Volume 1: The Dragon’s Fall, The Empire’s Twilight
Chapter 0: Transmigration and Mission Background
Standing amidst the bustling crowds of Constantinople, he found himself lost in a daze.
Had he transmigrated? Or was he trapped within a game, unable to log out?
“Solomon: A Song of Fire and Iron” was a globally popular fantasy RPG, a full-sensory virtual reality experience. He, a professional esports player of the game, had somehow materialized within its world.
This world was an almost perfect replica of the one in “Fire and Iron.”
The only difference was the absence of players.
And without players, all player-related facilities vanished as well – things like login areas, safe zones, and resurrection points.
Which meant, if he died in this world…
He might actually be dead.
His current NPC body belonged to Asker Leppius Achilles, a nobleman from the imperial capital of Constantinople. His profession: a high school history teacher at a local academy for nobles.
Thanks to a generous inheritance, his family was quite wealthy, making him a genuine trust fund kid.
Then, he was hypnotized by a female vampire, his mind ensnared. Within a few short months, his parents were murdered, his family fortune seized. The entire household staff – the butler, the maids, the footmen, over a dozen people in total – were all transformed into vampires.
He alone was kept alive, his blood a daily offering to the den of vampires. Had his original body not been so robust, he would have perished long ago.
One night, the vampire mistress decided to expand their hunting grounds, dispatching a maid to turn their next-door neighbors.
The neighbors were a family of three: a couple and their young daughter. During the embrace, the vampire maid encountered unexpected resistance from the daughter, alerting the parents. In a panic, she silenced the couple and set the house ablaze before fleeing.
The fire was quickly extinguished by Constantinople’s fire brigade. Enraged that the flames had almost reached her own mansion, the vampire mistress executed the maid.
Unbeknownst to all, the neighbors’ young daughter, Peggy, had already been turned. The fire hadn’t completely consumed her.
That very night, she crawled out of her grave and wandered the streets. A few days later, she encountered a player and offered a quest for vengeance.
The player, belonging to a guild, immediately reported the encounter.
The guild leaders decided to inform the Church, hoping to leverage their power against the vampires while also reaping rewards and reputation.
The Church swiftly dispatched a squad of Ironclad Paladins. Together with the guild players, they eradicated the entire vampire nest.
Asker, considered an ordinary human under a vampire’s influence, was spared by both the Church and the players.
With the quest complete, the Church awarded Asker’s mansion to the player guild as a reward for reporting the vampire threat. This guild became the first to establish a base in Constantinople, attracting a large influx of players.
The entire ordeal, documented and shared on the game’s forums, caused a sensation among players. Constantinople was soon swarming with guilds, all searching for traces of vampires, werewolves, and witches.
As for the unfortunate Asker, stripped of his family, his wealth, and his sanity, he became a beggar on the streets. Every day, countless players would approach him, probing, harassing:
“Do you know any other vampires?”
“Didn’t your wife have any siblings?”
“You’re a vampire yourself, aren’t you?”
Under this constant barrage of painful reminders, the NPC finally snapped, losing his mind completely. He met his end as collateral damage in a street gang fight.
That was the tragic fate of his predecessor in the game. But this time, things would be different.
This world had no players. Peggy’s quest would go unanswered. The Church wouldn’t discover the vampires anytime soon.
Most importantly, he, a professional esports player intimately familiar with the game’s mechanics and storylines, would not sit idly by and await his doom…
“A Song of Fire and Iron,” the best RPG of 2077, unfolded on a planet steeped in a magical, pseudo-medieval history. It depicted an epic saga of war and conquest, fueled by the ambitions and conflicts of various nations. The game drew inspiration from various sources: the power dynamics of Warhammer (where melee clashed with gunpowder), the cosmic horror of Lovecraftian lore (where power often led to madness), the unforgiving combat of the Souls series (where even a high-level character could be felled by a single blow), and the addictive open-world design of The Elder Scrolls (a world of swords, sorcery, and, of course, romance). It was a bizarre Frankensteinian creation, yet it somehow managed to capture the hearts of gamers worldwide, winning accolades at both Gamescom and E3, and securing the top spot on Steam’s best-selling charts.
