Huh? A hidden mage class? Confusion sprouted in Alex’s mind, and he mumbled in a barely audible voice, "That’s impossible, the mage class itself requires the Player to be E at least. But..."

He lifted his gaze at Allura. She had a troubled expression, worry clear in her eyes, and he thought, Shouldn’t she know this as well? At the moment, no newbie can be a mage... maybe they are lying, or they are a shaman.

Alex did remember a player who had the shaman class, but he was nothing more than a shiny toy, made solely to make original Alex appear strong and unstoppable during the first act.

Even though at this point in the story, the original Alex was way weaker than Alex, he had already begun fighting one-star villains. By doing so, he had obtained various combat-oriented skills and physical experience that Alex lacked.

After not getting any answer for a long minute, Allura finally broke the silence and called out, "Sir Alex?"

"You do not have to worry, Lady Allura. Dark Wolves and Free Sword aren’t just affecting you – they are also proving to be a nuisance to me. Even though I wish to stay away from matters such as these, there is simply no other choice left for me."

Allura’s lips arched up in a beautiful smile, causing Alex’s mind to freeze for a moment.

He stared at her face with dreamy eyes and thought deeply, How can one be so beautiful?

Seeing him, she let out a chuckle and asked mischievously, "I believe you enjoyed the show?"

"Ahem," he forced a cough and turned away. "I do not know what you are talking about."

Allura chortled and commented, "I think you do."

However, Alex didn’t respond, having already left her chamber quickly.

As he descended the stairs, he thought.

In the original story, Alex hadn’t met Allura in Nyxare. There was no group called Lightbearers, and the remaining two groups had already fought each other. So much has changed in such a short time that it’s already getting hard for me to make use of the little knowledge on Nyxare that the story had.

In Villain’s Ascension, Nyxare was no different than a starting zone. Players grew strong, learned about the system and the world, and then moved on.

But Alex knew that wasn’t the case, and the reason for his certainty was:

Every Player, no matter who, forgets everything... anything related to Nyxare. Their memory becomes foggy, and the only thing they remember is the system’s knowledge.

And original Alex was no exception to this memory erasure.

Alex entered his shadow and dashed out of the Lightbearers’ base. He was too tired and busy to meet Naria again.

After drifting through the streets for a while, he reached an inn.

As he entered the inn, all the guests fell silent and looked at him with weird expressions.

What’s wrong with them? he thought and walked over to the counter behind which stood a middle-aged man whose hair was already white with age. He wore a black three-piece suit with a velvet vest and a monocle resting on his left eye.

Seeing Alex coming, the innkeeper frowned and stated, "You have a pretty horrible presence."

Alex immediately halted and blinked. "What... What did you say?"

The innkeeper placed a wooden slate with all the prices listed on it and said, "Not to offend you, young man, but I feel fear from you." he placed a hand on his chin and thought for a while.

"I don’t know how to explain it, but you do not feel human or beast or anything for the matter... it’s as though you don’t even exist, but you are standing right before me... It’s such a weird feeling."

Hearing him, Alex felt claws scraping his whole body.

"Primum Horrendi," he mumbled with a dark smile and added inwardly, First of the Horrible.

He finally understood what he had become. He was no longer a thing or an object – he just was.

He took a deep breath and looked at the innkeeper. "You are still going to let me stay here?"

The innkeeper shrugged. "Why not? Just because your presence is weird doesn’t mean you are weird."

His lips arched upwards. "Or are you?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Alex chuckled. "Probably not."

He took out a few coins from his pouch and placed them on the counter. "I need a room and this for dinner. You can send the meal there as well."

The inkeeper nodded and handed him a key. "Second floor, fifth room on the left."

Alex took the key and made his way to the room. As he walked, he glanced at the guests who looked as though they had been thrown into a starving lion’s cage,

Sometime later, he sat on the bed and stared at his palms with a dark expression. "So everyone feels a natural disgust and fear toward me now... It’s good that the innkeeper is actually a former knight from the kingdom and has been a target of the city’s bigotry before. Otherwise, I would have had to sleep on the street."

He fell back in his bed and let out an amused yet melancholic chuckle. "Seems like I’d be having an adventure way more exciting than you, Alex."

A few minutes later, he had dinner and went to sleep, which he had been delaying for days with Vitality.

As the moon gave way to the sun, Alex had already left the inn.

"You sure about this, Alex?" Jake asked worriedly while glancing at the thick pile of F-Rank requests placed on his counter.

"I am," Alex responded with a faint smile and looked at an adventurer staring daggers at him.

He was a wolffolk.

Heh. Alex smirked.

"Don’t you think this is too much for you?" Jake asked while wiping his forehead with a napkin.

Alex shook his head and said confidently, "Nah, I’d take all of them."

"Haah..." Jake sighed and pulled out a stamp from the drawer, and said, "If you fail to complete any one of them, I will revoke your adventure license."

"You worry too much." Alex grinned.

Jake sighed again and stamped the requests.