The dimming orange glow of dusk gradually filtered through the blinds, casting long shadows across the floor.
Nicole glanced down at her phone, the screen lighting up her face for a brief second before she slipped it back into her pocket with a heavy sigh.
"Well, look at the time. It's getting dark, so we're heading out first," Nicole said.
"Besides, there's still a certain idiot we need to go pick up."
Her expression then softened as she looked at Cedric, the sharp edges of her frustration melting into genuine warmth.
"Take it easy. Don't worry about anything, just focus on healing up. We'll drop by again soon."
Cedric nodded. "Thanks, Nicole."
Anby gave a quiet, polite nod. "Rest well, Cedric."
"Be careful," Cedric replied softly.
With a final wave from Nicole, the two of them slipped out into the corridor, their footsteps fading down the hall.
Belle stretched her arms with a tired groan and turned toward the door. "I'll head down to the parking lot and get the car out first," she said, casting one last worried glance over her shoulder at Cedric before stepping out.
"Don't take too long, Wise!"
"I'll be right down," Wise replied softly.
Ellen, however, remained rooted beside the bed.
But this was less by her own choice and more because Gible had made it abundantly clear that it had absolutely no intention of abandoning Cedric's side.
The small blue Pokémon sat stubbornly against his hip, its short, powerful arms anchored securely to the white hospital blanket as though it were staking a permanent, undeniable claim on the space.
Ellen let out a quiet sigh, staring down at the stubborn creature.
"Come on. We should go home so he can rest."
"Gii." Gible flatly refused, tightening its grip on the blanket.
Cedric looked down at the creature, the rigid lines of his face softening into something much gentler.
He watched the stubborn set of its jaw for a long, heavy moment before shifting his eyes toward Ellen, a faint hint of amusement in his gaze.
"I don't think he got what you meant."
Ellen leveled a flat, unimpressed look at the Pokémon.
"He knows exactly what I mean. He just doesn't care."
Gible turned its broad head toward her, eyes blinking slowly.
"Gyu."
"See?"
Cedric offered a very faint, tired smile, allowing a comfortable silence to settle between them like dust.
With a resigned sigh, Ellen reached down and scooped Gible up.
Gible instantly stretched both tiny arms back toward Cedric, his face a picture of sheer, desperate longing.
"Gibleeeee!!!"
Cedric watched the struggle with a patient, gentle gaze.
"See you tomorrow."
The promise made Gible freeze for a heartbeat.
Cedric raised his uninjured hand slightly—a gesture that was barely more than a deliberate twitch of his fingers.
"Bye."
The little Pokémon let out a quiet, dissatisfied chirp, but eventually ceased his resistance, settling reluctantly into Ellen's arms.
After that, she adjusted her grip on the creature and walked toward the door.
"You'd better rest."
Cedric gave a slow, deliberate nod.
"I will."
She slipped out the door with Gible.
A few seconds later, Wise stepped back into the doorway, leaning her weight against the frame. She looked at Cedric, then let her gaze sweep across the now-vacant room.
"Everyone's finally gone."
Cedric met her eyes. "Yes."
Wise offered a faint, tired smile, the exhaustion of the past few days clearly visible in the slight slump of her shoulders.
"You should be relieved. Having Nicole yelling in a hospital room isn't exactly the best environment for a patient."
"I am."
A brief, comfortable silence filled the space between them. Wise stepped a little closer to the bed, studying him for another long moment, as if making sure he wasn't going to vanish the second she looked away.
"We'll be back tomorrow," she said quietly, her voice carrying a mixture of lingering worry and profound relief.
"Eous is keeping an eye on things at the store, so you don't have to worry about anything on our end."
"I know. Thank you."
She gave a small nod of her own. "Get some sleep, Cedric."
"I will."
"And I mean actually sleep," she added, her tone shifting into a gentle, authoritative warning.
"Don't try to get out of bed just because you suddenly feel a little better, and don't stay up overthinking things."
Cedric remained silent for a heartbeat, "I won't."
Wise narrowed her eyes a fraction, weighing the truth of his words. Then, the tension eased from her shoulders, and her smile returned, warmer this time.
"Good."
She turned and left.
Click.
The door closed softly behind her.
Cedric was finally alone.
For several seconds, he simply existed in the quiet, allowing the ambient hum of the hospital to fade into the background. The steady beep... beep... beep... of the heart monitor felt strangely reassuring now that it wasn't competing with half a dozen anxious voices.
He tilted his head back, staring at the sterile white ceiling.
"System."
[Yes?]
"What was that earlier?"
There was a brief pause, a subtle hesitation in the digital ether.
[Ehhh. You mean the part where you somehow easily withstands the weight when Gible lies on your lap?]
Cedric's eyes shifted slightly "Yes."
[Then I will start with something you should already remember.]
[Well… Do you still remember your first mission?]
