The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2. Return (1)
“Mm….”
As I opened my eyes groggily, the piercing white expanse of the Northern Snowfield stabbed at my vision.
…No wonder it was so cold.
The biting chill that cut through flesh snapped my mind into sharp focus.
The world around me lay buried beneath pristine white snow, as if the entire realm had frozen solid.
Few regions on the Continent could boast such brutal, unforgiving winters.
“The Northern Snowfield?”
The northern reaches of the Continent, where relentless winter reigned eternal.
“Why am I here?”
But what was I doing in the north?
Moments ago, I had been in the Southern Jungle, deep within the Continent’s southern expanse.
And I had died there.
Which meant that after my death, I had somehow crossed the entire Continent….
“Did The Emperor bury me here?”
The Northern Snowfield was my homeland, where I had grown up.
It was possible he had shown me the courtesy afforded to a worthy adversary—burying me in my native soil despite our enmity.
“…That makes no sense.”
The Emperor would never extend such mercy.
What use was mercy to a madman intoxicated by slaughter?
Besides, I had been the Imperial Army’s highest priority target for elimination.
The Imperial Army gnashed their teeth whenever they caught sight of me.
They ground them so relentlessly they nearly shattered.
In a sense, the Imperial Army feared me far more than they did heroes or champions.
I served under the Allied Forces Command as a special operative.
Captain of the Special Forces Unit’s covert operations division.
In that role, I had executed countless missions, systematically dismantling and utterly destroying the Imperial Army’s plans.
For someone like me, even dismemberment would have been insufficient punishment—and yet, the courtesy of a fallen foe?
It was absurd.
“Did they simply abandon my corpse here?”
That would at least make sense.
But the problem was that I had not remained dead.
“That makes no sense either.”
And this too defied all logic.
First, The Emperor would never go to such lengths.
If he meant to discard my body, he could have left it in the south.
Why traverse the entire Continent to abandon it in the north?
And most crucially—how could I possibly have survived with my heart pierced through?
“What in the world is happening?”
The situation made no sense whatsoever.
I tried to compose myself, wiping my face with my hand….
“Hm?”
Something felt wrong.
Specifically, the scar etched across my left eye.
“It’s gone?”
It was gone.
More precisely, my fingertips couldn’t feel the scar’s texture anymore.
Was it an illusion?
But it felt too real to be mere imagination.
Because it wasn’t just the scar on my left eye that had vanished.
“The scar on the back of my hand is gone too?”
The scar on my right arm, earned from a battle with an Imperial Army legion commander.
That too was nowhere to be seen.
This I could see with my own eyes, so it wasn’t an illusion.
Looking closer, it wasn’t just the scars that were missing.
“Why are my hands so clean all of a sudden?”
The calluses I’d built up traversing countless battlefields had vanished without a trace.
Now my hands were pale and smooth, like those of a nobleman raised in luxury.
As if I’d become someone else entirely….
That was when it happened.
◆Unique Privilege Inheritance Complete!
A translucent message suddenly materialized before my eyes.
After that, a series of incomprehensible texts continued to appear in my vision.
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Level] = Level 1
[HP] = 71
[MP] = 0
[Stats] = Strength:0 Agility:0 Stamina:0 Mana:0
[Experience] = 0%
The text, like a hologram from magical communication, shimmered across my entire field of vision.
I could swear to it.
“…What is this?”
I’d never seen anything like it before.
Of course, I’d witnessed magical communication holograms countless times.
They were the primary communication method used by the Allied Forces.
But magical communication holograms weren’t magic one could simply use on a whim.
They required several communication mages and a dedicated communication chamber with numerous magical circles drawn within it.
This was no magic that could be cast in a snow-covered mountain range as barren as this.
Above all, the contents displayed within the text itself.
“Player…?”
Things I had never once witnessed in my entire life.
I scrutinized each detail of the text that materialized before my eyes.
Player, Name, Level.
HP, MP, Stats, Experience.
“Does ‘Player’ refer to me?”
Judging by the name listed under [Name], it certainly seemed that way.
In other words, I hadn’t become someone else.
“Level 1?”
If Level meant what I understood it to mean, it appeared to be a numerical representation of my current strength.
Which meant my current standing was [Level 1]….
“Merely?”
Though admittedly, compared to the hero Ian’s level, I didn’t even come close.
I couldn’t deny that I fell short even against the other heroes.
But that was only because Ian and those heroes were monsters.
I was never weak.
After all, I was the core strength of the Allied Forces, standing by Ian’s side until the very end.
I was the one who stubbornly survived even as the Allied Forces and all the heroes perished.
It wasn’t for nothing that the Imperial Army called me the “Predator of Madness.”
Yet merely Level 1?
“And what’s wrong with these stats?”
Looking more carefully, the stats were the most absurd part.
Strength, Agility, Vitality, Mana.
All of them were scraping the bottom.
“Why are they all 0?”
Of course, I couldn’t know exactly how much power each stat point granted.
But the number 0.
No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t a normal figure by any measure.
“And what’s this Experience below that…?”
I was wondering how any of this worked when it happened.
◆Your current Player Skills are displayed below.
Another message suddenly appeared.
My vision shifted, and a new window filled my entire sight.
==「Possessed Skills」==
◆Solo Leveling [EX]
: The Player can accumulate experience to increase their level. Each level gain grants 1 stat point.
◆Player’s Will [EX]
: Grants immunity to all effects exceeding the Player’s mental fortitude (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestions, etc.).
◆Predation [S+]
: Consume the heart of a living being to absorb its abilities and convert them into skills. However, mental fortitude is consumed in the process.
