Chapter 1

Chapter 1 : Mythic-Grade Rune

A cavern filled with primordial flames, where crimson lava pulsed and flowed.

In the heart of the volcano, where the searing heat felt as though it would choke the breath from my throat, a fierce battle was raging.

｢The Lava Drake fires its breath attack!!｣

The lizard’s jaws split open, and sticky magma came pouring out.

Facing the creature alone, I sprang up as though I had been waiting for that very moment and brought my sword crashing down onto its snout.

CRUNCH─! With a splintering roar, the Lava Drake’s enormous head slammed straight into the magma.

Lava burst upward like blazing blood, and with its dying scream, the entire cavern shook.

“Phew....”

Wiping away the sweat streaming down my face, I sheathed my sword.

｢You have conquered the hidden piece, ‘Heart of the Volcano’!｣

｢As a reward, you have obtained the Legendary-grade item, [Ignis’s Crystal]!｣

｢A marvelous feat!! The Absolutes of Velheim are taking notice of your deeds!!｣

“Log out.”

After collecting my loot with satisfaction and murmuring the words, my vision flipped.

From the depths of a volcano where flames had been surging skyward, to a ceiling sealed beneath translucent glass.

The thunderous roar of the volcano had, before I knew it, turned into the low hum of a cooling fan.

Click― When I opened the capsule device and stepped out, the sight that greeted me was my tiny one-room apartment.

Sun-faded wallpaper and side-dish containers I had not gotten around to throwing away. 

The same studio room I always lived in.

And yet my fists were still trembling with exhilaration and a sense of omnipotence.

“...This capsule is seriously realistic?”

They said the third-generation model had dramatically improved immersion, and it really had been worth scraping together every last cent to buy it.

‘Sniff.... It still smells like my clothes are singed.’

I flopped down onto the mattress.

“Oh, right. I should wash up before lying down.”

Even as I said that, my fingers were already moving out of habit, scrolling through my phone and digging through the game community boards.

｢Hey, I heard the Lava Drake got taken down?｣

｢Do not talk nonsense. Even with a full fire-resistance set, that lizard bastard melts people with a single breath attack.｣

｢No, I am serious. They are even saying someone cleared it solo. This is insane;; the Velheim NPCs are in an uproar right now.｣

｢At least say something believable. ...But if it is true, how in the world did they kill it? Hasn’t the Lava Drake gone unconquered for half a year?｣

｢No idea. But if it was a solo clear, then it was probably that player.｣

｢Doran?｣

‘All I did was drag over some nearby river water.’

I smirked as I read the posts praising my achievement.

[Doran]

A nickname that had become more familiar to me than my real name.

During the day, I did my piled-up laundry and exercised, and after that I immersed myself in games. 

I used to work part-time too, but I quit once the money I earned from gaming surpassed my daily wages.

A life where I played the games I loved, read web novels, and lived content with small, modest happiness.

There had to be other people in the world living like me, without much ambition.

A student nodding off on the bus ride home from school. 

An office worker whose one pleasure was cracking open a can of beer after getting home. 

I thought they were not all that different from me.

A life that passed by without incident, without any major disaster or upheaval.

A life spent compromising where necessary and adapting to the world.

“Oh, right. I still have to pay this month’s utility bills.... What am I going to sell this time...? Huh...?”

Still sprawled across the mattress, I suddenly noticed that something felt off.

The scorched smell that had seeped into me after being singed by the Lava Drake was not fading no matter how much time passed.

Just in case, I opened the front door─

“Ugh...! Cough! Cough!!”

Thick black smoke came billowing inside.

What had the fire alarm been doing until things got this bad?

“You damned apartment building!!”

I hurried back into my room.

There were no flames rising outside the window yet, so if I evacuated now, I could still live.

Grabbing my wallet and phone, I ran out and sprinted toward the emergency stairwell.

I flung the steel door open as though I were kicking it down and was just about to race downstairs when─

“P-please, someone help us!! The door will not open! M-my child is here!”

That desperate cry caught me by the ankles.

I swallowed a curse and tightened my grip on the doorknob.

‘Ignore it. If you leave now, you live.’

Reasons rang a sharp warning in my head.

Take care of yourself first. After that, I could tell myself it had just been a hallucination and move on.

But my feet would not budge, as though they had been nailed to the floor.

Because I knew.

If I turned my back on that voice now, it would torment me for the rest of my life as a regret I would never be able to wash away.

“...Damn it! Room 601! Get away from the door!!”

If I had been my character in the game, I would not have been frightened by a mere fire like this.

Clutching a fire extinguisher, I ran over and brought it smashing down onto the electronic lock with all my strength.

***

[Death Confirmed]

｢Your body has been completely incinerated and has ceased functioning!｣

At first, I thought I was hallucinating.

‘I inhaled too much gas.’

If I woke up after this, I would open my eyes in a hospital bed.

But no matter how many times I blinked, the blue window before me and the goddess showed no sign of disappearing.

[Congratulations on dying!]

“......?”

[Please do not look at me like that. They say every ending is another beginning, do they not? You will soon live again.]

“Live again?”

Me, whose entire body had burned away and vanished?

[Yes! A second life has been prepared just for you! In a fantasy world, no less!]

It did not feel like a lie.

‘A second life....’

There were still so many things I had not accomplished.

