Chương 78: Ascend [Book One Finale]

"He's awake!" Gozen shouted. Gray ripped the blanket from his lap and shot out of the chair, his stiff muscles protesting after hours of sleep. He brushed past Gozen, who stepped aside to clear a path to the bed. Hyun was propped upright against the inclined backrest, his eyes wide open. The steady rise and fall of his chest and the occasional slow blink confirmed he was conscious, and his head shifted slightly against the pillow as Gray approached. Gray gripped both of his shoulders.

"You're back. How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?" The questions tumbled out in a breathless rush, but his relief fractured almost as soon as he spoke. Something was wrong. Hyun's eyes were open, but there was nothing behind them—his glassy stare remained fixed on a point just beyond Gray's shoulder, completely unresponsive to his voice or touch. Gozen rested a hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Take it slow," he murmured.

"He hasn't been conscious for long. You don't want to overwhelm him and send his system into shock." Gray reluctantly loosened his grip and glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. 3: 00 PM. He had been asleep for fifteen hours. Hyun had finally clawed his way out of a coma, and Gray had slept through it.

"Do you know exactly when it happened?" he asked, guilt thickening his voice. He turned toward Gozen.

"When did you even get here?"

"I stopped by around noon to check on both of you." Gozen gestured toward the discarded blanket on the floor, then pointed at the travel pillow still wrapped around Gray's neck.

"You were dead asleep. Figured you needed the rest." Gray reached up, only then noticing the soft cushion. He pulled it free with a sheepish nod, retrieved the fallen blanket, and handed both back to his mentor.

"Hyun was still unresponsive when I arrived, so I adjusted his bed and left to handle a few errands," Gozen continued.

"I checked in with Althea about the caretaker—she was finalizing the contract with the new hire, so I came back early. I walked in a few minutes ago and found him like this. Must've happened while I was out." He exhaled softly.

"I should've woken you sooner. I apologize."

"No, it's fine," Gray muttered, his attention already returning to his brother's vacant stare.

"He's conscious now, but why isn't he talking? Is he—""Don't jump straight to the worst conclusion," Gozen cut in, his tone firm.

"We'll know more once Althea gets back and examines him."

"He's a vegetable, Gozen." The certainty in Gray's voice made the words land even harder. His hands trembled at his sides before curling into fists.

"I don't need a doctor to tell me what I can see with my own eyes."

"You don't know that for sure," Gozen said.

"Like I told you, don't spiral. Wait until Althea—""What makes you think she can fix this?" Gray snapped, the frustration he'd been holding back finally breaking loose.

"She couldn't do anything before, and she sure as hell can't do anything now! It's pointless!" He lashed out and drove his foot into the heavy wooden nightstand. The impact knocked the table several inches off the floor before it slammed back down with a loud crack. A cup of pens toppled over, scattering across the floorboards, and a clipboard skidded after them. Gray stared down at the mess, chest rising and falling with each ragged breath.

Then his eyes caught on something among the scattered objects, and his anger vanished, replaced by confusion. The impact had jarred the clipboard's metal clip loose, scattering several documents across the floor. Most were blank forms, along with a page listing Hyun's medical history and current treatment protocols. But one page stood out from the rest: a drawing. Gray crouched and picked it up. He studied the sketch for several seconds, and his confusion quickly boiled into defensive anger.

He thrust the paper toward Gozen.

"Did you do this? Is this some kind of sick joke?" Gozen frowned and took the sheet from him, turning it over to examine the image more closely.

"Boy," he said, his voice dropping into a flat, dangerous tone, "do you truly think I would stoop that low just to motivate you? That I'd trick you into getting back on your feet and walking the Kaiser's path?" Gray glanced toward the bed, his anger faltering.

"No, you wouldn't…" His brow furrowed.

"But how is this even possible?" Gozen examined Hyun for a few seconds until his gaze landed on the far side of the mattress, his eyes going wide. Gray noticed his surprise and stepped around his mentor, following his gaze to Hyun's left hand, resting near the edge of the blanket. A pen—a plain black retractable pen—was wedged firmly between his fingers.

"Hey, guys!" The door swung open, and Althea strode inside.

"I want you to meet Violet. She'll be taking over the—" Her gaze landed on the bed, and the rest of the introduction died in her throat.

