Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: It Begins with a Fortuitous Encounter
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A famous brand-name café in the heart of the city.
"Customer 26, your Americano is ready."
"Thank you."
I set the coffee down on the table and pulled my iPad out of my bag.
I wanted to look up info on the upcoming Hero Academy entrance exam.
Next to me, two high school girls in uniform were chattering away.
"Did you see that?"
"See what?"
"The thing I posted on Insta~"
"Oh, that Dark Knight video?"
I ducked my head in embarrassment.
Of all things, it was about me.
It stemmed from a video that had spread across the internet.
Early dawn.
A dingy alley where neon signs flickered in the distance.
A figure in a black robe was stabbing a dagger into someone sprawled on the ground.
Inside the robe was nothing but pitch-black darkness.
The footage was oddly distorted, making it impossible to tell the figure's height, or even if it was a man or woman from their build.
"S-s-spare me!"
A muscular bald man.
He lay flat on his stomach, trembling violently.
He tried to get up, but his body wouldn't obey.
The robed figure reached out toward him.
Blue flames rose from his entire body.
The fire spread like wildfire, engulfing him, and soon nothing remained but a pile of ash.
The figure took a Post-it from their pocket, wrote "Robber" on it, and carefully placed it atop the ashes.
They looked toward the camera and pressed a finger to their lips.
A gesture to keep quiet.
The screen shook as the presumed cameraperson nodded vigorously.
"I swear I won't tell anyone!"
The figure nodded and leisurely vanished into the deeper, darker alley.
That was how the video ended.
It was footage secretly shot on his smartphone by the office worker I'd saved.
He'd uploaded it online, and it spread like wildfire.
'I told him not to say anything. Ungrateful jerk...'
The bastard.
As the video went viral, people started reevaluating all my previous hunts, and they began calling me "mysterious figure" or "Dark Knight."
"Mysterious figure" probably came from my robe, and "Dark Knight" seemed borrowed from that movie about punishing criminals.
I knew.
It was cringey as hell.
But it was "normal" here.
People didn't bat an eye at the cringey nicknames heroes and villains got.
This was a whole different world.
A hero-genre game world with gates, monsters, heroes, and villains: Hero Name: ZEUS.
I'd ended up inside this game world.
Explaining how would take forever.
I'd just cleared every branch of Hero Name: ZEUS without realizing how fast time was flying.
Then a message popped up on my monitor.
----------[First Clear Privilege]----------
Congratulations on achieving 100% completion worldwide.
As a reward, you get a chance to roam the world of Hero Name: ZEUS alongside the actual actors.
Clear it, and you can make one wish—anything you want.
(Note: No saves or loads possible. You only get one life.)
Accept?
I thought it was some extra story DLC and hit accept. That was the start of my misery.
The moment I did, blinding light poured from the monitor.
I opened my eyes, and I was in the game world.
My name was Shin Noda.
Age fifteen.
About 180 cm tall, with sharp features.
This was the new body I'd gotten in this world.
After a brief denial phase, I accepted it as reality and checked the most important thing.
'You never know. Maybe I got some cheat skill...'
"Status Window."
------------[Status Window]------------
◈ Name
Shin Noda
◈ Stats
[Strength 085 D]
[Agility 114 E]
[Intelligence 448 F]
[Luck 003 E]
[Overall E]
◈ Skills
[Telekinesis 097 F]
------------------------------------
Trash.
Not even hero material—an E-rank Awakener who could barely qualify as a dungeon porter.
Stats were weighted based on your pre-Awakening abilities, so they were better than a regular person's, but way short for fighting evil alongside the protagonist.
The message had clearly said "clear."
To make a wish, I had to beat the main story.
The later stages got so dangerous you couldn't even wander outside safely.
Regardless of story involvement, I needed power to protect myself.
'Only one way.'
A method only I, who'd mastered Hero Name: ZEUS completely, could pull off.
Claiming fortuitous encounters early.
I pondered.
What opportunities I could snag with these stats.
Hermit's Leather.
Yong Cheon-hwa's power.
There were other minor ones, but nothing compared, and following the main story would net better anyway.
Pull the bull by the horns, as they say. The next day, I skipped school and headed to Gwanak Mountain.
A fortuitous encounter that one of the protagonist's heroines, Yong Cheon-hwa, got after turning villain for some reason.
It was in a cave on Gwanak Mountain.
Yong Cheon-hwa ended up joining the villains, getting abandoned by the protagonist in battle, betrayed by her own side, and dying pathetically anyway. No guilt taking her opportunity.
'If anything, this might be better for her.'
The game showed how she got it—no special conditions.
Go to a certain cave in Gwanak Mountain, find a red gem, press it to your chest.
Finding the cave took effort, but after basing myself at a guesthouse at the foot and searching for three days straight, I found it.
A red gem.
