Jon walked through the streets, softly smiling at the sound of passing cars and dinging trams. The familiar clicking-hum of pedestrian crossings echoed throughout the city, brushing against his extended senses as though the gentle touch of a long-lost relative.

  The clacking of dress shoes against concrete whispered to him from more than a block away, alongside the faint barking of dogs several hundred metres down the road. The occasional horn from a honking car shattering the peaceful tranquillity that had formed within his Three Seas Of Knowledge.

  Every year during the height of summer; when the days grew long and the nights grew warm, the city of Melbourne would come to life, filled with a heat that seemed to excite the soul.

  This year proved to be no different. The sounds of celebratory drinks and the scent of cold beer causing Jon’s brows to furrow for a few seconds, reducing the amount of spiritual energy that flowed into his Fragment Of Instinct.

  ‘Five days.’

  ‘I can’t believe that I’ve been back on Earth for five whole days.’

  Almost four-hundred days too early, and sixty-one-days after his initial arrival within the Pure Room. While Jon had been fighting for his life, growing older and more powerful within the System Introduction, barely two-months had passed back on Earth.

  All the things that he had originally planned for himself to do was still within his grasp.

  University. Birthdays. Lordship. Perhaps even normality for just a few weeks.

  The summer of his graduation had yet to finish. The first steps towards adult life paused, and then suddenly resumed, due to the interference by the Angel Of Green, Angel Of Desire, and Angel Of Transformation.

  Jon could almost not believe it. Coming back changed, while the world around him stayed the same. Trevor and Summer still had yet to celebrate their nineteenth birthdays, and yet here he was, almost about to turn twenty-one.

  His three younger siblings, Lydia, Ariel, and Cain had not changed even the slightest bit, at least not to a degree worth mentioning. Although Jon often vehemently denied thinking about either of his parents, he could not help but wonder just how his three younger siblings were doing without him.

  Lydia Carmel Guilliman and Ariel Saffron Guilliman were both finishing Year Eight the last time that he saw either of them. The two had cried after seeing their older brother leave home after his graduation and promised to invite him to their birthdays at the house three months later.

  Cain Bertram Guilliman who was entering Year Six in just under a month had promised to visit him in his new place after he got settled. Song Lian Yu had reported to him that Cain often asked both Lydia and Ariel if either of them had heard from him, seeing that their older brother had just dropped off the face of the earth.

  It pained Jon to see Cain cry about him, their father impassive about the wellbeing of their oldest child. Their mother, Diane Julliette-Guilliman, often consoled their youngest child, at least, just from what Song Lian Yu was telling him about his brief observations.

  ‘I used to wonder if Dad ever bothered to hold a funeral for me. Or what Lydia and Ariel would look like after almost three years without seeing them. I would wonder if they would see my face and recognize me.’

  ‘Or just brush right past me, another passerby amidst a growing see of disordered memories and forgotten faces.’

  Three Seas Of Knowledge did not let Jon forget about anything. That was one of the greatest boons of his Fragment Of Mind and an example of the near-perfect control he possessed over the imaginary mental construct. It allowed him to memorize the names of thousands of different Mortal Ranked spiritual materials within his Red Archives and remember the effects of all the spiritual items contained within his Fragment Of Library.

  Recall all the fragments and Mana Cores that he had stored up.

  And the effects of not just his Knight-Ranked abilities but dozens of members of the Merchant Guild.

  It did not let him forget the birthdays of his younger siblings.

  Or prevent him from imagining the expressions on their faces when he did not turn up.

  Jon sighed, turning a corner and walking down a cobblestoned alleyway.

  The distant light coming from a lamppost at the end of the alley stretched his Hades-Draconian Shadow, extending it backwards several dozen metres. Carcosa-Form Horrors brushing their fear-touched fingers against the overgrown vines that stretched from property to property all around him.

  The warm summer air brushing against his neck, the effects of his Seir-Perpetual Heart and Murmur-Arhat Marrow cooling down his internal temperature to the point where he could not feel the heat against his skin.