"He's awake!" Althea abandoned the new caretaker in the doorway and rushed to Hyun's bedside. Gozen cleared his throat into a closed fist.

"About that. I suspect he may only be semi-conscious." Althea leaned over the mattress and studied Hyun closely. He continued staring at the wall, his features slack, his glassy eyes fixed on nothing.

"Are you sure he isn't in a vegetative state?" Gray asked, the pressure returning to his chest. Althea didn't answer at first. Her attention dropped to the sheets and landed on Hyun's left hand. She gasped and immediately pried the pen from his fingers.

"Did you give this to him?" she demanded, jabbing the ballpoint toward Gray's face.

"Are you insane? He could've hurt himself."

"It wasn't me." Gray took a half step back.

"I think he grabbed it on his own." Althea raised a skeptical brow.

"By himself?" Gozen answered by handing her the drawing. She studied the page, her frown deepening with every second, then shot him a sharp look.

"Are you telling me Hyun drew this?"

"Neither of us was here to witness it, but that's what we're assuming," Gozen replied evenly. Gray lowered his gaze, the shame of sleeping through Hyun's awakening settling heavily over him.

"We were out picking up supplies," Gozen added. A heavy hand came down on Gray's shoulder, and he looked up to find Gozen giving him a subtle, reassuring squeeze.

"What we do know is that he woke sometime between noon and three o'clock." Althea gave a thoughtful grunt and turned back to her patient. She took her time examining him—checking his pupil response, tracking his eye movement, watching for even the slightest change in his otherwise blank expression.

"It can take a significant amount of time for baseline functions to return after someone emerges from a coma," Althea finally said, slipping back into her clinical tone.

"The fact that he was able to use his fine motor skills so soon after waking is an incredibly positive sign. If he really drew this on his own, then the brain damage may not be nearly as severe as I feared." Gray let out a long, shaky breath, feeling a fraction of the weight lift from his shoulders.

"He's definitely not in a vegetative state," Althea continued, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"This looks much closer to the semi-conscious state Gozen mentioned. Possibly accompanied by aphasia."

"Aphasia?" Gray asked.

"Yes. It's a neurological condition that impairs a person's ability to process or produce language." Althea glanced toward the drawing.

"He may understand what he wants to communicate but be unable to form the words. If that's the case, his brain could be working around the blockage by expressing itself through images instead." Gray balked at the explanation.

"Drawing instead of talking? When will he actually be able to speak to me again?"

"I can't give you a timeline for that," Althea replied, her tone settling into detached clinical neutrality.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Gray snapped, throwing his hands to the side in frustration.

"Don't you have magic for this? Some kind of diagnostic spell that can tell you?" Althea slowly shook her head.

"Magic isn't a crystal ball. It can knit bones and stop bleeding, but the brain is a different beast entirely. At this point, his recovery depends largely on his own body and willpower. All we can do is monitor his condition and give him time." She pivoted toward the open doorway, where the new hire was still lingering, only half her face visible as she cautiously peered into the room.

"Violet! Come on in." Althea swept an arm toward her. Violet startled at the sudden summons, then hurried inside to stand beside the doctor.

"This is Violet," Althea said, resting a hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"She'll be looking after Hyun for the time being. Since he's physically stable, the job is fairly low-maintenance—it's less about active nursing and more about having a reliable set of eyes monitoring his condition. She'll perform a full checkup once a day and keep an eye on him in between." Violet offered Gray a timid, tight-lipped smile. She wore a simple white sundress that hung loosely from her petite frame, while a wide black headband held her dark hair away from her face.

"She's been instructed to notify you immediately if there's any change." Althea reached into her pocket and tossed Gray a small circular device. He caught it instinctively. The metal puck was smooth and sleek, with a tiny LED screen and a single button beneath it—its design almost identical to Eugene's tracking device. Gray scowled at it.

"Another pager? How is one button supposed to tell me what's wrong with him? Why can't we just use phones?"

"Unfortunately, that's one area where Quantis Corp keeps hitting a brick wall," Althea said, folding her arms.

"The Astral Rifts scattered across the continent emit localized interference. Cell towers, telecommunicators, and most of the advanced long-range technology we relied on back on Earth are completely jammed by the ambient energy surrounding them." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Gray frowned as a memory surfaced.

