Chapter 46: The Return to Reality
Chapter 46: The Return to Reality
00:03... 00:02... 00:01... 00:00.
The golden-blue digital numbers of the countdown timer dissolved into thin air.
Sigrid blinked once. The sterile, infinite white void surrounding him flashed violently, flickering like a broken mirror.
He blinked twice. Dark shadows, grimy textures, and muted colors bled back into his retinas, replacing the featureless white horizon.
He blinked a third time, and his physical eyelids opened in the real world.
Sensory input hit him like a physical blow. The damp, earthy stench of mud, stagnant rain, and rotting garbage flooded his nostrils. The cold, rough cobblestones pressed hard against his back, and the distant, rhythmic dripping of water echoed from a broken clay drainpipe nearby.
Immediately, a severe, blinding migraine exploded behind Sigrid's temples. It felt as though his physical brain were struggling to construct a bridge toward the soul memories of a hundred brutal deaths.
DING!
A familiar blue holographic panel flickered weakly in his field of vision:
[NOTICE: PHYSICAL SYNCHRONIZATION IN PROGRESS.]
[Your physical stats, reflexes, and muscle memory will synchronize with your real body shortly.]
[Please wait patiently.]
The blue screen flickered twice before dissolving into harmless light particles, leaving the dark alleyway quiet once more.
Sigrid raised a trembling hand, scratching his messy brown hair as he groaned softly, rubbing his throbbing forehead.
"I... I really came back..." Sigrid whispered, his voice raspy and dry.
He raised both hands, staring at his palms in disbelief. Instead of the flat, endless glass floor of the training dimension, his surroundings were packed with real, physical shapes crumbling red-brick walls, stacks of broken wooden crates, discarded furniture, and damp cobblestones.
A long, shuddering breath escaped his chest. A wide, breathless smile spread across his dirt-stained face, and warm tears welled up in the corners of his dark eyes.
"Finally..." he choked out, a soft laugh bubbling up from his throat. "Finally... I'm really back...!"
Then, like a bolt of thunder striking his heart, a single thought shattered his joy.
Aurelia!
The memory of why he had pushed himself through that hellish gauntlet of endless deaths rushed back into his mind. The most important person in his life his little sister was the sole reason he had survived.
Panic surging through his chest, Sigrid scrambled to sit up to look for her. But as he shifted his torso, he felt a strange, soft weight resting against his left shoulder.
Sigrid froze. He slowly turned his head to the left, his eyes widening in complete bewilderment.
Cascading across his dark coat were long, silky strands of shimmering pearlescent, silver-white hair. The hair caught the faint moonlight filtering into the alley, glowing with an ethereal, ice-like luster.
Sigrid blinked, staring down at the sleeping figure resting peacefully against his arm.
The girl had delicate features, flawless pale skin, and an elegant, breathtaking posture even while napping.
(Who... who is this pretty girl napping beside me?) Sigrid thought, his brain completely short-circuiting. (She looks like a high-born noble lady or a wealthy merchant's daughter... What on earth is someone like her doing sleeping in a filthy, damp alleyway?)
Hesitant to touch someone who appeared to be from a powerful family, Sigrid gently nudged her shoulder with his elbow.
"U-Um... my lady? Excuse me... My lady?" Sigrid called out softly, trying to wake her up. "Are you lost?"
The young girl’s long eyelashes fluttered. She stirred lazily, letting out a soft yawn as her eyes fluttered open revealing brilliant, glowing frost-white pupils that looked like polished diamonds.
The moment her gaze locked onto Sigrid's face, her expression transformed instantly. A radiant, overjoyed smile erupted across her face!
Without a single second of hesitation, she threw her arms around Sigrid’s neck, hugging him tightly!
"Brother! Finally! You're awake!!" she cried out happily, burying her face against his neck.
Sigrid froze, his arms sticking straight out in mid-air, his mind spinning in utter confusion.
"B-Brother...? My lady, what do you mean?!" Sigrid stammered, frantically trying to gently pull her away. "I think you have the wrong person!"
The girl let go of her embrace and stepped back, her radiant smile instantly souring into a fierce, indignant pout. She puffed out her cheeks, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at him.
"It's me, brother! Aurelia!" she huffed loudly. "Did you seriously forget what your own little sister looks like?!"
Sigrid stared at her, thoroughly baffled. Having been trapped inside the white void for what felt like years of unending bloodshed, his memories of reality were slightly hazy around the edges. But he remembered one detail with absolute clarity.
"I-I'm sorry, but..." Sigrid stammered, shaking his head. "...my little sister doesn't have silver-white hair. And I remember clearly that my sister's eyes were brown, not glowing white!"
Aurelia gasped in utter outrage, her mouth forming a sharp 'O'. She leaned forward, shoving her face mere inches from Sigrid's nose.
"Look closely at my face! Take a really good look!" she demanded, pouting aggressively.
Sigrid blinked, studying her face in detail. The sharp, stubborn curve of her eyebrows, the exact way her lips pouted when she was angry, the tiny mole near her left ear it was unmistakably his sister! Her physical body was still that of a slender, fourteen-year-old girl, completely unchanged.
The deep, suffocating longing that had kept him fighting through a hundred deaths inside the void erupted to the surface, sweeping away all remaining logic.
"A-Aurelia...?" Sigrid's voice wavered, cracking with intense emotion. "Is it... is it really, really you?"
