Curse of the Arcane.
An eroge game—he had found the name strange too, considering those genres of games were more likely to be named things like... well, he couldn't say exactly, but he knew it shouldn't be named something so dark. Maybe Building a Harem in a Fantasy World or Romantic Adventures?
He wasn't really a fan of eroge games, so he couldn't tell what names were suited for them, but he had been certain that title was odd for an eroge. The game had started slowly, clichéd—and that was normal, considering most stories began that way.
Atlantis.
He had liked the name, to be honest. It gave the feeling of an underwater world, like in the myths. But this world wasn't underwater or anything like that—it was a fantasy setting, something about three kingdoms that were all that remained of humanity, stranded in another dimension. Yes, the kingdoms weren't in Atlantis, but in a dimension connected to it, and this was because of some war that had happened several hundred years ago.
In order for humanity not to be completely eradicated, some unknown god had isolated these three kingdoms and locked them in another dimension. That was all that had been revealed at the start of the game. He had never gotten to know who this god was since he hadn't even finished the game in the first place. However, what he had discovered was that the god had once been human—it was what this very god had done that brought about the whole war with the supernatural. That was about all he knew of that mystery.
Atlantis had a special natural energy—an endless form of energy known as ether—and it was this energy that served as the bedrock of cultivation.
At a certain age, a child manifested an ether core, an organ just like any other in the human body, but this particular core's sole purpose was to absorb and purify atmospheric ether, then transfer that very ether into a certain chamber connected to the core—the etherpool.
Now, that was the problem. Even from the common knowledge of that game world, he was already seeing unsettling similarities between it and this world, from both his memories as Lumiea and Anderson.
This world was also called Atlantis!
Plus, the concept of ether was likewise the same. The lack of ether was the very reason Anderson was as he was. He had yet to develop the ether organ even now. That was the reason he couldn't awaken a sypha.
According to the game, a sypha was an existence tied to the soul of an individual. At birth, an individual's soul was vulnerable to the innumerable souls that roamed Atlantis. At that tender stage of development, some of these souls attached themselves to the individual, and after the manifestation of the ether organ, these souls took shape and became a companion to that person. But that didn't mean everyone awakened a sypha—it was only a 40% chance.
So yes, there was the possibility of him awakening a sypha, but that couldn't happen without him developing an ether organ first.
He sighed.
There was also something called an affinity. An affinity, as it sounded, was a person's resonance with an element. But this depended on the manifestation of the ether core, so yes—everything pertaining to a person transcending human boundaries depended on ether. That was why he said it was the bedrock of cultivation.
But all this aside, what worried him was why these concepts were so similar. At this point, he already had an idea of what was happening, but he just didn't want to accept it. Because if all of this was somehow just like the game, then... he thought he had a much bigger problem than just being overweight or having a psychopath as a fiancée.
Tsk.
What was he even saying? He couldn't dispute it anymore, and the fact that he had this memory was definitely no coincidence.
He sighed.
This was ridiculous.
Who was he deceiving?
The truth was all too clear, and the sooner he came to terms with it, the better. He had been reincarnated into an eroge game.