Arthur let out a sigh.
Still, there was a silver lining.
If no one recognized him from that statue, it gave him breathing room.
With his facial tattoos hidden beneath illusion, he could likely walk the streets without drawing much suspicion.
Not that it stopped him from grumbling under his breath as he turned away from the stone mockery.
'They really sculpted me like a budget action figure and called it a day. Good job, team.'
Then something slammed into his back.
Arthur didn't so much as flinch—his stats kept him steady—but the unexpected contact jolted him.
He spun on instinct, feet scraping against the stone as his pulse kicked.
A woman had landed on the ground behind him, confusion plain on her face.
She pushed herself upright, eyes darting left and right as if trying to spot what she had collided with.
Arthur blinked, then cursed silently as the realization hit.
'Right. I'm still invisible. And I'm standing in the middle of a crowded town square.'
Instinct screamed at him to offer the girl a hand, to mutter an apology, but he bit it back.
'What's going to happen next, trip over a baby, accidentally kick a fruit cart, and trigger a whole chain of anime slapstick disasters.'
'Hm! It doesn't look like that!'
His lips twitched as he murmured under his breath, "Is this supposed to one of those anime protagonist moments?"
"Save the girl, win the waifu and unlock some hidden romance arc, a bonus DLC?"
"If it is, it's definitely Classic."
Helping now would draw eyes to him, and stealth was already hanging by a thread.
He closed his eyes briefly and whispered the incantation inwardly, the word reverberating through his skull like a bell struck in silence.
"
The ground slipped away as he ascended, his cloak catching the cool air.
From this height, Eryndor unfolded beneath him like a tapestry of streets, markets, and rooftops.
Yet even as the familiar skyline emerged, unease gnawed at him.
'Something's wrong.'
The town square should have been comfortingly ordinary—the statue at its center, the clustered shops, the winding alleys—but none of it matched his memory.
He had spent more hours than he cared to admit in Hepta Calamitates.
He knew Eryndor.
And this wasn't it.
So, he climbed even higher and the city stretched wider in all directions.
The streets were straighter. Cleaner.
Stonework gave way to glass panes and polished roads.
The air carried less dust, the skyline less soot.
It looked…modern.
"Did someone install a cyberpunk expansion pack while I was offline?"
"I mean, sure, I was expecting castles and dragons, but... am I in Steampunk Eryndor or something?"
"Where's my medieval misery and flavor text about plague victims?"
"This place has street lamps."
A pause.
"Do they even have peasants here, or is everyone just middle class now?"
On the southern edge, steel tracks cut through the land like veins of iron, leading to a station bustling with strange, massive machines.
"No way." His breath caught.
"Is this world having some weird 'crossover event'?"
"Come on, I was expecting magic and medieval vibes, not this!"
"Who's responsible for this mix-up?"
"I want to raise a complaint!" he exclaimed to the sky, more to himself than anyone else, because what he was witnessing was nothing short of absurd.
"Trains and Metros?" Arthur squinted down at the sprawling rail lines and blinking signals.
"I can't even teleport properly," he muttered, "and the whole world's got public transport?"
He let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
"What happened to horses and six-day death marches through bandit territory?"
A pause.
"Did I really just land in a world where magic's a thing, but no one's invented a broomstick Uber yet?"
"Lame."
The conclusion he reached was disturbingly simple.
Time had passed in this world since his last login.
Not a handful of years. Not even decades.
Enough time for invention to reshape society, for technology to carve a new rhythm into daily life, for railroads to reach even this far-flung frontier city.
This wasn't the Eryndor he had memorized through quests and maps.
It was the same world, yes, but aged, evolved—leaving him behind like a discontinued patch update.
He tightened his jaw.
'I can't rely on memory anymore.'
'Every landmark, every strategy—it's all out of date.'
He hovered a thousand feet above the city and the wind tugged at him.
Beneath him, the world sparkled with unfamiliar lights, and for a long while, he simply stared at it all.
"Alright," he whispered, breath catching slightly, "no problem."
'Be positive. Think like a protagonist.'
But he couldn't.
'How long has it been since I logged off?'
'Does anyone remember me?'
He stared down at the city below—glass and steel shining where cobble and firelight once lived—and for the first time since arriving, the wonder dimmed.
'This isn't the world I know.'
"Just a minor world-building inconsistency," he said aloud, trying to bury the ache under sarcasm.
"Probably a DLC patch I missed."
The joke didn't land.
Not even with himself.
Just then, his gaze caught on the silhouette of the cathedral rising in the distance, its spires gleaming against the sky.
Larger than the town hall, more imposing than the bank, it was the crown of the city.
"The Cathedral." he murmured.
'Is death permanent here?'
'Or would I, as in the game, awaken at some resurrection point after dying?'
If there was any place that could answer his thoughts, it was that cathedral.
But still, he tried to reassure himself.
'With this account, I should be unbeatable.'
'But that doesn't mean I'm invulnerable. Every class has its weaknesses…'
'Mine is probably emotional stability and mild social anxiety.'
He straightened.
'Think proactive. Think tanky support mage with a secret tragic backstory and broken ultimate.'
'If this is my only life—the way I should fight, the way I should defend, the way I treat others—need to change.'
He muttered under his breath, almost defensively, "It's not like I'd go on a killing spree anyway…"
"I just hope this world isn't like one of those dark psychological anime… where killing's justified as long as the main character has a tragic backstory."
"But, it would be better to know beforehand."
"Let's just hope I'm in a light novel, not a psychological horror disguised as a fantasy."
Descending into a narrow alley, he landed softly and dismissed the invisibility spell. The veil peeled off him like mist burned away by sunlight.
Stepping into the open street, he felt tension coil in his muscles.
His first time in public, and his figure was exposed.
Every instinct screamed to brace himself. Yet to his surprise, the crowd hardly reacted.
A few eyes flicked toward him, curious for only a heartbeat, then slid away.
'Good. I am Inconspicuous.'
'Just another stranger passing through.'
'Definitely not a walking nuclear warhead in disguise.'
Still his skin prickled with unease.
He was a demon walking among humans.
That carried risk, always. But at least he wasn't causing panic.
And no one pointed at him, whispering, recognizing him as one of the Legendary Heroes.
That had been a quiet fear gnawing at him.
But thanks to his tiny figurine in the square, no one thought of him as the legendary Arthur Magnus. He was completely unrecognizable.
'Seriously, thank the sculptor for that disasterpiece.'
'Finally, bad fan art saves the day.'
Relief gave way to disorientation as he drew closer to the cathedral.
A sudden wave of vertigo washed over him.
When he'd floated invisibly above the rooftops earlier, the city had felt distant, almost abstract—like pixels and polygons rendered sharper.
But here, with people brushing past him, with snippets of gossip and laughter threading through the air, the illusion cracked.
This isn't a game anymore.
This is really... happening.
The thought hit harder than he'd expected, so vast in scope that his mind refused to grapple with it.
'What about my life on Earth?' He swallowed hard, dragging his focus back to his feet.
The cathedral gates loomed larger with every step.
'Later.'
'I'll break down later.'
'For now—just keep moving.'
Oddly enough, the resignation didn't hurt as much as he thought it would.
His old life hadn't been particularly fulfilling.
No family waiting for him.
Just his soon to be fiancé who would never know what became of him.
He would miss her. Yes, he'd miss the comfort of their late-night conversations, the small tether to something human. And also—
'I was going to be a father!'
There was so much for him to lose.
And, the weight of it all pressed on him as he climbed the steps of cathedral. His chest tightened. His thoughts swirled.
But step by step, he forced himself forward.
"Yeah," he whispered, "everything will be fine."
"Probably."