He had always loved worlds of swords and magic.
Since his childhood, he had never played anything but fantasy games. Even his reading habits leaned exclusively toward the genre. He was confident he could enjoy a story set in a fantasy world for days on end without a wink of sleep.
Shiina Ren was exactly that sort of young man.
Of course, his life didn't revolve entirely around games. He was a fourth-year university student, and his recent days had been a frantic blur of job hunting. On top of that, he spent four days a week at a part-time job to fund his gaming habits.
Ren had cleared his schedule for an entire three-day weekend to dive into a highly anticipated new release. He downloaded the title the moment the clock struck midnight on Friday and played for nearly forty-eight hours straight.
By the evening of the second day, having finished the game with almost no rest, Ren let out a triumphant cry in front of his TV.
"The ending! Finally!"
It was a role-playing game, so he wasn't competing against anyone. Still, the adrenaline from his marathon session hadn't faded. He felt a surge of satisfaction as he posted a screenshot of the ending screen to social media, taking care to avoid spoilers—an essential courtesy for any gamer.
"I wonder if I'm the first in the world to clear it?"
As if in answer, text flickered onto the screen after the credits rolled.
System: Congratulations on clearing the game. Would you like to record your clear time on the server? Yes/No
Ren shouted, "Of course!" and hit "Yes." A new system message appeared immediately after, displaying a sentence that made his heart race.
System: As a reward for ranking first in the clear standings, you have obtained special downloadable content. Would you like to download it? Yes/No
"Special DLC? You bet I would!"
He pressed "Yes" again. A progress bar appeared in the corner of the screen: 1%... 2%...
He had no idea what the content was, but the message had explicitly called it a reward for the first-place rank. That meant he was getting data no one else would have. As a gamer, he couldn't help the thrill of superiority that surged through him.
"Alright... let’s settle down."
Ren leaned back into the sofa, trying to calm his pounding heart. With nothing to do while the download processed, he pulled out his phone and navigated to the game’s official website.
Legend of the Seven Heroes.
It was a fantasy RPG series that the developers had already announced would be a trilogy. The story was set hundreds of years after seven individuals known as the Seven Heroes defeated a Demon King. It followed their descendants as they grew up and faced various trials at a prestigious academy. With its massive volume of sub-stories and the ability to romance various heroines, it was currently the most popular game in the world.
The protagonist was a commoner boy born in the countryside. After awakening to a hidden power at a young age, he was scouted to attend the Empire's premier academy in the Imperial Capital. There, he met six other youths said to carry the blood of the Seven Heroes, and together they fought to stop those plotting the Demon King’s resurrection. In the ending of the first game, it was revealed that the protagonist carried the blood of the final, long-lost member of the Seven Heroes.
Ren had just cleared the sequel, Legend of the Seven Heroes II.
"Man, the second one was even better."
Unlike the first game, which focused on school life and personal growth, the sequel introduced the greatest conflict the series had seen.
"How pathetic. Can the descendants of the heroes truly not stop a single man?"
It was a line from a boy that had made Ren drop his controller in shock during his playthrough. The boy had started as a classmate and friend to the protagonists, only to betray them. He murdered the girl known as the Saintess and even took the life of the Academy Director—the man hailed as the world's best magician.
"You should understand by now. No matter how you stake your lives, you will never reach me."
After effortlessly defeating the protagonists, the boy had vanished into the shadows. Following his betrayal, the Empire was plunged into chaos. The former friend would appear at various incidents to drop cryptic hints or clash with the party, but the game ended without revealing his true motives or his connection to the Demon King’s cult.
The game concluded with the Emperor ordering the boy’s subjugation, leaving the rest of the story for the third installment.
Just thinking about it made Ren’s excitement flare up again. Unable to stay still, he put down his phone and grabbed his controller. Since the special DLC was still downloading, he returned to the title screen to clear his head.
"I might as well look for hidden skills while I wait."
This was one of the game's depth-heavy features. On a second playthrough, players could rename the protagonist's skills or combine up to three existing skills to create something original. To maintain game balance, certain restrictions were in place—specifically, players couldn't use the names or effects of Unique Skills, which were reserved for special characters. Hidden skills were the workaround, discovered by finding the right combinations.
Ren spent the next hour searching. He tried dozens of patterns, then hundreds, but nothing worked. Hidden skills were supposed to automatically register their class name once the correct combination was entered, but he was getting nowhere.
"Forget it. I can't find anything."
Exhausted, Ren checked social media to see if anyone else had finished the game. A few posts caught his eye.
"That guy is definitely the final boss of the third game."
"He’s the mastermind. I bet he’s the one trying to revive the Demon King."
"In the final act, he felt like the 'cool rival' archetype. Honestly, he’s a total badass."
The community was starting to buzz with those who had seen the ending. Ren recognized a few of the posters and sent them a message.
