"Fate is the most convenient excuse."
- Alucard.
***
"AGHHHHH!!!!"
I jumped to my legs with a gasp.
My gaze wandered around, trying to find a way to escape the fire, but I saw something unexpected.
I wasn't inside the burning building or the hospital, but a cozy room.
Was that a dream?
Did I dream about being burned alive?
"!!!"
My stomach churned when I recalled that horrible pain.
I rushed to the washroom with bloodshot eyes.
The room didn't match my memories, but I ignored the disparity and flipped the seat.
"Blergh!"
I emptied my stomach and slid down onto the floor.
"It wasn't a dream." I muttered with heavy breaths.
I died after being burned alive. Just closing my eyes made me recall the horrible pain.
Where was I now?
Stabbing pain suddenly emerged in my head, along with a rush of foreign memories.
I wasn't able to stay on my feet and fell.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Hours later, I wiped the sweat as I lay on the bed. It took me a lot of time to absorb the memories.
The amount of information had overwhelmed me so much that I forgot about the pain of death.
I was now certain.
These were the memories of Zain Pierrot, a minor villain of Destiny Fall. He had joined a villain organization already but had yet to get the moniker [Merryman].
I had possessed Merryman.
"Transmigration into the game? Or is this possession?"
It felt unbelievable. Something like this shouldn't have been possible.
I walked up to the balcony and pulled the curtains.
A futuristic city straight out of a sci-fi movie greeted me.
The neighborhood was jam-packed with metallic infrastructures, flying vehicles zoomed by, and a massive tower stretching into the sky stood at the horizon.
I pinched myself.
"There is no way this is fake."
[Destiny Fall] was a game set in the far future where humans had achieved advanced levels of technology.
In the game's lore, 500 years ago, an ethereal voice spoke inside the mind of every living being.
"My children, my time has come. I won't be able to protect you any longer. However, you must not despair. Claim my powers and prepare for the dangers that are about to come. If you can do that, you will survive."
As soon as the message ended, the dimensional barrier thinned and interdimensional energies seeped into the Universe.
The laws of physics changed overnight.
Planets gained life and began to devour everything that stood in their path. Animals grew larger than stars and spread chaos. Climate turned erratic, one day being scorching hot and the next being frozen tundra.
The Universe was plunged into a war for survival.
The races with high technological advancement were able to fight back, but even they couldn't do much against these dangers, let alone technologically backward races. Countless species went extinct.
Just as it seemed that the end was here, portals appeared. These portals teleported people to an unknown land.
It was hell. The world beyond the portals was worse than anything they could've imagined.
The monsters inside were like demon incarnate.
However, when the first human ate the monster core he gained from the portal, he awakened supernatural powers.
Everyone realized these lands weren't hell but heaven.
Following the first human, other races entered the portal to find monster cores and awaken supernatural abilities.
Those supernatural powers gave people a chance to fight back.
The era of metahumans, the awakened ones, began.
Centuries later, the universe was once again stable.
"The universe is stable, my foot."
I cursed when I recalled the game's lore. The threat of extinction never disappeared and instead grew exponentially.
The authorities were hiding the truth from the common populace. We were fighting against the [Ten Evils] in a cosmic war.
Even worse, if we didn't defeat the Ten Evils within the next ten years, the Ancient Evil God, Daeva, would revive.
"Ahaha, is this my punishment for playing the game too much?"
Cold sweat flowed down my back.
Destiny Fall was famous… among hardcore gamers.
It was a single player VR game with pixelated graphics.
Many players, including me, played it for 10 years. Yet the game remained unbeatable.
My global ranking was 9th.
So, I could say it with confidence.
This game wasn't made to be cleared. It was a madman's creation to torture the players.
"Why did I have to be inside this game?"
N…no, I should be optimistic.
I wasn't the protagonist, and I didn't have his cheat.
But I also wasn't wrapped up in his problems.
If I was careful, I could grow stronger while the protagonist dealt with the villains.
I just had to lay low. Yeah, what was so difficult about it?
In Destiny Fall, we had to restart the game after each Game Over. I was the only player with more than 10,000 Game Overs, as I liked to explore every possibility.
My curiosity was the source of my unmatched meta knowledge of the game.
My mind raced. I had to grow stronger as fast as possible. Ten years was too short. There was also the possibility of the protagonist failing due to the absurd difficulty.
"Status." I murmured.