"But I used one. I had a communication device that let me contact Hyun during the race. Every competitor did." Althea shrugged.

"So did I. But nobody has a clue how it pulled that off. The Almighty System clearly has ways around the interference, but whatever those methods are, it isn't sharing the blueprints with the rest of us." The explanation only added to the mountain of questions already stacking up in his mind. The mysteries of this world and the rigid laws governing its System were enough to make his head spin, but he shoved the thought aside—he didn't have the mental bandwidth for grand conspiracies right now.

"Still, how am I supposed to just leave him here…" Gray murmured, his gaze drifting back to his brother's vacant stare. Gozen stepped beside him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not going to pressure you into leaving. You'll fall behind in your cultivation, yes, but I'd rather you take the time to center yourself. Throwing yourself into bloodshed with a clouded mind is a good way to get killed." Althea glanced back down at the drawing in her hands, and a bright smirk suddenly cracked through her clinical composure.

"Besides, if this sketch is anything to go by, it looks like Hyun wants you out of his hair anyway!" She erupted into a booming laugh, so deep and infectious it somehow managed to eclipse even Gozen's usual thunderous amusement.

"I'm kidding. Mostly." She wiped at the corner of one eye before nodding toward the doorway.

"But seriously, he'll be in good hands. Right, Violet?" Violet blinked, startled to be dragged back into the conversation. She raised a small fist to her mouth and cleared her throat.

"Yes. Absolutely."

"I'm paying her a premium out of my own budget," Althea added with a dismissive wave.

"Really?" Gray's attention snapped back to the Sage.

"You didn't have to do that for me." Althea's face twisted with genuine confusion.

"Who said I was doing it out of the goodness of my heart? You're paying her wages. I'm simply giving you a loan." She held up a finger.

"The going rate is one hundred Quants a day." Gray's eyes widened.

"One hundred Quants? Just for sticking her head in here for a few minutes?"

"Supply and demand," Althea replied with a shrug.

"The Glory swept up nearly every entry-level nurse on the job market to handle the flood of casualties from the competition. Violet works for them too, but I negotiated a carve-out in her schedule so she can monitor Hyun." She leaned against the footboard and crossed her arms.

"You don't need to panic about the upfront cost, though. I know your wallet is empty, and you've been cursed with a deadbeat mentor, so I covered the first month in advance." A shark-like grin spread across her face.

"I expect every Quant back, of course. With interest."

"What?" Gray threw his hands up.

"I never agreed to that!"

"Too late. The ink is already dry on the contract." Althea shrugged again.

"Looks like you'll have to find a way to make some quick money. Personally, I recommend pursuing the Kaiser path. A few successful expeditions and you'll pay off the debt with plenty left over." Gray stared at her in disbelief, then slowly turned and leveled the exact same murderous glare at Gozen. The blacksmith responded with a sly grin.

"No pressure," Gozen muttered. Gray dragged a palm down his face and released a long, exhausted sigh.

"Can I see the drawing again?" He held out his hand. Althea passed him the paper. Gray stared at the crude sketch. For an aspiring artist, it was far from Hyun's best work. A memory surfaced of his brother back in high school, hauling enormous, incredibly detailed canvases into the living room to show the family—Gray had barely looked up from his ranked matches to acknowledge them. He'd brushed Hyun off without giving the paintings more than a passing glance. That old indifference stung now.

Yet as elementary as the drawing was, its message couldn't have been clearer. Sitting beside this hospital bed and wallowing in regret would accomplish nothing. It would only chain Gray to the exact same stagnant fate. Ascending was the only logical move left. Leaving Hyun's recovery to chance felt like surrender, especially when this strange new world offered powers beyond anything Gray had thought possible.

If he climbed high enough—grew strong enough—perhaps he could find something capable of guaranteeing his brother's recovery. Then there was the darker reality. Whoever had done this to Hyun was still out there. What was stopping them from coming back to finish the job? The thought made Gray restless. Sitting in this room suddenly felt less like protecting his brother and more like waiting helplessly for the next attack.

