Elias paced his room like a man solving a murder he hadn't committed yet.
Lillian had returned - not with books, but with a wrinkled brow and an apology.
"She can't read," said the butler, stepping in behind her, holding a modest stack of volumes wrapped in faded cloth. "So I brought them myself."
The old man introduced himself as Ankor, his posture rigid despite his years. Butler of House Merrick. Sharp eyes. No wasted movements.
"A history of the Duchy of Viremont," he said, laying the first book down. "And one on the Lucien Kingdom."
Lucien.
That name froze Elias in place.
He stared at the leather-bound volume for several long seconds, then snatched it open, flipping through pages like a starving man ripping bread apart.
Dates. Names. Capitals. Dynasties.
It matched. All of it.
This wasn't a dream.
Not a mod.
Not a simulation.
Not a beta server.
This was the second expansion of Sanctum.
The one set in the west. The one players entered after clearing the Eastern Empire arc.
Except-
Something was off.
According to this book, the ruler of the Lucien Kingdom was Lucien II.
But in the expansion?
It had been Lucien IV.
That meant this wasn't just a fantasy version of the game...
He had arrived before the game timeline had even started.
Elias leaned back, heart pounding, lips slowly curling into a smile.
That meant every secret questline, every future war, every item spawn - all of it was coming.
And he had the head start.
He dropped the Lucien book and opened the one on Viremont.
The Duchy's history was short. Barely two generations. But he found what he needed: a mention of the ruling house.
Duke Alric Viremont.
Heir: Quintus Valen Viremont.
Quintus.
The very same noble he was scheduled to duel in 30 days.
His head spun.
Wait. That name…
In his memory, from Expansion II, he recalled a mission deep within Viremont. A final boss encounter. Something with a vampire bride, a corrupted heir, a noble gone mad-
And then it clicked.
Anna Belmont.
Ghost Bride Anna.
Elias stood up so fast the chair skidded.
No wonder she looked familiar.
No wonder her voice sent warning bells through his skull.
She wasn't a throwaway character.
She was a mid-expansion hidden boss.
And the man he now inhabited-
Baron Elias Merrick?
He wasn't just some noble NPC.
He was the Swordmaster of One Arm.
In-game lore said Merrick had been a duelist - one of the last sword saints of the west - until a duel with a young noble named Quintus left him with one arm.
He disappeared.
Ten years later, he returned with a self-developed sword style. Fast. Precise. Ruthless. No energy. No spells. Pure technique.
His legendary move, Draw Slash - Full Arc, was still considered an S-tier AoE even in Expansion 9.
And right now?
Elias was him.
Before the duel.
Before the injury.
Before the myth.
And suddenly, the upcoming fight wasn't just about pride anymore.
It was the origin point.
The battle that shaped a decade of history.
Unless Elias rewrote it.
He dropped into the nearest chair, breathing heavily.
In his previous life, the community had thought Merrick was just a cool backstory.
But now?
Elias was beginning to understand the real message:
This entire world wasn't built for heroes with flashy moves.
It was built for the grinders. The planners. The broken ones who kept getting up.
The ones who didn't just fight - they trained. They prepared. They outlasted.
He opened his system panel.
Merrick Swordsmanship - LV3
Merrick Breathing Technique (Passive) - LV2
Both rare. Both foundational.
Neither were impressive on paper.
But he remembered the forums, years ago:
"Everyone slept on Merrick's passives. They scaled infinitely.
If you stacked enough of them, you became a walking raid boss."
No flashy ultimates.
No burst combos.
Just breath.
Just stats.
And now, Elias realized what the true endgame build looked like:
Stacked passives. Stat overload. Hidden cap-breaking skills.
The meta in Expansion 9 had been clear:
Tech builds for the rich.
Martial builds for the desperate.
Those who focused on pure technique - passive-heavy, attribute-breaking, cooldown-free - had started dominating the top PvP ladders.
A level 50 "boss build" once soloed a level 80 raid leader.
Why?
Because passives didn't cap.
They ignored system boundaries.
They scaled off real-time repetition and physical synergy.
Elias stood up again.
His panel might say F-Rank, but he now knew better.
He wasn't under-leveled.
He was under-trained.
He reached for a training sword on the wall. It was heavier than expected. Dull. Unbalanced.
Didn't matter.
He took a stance.
And he breathed.
Because if this really was the start of his legend…
He wasn't going to lose an arm.
He was going to become the most broken passive stat build the world had ever seen.