"Three talents, seven skills, an affinity to all core elements, 7900 mana, swordsmanship, a title, riches, a legendary sword, ten positive traits... Alvin, isn't this supposed to be a villain?"
Alvin sat on the table across from his older brother, Marshall, who was currently reading over the notes for his work-in-progress video game, End of Fate.
It had been his passion project for a year.
Despite having no hopes of it being a hit release, he didn't care.
As long as he enjoyed it, that was all that mattered... He was going to become an engineer anyway, not a game dev.
Alvin scratched at his chin. "What's wrong with that?"
Marshall continued to read the notes whilst responding to his brother.
"It's not that there's anything wrong with it, but this villain that you've made is a terrible man. Look, right here you said that he killed his own wife purely because she refused to teach him advanced swordsmanship."
"So?" Alvin responded, not getting the point.
"So... if he's so evil, then players will want to be able to kill him. With these stats, is that even possible?"
Alvin considered his brother's words for a moment.
Marshall was right.
Torvane Ironglass was very difficult to kill. He was an incredibly powerful man who was well on his way to becoming one of the strongest mages of his era.
However, that did not make the man invincible.
Torvane was a villain fated to die.
No matter what route the player takes, Torvane eventually dies. Whether that be by their hand, or by another event that takes place within the game.
He had written more deaths for Torvane than he could remember.
"A villain needs to be powerful." He then explained, taking the notes from his brother and heading back to his room. "Or else there will be no satisfaction once you've defeated them."
---
Later that evening, as Alvin sat in his room expanding on his world's lore, his brother's words played over in his head.
He read Torvane Ironglass's stats once again.
The man even owned the traits of Empathetic and Observant. If he managed to awaken the trait Analytical, he could unlock the skill 'Lie Detection'.
Alvin scratched at his black hair in stress. Then, he reached for his pencil.
"Fine, fine... maybe you are too powerful."
He prepared to cross out the stats he had currently written down for Torvane. Later, he would add the changes to the game coding.
However, as his pencil neared the paper, he noticed a sudden headache forming near his temples.
Thinking it was just a migraine, he continued forward, the headache growing more intense with every passing second.
His pencil reached the paper.
He tried to scribble out one of Torvane's talents.
And then, he collapsed face-first onto the desk, losing consciousness.
———
"Master Torvane..."
Alvin heard a faint voice call out to him. He struggled to open his eyes, as the earlier headache still lingered.
"Torvane sir, it is midnight. You must take your daily dosage of Demonseed."
By the time the words came again, the headache had faded, and Alvin was able to open his eyes.
It took him no time to realise what had happened to him, or to figure out where he was.
After all, he spent the past year inside this world, though not physically.
"Fuck."
He found himself lying in a king-sized bed, situated in a large bedroom fit for a king. The night sky outside the window was dark, but the moon hung close.
He looked down at himself. Wearing only loose bottoms, his upper body was chiselled with muscle, and he felt much larger than before.
Then, he looked over to the lady standing beside him. She had black pigtails and wore a maid's dress. In her outstretched hand were three red seeds.
"Torvane?" The maid said. "Is everything alright?"
Alvin cursed beneath his breath again, as he ran a hand through his now brown hair.
"Yes, just a nightmare." He responded, voice much deeper and elegant than before.
A nightmare in the form of transmigration... I can't believe that such a theory turned out to be true!
He had heard of authors miraculously going missing at their desks midway through working on their stories, but he had never chalked it up to something like this.
And just why did I have to be transmigrated into the body of a twisted villain? I wasn't even evil on earth...
"Torvane... you must take your Demonseed."
He had almost forgotten about the maid beside him.
Her name was Patricielle, and she was one of the only women that he trusted inside his chambers.
As he took the three red seeds from her hand, a small description floated into his mind.
---
[Item: Demonseed]
A legendary seed found deep within the fourth layer of the Hades Volcano.
Type: Consumable
Effect: When consumed daily for 365 consecutive days, it grants a non-demon an affinity towards the element: Darkness.
---
Ahh yes. Another reason why Torvane Ironglass is completely broken.
Within his game, End of Fate, a human mage could have an affinity towards the three elements.
Fire. Water. Air.
These elements could be combined in numerous ways to form new elements. However, humans were limited when using certain elements.
Darkness was an element best suited to demonic races, but Torvane worked hard on trying to change that for himself.
He popped the seeds and swallowed them with a glass of water provided to him by Patricielle.
Afterwards, the maid nodded her head and turned to exit the room.
"Please rest well, Master Torvane. You have a busy day tomorrow."
And with that, she left.
Alvin was left in the room alone, forced to focus on his new strange circumstances.
Somehow, he had been transmigrated into his unfinished game, End of Fate. Even worse, he had become an evil villain who was destined to die.
He wrote it himself.
The Villain Must Die.
But Alvin was not a villain. He wanted to live!
Luckily for him, he knew more about this world than anybody else. With this knowledge, he could rewrite fate itself, and escape death.
It wouldn't be easy, but he would do it.
He rose to his feet and stretched his body. It was still midnight, but he had to prepare for a busy day.
Torvane Ironglass was the master professor of Hellsfall Academy, and tomorrow, he would be greeting this year's new students.
Before he could tackle any of the problems that came with that, such as impending death, there was something that he had to do first.
He had to check out his current stats.