I had not even managed to say goodbye to my parents, and I had never properly done anything worthy of being called filial devotion.

What kind of expressions would my family wear when they saw the charred remains of my body?

If I had known this would happen, I would have visited them more often.

My chest churned with vague fear about this second life, with regret, and with a faint stirring of anticipation, but before I could lose myself in those feelings, BZZT― a screen appeared before my eyes.

｢Welcome to Velheim!｣

It was the start screen of the game I had been playing only moments ago.

Velheim.

The instant I realized that, I glared sharply at the goddess.

“...You are sending me to reincarnate there?”

Velheim was a medieval dark fantasy notorious for its brutal difficulty.

Not only did people die there incessantly, extinction-level calamities descended on humanity at regular intervals.

No matter how much of a veteran player I had been, I would much rather cultivate an estate in some peaceful healing fantasy than live in that world. 

I wanted no part of it.

“Who exactly are you to be making me an offer like this?”

[Ah, I am Agasa! Surely you have heard of me at least once! Ahem!]

“You are Agasa? The Healing Goddess who appears in Velheim...?”

[Yes, you do recognize me. And do not worry. I will not be sending you off empty-handed.]

When the goddess waved her hand, the text floating in the blue window began to change.

｢Chance of returning to your original world: 0%.｣

｢Beginning reincarnation process!｣

｢Analyzing the past deeds of player [Doran], once praised as a hero, in order to select the most suitable rune!｣

Runes were one of Velheim’s core items.

Which rune I received would determine whether I got to swagger through that vicious world in comfort, or whether I had to struggle and claw my way through a hellish difficulty setting.

‘More importantly, is it going to analyze my past?’

｢You were a legendary figure in Velheim!｣

｢At a single word from you, kings and nobles trembled and halted their wars. On the other hand, false rumors you spread drove major guilds into internal conflict.｣

｢You possess exceptional talent in [Speechcraft] and [Con Artist]!｣

‘Well... I did stir up trouble here and there.’

Once you become a veteran in a game, you are bound to start devoting yourself to pointless things.

｢Wherever you went in Velheim, you brought upheaval and chaos with you.｣

｢You possess outstanding innate aptitude for [Chaos]!｣

‘It was not as though I wanted that.’

I was famous, so attention had gathered around me on its own.

｢Before burning to death, you were seized by an intense desire to become your character from the game.｣

｢Desire for the [Disguise] ability confirmed!｣

‘Disguise? Did Velheim even have an ability like that?’

｢Selecting the rune that suits the player best.｣

｢Error! The player’s level is too high!｣

｢Error! Number of monsters hunted by the player: 27,483,59....｣

‘Huh....?’

I sensed that something was wrong.

The text before my eyes began flickering ominously, like a machine pushed past its limit.

Then, a pitiful little fanfare rang out.

｢Congratulations!! You have obtained the Mythic-grade item, [Antagon’s Rune]!｣

｢As the divine relic of the God of Thieves and Clowns, this rune is permanently bound due to the properties of a Mythic-grade rune!｣

I cried out instinctively.

[Antagon’s Rune]

One of the gods that existed in Velheim.

It possessed a variety of utility abilities, such as letting you transform into a monster you had previously hunted, or strengthening your stats when you plunged those around you into confusion, but because it had no direct offensive power, it was treated as a dud.

Even the skills it did have were flawed in one way or another.

That was why players mocked it as the clown brand, even though it was supposedly a Mythic-grade rune, the highest rank of all.

[Huh? That is strange. That rune is actually a cheap one, so Rare grade should have been its limit.... Could it be because you were too strong in your previous life?]

The goddess quietly uttered that outrageous nonsense to me while I sat there in despair, then, in a benevolent voice as though granting me a favor, continued.

[Hmm... In that case, I will give you one of my pendants as a bonus. It has no effect at all, but someday it may prove useful.]

“...Thank you.”

Having resolved to steal myself, I accepted the pendant from the goddess.

Now that it had come to this, I had to squeeze every last thing I could out of the situation.

That was the only way my odds of surviving in that living hell would rise, even a little.

And before I reincarnated, I made one more unshakable vow.

“Never again will I sacrifice myself for someone else...!”

I never wanted to experience that horrific agony of my entire body burning again.

One round of foolish heroics had been enough.

To begin with, Velheim was not a world lenient enough to let someone survive with half-hearted resolve.

[You are adapting quickly. That is nice to see. Ah, and I will give you one special tip.]

“...A tip?”

A strange foreboding welled up inside me all at once.

Sure enough, the goddess recited it in a tone that had abruptly changed.

[Do not ever let anyone find out that you are a reincarnator.]

“What?”

[The fact that you are a reincarnator. Do not go around blabbing it to people.]

“Why? What happens if they find out...?”

[Hmm... Nothing good, I suppose? You might be torn apart and used as feed for livestock, or buried alive in agony.]

“Wh... what do you mean by that...?”

A nameless chill swept over me in her calm tone.

It felt as though I had glimpsed a fragment of a transcendent being, one that regarded human beings as no more than ants.

[That is how the reincarnator before you died.]

[The one before that was thrown into a goblin cave as feed and died.]

[The one before that died with a rope around their neck.]

[...So do your best not to let your identity be discovered, and work toward ‘clearing the world’.]

WHOOSH― With the sensation of a candle being snuffed out, my body was sucked away somewhere.