Chapter 187
Translator: uly
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: In Their Own Places #3
My evolution occurred as stealthily as a thief scaling a wall.
At midnight, when most people were asleep—or more precisely, just past midnight at 1 a.m.
In the unusually still air of the dorm room, I chose my own path. It felt like a solemn ritual, filling me with a reverent hush.
“Status window.”
The clichéd yet intuitive line brought a cascade of text floating before my eyes. I selected one of them.
Woooooong—.
Soon, my body was enveloped in a bizarre cluster of lights.
For a moment, glowing orbs like fireflies gathered around me. Then my body was assailed by a strange heat unlike anything I’d ever felt.
“Ugh.”
My heart pounded wildly, blood surging rapidly to my fingertips and toes. My body swayed dramatically from the sudden change.
Before I knew it, my face met the soft carpet on the floor right in front of me.
Realizing I’d toppled over, I could do nothing but clutch my chest.
“Grraaah….”
My body felt like a blast furnace.
Thump, thump.
My massively pounding heart hammered away at my skull and ears like a blacksmith striking an anvil.
It wasn’t painful or agonizing, but every sensation in my body felt amplified to the maximum.
It was exactly like Theo Gospel cranking every option in the system—volume, sensitivity, everything—to the max in the top-right corner.
The closest word? Overload.
━That’s enough for today. Time for bed.
━Why is there so much to deal with—.
Thump thump—.
━Ah, the guy upstairs is at it again. Keep it down, will ya?
The dorm, which I’d thought silent, now buzzed with noise.
Even on this quiet night, were there really this many sounds? The realization lasted only a moment.
Soon, every noise turned into a droning roar in my ears, and my vision went black.
* * *
“…….”
When I came to, I was in a silent, tranquil place. The clamor from moments ago might as well have been a lie—this spot was utterly devoid of sound, pristine.
Where am I?
Relief mingled with confusion. I’d collapsed face-first in my dorm room, yet here I was in some unfamiliar place.
It was the first time I’d felt this way since suddenly entering Theo Gospel’s body that one day.
Rustle rustle.
I looked around.
Splash splash.
I stood in shallow water reaching my ankles.
Yes, the vast ocean.
The sea surface, under a black sun, lay so still not even waves disturbed it.
“Ah.”
─Ah.
My voice echoed loudly.
Where is this? A dream?
That’s when it happened.
Something materialized before me, alone in this vast expanse.
─Dong.
A door.
It was a door. I didn’t know when it had appeared, but it stood incongruously in midair.
Deeply suspicious, but in this boundless realm, my options were few. So I waded through the shallow water and reached for it.
Creaaaaak—.
The door finally opened.
Inside lay a space like ancient ruins, with granite and marble exquisitely carved, and a magnificent throne.
The enormous chair sparkled like starlight, tempting like a hoard of the world’s treasures. But the moment I saw what sat upon it, I recoiled in shock.
It was something terribly twisted and complex.
A formless something—.
Crowning its head like a black sun, it was immense, desiccated yet vaguely humanoid, profoundly irreverent.
At the same time, its devout lotus position and the myriad mudras formed by its hands seemed sacred. Coexistence of opposing traits—utterly bizarre.
But what troubled me most wasn’t its enigmatic posture. It was the mouths protruding like torn wounds across its body.
─Mumble mumble mumble.
The murmurs from all those mouths dripped with negativity; I could barely make out a few words.
Even so, I grasped that it foretold an ominous future. A monster singing of dire, uneasy days ahead….
Tremble tremble.
Did it sense my shivering?
Whooooosh—.
The thing on the grand throne gazed into me. Its presence, several times my size, crushed me; I wanted to scream.
“━━─.”
But from my gaping mouth came only a suffocating silence.
Panic surged to the crown of my head.
Rooooar—.
As a massive palm reached for me, my blood surged in reverse, my hair stood on end, foam nearly bubbling from my lips.
I have to escape!
“Gwaaak—!”
Squeezing every ounce of strength produced an undignified yelp. No time to care—I fled with my sluggishly moving body.
Swoooosh.
The enormous hand pursued relentlessly.
The problem? It was far faster than my frantic sprint.
Couldn’t shake it with these half-nymph legs? Should’ve trained harder on those laps Elga made me do—!
Just as I thought it had seized me, something clanked massively.
Clank, cliiiink—.
