Now, the Phantom Demon summoned from the ritual was in the shadow beneath Aiwass's feet.
He sat in a wheelchair, not because his legs were sacrificed and rendered immobile. Instead, if he were to step on his own shadow, he would immediately awaken the Phantom Demon and cause it to materialize.
This wheelchair was something Aiwass had requested from Mr. Oswald after he woke up.
Because currently, his Shadow Affinity level was too low.
Phantom Demons belong to Upper Demons. Shadow Affinity needed to be at least level three to control a Phantom Demon, and level five to merge with one. Before that, he could only draw a portion of the Phantom Demon's power to use "supernatural abilities." Although the Phantom Demon would not harm him, and would even protect Aiwass based on their contract, he was completely unable to restrain the Phantom Demon's behavior.
From this perspective, Demon Scholars who contract with low-level demons are like walking a dog; whereas Aiwass's situation was akin to the dog walking the person.
How to seal the Phantom Demon was not something "Aiwass" should have known. It was knowledge from another world.
Aiwass Moriarty, Path, Demon Scholar, Avalon Kingdom… This was the world of an MMORPG called "ring of ouroboros."
This game was published and operated by their company, "Faceless God Studio."
While it was "their company," the game's production had nothing to do with Aiwass, as he was not a development staff member. He was a newly hired Human Resources Manager, commonly known as an HR.
Three years ago, Aiwass resigned and became unemployed. Because he was restricted by a non-compete agreement, he couldn't find work in the same industry… so he was pulled into the pit by his best brother.
That brother was the game writer for this company, constantly pestering him with recommendations and talking about the many Easter eggs he had designed.
Finally, Aiwass, unable to bear the harassment and also in a gaming slump, tried playing it for a while and felt it was indeed a good game. Its downside was that it was quite a grind but it was good for passing the time while unemployed at home.
Later, he heard that "Faceless God Studio" was hiring an HR, and since Aiwass had passed the restriction period, he directly submitted his resume and went for an interview.
However, he was still in the process of handing over his work when, while crossing the road and replying to a message on his way to work, he was sent to this world by a dump truck.
…If he had known he would transmigrate into this world, he would have asked for more internal company documents or looked at more story discussion posts on the forums!
This was his biggest miscalculation.
Because Aiwass, essentially, was the type of hardcore player who didn't pay much attention to the story or care much about the characters.
Although he learned a lot of hidden settings, character backgrounds, and future main stories that ordinary players didn't know during conversations with friends, and also got some early plot details from group chats, he had never been interested in the main story. Instead, the side stories of various characters were much more interesting.
Aiwass started playing from the 0 era. Right after clearing the first raid boss, he used a main story completion book to instantly finish all old main quests up to the beginning of 0. Not only that, he skipped all cutscenes during his leveling process and at the start of dungeons. If he couldn't skip them, he would fast-forward by clicking the left mouse button repeatedly.
As a result, Aiwass now couldn't remember the early main story at all. Instead, he had a deeper impression of the later plot because the story performance in the main story raids was quite good. Even without carefully watching the previous plot, he could roughly guess it through the unskippable raid story performances.
At the very beginning of the main story, "Aiwass" appeared.
In the winter of Balance Year 1890, he was kidnapped and taken to an altar for a ritual. A passing "player" accidentally broke the barrier that kept people away and saw the cruel sacrificial scene. In an emergency, he pretended to have reported it to the Surveillance Bureau and was leading the Surveillance Bureau's Griffin Knights, which directly scared off the two people.
Aiwass was rescued by the "player" from the ritual altar, and then invited the player, who was homeless due to a stolen wallet and identification, to his home for food and rest.
Afterward, Aiwass would enroll in school with the player, grow together, and continue to investigate this case together. It turned out that the case grew larger and larger, even involving high-ranking officials of the Kingdom…
And because Aiwass fell into mortal danger, his sister Yulia suddenly lost control under the catalysis of the Blood Crystal, she transformed into the "Phantom Demon, Paradoxical Flame Butterfly," the first eight-person raid BOSS.
That was also the first Phantom Demon the player saw in the game.
Her body was curled into a ball, encased in an amber-like transparent butterfly abdomen, protected by Flame Essence wings. Because the dungeon level was low, this eight-person raid was the easiest to queue for in daily random dungeons, averaging three or four times fighting Yulia a week.
