Chapter 12: What Did You See
The following day, as light fell on Ron’s eyes, he abruptly opened them and clumsily got out of bed.
“Good morning, Mr. Ron. I’ve prepared breakfast for you and Miss Moluna,” Lilyka said politely, standing at the door, lifting her skirt slightly.
However, Ron didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he touched his own body. Ron realized he didn’t have a drop of sweat on his body and felt no fatigue. Previously, he had been soaked and struggling to catch his breath. It all indicated that yesterday was just a nightmare. Rubbing his forehead, he confirmed it was indeed a nightmare. How could there be a system forcing its host to die?
“Mr. Ron, you’ve been acting strange since last night,” Lilyka said, lifting her eyelids.
“Me? I’m fine,” Ron waved his hand. “Just had a nightmare, that’s all.”
“I’ll come for breakfast in a while. I need to clear my head first,” he said.
Lilyka nodded gently, “I’ll be waiting at the table, then.”
After she left, Ron murmured to himself, “That nightmare was quite tormenting.”
But suddenly, the system emitted a sound.
“Congratulations, you have completed this training! Your physical fitness has significantly improved! Keep up the good work!”
“The system reminds you that you did not have a nightmare.”
“Thanks to your efforts, you have passed the reinforcement training, and your strength has made a qualitative leap.”
“Name: Ron”
“Strength Assessment: Warrior Level One”
“Ring Fragments: None”
“Although you’re still weak, you no longer need to worry about being robbed on the road!”
Ron looked at the system messages and fell into a prolonged silence.
After a long pause, he said, “I didn’t have a nightmare? How is that possible…?”
“Your body hasn’t changed because the system restored it.”
“All the training you completed was meant to reveal parallel possibilities. Now, you’ve revealed your potential as a warrior.”
“What are you talking about?” Ron found these words headache-inducing; it was truly taxing on his mind.
Come to think of it, Sage mentioned that the system making one stronger was based on “parallel possibilities.”
And even though the system claimed he became stronger, he didn’t feel any actual increase in strength.
“Is it really not a nightmare?” Ron couldn’t help but confirm once again.
【Answer: Not a nightmare.】
“If a time traveler is unfortunately injured during training, the system must help recover.”
“But the system can’t bring someone back from the dead, so please pay attention to safety during training.”
“Safety precautions?” He was momentarily speechless.
That magical bombardment seemed aimed at killing him outright. It had nothing to do with whether he paid attention to safety.
Nevertheless, he was now wary of this system. If last night wasn’t a nightmare but happened, he truly had a stroke of luck. He dressed and walked over to the table, setting aside his chaotic thoughts.
“Today’s breakfast is corn chowder with white bread, along with bacon and egg baked with chives,” Lilyka carefully described the breakfast upon Ron’s arrival.
Meanwhile, Moluna started eating her breakfast like a robot on the side. However, her movements were much more agile than yesterday’s, and her eyes were no longer vacant.
“Mr. Ron, although there’s no time limit for your investigation this time,” Lilyka whispered as Ron ate his breakfast, “I still suggest you complete the task as soon as possible.”
“Why?” Ron hadn’t even chewed his food at this point.
“Because you can’t guarantee that the culprit will stay in this town forever,” Lilyka said, her eyelids lowered as she draped a coat over Ron.
After finishing breakfast, Ron once again entered the desolate and chilly town. Having visited once before, the lifelike ice sculptures along the road didn’t surprise him as much now. But what surprised him was that he didn’t feel cold today despite being in this town. He sniffed and felt he wouldn’t shiver even if he removed his coat.
“Is it because of being a Warrior Level One?” Ron couldn’t help but mutter.
“Your judgment is correct, and not only that, your sensory abilities are now more acute than before.”
“Really?” Ron was skeptical hearing the system’s claim about his heightened sensory abilities.
However, now that he wasn’t as sensitive to the cold, he should be able to investigate this town thoroughly. If it were yesterday, he wouldn’t have lasted more than an hour or two, but now, he could spend an entire day here without issue. With his body no longer stiff, Ron soon arrived at the point where he stopped yesterday. He looked around and noticed that the chilling wind from yesterday had completely disappeared.
Ron took a few steps but didn’t spot the white squirrel from yesterday. The entire town was eerily silent, amplifying Ron’s footsteps manifold. He could distinctly hear his own breathing, heartbeat, and even the sound of swallowing saliva. Despite his suspicion that the ice sculptures around him might suddenly come to life and attack, he encountered nothing as he walked along.
Moreover, he hadn’t encountered any enemies. He had just spotted some stray wildlife at most.
“But this town is bigger than I imagined..,” Ron remarked while observing the town from the outside, unaware of its size.
However, when he walked within, it took him half an hour just to cover one street. At that moment, a rush of wind sounded in Ron’s ears, carrying numerous voices from a distant end mixed with the piercing wind.
“This is futile!”
“Wake up! Acting like this will freeze the entire area!”
“No, only those implanted with the malevolent god will be frozen!”
“Are you planning to bury everyone? We’ve all been implanted with the malevolent god here!”
“What are you thinking!? Why do you hate the malevolent god like this!?”
“Your judgment is correct, and not only that, your sensory abilities are now more acute than before.”
“Really?” Ron was skeptical hearing the system’s claim about his heightened sensory abilities.
Ron looked around hurriedly in all directions but couldn’t spot anyone. “What’s this sound?”
However, even the system didn’t provide any explanation. Everything seemed like his own auditory hallucination.
The voices seemed distant and muffled as if spoken across water. The next moment, he saw a figure moving towards an alley, a figure that remarkably resembled him. But when he blinked, both the figure and the voices vanished.
