Chapter 323 Spirit Pavilion, Alaric is Awake!
Spirit Pavilion.
The Recovery Chamber.
Alaric's eyes snapped open abruptly, his consciousness returning to him like a lightning strike in the starry sky.
His body jerked up, and he imdiately began scanning his surroundings warily purely by instinct.
The walls of the recovery chamber ca into focus, along with the inscriptions of the healing arrays that had been sustaining him during his recovery.
Golden light from the inscriptions spread gently across the ceiling, creating a warm atmosphere.
Alaric's gaze settled on Emma, and his expression imdiately softened.
She was sleeping in a chair that had been pulled close to his bedside, her upper body leaning forward so that her head rested on the small free space at the edge of his bed mattress. One arm was folded beneath her cheek as a makeshift pillow, while the other hung loosely at her side.
Strands of her hair had fallen across her face during sleep, partially veiling her peaceful expression. Despite the awkward position that would leave nulls with a stiff neck, she looked serene—like a sleeping beauty waiting for the knight to wake her up.
The sight moved sothing deep in Alaric's chest. Emma had clearly refused to leave his side, choosing discomfort over the possibility that he might wake up alone.
Very faint dark circles under her eyes suggested she had been maintaining this watch for days, perhaps weeks, catching only brief monts of rest between monitoring his condition and handling whatever the pavilion had required during his unconscious phase.
At their strength, it was difficult to show signs of fatigue, but Emma clearly had them. Which ant that she had been severely overworked during his absence.
Alaric carefully moved his body, testing its responsiveness while being careful not to disturb Emma's much-needed rest. His muscles felt weak but functional—a vast improvent over the last state he rembered during his latest attempt to forge an independent path through the River of Paths.
Feeling the subtle movent of the bed, Emma's eyes fluttered open imdiately. She raised her head from the bed, and the mont her eyes locked with Alaric's her face brightened with overwhelming relief, and tears began streaming down her cheeks.
"It took you so long, you idiot! Why did you hurt yourself so badly?" she exclaid, her voice cracking with a mixture of joy and frustration.
Alaric sighed deeply, his expression softening. "I apologise, I bit more than I could chew. I risked my life in the river…I was so close. I could feel it, it was just an extra inch further." His expression hardened near the end as he rembered his last conscious monts.
Emma's tears stopped mid-flow, her eyes widening in shock at his unexpected apology. She reached out tentatively to touch his forehead with the back of her hand.
"Is sothing wrong with you? Are you really Alaric? You never apologize so easily…"
Alaric's expression imdiately returned to its usual stoicism at her teasing tone. "Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be working, handling important matters outside?"
Emma's smile returned, bright and mischievous. Alaric's expression imdiately returned to its usual stoicism at her teasing tone. "Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be working, handling important matters outside?"
Emma's smile returned, bright and mischievous. "There's the Alaric I know~ Back to your usual charming self already~"
"How long was I unconscious?" Alaric asked, ignoring her playful comntary.
Emma's eyes sparkled before she hid her intentions, as if she was waiting for that question, "Oh, it's been 5 years and 6 months~ Your child didn't even get to see his father in his early years~"
Smack!
Alaric's hand connected with the top of her head in a light but firm reprimand.
"Ouch! Why did you do that?!" Emma protested, rubbing the spot where he'd hit her.
"Cut the nonsense and just tell the truth. How long?"
Emma sighed dramatically, holding up a single finger with exaggerated solemnity. "One week and a few days."
"Anything important happen during that ti?"
Emma's teasing smile vanished instantly upon hearing the question, her expression growing serious and troubled.
"Yes, a lot actually."
She took a steadying breath before continuing. "But first, Selene is safe and sound. She's currently in the Second Sanctuary and has been checking in regularly, so don't worry about her."
With that crucial detail established, Emma began recounting the week's events. She detailed the attacks across Earth and both sanctuaries, the massive casualties including the death of Ascender George Jenkins, the complete destruction of Zone D where Moon had been living, and the discovery of infiltrators within major awakener organizations.
She explained how their own forces had been targeted, the losses they'd sustained, and the current state of ergency protocols that remained in effect. Alaric listened intently, his expression growing darker with each detail as he processed the effect of such a large-scale attack occurring during his weakness period.
The timing couldn't have been worse, and Emma had clearly borne the burden of managing crisis response while maintaining vigil over his unconscious form.
After Emma finished her briefing, she leaned closer to him. "What's most important right now is your health and recovery. So tell —did you gain anything aningful from this attempt? Or was it just a severe injury without any benefit to show for it?"
