Alex grumbled from the depths of his throat, opening my eyes. He blinks his eyes to see a not-so-familiar room.
"Where am I?" Alex's gaze darted around the lavishly appointed room, taking in the opulence surrounding him. A grand bed, draped in sumptuous silks and embroidered linens, suggested the wealth of its owner—someone either excessively affluent or utterly pretentious. The room itself was spacious, with high ceilings adorned with intricate plasterwork, and a large, ornate body mirror that reflected not just his confused expression but also the glimmers of gold accents throughout the décor. Against one wall, a medieval-looking door stood tall, its surface decorated with elaborate carvings depicting mythical creatures and twisting vines.
"Did I get kidnapped?" he mused, an unsettling chill creeping up his spine. But as he assessed his surroundings further, he couldn't shake the feeling that this room was far too elaborate for a typical abduction scenario. The choices made in the room's design seemed almost too intentional, too refined. "Isn't the room choice too... extravagant for someone who's been taken?" he puzzled, the questions swirling in his mind as he tried to piece together the fragmented memories of how he had ended up here. He glanced around the luxurious room, then checked his wrists in case he was tied up, and saw skin paler and smaller than what he remembered himself to be.
"What the.. " He immediately stopped the moment he heard his voice. Alex opened his mouth again to hear himself properly.
"Hello...? -! " He flinched when he heard his voice again. He sounds too... Youthful..?
It isn't that he's old, he just sounds like a teenager this time... Instead of someone nearing their 30s.
"I... Transmigrated...?"
That... Would make some little sense... But why him? Wait- no- but- if he did get transmigrated, then... The owner of this body's fate should be death. He just needs to know whose body it is that he's using.
Alex rushes to the body mirror in a hurry and examines his body. He looked like he was around the age of 16 to 17 years old. He didn't look too skinny to be starved, nor did he look like he worked out regularly; he just looked like any average teenager. The dim lighting in the room made his skin seem almost ghostly, barely discernible against the shadows. As Alex scrutinized the boy's features, he couldn't help but notice several stark differences from his original self. The boy's pallor was strikingly unhealthy; it was as if he had been drained of vitality, the lack of melanin making him appear shockingly pale. While Alex himself was no stranger to staying indoors, he realized he had never looked this sickly.
What struck him even more were the boy's eyes. They held an eerie quality, almost lifeless, devoid of the vibrancy and sparkle one would expect from a living being. It felt as if he were gazing into the face of a corpse rather than a boy still tethered to life. Nothing else about him screamed significance. He didn't radiate the traits of an expendable background character, nor did he exude the menacing aura of a villain scheming against the heavens. Instead, he resembled a typical shut-in with wasted looks.
Knock! Knock!
Alex was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the sounds of two pairs of footsteps approaching his room. When he finally turned his head towards the door, he saw a maid and a butler enter.
"Who…?" His confusion hung in the air, yet it didn't seem to catch the servants off guard. They maintained their composure, their expressions calm as they awaited his next words, despite their uncertainty about his question.
"We are the young master's servants. I am the young master's butler, Dolion, and this is Satya, the young master's caretaker," the elderly man proclaimed, his voice steady and reassuring. Dolion, with deep-set eyes that bore the rich, mottled brown of soil, had wrinkles that told stories of a life well-lived, lines etched deeply across his forehead and around his eyes.
Beside him stood Satya, a young lady who could easily be mistaken for an Indian celebrity if she were in the modern world. Satya slightly inclined her head in greeting, a gesture filled with grace and respect, her presence adding a touch of warmth to the otherwise perplexing atmosphere.
Hearing their names, Alex can't help but feel a familiar ring to them. He decides to brush off the feel at first, and instead, focused on whose body it is that he's possessing and what happened to the original owner of this body.
Noticing the confusion still swirling in his master's mind, Dolion figured that this time, the amnesia really hit harder than before. It stung a bit to see how lost the young man seemed, and the butler couldn't shake off the worry he felt for him. Watching the boy struggle with lost memories tugged at the old man's heart, making him wish he could do something to lessen the weight of it all.
"Young master's name is Alice Cohenh, second son of his grace, Duke William Cohenh. With your siblings, first son and eldest child of Duke Cohenh, young master Thomas Cohenh, and first daughter and youngest child of Duke Cohenh, young lady Lorah Cohenh," Dolion finished explaining.
Dolion looked expectantly at his, and young Satya's charge, thinking that maybe this time the familiar sights would jog his memory. It had worked before, after all. But despite the lively surroundings and the soft rustle of leaves, it seemed his young master was still stuck in a haze of forgetfulness, unable to pull together the pieces of his past.
'Alice.. Cohenh?..' The name circled through Alex's name countless times. The last name at least rings a familiar note to him, but he doesn't remember any Alice from the Cohenh family that he knows. Regardless, at least he has an inkling of where he might be or what world he might be in.
{Creed of the damned}. It was a novel he had read before he was brought to this place, and the only thing he could remember other than what he used to go by then. Dolion and Satya's names were mentioned more than once during the 5th arc of the novel. They could be said to be important figures during that arc.
The novel was like any other dungeon-system novel anyone would find online, just that this novel was set in the fantasy medieval times. The novel's protagonist was Kibou; other than his first name, his family name can't seem to get into Alex's mind... 'Is my transmigration affecting my memories? Or is it cause novels don't really tend to refer to their characters with their full names?'
Kibou, like any typical protagonist in a fantasy novel, is a known hero throughout the middle of the novel. His default cold, aloof, brutal, and righteous personality of an action shounen manga mc makes him the perfect mc for readers. He was made into a beacon of hope for the people of this world from the very moment he appeared in the novel.
The story starts with Kibou waking up in an abandoned temple in the middle of a forest. He spends his time there exploring and fighting different magical and non-attributed monsters alike. Until he stumbles upon a portal, which is later revealed as a "spatial dungeon" in the story. There he meets his future companions: Erica, the priestess elf; Ignr, the barbarian; Jest, the holy knight; Velin, the tiefling Bard. A small group of trusted "heroes" under the kingdom of Terissies' government.
From then on, they embark on a journey together to the Capitol to report to the castle on the dungeon they cleared. The Terissies Kingdom is located in the Middle East of the Delyios Empire. There, in that kingdom, Kibou registers as an official ability user and starts his journey to become one of the greatest heroes worldwide.