Lucas enlarged the panel.

At the very top, a black crystal icon pulsed slowly—like a heartbeat.

[Item: Lucian Voss Core (Sin Edition)]

Price: 50 PP <One-Time Purchase>

---

"…What the hell is this now?" Lucas muttered. "Why is his name showing up in my menu?"

The panel blinked lightly.

[Hehehe~ (>▽<)

That's not an ordinary item, King~]

"Yeah, I can tell."

[Lucian Voss Core (Sin Edition) is a memory archive~

What's inside? Everything he's ever done~

Buuut… only the bad stuff~ (≧◡≦)]

Lucas narrowed his eyes. "I'm not stupid, alright? I saw the words 'sin edition.'"

[Ding ding~ hehe~! (✧ω✧)

By the way, this is the deluxe trauma package~]

Lucas almost laughed, then sighed instead.

"Useless. Watching his sins would probably just give me a mental disorder."

[Smart King~! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ

Buy it = free mental damage~]

He immediately dragged the item upward until it disappeared off the screen.

"Like my life isn't stressful enough already."

He kept scrolling the menu.

Swords. Armor. Potions.

Then—something weird appeared.

The icon looked like a rose. Big, its petals transparent and slightly wet-looking for some reason… strangely slick.

The name made his eyebrows rise.

[Flora Liquidae: Loticentra]

[Description:]

[Advanced botanical hydration device.

Converts mana into living fluid that accelerates plant regeneration and purifies the soil.]

Cost: 40 PP

---

Lucas read it twice.

"…Why does a plant-watering tool need mana?"

[Because this isn't ordinary water, King~

This is 'living water'~]

"That wording sounds like an ad for lubricant."

[(≧▽≦) Shhhh~ this is premium~

Plants become fresh instantly, bloom beautifully, and… grow very well~]

"Grow what, exactly…"

Lucas snorted.

"Is this farming equipment or some kind of plant fetish item?"

[Why not both? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Lucas moved his cursor toward the exchange button—

Then suddenly stopped.

A memory punched through his mind.

The cave.

Silvara's hand around his neck.

His breath cut off.

And—

Another face.

His real face.

Not the face of this body.

Old Lucas's face.

He swallowed.

"…System."

[Hm~? (・ω・)]

"In that cave earlier… why did my face change?"

The panel dimmed slightly, as if the system were thinking.

[Ah… that~

Not a bug~ More like… a slight scratch between worlds~]

"Speak normally."

[Okay okay~ human language~ (￣▽￣)]

[When you were being strangled, the mana flow to your brain was temporarily disrupted~

And when mana 'stalled,' the world's natural network linking Lucian's body to reality weakened.

So the world automatically 're-synced your soul identity.']

"Re-synced my soul identity?"

[Yup~

Normally, body = soul = world are perfectly synchronized~

But you? Your soul isn't from this world~]

Lucas froze.

"…What?"

[When your mana circulation went wild~

This world's layer briefly dropped~

So nature used your 'original soul data' as the primary reference~]

He clenched his fist.

"So… my old face appeared because—"

[Because the world couldn't find a suitable template here~

So it reverted to factory default: the real you~]

Lucas fell silent.

A heavy quiet settled in his chest.

"So… I don't fully belong to this world."

The panel blinked gently.

[Hehehe~ you never did from the start~

That's why you're special, King~]

"…Special my ass. My life just got more complicated."

[Complicated = interesting~ (´∀｀)]

Lucas let out a tired snort and closed the menu for a moment.

His gaze fell to his own hands.

Not his real hands.

Not his real face.

The wrong world.

A body that wasn't his.

And someone else's sinful memories… being sold like merchandise in a display case.

He opened the panel again.

Dragged "Lucian Voss Core" far down the list.

Then his eyes returned to the strange lotus-shaped item.

Loticentra.

"…At least this one isn't selling trauma. And it's actually useful."

The panel blinked in quiet amusement.

[Diiing~ ♪]

The PP number at the corner of the panel changed instantly.

66 PP → 26 PP

A small light shimmered in front of Lucas's chest, then condensed into a physical object.

Not a rose.

What landed in his palm was a lotus flower.

Its petals were tightly closed, like a large bud carved from clear crystal. The surface was cold, smooth, and faintly glossy—as if it were always damp. At its center, a round core like liquid pearl could be seen faintly within—still, unlit.

"…So this is Loticentra?" Lucas turned the object over.

No icon.

No hologram.

Just a numb, inert lotus resting in his hand.

[It's not dead~ (￣▽￣)

It's just 'sleeping'~]

"Sleeping?"

[Yup~

No mana yet, so it's still in dormant mode~]

"So this can't water anything yet?"

[Not yet~

Just channel a little mana into the core~

It'll bloom on its own and start spraying~]

Lucas stared at the clear core in the center of the lotus.

A faint reflection of his unfamiliar face lingered on its surface.

The cave came back to him.

His mind blank.

His breath cut short.

The world slipping away.

"…Later."

He lowered his hand.

"I'm exhausted today. Not in the mood to experiment with weird items."

The panel blinked, as if nodding.

[Reasonable~

Your body is still stabilizing~]

Lucas shrugged.

"Tomorrow."

He dragged Loticentra toward the panel.

"Dismiss."

The lotus shattered into soft light and vanished into the inventory.

Silence returned to the room.

Then the system appeared at the edge of his vision, quieter than usual.

[…You know~]

"What now?"

[You're starting to adapt to this fantasy world...

You dismiss things without hesitation now—unlike back when you were still clinging to that great hoe..]

Lucas sighed.

"Man… shut up."

----

The outskirts of the village were silent.

The night wind swept across the small field outside the wooden fence.

Sir Aldric stood in the middle of the tomato patch Lucas had just cleared.

He glanced at the rows of seedlings.

"Hmph… tomatoes."

He wasn't there to judge crops.

He planted his sword into the ground.

Aldric knelt and began digging with his armored hands, wet soil pushed aside.

Moments later, he pulled an object from beneath his cloak.

A black stone the size of a clenched fist.

Its surface was riddled with cracks, and from within them, a dim reddish glow pulsed… like breathing.

Aldric lowered it into the hole.

The ground at the base of the pit shuddered softly.

Tiny fractures crawled outward, like living veins.

Aldric grinned.

"Good… right here."

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