Clutching his chest, Asher’s face turned pale within seconds.
Before he could recover from the sudden surge of emotion, it felt as though the name Valdris had awakened something buried deep within him.
Countless unfamiliar, fragmented memories flooded wildly into his mind.
Spatial Gates.
Hunters.
Aegis Spatial Gate Academy.
Asher Veyron.
Eighteen years old.
An illegitimate son who had never awakened as a Hunter, nor ever been acknowledged by his father.
His father’s name was Cassian Valdris, one of the Federation’s most celebrated S-Rank Hunters.
The current Patriarch of the Valdris Family.
His mother, Lina Veyron, had once been an instructor at Aegis Spatial Gate Academy and a C-Rank support Hunter possessing healing abilities.
Eighteen years ago, Lina and Cassian had fallen in love.
She gave birth to their son. But in the end, Cassian chose the marriage arranged by his family.
To preserve his reputation and interests, he not only refused to acknowledge Asher’s existence but also silently allowed his family to suppress Lina.
She lost her teaching position.
Lost her Hunter licence.
And was eventually forced to move into the poorest district of the Lower City with her young son.
Three years ago, Lina contracted Mana Corrosion during a Spatial Gate incident.
It was not an incurable disease.
One bottle of high-grade purification medicine would have been enough to save her life.
Yet when she finally abandoned her pride and personally sought help from the Valdris Family for the sake of her son...
She was not even allowed through the manor gates.
Even the treatment slot that the Hunter Association had originally reserved for her was suddenly cancelled due to an order from someone high above.
Yesterday, she died.
There were no relatives at her funeral. No friends. Not a single Hunter she had once helped came to bid her farewell.
Only the original owner of this body stood alone beneath the rain, watching as the cheap coffin was slowly buried beneath the earth.
At that very same moment, on the other side of the city, brilliant mana fireworks illuminated the night sky.
Cassian Valdris had just led his guild to successfully conquer another A-Rank Spatial Gate.
The entire city celebrated the hero’s victory.
No one cared that his own biological son was burying his mother alone.
Memory after memory fused together.
The original owner’s grief.
Despair. Humiliation. Hatred. All of it crashed into Asher’s consciousness like a raging flood, causing his hands to tremble uncontrollably.
He saw Lina lying upon her hospital bed.
Even after illness had reduced her to a frail shadow of herself; even in the final moments of her life, she never cursed Cassian.
Instead, she merely raised her thin, withered hand and gently touched her son’s face.
"Asher, don’t become him. But... don’t ever forget what he did to us."
The memories ended there, and silence returned to the room once again.
Asher lowered his head and stood motionless for a long time.
Only after the battle outside had gradually faded into the distance did he slowly raise it again.
The confusion that had once filled his eyes had completely disappeared.
In its place remained only calm.
He did not know why his original self had arrived in this world.
Nor did he know whether the original owner of this body had truly disappeared forever.
But one thing was certain.
From the moment he inherited these memories, these emotions, he had become Asher Veyron.
Lina was now his mother.
As for Cassian Valdris...
Picking up the phone once more, Asher stared at the smiling middle-aged man standing before countless reporters on the news broadcast, praised by everyone and worshipped as the perfect hero.
A cold smile slowly curved across Asher’s lips.
"You took everything from my mother. You abandoned your own son to rot in the Lower City. And after all that, you can still stand there and accept the world’s admiration without a trace of guilt."
"What an extraordinary father."
Unlike the original owner, Asher was not consumed entirely by hatred.
Nor did he foolishly rush toward the Valdris Family seeking death.
He understood one simple truth.
Right now, he was nothing more than an ordinary young man who had yet to awaken.
Cassian, meanwhile, was an S-Rank Hunter backed by the entire Valdris Family.
If he wanted revenge, anger alone meant nothing.
He needed power. Power great enough to drag that lofty family down from the heavens and cast them into the abyss.
The instant that thought appeared—
THUD!
His heart suddenly pounded once more.
A scorching current erupted from the deepest part of his body, surging through every vein and every limb in an instant.
The weakness brought on by the fusion of memories rapidly disappeared beneath the torrent of energy.
Asher abruptly raised his head.
Countless pale-pink particles appeared out of nowhere before gathering into a translucent screen floating before his eyes.
[Soul fusion complete.]
[Strong desire for revenge detected.]
[Host possesses tendencies toward conquest, plunder, and domination.]
[System binding requirements fulfilled.]
[Activating Divine Aphrodisiac System...]
Asher fell silent. He seriously suspected he had misread that final line.
Before he could check again, however, a slightly lazy yet teasing female voice echoed inside his mind.
[Ding! Divine Aphrodisiac System initialisation complete.]
[Welcome to the world of Hunters and Spatial Gates, Host Asher.]
[Others grow stronger by relying on Monster Cores.]
[You, however, shall possess a resource far more precious than any Core.]
[From this day onward, your body shall become the world’s most powerful aphrodisiac.]
[Your Life Essence will drive countless women into madness.]
[Main Quest Issued.]
[Enter Aegis Spatial Gate Academy within thirty days.]
[Reward: Beginner Gift Pack.]
[Failure Penalty: Death.]
Staring at the lines of text before him, the cold smile that had just appeared on Asher’s face slowly froze.
"...Wait. The Divine... what System?"