Dyren stepped out of his room. At that moment, he was spotted by the hero party. Ereon immediately stood up and grabbed his hand, urging him to sit at the same table with them. Dyren pretended to refuse, but after some insistence, he finally sat down.
"Eat up! You just recovered. You must need energy," Ereon said with a wide smile.
He was the confident and talkative type—a kind person to everyone. Dyren knew Ereon very well, even more than Ereon knew himself. Dyren had followed the novel Crimson Sovereign for over two thousand chapters. Though, he eventually dropped it at chapter 2,012 out of frustration.
Unexpectedly, he was now transported into the very novel he had read. A stroke of luck, since it allowed him to know many things about this world—even glimpses of the future.
"Don't be shy. If you don't eat, your recovery will take longer." Ereon offered him a plate of grilled chicken. "No need to be shy! We're all good people here."
Dyren looked at each of them one by one. Some smiled at him like Ereon and Saria. Others were expressionless like Mireille. And one of them, Kael, was staring sharply at him.
Dyren was aware that Kael didn't like him. He was the one Dyren had to watch out for the most. He needed to be careful with everything he did and said.
"Thank you." Dyren started eating, just as Ereon had wanted. He ate quite fast.
Seeing that, Ereon smiled and started eating as well. That morning, they had dinner together. Dyren continued to act like someone suffering from trauma.
Several times, he held his head and screamed in fear. He kept repeating, "Don't kill me," over and over.
Ereon, clearly concerned, even called the innkeeper to look for a doctor. Of course, there were no doctors around. This was just a remote village near a forest full of monsters and S-rank dungeons. No sane person would choose to live there—only the native villagers stayed.
***
After being taken care of, Dyren gradually got better. He thanked Ereon and Saria for helping him. He lay in bed all day to recover.
Ereon and Saria left and closed the door, not wanting to disturb him.
"Finally." He sat up on the bed. Dyren opened his system screen and scrolled down. "I've got 18 skills. Isn't that a bit much?"
What caught his attention was that most of his skills were Rare or higher in rarity. Some were even classified as Mythic.
One of the Mythic skills he had was Soulbound—a passive skill that allowed the user to transfer their soul into one of their undead minions. However, the cooldown was once per month.
Despite the long cooldown, it was still an incredible skill. If he was about to die, this could save him.
On top of that, Dyren could summon many skeletons using Raise Skeleton Lv.2, Necroguard Legion Lv.2, and Raise Spellcaster Lv.1.
"Can I call myself one of the strongest humans now?"
Dyren wasn't convinced yet. He remembered the battles Ereon had fought against monsters or demons. Those were on a whole other level. He still felt that he couldn't match the hero party.
That was also why he deceived them. If they knew he was the one who defeated the S-rank dungeon boss, they would definitely be suspicious.
Dyren didn't want to get killed. He had just barely defeated The Headless King with pure luck.
He opened the Shop menu again and examined each item. Some were interesting, but Dyren wasn't sure if he truly needed them.
"I currently have 10,696 system points."
He shook his head. He felt like he had to save his points—not because he didn't know what to buy, but because he was afraid of another emergency.
What if he faced an enemy he couldn't defeat and had no system points left? Dyren couldn't imagine what would've happened if he hadn't had his points earlier. He surely would've died fighting The Headless King.
Just the thought of it gave him chills.
"Now, this is interesting," Dyren said as his eyes caught an item in the shop.
Dyren stared at the system screen, his eyes gleaming with fascination at an item glowing with a dark purple aura. It was listed under "Rare+" and shrouded in a shadowy veil like cloth floating in the void.
[Item Name: Mantle of the Hollow Star (Mythic)]
[Type: Armor (Mantle)]
[Description: A mantle woven from the remnants of dying starlight and the fog of interdimensional space. Created by a grand sorcerer during the Third Star War to conceal his presence from the Observer Gods. The cloth cannot be torn by ordinary weapons and can absorb surrounding magical energy.]
[Bonus Effects:]
– Voidstep (Active, CD: 30 seconds): Teleport up to 10 meters in the direction of your gaze (distance can be extended with mana), leaving behind a shadow that confuses enemies for 2 seconds.
– Stellar Veil (Passive): Reduces detection chance from tracking magic and high-level observation skills by 80%.
Reading the item description, Dyren could only shake his head in awe. This was a crazy item. Something probably impossible to find in this world. It never even appeared in the novel.
"But the price... it's so expensive."
[Price: 9,900 System Points]
Dyren fell silent. The item's price would nearly drain all of his system points. He thought long and hard about the decision.
Dyren nodded. "Alright."
He pressed the purchase button.
[Mantle of the Hollow Star purchased successfully.]
[Item has been sent to Inventory.]
He quickly opened his inventory and selected the [Equip] option.
In an instant, his body was wrapped in a dark mantle that felt cold like the vacuum of space. The material looked like thick smoke but felt as strong as steel to the touch. Shadows around him seemed to move on their own, as if alive.
He stood before the room's mirror. His reflection looked like an ancient sorcerer—dark, mysterious, and intimidating.
He was mesmerized by the sight of himself.
"Don't I look like a necromancer class from an RPG game?" he said while striking a few silly poses.
He nodded repeatedly. The item was expensive, but seeing himself like this made it all worth it.
"I just need to kill more monsters." Dyren smiled, and nearly burst into laughter. "Time to farm."
Once Ereon and his party left the village, Dyren planned to hunt down more monsters and conquer more dungeons to earn more system points.
"There are some other interesting items. I'll buy them next."