After returning to the main street on the 47th floor, Silica asked for a table by the window at the hotel.
Pina nestled back onto her shoulder, her tail clinging tightly to the collar of the cloak. Every now and then, Silica would reach out and touch her, as if only by feeling that warmth could she confirm that what had just happened wasn't an illusion.
Kirito materialized the resurrection item he had previously acquired— the Saint Quartz of Returning Soul —and placed it in the center of the table.
"Ten seconds after the player dies, three days after the familiar dies," he said. "That's a huge difference."
"What does that prove?" Silica asked.
"For now, we can only conclude that they are not the same kind of resurrection," Lin Yuan said.
When Pina died, she left behind the Heart of a Familiar. The Flower of the Soul regenerated a body using the data stored in that crystal, and the three-day deadline felt more like a quest rule. However, players didn't have similar crystals, and the Saint Quartz of Returning Soul could only be used within the 10-second delay before death was processed.
"So just because they're all called resurrection items doesn't mean the system preserved the player's soul for ten seconds." Kirito understood what he meant.
"Yes. If an item existed that could revive players regardless of time, then the people of this world would probably be close to immortality."
Silica nodded as if she understood, Pina suddenly flapped her wings and flew up, circling around Lin Yuan.
"It's been paying attention to you since just now." Silica glanced at the familiar's status bar. "It's not a skill notification. Pina just thinks you're acting strangely."
"Its feeling is correct," Kirito said.
Lin Yuan reached out his hand. Pina landed on the back of his hand and quickly flew back to Silica's shoulder. The familiar did not discover the hidden entrance, nor did it trigger any special quests; it simply instinctively recognized that Lin Yuan was different from the player.
This is an observation, but not evidence.
Familiars naturally react differently to unfamiliar players, special equipment, and the aura of monsters. Pina's ability to sense Lin Yuan's strangeness does not mean she understands that Lin Yuan comes from another world, much less that she can use this to trace the so-called world boundary.
Lin Yuan still noted it down at the end of the page, without further elaborating on it.
"Where are you going next?" Silica asked.
"I can use the transfer door," Kirito said, looking at Lin Yuan. "He has to go back through the stairwell."
"Going up twelve floors again?"
"I'm not going back to the 35th floor," Lin Yuan said. "The 50th floor is already open; I'm going straight up."
He had already planned to continue chasing the front lines. There were only three sections of open road between the forty-seventh and fiftieth floors, which would save more time than returning the way he came.
Silica picked up Pina and thanked the two of them sincerely. She didn't ask to join the Moonlit Black Cats, nor did she ask to stay with them forever. She only exchanged friendships with Kirito and memorized the locations of the inns the Black Cats often frequented.
"Once I become stronger, I'll bring Pina to see you all."
"Don't go into dangerous areas alone because of arguments," Kirito warned.
Silica blushed, but didn't refute. "No, I won't."
Pina flew up from her shoulder and called out to Lin Yuan. A blue light rose, and the two of them, one human and one dragon, departed from the forty-seventh floor.
Silica's matter is now over. She lost Pina, but she also brought her back through her own choices; Lin Yuan has no reason to continue following her.
Over the next ten days, he and Kirito re-entered the high-level area. Lin Yuan observed the sword skills of the monsters on floors 51 to 55, while Kirito continued to gain the majority of experience. Their routes occasionally overlapped, but most of the time they went their separate ways, only exchanging information at agreed-upon locations.
On the morning of March 6th, Diabel sent a short note through a messenger.
A large regional boss has appeared on the 56th floor, blocking the northern road. The expedition team has assembled, Asuna, the Knights of the Blood, is in charge of devising a strategy.
There was an additional reminder at the end of the letter.
Kirito and Asuna are arguing in the meeting about whether to use NPCs in the nearby village to distract the boss.
Lin Yuan folded the short note and looked at the stone steps leading to the fifty-sixth floor in the distance.