Julian blinked, it felt like his eyes were heavy… but they slowly opened and the first thing that he noticed was that the ceiling wasn't the same as to what he was used to.
It certainly didn't look like his room's ceiling back on Earth at all since the roof was too luxurious, painted with intricate golden patterns that spiraled across the surface like frozen lightning.
And it didn't look like his room in Sovereign's Path either since it was somehow less luxurious, lacking that hyper-realistic VR polish he'd grown accustomed to over two years of gameplay.
'What the hell…?' He blinked once more as sensations slowly began flooding his body like water filling a dried riverbed.
A few minutes ago, he had just completed the game of Sovereign's Path, clearing all the main missions, side missions and even the hidden ones after years of grinding.
He'd gotten a notification alert that would give him access to a hidden gameplay and he clicked it without thinking, like the dumbass gamer he was.
Now he found himself here in this unfamiliar place with the usual floating game interface with health and mana at the corner of his eyes completely gone.
His breathing felt shallow.
He noticed there was a pipe in his mouth… it looked like it was some kind of feeding tube and he slowly raised his hand up, pulling the pipe out of his mouth with a wet sound that made his stomach turn.
He threw it aside without much thought.
It hit the ground with a hollow clatter and there was a small yelp at his side. His head slowly creaked over to a maid standing near the door, her face pale as a sheet.
'Strange.' He thought, narrowing his eyes slightly.
She didn't look anything like the maids back in his mansion in the game… instead she wore an emblem on her uniform that he hadn't seen in a long time.
It was from the Astoria Kingdom but at the same time, it couldn't be since the Astoria Kingdom was destroyed by that crazy woman in one of the main story routes.
Unless…
"M-m-my K-ki-king…" The Maid slowly backed off, her hands trembling like leaves in a storm.
Julian glanced at the ground. This room was luxurious but at the same time… it smelled stale.
Like old books left in a basement for too long and the kind of smell that came with neglect and sickness.
The maid got up and ran off, leaving the doors wide open behind her, and he sighed.
"So I'm in Astoria castle, huh?" He muttered aloud, his voice hoarse and unfamiliar to his own ears.
He could more or less guess that he was in the body of that weak king, the one everyone called the Fodder King behind his back.
But then… was this some kind of hidden playthrough featuring the guy? Some secret route he'd unlocked by completing everything?
"I'm not really interested." He muttered and sighed heavily. "Menu."
He looked ahead expectantly.
The Menu tab was helpful in the game… it showed the status, skills and whatever build as well as equipment your avatar had.
Not only that, there was also the mission log and most importantly, the Log out button.
Three tabs materialized in front of his eyes like translucent holograms:
『Status and Builds』
『Equipment』
『Shop』
『Mission Log』
His eyes widened as he scanned through them twice, then three times.
There was no Log-out amongst them.
'The tab did say I would enter the world truly… that means I can no longer return to Earth?' He thought, then let out a long breath that he didn't know he'd been holding.
Surprisingly, he wasn't really concerned with it at all.
His life back on Earth had been very bleak compared to this… the only highlight was the fact that he played games.
There was no family worth mentioning, no friends who bothered keeping in touch. It was just him, his VR setup, and Sovereign's Path. If anything, being stuck here might actually be an upgrade.
He slowly moved his legs to the side of the bed. They were a bit thin, almost skeletal compared to what he remembered his real body being like.
'I think at this point in time, the King had just awoken from his coma.' Julian thought, piecing together the timeline from his encyclopedic knowledge of the game's lore.
Elius was a damn bastard in the original story… just because he didn't like the fact that his wife was ruling in his stead, he had maltreated the woman who was obsessed with him and willing to take on the whole world for his sake.
He'd ruled over the Kingdom of Astoria like a tyrant throwing tantrums, which led to his death barely a year after awakening from the coma.
Ravenna, despite everything he had done to her, still loved him deeply and when he died, she wreaked absolute havoc across the continent.
As a Chosen One in the game, it took several Saint-rank beings working together just to beat the newly ascended Saint-rank Ravenna.
The battle had literally reshaped coastlines.
Julian stood up slowly and his legs wobbled a bit beneath him as his muscles were weak from disuse. The ground was a bit wet too, he noticed with disgust.
He looked down at it and saw some kind of brown liquid pooling around where the feeding tube had fallen, mixed with what looked like bile.
He could guess that this was how they had been feeding the King with nutrients while he was in a coma.
Gross.
While he was about to take another step forward toward what looked like a washroom, there was a blur of movement… and he found himself on the bed again with a woman straddled atop him, pinning him down.
'Huh…?' He blinked in shock.
He hadn't died or respawned… she was simply that fast. Faster than his eyes could even track the movement.
The woman who had straddled him had long silver hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall of moonlight, with dark crimson eyes that seemed to glow faintly in the dim light of the room.
He had faced her as the Protagonist in the game, fought her across three different story routes, and she was a very powerful being who could level cities if she wanted to.
However, never in a million years did he think that she would be on his lap, looking down at him with tears streaming down her face like she'd just witnessed a miracle.
