The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-17

Inheritance.

It has a variety of meanings, but in The World of Eternity, it’s specifically talking about the process of taking on skills or items that belonged to others.

Seol’s ‘inheritance’ was similar to what his summons had done before but it was also a bit different.

“Krgh…”

“H-Hey! Are you alright?!”

Bill rushed to support Seol.

He could only see the white in Seol’s eyes as his neck tensed up even harder.

Bill could tell even at a glance how painful this was.

Seol, right now, was looking at his first character’s memories.

Hum…

Hum…

These memories were surprisingly real.

Seol felt like he was in a fast train, looking at his memories, like it was the scenery outside of a window.

‘My brain… feels like it’s going to fry!’

But even so, he kept remembering the things he had forgotten.

He remembered how Bill looked 20 years ago. He remembered the photo of Bill’s granddaughter he received. He even received Snowman’s memory from early childhood to adulthood.

He received all of his first piece’s memory.

‘So it was because of this.’

This was the reason why he felt like he had gaps in his memory.

Seol realized the reason while going over his first piece’s memory.

‘It’s because… my pieces kept it.’

Portions of Seol’s memories weren't in his head. It was in his 30 pieces.

The various knowledge that he had was jumbled up in his head.

His memories were like a ball of yarn that had been knotted up. Some memories were clear and visible but a few memories felt like they had to be properly untied for him to understand it.

It was painful trying to take in all of his piece’s experience at once. It also made him feel uncomfortable like he was looking through someone else’s memory.

‘Don’t tell me… Will I have to experience this every time I run into the other pieces I gave up too?”

The novel thing was that Seol’s memories of Snowman, unlike the memories of his other pieces, felt like it was always his now.

‘The memories I recover… become mine.’

At least that’s the only conclusion he could draw right now.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

“Are you alright? Have you calmed down?”

“I-I’m fine.”

It was a short moment but Seol felt like he traveled back in time for that moment.

[Adventure [Fate: Things Which Must be Recovered] is scheduled.]

[You have inherited Snowman’s unfulfilled desire.]

[A skill has been inherited from the deceased.]

[‘Characteristic: A Mass of Greed’ has been inherited.]

[This skill is not suitable for this body.]

[‘Jamad, the Mountain Shaman’ has inherited ‘Characteristic: A Mass of Greed’.]

[Jamad now gains experience 10% faster and has a 15% chance of unlocking new skills.]

[The main contents of ‘Fate: Things Which Must Be Recovered’ have changed.]

[Fate. ‘Things Which Must be Recovered’

You have experienced a mysterious phenomenon that you don’t know the meaning behind. Through a connection with a stranger you know nothing about, you have learned everything about ‘them’.

You have gained ‘their’ memories, ‘their’ thoughts, ‘their’ lingering attachments, and even ‘their’ abilities.

Perhaps, there are more mysterious connections in this world. Every time you confront your fate, you will acquire new things and remember old memories.

Objective: Confront your fate

Remaining Time [N/A]]

‘...It even gave a skill? And Jamad got it, not me?’

Not only did Seol receive Snowman’s memories, he even received a skill.

Seol was gasping for air in a dumbfounded state.

‘And ‘Fate’? What is this…’

- What? What’s going on?

- What is going on???

- You inherit stuff if you find someone with the same name as you.

- Ah, I understand. Where’s your source though?

- I’m my own source. It made sense though, right?

Bill let out a sigh while looking at Seol.

“For a second I thought I’d have to dig another grave.”

“...Thank you for worrying about me.”

“I wasn’t… Anyway, I plan on returning to Kongory so if you’re ever in trouble, come see me. I don’t know if I’ll be of much help, but I can at least sell you some watches.”

[Bill’s favorability toward you has increased.]

“Be careful on your way back,” said Seol.

“Yeah, thank you.”

After Bill left, Seol quickly organized his thoughts.

‘There are traces of my 30 pieces scattered throughout Pandea.’

This was an undoubtable fact.

There was no way there wouldn’t be traces of them left when their achievements were recorded in a book.

‘And when I come into contact with those traces, I get the piece’s memory and a portion of their skills.’

Seol wasn’t sure if his explanation was too general, but he thought he would have to come into contact with more pieces to be certain.

‘Lastly, I need their skills and memories for Ascension. More specifically... I need the memories that I lost.’

He needed to repair his lost memory and use that to become much stronger than his previous pieces. And after that… he would challenge Ascension.

He found a hint toward Ascension through this inheritance process.

