Iver Moriarty

Now, the Shadow Demon summoned from the ritual is in the shadow beneath Iver's feet.

He sits in a wheelchair, not because his legs were sacrificed, rendering him immobile, but because if he were to step on his own shadow, he would immediately awaken the Shadow Demon and cause it to materialize.

This wheelchair is what Iver asked the old butler for after waking up.

Because currently, his [Shadow Affinity] level is too low.

The Shadow Demon is a high-level demon, requiring at least level three Shadow Affinity to control it, and level five to merge with it. Before that, he can only draw a portion of the Shadow Demon's power to use "abilities." Although the Shadow Demon won't harm him and will even protect Iver based on the contract, he has no way to restrain the Shadow Demon's behavior.

From this perspective, a Demon Scholar who contracts a low-level demon is like walking a dog; Iver, on the other hand, is being walked by the dog.

How to seal the Shadow Demon is not something that "Iver" should know. It comes from memories of another world.

Iver Moriarty, Path, Demon Scholar, Avalon Kingdom... This is the world of an MMORPG game called Ouroboros Ring.

This game was released and operated by their company, "Nameless God Studio."

When he says "their company," the production of this game has nothing to do with Iver, because he's not a member of the R&D team. He's the newly arrived Human Resources Manager, also known as HR.

Three years ago, Iver resigned from his previous company and became unemployed. Feeling a sudden sense of life's confusion, and with a decent amount of savings, he simply took a long vacation. Then he was dragged into the pit by his best brother.

That brother was the game's writer at the company, constantly recommending it to him, talking about the many easter eggs he designed.

Eventually, Iver couldn't stand it anymore, and since he was also experiencing a game drought, he tried it out for a while and felt it was indeed a good game. The downside was that it was quite grindy—but it was good for passing the time while unemployed at home.

Later, he heard that "Nameless God Studio" was hiring, and since Iver was past his restrictive period, he directly submitted his resume for an interview. He was tired of being an HR person and wanted to try his hand as a screenwriter, but his HR talents were still recognized. But he took it in stride—HR it is, anyway, he's just a corporate slave, it's all the same.

As a result, while he was still handing over his work, he was sent to this world by a mud truck while crossing the road and replying to his boss's message.

...If he had known he would transmigrate into this world, he would have asked for more internal company information or looked at more plot discussion posts on the forums!

This is the biggest miscalculation.

Because Iver, in essence, is the kind of grindy player who doesn't really pay attention to the plot or care about the characters.

Although he knew a lot of secret settings, character backgrounds, and future main storylines that ordinary players didn't know from chatting with friends, and he also got some early plot points from the group. But he was never concerned with the main storyline; instead, the various character side quests were much more interesting.

Iver got into the game in the 3.0 era. Just after passing the first raid boss, he used the main storyline book to complete all the old main storylines up to the beginning of 3.0. Not only that, but he skipped all the plot animations he could skip while leveling up and at the start of dungeons. Those he couldn't skip, he fast-forwarded through by clicking the left mouse button repeatedly.

As a result, Iver can't remember what the early main storyline was at all. On the other hand, he has a deeper impression of the later storylines, because the plot performances of the main storyline raids were quite good. Even if he didn't carefully watch the previous storylines, he could guess the general idea through the unskippable raid plot performances.

At the very beginning of the main storyline, "Iver" makes his appearance.

In the Calendar of Libra 1898, he is kidnapped and taken to an altar to perform a ritual. A "player" passing by inadvertently breaks the barrier that drives away passersby and sees the cruel sacrificial scene. In a moment of urgency, he pretends that he has already reported it to the Bureau of Supervision and is leading the Griffin Knights of the Bureau of Supervision, directly scaring away the two people.

Iver is rescued from the ritual altar by the "player," and then invites the player, who is homeless because their wallet and identification were stolen, to eat, drink, and rest in his home.

After that, Iver will enroll in school and grow together with the player, and continue to investigate this case together. As a result, they discover that the case is getting bigger and bigger, even involving the upper echelons of the kingdom...

And because Iver is in mortal danger, his sister Yulia suddenly loses control—catalyzed by the Blood Crystal Stone, she becomes the "Phantom Demon: Paradoxical Flame Butterfly," the first eight-person raid BOSS.

That is also the first Phantom Demon that players see in the game.

Her main body is curled up in a ball, wrapped in the amber-like transparent chest and abdomen of the butterfly, protected by butterfly wings composed of Fire Essence. Because the dungeon level is low, this eight-person raid is the easiest to queue for in the daily random dungeons, and Yulia has to be fought three or four times a week on average.

