I returned to reality.
I was a little hungry...
The Taibai combat suit wasn't a true life-support system, after all. Going a week without food still left me ravenous. Fortunately, the Second Room had anything I could want, so I summoned a pizza and stuffed myself.
"How long was I out?"
I tapped my helmet, and the Weak AI displayed the answer on it.
[Deep sleep: 114 hours] [Light sleep: 51.4 hours]
There had been light sleep, too...
That was probably when I fell asleep in the New World, bringing my consciousness closer to the boundary between reality and the virtual world.
I wiped my mouth and put my combat suit's helmet back on.
"Let's go. It's time we found Ceruno."
The hint Mi Xue had given me was...
To maintain the balance between light and darkness, the Earth Crystal was positioned opposite the Great Will.
"So, the first room... the one I woke up in?"
Though I wasn't as significant as the Earth Crystal, to Mi Xue, I was also a "counterweight that maintained the balance." It made sense to put me in the same place as the Earth Crystal.
I'd left that room as soon as I woke up in the hibernation pod, without properly investigating it. Thinking about it now, I'd let my assumptions lead me astray.
After all, when a hero stormed the Demon King's castle to rescue a princess, he wouldn't expect her to be locked in a cupboard in the starting room, would he?
"Hmm, she's still asleep."
Black Rabbit was fast asleep in the hibernation pod. Because her rabbit-ear antennae were so long, she'd taken off her rabbit combat suit and wore only two thin pieces of underwear.
I didn't wake her. I'd find Ceruno's location right here.
I couldn't trust