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Chapter 194: Exodus, Death Stars and Orbs
🕑 Added 2025-02-01 20:06:58 +0000 UTC« Chapter-193 | Index | Chapter-195 »
‘Yeah. He must’ve moved. Staying here would’ve been unbearable.’
Sora sighed. If his brother had left, that meant finding him wouldn’t be as easy as following a soul thread. He had no idea where to even begin looking.
‘I will wait a little more to see you again, bro…’
With one last glance around the room, he turned and phased out of the house.
Sora drifted above the quiet streets, taking in the sights below. The city was both familiar and strange, a mix of the past he remembered and a present that had moved on without him.
People went about their lives, walking the sidewalks, driving, shopping—living as if nothing had changed.
Yet, he couldn't help but notice, 'Most people are still missing... They’re still in the other world…’
Sora floated closer to a street vendor, where newspapers were stacked on a stand. The bold headlines caught his eye immediately.
"SIX YEARS SINCE THE EXODUS—WHEN WILL EVERYONE COME BACK?"
His gaze sharpened.
‘Six years…? Just like the time that passed for us...’
He scanned the articles, absorbing the information quickly. Humanity had called the event "The Exodus". The mass disappearance where everyone had fallen into deep sleep, waking up in what they could only describe as another world.
Then, the first returnees had appeared.
People who had died in the game had reappeared—sometimes thousands of kilometers away from where they had originally collapsed. Those who had been on planes, in offices, or even deep underground had rematerialized near the closest populated area.
As more players returned, civilization adapted. The world had reorganized itself around the phenomenon, preparing for those who would eventually come back.
'And, unsurprisingly, many had turned to religion.' He thought, reading some articles.
A full section of the newspaper was dedicated to the rise of new beliefs. Some worshipped the "Creators" of the other world, believing they had given humanity a chance to evolve. Others saw the game as a divine test, and prayed for another chance to participate.
Sora frowned.
‘Some crave returning there when while others dream of a world without monsters and invaders...’
He shook his head, and thought, ‘Alright, time to go back.’
Sora rose above the city, leaving behind the familiar streets and rooftops as he ascended into the sky. The world below shrank rapidly, its details fading beneath layers of clouds.
As he drifted higher, something caught his attention—a massive soul thread pulsing far to the north.
Among the countless soul threads spread across France, this one stood out. Thick, steady, and overwhelming in presence, it was like his own thread.
Sora smiled. ‘That’s gotta be Kara’s soul thread.’ It was the only one of that scale.
Smiling, he continued flying. Following the direction of his own soul thread, Sora accelerated, breaking through the atmosphere and into the void of space.
As he distanced himself from Earth, something briefly blinded him.
A glint.
A brief flash of light reflecting off a surface in space.
Sora frowned and changed directions. ‘What was that?’
At first, he thought it might be a satellite or some space debris. But as he moved closer, his unease grew.
'Is it the ISS?' He thought, naive.
It was no ordinary structure. It looked like a massive vessel.
‘That’s not the ISS… This thing looks more like a damn Death Star.’ Sora thought.
A fortress was floating in the space above Earth...
And it was just sitting there, silent and ominous in the darkness of space.
‘What the hell is this doing here…?’
Sora floated in the void of space, keeping his distance as he studied the massive vessel ahead. His instincts screamed at him to remain hidden.
'Better not get too close… I don’t know what kind of detection system this thing has.'
Instead of approaching, he expanded his awareness, searching the surrounding void. If there was one, there might be more. He drifted, quickly circling the planet.
Then, far in the distance, another glint. It was identical to the first.
Sora gritted his teeth. 'There’s more of them…'
Before long, he found the third ship. Then the fourth. Four massive ships, strategically placed around Earth, forming a perimeter.
His mind raced, trying to understand the situation.
'Who are they? Why are they here? Are they watching Earth? Are they the ones who sent humanity into the game world?'
Too many questions. But he had no answers.
But what could he do about it? He was nothing more than an observer in this state—invisible but also powerless.
