Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

A long time ago, when I was still a little kilnalan with uncontrollably steaming exhaust horns on the side of my head. The kids of the Citadel and I stumbled upon a Calamity Revenant in the dead-end of an alleyway while we were playing.

To put it simply, they were Calamity Objects that persist after the duration of the Ordeal. It was a very rare phenomenon, much rarer than the appearance of Qliphoth Object, in fact.

And thankfully, the kind of Calamity Revenant that we stumbled upon was that of a passive one.

We were only informed of the existence of Calamity Object back then, but not Calamity Revenant, so we were curious and interacted with it.

The Calamity Revenant's form was a bucket with a boiling water inside, one that couldn't be picked up, while the content of the boiling water seemed endless.

I was gifted to possess a strong mental fortitude as a kilnalan, but my kids weren't. They were enraptured by the Calamity Revenant's presence and started picking me as the target.

And began to chuck my face into the scalding bucket of water.

A kilnalan's body was meant to take extremely high temperatures because of our nature, but a young kilnalan could only take up twice the heat of a normal child.

My exhaust horns prevented me from having my whole head inserted into the bucket as the influenced kids kept on pushing me into the boiling water. And surprisingly enough, my exhaust horns also double as a breathing apparatus if forced, so I was still conscious and alive as the waterboarding went on.

And it kept on for 7 hours until one of the adults stumbled upon us and started calling the military and experts on how to deal with the Calamity Revenant without harming the kids influenced by it.

After that incident, my face was a mess.

Not only that, I lost my vision, hearing, and the ability to taste.

My world became a total darkness.

I think I was around 8 years old when that incident happened, so that was certainly something.

My family was not the most noble, wealthy, nor healthy. After all, I was an adopted child, so both my parents were not even of kilnalan descendant.

But they were kind and consoled me enough to keep my will to survive burning brightly.

And it was enough for me to keep on moving forward.

With a mask of my own creation, I began using my powerful lineage to perform all sorts of jobs and gain many connections at such a young age. Unlike those who studied ohrtending under a master or a sect, I was autodidactic.

I learned how to use my talent for ohrtending to replace my damaged senses, and it got better with time to the point that I didn't even need my senses back.

I also barely cared much about my face at that point, since I knew that my true worth was in my ohrtending capability. I would feel content to live the rest of my life like this, back then.

But I noticed that having such an ugly and disgusting wound on my face made my social interaction harder than it was supposed to be. An important skill needed to thrive in society.

I even failed to get my old crush because of this.

So I started to willingly find a way to restore my face.

Throughout the years, I eventually accumulated enough fortune to have my own medication and physical therapy with a proper healing expert. It wasn't the best kind of expert, since I'm not the moneymaker that I thought I was, but it was enough to help me in this endeavor.

I'm not interested in those trendy procedures that would beautify or apply a layer of fake skin onto my damaged face, I just want to claim back my natural and original face.

And after 25 years of medication and therapy, my face was restored to how it was supposed to be when I was still 18 years old, thanks to the slow aging trait of a kilnalan and successful healing progress.

I was actually surprised at how cute and beautiful I was when I was told that this was how my face should look if I didn't get into that incident.

Narcissus was a hundred times more beautiful and cuter than me, though.

The procedure also healed my blindness and numbness in my tongue and ears.

I could even felt a proper pain when I pinch the skin of my face.

As such, I started to lessen the sensory spells that I had activated nonstop when I was barely sensing anything above my neck.

But of course, after more than 40 years of barely being able to move the muscle of my face, I lost the capability to accentuate my emotion through facial expression.

Do I want my capability to express emotion back? Not really. I'm fine with breathing without any complications. Not to mention, I just got these pair of badass prosthetic legs that would put a Theotech Prosthetic to shame!

I also went through a lot of breakthroughs for my ohrtending capability, thanks to Narcissus' wisdom and knowledge about the true nature of the world. Which was weird, since she barely knew how to perform an ohrtending.

Anyway, I feel very optimistic about my current situation. Even though I am still grieving from losing Lupina, I believe that we can resurrect her somewhere in the future.

"Alright, we finally crafted it before the Ordeal!" Narcissus happily announced. "I shall name this one, Stormhook."

Forged from the organic alloys of various Calamity Objects, this halberd-like 'billhook' had its core infused with Silent Fragments, remnants of the enigmatic Silent Bell.

These fragments lend the Stormhook a unique, soundless lethality. When in use, whether cutting through enemies or being launched from a ballista, the weapon generates no noise—its every strike and impact eerily devoid of sound.

Yes, Narcissus designed this weapon for close-quarter combat and a reusable ammunition for her Fortcracked Mk II at the same time.

I was still marveled by Narcissus' invention and creation even after all of that, no matter how small or big it was.

Then again, I was a little bit biased toward her since she was technically the first love target that I wanted to take seriously.

... Maybe more than biased, if I were to be honest with myself.

Narcissus mentioned something about making a harem full of skillful and capable women. Despite her wit and unnatural intelligence, I was still worried that she would be the wrong kind of individual to be taken under her embrace.

"Alright, it seems like the Ordeal is starting," my beloved Narcissus grinned.

I want to become the most useful and trustworthy partner to her, to ensure that I possess the right to reject any unsuitable individual from blemishing her holy garden.

At the same time, I also want to rightfully proclaim her for myself, but that would be impossible for me if I was only improving at this rate.

After all, it would be sinful for a mortal to keep such a divine flower for themselves, preventing them from blessing those people who had the proper right to touch and admire her.

But that won't be a problem if it they were those of godhood that decided to keep this divine flower for themselves.

As such, I desired to attain unrivaled power, in order to claim Narcissus for myself.

And purge those that tries to get close to her.