I Became the 101st Hero – Chapter 52

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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After completing all 100 playthroughs…

I found myself standing before the massive tree once more.

[Have you achieved everything you desired?]

100 playthroughs…

If it hadn’t been for Libero, who had already lived for eons and patiently guided me through countless deaths and rebirths, enduring that grueling process would have been impossible.

In fact, from the halfway point onwards, I started to cherish the remaining playthroughs, finding a strange comfort in the repetitive cycle of life and death. And by the time I reached the 100th playthrough, I felt a pang of regret, a sense of loss as I said goodbye to that simulated world.

“It can’t be helped. Our agreement was for 100 playthroughs.”

[I must admit, I’m also feeling a bit sentimental. Observing your journey… it was quite entertaining.]

She had been watching me this entire time?

Perhaps the gods, beings who existed outside the constraints of linear time, experienced time differently than I did.

[Now, it is time to bestow upon you your reward, for successfully completing my Trial.]

As she spoke, a single fruit descended from the branches above.

This time, I wasn’t caught off guard.

I had the Power of the Wind.

I used it to slow the fruit’s descent, gently catching it in my hands.

It was similar in size to the one I had received from the God of Regret. But unlike the previous one, this one felt… heavier. Something was inside.

‘At least it’s not an intangible reward.’

It was light, whatever it was, but definitely not empty.

I gently pried open the fruit, peering inside.

A blue light emanated from within.

‘Blue…’

It was a rank lower than purple.

Well, it was highly unlikely that I would receive a purple reward twice in a row.

But a blue reward was still something to be grateful for.

I carefully opened the fruit.

‘What’s this?’

Seven identical pills were nestled inside the fruit.

I focused on them, willing the item description to appear.

‘Not bad.’

I stored the pills in my inventory.

It was a decent reward, something that could potentially compensate for my weaknesses.

No matter how much I improved my swordsmanship or acquired powerful relics, my stats would always be my biggest limitation.

But this pill… it would provide a temporary boost, enough to overcome those limitations in a critical moment.

‘A two-rank increase is a huge deal.’

In the early game, it was relatively easy to increase your stats through basic training.

But in the late game, as your potential diminished, increasing your stats, even by a single rank, could take years of dedicated training.

And this pill could increase my stats by two ranks.

Despite the side effects, it would be a valuable asset in a pinch.

[It seems you’re quite pleased with your reward.]

“Thank you,” I replied.

[You’re welcome. But I didn’t choose it.]

The God of Regret had said something similar.

It claimed that while it was the one who bestowed the reward, it didn’t choose what it would be.

‘Then who chooses the reward?’

I gazed up at the tree, searching for answers…

When I felt a warmth on my head.

A hand gently rested on my head.

“Who…?”

[It’s me. I’d like to show you one more reality.]

It was the God of Reality.

But why?

[You intrigue me. I want you to see the whole truth.]

I couldn’t resist.

I felt something flowing into my mind, a torrent of information and emotions.

And then… nothing happened.

‘What was that?’

I expected to be transported to a new location, as had happened before.

But I was still standing before the tree.

“God of Reality?”

There was no response.

“Hello? Nothing’s changed.”

Silence.

And then, I heard another voice.

[The God of Regret handles the trivial matters, while the God of Reality takes care of the major events, I see.]

A man’s voice.

I recognized it.

I looked up at the tree, searching for the source of the voice.

Someone was sitting on a branch high above me, shrouded in shadows.

“Who are you?”

[I cannot reveal my true name. But you’ve probably heard of me. The God of Chains.]

‘The God of Chains?’

I narrowed my eyes, trying to see through the shadows.

But his figure remained hidden.

No, his appearance didn’t matter.

What mattered was how much I had longed to meet him, to confront him.

“It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who sent me to possess Allen.”

I was almost certain that Absolute Obedience was the reason I was trapped here, inhabiting Allen’s body.

And the origin of that Absolute Obedience… was the [Blessing of the God of Chains].

“Your silence is an admission of guilt,” I said, my voice tight.

“Then tell me! Why did you send me here? How can I go back?!”

The God of Chains remained silent.

“Then answer this! What happened to the God of Reality?!”

He finally spoke.

[She overexerted herself. She’s lost her voice. It will take a while for her to recover.]

“Overexerted herself?”

[Yes. Normally, she’s only allowed to show you the reality you’re actively trying to avoid. But she went beyond that, revealing something you weren’t ready to see.]

But that wasn’t true.

Nothing had changed after she placed her hand on my head.

[Check your Status.]

‘My Status?’

I opened my Status window.

‘Huh?’

It had changed.

The ‘Emblem of ???’ that had been listed as my Stigma had been replaced with ‘Emblem of Inheritance’.

‘So that’s what kind of Stigma Allen has?’

I scrolled down.