“What in the…?”
That was when the thought crossed my mind.
◆Quest has arrived.
A single message suddenly blazed across my entire field of vision.
At the same moment, its contents unfurled before my eyes.
====
Unfamiliar symbols and corrupted text filled the display.
Eyes wide open, what is this?
What kind of living world is this, so different from what I knew?
Eyes closed tight, I see nothing but chaos and confusion?!
I realize that I have been placed in some kind of situation!
This is absurd! This is absurd!
What kind of ridiculous affair is this?!
And why am I in such a strange state?!
What have I done to deserve this?!
I have committed no crime other than that one act!
I don’t know what or how things have become this way, but I know what I must do.
First, escape to safety.
Then, reach the nearby village.
====
“…What does this even mean?”
I truly have no idea what any of this is supposed to say.
The only thing I could make out was that word at the beginning—[Quest].
Typically, a Quest referred to a ‘search mission’ entrusted to knights or a long-term ‘expedition.’
At least, that’s how it was used on the Continent.
If it carried the same meaning here, then this seemed to describe some kind of mission objective… but I couldn’t decipher it.
“What is the content supposed to be?”
I couldn’t understand a single word of it.
I wondered if it might be a cipher used by the Allied Forces—
“But it’s not that.”
If it were, I would have to be ignorant indeed, given that I am a Special Forces Unit operations chief.
Under the Allied Forces Command, I conducted not only special operations but also intelligence gathering, analysis, and distribution—all the covert activities of information and espionage warfare.
Naturally, I knew every cipher the Allied Forces employed.
So I could say with absolute certainty: this was no cipher the Allied Forces could possibly decode.
“Then could it be a cipher used by the Empire—”
—No, that can’t be it.
That was when the thought occurred to me.
◆Error: Player and Quest content conflict detected.
◆Error: Player information has been modified.
◆Assigning new Quest.
◆Loading….
“What is this now?”
I was practically making a complete spectacle of myself, utterly bewildered.
Still, seeing the [Loading] indicator suggested something was in progress.
After waiting roughly five minutes.
◆Your Quest has been updated.
The notification appeared, and its contents unfurled before me.
====
You’ve awakened in an unfamiliar place!
But wait a moment?
Could it be your imagination that this place doesn’t feel so strange?
You rub your eyes and regain your senses—what?!
You realize this place is the Northern Snowfield!
The Northern Snowfield, you say?!
How did you end up in the Northern Snowfield when you were in the Southern Jungle?!
Did The Emperor show you courtesy?
Did The Emperor abandon you in the snowfield?
No, more importantly—you’re dead!!
Your mind is a complete and utter mess!
You’ve become a fool!
Why, you ask?
Because you don’t even realize there’s something out there hunting for your life right now!
What’s happening and how it happened doesn’t matter right now!!
First, you must survive!
====
“What is this…?”
I couldn’t make sense of the situation at all.
I felt like I’d become a fool, just as the Quest described.
But the Quest paid no mind to my feelings and simply displayed the message again.
◆Tutorial Quest [What in the World Is Happening?!] has begun.
==[What in the World Is Happening?!]==
[Objective] – Survive
[Reward] – Inventory Unlocked
[Failure] – Death
Just as the messages continued to appear arbitrarily, it happened.
Kraaaaaagh—!
A deafening roar struck my eardrums from one direction.
* * *
A tremendous shriek accompanied by heavy, thundering footsteps.
Before me, a colossal creature roughly two meters tall was advancing toward me.
And so, the creature before me drooling profusely was….
“An Ice Troll?”
A mutated variant of the trolls inhabiting the Northern Snowfield—the Ice Troll.
Being a troll mutation, their population was sparse, making them a rare monster to encounter.
And now, they were a monster that could no longer be found anywhere.
“The Emperor must have captured all the Ice Trolls, surely?”
Trolls were monsters with exceptional regenerative abilities.
Thus, troll blood held considerable value as a material for various potions.
And Ice Trolls possessed regenerative abilities ‘5 times’ greater than ordinary trolls.
Surviving in such harsh cold naturally evolved their regenerative capacity.
The efficacy of potions crafted from Ice Troll blood was equally five-fold.
The Emperor captured all Ice Trolls and produced potions to supply the Imperial Army.
Furthermore, to prevent the Allied Forces from utilizing them, he drove wild Ice Trolls to extinction.
Thus, no wild Ice Trolls exist on the Continent.
Only those bred in the Imperial Palace Underground Laboratory remain.
Even I, a native of the Northern Snowfield, had seen an Ice Troll only once….
“Wait, could it be.”
A single memory suddenly surfaces in my mind.
The memory of when I first and last saw an Ice Troll.
That was approximately fifteen years ago.
The patriarch of the Whitewolf Family and my father passed away.
After the funeral concluded, my father’s will was revealed, and he bequeathed everything of the family not to me, but to my Sister.
I protested, but no one took my side.
The consensus was that my capable Sister was more fitting to be the family patriarch and lord of the Whitewolf domain than a wastrel drowning in gambling and debauchery.
In an instant, I became a useless burden, and unable to bear it any longer, I fled the family.
After wandering the snowfield for days on end, I arrived here.
Kwaaaaagh—!
I encounter an Ice Troll.
This was the memory of my first and last encounter with an Ice Troll.
Despite more than fifteen years having passed, I remember it vividly.
Because my entire life changed 180 degrees from that moment onward.
So if this place is indeed the Northern Snowfield where the Whitewolf Family is located.
And if the creature drooling before me is truly an Ice Troll.
“Have I returned to the past?”
I arrive at this singular conclusion.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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