In her previous life, Evelyn Hart had lived at the very bottom of the food chain. She had never been allowed anywhere near important information.
Still, anyone who spent enough time among players could piece together fragments of the truth from casual conversations, quest scrolls, death records, and rumors passed around camps.
Many factions ruled the continent.
Every race had its own faith, and every city enforced its own laws.
Above them all stood the beings known as gods. The divine power worshiped by every faction came from them.
The gods never interfered with the continent directly.
They were more like spectators seated high above the world, watching wars, betrayals, and civilizations tear one another apart in oceans of blood.
According to legend, any being who earned a god’s recognition could be chosen as a demigod candidate and become that god’s representative in the mortal world.
They might even ascend into a true god and escape the cycle of mortal life.
It sounded impressive.
The victors became gods.
The losers went into the ground.
But the continent had long since grown tired of war, and none of the major factions had the strength to begin another full-scale conflict.
As far as Evelyn knew, three demigod candidates were currently known to exist.
She couldn’t remember who they were.
Either way, they had nothing to do with her current situation.
The most recent war had been a limited conflict between Whitehaven and the Frostspine Alliance twenty years ago.
One side had apparently been supported by a demigod candidate.
The players thrown into this world were like new variables tossed into stagnant water, meant to create possibilities where none had existed before.
Isolde now possessed the body of a native and the soul of a player.
She knew parts of the future. She knew where valuable resources could be found, and which early-game skills would eventually become powerful.
More importantly, she had the identity of a Castle Boss and a status screen capable of disguising it.
It was practically a cheat handed to her for free.
The more Isolde thought about it, the brighter her eyes became.
She suddenly set down her cup and looked at Lia.
“Lia, as the master of Sylvain Castle, can I leave whenever I want?”
Lia answered immediately.
“Yes. The castle places no restrictions on its master’s movements. You may leave at any time.”
She paused before continuing.
“While you are away, Sylvain Castle can enter Concealment, Defense, Capture, or Harmless Mode according to your wishes.”
“Your will takes priority over all other commands.”
Isolde slowly sat up straighter.
“So the castle can continue operating while I’m gone?”
“Yes.”
“Can it receive guests on its own?”
“Yes.”
“Can it kill them on its own?”
Lia paused.
“If you designate them as prey, yes.”
Isolde’s eyes lit up completely.
That was incredible.
Sylvain Castle was an automated resource collector.
She could leave to grow stronger while the castle continued running its dungeon.
Greedy players would come looking for treasure, and the castle could lock the doors and release the monsters.
Any items and materials they dropped would be sent directly into storage, where they would be sorted and preserved automatically.
This was infinitely better than working herself to death for someone else in the modern world.
Back then, she hadn’t even been able to afford a comfortable apartment in the city.
Now she had started with a massive estate that could generate income on its own.
It consumed a few players along the way, but otherwise, it was perfect.
Once her excitement faded, Isolde quickly calmed down.
The castle’s ability to operate independently was useful, but she couldn’t rely on it too often.
Luring in a few greedy players from time to time wouldn’t be a problem.
Do it too often, however, and Sylvain Castle would be marked as a high-risk dungeon.
Players wouldn’t remain easy targets forever.
They recorded locations, traded information, and formed parties to explore dangerous areas.
Eventually, the people who arrived would no longer be inexperienced beginners like Grant, Mina, and Rowan.
They would be experienced parties carrying detection abilities, purification items, and Advanced skills.
Isolde might be the new master of Sylvain Castle, complete with Boss authority, but she wasn’t foolish enough to expose her stronghold the moment she gained a small advantage.
The castle needed to remain hidden.
It could stay concealed within the gray fog, occasionally consume an unfortunate intruder, and defend itself while she was away.
But it couldn’t be her only reliable source of resources.
Over the next two days, Isolde remained inside Sylvain Castle.
With Lia beside her, she inspected the entire estate.
The castle was far larger than she had expected.
Its outermost section was the Trap Zone.
