As everyone began to relax after a tense morning, Greg was the one who broached the question everyone was surely thinking.
"So… with the headsets being destroyed… how are we going to log back in?"
The room fell quiet at once. The easy chatter faded, replaced by the faint hum of the overhead lights. Even the air seed heavier for a mont as the question sank in.
Rachel tilted her head, her usual playful grin slipping into a thoughtful pout. "It's not like we can buy them anymore. They were deleted from existence or sothing."
Leo shook his head slowly. "The system notice said this was the second phase. I think there is still a way to get back into the ga. We just need to figure out how."
For a long second, no one spoke. It was the kind of silence where the weight of uncertainty pressed down on everyone equally.
Then Lily suddenly raised her hands and began waving them in front of her face in strange patterns, almost like she was conducting an invisible orchestra.
Luna stared at her as if she had just started juggling invisible flaming torches. "What… are you doing?"
"Maybe there's so kind of motion associated with logging back in," Lily explained without slowing down. "Like a special gesture the system picks up on."
Greg's brows furrowed in thought. "That… actually might not be completely crazy. Maybe the headset was just one way to trigger it, and now it works differently."
He joined her, raising his own hands and attempting so awkward sweeping motions in the air. Soon the two of them were standing side by side, making strange circles, swipes, and twirls like a pair of overly enthusiastic mis. Lily seed fully committed to the experint, while Greg looked like he was trying to rember the steps to a dance he had never learned in the first place.
Across the room, Ethan blinked slowly, his expression unreadable. "Are they… serious?"
Vivian leaned toward him, her brow slightly furrowed. "I think so. Which is even more concerning."
Penny pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead and turned her head away. She could not even look at them without feeling secondhand embarrassnt. "I cannot believe I am associated with these people right now," she muttered under her breath.
Rachel was clearly struggling to keep a straight face. She bit her lip, her shoulders shaking slightly as she tried to hold back laughter. Watching Greg and Lily flail in perfect unison was almost too much for her.
"Do you two have any idea how ridiculous you look?" she teased, her voice light but edged with amusent.
Luna's patience with the scene seed to wear thin. She gave Rachel a sideways glare. "If you have a better idea, now would be a good ti to share it."
Rachel put her hands on her hips, adopting a mock-serious tone. "Voice commands make more sense. Think about it. The system already responds to verbal triggers for skills and abilities."
Crystal tilted her head, genuinely curious. "Alright. If it is a voice command, what are we supposed to say?"
Rachel shrugged carelessly. "No idea."
Adam, who had been leaning against the wall and watching the chaos unfold, let out a sharp exhale and rolled his eyes. "Of course you do not."
The group began to splinter into different approaches. Lily and Greg continued their strange hand movents, now occasionally adding a stomp or a spin as if adding variety would help. Rachel started muttering random phrases out loud, her guesses ranging from "Login" to "System Activate" to the far less serious "Magic Potato." Crystal tried a few more grounded phrases like "Enter Ga" and "Return to Souls Online," though none of them worked. Ethan stood with his arms crossed, clearly debating whether to leave the room before he lost brain cells just by being present.
Leo, however, fell silent. He no longer paid attention to the chatter or the comical attempts around him. His mind was turning inward, chasing a faint thread of mory. The system had been deliberate in its wording earlier. The second phase. A continuation, not an end. That ant the way forward had to be simple, sothing the players could intuit without needing a manual.
Aria, who had been watching the chaos with a mix of amusent and quiet patience, noticed Leo's distant expression. She stepped closer, lowering her voice slightly so it was just between them. "You are thinking about sothing. What is it?"
Leo's eyes narrowed in thought, his mind flashing back to the very beginning of the ga. The mont he had first entered Souls Online. The sensation of the system activating. The sound of a chi, followed by—
His eyes widened slightly. He rembered the very first words he had spoken before everything began.
Without another second of hesitation, Leo straightened and raised his voice above the noise of the room.
"Ga Start."
The words cut through the chaos like a blade. Every head turned toward him. For half a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then the soft, unmistakable tone of a system chi echoed in the air.
A screen then appeared in front of Leo's eyes.
[Do you wish to Log in to Ascension of Souls Online?]
[Y/N]
Leo's lips curled into a faint smile. "I knew it."
Greg stepped forward imdiately. "Wait, you got a prompt? What does it say?"
Leo didn't look away from the glowing text in front of him. "It's asking if I want to log in to Ascension of Souls Online."
Vivian leaned forward slightly. "Would it work for us too? I an, we weren't… Players like you guys."
Ethan nodded in agreent. "Yeah. Would it even let us in?"
Aria gave a small shrug. "Only one way to find out is to try."
Morgan tilted his head and spoke clearly. "Ga Start."
A screen appeared right in front of his eyes, making him jump. He instinctively took a step back. The prompt in front of him read, Would you like to enter Ascension of Souls Online? Y/N.
"Okay… that's unexpected," Morgan muttered. He reached out and pressed Y.
A new screen replaced the first, the text bold and simple. Please set a User Nickna.
Morgan blinked at it for a mont. "Well, that's… different."
It was a proof that he could get stronger. It was also a sign that there would soon be a massive surge in player count.
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