For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Chapter 287: Traces (5)

How much time had passed? By the time Fafnir, who already had little time 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 immediately took action.

First, he cultivated a part of his own body to create a chimera that was identical to a human.

Although he experienced a few trial-and-error moments, 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 something special...

Surprisingly, Fafnir chose to dissolve his own body completely and absorb it into the chimera, thus granting it something 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 time 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 fragments.

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 fragments across various worlds he had already marked.

The problem was that, unlike the successful body, this part had a much lower success rate.

Some of the soul fragments got lost and became eternal wanderers, others were devoured by monstrous creatures swimming in the gaps of space-time like the Evil Gods, and some 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 fragment sent to Earth arrived safely.

However, as just a small fragment 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 game called Hero and Academy.

Countless people played H&A, unknowingly learning about the future and the information of the Eurelia Continent.

The soul fragment, 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 numerous hardcore players came 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 me, from my life on Earth.

I still don’t know what the selection criteria were, but Fafnir’s soul fragment chose me 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 times before, and created a new character... and from there, as you know, things progressed to the present.

When I came to my senses, I was standing in Fafnir’s lair.

A ruined lair with no overlapping images of the past. Yet, for some reason, everything in my view was stained in shades of gray, as if time 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 me.

[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 me now...

[You don’t seem to believe it. Even with that poor saintess by your side.]

[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 game is, people eventually get bored of it.

At that point, they try to enjoy it in different ways, often resorting to elements 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 game 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 me.

Not for any special reason. I just believed that playing normally was the most fun way to enjoy the game.

Though I didn’t expect that would lead to me being transmigrated!

“Really, not even one other person...?”

[That’s correct, heir. Among those who played for a certain amount of time, 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 someone used hacks or bugs, their actual skill couldn’t be properly assessed.

[I’m glad I answered your question. Now, it’s time 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 me 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 me 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 moment, I watched as the scattered light dispersed in all directions. But then, for some reason, the particles that were supposed to disappear suddenly swirled together and rushed toward me.

“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 home.

After fully absorbing Fafnir’s last remnants into my body...

The color returned to the gray-tinted world, and time began to flow again.

Right before the overlapping image of the past appeared, the notification sound finally rang out, revealing its message.

Ding!

[Trait Acquired: Return to Origin (S)!]

It was Fafnir’s final arrangement.