Warmth.
No body. No senses. Just thoughts floating in the dark.
'Is this death?'
[Character Creation]
'What?'
[Create your appearance.]
'…I literally just died. Let me rest.'
[Create your appearance.]
'Shut up.'
[Create your appearance.]
'Fine! At least tell me how!'
[Envision it.]
Ugh. Of course it's that simple.
I imagined a lean, sharp figure. Skin without blemishes. Black hair—short, parted in the middle. Silver eyes.
Something new. Not Aureus. Me.
Suddenly, the warmth burned. My existence stretched and reshaped, like muscle pulled across bone. My vision returned just in time to see blinding light flood in. I rushed to cover my eyes but froze as I saw what was in front of me.
[Select your race]
Wait…A realization crept its way into my thoughts as I glimpsed at the races.
'Is this… Purgatory?'
The character creation screen resembled the game's formatting. Except—this didn't exist in the real version. In the actual game, you didn't choose anything. You just played as Aureus.
A passive puppet in a pre-scripted story. Sure each run was different but even then you had limited options. The choices were in Aureus's hands.
Purgatory was infamous in the gaming world. Hyped as the first truly immersive VR game with hyper-realistic graphics, it delivered visually—but not in gameplay. Despite its promises, it was just a glorified story mode with limited choices, often fewer than four, and no real agency. Still, some players like me stuck around. The lack of decision-making was oddly relaxing, and the first-person perspective added a layer of immersion. But what really drove people away was the ending—it never changed. No matter what choices you made, the tragedy was inevitable.
Still…
Even after most players quit, I stayed—for one reason: each run subtly changed the next. Choices in one playthrough would shift the options in the next. Others noticed it too, but by the 20th run, hope faded and they left. Still I kept going. Each run lasted about 20 hours, and playing 8 hours a day for nine years, I went through around 165 runs. Not once did I see a character creation screen.
So what is this?
Did I really get a chance to change things?
✦ Race Selection
[Select your race]
The list went on forever. Literally hundreds of them. Even ones that had existed on earth. So I quickly found the best options.
Dragon. Phoenix. Demon. Angel. Spirit. Chimera.
I started scoring them mentally:
Demon and Angel were out. Too extreme. You either went full psycho or became a self-righteous zealot.
Phoenix was flashy and immortal, but annoying as hell to play.
Dragon, Spirit, and Chimera… now those were promising.
Dragons had wisdom, insane power, and unique traits like Dragon Eyes—able to perceive the essence of anything. Plus one of Aureus's masters was a dragon, and she was fairly powerful but still simple.
Spirits had ridiculous late-game potential. Adaptability. Intangibility. Even form-shifting. One run, Aureus fought a spirit who was basically Death incarnate.
Chimera was a wildcard. Only one had ever shown up in-game: a messed-up hybrid with the power to absorb souls for strength and manipulate nature. A grotesque mixture of human, elf, and demon. I did not want to be a demon with elf ears. So I wanted to immediately cross it out as an option.
But what if…I can choose my mix?
I hesitated.
'Screw it.'
[Race selected: Chimera]
[New Option Unlocked: Select Sub-Races]
'Wait, what?'
The gamble paid off.
I grinned already knowing what I'd pick.
Dragon. Spirit. Axolotl.
Why axolotl?
Regeneration. Ridiculous, overpowered regeneration. Healing organs. Limbs. Everything. Combined with the addition of dragon and spirit? I might just be unkillable.
[Sub-Races Confirmed]
✦ Class Selection
[Select your class and subclass]
Hundreds again. I scrolled.
Aureus had gone down three major paths over the game's course: melee fighter, ranger, and eventually a wizard. Wizard suited him best, and by the tenth run it was clear he was basically designed for it.
I hovered over Swordsman.
Was it the flashiest class? No.
Did I care?
Not really.
I'd always loved swords. The way they moved. The sound of steel cutting air. It was beautiful. There was a kind of freedom in the blade that magic never had. And finally I could experience them outside of the game.
[Class Selected: Swordsman]
✦ Subclass Selection
Then came subclasses. Which also didn't exist in Purgatory. But I had long since discarded the idea everything would line up.
Another long list, most of which were combat-focused.
One had caught my eye however.
Librarian
I remembered this one. Showed up only once in Run 158. A different character in a dungeon. He was weak—couldn't fight—but he had something that made him terrifying:
Shelf of Memory
A skill that stored experiences, memories, skills—all in the form of books, mentally accessible at will.
