'Uggh. My head… For god's sake, ah wait, I have already met one, aditi, please let this be the last time.'
Opening his eyes, he could see a familiar ceiling. Letting out a deep breath of relief, Noah felt all his tension slip away.
'Master, finally decided to wake up?'
Hearing Skadi's voice, Noah replied casually recalling his last memories. Noah remembered forming contracts with both Azeas and Surtr, but everything after that was a blur.
'Yeah… it's finally over.'
'What do you mean over? You got taken away by the Altar once again.'
'Wait., what?'
'Yeah, this is an illusion room made from your memories. With you out of commission, I couldn't do anything. There should be a stone by the door. You should be able to break the illusion if you break it.'
'Lord, it–'
'Was that Azeas?'
'Yeah, the baby dragon is still recovering. We need to act quickly and escape.'
Resolving himself, Noah took his sword from his inventory, coating it with a layer of ice.
Getting up, Noah could feel his body aching from every joint. Although it looked visibly fine, almost every part of his body ached.
'It hurts like hell… Inspect'
[Name: Noah
Level: 25
Class: None
Title: None
Grade: F-
State: Weakend from Mana overload backlash. Mana poisoning state: Host doesn't have strength to maintain contracts. Health -1 every 5 minutes. Mana capacity +1 every 5 minutes. Level -1 every 5 days.
Affinity:
Fire: 12% Water: 5%
Wind: 7% Ice: 7%
Psychic: 3% Divinity: 1%
Health: 9,500/10,000 Mana: 12,900/12,900
Strength:42 ↓ Stamina: 46 ↓
Agility:36 ↓ Intelligence: 75 ↓
Dexterity:30 ↓ Charm: 50 ↓
Luck: 22 ↓
Stat Points: 14
=Skills=
— Goddess Aditi's Blessing
— {6}
— Ice Temple Self Defense Sword Style (F Rank)
— {5}
— Skadi Ice Spirit
— {0}
— Basic Ice Elemental Series
— {15}
— Intermediate Ice Elemental Series
— {15}
— Ice Temple Self Defense Spear Style (F Rank)
— {5}
— Ice Temple Self Defense Bow Style (F Rank)
— {5}
— Azeas fire Spirit
— {0}
— Surtr fire Spirit
— {0}
]
'Shit. This doesn't look good at all. I need to escape quickly.'
Using the sword as a walking stick, slowly and carefully, Noah positioned himself in front of the door before striking it down with full force.
Noah could hear noise all around suddenly rise before quieting down quickly as the door broke apart along with the stone.
As the single slash took most of his strength, Noah was unable to look up. Gritting his teeth, Noah once again used the sword as a walking stick piercing it to the wooden floor.
Preparing for battle, Noah raised his sword looking up.
Seeing Edgar, Emilia, Dritan, Melissa, Reynard, Luke, Edwin, Trish, Emilia and others who he had met gathered together, Noah couldn't believe his eyes.
Breaking the silence, Trish came forward, "Noah, everything is okay. You are safe. The bad guys are all gone."
Looking around, he could see everyone wearing a worried expression.
Unable to find any other illusion stones that he saw earlier, Noah carefully spoke keeping his guard up, "is this real or an illusion?"
Not answering, Trish carefully came in front of him, kneeling down to match his height, before hugging him.
'hmm… I thought it would be funny.'
'Skadi, what's going on here? What about the illusion stone?'
'Illusion stone? Oh that was something I made up.'
Noah could only curse in his mind.
'Quickly now, Talk to them. Why are you still raising your sword? They are waiting for you.'
Noah wanted to shout back. But judging by the atmosphere, he had to put this out first before he dealt with Skadi.
Looking at everyone gathered around him, Noah let go of his sword slowly and hugged her back.
===
After what felt like an hour's worth of comforting from the motherly trio, Noah was put back into the bed.
As the situation slowly calmed down, Edwin signaled the others to leave the room, leaving only Trish, Emilia, Melissa and himself.
Understanding Edwin's intention, Melissa sat near Noah, holding his hand.
Although it was only for a few days, among all the people that gathered, Mellisa was judged to be someone Noah trusted the most.
For Trish, this was a moment she always hoped for, but never thought was possible. After parting with her son when he was only five, she worried if he even had memories of her.
Feeling Edwin holding her shoulders from behind, she was able to relieve some tension. Unlike Trish and Emilia, Edwin was able to keep a straight face.
Only then she noticed he too was as nervous as her. She could feel the light repetitive tap of his right index finger on her, something he only did when he was put in a tough situation.
As the silence continued, Melissa decided to start the conversation.
"Noah, do you remember them?"
Although Noah knew he had to address this, he was unable to speak. A multitude of thoughts went to his head. Was he really Noah? Was this world even real? Am I just a transmigrator / reincarnator who came to this world on Aditi's whims? In the time slice world I remember Emilia telling Noah had already died then. Should I really go with them?
Unbeknownst to him, as he kept thinking, his hands were unconsciously looking for the bracelet he had previously tied to his hair.
"Are you looking for this?" Melissa suddenly interjected breaking his thought process.
"I removed it while cleaning your wounds. Do you want it?"
'I don't know since when, but I always felt calm when I had this with me.'
Taking the bracelet from her hand, Noah finally made up his mind.
Looking at the three of them, Noah understood how much they cared about him. He didn't want to cause pain to anyone again.
'Perhaps Miss Reina and the kids at the orphanage would've lived better without me. I don't think Emilia would be that upset as well if I died in the future if I did this. Yes, it's better to part ways.'
Noah leaned closer towards Trish handing her the bracelet.
"I am sorry but I may not be the person you are looking for."