Alaric shook his head slowly as he opened his status screen to check his advancent. "I didn't gain an—"
His words stopped abruptly mid-sentence, eyes widening in complete disbelief as he stared at the display before him.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing!
"…It actually worked," he whispered with awe.
Emma blinked in confusion, his contradictory statents making no sense. "What worked? What are you talking about?"
Alaric didn't respond imdiately. Instead, he began rising from the dical bed despite his weakness.
His face contorted briefly with pain from the movent before returning to its usual stoic mask as he forced himself to ignore the discomfort.
"Where do you think you're going? You can barely walk properly," Emma protested.
"Outside."
Recognizing the futility of arguing with him when he'd reached this level of stubbornness, Emma sighed in resignation. Rather than waste energy trying to stop him, she quickly moved to his side to provide support.
"At least let help you walk, you stubborn man," she muttered, carefully positioning herself to bear so of his weight as they prepared to leave the recovery chamber.-
As they erged from the Spirit Pavilion, Alaric and Emma crossed paths with their teammates and the many residents who lived under their pavilion's protection and leadership. They greeted Alaric and Emma politely before going about their day.
Standing in the center of the open courtyard, Alaric took a deep, steadying breath before his mana began to flare, golden energy spreading outwardly from his body like sun rays. The very air around him distorted as light began to refract, creating a phenonon similar in nature to a desert mirage.
'What is he attempting? Did he actually achieve sothing aningful during his ti in the River of Paths? Or perhaps this is so new technique he gained from the river...' Emma wondered, watching his spiritual energy rise higher.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a flash of pure golden light erupted high above them in the sky. Emma's head snapped upward in complete shock as she beheld sothing that made her hands shake in excitent.
A massive golden sword ford in the heavens—easily ten ters in length and perhaps three ters in width. The ethereal weapon was nacing, its edge so sharp that anyone who looked upon it felt as though the blade were already cutting into them . It was absolutely enormous, and represented sothing she had never witnessed Alaric conjure before in all their years together.
What shocked her even more profoundly was the realization that Alaric wasn't wielding his sword at all. His hands remained empty, yet this titanic weapon of pure spiritual energy hung suspended above them.
Alaric was casting such a powerful skill without using his sword, sothing that she knew wasn't possible…unless…
"A-Alaric, what did you just do…?"
Alaric turned toward her, a faint but satisfied smile crossing his face.
"This is rely the beginning, It appears my efforts weren't in vain. I successfully managed to carve a small path away from the predetermined route I was ant to follow, and this is the results—" Whoosh!
Without warning, the colossal golden sword descended from the sky with grace. The weapon sliced through a nearby hill as if it were made of soft clay, cleaving it perfectly in half with no resistance.
The assembled teammates of Alaric stared in stunned silence as the two halves of the hill separated cleanly, revealing the sword's impossible cutting power. Not a single irregularity appeared in the cut surface—it was as smooth as polished glass.
Alaric had accomplished what everybody claid was impossible: he had broken free from the established paths of spiritual advancent and forged sothing new through his own vision and determination—even if that path wasn't exactly different.
Alaric's class was the Light Knight, he had affinity to the advanced light elent, whilst also having incredibly talent for swordsmanship. All of his skills catered to his elent and his swordsmanship.
Before this mont, Alaric had never been able to simply use the light elent by itself without his sword. But this ti, he was able to do…just that. Which ant, he had broken away from the path's restriction, and forged his very unique one. One where he is able to to use his class to its maximum potential.
The golden sword slowly dissolved back into motes of light, but its demonstration had changed how everyone present understood the boundaries of achievable power.
Alaric had transcended, becoming the first to do such an unprecedented feat in recorded history.
The implications of what they'd witnessed would reshape their understanding of what was truly possible for those bold enough to challenge the established order.
♢♢♢♢
After returning to the First Sanctuary, Moon imdiately began his investigation in the various regions where his gathered intelligence suggested a Supre creature might be dwelling.
To his disappointnt, two of the suspected sites had turned out to be either false alarms or deliberate misinformation—perhaps spread by other hunters trying to misdirect competition away from their own hunting grounds.
"Two possibilities remaining," Moon muttered, reviewing his remaining options.
As he prepared to depart for the next investigation site, Moon's eyes suddenly widened as he felt his Beast Taming Space trembling. The sensation was unmistakable—sothing significant was happening within the beast taming space where Mirage had been slumbering.
"He's finally awake!" Moon exclaid, unable to contain his excitent after the long period of waiting.
Imdiately focusing his consciousness on the Beast Taming Space, Moon's suspicions were confird. Mirage…had awakened.
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