It contained gray fog, broken bridges, a withered forest, false paths, and mechanisms hidden beneath stone steps and inside cracks in the walls.
Most of the mechanisms had deteriorated.
Some still worked, while others were little more than frightening shells.
Farther inside was the Illusion Zone.
The illusion array in the eastern tower extended from there.
It could make intruders see whatever they most wanted to find.
Some would see treasure chests. Others would hear cries for help. A few would be guided toward the banquet hall.
After inspecting the array, Isolde instructed Lia to temporarily switch it to Repulsion Mode.
For now, she needed Sylvain Castle to remain hidden, not become famous.
Next came the guard stations.
Array positions had been placed at corridor intersections, stairway landings, and underground entrances.
Valen had been deeply afraid of death. He had fortified almost every place where an enemy might attack him.
Unfortunately, years without maintenance had left most of the array lines dark.
Only a handful of low-tier bone constructs could still move.
Isolde ordered the faceless servants to drag them into the underground laboratory.
She could repair them later.
There was no reason to waste resources on them now.
The residential wing was in better condition.
It included guest rooms, a dressing room, storerooms, an abandoned garden, and a small greenhouse.
Most of the plants inside the greenhouse were dead.
Only a few Bloodleaf Vines remained alive.
The plants fed on blood. They could be used in traps or processed as low-tier magical plant materials.
Isolde had Lia add them to the inventory.
Anything useful would stay.
Everything else could be discarded later.
Valen’s bedroom stood at the far end of the residential wing.
Surprisingly, it looked normal when they opened the door.
There was a large bed made of dark wood, an antique wardrobe, a fireplace, a heavy rug, and a small round table beside the window.
Everything was covered in dust, but at least it looked like a room meant for a person.
Lia explained that during the later stages of Valen’s mutation, his body had grown too large to enter the bedroom.
He had spent most of his time in the study or banquet hall instead.
Isolde looked at the bed.
So it wasn’t that Valen hadn’t wanted to sleep in it.
He had simply become too large to fit through the door.
She felt sorry for him for exactly one second.
Valen had already been dismantled and placed in storage.
Sylvain Castle belonged to her now.
The study was the room that truly gave her a headache.
The moment the door opened, the combined smell of rotting flesh, chemicals, and old paper struck her.
Isolde nearly backed out immediately.
When she had come here before to gather materials, she had been too focused on killing Valen to care about the mess.
Now that she owned the place, the sight was unbearable.
Jars and bottles covered the floor.
Bones that hadn’t been properly cleaned lay in the corners.
Dried, unidentified fluid clung to the desk. Several books had been left open on the floor, their pages blackened along the edges as though something had licked them.
Isolde immediately sent in the faceless servants.
The floor was to be scrubbed three times.
Every window had to be opened.
The room needed fresh air.
She could live in a haunted castle.
She refused to live in a garbage dump.
The study contained more books than she could count. Every gap in the shelves had been filled.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t read most of them.
Some were written in ancient script, others in Elvish or Dwarven, and several used unfamiliar ciphers.
After staring at them for a while, her eyes began to hurt.
The books she could read were mostly written in the Common Tongue or covered the forbidden arts known to the original Isolde.
She read two pages before closing the book in her hands.
Some of this knowledge might prove useful later.
But she wasn’t going to use all of it.
Isolde knew she wasn’t a good person, but the original Isolde’s research was horrifying on an entirely different level.
Beyond the study lay the underground levels.
Isolde had already visited the underground laboratory several times.
The operating tables, material cabinets, soul-sealing racks, stitching instruments, and black iron chests used to store body parts were all still there.
After two days of cleaning, the room no longer looked quite as much like a crime scene.
What truly caught her attention was the iron door one level below the laboratory.
Black chains wrapped around it.
It had no handle, only a closed crest engraved into its surface.
The moment Isolde approached, a system notification appeared.
[Unknown Underground Chamber detected.]
[Current Authority insufficient.]
[Unlock requirements unknown.]