  Even while wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so as to hide the traces of his Tabitha-Cedarspear Arm beneath.

  Jon did hold out hope that nothing happened to his family while he was within the System Introduction. Delila, Wilheim, and even Amadeus and Maliq all shared similar thoughts, sometimes mentioning the families that each had left behind.

  How were they doing?

  Are they healthy?

  Are they thinking about me?

  Do they miss me?

  Are they happy?

  Simple things. Perhaps things that Jon now realized he had taken for granted.

  Jon had tried his best not to bottle up all the emotions he experienced over the course of the System Introduction, allowing them to flow freely, unhindered by his Fragment Of Mind. Some days it was easier, other days, such as when the schism between Avahni and himself had formed, were worse.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  ‘Although, I think we did manage to fix things in the end… at least, I think we did.’

  Alba Juno still squirmed around within his chest, despite both Eis and Song requesting that he remove the spirit-rejuvenation leech. Alba Juno was the one link that he still possessed with Avahni, knowing that she would know its general location regardless of how much distance there was between them.

  Even halfway across the universe, she would still be able to feel the Spirit-Leech Flesh Rejuvenation so long as Jon did not attempt to conceal his presence from her. And so long as Avahni was alive, would Alba Juno continue to maintain its existence.

  Alba Juno inadvertently serving as a method of sensing the continuity of the other.

  Jon walked across a rather busy intersection, waiting the lights to turn green before crossing the road. Stepping across a set of tram tracks, Minerva-Infiltration Eyes observing an incoming tram more than eight-hundred metres down the line.

  The faint crackling of a radio coming from within.

  It did not take him long to reach his ‘home’ after that. Not long at all.

  Reaching into his Red Archives, Jon pulled out a set of Knight-Ranked Resonance-Protection Keys, inserting them into the Knight Ranked Resonance-Barrier Lock that he had placed within his front door. An imperceptible wisp of weave natured spiritual energy flowing from one spiritual item into the other, unlocking his house with an almost insignificant turn of his hand.

  The Mana Cores that he had connected with the Resonance-Barrier Lock turning inert as he stepped inside his house. Despite having just contemplated his feelings and experiences during the walk home, all of them were thrown aside the moment he collapsed onto the Knight-Ranked Soothing-Comfort Couch placed in the centre of his living room.

  “…” A loud groan escaping his lips as he nuzzled his face deeper into the Slothful-Harmony Pillows that laid scattered across said couch.

  ‘Perhaps I was just overreacting,’ Jon thought to himself.

  ‘Life doesn’t seem quite so bad… when you don’t have to worry about money…’

  Three Seas Of Knowledge squashing all the thoughts and feelings related to his worries and anxieties down into the depths of his Sea Of Hadal. The Earth Reincarnation Womb within his Fragment Of Tree twitched ever-so-slightly but did not voice her opinions regarding the self-manipulation of his mental state.

  The System Introduction had come with its own problems and repercussions.

  But also an equal number of opportunities. For both personal growth and personal gain.

  Knight-Ranked Gold-Transformation Elixir.

  Knight Ranked Silver-Blossom Draught.

  Knight Ranked Mineral-Element Substitution.

  It was quite literally capable of transforming uninitiated mortal materials into gold or silver. Spiritual energy transforming the inherent properties of one substance into another, using Fragments Of Alchemy or Fragments Of Transformation as the basis for the spiritual item.

  It was a plan that both himself and Delila had come up with during their discussions about returning to Earth. Both possessed positions within Springtown that allowed them to request the creation of an extraordinarily large number of spiritual items from either the Creationist Guild or the Merchant Guild.

  Stocking up on Soothing-Comfort Couches, in seven-different colours or Gold-Transformation Elixirs was nothing too difficult, provided that the two of them could obtain the necessary materials or fragments.

  And with his Forgetful-Thought Mirror, no-one was none-the-wiser!