‘Well that’s that, but… A Mass of Greed, hm…’

Seol’s first character, Snowman, died without being able to amount to much.

Since he also didn’t unlock that many skills, it was obvious that he wouldn’t have any useful skills to be inherited.

‘Well, that’s not true.’

There was one useful skill.

It was the ‘A Mass of Greed’ skill which Jamad inherited.

Seol remembered the first time he created his own character.

There was a bright, golden light surging from behind his game piece and all of the gods were in awe.

- No way! Why is this guy lucky from the start?

- What is it though? Is it like a characteristic like their personality or something?

- A Mass of Greed? Hah! I’m at a loss for words…

Back then Seol didn’t know anything. So he asked them in response, “Is it something good?”

- You’ll realize it when you play. As long as you properly raise it, your character will become a monster.

- Must be nice… I hope I get something like that too someday…

Snowman wasn’t able to become a monster since he died early to a fumble but his potential was definitely amazing.

Seol, after receiving his powers and memories, gave a deep bow to the tombstone.

“Thank you.”

The broken stopwatch rested on the tombstone. Its hand was pointing in the direction Seol left.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

A month had already passed.

Everyone who arrived in this new world realized by this point that there was no way to escape from this dangerous game.

“Maybe now… our country and government might be gone too…”

“D-Don’t say something so bleak! I’m sure they’ll come save us as long as we hold on! Also, don’t you think bullets would work on those monsters too?”

“Right? They’ll probably come save us, right?”

There was no way that would happen.

It was something that everyone already knew.

They were just trying their best to say only positive things.

Even though the two worlds were combined, the people from Earth called themselves a ‘Transferee’.

Even though a month was an ambiguous time in length, the transferees had changed a lot.

The biggest change was that they were adapting to this new world.

“So… did you pick your next Adventure?”

“I did, but… I’d feel better about it if I at least knew something about it.”

“Did you hear anything from the guild? Did they say anything?”

“They first told me to form a party with people from the guild that I knew but I didn’t really have that much faith in them.”

“I get what you mean, I felt the exact same way. We filled up the head count but we have a kid, an old grandpa, and a dude with a big belly.”

“Should I just go solo…? There were quite a few people also going solo too.”

The two men who looked like they were in their mid-to-late thirties were gossiping loudly even though no one seemed interested in it.

“That’s way too dangerous! Didn’t you hear? Some transferees are trying to kill other people from Earth for their equipment…”

“Ah, I heard about that too. Those guys are real sons of bitches, aren’t they? I can’t believe they’re just trying to survive by themselves in a situation like this…”

“That’s why you can’t comfortably trust other people now. So stop throwing away something that’s good for you, it’s probably better for you to work with your guild…”

“You know some kids were all excited that they were in a game? Haah… They’ve got guts, I’ll give them that.”

“Let them be. Those kinds of people that don’t consider their situation are always the first to die. Let’s go for a long, easy life.”

“Yeah, a long, easy life.”

The guilds were gaining more and more influence by the day.

With their country missing and the looming danger of the other transferees in the city, most people chose the guilds to protect themselves.

The guilds look awful in Seol’s eyes but regardless of what he thought, the majority of the transferees ended up joining one.

There were of course people who chose to go solo for their own personal reasons. Some who were uncomfortable in a group and some who were confident in their skills and wanted to monopolize the rewards.

Seol fell into both of those categories, and obviously, went solo.

The 3rd Adventure, except for special scenarios like Sudden Adventures or Urgent Adventures, was able to be chosen by the player.

Creak.

You were able to choose it here, in the Adventurer Association.

As Seol opened the door, almost everyone inside turned to look at him. But they quickly lost their interest and continued with what they were doing.

Seol first headed to the bulletin board.

The surprising thing about Pandea was that contrary to its medieval setting, there was a surprising balance between culture and technology.

Beep.

As Seol placed his identification card closer, the bulletin board showed up,

Seol already checked all of the posts that came up yesterday so he first checked if there was any new important information. When he realized that there were none, he checked the public posts.

Partially, because it was the last day, there were countless posts looking for party members.

[ (NEW) [<WeCan’tGoBaron>’s Post]

[Post Date: Just Now]

[Title: I am looking for ‘Private’.]

Our party’s seriously super strong. We’re looking to recruit the ‘Private’s who ranked 1st and 3rd. If you don’t contact us before the last date, we’ll find someone else.

- That looks like a party full of zoomers.

