t been idle within the house. “You need to stay focused. You’ll be turning 18 soon and could finally leave this place.”
To be precise, Ethan had two weeks until his 18th birthday and, on that day, a carriage was going to arrive to pick them up. It was on April 1st, so Ethan had exactly the rest of the year before he would enter Golden heart academy. It was made abundantly clear that his father wouldn’t be providing him support, so he was on his own. Since he would be at the age of an adult, his father was no longer required by the law to care for him.
For the record, Ethan didn’t really care. He finished the game twice. Once as the male protagonist and once as a customized character. After that, Ethan proceeded to make new characters with different builds. So, he had a pretty decent idea on how he’s going to survive in this world before going to the academy.
But he had one last thing to do before leaving this place.
The next morning, Ethan stood before the stone statue once again. Placing his hands on the statue, Ethan began circulating his mana through it.
All of these statues had one thing in common, and that’s the abundant amount of mana within them.
Ethan would have done this sooner, but if he absorbed the mana from a statue at such a young age, he would have exploded. He died in the game once like that. He absorbed too much mana and exploded.
Intermediate mana circulation (Max)
It’ll be a while before the skill upgrades, but he wasn’t in a hurry. Ethan continued absorbing mana from the statue until he got what he wanted, and it soon came. Once the statue ran out of mana, a wave of magic exploded from the statue as it seemed to come to life.
Greetings child
