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Chapter : 2 – Return (1)
“Ugh…”
As I opened my heavy-lidded eyes, the blinding sight of a snow-covered mountain pierced my vision.
…No wonder it felt cold.
The biting chill sharpened my senses immediately.
The surroundings were blanketed in pure white snow, as though the entire world had frozen over.
There weren’t many places on the continent with such severe winters.
“The northern snow mountains?”
The northern region of the continent, where harsh winters lasted all year round.
“Why am I here?”
Why was I in the north?
Just moments ago, I had been in a jungle in the southern part of the continent.
And I died there.
Which means… I crossed the continent after death?
“Did the Emperor bury me here?”
These snowy mountains were my childhood home.
But even if they respected me as a worthy enemy, the idea of honoring me by burying me in my homeland?
“…There’s no way.”
The Emperor wasn’t capable of that kind of mercy.
What mercy would a slaughter-crazed maniac ever show?
More importantly, I was the Empire’s top kill-on-sight target.
The Empire’s soldiers would grind their teeth just hearing my name.
They feared me more than any hero or champion.
I served under the Allied Forces’ Special Operations Command.
Commander of the Special Ops unit.
As a commander, I completed countless missions, wrecking the Empire’s operations beyond repair.
If anything, they should’ve executed me post-mortem.
Burial rites for a war criminal? Absurd.
“Did they just dump my body here?”
That would make more sense.
But I’m not dead. I’m alive.
“No, that’s impossible.”
The Emperor wouldn’t go to such trouble.
If they wanted to dump my corpse, they could’ve done it in the south.
Why cross the entire continent?
More than that, I had a hole through my heart. How could I survive that?
“Then what the hell is going on?”
I couldn’t understand the situation at all.
Trying to collect my thoughts, I ran a hand down my face—
“Hmm?”
Something felt off.
The scar on my left eye…
“It’s gone?”
Gone.
I couldn’t feel the familiar roughness with my fingers.
Was I imagining it?
No. It wasn’t just the eye.
“The scar on my hand is gone too?”
The scar on my right arm from fighting the Empire’s general—gone.
This wasn’t imagination. I could see it.
Not just the scars.
“Why do my hands look so clean?”
The calluses I built up through countless battles were completely gone.
Now they looked smooth and pale, like the hands of a pampered noble’s son.
As if I’d become someone else entirely…
That’s when it happened.
◆ Unique Player Perk Successfully Transferred!
A translucent message floated into view.
More followed, flooding my vision with unfamiliar text.
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Level] = 1
[HP] = 71
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength: 0 / Agility: 0 / Endurance: 0 / Mana: 0
[EXP] = 0%
Messages glittered in the air like magical holograms.
I swear—
“…What is this?”
I’d never seen anything like it before.
Sure, I’d seen magical holograms used for communication.
The Allied Forces used them all the time.
But those weren’t simple magic.
They required multiple mages, complex magic circles, and specialized rooms.
Definitely not something you could use in the middle of a snowy mountain.
And then, the content of the message—
“Player…?”
I’d never heard anything like this in my entire life.
I carefully examined each part of the message.
Player, Name, Level, HP, MP, Stats, EXP…
“Is ‘Player’ referring to me?”
It had my name under [Name], so it seemed that way.
Which meant I hadn’t become someone else.
“Level 1?”
If that meant what I thought it did, it was a numerical representation of my strength.
So right now, I’m… only Level 1?
“Seriously?”
Sure, I was nothing compared to Ian the Hero.
Even next to other heroes, I was relatively weaker.
But that was only because they were monsters.
I wasn’t weak.
I had stayed by Ian’s side as the Allied Forces’ last line of defense.
Even when the heroes and the army fell, I alone survived.
The Empire didn’t call me the “Mad Predator” for nothing.
And yet, Level 1?
“What’s with these stats?”
The stats were the most absurd part.
Strength, Agility, Endurance, Mana — all at zero.
“Why are they all zero?”
I didn’t know how the numbers worked, but zero?
That can’t be normal.
“And what’s this ‘EXP’ thing?”
I was still trying to wrap my head around it when—
◆ Displaying Player Skills.
Another message popped up, changing everything in front of me.
==「Owned Skills」==
◆ Solo Level Up [EX]
You can gain EXP and level up. Each level grants +1 stat point.
◆ Will of the Player [EX]
You are immune to all mind-affecting effects (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestion, etc.).
◆ Predation [S+]
Devour the heart of a living being to absorb its stats and convert its abilities into skills. Costs mental strength.
