[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-how-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game":3,"chapter-how-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game-how-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game-chapter-641":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1218992,1604,"Chapter 641: Spirit Kings Interlude","how-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game-chapter-641",641,"\u003Cp>What was a Spirit King?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were not mere spirits, nor familiars, nor guardians.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were the physical embodiment of nature itself—a consciousness naturally born from the world, shaped by the element they ruled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A primordial existence whose very presence warped reality, whose authority carried the conceptual weight of their domain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one said water, then a Spirit King of Water represented all bodies of water in the world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one said fire, then their authority was tied to every flame in existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To stand before such a being was to stand before the laws that governed life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And to form a contract with one wasn’t a pact—it was like willingly accepting the full weight of the ocean, the sun, or the storm onto a human soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humans were not meant to even perceive them, let alone withstand their presence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet here in front of Stacia... stood a Sea Dragon—a Spirit King.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ugh...!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stacia’s breath tore out of her lungs as her knees slammed against the heated stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her body bowed forward uncontrollably, fingers scraping the stage as if she were being dragged beneath an unseen tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her lungs burned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her bones creaked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her heartbeat staggered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt as if she had been thrown into the deepest, blackest abyss of the ocean where light could not reach—where the crushing weight of the sea devoured everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she was still on the stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could see it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could hear the roaring crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could feel the heat of her own flames licking her skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet the pressure was real. Overwhelmingly real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What’s going on!?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her vision blurred as she forced her head up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above her was the colossal serpent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Scales that resembled a shifting sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Golden reptilian eyes that glowed like twin suns beneath the ocean.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A head as massive as a mountain, rising and falling with the slow, suffocating rhythm of ancient tides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that gaze...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was looking right at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her heartbeat skipped—then stuttered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Can they not see it...?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She forced her gaze sideways, struggling to focus on the audience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crowd watched with widened eyes—not in terror of a Spirit King but purely at her, at Stacia, who had been dominating moments ago and was now unexpectedly crushed to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"W-Woah! What the heck just happened!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Stacia—! She suddenly collapsed!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She was clearly winning a moment ago—why did she fall!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The announcer’s panicked voice echoed loudly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Stacia, who had the overwhelming advantage just seconds prior, has suddenly dropped to her knees! What is happening!?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t see it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t feel it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t hear the suffocating roar shaking her very soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Am I the only one...?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She tried to scream but no sound came out—only a strained gasp as more blood dripped from her lips and onto the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It became clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She alone could see the Sea Dragon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She alone was being crushed beneath a Spirit King’s authority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Looks like the battle is over...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A voice—her voice, yet heavier, older, soaked in experience she had not yet lived—echoed through the empty, collapsing corners of Stacia’s mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’If only you lent me your body for a bit, things might have played out differently. All the advice I gave you beforehand—how to counter Flamme’s unpredictable nature, how to read her mana when she shifts into stealth—seems to have been wasted. But then again... even if I did interfere, I doubt the outcome would change. After all, even you can’t handle me properly.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Tch...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stacia clicked her tongue inwardly. Even thinking hurt. Her skull felt like it was being crushed by the weight of a dying ocean, her breath squeezed out of her lungs by the sheer divinity pressing her down. She wanted nothing more than to collapse and fade out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’...Why didn’t you use the technique I painstakingly hammered into your body? The one I bled to engrave in your soul?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her future self’s tone sharpened. Stacia winced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She knew. She really did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she had opened with the Hidden Blade technique—if she had used that one move without hesitation—the entire fight would have tilted in her favor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She would have carved through Flamme’s defenses before the spirit even had time to react.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would’ve been disrespectful, she whispered back in her mind. I wanted to win with my own strength...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’You learned the technique from me. That makes it part of your strength. You are me. I am you. There is no cheating involved.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I know...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She knew that too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She knew it painfully well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every moment she spent practicing that technique had nearly broken her—mentally, magically, physically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had pushed herself through sleepless nights, through mana backlash, through the mental \"engraving\" that the future her had forced into her mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had secretly endured hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with all that suffering, that didn’t change the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It still isn’t mine...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those engravements—those memories of a world destroyed, that future self who had lived through calamity—belonged to an existence far beyond what Flamme had experienced. Beyond what anyone here had lived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And even though those memories did not physically alter her body... the experience they provided was monstrous in scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deep down, Stacia felt it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using that knowledge freely—relying on experiences from a world that no longer existed—felt like cheating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like she was using a weapon no one else even had the chance to comprehend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Stacia... hated the thought of that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wanted to win as herself, not as a shadow of what she might become.