Aurelia's grumpy pout melted away, replaced by a soft, warm, and comforting smile that he knew better than his own reflection.
"Yes, brother. It's me."
Sigrid’s emotional dam broke.
Tears burst from his eyes, pouring down his cheeks in hot streams. He reached out, pulling Aurelia into a fierce, trembling embrace, burying his face into her silver-white hair.
"AURELIA!"
He sobbed uncontrollably, his shoulders shaking as his tears soaked into her coat.
"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry I left you all alone for so long, Aurelia! It's your useless brother's fault for abandoning you here...!"
Aurelia pulled back slightly, looking at her weeping brother with an expression of pure, baffled confusion.
"Wait... wait, brother, what are you talking about?" Aurelia asked, gently wiping a tear from his cheek. "Left me for a long time?"
Sigrid sniffled loudly, wiping his wet nose with his coat sleeve. "E-Eh? Because... because I was trapped inside that terrifying white place for years! I fought endless monsters and died so many times... I felt so guilty leaving you alone in this dangerous alley for years..."
Aurelia stared at him as if he had lost his mind.
"Brother... what are you talking about?" Aurelia said, tilting her head. "You've only been frozen here for about three hours!"
Sigrid froze. The entire world seemed to screech to a halt around him.
"EH?! WHAT?!" Sigrid shrieked, his jaw hitting the cobblestones. "T-THREE HOURS?!"
Logically, the reality of the situation hit his mind like a surging flood.
He looked at Aurelia her physical height and body were completely unchanged from earlier today.
He looked around the alleyway the position of the moon above the rooftops had barely shifted.
He looked down at his own hands they weren't aged, weathered, or wrinkled into those of an old man.
He glanced down at the black obsidian cube resting on the cobblestones. The glowing blue light strips that had pulsated earlier were now completely dark and inert it had turned into a plain, useless block of stone.
"In that place..." Sigrid whispered, awe washing over his face as he realized the truth. "Time... time works completely differently in there..."
Aurelia sat down beside him on the damp floor, looking at him with deep concern. "What do you mean, brother?"
Sigrid took a deep breath, resting his back against the red-brick wall to settle his racing heart, and began explaining everything.
He told her about the vast, infinite white void, the mysterious holographic screens called the 'system', the leveling up process, and the brutal battles against goblins, wyverns, and demonic entities. He confessed the terrifying reality of death inside that space how his skull was crushed and his body torn apart, only for the system to reconstruct his physical form every single time, forcing his mind and soul to adapt until he grew stronger.
Aurelia listened in stunned, horrified silence. Tears welling in her eyes as she realized the sheer, unimaginable suffering her brother had endured in just three short hours of real time, all so he could become strong enough to protect her.
"So... to summarize," Aurelia said softly, her voice trembling slightly. "When you pressed the cube, your mind was pulled into an isolated training realm. In that space, you killed monsters, leveled up, died endless times, and resurrected until your soul adapted into a true warrior... right?"
Sigrid nodded solemnly. "Yeah. That's pretty much what happened."
Aurelia looked at the inert black cube resting on the ground, a shiver running down her spine. "The mister who gave us these artifacts... Mister Rael... he is truly an extraordinary, terrifying person."
She then smiled softly, eager to share her own secret. "And... my appearance changed because of the artifacts mister gave me too, brother."
Aurelia explained how the [Null Orb] had passed straight through her chest to construct a artificial mana core within her heart, and how the ancient scroll had engraved the fundamental laws of ice magic directly into her brain.
"Right now... in simple terms, I've become a mage who can manipulate ice," Aurelia said proudly.
She extended her small hand, opening her palm toward the sky.
CRACKLE!
The invisible humidity in the alley air condensed instantly, forming a sleek, glowing crystal of pure ice that floated gracefully an inch above her palm, radiating a soft, pale blue mist.
Sigrid’s eyes dilated in sheer amazement. "Woah...! Aurelia! You... you really became a real mage!"
A proud, gentle smile spread across Sigrid's face. He reached out and tenderly stroked her soft, silver-white hair. "I'm so proud of you, Aurelia. You're amazing."
Sigrid then leaned back against the wall, puffing out his chest with a smug, mischievous grin. "Heh, but you know... your big brother got ridiculously strong too!"
Aurelia blinked, activating her newly awakened mana sight to inspect his body. Surrounding Sigrid's form, she still saw the same thin, sparse threads of white light.
"Really...?" Aurelia giggled softly, squinting her frost-white eyes at him. "I don't see any difference from before, brother. Your mana flow looks completely the same!"
Sigrid gasped, suddenly remembering the system's final prompt.
"Ah, right!" Sigrid laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "The system said there's a slight synchronization delay before my stats and physical strength transfer into my real body! But just you wait once it syncs, you'll be super proud to have such a powerful big brother! Hehe!"
Aurelia smiled warmly, resting her head gently back onto his left shoulder.
"I'm already proud of you, brother," she whispered softly, her voice filled with unconditional love and trust. "Whether you have magical power or not... you've always been my hero."
The two siblings sat close together in the shadowy alley, holding each other tight against the cold night breeze.
They were no longer the helpless, starving street urchins who could be trampled by debt collectors without consequence. Within the dark, quiet corners of Empyrium City, the foundation of a new destiny had been set a Swordsman and a Master of Ice Magic were ready to step into the light.