Chapter 3

[Translator – Prøks][Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 3

The black haired woman appeared out of nowhere.

Tearing the Knight/Commander-level mercenary to pieces, she turned to Sein and spoke.

“Sein Demorus.”

His own name, and a title not his own.

“Dem… orus?”

But the surprise at that name was brief.

“That is your identity.”

In that moment, a thunderous bolt seemed to strike in Sein’s mind.

“Indeed, I was completely unaware…”

The woman who was about to say something to Sein. But the woman was forced to shut her mouth.

A sinister smirk crept up, his lips.

Eyes of a sky-like hue with white hair.

The expression on his face, even carried a sense of mystery.

“…Finally.”

It was madness.

“Finally!”

Sein shouted.

He understood.

He understood that it was a secret to be kept forever.

He understood.

He understood that it was his own secret that must never be spoken.

But it had been a long time coming, a long time of waiting, of barely getting through this damned life.

“I’ve waited.”

Sein rose to his feet.

Late at night, the only thing filling the alley was the brilliant moonlight.

But that was the light of the world.

The world seen through Sein’s eyes.

———-

[Warning: You cannot leave this area until the tutorial is completed.]

[Warning: You cannot leave this area until the tutorial is completed.]

———-

Nothing but a crimson red hue and streaks of yellow.

Sein muttered, “This insane world is finally ending!”

He had endured so far in this world painted entirely in red.

But even that was only until now.

“……”

The slender-eyed woman wouldn’t know.

What she had accomplished herself.

Sein’s world, once red, slowly began to regain its original color.

“I may not know who you are, but I am insanely grateful.”

Sein murmured quietly.

“I will make sure to repay this debt.”

“…Surely not.”

That was the last he heard of the woman’s voice.

He blinked for a moment, then realized.

“It’s finally… here.”

A world completely dark.

No, he knew it was in a space akin to the universe, judging by the twinkling starlight in the distance.

Yet Sein remained unfazed.

As they say, this is the moment he’s been waiting for like a mad man.

[Your life is confirmed.]

This space wasn’t an unknown territory, it was like Sein’s…

[Your… fourth life is confirmed.]

For players, it was like home.

“Finally, it has come… Stellar Beacon.”

[TL/N: Name is subjected to change if more information comes later on]

Stellar Beacon, that’s what this space was called.

***

Three lives, a world where anything was possible.

But the world that never ended.

Humans all had an instinct to conquer the summit.

Here.

– Sanctuary.

Sanctuary was no exception.

Millions of gamers wanted to conquer Sanctuary, and challenges from over tens of billions of people were made.

Yet, not a single soul saw the end of the world.

But after many years, there was finally a player who reached the end.

It was a glorious moment.

It was a historic moment.

If it weren’t for the ugly truth.

– I did it. I did it.

The first clear of Sanctuary.

The player who achieved it was….

– Hahaha! I did it! Finally did it in any way possible!!!

An abnormal, cheat player, that’s what he was.

It was a coincidence.

He was frustrated, frustrated by the fact that he had grinded through life, life itself, but couldn’t see the end of Sanctuary.

A gift to a man who no longer had the will to live.

[Would you like to play the cheat version?]

It was absurdly sweet.

Sanctuary, which had never been breached.

Clearly, it was obviously a scam to anyone who looked, but at the brink of despair, he chose.

– Anyway, what does it matter.

It changed his life.

[ID: BIRDMAN]

ID Birdman.

Real name.

– Crazy. It was real, wasn’t it?

Kim Sein.

He succeeded in obtaining the cheat version of Sanctuary and finally succeeded in reaching the end of Sanctuary.

However, at the end, there was none of the glory Kim Sein had imagined.

– What the hell.

After more than a decade of enjoying Sanctuary and never getting tired of it, the price of using unauthorized methods was too great.

There was no joy, no sorrow.

Sein’s world was.

– What is this…?

It all came crashing down that day.

The fall of the Empire, the ending of the Sanctuary, and the terrible emptiness that came with it.

And then, suddenly.

[Sanctuary is collapsing.]

[Abnormal access detected.]

[Initiating security measures.]

The world was tainted with a sickly red.

– Connection terminated!

He tried to flee in confusion, but it was too late.

[Emergency protocol activated.]

The connection wasn’t terminated, and absurdly, Sein found himself trapped in the game.

Three lives given.

And the end.

But for Sein, who had an abnormal conclusion, there was a price to pay.

[A fourth life is beginning.]

A fourth life that should never exist in Sanctuary.

***

“Sigh… I didn’t expect that.”

Alone in the dark space, Sein murmured to himself.

Every moment had been a continuous tension, but here and now, he didn’t need to be tense.

