Chapter 64

One day…

The dragon’s vein collapsed, unleashing countless monsters upon the world. They were terrifyingly powerful. Despite their usual bickering and grandstanding about how they could not coexist under one sky, nations and archenemies alike joined forces against this common threat to no avail.

Humans, once the dominant species on the continent, lost everything in an instant and were driven to its fringes.

And that was just the beginning. Only a year after the emergence of these creatures—an event now known as the Great Exodus—nine out of ten humans living on the continent perished.

Despite the catastrophic losses, those who survived gathered together to resist the onslaught. The Chrome Kingdom, cursed with chilling beasts and stripped of their capital city, established themselves within the Blue Whale County to rebuild their strength.

One day, they would reclaim their homeland! Knights, mages, and soldiers alike were determined to fight…but reality was cruel.

A year passed, then five years, ten years…

The Empire crumbled. Countless kingdoms fell, and numerous strike squads were annihilated. The Chrome Kingdom forces stationed at Blue Whale County eventually scattered across the continent.

Haze Starlight lost her home and wandered throughout the land, fighting for humanity wherever she went.

These monsters were formidable—not just due to their immense strength and size but also because they possessed mysterious powers beyond human comprehension in Ardenia.

They fought, fought, and kept on fighting.

They killed, killed, and continued killing.

They suffered defeats, fled, and hid from view.

Fifteen years had passed since the Great Invasion began. Only one human faction remained: the Revenge Alliance, formed by the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, Holy Empire, Crystal Alliance, and Eight Kingdoms.

The human population had dwindled to such an extent that it was difficult to find any survivors at all. Out of every hundred humans, ninety-nine were dead. Or perhaps more accurately, out of every thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine perished. As evidence of this devastation, she was the sole survivor from the Chrome Kingdom within the Revenge Alliance.

Despite their dire situation, there was hope—the prophecy revealed by the goddess:

“The Savior shall descend and reclaim the continent from monsters!”

Everyone rejoiced and eagerly awaited the fulfillment of this revelation, akin to rain during a drought. However, for some inexplicable reason, the Savior never arrived.

The Revenge Alliance endured for five more years while awaiting their savior…but ultimately crumbled under the relentless onslaught of monsters. The Avengers then agreed to scatter and continue surviving separately. To aid them, the priestess sacrificed her life casting a divine spell that opened passages to hidden islands known as Woodland Paradises.

There were four such paradises located at each corner of the continent:

Paradise was accessible from the upper-left quadrant; the dwarves retreated there.

Shangri-La lay beyond the lower-left quadrant; it became home to the dwarves.

Eldorado could be reached via the lower-right quadrant; this was where the elves found refuge.

However, even these havens weren’t meant for everyone.

“Huff…huff…” Despite being among the most powerful beings, I struggled to control my breathing.

The arm holding his rapier trembled, and he felt like his knees would buckle if he let down his guard even slightly.

“Finally, you’re within my grasp. Chrome’s Duelist, Knight of the Holy Sword! How long have I awaited this day? Do you know?”

“You…you traitor to humanity! Disgusting apostate…”

Unlike others who had fought against monsters until their last breath, the core of the Holy Empire made a pact with them, and it was the worst kind imaginable.

Shlack!

Blood splattered everywhere. The man wielding a giant blood-stained sword, Demonic Count Dracul, laughed.

“How dare you accuse me of apostasy? First, I’ll sever your arms and legs, then teach you about scripture for three days and nights.”

“I’ll rip out that foul tongue and drive a stake through your heart!”

And so, the Duelist clashed with the Vampire Count.

The Duelist clashed with the Vampire Count.

“Ahh…”

Haze opened her eyes and briefly looked around dazedly. The room had a clean atmosphere with luxurious bedding. Outside the window, she could see the entire castle city at once.

“The feudal lord’s castle… Ugh!” She sorted through the swirling memories in her head. Despite feeling like her skull would crack open, as an indomitable knight, it wasn’t unbearable for her.

“Have I… Have I returned to the past from twenty years ago?” As Haze revisited her memories, she realized something was different.

