( consider this chapter in third person narration , the author's POV)

What was nightmare's secret ? Was he a reincarnator like Rudra? Was he a transmigrator? Was he a wandering supreme magician whose soul was floating in the river of time , before making home in nightmare's body? What happened that altered the timeline Rudra knew soo much that such a player was present as his opponent?

Well let me tell you the secrets of this very question , it will be interesting if you are a long- time reader , as refferances from the previous chapters of the book will be made .

Let's take a moment and go back to chapter 138 , where SMG and Karna raid the royal treasury and obtain this item .

[ Seal of Draconia ] ( Epic ) : a seal of the dragon kingdom of draconia , grants a party of 20 to enter the forbidden Kingdom.

Before going into details about how this item is linked to nightmare's abnormality , let us talk about the distribution of light and dark faction in the game.The game whole world is divided into four continents , nothern continent , southern continent , eastern continent and western continent. On each continent , there are dark faction countries , there are light faction countries and there are also NPC ( dark or light faction allied ) countries , and finally neutral countries and ancient lands.

Only after the second system update , did the travel between different countries of same faction become possible. Whereas travel between countries of different factions is still not possible.

Light faction players can visit countries like the Elven kingdom , which is a NPC kingdom aligned with the light faction. However they cannot set foot in the NPC kingdoms of other factions. The same is true for dark faction players who cannot come to light faction allied nations.

One such dark faction NPC nation , is the kingdom of the Dark Elves , whose spy Rudra killed in the lead up to saving princess Ruby in the royal court of the Elves. This was an event that was not supposed to initially happen , as it prompted a change in the storyline of the Dark Elves!

( If you are following the storyline soo far , please hold this connection in mind , and focus on another isolated event?, I'm about to explain )

-----

The main storyline of the game , the one involving the archangels and the gods , whose progression was supposed to happen continuously overtime , with difficult quests at every stage of players levelling up.

It was a series of intricately linked quests , where the dark and light faction both worked for their respective aligned archangels in a progressive manner.

However Rudra disrupted the main storyline , by saving the son of archangel sariel and stopping the blood ritual meant to strengthen Lucifer.

This caused a complete disruption of the events that were supposed to happen after that particular event.

--------

( Cut scene to , dark faction , VR world , kingdom of the undead , Lucifer's church )

Nightmare was just another blood warlock who had came to Lucifer's church to offer a blood sacrifice in exchange for a little buff spell from the priest.

However on that day , there was chaos in the church , as the church issued a emergency quest to get the blood of dragons , thereby sending every possible adventurer to the neutral kingdom of the dragons.

The church provided a map , with the location of the lost kingdom of draconia , and a one person entry tailsman, that expired in 24 hours , to every dark faction player present. Hence unexpectedly nightmare gained an opportunity at a big gain.

Fast forward to the quest , and although the?church gave about 700 people the access tailsman , only 3 were able to make their way into the dragon kingdom. This was because the terrain leading to the dragon kingdom of draconia , was a level 200 monster zone , which was impossible to traverse by majority of the players , it was only by sheer luck , that nightmare and two others were able to get into draconia.

Even inside the majestic dragon kingdom , they were treated as beggars and peasants , no dragon would even talk with them , they were lowly humans who would die at even a slightest breath , and that is what happened to the two players except nightmare that went into the city.

Nightmare kept a low profile , and gained information about a ruin , the ruin of the fallen blood dragon '?Razia ' , a tier 5 dragon , who was imprisoned inside the now ancient ruins , 3000 years ago.

Nightmare was always a very smart guy , and sensing an opportunity he decided his luck at the ancient ruins , and boy did he strike gold , not only gaining the Overlord spear from the tomb , but also the remnant soul of the blood dragon ' Razia '. Which can now communicate with him in his mind.

Razia is cooperating with nightmare for now , but actually it is just biding it's time for the chance to eventually be reborn , however for now , nightmare has a ancient knowledge house in his brain , which helps him control the blood manipulation at a level which is impossible for other blood warlocks at tier 2 and also the reason behind his monstrous move blood dragon strike! It is not a tier 2 move , but a tier 4 one.

It is also the reason why nightmare was able to guess about Rudra's stats .... It was Razia with his immense knowledge speaking in his mind. Giving him analysis.

Nightmare was just an cunning player who got lucky , his own skills at fighting were decent at best , without the Overlord spear in his hands , and without Razia , he was a nobody.

-----------

( Cut to the part where , the dark elf spy dies )

Razia told nightmare of the method to gain access to the ancient dragon blood , that was the mission of his quest. Although he had Razia's soul , his body had long decayed , and trying to gain ancient dragons blood in draconia with nightmare's current strength was suicide.

Razia adviced him to go to the Kingdom of dark elves , where in the treasury he knows that there is ancient dragon blood.

From Razia's tomb nightmare takes a skill tome called , eternal surveillance , which is a skill that when used with a semi legendary or higher grade viewing crystal can help spy on any corner of the world.

When nightmare reaches the kingdom of dark elves , they are in a pickle about what to do about the elven kindom , as their spy there has been killed, hence when nightmare shows up with the trade option , they are more than happy to comply.

Hence nightmare gains the vial of ancient dragon blood , helping him complete his mission with the Church of Lucifer.

Conferred the title of bishop of the Church of Lucifer , he gains status and power in the dark faction , the effects of the title provide him with a 2X faster mana recovery , while as his reward from the quest he chooses a fruit that permanently expands his mana pool.

Nightmare is a nemesis that Rudra has created himself , by altering the timeline , he created a imbalance , that results in the balancer called nightmare to be born.

Should Rudra not have altered the timeline soo much , nightmare would not risen. Razia would not have escaped his confinements early , and he would not be in such a miserable fighting position.

However Rudra is unaware of this truth , and is unaware of Nightmare's secret. He fears nightmare to be a reincarnator such as himself , or maybe something else like a transmigrator or any of the other fictious things. His logic stems from the fact that , if he and Ethan Grey can reincarnate , there is no reason others cannot.

He is not completely wrong , however there is a mystery behind as to why he was reincarnated at the exact same day when Ethan Grey's previous life knowledge ended.

Soo as to sum up to the question of what exactly is nightmare's secret , his secret is that he is an opponent that the game created because of all the imbalances Rudra caused. By himself he is nothing special , his strength stems from the fact that he has a ancient dragons soul residing in his body , he has no special blood manipulation skill , or a legendary skill tome , all the fighting done with the blood skills, is done by Razia .

/// This is overall , different kind of chapter than what I write usually , if you are a longtime reader familiar with all the arcs I'm sure you would appreciate this chapter. If you do appreciate it show some love in the comments section below , also if you don't like it , let me know soo that I can learn from my mistake.

I can't believe how close some of you guys were to figuring it out , when reading the comments I just gulped sometimes , everyone had a very interesting theory. Well I hope to everyone who racked their brains to think of his secret this chapter ticks your itch.

Yes Rudra Is also in possession of the seal of draconia ....I did not name drop it without reason , I just wanted to remind you guys that he has it , because it will be an important link in the coming chapters. ////