"A… Are you okay?" He asked carefully, his voice sounding a bit tired and rough, but genuine.
Upon hearing it, Ravenna's eyes began getting even wetter and then she openly cried, her shoulders shaking.
The tears dripped down to his face and a bit even entered his mouth. He hadn't noticed at first so he swallowed reflexively.
'Eh? What's this sweet thing?' Julian thought with confusion.
Her tears tasted like honey which was weird.
She kept crying and his hand shivered a bit as he slowly, carefully placed it on her back. She looked at him as he patted her back calmly, trying to soothe whatever emotional storm was happening inside her.
"I'm here." He assured her softly.
Right now she was a Diamond-rank powerhouse according to the timeline, so any erratic movement that she made could accidentally kill him like stepping on an ant.
He had to be careful.
Ravenna lowered her face to the crook of his neck, her breath warm against his skin.
"I'm… I'm… just so happy." She said, her voice muffled against him as her royal dress splayed over him and the bed like a blanket of silk and embroidery.
For the next ten minutes, she continued crying non-stop with Julian patting her back while his eyes twitched in bewilderment.
'How much tears does she have in stock to be able to cry this long…' He thought with growing concern for her hydration levels.
She finally pulled back her face and cleaned it with her hand, her crimson eyes were still wet but calmer now.
"My King… are you really here?" She asked, her voice trembling with hope and fear mixed together.
"Of course." Julian said without hesitation, meeting her gaze. "You look more beautiful than the last time I saw you."
That made her blush immediately, a deep red spreading across her pale cheeks.
Once more, Julian had never imagined that this woman… this absolute powerhouse who could fight armies solo would actually be blushing like a schoolgirl. Elius was really the one pushing all her buttons without even trying.
"Though, do you have to sit on me? I can't feel my waist." He added with a slight grimace.
She quickly had a face of alarm as she got off him and sat beside him on the bed instead, then looked at his face with concern written all over her features.
"My King… are you fine? Does anything seem wrong? I can call the Kingdom's best healers for you right now if you want, or I can personally check your condition with magic, or—"
Julian looked at her as she continued talking rapidly, words spilling out like a dam had broken.
It was a completely different side from the cold, grieving warrior woman he had fought in the game, and it even made her hotter somehow… seeing this vulnerable, caring side of her.
His hand made its way to her head almost on instinct and he patted her gently, running his fingers through her silky silver hair.
The Queen's eyes widened and an actual purr escaped her lips.
"I'm fine…" Julian said calmly, continuing to pat her head as she practically melted under his touch. "If a maid could clean whatever that is on the ground then I'd be happier."
She immediately called for a maid with a sharp command that had someone scrambling to the room within seconds, and he kept patting her hair absentmindedly as the cleaning began.
'Well, I don't think this is that unsalvageable.' Julian thought as he stared ahead at nothing in particular.
He was trapped in the game with a very powerful queen at his side who was clearly devoted to him… that should have made him calmer. But it didn't help that this body was already this old… twenty-one, if he remembered correctly and hadn't awakened any class yet.
In a world where most people awakened between ages sixteen and eighteen, being twenty-one and unranked was basically a death sentence for any kind of respect or authority.
'Menu.' He called mentally, then telepathically tapped the Status and Builds tab as he let go of her head.
"My King… I'll personally go get you some tea." Ravenna said, standing up gracefully. "I'm very glad you're here, just please wait for me and don't go back to sleep."
Her voice carried a hint of desperation at that last part then she ran off like a girl giddy to impress the man she loved, her dress flowing behind her.
Just then, the Status and Builds tab unfolded in front of him with familiar game-like precision:
『Status』
『Name: Elius Reynald Astoria』
『Age: 21』
『Rank: Unranked』
『Bloodline Purity: 23% (Trace Bloodline)』
『Class: None』
『Position: King Of Astoria』
…
『Builds』
『Current Build: None』
『Saved Builds: None』
…
『Skills』
『None』
…
『Abilities and Traits』
『Trait: Astoria Blood』
『Descendants of Astoria blood have silver hair and dark crimson eyes so therefore, you are a descendant of the Astoria Bloodline』
…
Julian blinked at all of this information and massaged his temples with a long, tired sigh.
"Well fuck… this is even worse than I thought." Julian muttered under his breath.
The guy barely had the bloodline running through his veins… twenty-three percent was practically nothing. He was sure that if the Queen wasn't madly in love with Elius for whatever reason, he would have been cooked a long time ago.
Probably assassinated in his sleep or conveniently died from his coma.
"But then again, it's not beyond saving."
He had beaten this game. He knew every exploit, every hidden mechanic and every optimal strategy. If anyone could salvage this trainwreck of a character, it was him.
『Ding』
A notification sound rang in his head, and Julian's eyes snapped to the new text appearing before him:
『You have received a new Main Mission』
『Awaken your Class to get your Starter Pack』
'Eh?' Julian blinked.
A slow smile spread across his face.
"Now we're talking."