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flamme’s eyes widened as the sudden surge of heat washed over her like a living inferno, scorching the air itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suffocating pressure of Neru’s aura still crushed Stacia’s lungs... and yet—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite kneeling, despite bleeding, despite being a heartbeat away from collapsing—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She laughed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A low, distorted laugh—layered, echoing, as if two voices were speaking through one trembling body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Kekeke... well would you look at that,\" Stacia replied, her tone no longer her own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her head hung low at first, hair shadowing her face, before she slowly lifted her gaze—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>revealing eyes that had shifted from crimson to molten, blazing gold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I never knew... the snake already chose a child.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A chill stabbed Flamme’s spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What—child? Who?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her confusion lasted less than a second before she instinctively took a step back. In that instant, right behind Stacia, she saw it—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A massive wolf-like silhouette.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A towering beast of flames and moonlight, with fangs jagged like broken stars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its presence flickered for a mere heartbeat—yet it felt like the world trembled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Master, GET AWAY IMMEDIATELY!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neru’s panicked roar exploded inside Flamme’s consciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she was too slow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>FWOOOOM!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stacia’s flames burst outward in a violent wave—no, not flames.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was something far beyond the crimson fire she’d been using before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was heat so intense it warped space, golden-white in color, molten and divine, surging upward like a newborn sun erupting from the earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stage trembled. Steel barriers bowed inward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the spectator wards flickered violently, nearly shattering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flamme shielded her face with her arm as her skin blistered just by proximity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"W-What the hell—?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mana sphere in her hand evaporated instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stacia slowly stood, no longer trembling—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>no longer suffocating—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>no longer weighed down by the Sea Dragon’s pressure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pressure was still there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brutal. Crushing. Enough to kill any human on the spot—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the girl stood straight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the thing inside her...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the entity that had spoken...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>was pushing back against Neru’s illusionary might.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The golden flames swirling around Stacia roared like a feral storm, forming the faint shape of a wolf’s maw behind her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She stepped forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ground melted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She exhaled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air ignited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And with a grin far too sharp and wild to belong to the Stacia everyone knew, she whispered—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let’s continue the fight... little snake.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flamme’s blood ran cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neru’s presence behind her screamed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the entire arena braced as the duel shifted into something far more terrifying than anyone expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My~ my~ this is getting out of hand~\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A whimsical, echoing voice drifted into the frozen atmosphere, followed by the sudden pop of a floating cat’s head appearing beside Alice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wisps of grey smoke curled around its form like lazy tendrils of mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cheshire...\" Alice muttered, exhaling as though she had been waiting for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hello, master~\" the cat spirit chimed, grinning wide enough for his sharp teeth to glimmer. His tail—despite the fact that he currently had no body—somehow swayed like a phantom silhouette. \"Seeing as how absurd the situation is right now, I assume Riley did something again?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No... hah... surprisingly, this entire unexpected scenario is because of my two juniors over there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hoh~? Well, that is truly a surprise.\" Cheshire’s grin widened with genuine amusement. He rotated in the air like a spinning coin before stopping, eyes narrowing mischievously as he observed the chaotic battlefield. \"If you called me out immediately... do you want me to go have a little chat with those two idiots?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Please do,\" Alice sighed. \"I can’t use my authority any more openly than this. I don’t know how badly I’ll influence everyone nearby if I keep reality frozen for too long.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed—at the moment, the entire arena was caught in an artificial silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every spectator, every student, even the announcers... all frozen mid-breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All because Alice had quietly force-activated her Authority over Reality, weaving a delicate stasis that prevented the partially summoned Spirit Kings’ presence from crushing the entire audience to death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the Sea Dragon’s spiritual pressure and the Burning Wolf’s flames creeping across the stage, the bystanders wouldn’t have survived even a second without Alice’s intervention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheshire floated closer, examining the scene with a dramatic squint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hmmm~ freezing the whole world for just two little rascals—how loving of you, master.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Just go,\" Alice said with a tired laugh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheshire nodded once, then his grin grew feral—stretching unnaturally wide as cracks of crimson light split across his form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fluffy head rippled like molten wax, melting and reshaping until—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A crimson-red feline silhouette stood floating upright in the air, claws extended like blades forged of pure authority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Alrighty then~\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice deepened, resonating like overlapping echoes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ll go talk to the lads.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, he vanished in a smear of red light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alice, still in her Red Queen state—her eyes glowing with absolute dominance—watched the two partially summoned Spirit Kings looming over the stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Looks like all my juniors are absurd geniuses...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A faint, proud smile tugged at the corner of her lips—even as reality itself trembled around them.\u003C\u002Fp>",1757,"2026-06-03T14:41:08.744Z",1,"novelbin.me","ccdfb16cedd4d24cbbfd7042b63d07c408d3b22a072e285578df73af706d21cd","how-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game-chapter-642","how-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game-chapter-532",727,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fhow-to-survive-in-the-romance-fantasy-game-cover.jpg"]