We finally arrived at what I could only describe as a castle town—stone walls, iron gates, and architecture straight out of a European medieval fantasy setting. Honestly, even the most genre-clueless shut-in would've figured it out.
Our journey there had been quiet… mostly. A goblin ambush broke the silence at one point. Not that it mattered—they were small, scrawny, and went down like wet paper dolls. The knights cut them down with ease, and my ever-charming mage escort roasted a few like skewered rats over a bonfire. Her strange fire magic was flashy, precise, and ruthlessly overkill.
Judging from how the knights deferred to her, she wasn't just a tag-along. She had authority. Power. The kind that silences a room when she walks in.
Before we passed through the town gates, one of the knights galloped ahead—probably to send a message.
When we arrived, I was tossed into a holding cell like common trash. Still shackled. Still voiceless. The System had gone radio silent, which, considering everything, was either a blessing or the final confirmation that I was truly insane.
Probably both.
After some time, I was pulled out and led—not to a church as expected—but to a castle. That raised questions. Lots of questions.
Inside, they dropped me in a stone room: bare walls, cold air, one table, two chairs… and some suspicious reddish stains on the floor that had clearly been scrubbed out poorly. One even looked vaguely like a face.
Charming.
I tried calling the System again.
"Hey… voice thing? System? Status?"
Nothing. Just me muttering to myself like a lunatic in chains, the only reply the faint echoes of my own voice.
Then the door creaked open.
A man in a casual grey robe entered, his expression unreadable, almost placid. His eyes scanned me with a cool intensity, like I was a puzzle piece wedged where it didn't belong. Without a word, he took my hand and pulled out a small glass orb from inside his robe. He pressed my palm to it.
It hummed… but didn't glow.
He frowned, a tiny crease appearing between his brows.
Then he leaned in and opened my mouth.
"Hey—what the hell—"
I stopped.
Fangs. Tiny, sharp fangs. I hadn't seen a mirror since I woke up, so this was new. I was still desperately piecing together who—or what—I had become.
The robed man said nothing. He nodded once, like I was a lab rat that had passed a weird test, and then, just as silently as he'd appeared, he left.
And then—
[System Online.]
[Welcome back, Host.]
The voice echoed clearly inside my skull, like a divine whisper. Or a psychotic break. Hard to tell the difference these days.
I groaned. "You're ignoring all the questions I've asked since this nightmare started, but now you show up to be smug?"
[You are Level 5. Stats increase as experience is earned. 'Experience' is based on context. Translation: fight. Survive. Learn. Your interpretation shapes your progress.]
I blinked at the floating interface. "…What kind of half-assed cryptic fortune cookie logic is that?"
Then a thought struck me, cold and sharp.
"You mean to tell me… I somehow leveled up just by being present during that summoning? You think I caused those cultists to die? Are you saying I was weaker than them?"
[Incorrect. Your existence caused systemic friction. They ruptured from the inside. You simply… existed louder.]
"You mean the former owner of this body died too and the ritual made it possible for me to inhabit it? If I didn't know better, I would think they all just committed a group suicide and murder to bring me or something, there."
That didn't make me feel any better. My skin crawled.
Before I could yell at the System again, the door opened once more. My mage handler entered, two guards in tow. Her amethyst eyes were colder than ice this time, devoid of even the previous disdain.
"The Count demands your presence," she said. Flat. Professional. Like she was reading from a script.
I lifted my shackled wrists, giving her a deadpan look that translated to: Seriously? Still with the cuffs?
She said nothing. With a slight hand motion, the guards moved in. One grabbed me by the arm and hoisted me up like I weighed nothing.
I stared at the floor. Then my feet. Then her again.
Could you not just take off the damn restraints?
No reply.
I was starting to realize something unpleasant. Compared to these people—I was small. Short. Weak. Still adjusting to a body I hadn't even had a chance to study yet.
And the System?
Silent again.
Of course not.