The Creatures That We Are - Chapter 32: The Twelve Zodiac Signs

“Each betrayal leaves a scar… and hers ran the deepest.”Once, Aveline Laurent gave her heart to Damien Ashford - the man who promised her a future, only to cage her with sweet lies.She endured it all with a smile… until fate dragged her back to the very beginning.Now, with a second chance hanging by a fragile thread, Aveline returns.Not to plead, but to punish.
Not to forget, but to make him remember.But revenge is never simple. The path is fraught with shadows—and an unlikely ally–Alaric Lancaster–whose loyalties remain as mysterious as his gaze.

Dorian was out celebrating his college graduation when a car slammed into him, and darkness took hold.

One scam package,That's all it took to drag the 17-year-old Cail into the world of the void....He thought he had ordered a limited-edition sneakers. But what came was a shady-looking package on his front gate. It smelled like rotten egg and sulfur. Inside the package was a strange box.It's filled with eccentric junk. They looked very intricate and mysterious. He thought, “I probably got someone else's package, a package from someone that was very interested in mysticism.”An old coin, a cracked compass, a ring with an ugly center stone, and some other weird looking trinkets.So he did what any broke student would do:He sold it. He figured someone might want them for cosplay or something. Well, except the gold-rimmed glasses that seemed to fit him very well.“Damn, I paid 7,000 nu for that sneaker; I better get something out from this scam package.”Then all hell broke loose. Strange people started approaching him.People brought that junk. Very strange people wearing suspicious get up trying to buy those stuff in the sketchiest manner possible.As he kept selling, he realized that the box was refilling, it seemed to have an endless supply of those strange stuff. Those people called it 'artifacts'.Then one day he woke up with a strange tattoo on his arm; inside the tattoo was an independent space containing the box. It is basically inseparable from him.“I didn't ask for any of this to happen. But now, strange people come to me with desperate offers. Money, memories, and even soul.”He's just trying to survive high school while earning some money!He had no idea what was going on, but apparently, this thing that he got? It's not just an artifact. It's a contract.As Cail navagates school life, part-time jobs, and otherworldly clients, he starts asking the real question:When did I become an artifact dealer?!By day, he is just an ordinary student, a NPC character.And by night? He is The Dealer. Selling ancient items and dealing with people that he probably shouldn't be talking to.“Since I'm already in this mess, might as well profit off of it.”

I’ve become the ultimate crafting all-master character in a game world, excelling at everything except combat.And now, I am the only one who can save this Northern Grand Duchy.