[The Origin Servers will be closing now.]

[Subsequent openings will be from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM GMT+1.]

[Thank you all for participating in our tutorial event! Keep your eyes out for our other events!]

Faust barely had a second to process what had just happened. He had received Drekar as a servant as part of his hidden quest rewards.

His eyes darted from the screen to Drekar with a stunned expression.

"Wait. What is this?"

But his body started dissolving into golden light. He was going back. He was returning to Earth.

"Wait! I—"

Drekar raised a hand with a bitter smile. "Don’t worry, you can summon me anywhere. A servant is far more flexible than a Summon. But give me some time before you call me."

Faust’s mouth disappeared into golden showers and drifted upward, silencing him. So he just nodded, meeting Drekar’s face with a pitiful look.

Then his eyes were overwhelmed by golden light as his head dissolved.

Alone in the now empty Novice Village, Drekar watched the golden lights drift into the sky. A beautiful and magical effect.

He sighed. "Keep fighting. Until the sun rises at night."

◇◇◇

Faust didn’t hurtle through space at inconceivable speeds this time. The system’s transport back to Earth was softer and instant. The golden dust that comprised his body reformed on Earth slowly.

When his mouth formed, he took in a sharp, surprised breath. The air was cold with a tang of bitterness. Wind brushed against his skin like he was outside, but he was seated.

Even before his eyes formed, he knew where he was.

His school classroom crept into existence as the light cleared from his eyes. The clock on the wall. The writing on the board talking about prom. It was all the same.

It was nighttime, and the classroom windows were gone.

The moonlight had been too weak to illuminate this place before the shower of golden light, and yet Faust’s eyes adjusted to the darkness to see shapes moving. Another reminder of his superhuman abilities.

All of his classmates were back, too. Nirvana and her friends weren’t in his class, but he saw everyone—Todd, William, and the others.

A head landed in his lap, and he looked down to see a shocked Liora. She jumped off after a second of hesitation as voices filled the dark room.

"They brought us back to school? Talk about a bummer."

"I’m back! I’m back!"

"Was the air always this stuffy on Earth?"

Liora backed away with a sneer as their classmates talked, moving to stand beside William, who was giving him a furious look.

’Why are they acting like I put her head in my lap?’

It was strange to know so much had changed in just two days. It was ridiculous.

Faust got up and started to walk out of the class. His classmates watched him cautiously, then followed at a distance. The school was empty, but he could hear a floor down, people moving—other classes that had been taken into the Origin Trial.

Nirvana would be down there somewhere. He would just tell her he was going back home and take her phone number. If he didn’t do all this, she might overthink things and convince herself he was avoiding her after he got what he wanted.

And then he’d have another problem on his hands.

The whole world would have a problem. Nirvana was among the strongest people on the planet.

’I won’t say top five because there are other Novice Villages.’

Quite frankly, the entire world is in trouble. Close to one million magically empowered people just returned. All it took was one psycho and a powerful fireball spell. Before anyone could stop them, so many people would die.

How do you even manage something like this?

Faust had an idea.

But his rumination was interrupted when someone tapped him on the back. He smiled as he turned to face Todd.

"Oh, I haven’t seen you in a while."

Todd nodded, watching the floor. "I saw you during the fifth wave, but I wasn’t sure whether to call out to you."

"You went into the gate?! Good job, man."

"You all went in..." Todd said, like it wasn’t impressive. "Besides, Amelia invited me. She said she was going in."

"One step at a time," Faust said, patting his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Thanks a lot, actually, for the words of encouragement. I really mean that. Nirvana also came by to apologize to Amelia. She scared the hell out of us. It was like an apology, but she was still hinting that she should stay away from you."

Faust sighed and rubbed his forehead. She should have waited for him before going. But the embarrassment of the apology must have made her not want him there.

And he also wouldn’t like her threatening the people she was meant to be apologizing to.

"Well... that’s good, I guess. So how were your rewards for the Fifth wave? Did you level up?"

Todd nodded vigorously. "I helped them kill a monster. I stabbed it a couple of times. It was hard to fight in the rain and I kept coughing, but it was good. I leveled up to 5 directly. Did you know they give ten stat points instead of five at level..."

He caught the smile on Faust’s face. His face flushed. "Of course you know that. But yeah, the rewards were good. I got some weapons and monster essence. And a new skill."

They talked a little longer as Faust asked about the fight in the tunnels.

Monsters had been waiting for them below and blocked the exits, flanking them from both sides. If Faust had gone down there, they would have been stuck fighting in that cramped space, having to limit themselves to make sure the tunnels didn’t collapse.

They talked until they got downstairs, and he saw Nirvana standing at the edge of the staircase. Todd made a barely audible excuse and disappeared into the crowd.

People washed past Faust toward the hall excitedly. Lockers clanged between voices as the students grabbed some of their bags left behind.

It felt strangely reminiscent of the end of a school day.

He hugged Nirvana and glanced at Thalia and the others who had been waiting for her. Zen and Spider turned and started walking without a word. Greg patted him on the back, saying something about it being good to be home.

Thalia gave Faust and Nirvana a sleazy smile before running after Greg. Faust turned to Nirvana, and she shrugged.

"She just started throwing words at me the moment I came up and figured out what we... did."

She fell silent, waiting for Faust to say something. To confirm or reject what they were. Fear battled excitement in her crimson eyes.

He leaned in and kissed her. Words wouldn’t do much for Nirvana. Her pale face flushed red, eyes darting around to catch the people watching them. Then, giving up on worrying, she sank into the kiss, closing her eyes and intertwining her tongue with his.

He wrapped one hand around her delicate waist and pulled her in closer before he ended the kiss.

"I’ll go home first." He passed her his phone. "Text me if anything’s wrong."

"You can just add me as a friend and text over the system."

He blinked, wondering how he forgot that, then pulled her along. They walked past the hall of lockers and into the central atrium. The high roof of the ceiling had been all glass before they left.

But now it was shattered on the floor, crunching loudly under their feet. Something must have happened. Hairline fractures snaked over the walls.

Then Faust remembered what his dad said.

All the continents on Earth had moved to restructure themselves. He had talked to Narad about this a while ago.

"Apparently, the new gods the system generated will be formed from the planet’s accumulated history and will have control over the planet," Faust explained to Nirvana. "They reordered the planet to prepare for gate invasions."

Nirvana blinked, muttering, "They could shape the land into something that would make traveling easier? Why make a ring and leave everything else as ocean? Imagine trying to fly around the world to get to the other side of the ring. Traveling past the North Pole would be the fastest way."

"Narad said it’s a valid strategy that some worlds have tried," Faust said, shrugging. "Something about spatial magic working better in straight lines and the ability to confine gates to Antarctica."

"Wait." Nirvana’s lips curled up. "Doesn’t that mean we’ll have to go to Antarctica to fight any monsters?"

The implication caught up to him, too, and made him sigh.

"Maybe they can change it," Faust muttered. "But the extreme cold will be good for weakening the monsters."

"And us," Nirvana said with an exasperated look.

They walked out of the school and squinted as blinding floodlights washed over them. He had heard them turn on, but the people were quite careful with it.

Behind the blinding light, military personnel stood in a line behind barricade walls and riot shields. Giant tanks and armored vehicles surrounded the school.

Faust sighed. To be fair, this was what he might choose to do if he had a million ticking time bombs returning to Earth.

Hopefully, they would be sensible enough to try reason—

A voice thundered from a megaphone. "Everyone on your knees, hands in the air! Please do not resist!"

Faust facepalmed.