Ryan had successfully completed the integration of Aiden's soul with the system.
By recovering part of Aiden's memories, he was able to have a very clear understanding of what kind of life would await him in this world.
Even with the disadvantages, he was already focused on overcoming them.
But he didn't even have time to experience his new body. Trouble had already entered through the atrium door.
The sphere of fire remained floating in front of him, trembling in the air.
Ryan felt the heat of the energy coming from that demon.
Almost by instinct, Ryan jumped to the side; still unaware of the strength of his own body, he was displaced toward the other end of the room.
He narrowly avoided the attack that left the place where he had been standing engulfed in flames.
One, two, three consecutive attacks directed at Ryan.
He kept dodging, jumping from one side to another.
The third attack grazed his right thigh.
"Ag..." He groaned as he fell, planted on the ground.
The demon and his two companions looked at him with contempt, as if they had already reduced him to ashes.
Ryan's body remained rigid, every muscle on alert.
'And this is supposed to be Aiden's brother...'
Ryan wavered.
"Is this how you welcome your brother after returning from death?"
"Shut up, you bastard." He kept his arm forward, his palm open and steady.
His companions smiled, certain that Ryan would soon be a pile of ashes in the atrium.
"Stop!"
"Lord Ash, you know that confrontations are forbidden within the castle."
A demon in a white overcoat appeared between them.
"Tsk... what is the shaman doing here?" Ash growled, slowly lowering his hand and dissipating his fire manifestation.
Ryan sighed.
'I don't know who that is, but he saved us... or so I think...'
"This is my workspace. It is only logical that I am here."
The shaman turned toward Ryan and began to examine him closely.
'Eh? I'm relieved he saved me, but this is very annoying.'
"You really seem alive, but two days ago I gave you up for dead. How strange..."
"Don't worry, shaman. We'll kill him again right now," said one of the demon girls accompanying Ash, smiling cynically.
"Hey, hey, calm down, Leonor. It's not my intention to disrespect Lord Ash, but a fight here will only trouble his majesty."
"It won't be a fight if he dies in a single blow," Leonor mocked.
"Yes, yes, that's true. Let's just leave it here, Ash; it wouldn't even be worth any merit for you to defeat or kill me anyway. You know well that I am weaker than you."
Ryan raised his hands, explaining with false resignation.
"Of course you're weaker, you wretch. To my Lord Ash, you're just a cockroach crawling around. You'd better apologize on your knees and kiss his feet."
'How disgusting. Don't these companions have any manners? They look like demons... well, they are demons.'
Ryan lowered his hands and looked at the floor.
'Why don't they just get bored and leave?'
Then Ash stepped forward and planted himself in front of Ryan, invading his space.
"Nothing is happening, the shaman will report the truth. Aiden never woke up and his body exploded. That was the only thing that happened, right, shaman?"
Ryan turned to look at the shaman.
"Yes, you are right, Lord Ash. That was exactly what happened," the shaman replied with resignation.
'I'm still not used to this body, but every cell in it is boiling. It must be because of the hatred Aiden feels for Ash. Does that stop me from feeling fear? Or is it the fact that this body feels like an avatar to me?'
'I must be careful, this is not a game.'
"You two! Enough!"
Ash turned immediately at the voice, just as everyone present turned to look.
The demon approached with a furrowed brow and a penetrating gaze observing Ryan. "But how is it possible?" he murmured.
"Igniel, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same. You have no business here with your sentinels, causing trouble for the shaman."
He took a rigid posture, clearly showing himself superior to the rest.
"Katherine, Leonor. You are Ash's sentinels; you must act with responsibility, not incite him to fight everywhere. Now, get out."
"Tsk." Ash grumbled and left the place with his companions.
A light sigh was heard. It was the shaman.
"Heh, heh, the imprudence of youth fills this place with life. I am very sorry for these troubles, young Igniel."
"Igniel..." Ryan murmured.
"Do you really have seven lives, little brother?"
"Hey, Igniel, I feel a bit dazed. I'm going to go rest," Ryan replied curtly. Although Igniel wasn't hostile, he was in Aiden's memories as the only neutral brother.
"No, you can't leave, I'm going to examine you," the shaman said, grabbing Ryan by the shoulder.
"It's not possible for you to still be alive. We gave you potions after you caught fire, but I am certain you have been dead for two days."
'What a pain. Should I run?'
"No, let him go. I am also curious about what is happening, but he looks more confused than we do. Besides, he's a mess."
"Very well. If you say so, Lord Igniel, then it's fine."
Ryan sighed.
'At least they let me go. That piece of shit deity made sure to send me here to die, didn't it?'
Ryan left the place and headed to Aiden's room.
◇◇◇
'Hmmm, not what I'd expect from a demon's room.'
It wasn't a large room, but it was cozy; it was very similar to the one he left back in his world.
'All right, I think it's a good time to change these clothes.'
Ryan went to the bathroom inside the room; after entering the bathroom, washing up, and changing, Ryan lay on the bed, reflecting.
'I'm starving...'
Ryan went out to look for food. But it felt like his first mission: raiding the kitchen without being discovered.
Getting involved in fights now, when he wasn't so sure of his strength, would be a complete nuisance. And more than that, very dangerous.
The vague memories Ryan had of Aiden's life at least gave him important information about the most recurring things he did.
In those memories was the image of a dungeon that Aiden used to visit.
There, he trained his body day after day, since he couldn't use fire manifestation.
His only option was to train physically.
But now that Ryan knew about the dungeons, he had a clear goal: to test his new abilities in this defective demon body. And to grow stronger.
But for now, that didn't matter. After eating, he retreated to his room and just lay down for a moment.
