Felix found himself near a white room, with aesthetics that didn't seem to fit with the Elven architecture within the castle. A black-haired man with casual clothes, wearing thick-framed glasses shook hands with him and gave a warm smile as if meeting an old friend.

"Welcome, Benefactor. I'm Nakajima, the personal therapist for the Elven Royal Family."

"Are you from Earth, by chance?"

"Indeed. But I have a contract from a certain goddess that requires me to stay. Granted, I have more fulfillment and self-worth here."

Felix noticed the laden exhaustion as Mr. Nakajima went; he probably had a rough time on Earth.

"That's good to hear."

Felix didn't dwell too much on the topic; it was among his least favorite things to talk about.

"The Princess has something akin to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..."

It was apparent when she met her family and broke down wailing in their presence. Every now and then, she would double-check on them; worrying whether the Demon King would come back and kill everyone she loved.

The poor girl still wept on the beanbag couch and even the said therapist shrugged his shoulders at Felix.

"While it's audacious of me, Benefactor, I wish to hear your honest recount of everything so far, so we can work on the best way to heal her."

"It all started a month ago..."

He talked about how Leticia survived spatial turbulence and was near death when he found her.

What he found most suspicious was how the princess was so nonchalant about separating from her family and assumed everyone died from the Demon King's onslaught.

Mr. Nakajima frowned, The effect was more severe than I thought. This has gone beyond my expertise."

"You also presumed her to be a vessel for the 'Demon Seed'?" Felix made a wild guess.

The biggest giveaway was when Leticia said, "The Demon King was getting closer," and there was a discrepancy by the time he went to another world and it was fine instead of being an infernal wasteland.

"As expected of the Demon King, I had the feeling he wouldn't go down that easily," Mr. Nakajima facepalmed.

In short, the Demon Seed would take root in a victim's body; gradually distorting their memories and making them think that the Demon King triumphed, while slowly taking control of themselves.

The process would start the moment it lost connection with the original source, which is the Demon King. When it was complete, the Demon King would be reborn. Worst still, they would remain undetected for years, and it may be too late when they realized.

It's undetectable through normal means and no one was ever able to purge the seed without killing the vessel by burning them inside the Church's Holy Flame for years.

"How do you know this, Mr. Nakajima?"

"I read about it in the Library and brought a copy just to make sure. You can read it yourself and use your skills to determine its authenticity.

Checking the fact and discussing them with the Kingdom's trusted retainers, it was indeed true.

Though there was only one case of such happening and the Gods had to sacrifice part of their divinity due to the catastrophic damage it caused, to restore the world.

"Actually, Benefactor, the seed might help her survive in the spatial turbulence. It has a strong instinct to persevere."

He also explained, the catastrophe never happened again since everyone monitored the Demon Kings' movements and was always wary of that day. While there were several torments of the Holy Flame every hundred years, most of the vessels couldn't make big waves.

Even if it's undetected through normal means, the Church had a way. Though the Elven Kingdom didn't have the best relations with them.

"Still, if we think of an absurd conclusion, it might make sense," Felix pondered, "Like Leticia had a connection with the Demon King somehow."

"That's impossible. The Princess had among the purest Elven blood in all history..."

Felix shook his head, "Well, whatever. If we were able to destroy the Demon Seed without the Holy Flame, it's all game, right"

"Precisely!" Mr. Nakajima's eyes lit up, "So, can you do it?"

"I have an idea," Felix took out the 'Spectacles' item from his game inventory. It looked like a magnifying glass. Pointing the item at Leticia's body and 'using' them, the object disappeared in a flash, with loads of information pouring into his mind.

With his divine sense, Felix was able to pinpoint the exact location of the Demon Seed in her soul. With a thought, the source of her torment went to his game inventory.

He didn't know whether the Demon Seed was considered 'not sentient', as it's able to enter. Perhaps it was something like an evil program the Demon King himself or his predecessors programmed to wreak havoc, just to get back at humanity upon his death.

"That way, when the next Demon King was born, they would have a much easier time subjugating humanity." Felix concluded, "Perhaps it's indeed more cost-effective than being reborn himself. The Church and other factions may have effective means to detect and target the Demon King."

Checking the records of what happened back then, it was indeed the case. The Demon Seed was like a program capable of infiltrating biological beings like a computer virus and causing them to behave radically over time.

...and the first victim was ironically the Church's Saintess.

Felix sighed at the revelation. That period's Demon King was indeed ruthless on another level. The Church wasn't any better due to how vehement they were, just to clear their stain in history.

"Mmm...uhh...what am I...Milord?"

Leticia's complexion was better, and Mr. Nakajima went right away to console her.

With relief going through the roof, he couldn't wait to finally implement his curious idea.

"I'd be leaving for a bit, Leticia. Something urgent came up. In the meantime, have fun with your family."

"Okay?"

Standing on the Castle balcony, Felix used the Chimaera Wings to return to his mansion on Earth.

The wings propelled him to the sky, and he was back in his familiar garden.

Immediately, he skipped to his room, where the typewriter and ink ribbon was. Making another save, he converted the Demon Seed to 'level-up experience'. There was a significant increase with no side effects, though the energy source was gone.

"Alright, I'll try to reload."

As he expected, the Demon Seed was there when he went back, there's something amiss, however.

"Indeed, my experience level was still as strong."

Many people would probably stop, as if even reloading would not revert the state, which might be a risk.

Still, his intuition told him he might regret not going all the way just so he could help the grandpa who gave him his power.

Perhaps that person would never speak again and lose himself in nothingness.

"Who knows if it will cause my downfall, instead of letting me live with this cheat forever?"

Living with such concerns was tormenting for him; he prepared to see it through rather than go through countless years carrying hidden danger.

"Absorb!"

==

Felix didn't know how many times he save-scummed. It's been so long since he was stuck in the same time frame.

Sometimes he would take a break of varying times before reloading, though everything was so dull and stayed the same—he got so familiar with many things happening during this period.

Perhaps it had been thousands of years or even tens of thousands? Felix didn't really count anymore.

It might be faster if he devoured the entire world before reloading, but he didn't wish to cross that line.

At one point, he could bring living creatures inside his inventory. He could even create things from nothingness. It's no longer limited to transferring between the game world and reality.

He had reached a God status for a long time, but he wouldn't stop his pursuit no matter how dull it was. Gaining power at his own pace until he reached the absolute limit. Though it was really frustrating because he couldn't even see them at all.

At one point, he just stopped and thought, "How much more before I'm powerful enough to control my own destiny?"

It was a long, long time of pondering before he said, "Fuck it. Whatever happens, I don't need to force myself to control everything. Even if I could, sometimes it's more fun to go randomly."

Felix fell into his bed, as he let go of the obsession that kept him uneasy.

Finally absorbing the Demon Seed for the last time, he slept deeply; feeling the biggest relief ever.

In his dream, there was the tired-looking grandpa sitting on a toilet in outer space.

"You fucking gamer," the old man smirked.

"I'll take it as a compliment."

Felix made a smug face.