Only then did I notice the colossal chains binding the throne-sitter’s body. Thick, sturdy chains.
They restrained it, wrapping it tightly to the throne, its fingertips just barely missing me.
“Serves you right!”
As I sighed in relief—crunch, cruuunch—joints cracking, its hand elongated further.
Ah, this is it. Eyes squeezed shut in resignation.
Flap, flap.
Like a flailing carp yanked from water, my body thrashed.
Something thudded dully against my head.
Thud—!
“Eeeek—!”
An embarrassing shriek escaped, but it cleared my mind. The pain jolted my eyes open—my body sprawled on the dorm floor.
Sweat drenched me; my forehead burned like fever.
I must’ve hit the bed frame.
My forehead throbbed, but bearably.
A dream?
What the hell was that?
It felt like a horrific nightmare, but like all dreams and nightmares, only a vague “that kind of dream” lingered after waking.
What was it?
Just a nightmare?
Feverish minds conjured nightmares often enough. But dismissing it as mere dream felt too ominous.
Could brilliant mages like Hainax or Kasim interpret it? Better jot it down before forgetting.
Those eerie murmurs from countless mouths—.
The few comprehensible words were negative fragments: fear, chaos, despair. Scratching them onto paper oddly soothed me.
“Phew—.”
A sigh expelled my worries. Then it hit me.
Did the class change work?
“Status window.”
Ding—.
Name: Theo Gospel Angmar lv. 43
Jobs: Half-Nymph lv. 8
Lothario lv. 7
Actor lv. 9
Trainer lv. 9
Lesser Demon King lv. 1
Talents: 《Clairvoyance》 《Calm Thinking》 《Dewdrop Eyes》 《Special: Demon King》
Alignment: Chaos-Neutral.
You are the sole survivor of a fallen house.
Restore your house while evading enemies who desire its destruction.
Fortunately, you brim with zeal for reconstruction.
A new line greeted my eyes.
Lesser Demon King, huh.
Ridiculous. Demon King is Demon King—why the “lesser”?
“Ambiguous.”
Kinda meh.
Still, one upside: a new talent awakened.
《Special: Demon King》. It reeked of importance; had to check.
Tap.
I poked the floating text. A popup appeared.
「Talent 《Special: Demon King》: Reward skill granted upon unlocking a specific job. Greatly boosts total mana capacity; dramatically enhances spell activation and power.」
A skill massively increasing mana quantity and power. The boiling blood in me proved it.
Finally, a solid combat job for me. Actor, Half-Nymph, Trainer, Lothario—none suited battle.
But I wasn’t jumping for joy because the text continued.
「Negative karma from the job biases probability toward tragic fate.」
Oh boy.
Like Aira’s 《Genius》 talent. Stellar stats and effects, matched by hefty penalties.
I’d braced for it, but seeing it in black and white made my nape prickle.
I’d become a half-nymph Lesser Demon King.
Probably the most pathetic Demon King in existence.
* * *
“Sir Theo, looks like you’ve reached the 5th Circle.”
The next day, I visited Hainax, my magic tutor and Sage Council member, with his white beard.
He was pruning bonsai in his private office. Thin branches falling to the floor looked a bit messy.
“Busy? I can come back.”
“No, all done.”
The now-neat bonsai looked majestic, like a deer’s antlers in miniature.
Taming wild growth like that couldn’t be easy; I admired it sincerely.
“Impressive.”
“Oh, you appreciate it? Not bad for a young’un. Took ages to get here.”
The old mage stroked his beard contentedly.
“Pruned the suckers; it’ll thrive now. Anyway, Sir Theo. You’ve surpassed the 4th Circle of magic to become a 5th Circle archmage.”
“Seems so. That’s why I came—to discuss it with you, Sage.”
Hainax nodded thoughtfully at my words.
“Remarkable. Breaching 5th Circle in such a short time. Truly remarkable. Our judgment was spot-on.”
Sage Hainax celebrated my achievement like his own.
“Our custom curricula and dungeon delves must’ve helped greatly, right?”
“Can’t deny it.”
“Yes, yes. Even so, unprecedented speed. I figured years at least. So, what piques your curiosity, young mage?”
To his question, I recounted last night’s events—up to the door in the black-sun sea.
As I tried to elaborate, the sage’s kindly face turned icy.
“…Did you open that door, by any chance?”