Although Ryan was used to going to sleep late, almost at dawn, this time he felt so overwhelmed by everything that had happened that his mind simply collapsed into deep exhaustion.
And he fell into a deep sleep.
◇◇◇
The cold entered through the bedroom window.
The cold air moved his sheets very slightly.
The light hit his face directly.
Ryan opened his eyes.
'It's already day...' Ryan looked around, the same walls and environment he left hours ago before sleeping.
His face filled with deep disappointment.
"So it wasn't a dream..."
After getting out of bed, he got ready, even if he held onto the hope that it was a dream.
He thought that if he had managed to survive, and if he could grow stronger, then this world could be a fun place.
Ryan went out through the back of the castle. Guided by Aiden's memories, he entered an area full of trees, where the wind blew strongly.
He had only been in that world for a day. He hadn't gone out or observed anything of the exterior, but he immediately noticed that he was at the very top of an enormous mountain, so high that it even surpassed the clouds.
He walked a bit more, almost to the edge of the mountain, when Ryan's mouth hung open in shock and he let out a shout without thinking.
"Wh-wh-wh-but what is that!"
"A dragon?"
[Evaluation: Mountain Wyvern]
[Description: Winged being that rules the cloud currents.]
Ryan approached the wyvern, doubtful but excited. Not even discovering the existence of demons had unsettled him as much as seeing that wyvern.
'According to Aiden's memories, the dungeon is floating... I never saw anything like that even in MMORPGs.'
But as he approached, the wyvern flapped its wings and growled at him. Ryan scrambled back and fell onto his backside.
'It must notice something strange about me.'
'It must be like a puppy when it doesn't recognize its owner.'
Ryan stood up and raised his voice, scolding the wyvern. With confidence, it seemed to react because it bowed down so that he could mount it.
And so the wyvern spread its wings and shot off at full speed, piercing the clouds like a rocket.
They flew at full speed for a few minutes until they spotted a rift in the sky.
[Alert]
[Medium elemental dungeon detected.]
[Rank C - 0/20 Floors]
[Durability: 80%]
"I found it." Ryan smiled; it was the dungeon that was in Aiden's memories, he used to spend a lot of time there.
Since dungeons are training grounds for humans, demons aren't interested in entering because they don't receive any rewards like humans do.
And being the case, the dungeon didn't just function as a training ground for Aiden, but also a solitary place where he could get away from the troubles of the castle.
"Wow, how interesting. So it's a good hideout and training ground."
Once he entered the dungeon, he left the wyvern at the entrance and headed inside.
He observed several warriors with swords; he approached.
When they saw him, they lunged at him and attacked.
Ryan began to fight; he was able to adapt quickly to that body. For Ryan, it was the same as syncing with a Virtual Reality avatar.
The enemies were a kind of armor, with no one inside. He defeated them with ease and advanced to the boss room.
An enormous suit of armor, with four arms and swords of light.
"This is a good opportunity to try that..." Ryan smiled and began to manifest his fire, which immediately turned blue on his fists.
Over that heatless fire, Ryan projected the intense fire of his lineage. The heatless fire acted as an insulator, a protective layer that prevented the skin from burning.
While Ryan could hold that orange fire between his hands as if it were a glove of voracious flames.
Assuming a slightly reckless combat stance with his fists far from his face.
"I was anxious to test my fire gloves."
Ryan smiled and, maintaining the pose, fixed his gaze on the boss and ran toward it. His speed definitely surpassed the fastest human in his world with ease.
That thrill made his brain burn, exploding in a satisfying rush of adrenaline.
When he received the attack from the sword of that enormous armor, which looked like a golem, he dodged it with ease and struck it with his fire gloves, sending it tumbling several meters, catching fire until it melted.
"This was very exciting!"
[Congratulations]
[First-floor boss has been defeated.]
[Reward received: Rune - Knight's Blessing.]
[Floors completed 1/20]
Ryan approached. It was a blue stone with a strange symbol illegible to him.
"A reward for defeating the boss? Aiden didn't receive anything. I see... it's a reaction to the system."
The system window appeared in front of him.
[Item detected: Rune - Knight's Blessing]
[Knight's Rune obtained. Activate now? YES. NO.]
"Yes..."
[Generating skill]
[ERROR: Directory /SKILLS/ not found.]
[OUTPUT: Forcing physical print...]
'What is all this? Is it not working because it's a hybrid system?'
[Forcing adaptation to the active system...]
[GENERATING OUTPUT: Result: Knight's Blessing]
[SUCCESS]
The stone disappeared from Ryan's hands.
A dull brown scroll appeared, falling slowly until it touched the ground.
'A scroll? When the system doesn't understand something... it prints it?'
Ryan bent down and took it.
"How is this activated?" he murmured.
'I don't understand what it says, it's just symbols. Could it be the human language?'
"So... how is this Knight's Blessing activated?"
The scroll vanished.
[Activating Knight's Blessing]
[Consumable item 'Knight's Blessing' executed successfully.]
'Did it work?'
"A human?" A murmur was heard from the darkness of the shadows in the place.
A light surrounded Ryan's body.
And almost immediately he had what looked like a sword wrapped in fire, clashing in position against his neck.
The brilliant light running through his body was protecting him from the attack.
And as he realized, it was a demon girl who was holding the sword, aiming at his neck, clashing against that hard aura.
[Alert]
[Hostility confirmed]
[Threat Level: Principality]
[Elemental Affinity: Fire Manifestation]
'A principality? Like Ash?'
"Tsk." The demon girl clicked her tongue with disgust and backed away.
Ryan recoiled, surprised. He hadn't noticed her until she planted the sword at his neck.
The aura surrounding him shattered into pieces and disappeared.