How much ti had passed? By the ti Fafnir, who already had little ti left, had exhausted much of his lifespan…
At last, he found a way.
A singular path created through countless miracles and coincidences. Now, all that remained was the existence of an heir to walk that path in his place.
Having gained certainty, Fafnir decided to make his final gamble.
What was needed was a soul not bound by the fate of this world and the body of a special human.
With his objective clearly defined, he imdiately took action.
First, he cultivated a part of his own body to create a chira that was identical to a human.
Although he experienced a few trial-and-error monts, for Fafnir, who had already created dragons, creating a human wasn’t particularly difficult.
It was simply a matter of transforming it here and there to take human form, but since the base was still a dragon, it naturally possessed a high level of talent.
The problem, however, was how to imbue that body with sothing special…
Surprisingly, Fafnir chose to dissolve his own body completely and absorb it into the chira, thus granting it sothing no one else had—a unique gift.
That gift was the system.
Of course, this was a plan that presupposed Fafnir’s death, but with little ti left anyway, he had no hesitation.
After placing his body into a massive extraction device, Fafnir moved on to the next part of his plan—tearing his own soul into multiple fragnts.
He forsook the heaven promised by the gods, the final journey of the soul that no one knows, and chose his own demise.
Because of this, Fafnir was able to scatter his fragnts across various worlds he had already marked.
The problem was that, unlike the successful body, this part had a much lower success rate.
So of the soul fragnts got lost and beca eternal wanderers, others were devoured by monstrous creatures swimming in the gaps of space-ti like the Evil Gods, and so arrived safely but were destroyed by the protectors of those worlds.
Except for one.
A world that lacked extraordinary powers, where even ominous monsters ignored it, and where the very existence of a guardian god or the gods’ reality was unclear.
Only the fragnt sent to Earth arrived safely.
However, as just a small fragnt of a soul, there wasn’t much it could do. At best, it could whisper fleeting inspirations into the minds of capable individuals.
…And yet, that alone was enough to lead to the creation of a ga called Hero and Academy.
Countless people played H&A, unknowingly learning about the future and the information of the Eurelia Continent.
The soul fragnt, having successfully spread its knowledge, then moved on to its next task—finding a suitable candidate among the H&A players to send to the Eurelia Continent.
Years passed, and nurous hardcore players ca and went… until it finally stopped in front of one man.
A man who was all too familiar. Of course, he was familiar because it was , from my life on Earth.
I still don’t know what the selection criteria were, but Fafnir’s soul fragnt chose as the suitable candidate.
Just as it had whispered to the creators of H&A, it began whispering into my unconscious mind.
That’s how, out of nowhere, I suddenly felt like playing as an archmage again, even though I had done it many tis before, and created a new character… and from there, as you know, things progressed to the present.
When I ca to my senses, I was standing in Fafnir’s lair.
A ruined lair with no overlapping images of the past. Yet, for so reason, everything in my view was stained in shades of gray, as if ti had stopped.
I looked up at the only being that still had color.
A massive dragon with black scales like my hair, and violet pupils like my own eyes.
Fafnir was looking down at .
[So you’ve finally arrived. My heir.]
Most of Fafnir’s body had been processed and absorbed into mine, and his soul had been torn apart and scattered to other worlds.
Then, the dragon speaking to now…
[You don’t seem to believe it. Even with that poor saintess by your side.]
“Clara? So… you’re saying you’re a remnant thought?”
[That’s right. A single strand of regret intentionally left behind by Fafnir at the end. The fragnted trace of the last, Mad Dragon. That is who I am before you.]
“Left intentionally? Why?”
[You must have many questions. Since I dragged soone living peacefully into this ss, I figured I should at least take responsibility.]
“…It’s not because you were afraid I might go off in a direction that sses with your plan?”
At that, Fafnir’s vicious face twisted even more nacingly.
[I won’t deny that.]
…Was that a laugh?
To be honest, there had been many things that bothered along the way.
Why the lies I made up on the spot always fit perfectly, who sent here, and what exactly H&A was.
Solari had bestowed her blessing upon , even possessed directly for a confrontation, and recently even touched the boundary between my body and soul for healing.
Yet, despite all that, she had never realized I wasn’t originally from this world or that I had transmigrated into a custom-made ga character’s body.
When I slyly asked about it later, she said I just had a sowhat unusual feeling.
She may act playfully around , flipping over and showing her belly like a kitten, but Solari is, without a doubt, a genuine goddess.
