The thick fog over the Sonia Sea rolled endlessly across the dark water.
A small wooden ship drifted quietly through the mist, its single sail fluttering weakly in the cold wind. The creaking of wood and the gentle crashing of waves were the only sounds in the silent sea.
Lying flat on the deck was a young man with black hair and unusual yellow eyes. His face was pale, and his expression was filled with confusion.
Slowly, his eyes opened.
He stared blankly at the gray sky above him.
"...What just happened?" the young man muttered.
His name was Adrian.
The last thing Adrian vaguely remembered was standing in a grocery store, buying food for dinner. Then suddenly everything had gone black.
It felt as if he had been pulled into a massive black hole. His body had lost all sense of direction as he was dragged through endless darkness.
Then, just as suddenly, everything returned to normal.
Adrian slowly sat up and looked around.
Endless ocean surrounded him.
A cold wind brushed against his face as the ship gently rocked on the waves.
"Have I been transmigrated or something el—"
Before he could finish speaking, his head suddenly throbbed with pain.
Voices. Images. Memories.
But they weren't his.
"Boom!"
A flood of unfamiliar memories exploded inside his mind.
Adrian clutched his head as countless scenes flashed through his thoughts.
After a few moments, the pain slowly faded.
Adrian sat there silently, his breathing heavy.
"So… I really have been transmigrated, huh?"
But then his eyes widened in shock as more memories surfaced.
A crimson red moon.
Steam-powered machines.
Strange rituals.
Mysticism.
Adrian's face slowly turned pale.
"No… no way…"
He swallowed nervously.
"Why… why does it have to be that world?"
Adrian clearly recognized it.
The world of Lord of the Mysteries.
He had read the novel once and loved it so much that he even read fan fiction about it. He had also watched the animated adaptation.
But that had been a year ago.
And his memory was terrible.
"I only remember that Klein Moretti transmigrates around the year 1349… and a few major plot points…"
Adrian rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"I don't even remember a single potion formula. Who would try to memorize something like that anyway?"
After calming himself slightly, Adrian took a deep breath.
"Okay… first things first."
"Where am I? And whose body is this?"
He began sorting through the memories of the body's original owner.
A few minutes later, Adrian suddenly burst into laughter.
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA!"
"I can't believe someone's luck could be this terrible!"
The original owner of the body had also been named Adrian.
He was a fallen noble from Backlund.
Because of his strange yellow eyes, people were terrified whenever they saw him. Some even believed he was possessed by a devil.
His father had been careless and irresponsible.
Two months ago, the man died from a sudden heart attack.
His mother had died while giving birth to him.
Although the family still had enough money for a family of four to live comfortably, the original Adrian wanted more wealth.
So he asked a local man about the fastest way to make money.
The man jokingly suggested becoming a pirate.
Pirates could earn huge fortunes—but it was extremely dangerous.
Unfortunately…
The original Adrian took the joke seriously.
He spent nearly all his remaining money to buy a small ship.
Then he excitedly set sail, dreaming of becoming a famous pirate.
But just as he began his journey…
He got so excited that he suffered a heart attack.
And died.
Right in the middle of the ocean.
Adrian wiped tears from his eyes as he finished laughing.
"Wow… that might be the most ridiculous death I've ever heard of."
After calming down, Adrian suddenly became serious.
"There's one important question left."
He looked around cautiously.
"Do I have a cheat?"
"A system? A golden finger? Something like that?"
Just as he thought that, his vision suddenly went dark.
The world disappeared.
Adrian felt his body floating in endless emptiness.
"Huh?"
"Where am I?"
The void around him was completely silent.
Then suddenly—
A small white orb appeared in front of him.
Adrian stared at it in confusion.
Something deep inside him urged him to touch it.
Without thinking, he reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the orb—
"BOOM!"
A torrent of broken memories rushed into his mind.
He saw the vague image of a terrifying existence.
A being so powerful that even thinking about it made Adrian's soul tremble.
"At least… the level of a Great Old One…"
Adrian gasped.
From the fragmented memories, he learned the truth.
This being was an Outer God.
Its name was Lord of the Undead.
Its power resembled that of a necromancer from fantasy stories—an existence capable of controlling the dead.
But the Outer God had been incredibly arrogant.
It had attempted something impossible.
It tried to turn other Outer Gods into undead servants.
But the attempt failed.
And the backlash was catastrophic.
The failure destroyed its Indestructible Consciousness, causing its complete death.
As Adrian was being transmigrated between worlds, he had accidentally come into contact with the abandoned Sefirot left behind by this fallen Outer God.
That Sefirot now existed within him.
It contained the characteristics, power, and complete pathway of the Lord of the Undead.
However…
Adrian currently couldn't use most of that power.
"Gulp…"
Adrian swallowed nervously.
A complete Outer God pathway.
A Sefirot.
If anyone in the world discovered this…
He would instantly become the target of every terrifying existence in the universe.
Adrian took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.
"Still…