Leon slowly opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar place.

"...?!"

At first, he didn't quite catch what he was looking at, but slowly he realised that he was not in his actual body.

Just a moment ago, he was with Alice and the Swordmaiden; they were on their way to slay the Demonic Necromancers. They were walking for more than an hour, so they took a break, and so did Leon.

'A dream? Memory? It doesn't look mine… then who..?'

Leon noticed he had no control over the body he was in.

He was in a strange situation, but he was calm despite that.

Leon's body moved on its own; it stretched both his hands and rubbed his hair, letting out a heavy sigh.

His head turned around as he looked outside the window.

Leon caught the details… the room he was in doesn't look too modern, it was made with wood, a small fireplace and a white marble floor.

From the window, Leon saw a dark sky.

'Is this original Leon's memory?'

That was what he thought. But he was soon proved wrong when his head turned to the figure sleeping next to him on the bed.

White hair draped her smooth face as her delicate finger rested on her breathing chest.

'Hm… Miss Lumina?'

The girl sleeping next to him was none other than Lumina—The Swordmaiden; she was wearing a noble, aristocratic white gown.

'What the... Why am I with her? Who is this person—wait.. Don't tell me it's—'

Before Leon could think further, the body he was in climbed down the bed and walked towards the long mirror.

"Haah… patrol duty sucks."

His lips moved lazily, as Leon's mouth said those words out loud without his consent.

'Alright, now this is creepy…'

His eyes lazily moved up to the face reflecting, as he lifted his hand and ruffled his black hair.

A pair of red eyes stared back.

This made Leon's suspicion about the body he was in clearer.

'Shin Kataino?'

Leon thought, then he saw a smile stretch across his face.

'Why am I exactly in his body?'

The storybook they were in was from the Astral-tale Library, where every book has a fragment of soul stored in it.

Replicating the events that occurred in the past by the memory stored in those fragmented souls. Every book works as a live simulation, like a full dive-in VR game.

But in the world of fantasy, these simulation actually takes place in an Astral World. A world that exists in an upper dimension than reality.

Thinking along those lines, Leon thought of a well-known explanation.

'It's not a coincidence…'

After Shin had died, Leon was experiencing a strange sensation inside his skull.

His lips–or more precisely, Shin's lips moved as he muttered slowly.

He didn't know what that was or why they were happening. But, he made a guess either way.

The sudden appearance of Shin as Dark Knight and the way those events unfolded had given Leon a few faint hints to craft a theory.

It wasn't a coincidence, and the way it involved him made Leon think…

'The real Leon Valentine must have a connection with the past…'

It sounded utterly ridiculous at first, but there were a few things that Haru had noticed after he transmigrated here.

First, Myra, it is the maid who didn't have a single appearance in the game's storyline, but she was there right beside Leon when he woke up in this world for the first time.

This made him deduce that Leon had his hand in this. He deviated from the storyline of the actual plot before Haru even transmigrated.

Second, the Shinra incident, no matter how much Haru think of denying it, killing that Primordial rank demon was a… bit easy, and let's not forget the fact that he gained the <Creator> skill on the same day.

Sure, he did craft a decent enough strategy, but it went way too easily, even after his strategy failed that day, and suddenly, he gained a new skill after drinking the Drop of Limitless.

Third, and most importantly, the transmigration into Leon's body itself.

'Why him of all characters?'

It was pretty much obvious that the original Leon had some connection to all of it. Or maybe he did something that got him tangled in all this mess.

But, no matter how hard Haru tried to think it over, he just couldn't figure out what reason caused it.

His eyes glanced at the mirror, and he saw Shin staring at him before giving himself a smile.

"Guess I am stuck here for real this time," Shin muttered before the memory faded away.

Darkness.

Leon saw nothing after that, not a blink of light, nothing.

"..."

He can't even speak.

'Great, now where the hell am I?'

A hammering pain struck his brain as Leon internally screamed.

'KukkKkKKKKKkkkAKk–!!!'

It was as if something was being injected into his brain forcefully.

A piece of memory flashed inside his mind.

And the last thing he remembered was sitting beside young Limina, holding her hand, and resting her head on his shoulder.

The light returned.

Leon's body huffed monstrosously as he jolted right up.

"Ghaaa!!"

He was desperate for air. Calming his huffing lungs, he focused on his breathing.

"Haaah…haaah…haaah."

Leon started breathing normally.

'What.. was that?!'

"Kkeuk–!" He covered his throbbing right eye with his palm.

Releasing it, he looked around.

Everything was blurry.

Leon rubbed his eyes again, but the result was the same.

His vision was blurry.

"Ah, fuck."

He recalled a side effect of one of his skills [Command of Grace].

[Each usage of the skill on a stronger opponent would make the eyesight fade slightly, leading a step closer towards permanent blindness.]

"..."

Despite the poor vision, he can read the pop-up window clearly.

'The fuck, this side effect is real?!'

Suerly shin was stronger than him, a white core no less, but still, Leon didn't think his sight would go this bad.

He literally couldn't see past 5 meters clearly!

If Leon had to guess, then this would be about…

"Around negative 1.5 to 2.5 Diopter…"

"..."

He had spent half of his life before the computer screen; still, he had excellent sight, but now, in a world where tech didn't exist.

Leon blinked, then he muttered.

'One strange thing after another…'

As he said that line, a voice called out to him.

"Oh, you are awake."

Leon turned his head and saw Alice walking from the side, holding a few dried-up woods.

It was afternoon, too soon for lunch.

"What are those woods for?"

Alice glanced down at her hand.

"Oh, this? Miss Lumina told me to collect some. The place we are headed to is covered in snow, so finding dried wood would be challenging."

Leon gave her a nod, then asked.

"Where is she?"

"Miss Lumina?" Alice repeated, then said, "She's at the cliff to the north, I didn't company her, she looked… she looked like she needed some time alone."

Leon thought for a second, then he remembered the fragmented Shin's memory.

He stood up dusting his plants, and started walking.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked.

Leon turned and answered in a low voice.

"I have something to talk to her."

Then he walked away from the place.

.

.

[A/N: Alright, this arc ended in the latest privilege (it was streched a bit longer, i know. But needed to be done for future development). Let's move on to Academy Arc next. Also, support me with Golden tickets and Power stones!! Thanks, if we cross 100 PS today, I will update 2 more chapters next.]

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