Chapter 1

After overcoming countless trials and hardships, you have finally found the sanctuary of ■■■!

Congratulations. You are now ready to break the seal of ■■■. All that remains is the courage to take that final step.

Reinhardt stared at the system window floating before his eyes, breathing heavily.

As expected, this sanctuary is strange.

No matter what achievement he accomplished, the system, which usually only spat out clichéd messages, was now sending such emotional ones.

Why?

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

The nameless god, ■■■.

As a theologian and a professor in the Academy’s theology department, Reinhardt could confidently say this:

A nameless god is, in itself, a contradiction.

The life of gods stems from their names.

The more they reveal themselves and the more people know of them, the stronger they become.

Zeus of Olympus, Odin of Asgard, the Nine-Tailed Fox of Mountains and Seas, and so on.

Even if a god isn’t famous, there are still strong ones, but generally, a god’s status and power are determined by their name.

In other words, the owner of this sanctuary I’ve found is directly contradicting that theory.

The theory I created.

[Will you release the seal?]

The system, seeing me hesitate, sent a message as if it were annoyed.

It’s indeed bizarre.

Truthfully, I’m feeling fear right now.

In the world of theology, irregularities are the most dangerous.

Because gods are an uncontrollable field of study.

Thirteen years ago, an S-rank adventurer discovered a sanctuary, and the seal of an evil god was broken.

As a result, tens of thousands of tombstones were claimed.

Even though it wasn’t a famous or powerful god, it required countless sacrifices.

My fingertips are trembling.

Is this really the right thing to do?

The hypothesis that ■■■ is a sealed evil god was almost absolute in my mind.

Moreover, records of ■■■ were found in almost all mythologies, making it even more dangerous. The more I dug into the records, the harder it became to gauge the level of danger he posed.

Perhaps I’m about to unleash an irreversible catastrophe… No, that’s not it.

“…But I can’t turn back after coming this far.”

It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s an evil god or a benevolent one, it doesn’t matter.

I’m just curious.

If there’s something I’m curious about, I have to find out. That’s the job of a theologian.

[Will you release the seal?]

I nodded, and

[Thank you.]

For some reason, the system smiled at me.

*

“Damn it, seriously.”

In a half-asleep state, just before drifting off,

My fingers holding the phone were slowly losing strength, and I knew I wouldn’t remember this moment the next day.

I was reading a novel.

It was some novel about an Academy or something, but I’m not sure.

Just a typical mass-produced novel.

I wasn’t reading it because it was fun, but because I was forcing myself to hold onto it out of sheer stubbornness.

But there was one setting that stood out to me.

It was a setting that mixed all sorts of mythologies together.

If Mickey Mouse were a god, there would definitely have been a copyright lawsuit.

And these gods could directly intervene in the human world, lending their power, bestowing blessings, or creating villains… that kind of stuff.

The protagonist was a theologian in that world who, after dying, regressed back to his student days at the Academy and dominated everything. A cliché plot.

Ah, now I remember.

And the protagonist was an Academy professor in his past life.

Yeah, that’s right.

“But I don’t remember reading a part where dinosaur bastards show up.”

A dense forest. A jungle.

It’s hard to adapt to the sudden change in environment.

And dinosaurs? Is this Jurassic Park?

Not to mention, these aren’t ordinary dinosaurs. Flames are spewing from their wide-open mouths. Damn it.

…First, let’s stay calm.

Even if you’re being chased by a tiger, if you keep your wits, you’ll survive.

Even among these dinosaurs that could kill a tiger in one hit, I’m sure I can survive.

Alright, let’s start with the basics.

Step by step, like chopping wood in Minecraft.

I took a deep breath and whispered softly, knowing that if this is the world of “Academy something,” it should activate.

“Status window.”

…And nothing happened.

Why?!

[I’m not a status window.]

Then, a message flashed across my vision.

A voice followed. A clear, resonant, and beautiful voice.

I reflexively sighed in relief.

Ah, thank goodness. There’s a status window.

[Not a status window, Belva! I said, words! If you weren’t the first intelligent being, I would’ve sulked and not said anything!]

“Uh, Belva. Show me my stats.”

[So what’s that supposed to mean?!]

This is weird. It looks exactly like the status window described in the novel, but it doesn’t have the function.

Actually, what’s more important is that I have no idea how far in the past this is.

From the way she’s talking about the first intelligent being, I can roughly guess, but…

“Belva, what year is it now?”