The Stigma’s inherited trait and inherited skill were now listed.

‘What in the world…?’

I checked the inherited trait first.

I had never seen this trait before.

I had inherited three skills and traits so far.

I hadn’t noticed any difference with [Precociousness] and [Swordsmanship (B)], probably because Allen’s base stats were so low.

But [Authority of the Lodraim Royal Family]… I had felt like it was stronger than other inherited traits.

‘But the inherited skill…?’

What kind of skill had I been completely unaware of this whole time?

I checked the skill’s description, and…

My mind went blank.

‘What?!’

It took me a while to process the implications.

Because it was an impossible truth, a reality I couldn’t even begin to accept.

‘I wasn’t possessing him?’

I hadn’t possessed Allen Pleak at all.

It was the other way around.

I was Allen Pleak…

“Seoyoon’s memories… they were transferred to me?”

[Do you understand now? I was planning on keeping this a secret for a while longer. The God of Regret played along nicely. But I didn’t expect the God of Reality to screw things up.]

“Why did you hide this from me?”

[You had to believe you were Seoyoon.]

I had to believe I was Seoyoon?

“What do you mean?”

[I can’t reveal everything. But maybe this will make things clearer.]

His voice turned cold.

[Do you think you could have come this far without Absolute Obedience?.]

His words pierced me like shards of ice.

I thought back to my journey so far.

‘Could I have come this far… without Absolute Obedience?’

Absolutely not.

I might be less reliant on it now, but in the beginning, it was my only lifeline.

But still…

“What does that have to do with you deceiving me? So maybe I wasn’t Seoyoon. But Absolute Obedience…”

[It was used by the real Seoyoon, your patron. You thought you were using it, didn’t you?]

“That’s impossible! How could a player use Absolute Obedience at the exact same time I’m thinking about using it?!”

[Because you believed you were Seoyoon. Your thoughts and his… they were perfectly aligned. At least, they were, until you met that woman, Gwen.]

Something changed after I met Gwen?

“You mean… after I started seeing the people in this world as actual people?”

[Yes. That was something I hadn’t anticipated. It created a disconnect between you and the Absolute Obedience you thought you were using.]

It was all so unbelievable, a truth too incredible to accept.

But it also explained so much, all the strange inconsistencies I had experienced, the things that didn’t make sense.

It had to be true.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, my voice trembling.

I now understood that it wasn’t Seoyoon, the player, who had been transferring his memories to me. It was Allen’s Stigma.

No, it was my Stigma now. I was Allen.

But why go through all this trouble, conspiring with other gods, to make me believe I was Seoyoon?

What did a god want from me?

[I can’t tell you that. Like the God of Reality, there are limits to the truths I can reveal.]

“Then you, too, like the God of Reality…!”

[Silence. I have a more important role to play than her. But I can tell you this: you’re doing well.]

“Doing well?”

The ground beneath me started to shake.

The world around me was crumbling, the walls dissolving into nothingness.

[It seems our conversation is coming to an end. The God of Reality lent me this space. Without her power, it cannot be maintained.]

Wait.

I wasn’t done talking to him.

“Absolute Obedience! You have to do something about that! I can’t live like this!”

Absolute Obedience wasn’t useless.

But I was no longer as reliant on it. I had grown stronger, more independent.

And now that my values, my sense of morality, had diverged so drastically from the player, Seoyoon, it was a ticking time bomb.

“Can’t you just take back your blessing?”

[Unfortunately, once a blessing has been bestowed upon a character, it cannot be revoked. You know this, don’t you? You have a player’s knowledge.]

“Then what about…!”

[You have Seoyoon’s memories. You know him well. Trust him.]

Trust him?

I did know Seoyoon, at least the version of him preserved within my memories.

But he wasn’t exactly trustworthy.

[He’s changed. Observing your journey… it’s had a profound effect on him.]

‘He’s changed?’

I thought back to my first Trial, the Trial of the God of Regret, the Trial that had given me the strength to move forward by showing me Seoyoon’s past.

Had Seoyoon also been affected by watching me, by witnessing my struggles and triumphs?

After all, he had been using me, manipulating me to prove something to himself.

My vision blurred as the space around me crumbled, the world collapsing in on itself.

My second Trial was coming to an end.

But it wasn’t just the Trial that was ending.

‘The end of me, as Seoyoon…’

I didn’t resist.

Unlike the weak, incompetent Allen Pleak of the past, I had grown, matured, become my own person.

I had diverged from the player, Seoyoon, forging my own path.

If someone asked me who I was now…

I wasn’t Seoyoon. And I wasn’t Allen Pleak.

I was simply… me.

I returned to reality.

The memories of my 100 playthroughs within the Trial, aside from the conversations I had with the gods, faded like a dream.

But I knew what I had to do.

‘Become a hero.’

That was my path now. My purpose.

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