When he opened his eyes, Baek Yu-Seol found himself standing in the middle of a hallway at Stella Academy.
'Huh?'
He slowly turned his head to look out the window, where the soft glow of the setting sun stread in, softly illuminating the corridor.
'What the... What was I just doing?'
As he struggled to recall, fragnts of mory began to surface—Dusk Soil Moon flashed through his mind.
Right, he had been observing Dusk Soil Moon.
He had been watching as he used Soft Green Spring Moon's divine artifact, and for the first ti since his birth, he gained the essence of life. But then, swept up in the overwhelming waves of life force, Baek Yu-Seol lost consciousness and ca face-to-face with his 'inner self.'
Or perhaps, another version of Baek Yu-Seol.
Faint mories of a long conversation with that self surfaced... a conversation held in a PC cafe constructed within his subconscious. Later, they had moved to a hill under a starlit sky, where he watched yet another version of himself vanish into the stars.
'But then, why am I here?'
Taking a step forward, he beca aware of a heavy sensation enveloping his body.
"This... What is this?"
It was armor—a set that glimred faintly, as if bathed in moonlight. Its silver-white hue shimred delicately. The armor fully encased his body, and a long sword hung at his waist. Though it was his first ti seeing the weapon in person, Baek Yu-Seol recognized it imdiately.
A legendary grade armor.
'Reflecting Radiance'
An absurdly powerful item capable of reviving its wearer once, even in the face of certain death.
The conditions to craft it had been exceptionally demanding—it required Silver Autumn Moon to personally imbue the armor with a blessing and a large quantity of the world's rarest moonlight-infused ore, Moonstone.
No. That wasn't the important part.
"Then... Could this also be..."
With a soft schwing, he drew the sword. A clear, lodious tone that seed to lt into his ears reverberated through the hallway.
Under the glow of the setting sun, the blade shone faintly in a golden hue.
A legendary grade divine sword.
'Flash of Tribute.'
An absurd weapon capable of reaching near-light speed to 'always' strike down its target. No matter how durable the material, the mont Flash of Tribute touched it, it would be effortlessly sliced apart.
"It's real..."
Baek Yu-Seol muttered. His hands trembled as he ran his fingers along the blade.
He rembered how many years of backbreaking effort it had taken to create this. Among all the players in the world, only he had possessed this ultra-rare item.
But seeing it now, in reality, left him utterly speechless.
"Wait."
These items weren't supposed to exist in reality. They were creations from Aether World Online.
In other words, they were from a virtual world.
'Is this real...?'
He quickly pulled off his gloves and touched his palm. Only then did he realize the strange sensation he'd been feeling wasn't just caused by the equipnt.
'My body doesn't feel like my own.'
It was as if he was wearing soone else's body. The sensation was peculiar and unfamiliar.
It wasn't that his senses had dulled; in fact, they were sharper than ever, which only made everything feel more foreign.
'I need to figure out where I am.'
He dashed down the hallway, but there wasn't a single student in sight. Running outside toward the First Main Tower, he noticed several things that didn't align with the Stella Academy he knew.
'Wasn't there supposed to be a garden here?'
Where the garden should have been, a strange statue stood. An unfamiliar building had replaced the fountain's forr location. And that wasn't all.
"What the...?"
The height of the First Main Tower had more than doubled. It used to be around 80 stories tall—tall enough to see the top by tilting one's head slightly. But now, he had to crane his neck to an uncomfortable degree just to glimpse the top.
At the tower's main entrance, two armored Stella Knights stood guard. When Baek Yu-Seol approached, they suddenly saluted him.
"At your service, sir!"
"W-what?"
Startled by their unexpected greeting, Baek Yu-Seol's shock seed to confuse the knights even more.
"Did we do sothing wrong, sir?"
"No, it's not that... But why are you saluting ?"
The knights exchanged confused glances before looking at him like his question was absurd.
"Well, because you're the Knight Commander, sir."
"Who? ?"
"Yes, sir."
"What about Captain Arein?"
The knights' expressions darkened.
"... He passed away. That was years ago."
"Why are you acting like this, sir? You're so different from usual."
"Exactly. Normally, you remain silent and barely say a word... But now, you're suddenly so talkative. We quite like it, actually. We deeply respect you for everything you've done for us."
"You saved the world, after all... Though most of it, except for Stella, was destroyed."
"Why are you bringing that up now?"
"Ah! My apologies!"
Baek Yu-Seol felt dizzy.
At last, he was certain.
'This... This is the ga world, isn't it?'
Not the world from the beginning of the ga, when he was a high school freshman, but the world after defeating the final boss, the Thirteenth Onyx Moon.
The ga he had always thought of as fiction was now a reality.
"What about the Principal...?"
Baek Yu-Seol hesitantly asked, his voice trembling. The knights' expressions darkened further.
"... He passed away."
"Yes, he sacrificed himself to protect Stella. The attack was powerful enough to tear an entire continent apart, but he used his life to shield us."
Baek Yu-Seol felt lost. The weight of the revelations was too much to bear.
He couldn't make sense of it at all.
Why was he here?
And what was he supposed to do here?
Staring blankly into the void, Baek Yu-Seol suddenly rembered sothing and asked,
"Fla, where's Fla?"
"Pardon?"
"Did you find Fla? I was definitely looking for her..."
"Ah, you must an the Master of the Celestial Tower. We tried looking, but we couldn't find her anywhere. Even the angels are in a complete panic right now. Would you like to et them?"