===
Name: Zain Pierrot
Race: Homo Sapien (+1 Stamina Regeneration per level)
Class: [Novice Mage] Lvl.0 (0/100) (+1 Mana per level)
Subclasses: None
Power Level: 1.56 [Grade 1]
Experience Points: 00
Stats:
Strength - 1/10 [Grade 1]
Agility - 3/10 [Grade 1]
Dexterity - 5/10 [Grade 1]
Stamina - (2/2) /10 [Grade 1]
Constitution - 1/10 [Grade 1]
Stamina Regeneration - 0.4/10 [Grade 1]
Mana - (2/2) /10 [Grade 1]
Mana Regeneration - 0.2/10 [Grade 1]
Perception - 1/10 [Grade 1]
Charm - 0/10 [Grade 1]
Unused Stat Points: 0
[You have a 100% chance of defeating an ant. But if you fought a 3-year-old child? Well... GG.]
Disposition: Eternal Smile, Compulsive Liar, Unreliable, Hardworking, Mischievous, Stubborn, Cheapskate
Talent: [Clown] 3 stars
Skills:
[Harlequin's Dodge] Lvl.1 – Execute an agile dodge or leap, allowing the Clown to avoid attacks with acrobatic flair. (+10) Agility when dodging attacks.
===
"Of course, it's like this…"
My stats and level reset after I possessed Merryman
The average Power Level of a child was 2. A fully grown human adult would have 5~6 Power Level.
In comparison, my 1.56 Power Level wasn't just low. It was below negative.
I would lose to a child in arm wrestling in my current state!
Power Level was the average of the ten stats.
It was divided into Grades: Grade 1 to Grade 5.
Grade 1 was 0~10 Power Level.
Grade 2 was 11~20 Power Level.
Grade 3 was 21~50 Power Level.
Grade 4 was 51~100 Power Level.
Grade 5 was 101~200 Power Level.
Above Grade 5 came OuterGrade. They were the supreme rulers of the cosmos. A flick of their finger could drive a planet to annihilation.
I had to be Grade 2 at least before I could call myself a real metahuman.
I checked the date on the intercom.
There was a month until the opening of the Stellar Academy, the place where the opening chapters of Destiny Fall took place.
"I need to increase my Power Level to at least 6 before the Academy starts."
No vet gamer would go to the Academy. It was a good leveling spot but also a hot spot for disasters.
It was infinitely better to roam the Universe, collect treasures enroute, and level up while clearing portals.
But I was in this guy's body. If I didn't go to the Academy, I would die, killed by one of the strongest metahumans in the Universe.
"Six, no, three months. I'll leave the Academy after that."
I packed my things, checked my account balance, a total of 125,333 Coins, and left my apartment.
My destination was located on another planetary system. A planetary system had a star at the center and several planets revolving around the star. The Solar System from my home world was one too.
I took a taxi to the Space Elevator that was on my current planet, Helios.
I reached the ticket shop at the base of the Space Elevator.
A female cyborg sat at the counter.
"Ticket for Planet Falco, XC3-312 Planetary System. Cost 30,000 Coins. Purchase?"
"...Yes"
My heart bled when one-fourth of my money disappeared.
I became Zain when his memories merged with me.
I was 'me' but I was Zain too. It was as if I had reincarnated in this world and lived as Zain.
Losing our money nearly brought me to tears.
In the Elevator, I noticed my reflection on the glass for the first time.
I had a scrawny build, black hair, and red eyes. The most noticeable feature was my carefree smile.
I tried to change my expression, but to no avail.
True to my disposition, Eternal Smile, I could only smile.
Disposition wasn't a supernatural power but personality traits. They determined the synergy between the characters in the game.
Merryman had Eternal Smile, Compulsive Liar, Unreliable and Mischievous as his Disposition. The others must have come from me.
My overall appearance wasn't bad by any standards. It was pleasing to the eye.
The zero Charm stat had to be a bug. Definitely.
The world beyond the glass was marvelous. I saw the planet Helios from the sky and couldn't help but appreciate its beauty. It was like a metal beast.
I boarded the space shuttle for my destination after reaching the top of the Space Elevator.
[Please tie your seatbelts. We will take off in 3,2,1…]
An incredible G-force followed the metallic voice. It disappeared as soon as it appeared.
[We have entered deep space. Customers can untie their seatbelts. Please visit the lounge for snacks and refer to the guidebook for help.]