As though the tolling of a grand bell echoed through an ancient golden hall,
the graceful Queen before his eyes, smiling gently as she touched the top of his head, froze amid a rich halo of light,
and before his consciousness departed and ascended, he looked down from high above at the entire floating palace of Nevernight Palace over the Mediterranean Sea.
Her final blessing kept echoing in his mind as he felt his consciousness return to his body.
Fang Ran slowly opened his still-dazed eyes.
He saw an almost pure-white, spotless room. The medical equipment beside the bed operated steadily and quietly, occasionally emitting a beep.
Outside the window stretched a vast sea of trees, with birds occasionally rising and falling among the branches.
The Artificial Numbered ten thousand meters in the air, the giant dragon born from bonds, the darkness gathering at the Colosseum, the Roman purge, the train to a foreign land, the Mentor Base, the Paris ball, the Evil Cult, the Wanderers, escape, the wilderness, the manor, part-time work, wandering.
And the dramatic upheaval of the National War's opening act, the C-Rank battle taking the stage, the Sea Island vacation, Tokyo, Magic City, Her Majesty the Queen, the Flower Sea Garden.
Everything he had experienced recently flashed backward like a montage, and for one moment, he had an illusion.
As if he had only just returned from the Arctic.
Thinking farther back, he could remember that carefree journey in the carriage with the young girl.
But Fang Ran could clearly feel that, compared to the last time he had lain here, he had changed.
After everything that had flashed through his mind, what exactly was the part of him that had grown compared to before? Was he more mature now? Braver, more confident?
Or calmer, stronger,