Chapter 287 – Traces (5)

How much time had passed By the time Fafnir’s lifespan, which was already near a terminal end, had been consumed considerably.

Finally, Fafnir found a way.

The one and only route created by countless miracles and coincidences. Now, all that was left was the existence of an heir who would walk the path in his place.

Convinced, Fafnir decided to take a final gamble.

What is needed is a soul unbound by the fate of this world and a special human body.

Having simply outlined his goals, he immediately went into action.

First of all, he cultivated a part of his body to create a chimera that looked exactly like a human.

He took a bit of trial and error, but making a human wouldn’t be too difficult for Fafnir, who also made dragons.

It was only transformed into a human form, and since the basic base is a dragon, it was a bonus to have that kind of talent.

The problem is to infuse something special into such a body…

Surprisingly, Fafnir decided to completely dissolve and absorb his body, giving it a special feature that no one else had.

The uniqueness of the name system.

Of course, this was a plan based on the death of Fafnir, but in the first place, he had no hesitation as his lifespan was short.

Putting his body into a huge extraction device, Fafnir tore his own soul into several pieces for his next plan.

He gave up the heaven promised by the gods and the final journey of the soul that no one knows about, and chose his own end.

Thanks to that, Fafnir was able to send his fragments to other worlds that he had marked in advance.

The problem is that this side’s success rate wasn’t that high compared to the physical side that succeeded easily.

Some of the soul fragments lost their way and became lost forever, some were eaten by monsters swimming in the gaps of time and space like evil spirits, and some arrived safely but were destroyed by the beings who guarded the world.

Only one.

A world where even ominous monsters are shunned because they have no special abilities, and even the existence of gods, let alone the existence of guardian gods, is unclear.

Only the soul pieces headed for Earth were able to arrive safely.

However, there wasn’t much that a small piece that wasn’t even a whole soul could do. At most, it’s to the extent of clinging to a person with ability and whispering momentary inspiration.

… That alone was enough for a game called Hero and Academy to come out.

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

After successfully distributing knowledge, the next thing the soul fragments did was to find suitable people among H&A users and send them to the continent of Eurelia.

Several years passed and countless hardcore users passed by… Finally, I stopped in front of a man.

He was a very familiar man. That’s because it was me when I lived on Earth.

I don’t know what criteria they judged, but Fafnir’s soul fragment considered me to be fit.

As he did to the producers of H&A, he started whispering something to my subconscious.

That’s how I suddenly wanted to play the Archmage play, which I’ve already played several times, so I made an alt character… Since then, it has flowed as far as I know, leading to the present.

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

Rare ruins with no scenery from the past. However, for some reason, everything in my field of view was dyed gray and the world stopped.

I looked up at the only being with color in it.

A huge dragon with black scales like my hair and purple pupils like my eyes.

Fafnir looked down this way.

[Have you finally reached this point? My successor.]

Most of Fafnir’s body was processed and absorbed into my body, and his soul was torn to shreds and scattered to another world.

Then, what is that dragon talking to me right now…

[That look of disbelief. Even with that poor saintess by her side.]

“Clara? Therefore… Are you saying that you are thinking?”

[Right. At the last moment, Fafnir intentionally left a lingering lingering feeling. Fragmentary traces of the last dragon gone mad. That is me in front of your eyes.]

“You left it on purpose? Why?”

[Because you must have a lot of questions. I have to take responsibility for bringing in people who were living a good life without permission.]

“… Isn’t it because I’m afraid I’ll get hurt and jump out in a different direction from your plan?”

At those words, Fafnir’s ferocious face contorted even more savagely.

[I won’t deny it.]

… Are you laughing at that?

In fact, there were quite a few things that bothered me during that time.

Why did the lies I spontaneously put in my mouth to cover up fit so well, who the hell sent me here and what H&A is?

The Solari bestowed blessings upon me, possessed me and faced me directly, and touched the boundary between body and soul for healing the other day.

Even so, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t from this world, that I possessed the same body as the custom character in the game.

When I asked later, it seemed to me that it was a bit unusual.

She is a righteous light that only chants and flips over in front of me, but she is a true goddess in name and reality.

I thought that a transcendent existence that could deceive even such a righteous light had possessed me.

