The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 4: A Specter’s Will

As she vanished, I looked down at my body, instantly noticing my clothes had returned to their original and tidy state while the pain surging from my ears and knees had vanished.

A healer...?

Finally turning the corner, leaving the gate behind me, I found the streets all around entirely empty, likely because of an evacuation warning, and tapped my smartwatch for directions.

"...it’s broken."

My legs giving out, I collapsed on the cement and leaned against the brick wall, gazing up at the now orange sky.

Sunset.

Reaching into my pocket, I expected to feel nothing, but my thousand dollars, somehow in perfect condition, awaited me.

"Her?"

My katana and its sheath, however, were far gone. I was never any good at wielding swords anyway...or any weapon for that matter.

As a breeze passed by, pushing my hair off my forehead, I closed my eyes for a moment.

But there was no darkness waiting for me.

Just dead bodies, mountains of blood, pained screams for help, blaring sirens, and a cheerful purple-haired girl.

Perhaps, because it was the only image that paused my body’s terrified trembling, I clung onto it, like a child with a teddy bear plushie.

The right thing is whatever the right person says it is.

Who was the right person?

Was it the strongest? The smartest? The shredewest? The richest?

Who had the right to impose their morals and ideals on others, determining what was "right" and "wrong"

Tilting my head upward as a pitch-black overtook the sky, I felt my thoughts slow while my consciousness slowly slipped away.

The question was no longer "What type of life did I want to lead in this world?"

Life itself was not a guarantee. It was a privilege, one that I had yet to earn.

...

...

...

"Hey, get out of here!"

My eyes flickering open before immediatly shutting at the sudden sunlight, I rubbed my head while the aggressive voice continued.

"You hear me!? LEAVE! YOU’RE DRIVING AWAY CUSTOMERS!"

Slowly standing up and ignoring the storeowner’s furious expression, I asked coldly.

"Where’s the nearest train station?"

Perhaps taken aback by my tone, the storeowner hesitated for a moment before pointing to the right.

Nodding my head, I walked toward the train station, following the crowd of people ahead of me.

With there being only one landmass in this world, composed of the human, elven, and mountainous regions, trains were the primary mode of transport for most people.

Powered by mana, the average train now moved at the speed of a bullet train back on Earth, permitting humans to move between the over 10 established cities in the human kingdom within hours.

Pushing my down my crumpled white collared shirt, I glanced at the map within the station, confirming my destination.

Vael, the capital city, was far too crowded and filled with important characters for me to try going for any powerful items.

It was time to finally put my true oracle-like knowledge to the test.

After all, in the future, I was bound to face some dangerous event like that gate again.

"Station: Vael #3! Arrived."

Recalling the fate of the real "Ash," I sighed and stepped onto the train as it stopped before me, joining the crowd of bustling workers, stressed heroes, and anxious students.

With the most powerful items I knew of far out of reach, considering my current level, I only had a few options, and of those, I only knew the location of one very well.

After all, it had killed Ash twice, perhaps now thrice!

I was going to attempt to absorb the Specter’s inheritance without being consumed by it. Ironically, I was going toward the one thing I had sworn to avoid.

Outside the twelve major cities, the rest of the human territory was largely uncolonized, preserving some beautiful natural sights.

Finding an empty seat on the train, I watched as the modern city of Vael vanished, replaced by beautiful forests and bright blue lakes glimmering in the sun.

Yesterday, there had been a tragedy, yet Today seemed to have forgotten about that.

Glancing at the newspaper in the hands of the person next to me, I unsurprisingly found no headlines regarding the gate incident.

[The Quorum surges forward to reach #2 in the guild rankings after clearing S-rank Dungeon Refraction Bloom! What will Aureate do? Read more and find out!]

Ah...it seems the prologue is complete.

After regressing back in time, Ren immediatly wanted to unlock his gift. Thus, he reached out to "The Quorum," the previous #6-ranked guild and future #1-ranked guild.

Ren exchanged the coordinates of Refraction Bloom, a dungeon he had cleared in his previous life to unlock his gift, for the opportunity to join the S-rank dungeon raid despite being a G-rank.

Gifts could be unlocked in two ways: by clearing a dungeon and receiving a loot drop called a Power Stone, or, in extremely rare cases, they could be passed down through inheritance or stolen.

In less than a single day, Ren had unlocked quite possibly the most powerful gift to exist, Lightbearer, and formed a vital connection with the future most powerful guild in the world.

Yet...in seven days and with way more nuanced knowledge than Ren, I had nothing to show.

Comparison really is the thief of joy.

Feeling a rather sudden sense of urgency, I glanced at the newly repaired smartwatch on my wrist.

[Specters are known to be separate existences from Dregs, their origins unknown as they don’t come from the Dreg Dimension. With their recorded appearances in the single digits, all that is known about Specters is that they wield scythes, have the ability to pass through tangible objects, and have a wide array of mental attacks.]

Switching to the navigation application on my smartwatch, I quickly found my destination.

[Tartarus]