Leon’s eyes snapped open instantly, a grin forming on his face as he stood up.
"Finally."
He walked over to the bed and gently woke Celeste, who slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them as she stretched.
"That was really comfortable~" she yawned, smiling lazily. "I guess it’s ti to go, huh?"
"Break’s over," Leon nodded.
He opened the [World Map], and the interface expanded before them, revealing a vast void filled with one hundred glowing circles, each representing a different [Higher Domain].
Without hesitation, Leon selected [Higher Domain #3].
Ding!
[Do you wish to teleport to "Higher Domain #3"?]
Before confirming, he turned to Celeste.
"Hold on to again," he said calmly, "This one might be a bit rough, and there’s a chance you might not co with , so if that happens, just stay calm and I’ll contact you."
"Alright," Celeste nodded, letting Pyra return to her [Pet Space].
Leon exhaled lightly.
"It might hurt quite a lot though, so... just endure it."
"Wait what—"
Ding!
Before she could finish, the teleportation activated.
Their surroundings twisted violently as space itself seed to collapse around them, and an intense sensation surged through their bodies, as if their very souls were being torn apart and reconstructed at the sa ti.
The pain was far worse than anything Leon had experienced when traveling between lower domains, and for a brief mont, it felt like everything might break.
Still... he endured.
And then—
Fwoosh! Ding!
[You have appeared in "Higher Domain #3"]
[Domain Travel Cooldown: 23 Hours 59 Minutes 59 Seconds.]
Ding!
[You have appeared in "Higher Domain #3"]
The mont the notification echoed in his mind, Leon didn’t even bother looking around or checking anything else.
His first instinct was to turn toward Celeste and make sure that she had made it through the teleportation safely, especially after the violent sensation they had just endured.
"Hah... hah..."
Celeste was bent slightly forward, her breathing uneven as her chest rose and fell quickly.
Her eyes were trembling faintly as she tried to stabilize herself after the process, clearly shaken by the intensity of what they had just experienced.
Leon imdiately stepped closer to her, his expression tightening slightly as he observed her condition, ready to react if sothing was wrong.
"You alright?" he asked calmly, though there was a hint of concern in his voice.
Celeste took a few seconds to catch her breath before straightening herself, forcing a faint smile despite the lingering discomfort.
"Damn... I guess [Domain Travel] is no joke," she muttered, still recovering from the shock.
Leon nodded slightly, though even he hadn’t expected it to be this rough, especially for soone who wasn’t used to it.
"At least it worked," he replied, clearly more focused on the outco than the process itself.
And it truly was sothing worth noting, because the fact that he could bring soone else along with him using [Domain Travel] was sothing incredibly valuable.
If it hadn’t worked, things would have been much more complicated.
He trusted her strength, of course, but being separated again would have been hard.
Now though, that problem didn’t exist.
Once Celeste had fully recovered, the two of them finally shifted their attention to their surroundings, and the mont they did, both of them froze slightly.
"What?"
They were standing in the middle of a massive square, surrounded by stone buildings and wide pathways, with countless players scattered all around them, each one looking just as confused as they were.
More precisely, the spawn point of this entire domain was located right here.
Before they could fully process it though, another panel appeared in front of them.
Ding!
[You have entered the "Awakener Kingdom"]
[Please grow stronger by completing quests, clearing realms and pushing through the districts.]
[Perhaps you will be able to face the "Awakener Lord" and only then ascend.]
"What the hell?"
Even Leon couldn’t help but react this ti, his brows furrowing slightly as he read the ssage again, trying to make sense of it.
This was... different. Very different.
Even with all the knowledge he had from his previous life, he had never encountered sothing like this before.
Still, that didn’t surprise him too much.
Information about the first ten [Higher Domains] wasn’t sothing easily accessible, and most players didn’t dare go there either.
"That’s... quite different from [Higher Domain #1]," Celeste said, her tone uncertain but curious at the sa ti.
"Yeah," Leon nodded slowly, "But it doesn’t matter, we’ll figure it out."
No matter how unfamiliar the situation was, they would adapt, just like everyone else here.
After all, judging by the number of players around them, they weren’t the only ones trying to understand what was going on.
"What the hell’s the [Awakener Kingdom]?"
"I guess it’s different my [Lower Domain] huh..."
Hundreds, if not thousands of players were standing around, looking at their panels, talking among themselves, or simply observing the area.
All of them were clearly newcors just like Leon and Celeste.
Leon didn’t waste ti though.
He imdiately opened his [Friends List], his eyes scanning through the nas quickly: Eleonore, David, Aaron and Alice.
As expected, all of them were still in [Lower Domain #1], but Emilia’s location stood out.
[Location: Higher Domain #3]
"Good," Leon muttered.
She was still here. That ant they wouldn’t have to figure everything out blindly.
But as he was about to ssage her, sothing suddenly clicked in his mind.
He paused. Then slowly turned his head toward Celeste.
"Wait a damn minute," he said.
"Hm?" Celeste tilted her head, confused by his reaction.
"We didn’t add each other as friends."
There was a brief silence. Celeste blinked once, then opened her own [Friends List].
[Friends: 0]
"Oh..." The realization hit her imdiately.
As said before, since the mont she had entered [Eternal Ascension], she had avoided interacting with others as much as possible, ignoring friend requests and invitations without even thinking about it.
She had no way of knowing who had good intentions and who didn’t, so she simply chose not to trust anyone.
But now... That didn’t really apply anymore.
Right as she thought that, a panel appeared in front of her.
Ding!
[You have received a friend request from "Celestial"]
Celeste stared at the panel for a few seconds, then a small smile appeared on her face as she accepted it without hesitation.
Ding!
[You have added "Celestial" as a friend.]
[Friends: 1]
Her list was no longer empty. Leon’s na was now there.
anwhile, Leon had already shifted his focus back to Emilia, selecting her na and sending a ssage.
[Celestial: I have arrived at "Higher Domain #3", can you co to the spawn square please?]
He didn’t expect an imdiate response, considering she could be busy with sothing else, but surprisingly, the reply ca almost instantly.
[Saintess: I saw your domain number change so I was already heading your way hehe~! I’ll explain everything about this place once I’m there.]
Leon raised an eyebrow slightly, "That was fast."
"She was already coming?" Celeste asked, a bit surprised.
"Seems like it," Leon nodded.
Then, with a faint smile, he added, "I didn’t tell her about you, so she’ll probably be surprised."
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