The Mythic Rune
A cavern filled with primeval fire, where crimson lava pulsed and flowed.
In the heart of the volcano, where suffocating, scorching heat blazed, a fierce battle was underway.
The drake's jaws parted, spewing forth viscous magma.
Facing the beast alone, I leaped as if I had been waiting for this exact moment, driving my sword straight down into its snout.
Crack! With a sickening crunch, the Lava Drake's massive head slammed into the magma.
Lava erupted like boiling blood, and the entire cavern shuddered with the beast's death throes.
"Phew..."
I wiped away the sweat pouring down my face and sheathed my sword.
You have cleared the hidden piece, 'Heart of the Volcano'!
As a reward, you have obtained the legendary-grade item, [Ignis's Crystal]!
An incredible feat! The absolute rulers of Velheim are watching your actions!
"Log out."
After satisfyingly harvesting the materials, I muttered the command, and my vision shifted.
From the depths of the blazing volcano to a translucent, glass-covered ceiling.
The roaring volcano was instantly replaced by the low hum of a cooling fan.
Click. I opened the capsule and stepped out, greeted by the familiar sight of my studio apartment.
Sun-bleached wallpaper, half-eaten takeout containers I hadn't cleaned up yet—my typical, mundane room.
Yet, my fists still trembled with the lingering rush of adrenaline and omnipotence.
"...Man, this new capsule is insanely realistic."
They said the third-generation models drastically improved immersion, and it was definitely worth scraping together every penny I had to buy it.
Sniff, sniff... I swear I can still smell smoke on my clothes.
I threw myself onto the mattress.
"Ah, right. I should wash up first."
Even as I said that, my fingers were already scrolling through the game's online community with practiced ease.
I just redirected the nearby river, and it worked.
I chuckled, browsing through the posts praising my achievement.
Doran.
A nickname that had become far more familiar to me than my real name.
A languid life of doing laundry and working out during the day, then immersing myself in the game for the rest of it.
I used to work part-time jobs, but I quit once the money I made from the game started exceeding my daily wages.
Playing the game I loved, reading web novels, and living a life content with small, simple pleasures.
I figured there were plenty of people in the world who lived without much ambition, just like me.
A student dozing off on the bus ride home, an office worker whose sole joy was cracking open a cold beer after work—I didn't think I was any different from them.
A peaceful life, flowing smoothly without any major incidents.
An existence of moderate compromise, conforming to the world.
"Ah, right. I need to pay this month's utility bills... What should I sell... Huh?"
Lying on the mattress, I suddenly noticed something strange.
The smell of smoke, supposedly from being singed by the Lava Drake, wasn't fading at all.
Just in case, I opened the front door—
"Ugh...! Cough! Cough!"
Thick, pitch-black smoke billowed inside.
What the hell was the fire alarm doing letting it get this bad?
"This piece-of-shit apartment!"
I slammed the door and rushed back into my room.
Since flames weren't shooting past my window yet, I could still make it out alive if I hurried.
I quickly grabbed my wallet and phone, bolted out, and ran toward the emergency stairs.
I kicked open the heavy iron door and was about to sprint down the stairs when—
"S-Someone, please help! The door won't open! My-My child is inside!"
A desperate cry caught my ankle.
I swallowed a curse and gripped the doorknob tightly.
Ignore it. If you leave now, you live.
My reason screamed a sharp warning.
I just needed to save myself first. I could pretend it was an auditory hallucination later.
But my feet felt glued to the floor, refusing to budge.
Because I knew.
If I turned away from that voice now, it would cling to me for the rest of my life as an indelible, suffocating regret.
"...Dammit! Unit 601! Get away from the door!"
If only I were my in-game character, a measly fire like this wouldn't have even made me flinch.
I grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, rushed over, and smashed it against the digital door lock with all my might.
At first, I thought I was hallucinating.
I inhaled too much smoke.
When I woke up, I'd be in a hospital bed.
But no matter how many times I blinked, the blue window and the goddess before me refused to vanish.
Congratulations on your death!
"……?"
Don't look at me like that. They say an end is just another beginning, don't they? You will be coming back to life very soon.
"I'm coming back to life?"
Me, whose entire body had just been incinerated into nothingness?
Yes! A second life has been prepared for you! And in a fantasy world, no less!
She didn't seem to be lying.
A second life...
There was still so much I hadn't done.
I hadn't even said a final goodbye to my parents, nor had I ever properly repaid them for everything they did.
What kind of faces would my family make when they saw my charred remains?
If I had known, I would have visited them more often.
