Herald of Steel - Chapter 520 Seelima And Inayah (R-18) (Part-6)

“There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.” — Dante AlighieriThis is a quote that dictates my life perfectly. Ever since I was a young boy, I enjoyed playing games, so much so that I carried that passion even into my sophomore years, all the way to my death.My story in life isn't all that tragic compared to the more unfortunate out there. I am your typical game creator. I made indie games and visual novels for a living.Naturally, being out of passion and an unknown solo developer, I tried my best to get my work out there, working additional jobs, doing side hustles, both online and locally, all just to survive, and all just to sponsor my work.However, in a world where competition is vast in the game industry, everything I make only ends up at the bottom rank. Because of this, I never gave up, but as I went into my thirties, this passion of mine separated me from my family.These days they don't even talk to me anymore. Depressed, alone, and on the verge of a mental breakdown, I lost all hope, and it didn't help that I had two months of rent due and bills that needed to be paid.But all that changed one night when I got a mysterious message that suddenly appeared on my laptop screen:“You who despair! Would you like a second chance at life? If yes click and offer up your life worth's negativity to me, if no forget this message completely!?”At that time, I clicked Yes by accident.But as the message said, I died due to a heart attack and reincarnated into the World of Purgatory. This was the greatest mistake of my life, as it changed it forever. However in this world I came with the power called the Administrator — a power I gained as a newborn Negative Spirit.With this power I exist as an Entity of Dreams, but even without a physical body, I was determined to make my wish come true: to be a game creator. But unlike other devs, my dreams are different. I can create scenarios in the dreams of men, forcing them to play my game. If they win, they walk out of here as an Awakened Spirit Warrior; however, if I win, the abilities they would have gained in my trials go to me. In this game of mine, anything could be wagered. In reality I have nothing to lose as the Administrator. But to the players, what they wager could be a matter of life or death.

The labyrinth that swallowed humanity. Four choices were given to them.

Easy Mode, where anyone can survive. Normal Mode, where only those who fight survive. Hard Mode, where only 1% can survive. And the Solo Mode, where only one person survived.

The strongest returnee of humanity, Kang Taesan, was an Easy Mode player.

He heard countless times,

“What if you had chosen the Hard Mode, or even the Normal Mode?”

Regretting his cowardly choice while dying amidst destruction, he gets another chance to choose.

“This time, I won’t make the wrong choice.”

The strongest Easy Mode player has returned.

It was just like any other day, or so I thought at least. The birds were chirping up on trees, clouds were rolling by the bright blue sky and Elves were dumpster diving in the alleyway.

Okay, one of those three didn’t sound right...

I had a boring life once. Recently though, it has become less boring... to put it one way.

Finding a random Elf in the dumpster? Heh, must be a Monday.

A normal person would have walked by. A normal person would have ignored it.

I must be a pretty weird guy, then.

Now I have this Elf swearing her allegiance to me. What’s next, vampires?

I, a mere con artist, was unjustly imprisoned in Tantalus, the Abyssal Prison meant for the most nefarious of criminals, where I met a regressor.

But when I used my ability to read her mind, I found out that I was fated to die in a year…

and that the world would end 10 years later.