Adam was walking.
The people of Creek Town were seeing him off, their gazes constantly fixed on him.
Under their watchful eyes, Adam's figure slowly moved forward, gradually disappearing at the edge of the forest.
Eventually, his figure was obstructed by the trees and vanished completely.
The singing behind him gradually faded, from a resounding chorus to a sparse echo, before finally disappearing altogether.
A smile emerged on Adam's face without him realizing it.
He carefully thought back on his time in this world; he'd spent less than two months here, but it felt like so much more.
In the previous world, he'd lived for a full fifteen years, and by that account, the time spent there far exceeded his time here.
But to Adam's mind, the amount of time he'd spent in this world far surpassed his previous fifteen years.
He had grown in this area, gradually moving towards his goal of becoming a Knight.
He expelled beasts, protected the weak, safeguarded travelers from bandits, and maintained the peace of the area.
He had saved children, helped the helpless, personally rescued many lives from beast bandits, and changed many things.
Through his interactions, he had enlightened many truths and no longer wandered aimlessly as he once had.
These were all great gains.
Joy resided in his heart, but the journey was still ahead.
At some point, Adam turned around and looked ahead.
In front of him, he felt a strong aura surging, something he'd never encountered before.
"What a pity..."
Feeling the aura, he felt a tinge of regret and quietly turned away.
In front of him, the golden hourglass continued to turn, and the last grain of sand fell, marking the end of this cycle.
Whirr...
A bright light enveloped the spot, and a golden torrent enveloped Adam's entire body.
Under the covering light, Adam's figure disappeared on the spot.
The familiar golden door opened once again.
That previous sense of déjà vu again attacked, accompanied by a nauseating feeling of faintness that emerged in his mind.
It took a while for Adam to recover.
He slowly rose and looked around him.
At this moment, he had returned to a familiar place: the room at Hodge Royal Academy.
Everything around him was the familiar arrangement that he had cleaned previously.
"How nice."
With a sigh of emotion, Adam looked ahead.
He still wore the clothes from before, and all the items he had gained were still with him.
This included the huge sword he had commissioned the blacksmith in Creek Town to forge, as well as some other small items, all neatly placed nearby with no changes.
His strength remained.
The power he had gained through leveling up in the previous world seemed not to disappear due to leaving that world, but to remain with him.
And those things were the best evidence of Adam's previous experiences.
"The character template is gone."
Adam quickly realized the change.
After leaving the previous world, he discovered that his character template had disappeared.
This ability seemed to only exist in that world, so it vanished upon departure.
It meant that Adam had now lost the ability to enhance his power through leveling up.
However, his mood remained calm. Although slightly surprised, he wasn't disappointed.
Perhaps because this experience had been so enriching, he now had a broader perspective.
The character template, if it's gone, it's gone.
Treat this experience as a surprise, and he had already gained enough from it now.
Moreover, the golden hourglass was still there, and the golden sand inside continued to flow.
If the hourglass were to finish again, perhaps Adam could return to the previous world.
At that time, he might once again enjoy the power bonus brought by the leveling template.
After sorting out his current situation, Adam looked around.
He quickly noticed something amiss.
He'd been away for nearly two months in the previous world.
Such a long time should have resulted in his residence accumulating dust, and significant changes should have taken place everywhere.
But in reality, his room didn't show much change, and everything appeared as it had previously.
Even dust, Adam saw very little.
He went to one side.
Leaves that he had picked previously were now withered, having lost their moisture, but they had not yet fully turned into dry leaves.
Something seemed off with time.
The thought crossed his mind, and he got up, walked out of the room.
He changed his clothes to a more ordinary robe, left the huge sword in his room, replacing it with a standard Long Sword, and went out like this.
Soon, he found the answer.
"Only three days have passed?"
Adam was somewhat stunned in front of a small stall.
He'd been in the previous region for nearly two months.
But at Hodge Academy, only three days had passed.
The difference between the two was quite significant.
Did the passage of time vary among different worlds?
This thought crossed Adam's mind, along with some confusion.
But he didn't understand the rules, so he could only assume it for now.
It was, after all, his first time experiencing such a transition.
For Adam, this was actually good news.
Hodge Knight Academy was relatively lenient in managing its students, but it didn't extend to missing classes for two straight months without any consequences.
Adam wasn't the son of a top aristocrat; he was just an ordinary Son of Knight.
There were too many people like him in Hodge Academy, and they couldn't afford to ignore the rules.
If he had genuinely missed classes for two months, it would have caused some trouble, and in severe cases, he might have been forcefully expelled.
Although Adam wasn't afraid, avoiding trouble would naturally be preferable.
With that in mind, he turned and walked away.
The following day, he appeared on the academy's training field.
Here was an archery range, with targets everywhere along with some students practicing.
However, overall, there weren't too many people.
Adam stood in place and silently raised his bow.
When he'd last been here, his Archery Skill had been average, with awkward movements and bad aim.
This time, however, his movements were quite skillful, and his aim was considerably better—nine out of ten shots hit the bullseye.
Such accuracy was already very high, even among the entire academy.
Frankly speaking, even some of the archery coaches might not be as proficient as Adam at the moment.
However, Adam didn't feel prideful, as he just silently shot arrows, trying to find the right feel.
To him, his current progress was simply a matter of course.