Chapter 38 – The Sin of Lust
The world pulsed with static light as the command executed.
A single ripple ran through the code of Yggdrasil—subtle, invisible to most players, but unmistakable to anyone attuned to the system.
My vision blurred. My interface dimmed.
Then, everything changed.
There was no divine flash, no system voice explaining the transformation. No grand event. Just a single, silent notification in the center of my display:
[Status Change: Player Traveler_R → World Enemy: Sin of Lust]
[Base Level Increased: 100 → 120 Cap Enabled (Starting Level: 95)]
[Sin Core of Desire Integrated Successfully.]
The screen flickered once, stabilizing.
When my eyes adjusted, I realized I was still standing inside Aeternum Sanctum—but the world around me looked subtly altered. The crystal walls had gained a faint crimson sheen, like the color had deepened into something alive. Data streams that once flowed calmly now shimmered like heat haze, and the sound—the low hum of running code—had turned melodic, almost like it was breathing with me.
I lifted my hand and opened my character interface.
The word World Champion was gone.
In its place, a new tag pulsed beneath my name:
Traveler_R – World Enemy: Sin of Lust (Active)
And below it, a single description line:
"Bearer of Desire Unbound. The one who seduces the code of the world to move at his will."
For a long moment, I just stared.
There were no fireworks, no celebratory banners—just data quietly rewriting itself, transforming every parameter of my being.
My aura changed next.
The pure white-blue of illusion magic deepened into a glowing magenta hue, tendrils of data wrapping around my avatar like spectral ribbons.
I could feel power flowing—raw, intoxicating, but not overwhelming.
The kind of strength that didn't scream, but whispered: everything you desire, you can reach.
I flexed my fingers. The Shackles of Karmic Silence responded immediately, glowing faintly with the same hue, harmonizing with the Sin Core's rhythm. Even the divine gear I wore adjusted itself, visually syncing to the transformation—red threads tracing across the white coat, faint runes glowing under the surface.
It was… beautiful.
Terrifyingly so.
"Ren-sama," HIME's voice came, her tone steady as always but laced with curiosity. "System verification complete. You have been successfully reclassified as a World Enemy. Combat parameters have been recalibrated. Your level cap has increased to 120. Shall I begin synchronization with guild database records?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "Make sure the logs update correctly. No errors."
"Understood. Updating guild data."
I exhaled slowly, staring out at the glowing chamber.
For a moment, I half-expected something—or someone—to appear.
A developer message, a world event, maybe even a warning.
But none came.
Instead, the only notification that appeared across the entire player base—those few who still remained in this fading world—was a system announcement written in cold, neutral text:
[Global System Message: Player Traveler_R has ascended to the status of World Enemy – Sin of Lust.]
[The World Enemy event will remain active until system maintenance begins in 60 days.]
And that was all.
Sixty days.
Two months before the world ended.
That's how long the developers had promised the "final update" would take before servers shut down permanently.
But to me, it wasn't an ending. It was a countdown.
The moment the message appeared, a wave of nostalgia hit me. Eleven years of exploration, building, fighting, scheming—all flashing before my eyes. Yggdrasil had been my life, my refuge, my world. And now, with everyone gone, I stood at its pinnacle… alone.
"HIME," I said softly. "Status of guild members?"
"All current members remain inactive," she replied. "Last login from secondary account 'Alviss' occurred thirty-seven days ago. You are the only active operator in the Three Burning Eyes network."
"I see."
The silence stretched.
There had been a time when the guild chat buzzed with life—plans for raids, debates over data trades, laughter about crazy builds and broken item combinations. Now, it was empty.
Still, it didn't feel lonely.
It felt… peaceful.
I walked through the corridors of Aeternum Sanctum—the portable guild base that had once been a bustling hub of information and strategy. Now it stood as a monument to everything we had achieved. The halls shimmered with golden light, lined with treasures from every world: rare ores, captured flora, crystalline archives of monsters and maps.
As I passed the data vault, I paused before the massive repository where all guild information was stored.
Millions of entries—locations, item records, NPC data, unconfirmed secrets.
All of it still alive.
"Archive integrity?"
"Stable," HIME said. "No corruption detected. Shall I maintain full operational capacity?"
"Yes," I replied. "Keep everything running. Even if I'm the only one left."
