Saneko laid in bed holding up her phone above her head, scrolling through random articles online. She had promised the shaman that she would return if she ever wanted to give meditation a try. She knew she would have to eventually if she didn't want to get punished, but she was far too bored to do it now. She was the type of person to wait until the last minute to do something.

As she scrolled, she let out a tired sigh. All of the articles had to do with overpowered protagonists in anime.

"Why has there been a lack of power fantasies recently? Don't they know that I want them?"

Saneko was as self absorbed as always. As she kept mindlessly scrolling, one article caught her eye. It was about "Celestial Sovereign's Ascension". That name sounded familiar to her. She remembered seeing that anime, but there wasn't anything memorable about it to her. She clicked on the article to see what exactly was being said about the series. The article was talking about how the main character was one of the strongest characters in all of anime. Saneko looked up to the ceiling, thinking about the show. She had a perfect memory, so she remembered every scene, and the main character was definitely strong, but she had seen stronger.

"What in the world is this article on about?"

She was really confused now. She decided to get out of the website, and look up the series to see what exactly made it so powerful. To her surprise, there were lots of websites and forums talking about how strong the main character was.

"Huh? What could I have possibly missed from the series?"

She continued scrolling until she found a MeTube video about the series. The title of the video was, "INSANLY OVERPOWERED PROTAGONIST!?!?!?"

"There's no way people are hyping up this character that much. I mean, the show was good, but there is no way he was as undefeatable as the main character from, 'The Weakest Mage With The Strongest Ability'."

Clicking the video, it was more of a review than anything else, however, one thing the reviewer said caught her attention.

"I just finished the latest volume. The MC's power growth is insane! Can't wait for the next one!"

Saneko blinked a few times in confusion.

"Volume? What the hell?"

Saneko got out of the video and continued researching. She felt like a detective that stumbled across a huge rabbit hole. It didn't take her long to figure out what was going on though. Her eyes widened as she found an article about illustrated short novels, often the source material for many anime series. They were called light novels, and the vast majority of them contained overpowered protagonists.

"Wait, so these books are like... proto-anime?"

She scrolled through lists of popular light novel titles. Many of them featured exactly the kind of overpowered protagonists she loved. She was very excited to see that there was an entire medium of storytelling she hadn't looked into yet. She was also quite surprised to see that most of the anime she had already seen appeared as light novel listings as well.

"HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS BEFORE?"

Excitement was building up inside of Saneko. She leaped off of her bed and raced out of her room, nearly tripping over her own feet. She burst into the kitchen, where her mother was preparing dinner.

"Mom! Mom! I need to tell you something!"

"Huh? What is it dear?"

"I just discovered something amazing! They're called light novels, and they're like books but with pictures, and they're where a lot of anime come from!"

"... Oh... okay."

Saneko took a deep breath, trying to contain her excitement.

"I'm going to the book store! I need to get some!"

"You do realize that you'll be using your banana smoothie money right? And also, you still have to learn cultivation."

"Yeah yeah, I know. But this time it's worth it! And don't worry, I'll learn to cultivate magic soon."

She put her shoes on and ran outside of the house. She hadn't looked this excited in a long time. Mrs. Sarakana couldn't help but giggle to herself upon seeing her daughter looking so happy.

At the store, Saneko made a beeline for the light novel section. Her eyes sparkled with joy as she saw the covers of the books. She looked for titles that she thought were sophisticated enough, like "How Many Slaves Do I Own?" and "God Gave Me A Second Chance And Made Me The Strongest!"

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"THIS IS AMAZING!"

She shouted that as loud as she could. People all over the quiet store turned to her with disgruntled looks on their faces, but she didn't care. She would now have hours upon hours of high brow reading material.

She walked up to the counter with her arms full of power fantasy light novels. The cashier looked down with a concerned expression when he saw all of the extremely specific stories that Saneko wanted to buy. She leaned against the counter and laughed condescendingly.

"I assume you haven't ever had a customer with such eloquent taste in literature before."

"Uh... no... no I have not."

Saneko made it back home, quickly kicking her shoes off and running into her room. Mrs. Sarakana watched as she immediately ran into her room and attempted to call out to her.

"Wait, dinner is ready!"

"NOT HUNGRY!"

With that, she slammed her door. Mrs. Sarakana sighed and shook her head, but she couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"What a strange girl."

Saneko dropped the books she had purchased on her bed and sat down, ready to read. Hours flew by as Saneko immersed herself in the light novels. She visualized the scenes in her mind, much like watching an anime. The detailed descriptions of the protagonist's powers and battles thrilled her, and she adored having the freedom to imagine the action scenes exactly as she wanted. What made it even better was the fact that, just like people online had said, the characters get so much stronger than she had expected.