There were times when all of this flow felt like an arrangement or guidance.

Most of the questions were answered from the point of view of Fafnir’s end, but… Still, there were things I didn’t understand.

“… Why was it me?”

What was the criterion for fit? Why did it have to be me Even now, I have no clue at all.

Some have played longer than me, some have played better than I, and some may have liked H&A more than I did.

I was definitely a deceased person, but if you ask me if I knew everything about H&A and mastered it… That was absolutely not the case.

But why was I brought to the continent of Eurelia over the others?

Always wondered about that

[… Aren’t you going to ask how to get back?]

“I can roughly guess.”

There are two ways a fish can get out of a net. One is smaller than the mesh and doesn’t even get caught in the first place, and the other tears the net with strong force.

However, the first method is virtually impossible. Even caterpillars crawling on the floor sometimes get lost and cross into another world.

In other words, no matter how insignificant an existence is, it is said that it is bigger than the dimensional gap.

If you forcibly pass through this, unexpected disasters such as the advent of the evil spirits of the outer world may occur.

The next method is to tear the net… This was impossible even for evil spirits.

It’s no coincidence that no demons could invade the continent of Eurelia until the dimensional rift was created.

Unless I become far stronger than the evil god, it should be considered impossible to solve it by force.

If you still want to go back… There is a way.

To take only the soul and send it to Earth, just as it did when it came here.

As with Fafnir’s soul fragment, it can be dangerous in the middle, and even if the soul arrives safely, there is no way for me to enter the original body. There is no guarantee that you will not die or be fine.

Except for the evil spirits and cultists, it’s possible to live here, but there’s no need to take that risk.

Above all, I have already made too many precious people. I don’t want to drop everything and run away now.

Fafnir nodded at my bored appearance and answered the question.

[That’s because only you played normally.]

“… Yes?”

[Everyone uses bugs, hacks, and mods.]

“…”

In fact, no matter how much you enjoy a game, everyone gets tired of it.

So now I want to enjoy it in a slightly different way, and I start using elements that I don’t normally touch.

For example, causing a teleportation phenomenon by intentionally causing errors in the field to update the speed run record.

Twisting AI patterns to turn enemies into stupid punching bags.

A nude patch made by the heart, etc.

Since H&A is not an online competitive game, but a single player game enjoyed alone, there were people who enjoyed it in all kinds of ways.

I’m sure there are no users who have played H&A for more than a year who haven’t applied bugs or applied any mods.

Except for me.

There was no particular reason. I just thought that playing normally was the most fun way to enjoy the game.

I didn’t expect to be possessed because of that!

“Is there really no one… ?”

[Yes, heir. Of those who have played for more than a certain amount of time, only you have made it through the simulation without any tricks.]

It’s ridiculous…

Still, I understand why they set such a standard.

Since Fafnir did not exist as a next opportunity, he must have wanted to reduce the number of variables as much as possible.

If you use hacks or bugs, you won’t be able to properly grasp your skills.

[I’m glad you got an answer. Then, it is time for the remnants of the past to disappear.]

Fafnir’s huge body was scattered into tiny particles, as if he couldn’t really stand it any longer.

Exclaimed in haste.

“Hey, wait! Why are you telling me the truth about everything? Even if you didn’t tell me, I would have fought to survive anyway!”

Fafnir, who had quietly closed his eyes, stared at me with purple pupils again.

Then he raises the corner of his smirk and smiles mischievously.

[Because that way you can put the last piece together.]

After these words, Fafnir completely reconciled with the light and disappeared.

Looking at the cluster of lights scattered in all directions is also a moment. For some reason, the particles that were supposed to disappear like this suddenly swirled and rushed towards me.

“What… ?”

It doesn’t hurt. I don’t think it will do any harm to me.

If I had to say it, it should be said that it felt similar to when the mana flowing out of the transfer gate was absorbed.

I miss you somehow… It is the feeling of coming home.

Right after I accepted all of Fafnir’s last traces into my body.

Color returned to the gray world and time began to flow again.

It was a bonus that the notification that went off right before the scenery of the past overlapped and finally vomited out the contents.

Tring!

[Attribute: Origin Return (S) Acquisition!]

It was Fafnir’s last arrangement.