Chapter 220: Welcome to Star Cluster #007! A Familiar Face and a D-Rank Body Enhancement Talent?

A truck rolled past Caelus’s vision. Horns went off down the block. The wind pushed an empty cup along the curb.

Caelus stood on the curb, his eyes wide open.

He stared at the people and the speeding vehicles with a slowly growing dread. He knew this street. He knew the deli on the corner and the tall buildings over his head. People walked around him. Some looked back at him strangely.

"Hey, kid." A man stepped into his vision. He was a big guy with a work vest and a coffee in his hand. "If you are fine, then move. I still have to get to my job. You cannot be serious right now."

Caelus stared blankly at the guy.

"So, are you going to move, kid?" he added, clearly irritated.

In the end, Caelus moved off the curb, letting the man pass.

"Waste of time." He clicked his tongue as he walked off.

"Caelus." Just then, a tall man called out.

Caelus turned towards him. This tall man had short military hair, a hard jawline, and a gym bag on his shoulder. He wore a dog tag and had veiny, bulging muscles.

Caelus’s eyes blurred seeing this face. "Is that you... Chad?"

Chad gave Caelus a strange look. "What’s wrong with you? You suddenly froze up when that speeding truck passed by you. Did that give you a shock? Want to see a healer? They can easily clear mental trauma."

Caelus didn’t answer Chad’s question. His mind had quite literally short-circuited. He then proceeded to slap himself crisply across the face. Only now did he realize what was happening here.

He was on Earth.

This was Queens. It was the place he lived in before his transmigration.

Maybe it was a dream. Maybe the abyss never happened, and the entire month he spent there might not be real?

No. That was wrong.

He still vividly remembered everything, the powers he acquired, Sylvia’s warmth. They were way too vivid. It was real.

That was when a blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Welcome to the Star Cluster #007]

[Your Template from the abyss is connecting to this world.]

[It will take a few hours.]

[Utilize this time to get to know your world again.]

Caelus’s expression eased seeing the familiar Origin Ascension Domain system appearing before his eyes. Indeed, what he saw and went through was real, not some illusion. The status window was the proof.

"Caelus," Chad called out once more. "Talk to me, man."

Caelus finally turned to look at him, forming a friendly smile. "I’m fine. Come on, let’s get going. We were supposed to go back to the dormitory after the gym, right?"

"Yep." Chad nodded. "Looks like you are all fine now. Then let’s go."

They began walking. Caelus was still taking it all in, but at the same time, he wanted to know something else.

Where was Sylvia? She also left the abyss along with Lyra and Mia. Did she also arrive on Earth?

He wanted answers, but for now, he could only wait until the domain loaded. Right now, he was an average human.

"Or am I?" Caelus’s expression turned strange.

He felt the sensation of his own body. It felt extremely healthy and stronger. That was when he froze. Because just now, he sensed a familiar power.

Mana!

"Wait." Caelus stopped in his tracks and turned to Chad in a hurry. "When you asked me if I was in shock or not..."

"You also asked me whether I wanted to go see a healer. Right?"

"Why a healer and not a doctor?"

"Why would we go see a doctor?" Chad looked at Caelus strangely. "We have a mage-talent nurse in our school. She has magic that can heal your mental trauma. That is more efficient than seeing a doctor."

"..."

Caelus froze up, with a stiffened lok, he turned to his left, where there were many billoards. Each showed commercials, but these commercials in the billboards made him dumbfounded.

The billboard to his right showed a milk powder commercial for babies. In it, there was a muscular man wearing a cape. He apparently called himself the Milk Man, and the main point of this ad was selling specially created milk powder that contained mana essence.

Drinking this daily would supposedly increase a child’s chance of getting a talent after entering the Origin Ascension Domain.

The key here was... Origin Ascension Domain.

"CHAD!" He turned his face towards his friend. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" He pointed at the billboard.

"What about it?" Chad raised an eyebrow.

"Since when did Earth have the Origin Ascension Domain?"

"Uh... Since forever?" Chad looked at Caelus as if he was looking at a dumb specimen.

"How long?" Caelus asked.

"Eh. Well, we have had the domain for almost 200 years now."

"So, like, people here have superpowers?" he asked.

"Dude, your father and mother are both ex-players, and you have a D-Rank Body Enhancement talent which you awakened when we turned 18 and entered the domain. Did you forget?" Chad clicked his tongue. "Stop wasting time, Caelus. Let’s go back to the dorm. I want to catch up on the World Cup Football."

"Man, I wish I had good soccer talents. All those people nowadays have all sorts of unique talents. Some have spatial perception, some have accuracy talents. If I had something like that, I could also become a star."

Caelus stared at Chad, his mouth opening and then closing. He wanted to start cursing. But no words came out. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Even an E-Rank talent of spatial perception would’ve been enough. Sigh."

"But isn’t an E-Rank bad?" Caelus asked.

"Dude. That’s such a barbarian way of thinking." Chad clicked his tongue. "But, I guess people still do look down on people with E or D-Rank talents, but what age are we in? If you have the right talent, you can get a job."

"Like, dude, you have a good body talent. I’m sure you will get a job in construction, or you can work as a dungeon crystal carrier."

"..." Caelus’s expression darkened hearing this.

Fuck, who is going to work as a construction worker or a dungeon crystal carrier?

"Chad. I suddenly remembered something," Caelus thought for a moment and said. "You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you a few hours later."

As he said that, he began walking the same way he came from.

After Chad disappeared, he boarded a taxi. His destination was Astoria, which was roughly 15 to 20 minutes from the Long Island City where he was right now. That was where his parents lived.