“…What now?”
Just as I was processing this—
◆ A new quest has arrived.
Suddenly, my vision filled with garbled, nonsensical symbols:
====
Yo&^ woke *up@in# a st%ra@n& place!
Do yo!u reme@#ber wha*^ happe!!ed?
Th& enemies @!re clo*se! You^# b@&ter ru#n?!
You&’ve been pl@ced in& thi#s wo&rl!d for *rea^s@ns u&nkn!own!
Don’t gi&ve up! Ne&ver g$ive& up!
♧Yo!u we#re ne&ver meant for th$&is f#at#e♧!
Wha#t di#d yo!u d&!o to deser&ve thi$s?
You jus#t wa@nted pea!ce!
You do&n’t kno&w wh@at’s go&ing o@n, bu&t you kn#ow wh!at to d@o.
Fi$rst& obje#ctive: g&et to t$%he ne#@arest vi$llage.
====
“…What the hell?”
I couldn’t understand a single thing.
The only word I recognized was [Quest].
On the continent, a “quest” usually meant a search mission or a long expedition.
If that’s what it meant here too, then maybe this was some kind of mission.
“But what mission?”
I couldn’t make any sense of it.
Could it be an Allied Forces code?
“No… that’s not it.”
If it were, I would’ve understood it.
As the Special Ops commander, I managed espionage, intelligence gathering, encryption, and counterintelligence.
I knew all Allied codes.
This wasn’t one of them.
“Maybe it’s from the Empire—”
Probably not.
Just as that thought crossed my mind—
◆ Error: Player information conflicts with quest content.
◆ Error: Player data has been modified.
◆ A new quest has been assigned.
◆ Loading……
“What now?”
It was doing everything on its own.
Still, the [Loading] message suggested something was happening.
I waited for about five minutes.
◆ Quest Updated.
The quest reappeared—this time, readable.
====
You woke up in a strange place!
But wait—why doesn’t it feel that strange?
You rub your eyes and come to your senses, and—what the heck?!
You realize this is the northern snow mountains!
But weren’t you just in the southern jungle?!
Did the Emperor show you mercy?
Did he toss your body in the snow?
No—you were dead, remember?!
Your mind is a complete mess!
You’ve become a fool!
Why?
Because you don’t even realize something is hunting you right now!
It doesn’t matter what’s going on!
You need to survive!
====
“…What the hell is this?”
Just like the quest said, I felt like a complete idiot.
But the quest didn’t care about my confusion.
It kept going.
◆ Tutorial Quest: [What On Earth Is Going On?!] begins.
==[What On Earth Is Going On?!]==
[Objective] – Survive
[Reward] – Inventory unlocked
[Failure] – Death
Right then—
GRRAAARRR—!
A thunderous roar slammed into my eardrums.
Thudding footsteps followed, echoing through the snow.
I turned to see a massive creature—about two meters tall—heading straight for me.
Drooling as it approached.
“An Ice Troll?”
A mutated version of the northern troll species: the Ice Troll.
Rare and difficult to encounter.
In fact, you could no longer find them in the wild.
“Didn’t the Emperor wipe them out?”
Trolls had incredible regeneration.
Their blood was prized in potion-making.
Ice Trolls? They had five times the regenerative ability of regular trolls.
They evolved that way to survive the cold.
Potions made from their blood were five times as potent.
The Emperor had captured them all, turning them into potions for the Imperial Army.
And to stop the Allied Forces from using them, he wiped out all wild Ice Trolls.
Now, they only existed in labs beneath the Imperial Palace.
Even I, born in the north, had seen one just once.
“Wait… could it be?”
A memory suddenly surfaced.
The first and last time I saw an Ice Troll—
It was 15 years ago.
My father, the Count of House Whitewolf, had died.
At the will’s reading, he passed everything not to me, but to my younger sister.
I protested, but no one supported me.
Everyone believed my sister, competent and poised, was the rightful heir—not a gambling, pleasure-seeking wastrel like me.
I was cast aside and stormed out of the family.
I wandered the snowy mountains for days.
And then—
GRRAAARRR—!
I encountered an Ice Troll.
That was my first and last memory of seeing one.
A memory still vivid, even after 15 years.
It was the moment that changed my life forever.
If this really is the northern snow mountains of House Whitewolf—
If that is an Ice Troll, drooling and staring me down—
“Then… I’ve gone back in time?”
That’s the conclusion I reached.
