"And the fight?" Tom asked abruptly as he opened his eyes.
"Hey, hey. Tom."
From the other side of the room, a gentle voice tried to calm him.
Tom stood up and realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. His attention quickly shifted to the bandage wrapped around his forearm. There was no pain, just a faint tingling sensation.
"You can take that off already if you want. The cut on your back might leave a scar, though… but I guess that's not a problem, right?" the girl commented as she adjusted glass vials filled with medicine and other magical solutions.
Tom looked at her for a moment, trying to remember who she was.
"Thanks…" He trailed off, still searching for her name.
"Akeno," she supplied. "No problem. If you need anything, just come by."
As soon as she said it, Tom remembered where he had seen her before.
Back when the Moonlight squad had "kidnapped" him. Or rather, invited him in a way that left no room to refuse. She had been the one to put him to sleep with one of her potions.
She had a gentle appearance and gave off a friendly presence. Her brown hair was tied into a ponytail, and a small beauty mark sat just below one of her eyes.
If he weren't in another world, Tom would've easily said she was wearing a Japanese kimono. Even if that wasn't its actual name here, it looked close enough.
"Here, this is for you." She pointed to a shirt resting on the corner of her table.
"And no training today. The captain said you should rest."
"Oh, alright. Wait… what?"
Isn't Captain Laylla being a little too nice to me?
In his first few days, Laylla had seemed strict — almost ruthless — with training. But ever since he revealed he was an Ascendant, something had changed. Not just with her, but with the others as well.
Tom also thought of Snow, who had treated him kindly from the very first day.
Putting on the shirt, Tom thanked Akeno again and moved to leave, opening the door when—
"Akeno… how long was I out?"
"Uh… around sixteen hours, I think. You passed out pretty hard after yesterday's fight. And don't worry, Malivor had those kinds of 'blackouts' too when he first became an Ascendant. Your body gets used to it after a while."
The reason Tom had asked was simple: the sun, which had been setting the day before, was now rising. A fair guess would put the time somewhere around seven in the morning.
Turning back to her, he asked, "Akeno, do you know anything else about Ascendants that I should know?"
She paused, looking at him for a few seconds.
"Uh… sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked that," Tom added quickly.
Akeno let out a soft laugh.
"Tom, you're kind of a strange person… in a good way, I think. You seem to really care about your actions. Like you're always trying to do the right thing." She smiled gently. "I don't know much about Ascendants. But if you really want to learn, you should try going to a church and talking to a priest. They seem to know a lot— and they're very interested in Ascendants."
Church… priest?
Tom instinctively brought a hand to his forehead. The impression Father Abel had left on him wasn't exactly great.
"Or you could try talking to Mr. Yuki," she added, gesturing lightly. "But he's very busy. It's rare for him to show up around here."
She had clearly noticed his reaction to the mention of churches and priests, so she offered an alternative.
"What if I talk to Malivor?" Tom asked. "Do you think he could help me?"
It was a fair question. Logical, asking another Ascendant about Ascendants.
This time, Akeno frowned slightly.
"Well… I'm not exactly sure what's going on with Malivor, but it seems like he can't communicate with the god who gave him his power. So, I don't know how much help he'd be. And… maybe I'm saying too much, but the captain actually told the others to help you establish contact with your god. As for the exact reason… you'd have to ask her or Fox. I don't know."
"I see. Thanks again for the help."
"You're welcome." She smiled.
Soon after, Tom left the infirmary — the last door in the corridor, right beside the staircase leading to the second floor.
Grrr…
The moment he stepped outside, his stomach growled in protest. He hadn't eaten in over twelve hours.
Since he was already near the stairs, he headed up.
Entering the dining hall, he immediately spotted a middle-aged man with tanned skin, a short beard, and a white apron.
"Tom! Good to see you're awake. Good morning."
"Yeah. Morning, Snow."
The cook quickly prepared a plate with bread, meat, eggs, and a grape drink.
Tom ate eagerly. He was starving, his body needed to recover.
"I heard you fought Malivor yesterday. What was it like, facing another Ascendant?" Snow asked as he served himself and sat across from Tom.
"Hmm… honestly, it was a bit different from what I expected. But I liked it. That telekinesis of his is really annoying to deal with, though," Tom replied, taking a bite of meat.
Snow nodded while preparing a piece of bread.
"I've also heard your teleportation is pretty impressive."
Tom could only laugh, a bit nervously. Still, he knew it was true. Used properly, his teleportation was extremely useful.
