Leonard Cross landed hard on dirt.
Cold, damp earth pressed into his palms as he instinctively caught himself with breath leaving his lungs in a sharp grunt. The air smelled wrong.
It was thick, heavy and laced with rot and something metallic beneath it.
He pushed himself up as his heart pounded.
"…What?"
The world around him was unrecognizable.
Gone was the endless grid. Gone was the academy plaza. Gone were the drones, the diamond, the laughter.
Instead, incredibly tall trees could be spotted overhead with their twisted branches choking out most of the light. Moss crawled over rough rocks. The ground dipped unevenly beneath his boots... boots he didn't remember wearing.
The forest floor sloped downward in deliberate angles, guiding movement. Fallen logs weren't random; they were positioned as cover. Stones formed half-collapsed paths that subtly funneled intruders toward a single direction.
Leonard paused...
"Boots?"
He looked down.
Leather greaves wrapped his legs. Dark, reinforced fitted cloth hugged his thighs.
Light armor layered over his chest, flexible yet sturdy and etched with faint runic lines he recognized instantly.
His breath hitched.
"No way…"
He stumbled forward, disoriented, and nearly tripped when his foot caught on a root. Ahead, a shallow puddle reflected faint moonlight filtering through the canopy.
Leonard leaned down and stared at his reflection.
The face staring back at him wasn't his.
Gone was the roundness. Gone was the softness. The swollen cheeks, the thick neck, the tired eyes.
In their place... Sharp features, lean jawline, focused eyes that seemed too steady to belong to him stared bavk at him.
His hair was longer, darker, pulled back loosely. A faint scar ran across one cheek.
Leonard reached up, touching his face.
The reflection copied him perfectly.
On his back, reflected clearly in the water, were two swords, strapped in an X formation. The blades were smooth with dark hilts and worn grips.
Leonard straightened slowly.
"…What the hell… Kael Veyrin?"
The name slipped out without thought.
Playable protagonist of Assassin Guilts.
The dual-blade assassin class. High agility. High crit damage. Low margin for error.
Leonard's pulse spiked.
"No. No way."
As if on cue, a translucent text blinked into existence in front of him.
[ Gamebreaker Protocol Active... ]
[ Incursion Initialized ]
Leonard's eyes widened.
"No. No, no—hold on."
More text scrolled.
[ Game Identified: Assassin Guilts ]
[Playable Character: Kael Veyrin]
Leonard's stomach dropped.
"…You're kidding."
Leonard laughed softly as disbelief crept into his voice.
"You picked this one?"
The interface flickered again.
[ Objective Pending… ]
Before the system could finish, Leonard's head snapped up.
He knew this place.
The terrain... The trees... The uneven slope of the ground leading down into shadow.
His gaze locked forward.
There it was.
The forest opened up just ahead.
A rough stone formation jutted from the hillside, forming a crude cave entrance. Broken wooden spikes lined the mouth, stained dark with old blood.
Primitive symbols were carved into the stone displaying crude depictions of a horned figure.
The torches flanking the entrance burned green instead of orange.
Leonard's stomach sank.
"…Goblin God's Offering."
The worst early-game level.
The system text paused.
Leonard didn't need it to finish.
"This is the level where Kael infiltrates the goblin cave," his eyes narrowed as he muttered. "Rescue Princess Elmyra before she's sacrificed."
His gaze flicked instinctively toward the cave's depth.
"Invisible timer. No UI countdown. If you take too long, cutscene triggers and she dies."
Leonard's blood ran cold.
Leonard swallowed.
"That's… that's not fair."
The interface resumed.
[ Level Objective: Enter the Goblin Cave ]
[ Primary Condition: Rescue the Princess before Sacrifice ]
[ Reward: One Random Item or Skill or Ability or Weapon or Loot from Current Level ]
Leonard barely registered the reward.
His eyes were locked on the final line.
[ Failure Condition: Death ]
There was a brief silence and then, Leonard laughed.
He let out a sharp, disbelieving bark that echoed faintly through the trees.
"Hah—no, no way."
He shook his head, breathless.
"You're kidding, right?" he said aloud, gesturing wildly at the empty forest. "This is a joke. A hallucination. Stress-induced psychosis or something."
He laughed again, louder.
"You're telling me I die here, I die for real? Come on. That's—"
A sharp twang cut through the air.
Leonard's instincts warned him but he twisted a little two slow.
Something scrapped against his shoulder and pain exploded through his body.
Real pain.
White-hot and immediate.
Leonard cried out as he stumbled back, nearly losing his footing. His shoulder burned as blood seeped through torn fabric.
He stared at it, shaking.
"…Ah."
He let out heavy breaths.
"That… hurt."
A guttural screech echoed from the cave entrance.
Leonard's head snapped up just in time to see a goblin lowering a crude bow with its yellow eyes gleaming with malice.
He turned to see the arrow that had grazed him protruding from a tree.
This wasn't a cutscene.
This wasn't scripted damage.
This was real.
The goblin screeched again, reaching for another arrow.
Leonard moved and the world slowed.
His body shifted with fluid ease, filing out of the path without thought. He rolled sideways, distributing hid weight perfectly as his shoulder sent a sensation of pain through his body. The second arrow whistled past where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.
Leonard froze mid-motion.
"…What."
He straightened slowly as his heart hammered and his awareness sharpened unnaturally.
His balance was perfect.
His breathing controlled itself.
His injured shoulder hurt but his body compensated instinctively as his posture adjusted to minimize strain.
He drew a sword effortlessly.
The blade slid free with a soft hiss, settling into his hand like it belonged there.
Leonard stared at it.
Then laughed again almost hysterically.
"Oh."
The goblin charged.
Leonard didn't think.
He acted.
Feet moved in a pattern burned into memory as he sidestepped and swung wildly.
The blade flashed once and the goblin's head hit the dirt before its body realized it was dead.
Blood sprayed warm across Leonard's arm.
He stood there with his chest rising and falling as he stared at the corpse.
"…I know this."
His mind raced.
Spawn patterns.
Enemy behavior.
Aggro ranges.
Pain still throbbed in his shoulder but adrenaline drowned it out.
Leonard rolled his shoulder experimentally. It hurt but it worked.
He looked down at himself again in shock. He was lean with unnatural strength and reflexes tuned to perfection.
A slow grin spread across his face.
"…I love this body."
The cave loomed before him, dark and waiting.
Leonard tightened his grip on the sword.
"There's no time..." he muttered. "From what I recall, I have approximately fifteen minutes which should probably be fourteen now..."
He proceeded to swiftly head forward.