"Affirmative."
The next few days passed quietly.
I didn't receive any challenges or invasion alerts.
No messages from other guilds.
No player activity logs, save for automated resource resets and NPC maintenance.
Yggdrasil was fading faster than anyone had expected.
And so, I decided to make the most of what remained.
If this was to be the world's twilight, then I would be its last explorer.
I began my journey again—from Helheim to Asgard, one world at a time.
Everywhere I went, I found silence.
Cities abandoned, dungeons unclaimed, fields once filled with adventurers now covered in digital dust.
Occasionally, an NPC would greet me—loyal to the end, repeating their programmed lines as if nothing had changed. It was hauntingly beautiful.
In those moments, I felt something close to reverence.
This wasn't just a game. It was art. A living structure built by thousands of human hands and millions of hours. And now, as the last active player, I had the privilege of seeing it as no one else ever would:
Empty, eternal, perfect.
By the time thirty days had passed, my level had already risen to 110.
Grinding alone as a World Enemy wasn't easy, but with the boosts from the Sin Core and the divine set, my efficiency bordered on absurd. Monsters that once required raid parties fell in seconds. Entire dungeons cleared themselves through illusions and data manipulation.
The combination of Data Collapse: Revision and my new Sin-based ability—Desire Manifestation—made it almost unfair. I could overwrite enemy parameters, reduce their defense, or cause their own skills to malfunction mid-battle.
And yet… I didn't feel invincible.
Even as I stood stronger than ever, something about the emptiness reminded me that power meant little when no one was left to witness it.
Sometimes, I'd open the old guild chat window and type messages anyway.
Not for replies, but for memory.
[Traveler_R]: "Found a hidden ruin under Alfheim. Probably part of the early dev builds. Still has debug objects."
[Traveler_R]: "Cleared another dungeon in Niflheim. Loot table bugged, but still beautiful."
[Traveler_R]: "Still here, everyone."
HIME never commented on those messages. She just stood nearby, silent as always, monitoring my health bars and cooldowns.
The announcement of Yggdrasil's "final update" came as a formality. A short message appeared in every player's inbox:
[Notice: Yggdrasil servers will undergo major update in 30 days. Please back up any private data. Developer support for custom builds will cease after this period.]
But anyone still here knew what it really meant.
There wouldn't be an update.
There would only be an ending.
I closed the message and looked out across Muspelheim's burning horizon.
Volcanoes flared in the distance, painting the sky in waves of molten gold.
"I guess this is it," I murmured.
"Ren-sama," HIME said quietly, "what is your objective for the remaining days?"
I smiled faintly. "Explore. There's still a lot of the map left. Even if no one's watching, I want to see everything."
"Acknowledged. Shall I mark unexplored coordinates?"
"Yes. Start from the northern hemisphere. Let's finish what we started."
And so began my final expedition.
Every day, I logged in, stepped into the fading world, and charted new territories.
The deeper I explored, the more I discovered forgotten beauty—dungeons left incomplete, temples that hinted at unfinished storylines, code fragments written by developers who had probably long since moved on.
Each discovery felt like unearthing a memory.
And each step reminded me why I loved Yggdrasil in the first place.
Not for the battles.
Not for the rewards.
But for the mystery—the endless, infinite curiosity that came with walking through a world where everything had meaning, even if no one remembered why.
One night, as I stood on a frozen cliff overlooking the void between worlds, I realized something.
Even as a World Enemy, even as a creature the system itself now categorized as a threat, I didn't feel corrupted or monstrous.
I felt free.
For the first time, the system didn't bind me to rules or expectations.
I could go anywhere, do anything.
No guild wars. No tournaments. No objectives.
Just the quiet, endless expanse of a dying world—and me, walking its last path.
And as the wind blew across the frozen plains of Helheim, carrying data particles that sparkled like snow, I whispered to no one:
"If this is what being a World Enemy means, then maybe I've finally found peace."
HIME's voice came softly behind me.
"Ren-sama… shall I log this as your final journey entry?"
I smiled. "Not yet. We still have two months. Let's make them count."
The world glowed faintly beneath my feet, alive for just a little longer.
And I kept walking—into the digital dawn of Yggdrasil's twilight.
End of Chapter 38 – The Sin of Lust