So I assud that so transcendent being had transmigrated , one capable of deceiving even the Righteous Radiance.
There were monts when it all felt like part of so grand arrangent or manipulation.
From my perspective, having witnessed Fafnir’s final monts, most of my questions were answered… Yet, there was still one thing I didn’t understand.
“…Why was it ?”
What was the criterion for being a suitable candidate? Why did it have to be ? Even now, I have no clue.
There were people who had played longer than I had, people who played better than I did, and people who liked H&A more than I did.
I may have been an experienced player, but if you asked whether I knew and mastered everything in H&A… the answer would be no.
So why was I chosen over others and brought to the Eurelia Continent?
I had always been curious about that.
[…You’re not going to ask how to return?]
“I think I have a rough idea.”
There are two ways for a fish to escape a net. One is to be small enough not to get caught in the first place, and the other is to break through with sheer force.
But the first option is virtually impossible. Even a crawling caterpillar can’t wander into another world by accident.
In other words, no matter how insignificant you are, you’re still big enough that you can’t just slip through the cracks of dinsions.
If you try to forcibly pass through, an unexpected disaster, like the descent of an outer Evil God, could occur.
The next option is to tear the net apart… but even the Evil Gods couldn’t do that.
No Evil God had invaded the Eurelia Continent until dinsional cracks appeared, and that wasn’t by coincidence.
Unless I sohow beco far stronger than an Evil God, brute force wouldn’t solve the problem.
Even so, if I really wanted to return… there was a way.
It’s the sa as when I ca here—detach my soul and send it back to Earth.
But, just like with Fafnir’s soul fragnts, it could get dangerous along the way, and even if my soul arrived safely, there’s no guarantee I’d be able to re-enter my original body. There’s no assurance I’d survive intact, either.
Without the Evil Gods and cultists, this world is pretty livable, so there’s no need to take such a risk.
More importantly, I’ve already made too many precious connections here. I don’t want to abandon everything and run away now.
Fafnir nodded in response to my indifferent expression and answered my question.
[It’s because you were the only one who played normally.]
“…What?”
[Everyone else was using bugs, hacks, or mods.]
To be honest, no matter how great a ga is, people eventually get bored of it.
At that point, they try to enjoy it in different ways, often resorting to elents that they wouldn’t normally touch.
Like intentionally causing glitches to teleport across the map to break a speedrun record.
Or manipulating AI patterns to turn enemies into dumb punching bags.
Or installing nude mods, because reasons.
Since H&A wasn’t an online competitive ga but a single-player experience, people enjoyed it in all sorts of ways.
I could guarantee that there wasn’t a single player who played H&A for over a year without using bugs or mods at least once.
Except for .
Not for any special reason. I just believed that playing normally was the most fun way to enjoy the ga.
Though I didn’t expect that would lead to being transmigrated!
“Really, not even one other person…?”
[That’s correct, heir. Among those who played for a certain amount of ti, you were the only one who navigated the simulation without any tricks.]
This is ridiculous….
But at least I can understand why Fafnir set that criterion.
He didn’t have a second chance, so he wanted to minimize as many variables as possible.
If soone used hacks or bugs, their actual skill couldn’t be properly assessed.
[I’m glad I answered your question. Now, it’s ti for the remnants of the past to disappear.]
Fafnir’s enormous body began to dissolve into tiny particles, as if he couldn’t hold on any longer.
I hurriedly called out to him.
“W-Wait a second! Why are you telling the truth behind everything? Even if you didn’t, I would’ve fought to survive anyway!”
Fafnir, who had quietly closed his eyes, reopened them and stared at with those violet pupils.
Then, he curled his lips into an irritating smirk.
[Because that’s how you complete the final piece.]
With those words, Fafnir fully dissolved into light and vanished.
For a brief mont, I watched as the scattered light dispersed in all directions. But then, for so reason, the particles that were supposed to disappear suddenly swirled together and rushed toward .
“What the…?”
It didn’t hurt. It didn’t feel harmful, either.
If anything, it was similar to the feeling I got when absorbing mana from the transfer gate.
A strange sense of nostalgia… like I had returned ho.
After fully absorbing Fafnir’s last remnants into my body…
The color returned to the gray-tinted world, and ti began to flow again.
Right before the overlapping image of the past appeared, the notification sound finally rang out, revealing its ssage.
Ding!
[Trait Acquired: Return to Origin (S)!]
It was Fafnir’s final arrangent.
Reviews
All reviews (0)