Gozen still refused to reveal who had put Hyun in this bed, insisting Gray was far too weak to involve himself. Until Gray proved otherwise, revenge wasn't even an option. He needed strength. He needed enough power to protect what remained of his family. There was only one path forward.

"I'll do it," Gray finally said, breaking the silence. He turned toward his mentor, conviction hardening his expression.

"Are you still willing to train me, Gozen?" A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Gozen's mouth. He stepped forward and clapped Gray firmly on the back.

"Of course I am. But I need to know you're truly ready for the road ahead. I meant what I said about not rushing into this."

"I know I refused to help you find ordinary work before because I wanted to push you toward becoming a Kaiser. But if you genuinely want a quiet, normal life, I can get you a desk job right now." Gozen held his gaze.

"That offer is still on the table." Gray didn't hesitate. He shook his head.

"No. I'm walking the Kaiser's path." Gozen gave a single, firm nod. Gray turned toward Violet.

"I appreciate you stepping in on such short notice." Violet waved away the formality with a quick flick of her wrist.

"Oh, don't sweat it! I live right down the street, so keeping an eye on him won't be any trouble. Honestly, the workload is so light that I was surprised Althea offered me that much. Ten Quants a day would've been plenty, but she insisted on a hundred." Gray's eyebrow twitched. Very slowly, he turned toward Althea. The doctor abruptly found the ceiling tiles fascinating. Gray narrowed his eyes at her before looking back to Violet.

"Ping me the second anything changes. No matter how minor it seems."

"You got it," Violet said. Gray gave Gozen a small nod, signaling that he was finally ready to leave.

"I'll stay behind and get Violet up to speed," Althea said, smoothly brushing past the awkward tension. She glanced toward Hyun.

"By the way, what kind of shows or movies does he usually watch? I was thinking about installing a television in here. Something familiar might help keep his mind stimulated."

"Oh. He likes…" Gray trailed off. He searched his memory for the answer—something obvious, a favorite show, a movie Hyun had watched a dozen times. Anything. Nothing came.

"…I don't know." A fresh sting of guilt slammed into Gray's chest, just as it had that day at the café. He realized how little he actually knew about his own brother. He hadn't even gotten the chance to apologize for blowing up over the Ivan situation before Hyun ended up in this bed.

"I'll just put on Match of Chairs for him to start," Althea said, pulling him from his thoughts.

"He's a guy in his late twenties. Hard to go wrong with that." Gray pushed aside the self-reproach.

"How does television even work here? I thought you said standard technology gets jammed. Don't you need satellites or cables for any of that?"

"You can think of it as piracy," Althea explained.

"Media from Earth is constantly ripped and smuggled over to this side, and Quantis Corp built the infrastructure to distribute it." She folded her arms.

"Everything runs through a streaming service called QuantBuster. The executives at Quantis figured out pretty quickly that the Awakened needed some form of modern entertainment to keep from losing their minds. Fighting Riftborn all day takes a psychological toll, and sitting around listening to tavern bards apparently got old fast." Gozen clapped his hands together with a sharp smack.

"Alright, boy. Time to move. We only have a few days to prepare before you enroll in the Kaiser Entrance Exam." Gray nodded and slipped the metal pager into his back pocket.

"You can keep that in your dimensional ring," Gozen said.

"The hardware works differently from the two-way communicator you used during the trials. If Violet triggers the alarm, your ring itself will vibrate to notify you." Gray pulled the device back out and sent it into his spatial storage with a quick pulse of mana. After exchanging brief farewells with Althea and Violet, mentor and disciple stepped into the corridor and made their way toward the lobby. Gray stopped as soon as they entered.

The massive portrait of Althea flexing her biceps—the one that normally dominated the entrance wall—was gone. Torn canvas and chunks of its heavy wooden frame lay scattered across the floorboards in a mess of splintered wood and shredded fabric. Gozen stared at the wreckage for a moment before shaking his head. He produced a compact wireless vacuum from his dimensional ring and methodically cleaned up the debris.

Once the floor was spotless, he withdrew an identical copy of the portrait and hung it neatly in the same place, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face. The pair left the clinic and stepped onto the sidewalk. Gozen abruptly stopped, forcing Gray to pull up short behind him. Mist began seeping into the air in front of the Mistveil. Wisps of vapor spiraled inward, thickening until they condensed into a pillowy cloud hovering several inches above the pavement, its edges curling and drifting in slow, lazy waves.