Their conversation continued around the fight, and apparently even Laylla admitted to being somewhat impressed by his performance.
Keeping that momentum, Tom finally asked what he truly wanted to know:
"Snow, you told me about the Key of Change… and that you want me to obtain it. So what do I need to do to reach it?"
He finished his meal and looked straight at Snow.
"The Key of Change…" Snow cleared his throat. "Honestly, Tom… there are things even I don't know. But I'll try to help."
You've gotta be kidding me… First you drop something that important, and now it's 'I don't really know'?
Tom wanted to roll his eyes, but held it in, keeping a serious expression.
"First of all, we know there's some kind of manipulation — or game — being played by divine entities. Gods. As I explained before… the Superiors. You remember that?"
"Yeah," Tom nodded.
"There's some kind of challenge. A puzzle, maybe. Something that needs to be solved to reach the Key of Change. The problem is… we don't know the exact conditions. That's why we're supporting you. We're hoping you'll establish contact with your Superior so He can explain the rules and requirements."
There was a hint of frustration in Snow's voice, as if he had already tried — and failed — to figure it out himself.
"Alright. And how do I talk to my Superior?"
At that moment, Tom already knew exactly what to do. He knew the phrase that would take him straight to Veyrael.
But for two reasons, he still asked.
First: it showed he was cooperating with the Moonlight squad.
He didn't fully understand Snow's or Mr. Yuki's true goals in supporting his path as an Ascendant. But as long as their interests aligned with his desire to return home, there was no conflict.
Second: information.
Ever since being brought into this world, he had been at a disadvantage. The only real edge he had was that mysterious hall and the phrase he received from VD Insurance. So any extra information about Ascendants, Superiors, or anything related was valuable.
"It's hard to admit, but that's the difficult part," Snow said. "What we do know is that it requires some kind of code. We've tried connections with certain churches, but no one was willing to help us contact Malivor's Superior. And Malivor himself doesn't seem to care much about gods in general."
"Maybe his Superior is… problematic. Or something else. There's no way for us to know."
Snow spoke at length, and Tom listened carefully.
So even Ascendants probably need a phrase… a code to access that place…
Wait. No— hold on.
Do all Ascendants go to a hall with a floating table? Or does each Superior have their own? Or is it the same hall, and the Superior comes to them? Or maybe that's just some kind of waiting room… and each Superior has their own separate space…
Tom's thoughts spiraled quickly into theories.
"Tom."
"Tom?"
"Ah— yeah. I'm here." He stumbled over his words as he snapped back to reality.
Snow chuckled.
"Looks like you had an idea. And I know gods love surrounding themselves with mystery and secrecy, so I won't press you for answers right now. Just be careful with whatever you decide to do. And if you need anything, you can come to me, Fox, or Captain Laylla."
"…Though she'll probably just ignore you. Or tell you to go to hell if you bring up gods," Snow added in a near whisper.
Honestly… I wouldn't be surprised.
Tom couldn't help but laugh along.
"Excuse me," Snow said, reaching for his plate.
Tom nodded.
The cook stacked the dishes, stood up, and raised two fingers three times in a brief gesture of gratitude to the Violet Maiden.
After saying goodbye, Tom returned to his room. His mind was racing, thinking about what to do next.
Closing the door, the first thing he did was throw himself onto the bed, not out of exhaustion, but… laziness. Or maybe that strange feeling of wanting to do everything and nothing at the same time.
Man… I wish I had a phone right now. Just to watch short videos or play something.
Turning his head, he looked at his still-messy desk. He hadn't had time to organize it — training, the lab, the fight… everything had happened back-to-back.
Only then did he notice his sword, sheathed and resting on the table.
Someone brought it back for me. No idea who, but… thanks.
Clearing some space, Tom pulled his notebook to the center and began jotting down his goals vaguely, separating them by priority and immediacy.
At the top of the page, he wrote the most important one:
Return home.
Then:
Key of Change.
Game of the Gods.
Map Hall.
He simplified his notes on purpose. If anyone read them, there would be nothing there he wasn't supposed to know.
Turning the page, he continued:
Who is Malivor's Superior?
Why does it seem like He abandoned him?
What does the prophecy of the change of winds mean?
And finally, the question that intrigued him the most:
What is the connection between this world and the game Dragon Sword?
None of these had clear answers. All he could do for now was sigh and search for them one by one.
After a few seconds of reflection, Tom erased the questions, leaving only the previous page intact.
Then he lay back down on the bed, relaxed his body, took a deep breath, and parted his lips.
"Inrud Zelah."