Ch 1: After waking up, I became a side character!

In the mythical land of Serphendale, there was a kingdom renowned for its mystical landscapes and diverse inhabitants. It was called Serph.

In Serph, on top of various kinds of life forms, there existed humans with a trait so unusual that it differentiated them from the rest of their kind, making them stand out like dragons amongst men.

These individuals had two hearts, and they were called Wizards.

Wizards were highly revered by the citizens of Serph as they were the saviors and protectors of the realm.

The first heart of the wizards was similar to any other human but their second heart was like a gateway to unimaginable power.

It was known as the Arcane Heart, and with it, wizards could harness soul power, an omnipresent energy in nature, to achieve feats that defied logic.

For wizards, bringing down a torrential rain to breathe life into parched lands or inducing a drought in any part of the world by tampering with the energy present in nature to hinder cloud formation, sap humidity, and scorch the atmosphere with unbearable heat, were tasks as mundane as breathing.

Parting vast seas with a mere gesture and lifting towering mountains as if they were mere pebbles were also in the realm of possibilities for wizards.

To the Serphians, the citizens of Serph, the wizards weren't just powerful; they were the epitome of strength, entities whose might was unparalleled, making them the most idolized beings in the entire kingdom.

When many clans of wizards choose to live together in one place, they form a wizard community.

Possessing a wizard community within its borders was a matter of immense pride and prestige for any kingdom in Serphendale. After all, wizard communities not only serve as a formidable shield against any external threats but they also add to the kingdom's might and hold the potential to sway the outcomes of wars, turning a losing battle into a winning one.

The kingdom of Serph also had a wizard community. If it hadn't, it would have had its land conquered and its people enslaved.

Its wizard community was settled amidst a forest of silver trees.

One thing that stood out the most about this community was the houses.

They were made of the trees found in the forest, and there were thousands of them.

How did such architectural marvels come to be?

Well, the wizards of this community had collaborated with skilled architects of Serph to carve houses, and even mansions, right into the trunks and sprawling branches of the thick and sturdy trees of the forest.

While there were thousands of houses in the wizard community of Serph, only a handful of them were grand enough to be termed mansions.

In one such mansion, within one of its many rooms, a young man sat atop a plush bed with his legs crossed and a confused expression on his face.

'The last thing I remember is being at my parents' humble apartment and falling asleep while reading a novel deep into the night. So can anyone explain how I ended up in a room adorned in European decor that looks like it belongs in a grand mansion from another era, perhaps even an entirely different world than Earth?'

'Just where the heck am I?'

Valerius felt confused and panicky.

Just then, the door to the room abruptly opened, revealing a tall figure dressed unmistakably as a butler.

'If I am questioned, I wouldn't know how to answer. Better act dead for now.

Before the butler could notice he was awake, Valerius went from sitting on the bed to lying down on it with his eyes closed.

He was playing dead to avoid any sort of interaction until he could make sense of the bizarre situation he'd landed in.

The butler entered the room through the open door, proceeding without pause until he reached the bedside.

'It's way past 6 a.m. Even the kids are up and getting ready to go to school. Yet, he's still sleeping like a log. This wastrel… he doesn't deserve to be a Khaleji.'

The butler cast a disdainful gaze upon the young man sprawled out on the bed.

The disdain in his eyes, however, was quickly replaced by a gentle look as he called out to the young man.

"Young master, it's way past the time for you to be up. You really should wake up soon. Madam will be quite displeased if you continue to sleep in, and you wouldn't want that, right?"

Valerius acted like he was ensnared in the clutches of sleep as he grumbled, "Five more minutes."

The butler sighed, resigning himself to the young man's willfulness.

He spoke again, "Very well, I'll be back with your medicine in five minutes. Do make sure you're up by then."

Acting like he wasn't fully awake, Valerius weakly lifted his hand and barely waved it in acknowledgment of the butler's words.

In the moments that followed, it sounded like the butler had exited the room and even gently closed the door behind him. But Valerius didn't believe what he heard; he had to make sure of it with his own eyes as he was cautious by nature. He opened his eyes to a thin slit and took a look around.

What he saw left him feeling assured.

Yes, he was alone in the room. He had somehow fooled the butler into leaving him alone with his terrible acting!

He breathed a sigh of relief and sat up in his bed.

"Since when did I become a young master with a butler to boot? What the hell is going on?" he thought aloud as his eyes involuntarily scanned the room.

He suddenly saw something so astonishing that his widened beyond the size of boiled eggs in sheer shock, appearing as though they might pop out of their eye sockets any moment.

"No way… right?"

Without a second's delay, he sprang from the bed, his feet hitting the cold floor, as he made his way to the full-body-length mirror positioned at the far end corner of the room.

After one breath of time, he stood facing it.