Her recollections up until her twenties were identical. Born into the Starlight family, she became a remarkable knight due to her extraordinary talent. Then, disillusioned by the arranged marriage planned by her clan, she fled… And then…

“Han.”

That’s where their memories diverged. In her dream, she returned to her family due to growing weary of witnessing the atrocities committed by bandits and knights as she wandered the world.

In reality, while traveling…

She met Han.

“What is this?”

The Chrome Kingdom, destined to lose against the Foxes Kingdom, emerged victorious instead. As a result, Han, once an outsider with a bandit background, became a marquis of the Chrome Kingdom. Furthermore, he…pacified the northern region typically overrun by greenskins, establishing a power base larger than most kingdoms.

Was it all because of him?

Despite being slated for destruction at the hands of the orc army, the Blue Whale County remained relatively unscathed, allowing the Chrome Kingdom to reorganize its forces.

“Han, who or what are you?”

The kingdom was racing toward its demise at breakneck speed, but history had changed due to one individual who never existed before this timeline.

Of course, that alone wasn’t enough. She knew firsthand how powerful and terrifying the monsters from the mainland were. Even after becoming a sword master, she struggled to escape them.

“But…”

She recalled Han Jae-yeon’s drake mount. During her time as the Hero of Vengeance, traversing the entire continent, she’d never encountered such magnificent castles or people training within their walls. Furthermore, there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of resources to feed everyone.

“You…could it be?”

Her thoughts led her to consider something unimaginable.

Perhaps, just maybe…

“Are you the Savior…?”

When entering a haunted house, some people saw ghosts while others didn’t. Similarly, when sleeping with a cursed doll, some had nightmares while others slept peacefully. Spiritual attacks were influenced by one’s spiritual sensitivity. For someone with dull senses, being targeted by a curse mage might only result in feeling slightly unwell. Conversely, those overly attuned could be affected merely by someone cursing them from afar.

So what about me?

“Wow, you’re the first person to make forced awakening this difficult. Despite using such massive facilities… Hey, even a great demon’s curse wouldn’t work on you, right? Isn’t that exactly the situation?”

“Foolish ghost, unaware of talismans.”

“Yes, precisely.”

I recalled the conversation between the evaluators at the monitoring screens. As they said, my intuition was converging to zero. Out of tens of billions of cases in the database, there were only 13 instances like mine.

“A curse.”

It was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help laughing.

“In Land of Midgard, anything can happen. Is this your version of fantasy?” I put down the documents I was holding and stretched my body. I wasn’t worried about the curse at all. There was no way it could affect me, and even if it did, First Lieutenant Thomas would’ve healed it with his high-level healing magic.

Lieutenant Thomas had to enlist because he wasn’t from District 34, but he possessed such advanced abilities that he could serve as a physician for elders. If any artifact or spell affected my body, it wouldn’t escape his notice.

Instead of dwelling on pointless thoughts, I focused on Haze.

‘Duelist.’

This was briefly used before obtaining the Hero class as Sword King. While the Sword King specialized in critical hits, Duelist focused on parrying and excelled against one strong opponent rather than multiple weaker ones, often referred to as a PvP-oriented class.

‘I clearly saw the purple effect six times.’

At that moment, I couldn’t precisely understand its meaning, but now it’s different after checking the official website.

‘She has five exclusive skills for Duelists.’

In other words, when she acquired the Hero class, she automatically gained five hero-level skills. She started with dedicated skills that can only be obtained through crafting, making them incredibly expensive!

However, her uniqueness goes beyond just having additional exclusive skills.

‘She underwent a complete transformation.’

Due to this, I had to order my servants to cleanse her thoroughly. Even the clothes she wore were burned due to the filth that emanated from her body.

“My lord.”

“Oh, Flower. How is he? Is he awake yet?”

Flower nodded at me.

“Yes, sir. Should I bring him here now?”

“There’s no rush. Tell him to tidy himself up first and equip some basic weapons.”

With those words, I picked up the report again. However, for some reason, Flower continued hovering nearby instead of leaving.

“Flower?”

“You haven’t eaten or drunk anything for almost two months already.” Her voice conveyed deep concern.