- I bet it would feel like taking care of my nephews… nope]

[ (NEW) [<AtLongLast>’s Post]

[Post Date: Just Now]

[Title: We are trying to recruit the ‘Private’ Ranker.]

We are not afraid of this world. Rather… we are the ones who have been waiting for it.

I’m sure that you, the ‘Private’ that ranked 1st, are also a kindred soul. We shall wait until the final day for you. If not, we will look for someone else.

- I’m sorry, but could you make this ‘for your eyes only’ instead?

- I don’t know why you’re picking a fight with us

- These guys here: the type of guys to kick you out of a party if you can’t name your 3 favorite animes.

Normally, a party that searches for members on the last day is bound to have problems big or small.

They either had too many requirements or were looking for something way too specific.

- These guys are hilarious lol

- There’s a ton of crazies

- But why are they looking for ‘Private’?

- Obviously, they’re trying to get carried.

- The only thing this guy’s trying to carry is himself though.

- Carry me daddy!

Because Seol wasn’t particularly interested in any of the Adventures, he closed the bulletin.

‘I’m not interested in any of them. In that case… I should go with something I know for sure.’

In truth, Seol already had an Adventure in mind.

He waited on deciding in case he forgot an important detail but he decided that he remembered all of the important stuff.

It was a fairly well-known Adventure and it even gave good rewards.

Seol looked around the Adventurer Association.

Everyone seemed to be interested in their own conversations except for two people. He felt their gazes, watching him.

Seol felt like he had become more perceptive after leveling up, likely due to his increased stats.

‘One of them was the person I was looking for but the other person… Are they a wanderer?’

He also might have caught their eye because of the equipment he had on instead. It was quite shiny and attention-grabbing.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. I need to handle my business first.’

Seol didn’t head toward the counter where the receptionist was. Instead, he approached the man who had been watching him in the corner.

The man had some strange geometric tattoos on his face.

“...What is it?” said the man.

And as he spoke, Seol saw the options available to him.

[[You see a suspicious man. What do you say?]

1. What are you looking at? Are you picking a fight with me?

2. Do you need help?

3. It looked like you were interested in me.

4. [Required: Insight] You don’t look like an ordinary person…

……]

Insight had worked.

The truth was that even without Insight, it was possible to take on this Adventure. It required you to naturally progress through the conversation but since Seol wanted to save time, he picked option 4.

“You don’t look like an ordinary person… What are you doing here?”

“What? Hahaha! How fun.”

The man stroked his chin then gestured to Seol to take a seat in front of him.

Sit.

When Seol sat down, the man leaned in toward Seol and started whispering.

It was as if he wanted the surrounding noise to drown him out.

“The truth is… I have to transport some things to Nobira for a huge deal and I needed some people to guard our pack of wagons.”

[Insight activates]

[This man is lying.]

Seol responded without changing his expression at all.

“...And?”

“I wanted to hire a trustworthy person for this job… I will make sure you get plenty of rewards. How about it?

“Am I that ‘trustworthy person’?”

“I guess you are considered one since we talked, right? You don’t have to take this job if you don’t want to. I don’t have that much time either.”

[[The man has requested you to guard the transport to Nobira. How do you respond?]

1. I understand.

2. You should look for someone else.

3. Exactly how much are the rewards?

4. [Required: Insight] Are you sure this is a transport to Nobira? I don’t think it is.]

Seol nodded and accepted the proposal.

“I understand, I’ll do it. Have you hired other people as well?”

“Hahaha! You made a good decision. And I’ll have to look for other hires even if it’s a bit late. My name is Aden. Please take care of me.”

“I’m Snowman.”

[Adventure [Nobira Transport Guard] is scheduled.]

[Because this Adventure is a 'Linked Adventure', you cannot choose your next Adventure.]

Seol shared a few more words with Aden before leaving with the promise of meeting tomorrow.

‘So far it’s exactly how I remember it.’

Seol had recently received his first character’s memory.

And his first character, Snowman, cleared this Adventure before attempting ‘The 5 Good Brothers’ Adventure.

Thanks to his memories returning, he remembered all of the secrets behind the Adventure. There was no reason for Seol to not go on this Adventure.

Seol also had another reason he chose this Adventure.

‘My second character wasn’t able to clear this Adventure.’

Even though his first piece was able to clear it, his second piece wasn’t able to. And the only person who knew why he failed an Adventure he cleared before was Seol.

‘It won’t be easy but I have to do this.’

Because there might be a chance my 2nd piece is there.