Basically: photographic memory turned into a skill.Useless to most people, but to me? A gold mine.
Combined with Dragon Eyes and Spirit adaptation?
I could learn faster than anyone. Maybe even faster than Aureus.
[Subclass Selected: Librarian]
Actually that was a joke of an idea and even I knew it.
Aureus belonged to a class that wasn't even listed—an Evolver. Also considered god candidates, A few exist in each race, and he was the first human one in generations. On top of that, his unique trait let him absorb the knowledge of those he killed. With that and his class, he evolved at an inhuman rate. So I had to make every choice count just to keep up—otherwise, I'd be just another dead burden in purgatory.
Anyways if I was right the next window should pop up. And it should be...
✦ Trait Selection
[Select a trait]
Perfect.
A there was only one I wanted.
Weaver
It belonged to a villain in an early run. The creator of the original Chimera. It allowed the user to combine—not just corpses, but anything. Skills. Weapons. Magic. Theory.
The only limit was understanding. Which is why the villain stuck to monsters, it was what he knew.
But there was a stark difference between us.
He used it to make monsters. I'd use it to surpass monsters.
[Trait Selected: Weaver]
✦ FInal selection
[You will reincarnate in Year: xx29]
That was a few years before the Academy storyline started.
Perfect.
[Select your destination]
I zoomed into the map—familiar after hundreds of runs—and tapped near Aureus's hometown.
[Access Denied: You may not interfere with fixed elements.]
Of course.
They wouldn't let me stop the worst parts:
His father dying to wolves in front of him. His mother's life… what happened in the slave pens. Her suicide. The noble's daughter. The torture. The escape to the woods where he survived on his own for two years. And finally his adoption by a friendly count.
All that pain and eventual salvation—that was what made him Aureus.
Still I had hoped I could change something but it all depends on one thing..
'Which run is this?'
[Run 67]
'Of all the runs…'
This was the one where Aureus met his heroine. But it was also when the real problems began. Each run changed—sometimes because of Aureus's choices, sometimes not. The world just kept getting harder, like it was adjusting to him.
'Purgatory really is a fitting name,' I thought, remembering all the suffering he'd endured.
I chose the best spot I could think of with what I knew.
[Destination Confirmed]
[You will be granted "The System" upon arrival.]
"Wait. No. Not the system—"
My hearing and vision had cut out before I could continue.
[I wish you the best of luck. Now do what nobody else could..]
A flash of white swallowed me.
I opened my eyes to a forest buried in snow. The cold bit into my skin, but it wasn't the cold that hurt most.
It was the pain.
[Awakening Trait: Weaver]
[Awakening Race: Chimera]
[Awakening Sub-Race: Dragon]
[Awakening Sub-Race: Spirit]
[Awakening Sub-Race: Axolotl]
[Awakening Class: Swordsman]
[Awakening Sub-Class: Librarian]
[Racial Abilities: Draconic Eyes (Ex), Draconic Heart (Ex), Draconic Circuit (Ex), Draconic Tongue (Ex), Draconic Scales (Ex), Spirit Adaptation (Ex), Spirit Intangibility (B+), Spirit Sight (SS), Elemental Form (S), Regeneration (Ex), Camouflage (B), Breathing (A), Water-breathing (A), Swimming (A), Sensory Boost (S)]
[Class Abilities: Shelf of Memory (S)]
[Skills: Horizontal Swing (D), Vertical Swing (D), Diagonal Swing (D), Block (E), Parry (E), Basic Footwork (E), Reading (F), Translation (F), Sword Breath (D), Memorise (B)]
[Trait Abilities: Merge (S)]
"AHHHH!!"
I collapsed, my fingers digging into the icy dirt as my body screamed in agony.
Scales tore through my skin like knives. Bones cracked and reformed. My organs liquified and reshaped. My blood boiled and froze and burned again.
I was being remade.
True to my choices, the Draconic enhancements invaded every nerve. My senses fractured and rebuilt themselves. My spirit flickered, struggling to stabilize.
My regeneration had kept me alive just barely.
After what felt like hours, the process slowed. My breathing was hitched yet erratic.
Looking around, my blood had soaked the snow around me.
"Hhaaaa… hhaaaa…"
Then, just as my body adjusted, a new message burned itself into my vision.
[System Progress: 99.98%]
'No…'
[Progress: 99.99%]
'Not yet—'
[Progress: 100.00%]
[Hello, Host.]
I froze.
This wasn't just another cheat system.
It wasn't a blessing.
It was an enemy.
One of the very ones I have to help Aureus beat..