[There’s no such standard. It’s been about 3 years and 2 months since this world was created.]

“What about Zeus? Odin?”

[…Are those names of something? I don’t know.]

Hmm…

Belva appeared as soon as I arrived here.

That means she’s not bound by location.

If Belva says so, it’s probably true.

Let’s put aside whether Belva can be trusted.

Even if you don’t believe what she says, nothing will change.

In other words, there are no humans in this world except me.

If my prediction is correct, this is the era before the so-called “gods” from the novel appear.

Now I finally understand the situation.

I realized that I woke up in the distant past.

The scale is just too big.

···First, let’s figure out how to deal with this overwhelming feeling.

*

Belva turned out to be a better friend than I thought.

At least, she was a good counselor.

[So, there’s no way to go back.]

It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but at least I felt a bit better after sharing my situation with someone.

In this miserable situation, having someone to talk to is truly a blessing.

Even if that someone is a weird notification window I don’t even understand.

“First, Belva, can you show me my physical status in numbers?”

[Of course, that’s possible.]

Soon, something resembling a status window appeared in front of me.

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Stamina: 1

Magic Power: 1

All stats fixed at 1.

When I asked Belva, she said she didn’t display decimals······.

This means my abilities, whether strength or stamina, are all equally mediocre.

Being a low-level character is indeed tough.

More than that, the ??? is bothering me.

When I asked, Belva said I needed a name.

[Since I don’t know your name yet, this phenomenon occurred. Tell me the name you want, and I’ll put it in.]

···A name.

“Yuyeona.”

It’s the name I used before.

Not a name I particularly liked.

It was a thoughtless name given by my father, who was a huge fan of Kim Yuna.

So, many people were surprised by the feminine nuance when they first heard my name.

It was a bit stressful during my school days.

But now, I wonder if my father had some foresight.

[I’ll set it as Yuyeona then.]

A faint light swirls, and I see the ??? part being replaced with the name Yuyeona.

It’s fascinating.

More than that, I’ve been squatting for so long that my back is starting to ache.

It’s already been 3 hours, and I still haven’t been able to leave this grassy area.

My shoulders hurt. “Strained” is the right word.

With two sandbags I’ve never had before attached to my torso, fatigue rushed in rapidly.

Even though I wasn’t doing anything.

It’s so overwhelming to be thrown into this world that I pushed it to the back of my mind, but the physical changes I’ve undergone are quite dramatic.

[It’s not that unusual. The place where Yuyeona lived and this place are really, really different. I think your body just adapted to a more suitable form during the transition.]

So, normal people don’t have that kind of transformation ability.

Well, trying to make sense of everything now would only put me at a disadvantage.

That’s something to think about when I have some breathing room.

Right now, I’m on the verge of death, so there’s no time to whine.

Just moments ago, something resembling a raptor sniffed around me before finally moving on.

It had blades on its legs, dozens of centimeters long.

If it had caught me, I would’ve been dead for sure.

If I had the full physical abilities of an adult male right now,

the only things I could fight and win against would be baby monsters or small animals.

So, I have to hold my breath.

No matter how crappy it is, I have to endure until the end.

Just one chance.

If I can seize it, next time I’ll have more opportunities, more easily.

Belva assured me of that.

[That’s right. You have the ability to absorb the physical abilities and unique powers of the creatures you kill.]

A super overpowered skill often named “Predation” in web novels.

According to Belva, some of those dinosaurs were born with this ability too,

but anyway, this is a real boon.

At least, I can hold onto a sliver of hope.

I lightly massaged my stiff thighs, shoulders, and wrists while holding my breath and waiting.

Thanks to the adrenaline slowly seeping in, the pain wasn’t as bad as before.

Having something to focus on is really important.

It prevents me from falling into anger and despair while lamenting what’s already happened.

When I was 18, I got a call that my parents had died in a car accident.

At first, I thought it was a voice phishing scam,

but my parents didn’t answer their phones.

Considering my father always kept his phone on vibrate and my mother on ringtone, it was impossible.

Suddenly, that time and now overlapped.

The overwhelming feeling, the pressure, the pain crushing my chest, the fear choking my throat.

Fortunately, I knew how to overcome it.

Stop deep thoughts, fill life with small goals.

Keep whipping myself like that,

[Now! It’s your chance!]

At some point, I know everything will be pushed back.