Because Yulia did not want to harm Aiwass, it was an entry-level BOSS with no real mechanics or attack desires, a classic "hit whatever appears, dodge whatever appears" type. If one's level was high enough, one could even barely clear it by ignoring mechanics and just hitting the main body the entire time. If one used a main story completion book after defeating Yulia, one could get some cosmetic rewards.
Finally, she was defeated, and after losing most of her spirituality, she shrank into a Flame Butterfly, which Aiwass contracted as his first familiar. Aiwass used this method to preserve her spirituality, hoping to later find the legendary master "Ambergris," who was said to possess resurrection magic, to revive her.
It wasn't until the main story of the 0 version that Aiwass mastered new abilities. Aiwass, who could theoretically seal unkillable Phantom Demons into cards and arm his familiars with enhanced equipment, finally gained his exclusive and significant Enhancement.
Then he stopped accompanying players in dungeons and became a plot-kill method for ending Phantom Demon-type BOSSes in cutscenes.
"…Brother?"
Just as Aiwass was thinking this, he suddenly heard a tender voice.
He was startled.
Haina, who had been excitedly chatting with Aiwass about "Sherlock and Deduction," also instinctively turned her head upon hearing the voice.
She saw a little girl standing silently at the doorway.
"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 a mix of grievance and astonishment, "Brother, why are you… in a wheelchair?"
"And who is she?"
She wore a Pure White fluffy pajama set identical to Aiwass's, with shoulder-length silver-white hair and deep red pupils that brought to mind roses. Her features were delicate and soft, making one think of a white cat or rabbit. She was a completely different type from Aiwass's brilliant handsomeness. Her eyes, hair color, and pupil color all proved that the two had no blood relation.
If there was any similarity between them, it was that inherited sense of frailty.
She had a similar sense of frailty to Aiwass, and it was even more pronounced than his.
The girl's skin was somewhat sickly, almost transparently pale. When she stood at the doorway, she would unconsciously lean on one side of the doorframe, her body slightly tilted to shift her center of gravity and reduce the pressure of standing upright.
What a cute girl!
Haina's eyes lit up.
Like seeing a cute pet, she wanted to get close to it, but also worried she might scare it.
"It's alright, Yuli. It's only temporary. This is Senior Haiyina, she has something to ask."
Aiwass smiled, calling the girl by her nickname as he remembered. But for some reason, the name felt a bit awkward and unfamiliar.
It was like not calling friends by their names for a long time, but by their nicknames. Then suddenly calling them by their full names one day, it felt as if it wasn't their name at all.
After a moment of daze, he opened his arms slightly towards Yulia: "Come here for a hug."
"…Mm."
Yulia obediently, unsteadily walked over. Like she had just woken up, there was a sense of weakness that made one worry she might fall.
As he hugged Yulia, who nestled against him, Aiwass suddenly felt a moment of trance.
At this moment, he was holding Yulia, but it also felt as if he was holding another "Aiwass."
The memory of the "Aiwass" of this world, after receiving the prophecy of the future, suddenly felt a certain fear.
Yulia would become a monster… and then, she would die.
At this moment, Aiwass's memories and reality overlapped. They completely merged, and the memories of both lives became clear. It was like someone drowsy suddenly being startled awake by a nightmare, and then finally distinguishing whether they were dreaming or not.
Two days after arriving in this world, he finally realized that he wasn't dreaming. He had truly transmigrated.
He had come to another world.
However, he also clearly realized another thing that the current plot was different.
The Aiwass in the game definitely did not contract a Phantom Demon.
Because this ritual was interrupted by the player, it never successfully took place.
And this probably meant that there was no "player character" 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-tolerance saviors.
Every major version, they have to save the world once.
…Then he was in trouble.
Because "players," in terms of setting, were descendants of the Snake Father, who once controlled the Way of Transcendence and was one of the Nine Pillar Gods. It was precisely because of this that players could have "experience points" and "levels," and could continuously grow stronger without thresholds or regard for talent. In the setting, players did not actually queue for raids or form teams, but rather defeated all enemies alone.
