Chapter Nineteen: The System
First-Person POV
After an entire week had passed, while I was with Aislin, something happened that had never happened before.
A cold, metallic voice suddenly pierced through my head, like a notification ringing directly inside my skull.
At first I thought I was hallucinating from exhaustion, but the sound came again, clearer this time—far too deliberate to be coincidence.
I froze, then shouted inwardly:
"System… are you there?!"
[ Ding — Hero Hunter System linked. The system is ready to respond to the host's queries.
Ding — Hero Hunter System at the host's service.]
My breath caught. From the name alone, I felt something dark and heavy press down on my chest.
I asked it immediately, my tone sharp:
"Answer me… have you been manipulating my emotions all this time? Are you the one responsible for my existence in this world?"
[Ding — No. This system is not responsible for the host's birth in this world.]
I clenched my fists.
"Then who is?"
[Ding — Host, please remain calm. I will explain the reason for your existence in this world, and who is responsible for it.]
I exhaled hard, trying to steady the tremor in my body.
"Fine… I'm listening. Speak."
[Ding — Host, this system is not responsible for your birth in this world.
The one responsible is the Will of this world. It arranged your birth as an Ice Dragon, not this system.]
I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice.
You're saying I was born here according to the will of this world?
Does that mean I'm the chosen one? Or that I'm lucky? Is that what you're trying to say?I already know—I'm the true hero of this world, aren't I? Or maybe even the hero of this entire universe?"
[Ding — Host, I'm afraid you're mistaken. You are not the hero.
In fact… you are merely a sacrifice for the true hero.]
I shuddered where I stood.
"System… are you joking with me?
Didn't you just say the Will of this world was responsible for my existence here?
Why are you telling me now that I'm just a sacrifice?"
[Ding — The system did not say it was joking. The Will of this world chose you, yes… but not as a hero.
It chose you as fuel and as a path for the true hero. You are not the end… you are the means.]
[Ding — Host, this system is not joking.]
This time the voice was deeper, less mechanical—like something alive speaking from behind a thousand veils.
[ Ding — In truth, you've been sacrificed in this world more than a hundred times. Each time, I gathered the energy… then shattered reality and reset everything before your demise. I was linked directly to your soul, and that link was what allowed me to remain. But I couldn't interact with you unless you first broke free from the World's Will.]
I felt the blood in my veins freeze.
You expect me to believe that? Then why were you able to interact with me only this time?!"
[ Ding — Because this system indirectly stimulated you, pushing you onto an emotional path that broke the World's Will's control over you. That is why I can now communicate with you freely.]
So you're telling me that the struggle I went through between my mind and my heart, the voices I thought were hallucinations… that was all you?"
[ Ding — After one hundred failed attempts to break reality, on the 101st attempt this system discovered the only way to free you was through indirect emotional manipulation.]
Then you're telling me the voices weren't hallucinations—you were playing with my emotions to make me abandon my human principles completely?"
[ Ding — Correct. The only way to break the World's Will's control over you was to force you to surrender to your desires and abandon your old human principles. In fact, you should consider Aislin your lucky star; without her, you never would have broken the Will's hold. All these years you were merely a pawn moving as the World's Will wanted… only after you seized the female hero's body did you break free enough for me to reach you.]
I felt as though the ground collapsed beneath me.
You've crushed my hope completely… and you still haven't even explained why you're called the Hero Hunter System!"
[Ding — When hunting heroes, this system rewards the host with a 'Hunt Box' after evaluating his performance. At present, a Beginner's Gift is available. Would you like to open it?]
I clenched my fist, breathing slowly:Before that, explain this to me… why didn't you find another host? Why break reality a hundred times and force me to shatter the World's Will's dominance?"
[ Ding — Host, you are correct. I was supposed to find another host after your death. But this system cannot. This system is bound to the host's soul. If the host's soul is destroyed or dies, this system will be destroyed as well.]
My breathing quickened.
You're contradicting yourself. You said I was a sacrifice for the true hero… doesn't that mean I died? Shouldn't you have been destroyed too?!
[ Ding — The host is correct. If you had truly died, or if your soul had been destroyed, this system would have been erased as well. However, this system never stated that the host had died or that his soul had been destroyed. The host did not die; rather, his consciousness was erased, and his soul was merged with the hero's soul, becoming part of it. As a result, the hero's battle-spirit evolved into one infused with the blood of the Ice Dragon and inherited all of the host's memories. This is why I told you that you were a sacrifice—so that the true hero could become stronger. In addition, the soul used the person who was the hero's mentor to embody the host's body.]
I trembled where I stood, my feelings a swirl of anger, disgust, and disbelief.
What…?! I'm neither dead nor alive… and on top of that, my soul was merged with his?!"
Why would the World's Will go to all this trouble to reincarnate me into this world? It could have made the hero do the same thing with any other Ice Dragon!"
[ Ding — Host, you are right about that. The World's Will could have chosen someone from this world to be born as a dragon and achieve the same result. But it specifically needed a soul from outside this world. And your soul was chosen at random. Even so, it was a fortunate choice, because not only did the hero gain power, he also gained knowledge from your previous world.]
[ Ding — That knowledge included novels, manhwa, manga, and comic stories. Thanks to it, he created many skills based on them. He even walked the path of a villain—one who was destined to be defeated by heroes—but instead he turned the tables on them, harvesting rich rewards by exploiting opportunities meant for heroes.]
My voice trembled, my eyes turning to clear ice:
"You… are you joking with me?! Are you saying that thanks to my worthless otaku memories, the hero turned into some golden, arrogant fraud who steals other heroes' opportunities?!"
[ Ding — Before merging with your memories, the hero-host was weak-willed. This was one of the reasons the World's Will chose this method to strengthen him and change his weakness. But… something happened that the World's Will did not anticipate.]
[ Ding — Because you lived as a time-traveling soul and survived ten thousand years as an Ice Dragon, the hero's weak personality could not fully absorb your memories or develop his own as intended. Instead of becoming stronger and purer… he became a version of you, with certain deviations.]
[ Ding — Even so, the original goal of your existence was achieved. The World's Will got what it wanted—but at a cost it never expected.]