Because Yulia doesn't want to hurt Iver, it's a classic entry-level BOSS with no mechanics or desire to attack, just hit whatever appears and dodge whatever appears. Even if the level is high enough, you can barely pass by ignoring the mechanics and just hitting the main body the whole time. If you eat the main storyline book after defeating Yulia, you can get some appearance-related rewards.

In the end, she was killed. After losing most of her spirituality, she shrunk into a Flame Butterfly and was contracted by Iver as his first Familiar. Iver used this method to preserve her spirituality, hoping to find the legendary "Insect Amber" master who possessed resurrection techniques to revive her later.

It wasn't until the main storyline of version 5.0 that Iver mastered a new ability. He could seal theoretically unkillable Phantom Demons into cards and use them as enhanced equipment to arm his Familiars. Only then did Iver finally receive a significant enhancement unique to him.

After that, he stopped joining players in dungeons and became a plot device in CGs, used to finish off Phantom Demon-type BOSSes.

"...Brother?"

Just as Iver thought of this, he suddenly heard a childish voice.

He was suddenly startled.

Hai Na, who was excitedly chatting with Iver about "Sherlock and deduction," also subconsciously turned her head upon hearing the voice.

A little girl stood silently at the door.

"When you woke up yesterday, I was asleep. After I woke up, you fell asleep again."

Having just woken up in the evening, she said with some grievance and bewilderment, "Brother, how did you... end up in a wheelchair?

"—And who is she?"

She wore pure white fleece pajamas identical to Iver's, with silver-white hair reaching her shoulders and deep red pupils reminiscent of roses. Her features were delicate and soft, evoking images of white cats or rabbits. It was a completely different type of striking handsomeness from Iver's. Her eyebrows, hair color, and eye color all proved that the two were not related by blood.

If there was any similarity between the two, it was the shared sense of frailty.

She had a similar frailty to Iver, but it was even more pronounced.

The girl's skin was somewhat sickly, almost transparently pale. Standing at the door, she unconsciously held onto the doorframe, her body slightly tilted to shift her center of gravity and reduce the pressure of standing upright.

—What a lovely girl! Hai Na's eyes lit up.

As if seeing an adorable pet, she wanted to get close but worried she might scare her.

"It's okay, Yulia. It's just temporary. This is Senior Hai Na, she's here to ask some questions."

Iver smiled, calling the girl by her nickname as he remembered. But for some reason, the name felt somewhat awkward and unfamiliar.

It was like not calling friends by their names for a long time, instead using their nicknames. When suddenly calling out their full name one day, it always felt like it wasn't their real name.

After a moment of absentmindedness, he opened his arms slightly towards Yulia: "Come give me a hug."

"...Okay."

Yulia obediently walked over, swaying slightly. She seemed as if she had just woken up, giving off a sense of weakness that made one worry she might fall.

As he hugged the leaning Yulia, Iver suddenly felt a moment of distraction.

At this moment, he was holding Yulia, but it felt like another world.

In this world, after Iver received those "prophecies" from another world, he suddenly felt a sense of fear about the future.

Yulia would turn into a monster... and then, she would die.

—At this moment, Iver's memories and reality overlapped. The memories of his dual lives completely merged, becoming clear. It was like a person waking up from a nightmare, finally distinguishing whether they were in a dream or not.

It was only two full days after awakening his past life memories that he finally realized he wasn't dreaming. He had really transmigrated.

He had come to this world when he was very young, and only the day before yesterday did he finally remember who he was.

However, he was also clearly aware of another thing—that the current plot was already different.

The Iver in the game definitely did not have a contract with a Shadow Demon.

Because this ritual was interrupted by the players, it didn't succeed at all.

And this probably meant that there were no "player characters" in this world.

In an epic fantasy game, players usually play the role of a one-time savior; and if this game is an online game, then players are usually continuous, high-frequency, low-fault-tolerance saviors.

Every major version requires saving the world once.

...Then he was in trouble.

Because "players" are, by setting, descendants of the [Serpent Father], who once controlled the "Path of Transcendence" and was one of the Nine Pillar Gods. Because of this, players can have "experience points" and "levels", and can continue to become stronger without thresholds or regard for talent. In the setting, players did not actually run dungeons or team up, but defeated all enemies alone.