‘Staying here in my astral form won’t change anything.’
With one last glance at a vessel, Sora turned away, retracing the path of his soul thread.
‘Time to go back. Hopefully, before the update finishes.’
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Sora rushed back to his family's side. As he arrived, he relaxed, relieved to see that the update was still in progress.
'Still in time…'
But as he scanned the planet from space, something felt… different.
He looked around. The entire world felt bigger.
'Wait… was it always this huge?'
Moving around the planet, he estimated it was roughly a hundred times larger than before.
Sora was curious. 'What else changed?'
His gaze instinctively moved to a place with a heavy attraction. And that’s when he saw them.
A cluster of soul threads in the distance. His eyes narrowed.
'What is that…?'
Without hesitation, he moved toward the closest cluster, in the Demon Kingdom.
As he approached, his unease grew. The capital of the Demon Kingdom, the same place where he had last seen the demon princess Eloj, was now swarming with new soul threads.
Hundreds of them.
Sora slowed as he analyzed them. Even the smallest of these threads dwarfed his own.
'Impossible. I've hit the limit in Soul Level. And these guys all have more Soul Power than me?'
'Who are these people…? And where the hell are they coming from?'
A chilling thought struck him.
'Don’t tell me… the system is sending reinforcements to the Demon Kingdom?' He guessed. 'Is this the only place where this is happening?'
Without wasting time, he moved.
One after another, he visited the capitals of every major nation he had previously observed.
And every single one of them… had received reinforcements.
Dozens. Hundreds.
All of them with soul threads larger than his.
Sora gritted his teeth, his hands trembling with anger.
'So the update handed each kingdom powerhouses on a silver platter. How can they allow this?'
These new arrivals hadn’t gone through the harsh beginning every human had suffered.
They had simply appeared. Breaking the balance of the world in an instant.
Sora’s mind was racing.
'Humanity was already losing ground. And we've lost so many wars.'
' And now ? The system had tilted the scales even further against us.'
'If this update was meant to force humanity to its knees, I refuse to stand by and watch.'
'My vacation is over.'
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After observing the changes in the world during the update for some time, Sora finally noticed something peculiar.
A faint pulse of light flickered at irregular intervals, and each time it did, the environment changed slightly.
‘What’s that?’
The source of the signal seemed to be deep beneath the planet’s surface—at its very core.
Without hesitation, he moved toward it. With the world still unfinished from the update, traversing the empty void was effortless.
It didn’t take long to reach his destination.
Floating before him was a massive dark sphere. Around it hovered 32 smaller spheres.
Sora reached a hand toward one of them, but stopped just before touching it.
‘...'
'Don't act stupid... Not now.’
Memories of past mistakes flashed through his mind—times when curiosity had led him to painful results.
'Still. These orbs seem important, and I'm dying to know how I can profit of this...'
For once, instead of acting recklessly, he backed away and observed.
'The big orb is connected to the smaller orbs through Soul Power threads. And the massive orb seem to hold an infinite amount of Soul Power...'
After a while, the central sphere started glowing.
Light appeared across its surface, and moments later, the surrounding orbs responded, lighting up one by one.
Then, the core sphere erupted with power, sending out beams of energy toward the planet’s surface.
Sora followed one of the beams to its destination.
Once he arrived, his eyes widened. ‘That wasn’t a beam… that was an orb moving so fast it looked like a beam.’
The orb hovered for a moment before releasing waves of Soul Power.
Then, right before his eyes, a dungeon began to take shape.
Sora could see everything.
The monsters inside, floating inside cocoons, the dungeon gate, the invisible barriers—all of it was constructed purely from Soul Power. Even the content of treasure chests, normally hidden within dungeons, were laid bare before his gaze.
‘I can even see the three hidden sections in this dungeon, and all the hints the system is giving are glowing... This is amazing.’
Turning his attention back to the small orb, Sora noticed that its reserves of Soul Power had plummeted significantly.
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2 to 3 chapters coming tomorrow!
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