The absolute safe zone, Stellar Beacon, was a kind of mental world.

“I only knew that life was given, not that I had to live it.”

A life’s given at the beginning of Sanctuary.

And a past life.

All starting points were around eighteen.

Because it was a game, that’s why.

What had been so natural became a dismal hell when it turned into reality.

Trapped in Sanctuary due to misconduct, player Kim Sein had to live as the Sein of the back alleys.

[Tutorial]

The prison he found himself in with such a name.

The reincarnation system that Sanctuary prides itself on didn’t even work, and the safety measures that came with it being a game were completely gone.

Days of survival he had to endure.

Still, there was something that kept him going.

“If it hadn’t been for nearly a decade of playthroughs, I would have died long ago.”

Throughout the years before cheating, playing Sanctuary.

Sein had truly lived countless lives.

Sometimes as a farmer, sometimes as a miner, sometimes as a blacksmith.

Sometimes even becoming a hero.

In that life he had experienced, he had many mentors and learned from them.

At that time.

“I just thought it was a game setting.”

Magic this, meditation that, footwork this.

Though he hadn’t attached much meaning to things that activated under the name of skills, when Sanctuary became reality, they became experiences akin to treasures.

Memories he had recalled to survive manifested as skills.

The skills he had used out of habit were ingrained in his body.

“Thanks to them, I could survive.”

Sein rose to his feet.

Now, this space was Stellar Beacon.

And what that meant was that the tutorial had finally ended.

The starting point for every player.

[Your fourth life is confirmed.]

He had confirmed a fourth life that should have never even existed originally.

[You are…]

Now, it was truly the starting point.

[You are the Successor of the Dark Abyss.]

Along with tha, a twinkling starlight in the distance swiftly approached.

Crash!

A thunderous noise as if the sky were collapsing.

Boom!

Something falling from there appeared before Sein.

This is it.

The moment he had been waiting for so long.

“The Stone of Past Lives. It’s been insane how long it’s been.”

Three colorless red stones.

Each one contained the life he had traversed.

Three lives that would allow Sain to clear the Sanctuary in the final playthrough.

And that was it.

‘My cheat.’

The cheat code given to Sein.

Lives given in Sanctuary were all random.

As if it were a system that thrust our lives into a game, gamers were ecstatic yet saddened.

All they wished for was just one thing.

A wind just like reality.

– If….

Anyone could have any wish they desired.

– If I could only choose my life.

The ability to choose what he was born as and how he would live his life.

That was truly the cheat Sein possessed.

And the three past lives.

Lives Sein had dreamed of for over a decade.

Whoosh!

Sein stood on the third and final stone. Sᴇaʀᴄh the ɴovᴇlꜰirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

The moment Sein’s hand touched the red stone.

Hwaahhhh!

The once colorless red stone began pulsating like a heart.

What appeared next was…

[Activate Past Life?]

A single question directed at Sein.

The moment he had long awaited, and the predetermined answer.

“Yes.”

Sein finally chose the strongest life he had ever seen, the past life of the Imperial Crown Prince.

[Activating the Past Life of the Imperial Crown Prince.]

He chose to start as the Crown Prince of the Empire.

*

*

*

“…As expected.”

A faint voice echoed.

“…Correct.”

Sein slowly regained his blurred senses as he woke up.

“He was on the outskirts.”

Along with a clearly audible voice.

“….!”

Sein blinked his eyes open.

Crack!

Something was tightly binding his arms and legs.

Struggling seemed futile against such force.

Sein could recognize what it was.

‘The legs of a Bone Spider.’

The legs of the superior undead Bone Spider.

And its owner.

“You’ve awakened.”

The black haired woman who had saved him.

In a world now fully illuminated, the woman facing him radiated even greater beauty than before.

Amidst the brilliant moonlight.

Crack.

Sein was dangling in the air, bound by her.

“…Isn’t your taste a bit too extreme?”

Those were Sein’s first words as he opened his eyes.

“Is this a joke?”

The woman spoke to Sein as if in disbelief.

“You’re not thinking of killing me, are you?”

“…Why would you think that?”

Though he had spent time in Stellar Beacon, Sein remembered the situation before.

The woman had clearly said,

“You’re My business and your name is Sein Demorus.”

Sein Demorus.

“Demorus.”

It was his bestowed surname and the starting point of his fourth life.

“You are the one who has come to escort me, the successor of Demorus.”

It was a world ruined by Sein.

It was a name that no one in the Sanctuary, or Dark Sanctuary, could fail to recognize.

“Surely you’re not thinking of killing the successor candidate of Demorus?”

Demorus.

They were one of the dark forces that divided the world into three parts.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]