"This is the greatest thing I have ever read in my life."

Nakialia appeared in her room and looked down at the books.

"Hey Saneko. Watcha reading?"

"Actual literature. Something you wouldn't understand."

"Really? You, reading? That's new."

Nakialia looked down to see one specific novel called, "Killing Everyone in One-Hit!"

"Oh. That explains it."

"Ha! You try and mock my taste, but that only shows that you have none."

"Life isn't always about being the strongest, you know. There's value in stories that explore complex emotions, relationships, and societal issues."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"You're an ass sometimes."

"No, I am superior, just like the main character from-"

"Alright I get it already!"

Saneko waved her hand dismissively, barely listening to Nakialia at this point. She was very good at not listening to people if she didn't want to.

"Pfft. You know N, I think you should just admit that you have a low IQ. But don't worry. Reading these novels will help increase it."

She picked up one specific book and held in front of herself to show Nakialia.

"Look at this one! The main character can control probability! How cool is that?"

Nakialia sighed, realizing her words were falling on deaf ears.

"Don't tell me you plan to buy tons of these books."

"Well, I can't buy too many or then I'll completely run out of money for banana smoothies, but I will definitely be purchasing quite a few. I have never been so intellectually stimulated before."

"Let me see one of those."

Nakialia grabbed one of the books and opened it to a random page. She skimmed through the text to see what was so special about these stories. She read a specific part where the main character effortlessly crushes a group of gang members with a smirk on his face. Nakialia couldn't help but think about how Saneko copied the actions displayed within this genre all of the time. She just assumed that Saneko was exaggerating the events to make them seem "cooler" than they actually were, but no, the events play out exactly how Saneko does them.

Saneko had a smirk on her face as she watched Nakialia read one of the novels.

"It's amazing isn't it?"

Placing the book down, Nakialia rubbed the bridge of her nose, frustrated by Saneko's constant gushing over the genre.

"You know what. I'll just let you be a fan of whatever you want to be a fan of."

"Heh. Sounds like the words of someone who can't-"

"Yeah I know, I can't understand true literature or whatever."

"I don't like it when you cut me off N."

"Fine, sorry."

Saneko then placed her own book down and gave Nakialia a weird look. Seeing her look made Nakialia feel a bit uneasy.

"Why are you staring at me like that? I already said sorry."

"No, it's not about that. I'm just wondering something."

"Oh. Well what is it then?"

"How did you pick up that book if you're a ghost?"

"I don't know. And even if I did, why would I answer? You never answered me when I asked how you could touch me?"

"It's simply because my existence defies the laws of reality."

Nakialia really hated that Saneko was telling the truth when she said that.

Meanwhile, a man ran up to the throne in the capital building of Dying Star. It had still been occupied by the person who had taken over the country. The man who had ran in bowed before the throne and spoke up.

"My lord, when do you wish to defeat the previous ruler of this nation?"

"Once she returns, I will face off against her."

He looked out of the window to see where the Demon Babe statue once was. It had been completely torn down. This only put a bigger smile on his face. He turned back to than man who was bowing down.

"Well, that is my answer. You can leave now."

"But my lord, there is a very strong possibility that she isn't even aware of the fact that you have taken over the country."

"Nonsense! How could a world leader not know when their nation has been taken over. She is most likely just horrified and has gone into hiding, but she will have to return eventually, and when that day arrives, I will be here, waiting to defeat her."

"You truly think she knows?"

"I am certain. It is impossible for her not to know."

Saneko continued to show Nakialia different books, having absolutely no clue that her country had been taken over.

"Okay, well you must like this one."

Nakialia looked at the book Saneko handed her. It was titled, "The Academy For Demon Lords".

"Didn't you already show me this book a few minutes ago."

"No you fool. That was 'The Academy For Demon Kings'. It figures that mindless drones like you would fail to see the nuanced difference between the two."

"Saneko... I'm worried that you're clinically insane."

Saneko let out a loud, mocking laugh, although, it just further proved Nakialia's point.

Hearing Saneko laughing from her room, Mr. and Mrs. Sarakana looked at each other with blank expressions. Mrs. Sarakana just assumed she was laughing at one of the books she had just bought.

"Those books must really be funny huh?"

"Nah, I think she's just talking to N. Remember, she started talking to her imaginary friend again?"

"Oh yeah. She's going back to her childhood. How cute."

"Yeah, I guess. Isn't it weird though? You know, how she acts ten times more childish now than she was back then?"

"That is true. But I think she's just trying to figure out who she wants to be."

"I think she wants to be the main character of a novel based on how she acts."

"Well she already is."

"What does that mean?"

"Huh?"