My chest tightened with a complex mix of vague dread, regret, and a tiny, budding spark of anticipation for this second life. But before I could drown in sentimentality, bzzzt—a screen flickered into view.
It was the start screen of the game I had been playing just moments ago.
Velheim.
The moment I realized where I was going, I glared sharply at the goddess.
"...You're transmigrating me there?"
Velheim was a medieval dark fantasy infamous for its brutal, unforgiving difficulty.
People died on a daily basis, and world-ending catastrophes regularly swept across the land.
Even if I was a seasoned veteran of the game, I'd much rather manage a peaceful fief in some cozy slice-of-life world. Living in that world was out of the question.
"Who even are you to make this kind of offer?"
"Ah, I'm Agatha! Surely you've heard of me at least once! Ahem!"
"You're Agatha? The Goddess of Healing from Velheim...?"
"Yes, so you do recognize me. And don't worry. I won't be sending you empty-handed."
As the goddess waved her hand, the text floating on the blue window began to shift.
[Probability of returning to the original world: 0%]
Initiating transmigration process...
Analyzing the past deeds of player [Doran], once hailed as a hero, to select an appropriate rune...
Runes were the core items of Velheim.
Depending on which rune I received here, I would either live like a king in that vicious world or struggle tooth and nail through a living hell.
More importantly, it's analyzing my past?
"You were a legendary existence in Velheim. At a single word from you, kings and nobles trembled and halted their wars. Conversely, false rumors you spread threw major guilds into bitter infighting."
👉 Outstanding talent for [Speech] and [Swindler] detected!
Well... I did stir up a lot of trouble here and there.
When you reach the absolute endgame, you inevitably start dedicating yourself to the most useless, chaotic endeavors.
"Wherever you went in Velheim, you brought turmoil and chaos in your wake."
👉 Exceptional innate quality for [Chaos] detected!
It's not like I wanted to.
Being a famous player just naturally drew aggro.
"Before burning to death, you were seized by an intense desire to become an in-game character."
👉 Deep yearning for the [Disguise] ability confirmed!
Disguise? Was there an ability like that in Velheim?
Selecting the rune that best suits the player...
⚠️ ERROR! Player level is too high!
⚠️ ERROR! Number of monsters hunted by player: 27,483,59...
I sensed something was wrong.
The text before me began to flicker ominously, like an overloaded machine.
Soon, a pathetic little fanfare echoed.
I screamed inwardly.
The Rune of Antagon.
Antagon was one of the gods residing in Velheim.
His rune possessed various utility skills, such as transforming into monsters you've defeated or boosting stats by throwing your surroundings into chaos, but because it lacked any direct offensive capabilities, it was widely considered a dud.
Even the skills it did have were flawed in some way.
Thus, despite being a mythic-grade rune—the highest tier—players mocked it, calling it the 'clown's brand.'
"Huh? That's strange. That rune is actually a cheap one that should only go up to Rare grade... Did it upgrade because you were too strong in your past life?"
The goddess quietly spouted nonsense to my despairing self, then spoke in a benevolent tone as if she were doing me a massive favor.
"Well... in that case, I'll give you one of my pendants as a bonus. It doesn't have any effects, but it might come in handy someday."
"...Thank you."
Steeling my resolve, I took the pendant from the goddess.
Since things had turned out this way, I had to grab every single advantage I could get.
Only then would my chances of surviving that living hell increase by even a fraction.
And before transmigrating, I made one more solemn vow.
"I will never sacrifice myself for others again...!"
I never wanted to experience that horrific pain of burning alive ever again.
Playing the foolish hero once was more than enough.
In the first place, Velheim was not a world lenient enough to let anyone survive with a half-hearted mindset.
"It's nice to see you adapting so quickly. Oh, and I'll give you one special tip."
"...A tip?"
A strange sense of foreboding suddenly welled up inside me.
Sure enough, the goddess spoke, her tone suddenly shifting.
"Never let anyone find out you're a transmigrator."
"What?"
"The fact that you're a transmigrator. Don't go around blabbing about it."
"Why? What happens if they find out...?"
"Well... nothing good. You might get chopped into pieces and fed to livestock, or painfully buried alive."
"What...? What do you mean by..."
A mysterious, chilling dread washed over me at her calm tone.
It felt as though I had caught a glimpse of a transcendent being who viewed humans as nothing more than ants.
"The transmigrator before you died like that."
"The one before him was thrown into a goblin cave as food and died."
"And the one before him was hanged from a rope."
"...So, do your best to keep your identity a secret while you work toward 'clearing' this world."
Whoosh. With a sensation like a candle being blown out, my body was sucked into the abyss.