'Cedric Martini?!'
The moment I read the first line, my eyes widened in shock.
'What? How?'
I recognized that name instantly and it was because I recognized it that I needed a moment to gather my thoughts.
During the time I played as the main character, I remembered seeing this character a few times in the academy during the beginning stages of the game.
Although he wasn't a relevant character in the game, I knew a bit about him because of a unique condition he had, which was that unlike other nobles in the academy, Cedric didn't have a bond.
It was weird. How could a noble not have a bond?
It would have been understood if he was a commoner. After all, not all commoners had Bonds appear to them at the age of twelve. And even if Bonds did appear, most would probably be weak Bonds with very little power and path progression.
However, everyone knew that all nobles had Bonds. In fact, the purer the nobility, the more likely you were to manifest a strong, high-progression Bond.
But despite being the first son of a wealthy baron, Cedric didn't have a bond appear to him.
Due to this, almost everyone bullied him in the academy. The people who bullied him the most were his siblings as they were the ones most embarrassed by him.
Then, after only a week of the first academy session, Cedric stopped coming. No one knew why he suddenly vanished.
Since he wasn't even a relevant character, I didn't bother finding out why at the time. In fact, because I never saw his character again until the end of the game, I simply forgot about him entirely.
Who knew that I would suddenly wake up as him?
'This is crazy.'
I sighed and rubbed my temples.
Now I'm curious. What happened to him?
Did he later somehow, manage to have a bond appear to him?
More importantly, how did he end up in the Royal Arena?
My thoughts were still spinning when I heard a notification sound and a message popped up in front of me drawing my attention instantly.
[Activating Gamer Privileges…]
'Huh?'
[Retrieving all known information on the character Cedric Martini…]
"…"
[Cedric Martini - Born to the Barony of Martini. As the first son, much was expected of him as the next heir. But at the age of twelve, he was unfortunate not to have a Bond manifest. This failure was a result of being born of a secret affair between the Baron and a woman, who was a commoner.]
[All the Martinis, including the Baron, treated Cedric with cold disdain due to his lack of a bond. Finally, they got fed up with him and planned to get rid of him. At the age of seventeen, just after he had begun the academy, he was sold by his parents to a cold merchant who purchased slaves for the arena.]
[Cedric, due to all the ill-treatment, got fed up with life and asked his maid, Roxanne, the only loyal person who cared about him, to give him a poison pill. He preferred to die by his own hands and not in the arena, and so, just minutes before being thrown into the ring, he took the pill and died in the holding cell of the arena.]
I stared at the screen slowly reading the long information displayed on it. When I read the last sentence, I felt a chilling wave of clarity wash over me.
'So that's what happened!'
At last, many things suddenly made sense!
I could finally understand why i had woken up in the holding cell. It was because Cedric had killed himself there.
Also, the question of why I had not known of Aika before now was answered. It was because she hadn't existed in this world before now. The original Cedric was Bond-less, but when I took over his dead body, Aika manifested as my bond.
I took a look at the tattoo on my hand, then back to the screen displaying Cedric's profile, after which I closed my eyes and bowed.
'You have had a tough life. May you rest in peace, Cedric.'
At that moment, the profile screen displaying Cedric's information disappeared and my status screen appeared once again.
I looked back up at the screen to continue my inspection, but a frown instantly crept onto my face as I saw my level and grade.
Level: [9]
Grade: [1]
'Aissh. Tsk, tsk. This is really bad.'
This just proved to me that I was weaker than I thought I was.
A Grade 1 was any level from 10 and below, and all humans who had not awakened fell under this category. Trying to level up without any magic powers and only relying on brute strength and natural skill could only take one so far.
Since Cedric had no bond, this low level was understandable. But now, that meant I needed to put in the work to level up as soon as possible. I could not afford to be weak. Especially not this weak.
'I'm probably the weakest dominant right now.'
I sighed as I leaned back on the chair, but as my gaze dropped from the level and grade to the other parts of the status, my expression brightened because these were the good parts.
Element: [Darkness]
Exclusive Class: [Gamer]
'Huh?'
…Not warrior or mage? But Gamer?
'What sort of class is this?'
I had never heard of the gamer class.
Was such a class even in the game i played?
My eyes quickly went to the exclusive class attribute.
Exclusive Class Attribute: [Gamer Privileges]
Another screen popped up next to the one already in front of me.
[Due to your Gamer Class, you have the Exclusive attribute: Gamer privileges.
This grants the user access to all Non-Diegetic elements of the world, including character profiles, maps, and even the Inventory system.]
…Mmmm. This sounded… not bad.
Though to be honest, I was really hoping for a warrior or mage or even a rogue. These classes usually offered some really great attributes especially when it came to combat or defense.
The Gamer Class, however, seemed entirely focused on utility.
'I really hope it's a great class.'
I sighed and moved on to what I really wanted to know.
Bonded Ability: [Chrysalis]
'Holy shi…'
My jaw dropped as I read the description.
[The Bonded Ability Chrysalis grants complete and total revival from every form of mortal death at midnight in exchange for 500 karma points.]