Chapter 136: I Will Go Back
Once again, he returned to that white space.
Natsuki Subaru couldn't help but feel a sense of relief—relief that he could start over again.
At the same time, he was glad he had insisted on coming along this time.
If he had actually returned to the royal capital with Crusch's group back then, what happened at the mansion might not have been discovered until much later. And by then, the save point could have already changed.
"Whew... I can still..."
Still come back again?
Indeed, he could restart again—just like in a video game. Die, reload the save, and try again. But except for himself, no one else remembered what had happened.
But... he couldn't really do it like that.
This wasn't a game. Although in nature it was similar to a game, those who died before his eyes weren't NPCs.
They could laugh, cry, had dreams, and things they cared about.
"In the end, I lied again... I couldn't protect them. I couldn't get everyone back alive."
Shaking his head, Subaru chose not to dwell on it anymore.
The things that had already happened—only he needed to remember them. He would carry all the grief and pain on his own shoulders.
As he seriously examined the system, Subaru found that this time it had indeed added several new abilities. However, the changes in points weren't quite what he expected.
This time, the total usable points were 1,970! Fifty of those were leftover from the last time.
That seemed like a lot, but with the increase in the number of abilities, the points were being used across more skills. Also, the cost of each upgrade had doubled.
Even so, he could only grit his teeth and continue.
This time, the system introduced four new advanced abilities, two from Psychic Power Advancement and two from Gate Quality Advancement.
From this, he concluded: once a basic stat reached 5 points, two new advanced abilities would become available.
The two abilities unlocked by Psychic Power were Mental Resistance and ????.
Yes—Subaru wasn't mistaken. That ability was literally represented by question marks.
As for Gate Quality Advancement, the two new abilities were Power Amplitude and Gate Size.
Mental Resistance was self-explanatory. Power Amplitude also made sense from its name. Gate Size, though, was something Subaru didn't quite understand.
After all, he didn't know much about this world's unique magic system.
But the thing that really caught his attention was that question mark ability.
He didn't know what kind of ability it was, but if something was shown as question marks, then based on common sense, it had to be some kind of incredibly powerful ability.
And yet, Subaru couldn't shake a bad feeling about it.
Why was only this one ability shown as question marks?
Unable to make sense of it, Subaru chose not to dwell on it further. At the very least, he'd unlock all four of the new advanced abilities first.
Once activated, their effects would become clear.
After spending 200 points on that, he had 1850 left.
Looking at the remaining points, Subaru thought about it and decided not to invest further into the advanced abilities.
Even though their output was impressive, their side effects were equally dangerous. In battles of attrition, or when facing enemies far stronger than himself, if the battle couldn't be decided in an instant—
Then the only thing waiting for him would be death.
Therefore, his current top priority was still to strengthen his basic stats.
Of course, there was another reason behind his decision. It was also a kind of experiment. After using several power-enhancing abilities, Subaru had felt the backlash and the effects firsthand.
He believed that by boosting his base stats, maybe the advanced abilities would also get corresponding buffs. And perhaps that could even reduce their fearsome side effects.
So he increased Strength, Defense, and Agility each by one point.
The remaining points dropped to 810.
Just a few moments ago, it had felt like a lot of points, but with just a few clicks—it was almost gone.
If he wanted to upgrade Strength again, it would cost a staggering 640 points.
Subaru thought it over and decided to upgrade Defense one more time instead.
With the 170 points left, he put one point into Mana Capacity.
That left him with 90 points, not enough to do anything significant.
He sighed and looked at his current stat panel:
Strength: 6 Defense: 7 Agility: 6 Psychic Power: 5 Mana Capacity: 4 Gate Quality: 5 Points Remaining: 90
Strength Advancements:
Overdrive Burst: 2 All-out Attack: 1
Agility Advancements:
Bullet Time: 1 Reaction Speed: 1
Defense Advancements:
Battle Continuation: 1 Status Resistance: 1
Psychic Power Advancements:
Mental Resistance: 1 ????: 1
Gate Quality Advancements:
Power Amplitude: 1 Gate Size: 1
Looking at the current panel, Subaru felt like he'd wasted his points.
After all, he didn't even know how to use magic yet—what was the point of investing in Mana Capacity or Gate Quality?
But that thought didn't last long.
He decided that after resolving the current incident, he would start learning magic.
With that mindset, Subaru clicked "Deploy."
But this time, he didn't return to the real world right away.
Instead, he appeared in a familiar yet unfamiliar wooden cabin.
"You're here?"
Subaru looked at the person who spoke.
Without saying a word, he sat down across from him, reached out, and drained the cup of tea in one gulp.
The person across from him shook his head lightly.
"Drinking like that ruins the taste of the tea."
"Cut the crap. Why did you call me here this time?"
The god didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he sipped his tea slowly, then spoke calmly:
"Natsuki Subaru, don't forget who you're speaking to."
The composed voice was like a bucket of cold water poured over Subaru's head.
Calming down, Subaru bowed his head and asked:
"...Can I have another cup?"
A finger snap rang out.
The previously empty cup was instantly filled again with steaming hot tea.
"Thanks."
"No need. This is the last time you'll ever drink this tea. So letting you have one more cup is no big deal."
"...Last time?"
"Yes. You really want to go back, don't you? I called you here today because I'm sending you back. Everything that happened after the game ended has already been taken care of. You're the only one left. So, once you finish that tea—I'll send you home."
"So... I'm finally going back...?"
Upon hearing those words, Subaru didn't feel happy.
No—he did feel happy, maybe even excited.
But... the timing wasn't right.
"You only get this one chance. If you want another, you might never get one again—not even if you wait until old age. After all, I have no sense of time. What seems like a lifetime to you might just be a blink of an eye to me."
Subaru was silent.
Of course he'd been seen through—after all, the person sitting across from him wasn't human.
He was a true god.
"If I go back... then they..."
"Oh, then your death won't be reset. Which means everything that happened will continue as it is."
"...I see."
After a moment of silence, Subaru slowly looked up and said:
"Then... I'll go back."