"Anyone find any hidden skills yet?"
The reply came in less than a minute. To his disappointment, no one had found any. However, that only fueled his determination to be the first. He used some eye drops, blinked the fatigue away, and saw the download progress at 99%.
"Oh, finally."
The moment he muttered the words, the bar hit 100%. A "Download Complete" message flickered for a few seconds before vanishing.
Ren frowned. He had been looking forward to it, but nothing seemed to have changed. Suspecting a bug, he sighed and went back to his search for hidden skills.
Another twenty minutes passed before he stumbled onto something by pure accident.
"Magic Sword Summoning?"
The combination he’d used was Swordsman, Black Magic, and Summoner. Ren tilted his head in confusion. He had tried that exact combination several times before. In the middle of testing hundreds of patterns, he must have input the same one again by mistake.
Yet, this time, his face lit up. He had finally found a hidden skill. He pressed the confirmation button, only for a prompt to appear.
System: Magic Sword Summoning is a Unique Skill and cannot be used in Normal Mode.
Ren groaned and slammed his forehead against the desk. He wanted to scream at the unfairness of it, but then he blinked, looking closer at the screen.
"Wait, 'cannot be used in Normal Mode'? What does that mean?"
He had never seen a message like that before. Usually, choosing a restricted skill simply resulted in a generic error. He tried changing the game’s difficulty, but the message remained the same.
Puzzled, Ren read the description for Magic Sword Summoning.
"Allows the summoning of magic swords. Proficiency can be increased using Magic Stones to enhance the swords' abilities. Special conditions will unlock additional types of magic swords."
Magic Stones were common monster drops. While they had a few uses, they were mostly just vendor trash used for gold. He couldn't recall a single character in the game who used a skill like this.
As he frowned at the screen, he noticed text blinking in the corner.
System: Would you like to start a special story using the skill 'Magic Sword Summoning'? Yes/No
Ren tilted his head, remembering the "special DLC" reward. He selected "Yes."
"Wait... what?"
Suddenly, his vision was swallowed by a blinding white light. His consciousness began to drift, and as he collapsed onto the sofa, he blacked out completely.
When he finally came to, he felt the sensation of warm water being poured over him. Ren tried to open his eyes to see where he was, but his lids felt heavy and wouldn't budge. He couldn't even find the strength to move his limbs.
"The young master is quite spirited, isn't he? Don't you agree, Madam?"
The voice of an older woman reached his ears.
"Yes. It’s a relief. I’m just happy he seems so healthy," a younger, tired-sounding voice replied.
What's going on?
Ren tried to process the situation, focusing on his other senses. It felt far too vivid to be a dream. The physical sensations were undeniable, yet the idea of an adult man becoming an infant was impossible.
And yet, a ridiculous thought crossed his mind.
A special story... from the special DLC...
The reality of the situation was pressing in on him, forcing him to consider the unthinkable.
Am I... reincarnated?
As a fantasy enthusiast, the concept wasn't foreign to him. Whether he could actually accept it was a different story, but his sharpened senses were screaming that this was real.
...I see.
Well, this is definitely "special." It really is a special story from the DLC.
Ren tried to stay calm, though a wave of embarrassment hit him. If he really was a baby being given his first bath, he was currently stark naked in front of strangers. He tried to move, but his only response was a clumsy flailing of his arms and legs.
I need to figure out where I am, but...
He was surprised by his own composure. Perhaps it was because the situation was so surreal that he simply had to accept his helplessness.
If nothing else, I want to know my name.
Ren flailed his limbs as if in prayer. As if answering him, the older woman spoke again.
"Madam, have you decided on a name for the young master?"
"Of course I have."
"That’s wonderful. Here, Madam, he’s all finished. Please, hold him and give him his name."
Ren felt himself being wrapped in soft cloth and lifted through the air. He was settled into a pair of warm arms. He waited, held by the woman with the gentle voice.
"His name is..."
Ren braced himself. Given the "special story" prompt, he expected to be someone important—maybe a hero or a key figure in the Legend of the Seven Heroes.
"Ren. This child is Ren Ashton."
Ren froze.
"How pathetic. Can the descendants of the heroes truly not stop a single man?"
He remembered the overwhelming power that had crushed the protagonists. He remembered the mysterious, dignified beauty of the character. The friend who had betrayed everyone and turned the world of Legend of the Seven Heroes II upside down.
Ren Ashton.
The Absolute Powerhouse who stood at the center of the story’s mysteries. Because they shared a name, Ren had always felt a strange sense of affinity and admiration for the character. He had even wondered what he would do if he had that kind of power.
But to actually be reincarnated as him? And as such a dangerous character? What the hell am I supposed to do now?!
The reality was far beyond anything he had imagined, leaving him utterly lost in a sea of confusion.