The mirror that was supposed to reflect his unassuming and average appearance surprisingly showcased an extremely attractive figure.

It was of a young man with brown hair and peach blossom eyes that were so exceptional they carried an irresistible charm that could easily enchant and attract the opposite gender.

Although the color of his eyes and hair was ordinary, his face, which was perfectly symmetrical, was anything but ordinary. He had high cheekbones and a sharp V-shaped jawline that gave him a refined appearance with an added hint of devilishness. It contrasted with the overall mixture of femininity and masculinity of his features, but not in a bad way, making him look all the more pleasing to the eyes.

Not to mention, his brown eyes were extremely bright.

In fact, they were so bright that they seemed to contain the twinkle of a thousand stars in a starry night sky.

Those eyes were framed by dark lashes so long they cast a shadow under the eyes, intensifying his gaze to a point where it could drag even the strongest willed into their depths with a look.

Even more attractive were the lips on the devilishly handsome face. They were full and plump and delicately curved, like the edge of a finely crafted bow, comparable to the cupid's bow in might!

If Valerius had to compare, then this face was even better than a male supermodel.

He seemed to be around 6 feet tall. He was wearing a black silk robe, an outfit far removed from what Valerius had worn in his 18 years of life.

His parents were average salary workers, after all. They couldn't afford him such luxury.

The only oddity about him was the distinctly pale color of his skin, making him appear as though he was malnourished.

Valerius: "..."

Valerius looked blankly at his own reflection in the mirror with pursed lips and absolute silence.

The distress and disbelief in his eyes, however, betrayed his outward calmness.

Only one thought came to his mind when he saw the reflection in the mirror.

"This fucker who looks more attractive than supermodels isn't me!"

Valerius had such an average appearance that he appeared plain and unremarkable to the eye. To put it plainly, only a blind woman would want to date him.

"Only his face looks good. His body isn't even one-tenth as great as mine."

Valeriue's lack of facial charm drove him to hone his physique so that he would have a chance at dating. He did push-ups, sit-ups, and crunches, and ran under the sun whenever he could. As a result, his body was muscular and his skin had taken on a wheatish hue, but now, the reflection in the mirror showed that he had a body that was slim and white with not a muscle in sight.

Valerius shed a thousand tears internally.

Though his original face was ordinary, his original body was robust and fit.

Years of hard work had gone into it, but now it had all gone down the drain as he had switched bodies somehow and the body he possessed now seemed fragile enough to topple over with a mere breeze!

'Could it be that I am dreaming?'

As he woke up in a stranger's body after falling asleep while reading a novel, Valerius felt like he was going crazy.

'This might wake me up!'

He thought that he was in a bad dream so he squeezed his cheek harshly to escape it.

The pinch stung like a bitch, making his cheek turn red and a yelp escaped his mouth.

But except for that, nothing changed.

'This is as real as it could be. I have possessed a stranger.'

He realized he wasn't dreaming as it felt too real, too vivid to be an illusion.

Then the only other plausible explanation was that he had possessed this body in his sleep, and whoever he was, his identity was not ordinary as he not only had a butler but also lived surrounded by luxury.

But why, and how, did he end up in this person's body?

And… where did the original owner of the body go?

Most importantly, was he still alive back on Earth?

Since his soul was here, it seemed unlikely.

Thinking to this point, Valerius's heart sank. He was his parent's most beloved child. If they found out he had died, they would be overwhelmed with sadness. His heart ached for them.

Ugh!

Suddenly, Valerius clutched his head in pain as a torrent of foreign memories flooded his consciousness.

These memories belonged to a teenager who suffered a great loss in the Great Wizard War that took place in a land called Serphendale and had concluded 12 years ago.

The war was fought between the wizard communities of different kingdoms for supremacy and ultimately ended with the wizard community of Serph forcing everyone to sign a peace treaty and exist in harmony.

The Great Wizard War ended within a decade after it began, but the damage was done.

The realms comprising the main world and the countless sub-worlds surrounding it were marred with the cruelty of war.

The war gave birth to many widows and orphans, and the young man was a victim of this tragedy.

He was four years old when his parents died in the war, and he was adopted into the Khaleji family by his uncle, who was the current head of the House of Khaleji.

As a result, he went from being a bright child with loving parents to a pitiful orphan living in the tiger's den with no one to depend on, who stopped eating due to depression caused by years of neglect and nearly died of starvation. No wonder why he looked so sickly!

Coincidentally, he also had the same name as him.

He was also called Valerius.

His full name was Valerius J. Khaleji.

If that were all, the transmigrated Valerius wouldn't have felt shocked, but he just happened to be quite familiar with this name.

For it belonged to the most abused and pitiful side character and also the little villain of [The Great Conquer], a novel he was an avid fan of!