"Y-yeah. I should et them."
Baek Yu-Seol nodded absentmindedly, but just then, a voice suddenly echoed in his ear.
— Don't get distracted.
It was...
— There's no ti.
— You have to return soon.
— Find the hint to survive.
— That's your only hope.
It was unmistakably his own voice.
Yet, every voice sounded slightly different, as if dozens of other Baek Yu-Seols were speaking at once. The eerie sensation sent shivers down his spine, and he stumbled back in alarm.
"Huh? What's wrong, sir?"
"No... I'll et the angels later..."
Stamring, Baek Yu-Seol hurriedly bolted toward the western garden. It was a completely deserted place, and only the occasional chirping of birds disturbed the silence.
'There's no ti.'
He wasn't foolish enough to misunderstand what the other Baek Yu-Seol had said.
'The amount of ti I can stay in this world is...'
Closing his eyes and focusing, he could roughly sense it.
'At most... Thirty minutes.'
The voices had told him to find a hint for his survival.
Before arriving here, another Baek Yu-Seol had spoken to him in the depths of his subconscious, promising to give him a hint.
'... So that's what it was.'
It wasn't possible for the real Baek Yu-Seol to experience the senses of the Nature's Heavenly Energy Body he used to control with shortcut keys in the ga. But what if that sensation could sohow be conveyed to him?
"Hoo..."
Baek Yu-Seol closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
This body was already in a state of complete perfection. It had overco the limitations of Mana Leakage Disorder, mastered the Nature's Heavenly Energy Body, obtained boundless vitality, and could freely control the mana drawn into his body through his breathing.
This was a level far beyond the real-world Baek Yu-Seol, who could barely manage to release mana in the form of a sword with the help of a magic sword.
The Baek Yu-Seol of this world could wrap his skin in an ultra-thin but steel-strong mana shield, draw an invisible magical blade with his bare hands, and cut through diamonds as if they were paper.
It was, quite literally, an infinite realm of possibilities.
'I need to morize these sensations.'
As Baek Yu-Seol inhaled and exhaled, the sensation of mana accumulating within him felt strangely unfamiliar.
The condition known as Mana Leakage Disorder stemd from an almost complete absence of mana in the body, making it highly vulnerable to the mana in nature. When exposed to impure mana, it would often lead to corruption, and when exposed to divine mana, the body would swiftly transform into a divine state, losing its physical form.
But... This body was different.
This body possessed a distinct 'hue.'
It imbued all the mana that entered it with its own unique color.
Rather than being absorbed into the mana of nature, Baek Yu-Seol was the one influencing nature, dyeing it with his own color. Even with his eyes closed, he could vividly sense everything around him.
The petals scattered by the wind.
A butterfly fluttering in the distance.
A line of ants crawling and a puppy snoring in its sleep.
All of these felt as clear as if they were right before his eyes.
'So this is what it's like...'
His own color.
His own presence.
Only by projecting it intensely could he truly beco one with nature.
Until now, Baek Yu-Seol had misunderstood Nature's Heavenly Energy Body. Like in martial arts novels, he thought it ant becoming one with nature by harmonizing his body with it.
'But it was the opposite.'
Baek Yu-Seol unfurled his presence as naturally as moving his limbs.
This was sothing the original body could never achieve, yet it felt completely natural with this one.
Raising his hand slightly and gesturing toward a petal far away, the petal detached itself and floated into the air.
'Amazing...'
Back when Baek Yu-Seol thought this was just a ga, he never realized how extraordinary his character had beco.
'Can my real self ever reach this level again?'
He didn't know.
But he had to try.
Because he had to survive.
Because he had to live.
— You must live.
— Live, and save everyone.
A voice drifted on with the wind, like a whisper.
Baek Yu-Seol carried their stories, heavy with resentnt, to heart and slowly expanded the scope of his senses.
Though he wanted to savor this newfound sensation, ti was desperately short. To master such a profound state in just 30 minutes was impossible, so he had no choice but to imitate it clumsily.
'I need to figure this out.'
How could he replicate this body's abilities?
Even if it was just skimming the surface...
Even for a fleeting mont...
If he could just remain in the state of Nature's Heavenly Energy Body for even a single second—
Suddenly, Baek Yu-Seol opened his eyes wide and exhaled deeply.
The alien sensation pulsating from his heart was so unfamiliar that it caught him off guard.
'What... What is this?'
It felt as though he grew an extra set of limbs, yet, he found no difficulty in moving them.
'This... This is it...!'
In this world, a massive and intense energy was stirring within Baek Yu-Seol's heart. There, a trendous presence was bound, waiting to be unleashed upon nature.
'This is it. I just need to rember this feeling!'
With his eyes tightly shut, Baek Yu-Seol released the energy that had been trapped in his heart.
The sensation gradually faded. Ti was up, and he was being pulled back to reality!
'Just a little more...'
Driven by an unyielding resolve to flood this entire world with his presence, he unleashed the energy confined within his heart in one explosive surge.
"Ah...!"
The last thing he saw was the sight of the twilight sky. It was transitioning to night, wearing a tinge of violet, and suddenly got painted in pure white. Then, Baek Yu-Seol closed his eyes.
— Rember.
— The eternal night, where the sun does not rise, is approaching.
Baek Yu-Seol's voice echoed faintly.
— You.
— We.
— Must beco the light... That dispels the night.
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