But Earth’s water tastes so bland…I usually prefer juice whenever possible.

Her worry was understandable, though. How could anyone dismiss their boss not consuming even a drop of water for nearly two months?

“It’s fine. Besides, I drink water whenever we ride Kashim. As you can see, my health is good.”

“I’m sorry, but you haven’t had any since before the drake incident.”

“It’s still fine.”

Despite his dismissive attitude, Sungyoon couldn’t ignore Flower’s concern completely.

“I’ll start drinking it from tomorrow onwards.”

“Yes sir! I will prepare it for you!”

Flower smiled brightly as she left the study room. Sungyoon watched her leave with a wry smile on his face.

Then he spoke out.

“Log Out.”

He twirled some pasta around his fork, and he took a bite of it. The sweet cream sauce burst inside his mouth with its deep milky flavor.

“Ahh.”

It was delicious.

He started off by eating pasta, then he ate a sumptuous meal. He made sure to eat a variety of dishes since this would be his last meal here. In the end, he finished everything off with ice cream. It was high quality ice cream that wasn’t sold in stores. His stomach bulged slightly when he stood up while patting his belly.

“I guess breakfast is over.”

It was unfortunate, but I had been here for quite some time. Checking the time, it was already 10 o’clock. Since I came down at 6 a.m., I had spent four hours eating breakfast. Turning my head, I saw employees watching me with weary expressions from afar.

‘Yes, I should be moderate.’

Even in a six-star hotel, having a guest consume twice their weight might be burdensome.

“D-Did you enjoy your meal?” An employee greeted me as I exited the buffet.

“Yes, it was really delicious.”

“The chefs will be pleased to hear that.” Responding with a polite smile, I left the buffet.

“Login.”

I entered Ardenia and quickly resolved three documents. During the meal on Earth, I organized my thoughts and policies, making them easy to understand.

Suddenly at that moment…

Bip!

No sound was heard, but I felt something like ‘Bip!’ as the number 10 appeared before my eyes.

”…What is this?”

It was so unexpected that instead of being surprised, I just stared blankly at it.

As I did so:

[10]

Initially, it was just a number,

[10 weeks]

But then it changed to this.

“Ten weeks? What does this mean? Does it signify ownership? A countdown? Or perhaps ten people living here?”

However, there were no further changes despite my words. It simply remained at ‘10 weeks’.

“What has changed somewhere? Hah… If only there was a chat feature, I could ask my minions about this.”

Just as frustration started building, the number suddenly shifted again.

[4 weeks]

“It decreased?”

It didn’t decrease at once but gradually reduced from 9 to 8 to 7 until it reached 4. Then…

Stonesong: Al? Left? Uh? What is this?

”…Huh?”

Suddenly, it increased again. The chat window appeared!

“What? Wait a minute. Did I make the chat appear just by saying it? Then connect me to Hundred!”

In response to my words, the number decreased from 4 to 0 before returning back to 4. It seemed like a failure due to insufficient power.

“No way…what’s going on?” Without thinking about sending a chat message to Stonestone, I opened my mouth:

“Log out.”

I returned to Earth. Although unsure of the situation, I wanted to go to my room and sort things out.

The moment I arrived at my room, I found out what ‘10 stocks’ meant:

[Dear Mr. Killian.] >

The Nemesis user meeting also includes meetings with shareholders. However, as a special guest, you don’t have any shares yet. Originally, you wouldn’t be able to participate in the user meeting. >

There is no need to be disappointed! As a special gift, I will give you 10 stocks! Now we aren’t just company and customer but family! Let’s continue working together in the future! >

-Bae Sarang, Chairwoman of Nemesis. -

”…”

On top of the room table, there were 10 elegantly designed stock certificates.

I stared blankly at them for a moment before logging in.

“Remove all chats.”

At these words, the chat floating on one side disappeared and the numbers changed before my eyes.

[Week 10]

“No, is it really talking about 10 stocks?”

It might be good news. I had found a way to interfere with the system itself.

“Hold on, I don’t have enough money to pay now…”

However…

“I have to buy stocks as well?”

The situation seemed bleak right away.