Lucien Ashborne was supposed to be a nobody — an early-game villain who existed only to be crushed by the protagonist. After provoking the wrong person, he vanished from the story without even a dramatic death scene.

When a player named James dies and wakes up in Lucien’s body, he inherits every bit of the villain’s broken reputation and zero of his privileges. Bullied, scorned, and abandoned by his own noble family, Lucien now stands at the bottom of the academy hierarchy.

To make matters worse, the world he knew as a game has no guaranteed happy ending… and the protagonist’s party treats him like a criminal.

But James isn’t the Lucien they think he is.

With fragments of meta-knowledge, a half-broken system that barely works, and a determination to avoid becoming cannon fodder, he chooses a different path.

He doesn’t seek glory.
He just refuses to disappear.

This is the story of a former villain trying to rewrite his role — not as a hero, but as someone who survives on his own terms.

[Two Hours Later - The March to the Fortress]


The combined forces moved out. Valerius took command naturally, his charisma turning the ragtag militia into a disciplined unit.


I rode in the rear, keeping my distance.


He might not know I'm Lucien Ashborne, but he knows I'm a high-ranking participant. He was testing me back there.


[System Alert] [Anomaly Detected in Dungeon Matrix.]


[The Difficulty is being forcibly adjusted.] [Reason: High-Performance Participant Intervention.] [Level 4 -> Level 4 (Hard Mode)]


The sky above us flickered. The purple hue darkened to a bruised black. Red lightning began to crackle in the clouds.


Up ahead, Valerius stopped his horse. He looked at the sky, his expression hardening.


"The mana density is rising," Valen shouted, his horse rearing. "This… this isn't normal weather!"


The ground shook. But this time, it wasn't an earthquake.


Chapter 122 - Dungeon Competition [End]