Gozen glanced over his shoulder.

"Have you ever ridden a magical flying cloud before?"

"Of course not!" Gray's eyes lit up as he stared at it.

"We get to take that?" Gozen nodded.

"The academy is a long way from here, and I'm tired of walking. Hop on." Gray hurried toward the construct, stopping just short of its swirling edge, staring down at the dense vapor and wondering whether it would actually support his weight. Before he could test it, something clamped around his ankle. Gray flinched and looked down. A thick, thorn-covered vine had punched straight through the pavement and coiled around his calf like a python.

Before he could shout, the tendril surged higher, winding around his thighs and waist before pinning both arms tightly against his ribs. Gozen reacted to the scuffle instantly. A glaive materialized in his hands, and he brought the blade down in one precise stroke, shearing through the vine above Gray's waist and severing the restraints around his chest without grazing so much as a thread of his clothing. Gray's arms dropped free. But the root around his leg remained.

With a violent jerk, the vine dragged him downward. The pavement exploded beneath his feet, and Gray plunged through shattered asphalt and disappeared into the earth, leaving behind nothing but a jagged crater and scattered chunks of stone.

"Kasia, you cretin!" Gozen roared. He vaulted onto his hovering cloud, ready to race toward the Jade Lotus Guild, only to stop when he noticed something climbing on top of the flying cloud. A segment of tree trunk stared back at him. Deep creases in its bark formed crude eyes and a mouth, while knotted branches served as makeshift arms and legs.

"Hello, Mr. Kotetsu," the wooden construct said, its voice deep and unnervingly resonant.

"I have a message from Ms. Petrov. She asks that you not worry about Gray. She will deliver him safely to the Academy Training Grounds after a brief conversation. She also assures you that she will not leave a single scratch on him, as she is well aware of your temper." The construct raised one branch-like finger.

"She would also like to clarify that she will not be talking to him inside her guild, as she would prefer not to have you wage war on her members." Its wooden mouth shifted into something resembling a frown.

"She further notes that your mist is terrible for her plants." Gozen released a long, weary sigh and dragged a hand through his hair. Meanwhile, Gray was hauled through the darkness. The surrounding earth seemed to magically part around the plant as it traveled, but loose soil still scraped across his clothes and packed into his nostrils. For the first few minutes, he thrashed wildly, clawing at the tendril in blind panic. The vine didn't loosen in the slightest.

When struggling only led to grinding more dirt into his eyes and mouth, Gray forced himself to stop. He snorted the grit from his nose, pinched his nostrils shut with one hand, and tucked his free arm tightly against his side to streamline himself. Once he stopped resisting, the journey became noticeably smoother, his speed through the dark soil seeming to double. After what felt like ten suffocating minutes, the horizontal pull abruptly changed direction.

The vine angled sharply upward, hauling him toward the surface. Gray braced himself. A moment later, he burst through a set of wooden floorboards and into open air. The vine held him upside down for one dizzying second before lowering him toward the floor, its grip around his ankle finally unraveling and dropping Gray onto his hands and knees. He coughed violently, spitting dirt onto the hardwood, then wiped a muddy streak from his face and scrambled backward, quickly surveying the unfamiliar room.

Before he could take in much else, movement beside the hole caught his attention. A sunflower erupted from between the shattered floorboards. Its stalk thickened and stretched toward the ceiling at an unnatural speed, reaching full height within seconds. The enormous yellow head bent toward Gray, then its center blasted him with a shower of lukewarm water.

"What the—" Gray shot to his feet and dove out of the spray, water splashing across the floor behind him. His hand instinctively dropped to his thigh. His Soul Blade was still there. He drew it in one smooth motion and spun toward his abductor. A woman leaned back on a wide leather couch against the wall, looking unconcerned by the weapon pointed in her direction. She wore a flowing verdant dress that complemented the deep green of her hair.

Her skin was pale and flawless, almost porcelain in its smoothness, save for the faint emerald veins branching from the corners of her eyes and tracing down across her cheekbones. A small smile touched her lips.

"Hello, Gray. My name is Kasia Petrov." She regarded him calmly from across the room.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you."