But Iver, although he is also an important character, the world-destroying disasters such as "Fallen Angel", "Calamity Demon Dragon", and "Shadow of Avalon" cannot be defeated by "strong people" in the conventional sense.

Iver knew that the Avalon Kingdom was probably going to have an accident in about half a year.

Although he didn't remember the main storyline clearly, he at least remembered the key nodes like version changes.

He was not lying to Hai Na. The Avalon Kingdom will indeed encounter a catastrophe in more than half a year, and it is closely related to the demon ritual event they are currently experiencing, which no big figure cares about.

But now, Iver still has a chance to change all of this.

Change everything—

He subconsciously hugged Yulia tightly, and the girl keenly noticed something: "Brother?"

"...It's nothing."

Iver smiled calmly: "It's just that I had a very long dream yesterday... I dreamed that Yulia left me."

However, at this moment, he suddenly clearly felt Yulia's body tighten in his arms.

...Huh?

Iver's heart moved slightly.

Yulia suddenly asked, as if to cover up something: "How long will brother's wheelchair... be needed?"

"Probably... a year?"

As Iver spoke, he looked at the old butler beside him: "That's what the doctor said, right?"

"Yes, Master Iver."

The old butler asked without hesitation: "So, do you want to take a year off from school? Anyway, you've already been on leave for three months."

This was a lie.

And both sides were.

There was no doctor who asked Iver to use a wheelchair; this was Iver's own request. Those Demon Scholars who have contracted with Shadow Demons will use this method to seal the Shadow Demon when they are unable to control it.

In addition to using a wheelchair when moving around, it is also necessary to avoid strenuous activities as much as possible and slow down one's movements to reduce the heart rate—this is a conventional method of suppressing demons.

In addition, you can also take some drugs that suppress the heart rate to make the demon sealed in the body sleep.

"No need," Iver said, "Once this incident is resolved, I'll go back to school."

"...Once this incident is resolved?"

Hai Na belatedly realized something.

She instinctively sensed that, in that instant... Iver's attitude seemed to have changed.

That feeling was quite familiar to her.

When Hai Na was a naive freshman, she thought she was still the genius from her remote town. As a result, she barely passed Astrology in the final exam that year, which gave her quite a scare.

But it was precisely because of this that she became serious and realized that in the highest institution in the Red Queen District of Glass Island, the capital, she was far from as outstanding as she thought. At least... she was not a pure genius, but a hardworking one.

Adopting a casual attitude as before, she might have even failed despite not skipping classes... The fact that she can now graduate with the seven-petal flower seal representing a perfect score is precisely because Professor Moriarty's red, three-petal flower seal representing "passing" awakened her back then.

For ordinary students, this was a mark of release from prison, worthy of cheers and celebration; but for the proud Hai Na, it was like a slap in the face, burning hot, leaving her silent and blank.

Iver gave her that feeling now.

The feeling of waking up from a dream when seeing the transcript—

"Yes, I want to participate in the investigation."

Iver suddenly became serious: "Since they would kidnap me once, there will be a second time. If I don't eliminate that group of cultists, I can't leave home with peace of mind; similarly, I can't wait at home for an investigation result that I may not be able to accept—so I also want to participate in the investigation."

Hearing this, Hai Na was a little embarrassed. This was undoubtedly an insinuation of the Bureau of Supervision's extremely slow investigation efficiency.

The Bureau of Supervision, which is extremely particular about "rules," has to report everything to superiors and follow standard procedures in everything. These are the regulations of the Knight gentlemen of the Senate.

It is precisely because they can hardly find out anything that they even need to request the assistance of detectives. The "Sherlock" that Hai Na mentioned earlier is a detective who has become quite famous in the newspapers recently.

Sherlock graduated from the Royal Law University for many years, but did not choose to enter the Bureau of Supervision, the Law Court, or the Arbitration Hall. As a result, he is now a special advisor to the Bureau of Supervision, investigating without being bound by the various regulations of the Bureau of Supervision, and has successively solved several major cases. His status is actually much higher than that of his old classmates who entered the Bureau of Supervision after graduation.

"If Miss Hai Na can't make a decision, you might as well report my words to your superiors and ask for their opinion."

Iver crossed his hands and said calmly, "Anyway, according to the rules, you have to submit all the contents of this conversation to your superiors, don't you?"

For some reason, Iver at this moment reminded Hai Na of the interviewers from the Bureau of Supervision.

Dear readers, I miss you so much! (Feng Gong's voice) Today, I will update 10,000 words directly, and there will be another 10,000 words at noon tomorrow!

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