  It was how he was able to afford this outrageously beautiful home. A classical Victorian-styled terrace house within the suburb that he had been forcibly teleported from. Three-stories and located within Melbourne’s inner-northern suburbs, in total, it was more than three-thousand square feet.

  And with a price tag that almost one-thousand-times that number.

  It was literally his dream home. Bought at paid for, before he even started university.

  Jon could not help but giggle at the thought, relishing in the luxuriousness of his home. It might be difficult to explain to Ariel and Lydia just how he obtained this house, but he was sure that Cain would love it, nonetheless.

  Jon no longer had to worry about maintaining a job in order to pay for rent or groceries thanks to his abundance of spiritual items. He no longer needed to worry about finding time to study thanks to his Fragment Of Mind. And with Song Lian Yu protecting his family, he was able to focus on more important things such as-.

  “…” The sound of a phone buzzing within his pocket caused Jon to sit up, pulling out his phone from within his pocket and looking down at the string of short-texts someone had sent him.

  “Thanks for today again Jon!”

  “If it wasn’t for you, I might’ve bene going home in an ambulance!”

  “Hope your arm doesn’t hurt (I mean, still hurt from the accident)”

  “If you aren’t too busy this coming Wednesday, maybe you would be willing to go out for a few drinks?”

  The corners of Jon’s mouth curled upwards as he leaned his head against the Soothing-Comfort Couch beneath him. Despite his initial reluctance towards Kate, the immature, twenty-year-old part of his brain managed to overpower the rational nature of his Three Seas Of Knowledge.

  His phone placed down on the intricate Knight-Ranked Glacial-Wood Table before him; designed to the reduce the ambient humidity of the room it was placed within and promote the growth of ordinary plants within its vicinity.

  Fingers softly tapping against the side of his thigh, wondering what he had planned for this Wednesday.

  Ashvattha Rana chiming in from her place between his conscious and subconscious minds.

  “I think it could be good for you Jon. By the standards of both your society and the integrated universes, you can be considered a young adult. Knighthood is a threshold that most obtain over the course of their lives, although the formation of spiritual veins is what separates the ‘boys’ from the ‘men.’”

  “If there is one thing that I know young adults gravitate towards it is… well, to put it delicately, each other.”

  “Some for emotional attachment, while most tend to satisfy physical urges. I think you would be more productive after fulfilling said urges. Perhaps even allowing you to form your complete Knight Title or next spiritual vein-.”

  Jon shivered, hearing the words that came out of Rana’s mouth. The bodhi-deva tree was something akin to a teacher-figure within his life, someone whose words and advice he had grown to value immensely.

  Hearing said teacher-figure talk about his ‘physical urges’ creeped him out in a way that Jon did not realize was possible.

  “I’ll… take it under consideration.” Jon cleared his throat, swiftly moving to change the topic of conversation.

  “Over the last few days I’ve been working to secure a residence and reintegrate myself back into human society. The original goals I had set for myself before entering the System Introduction was; to find a place to live, obtain a stable form of income, and then prepare for university in the coming months.”

  “All have been achieved in since my-. Our return.” Jon corrected himself, remembering that Rana, Eis and Song were all capable of viewing his memories.

  “I have not encountered anyone else with spiritual energy or abilities over the past five days. To be fair, the places that I have visited were limited to the greater Melbourne area. It is possible that the number of returnees on Earth are quite low in comparison to other planets, although I would presume that most would conceal themselves, choosing to observe human society before taking any serious risks.”

  “The System Introduction might be over and all of the task rewards that I still had yet to complete are now lost forever.”

  “But that does not necessarily mean that I am at a disadvantage in comparison to the other System Introduction participants.”

  Jon’s eyes glanced in the direction of his System notifications. He had ignored them over the past five days, focusing on assuming the identity of “Jonathan Randall Guilliman” once more, rather than the Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation.

  He had accumulated quite the number of System notifications.

  Beginning with-.

  Knight Title Fragment “Dual-Pathway Dominus”