Elsewhere inside the building, Evelyn stood within an empty room.
A thin layer of frost covered the floor. Cold air drifted through the surroundings, and her eyes remained fixed on the object floating before her.
A lotus. An ice lotus.
Each petal appeared delicate enough to shatter from a single touch, though it had quite the opposite but similar effects at the sa ti.
Tiny shards of concentrated ice hid beneath every layer, sharp and deadly, invisible unless examined closely while the lotus slowly rotated through the air as Evelyn’s concentration never wavered.
Several seconds later she exhaled, and the construct landed gently on her palm.
Perfect.
A small smile appeared on her face. She had finally succeeded. The flower looked harmless, beautiful even, and most enemies would lower their guard without a second thought, only to discover it was their biggest mistake.
---
anwhile, Lucien sat alone inside his room.
Most of his shallow, surface-level injuries had already disappeared. The recovery speed of an awakened was fast, though not quite absurd enough to erase everything overnight.
He stared at the ceiling in silence, thinking about the battle that was long over.
The Sky Roc had left, and Roman had been chased away.
Sure, the outco was good, but not a single thing had happened the way he had planned. Things weren’t in his control in the last fight, signifying his strength wasn’t enough.
If I had two to three months all by myself, I could’ve easily bridged the gap and beco strong enough with my SSS-talent to guarantee my safety, living without worry. But alas, ti isn’t sothing I can control.
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
In his previous life, there had been no Sky Roc, no flying beasts, and no silver ferret with spatial abilities. Hell, he didn’t even have the opportunity to awaken in his past life, thanks to Aiden.
"Did you also experience all of this?"
The more Lucien thought about it, the more absurd it beca. His knowledge of the future had been wrong from the very beginning, or perhaps...
His gaze narrowed slightly.
Had he changed it? The butterfly effect. A term that sounded simple, but its aning was far more devastating. Even a tiny change could lead to consequences impossible to predict or prepare for... or so they say.
He still wasn’t sure if it was the butterfly effect.
Back then, he had assud his actions wouldn’t matter much in the grand sche of things.
He would simply kill a few mutated sea-beasts, claim a few opportunities, grow in silence, and save a few lives that weren’t worth saving in the first place. Nothing major.
But who would’ve thought that his starting point would beco his biggest obstacle, forcing him to fight against Aiden, attracting the attention of that King, and a spirit beast that destroyed military choppers like it was hunting earthworms for food.
After a while, he let out a slow breath. "But it doesn’t matter."
Whether it was the butterfly effect or not, it changed nothing about what he needed to do, for the future he rembered no longer existed, and that was that.
The realization should have been unsettling, but instead, Lucien felt oddly calm and composed.
His greatest advantage had never been his strength. It had been certain and his system.
But certainty was gone now. The future had beco unfamiliar territory without a map he could take help from.
For a mont, Lucien closed his eyes.
If the future refused to follow his mories, then he would force it to follow his will instead. His regression had already given him everything it could. The foundation, the experience, and the knowledge to start from a better position than last ti with the help of the system.
The rest would depend on strategy and action, not mories or luck.
Just him.
With that thought settled, the tension in his mind finally eased.
His attention shifted elsewhere, to the immature spiritual orb.
"I had almost forgotten about it."
He had never properly checked on it after everything that had happened during the past few days. Lucien opened his inventory and skimd through it.
Nothing.
He frowned and swept his eyes across the inventory again, still nothing.
Confusion crossed his face before the answer surfaced on its own.
Right, he had never stored it inside the inventory. It had been in his pocket.
Lucien imdiately searched his clothes, only to find they too didn’t contain the orb causing his expression to gradually beco strange as he checked again, only to end up with the sa result as last ti.
The orb had vanished.
A brief silence followed as the pieces slowly fell into place.
It’s Snowy.
A certain silver ferret flashed through his mind, and its suspicious habit of staring directly into the eyes. Its mysterious spatial abilities, its unusually high intelligence, and not to ntion its lineage.
Lucien stared at the empty pocket as he clenched his teeth in slight frustration "...You little thief."
The more he thought about it, the more obvious it beca. Where exactly would a ferret obtain an awakening orb? The answer practically announced itself, and a laugh escaped him before he could stop it as he recalled the sound of sothing falling onto the stairs when he and Evelyn were returning from below.
At least now he knew where that creature was for the awakening orb to awaken from.
And considering the abilities it possessed, an immature spiritual orb being consud by it was probably the best outco he could imagine. As the ferret wasn’t hostile, at least not yet, and it clearly already had a bond with Emily that neither he nor anyone else should interfere with.
Lucien shook his head, for there was no point dwelling on it now. The orb was gone, and complaining wouldn’t bring it back.
His gaze drifted toward the system interface, and a different thought surfaced almost imdiately.
Right. There was still one thing he hadn’t done.
The Gacha.
The corners of his lips curved upwards. Compared to worrying about an uncertain future, this seed far more productive.
If we don’t count the useless rewards I have been getting from it.
Without hesitation, Lucien opened the familiar nu and the golden wheel materialized before him. Light danced across its surface, glowing faintly as if it were alive. Despite having seen it plenty of tis before, the sight still stirred sothing inside him.
He glanced at his remaining gacha tickets, then at the wheel. He had two, one saved from the previous day, which he had forgotten to use.
A mont later, he made his decision. "Spin."
The wheel began to turn. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until golden light burst across his vision. The spinning wheel ca to a halt as the second-ever legendary reward was being presented to him.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
[Congratulations! You have obtained a Legendary reward—
—
A/N: Like it? Please add it to library.
I would like to thank TheeReaper for gifting a massage chair, and Chris_Reyes_3054 and Storm2Warden for proving support with precious gifts.
You three are the ones that gave motivation to continue when I thought that maybe I haven’t written a story that is good enough for the readers.
Thank you guys : )
User Comments
0 comments from readers