A crystal emitting faint red haze.
I pressed it to my chest, and it slowly sank into my body.
A cheerful sound effect accompanied the message.
<[Skill Acquired]>
-------------<Skill>-------------
◈ Name
Inheritance
◈ Rank
000 A
◈ Description
Execute an enemy on the brink of death to permanently absorb 1% of their stats. (Red gems appear on executable enemies.)
-----------------------------------
-------------<Skill>-------------
◈ Name
Dragon Heart
◈ Rank
--- A
◈ Description
A Dragon Heart producing near-infinite mana has taken root in your body.
-----------------------------------
"Got it! Haha."
Not one, but two.
Both A-rank.
Skills you couldn't even glimpse unless you were the protagonist or close to him.
When the number before a rank hits 1000, it levels up and gets stronger.
But Dragon Heart had no number, so probably non-upgradeable.
Inheritance was top-tier.
I'd always wondered how the low-key Yong Cheon-hwa powered up so fast.
Since the game was from the protagonist's POV, her skills weren't detailed, so I hadn't known.
'Cheat skill...! This might actually work.'
For a moment, I felt optimistic, but then remembered the problem I'd forgotten.
The last boss, the Demon King.
Insanely high defense—damage barely scratched it. Total cheat monster.
That's why the protagonist's role was huge in the Demon King raid.
Because of his main skill, Guardian of the Species.
-------------<Skill>-------------
◈ Name
Guardian of the Species
◈ Rank
000 B
◈ Description
Damage taken from other species reduced by 50%. Damage dealt to them increased by 50%.
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Bluntly made for smashing monsters.
And it grew.
At S-rank, damage pumped up to 150%.
Only the protagonist could deal meaningful damage thanks to it.
Ultimately, it came down to how well the protagonist grew.
The worry: he had free will now.
He was a sixteen-year-old boy.
Not a puppet under player control, no pity or tears.
Hero Name: ZEUS was infamous for its hardcore difficulty.
The worst part was protagonist training.
Every stat, every skill mattered.
No wasting time.
Girls swarming around? Date them, and you'd be too weak for the next episode and die.
But neglect affinity with side characters, and you couldn't party them up.
You had to play it "right."
'Could a normal teenage boy pull that off without a player controller?'
Without "me," he might build a harem at the academy and quit training.
Or grind trash skills and turn into a total scrub.
Conclusion: I had to support him from the shadows to ensure proper growth.
That way, beat the final boss, clear the main story, make my "wish."
Of course, I needed to train myself for survival too.
'Gotta head to the academy next year. Same age as the protagonist, so same class.'
Then a dignified, archaic voice echoed in my head.
[Inheritor. What is your name?]
"W-what?!"
I looked around. No one there.
Having devoured novels and games like this, I had a hunch.
That gem I'd absorbed.
Probably some ego dwelling in it.
Plus, the game had a scene of Yong Cheon-hwa talking to someone alone, so I'd half-expected it.
"Who are you?"
[I am Dragon Lord Laurakis, last survivor of the dragon race. As for me, beneath our ancient history, the strongest dragon since hatching...]
"Hold up. Sounds like it'll take forever. Can you summarize in three lines?"
[Insolent fool. My journey can't be summed up in mere three lines.]
"Then I won't listen. Just tell me what you want from me now."
[How dare you. Hmph, fine. I seek the revival of the dragon race. Starting with myself. You've been given the Dragon Heart. It holds the souls of 32 dragons, including mine. So...]
"No, just the conclusion?"
I swear I heard a "crack" somewhere.
A voice laced with more force followed.
[In short: Forge a dragon body, infuse my soul. To do that, elevate your vessel. I'll cast high-level soul transfer magic using your body. You need the strength to endure the backlash.]
I didn't fully buy it.
In the story, this Laurakis waited till Yong Cheon-hwa got chewed out by the protagonist and mentally broken, then dominated her mind and rampaged.
'Stuck to the Dragon Heart, can't toss it. Play along for now. Stay vigilant so she can't steal my body...'
At this point, no better opportunity for an E-rank Awakener.
I'd chosen it.
Gotta tough it out.
[You brat! I can hear every thought! And who said anything about taking your body? A human's... and a particularly weak one at that!]
Laurakis sounded pissed.
She didn't know I was from another world, so probably only strong thoughts registered.
"Particularly weak? This is top 10% on Earth at least."
Awakeners were one in five thousand.
Filter out non-combat E and F-ranks, even rarer.
"Anyway, let's get along. Laurakis-nim. Too hard, so I'll call you Laura."
[Keep acting cocky, and I can reclaim the power I gave you.]
"Gasp. Sorry. Kiss-nim then?"
[No... Sigh, just Laura is fine.]
She couldn't ditch me anyway.
Who'd stumble into an abandoned cave, and when? Endless waiting?