But Aiwass, although he was also an important character, disasters of world-ending scale like the Fallen Angel, the Calamity Dragon, and Avalon's Shadow, could not be defeated by "strong individuals" in the conventional sense.
Aiwass knew that something was likely to happen to the Avalon Kingdom in about half a year.
Although he didn't remember the main story clearly, he at least remembered key nodes like version changes.
What he told Haina was not a lie. The Avalon Kingdom would indeed face a devastating disaster in about half a year, and it was directly related to the Demon Ritual incident they were currently experiencing, which no important figures cared about.
But now, Aiwass still had a chance to change everything.
Change everything
He subconsciously hugged Yulia tighter, and the girl keenly sensed something: "Brother?"
"…Nothing."
Aiwass 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 felt Yulia's body in his arms tense up significantly.
…Hmm?
Aiwass's heart stirred slightly.
As if to conceal something, Yulia suddenly asked, "Brother's wheelchair… how long will you have to sit in it?"
"Probably… a year?"
Aiwass said, looking at Mr. Oswald beside him: "That's what the doctor said, right?"
"Yes, Young Master Aiwass."
Mr. Oswald asked without hesitation: "So, will you be taking a year off school? You've already been out for three months anyway."
This was a lie.
And both sides were lying.
There was no doctor who told Aiwass to use a wheelchair; Aiwass himself requested it. Demon Scholars who had contracted Phantom Demons would use this method to seal them when they were not yet able to control them.
Besides needing to use a wheelchair for movement, one also had to avoid strenuous activity and slow down movements to lower the heart rate this was a common method of suppressing demons.
Additionally, one could take medications to suppress the heart rate, to make the sealed demon within slumber.
"No need," Aiwass said, "Once this incident is resolved, I'll go back to school."
"…Once this incident is resolved?"
Haina belatedly realized something.
She instinctively sensed that in that instant… Aiwass's attitude seemed to have changed.
That feeling was quite familiar to her.
As a freshman, Haina, still naive, thought she was still the genius from the remote small town. But at the end of that year's final exams, her Astrology score barely passed, which could be said to have given her a cold sweat.
But it was precisely because of this that she became serious, realizing that in the highest-level academy in the Red Queen District of Glass Island, she was far from as excellent as she had thought. At least… she was not a pure genius, but a hardworking genius.
Adopting the same casual attitude as before, she might have failed even with perfect attendance… Now, she could graduate with the seven-petal flower stamp representing a perfect score, precisely because Professor Moriarty's red, three-petal flower stamp representing "pass" had woken her up that year.
For ordinary students, this was a mark of release from prison, worthy of cheers and celebration; but for the proud Haina, it was like a slap, burning hot on her face, leaving her silent and her mind blank.
Aiwass at this moment gave her that same feeling.
The feeling of being startled awake from a dream upon seeing a report card
"Yes, I want to participate in the investigation."
Aiwass suddenly became serious: "Since they kidnapped me once, there will be a second time. Unless those cultists are purged, I cannot leave my home with peace of mind; similarly, I cannot calmly await a survey result that I might not be able to accept at home so I also want to participate in the investigation."
Hearing this, Haina felt a little awkward. This was undoubtedly hinting at the extremely slow investigation efficiency of the Surveillance Bureau.
The Surveillance Bureau, which placed great emphasis on "rules," had to report everything to superiors and follow standard procedures for everything. These were the regulations set by the knight lords of the Senate.
It was precisely because they could hardly find anything, and even needed to request assistance from Detectives. The "Sherlock" Haina mentioned earlier was a Detective who had recently become quite famous in the newspapers.
Sherlock graduated from Royal Law University many years ago but chose not to join the Surveillance Bureau, Law Court, or Arbitration Hall. As a result, he was now a special Consultant to the Surveillance Bureau. His investigations were not bound by the Surveillance Bureau's various regulations, and he had successively solved several major cases, making his status significantly higher than his former classmates who joined the Surveillance Bureau after graduation.
"If Miss Haina cannot make a decision, you might as well report my words to your superior and ask for his opinion."
Aiwass crossed his arms and said calmly: "Anyway, by the rules, you also have to submit all the contents of this conversation to your superior, don't you?"
For some reason, Aiwass at this moment reminded Haina of an interviewer from the Surveillance Bureau.