Thud--
Soft footsteps echoed through the silent circular corridor.
He Ao watched the "familiar" path before him and finally stopped in front of the tightly shut door.
The last time he had come before this door was when he had tried to enter the Echoes of the Past Ruins. The time before that had been when he first entered the ruins.
Although only two months had passed in Main World time, standing here now gave him the feeling that a lifetime had gone by.
He raised his hand and placed it on the Identity Identifier by the door.
[Verifying visitor identity] [Soul verification passed. Commander, welcome back.]
Click--
As the words "Second District" appeared on the identifier's screen, accompanied by a soft sound, the metal door before him slowly opened, revealing the somewhat chaotic Central Control Room within.
He Ao quickly crossed the Central Control Room, passed through the densely packed seats, and reached the deepest part directly opposite the restroom.
Before the metal door with the disk.
An intense pull came from behind the door. An invisible will was trying to act upon him, attempting to dominate his soul and flesh.
A trace of orange-gray radiance flashed through He Ao's eyes, offsetting the progress of that twisted control.
Compared to the last time he came here, He Ao had now completely finished his "advancement." His two Talent Sequences and martial arts had all entered B-rank, his vitality far surpassing what it had once been, and his resistance to that twisted "attraction" greatly strengthened.
He no longer needed to summon the complete Eye of Truth to easily dispel the force of that attraction.
He Ao lowered his gaze, looking at the tightly shut metal door before him and the disk upon it.
At the beginning, it had been