Cedric let the question hang in the air for several seconds, sifting through the fog of his recent memories. The first mission. The egg. The incubator. The reward.
His eyes narrowed a fraction as the answer clicked into place. "...The reward."
[Correct.]
"Physique of a Pokémon World Resident."
[There you go. I was beginning to think all those hospital drugs had taken the memory with them.]
Cedric let the remark slide, his mind sifting through the lingering ache in his chest and the sheer extent of the trauma he had endured.
"It kept me alive through all that?"
[Yes.]
His gaze remained fixed on the ceiling,
"Even so, how could that… be enough to pull someone back from the brink of death?"
[Before I explain, you need to stop assuming that humans in the Pokémon world simply happen to live alongside monsters. That assumption is fundamentally flawed.]
Cedric remained perfectly still, listening closely.
[Humans there did not encounter Pokémon after modern civilization made life comfortable, nor after advanced technology could shield them. From prehistoric times—from the very dawn of their species—they shared territory with creatures capable of commanding raw lightning, extreme frost, torrential flames, psychic force, and catastrophic seismic shocks.]
[In an environment where a wild stray could incinerate an entire forest or shatter bedrock, humanity could not have survived as fragile beings. Natural selection worked aggressively alongside that hostile ecosystem.]
Cedric watched the steady glow of the text, beginning to grasp the horrifying reality of what that implied.
[Through countless generations of constant exposure to elemental hazards and extreme physical threats, human biology evolved in tandem with the world around it. Their cellular density, muscular resilience, neurological reflexes, kinetic tolerance, and baseline endurance were forcibly rewritten to withstand that exact ecosystem. A resident of that world is not merely a person coexisting with Pokémon, their physiological baseline is an entirely different biological standard.]
Cedric's expression remained subdued, processing the immense scale of the revelation.
[An ordinary resident of that world can already possess physical capabilities that would be considered extraordinary by the standards of your previous world. They can withstand blunt force impacts that should shatter bones, endure direct electric shocks of up to 10,000 volts without suffering cardiac arrest, casually brush off flames reaching several hundred degrees Celsius, and survive in extreme, hostile environments where an unadapted human would quickly perish.]
Cedric slowly lowered his gaze, looking at his own hand resting on the white sheet. The pale skin showed no outward signs of the monstrous vitality now coursing beneath it.
[That is simply the result of living in a world where humans and impossibly powerful creatures have shared the exact same environment since the dawn of their history.]
He sat with that knowledge for a long time, a profound, heavy stillness settling over him. He didn't ask further, his mind still processing the terrifying baseline of that world.
The System's interface pulsed softly, continuing its explanation without prompting.
[Furthermore, beyond that already absurd ordinary baseline, the Pokémon world also possesses special, chosen individuals.]
Cedric's eyes shifted toward the faint, familiar glow of the interface.
[They are extraordinarily rare, but their physical capabilities can reach near-mythical levels. Some can easily carry Pokémon weighing hundreds of kilograms without breaking a sweat. The most exceptional among them can casually lift and carry Pokémon weighing as much as 999.9 kilograms as if they were made of feathers.]
[Others possess extraordinary speed, jumping ability, reflexes, endurance, grip strength, and a resistance to physical trauma that borders on the miraculous. Their feats are far beyond what your previous world's humans would ever consider possible.]
"So… it gave me that foundation."
[Exactly.]
Cedric looked at the heavy cast wrapped around his right arm.
"That's why I'm… still alive."
[Yes.]
[Without Physique of a Pokémon World Resident, the sheer trauma you endured would almost certainly have killed you.]
Cedric absorbed the blunt truth in silence.
[However, it does not regenerate your body, erase injuries, or instantly restore you to perfect health. It simply provides your body with the biological foundation necessary to endure what a human from that world would be expected to survive.]
Cedric lowered his eyes back to his hands.
"The injuries were just too severe."
[Your recovery is still slow. Your body survived because it was resilient enough to cling to life. But it still needs time to repair the damage.]
Cedric nodded once, a slow, understanding movement. "I see."
The System's tone lightened a fraction.
[Good. That's enough medical exposition for now. You look like you're about to fall asleep again.]
Cedric ignored the jab, letting out a faint breath.
[Oh, right. Before you drift off... there are a few things specifically prepared for you.]
Cedric blinked, his heavy eyelids parting just enough to catch the shift in the room's atmosphere.
The air at the foot of his bed suddenly shimmered, rippling like water disturbed by a stone.
Fwoosh.
The ripples coalesced into light. Three glowing spheres materialized out of thin air, hovering silently in a gentle, hypnotic alignment.
Each sphere radiated a faint, rhythmic pulse, casting undulating shades of soft azure and pale gold across the dim walls and the white linen sheets. The warmth radiating from them felt oddly gentle against his cold skin.
Cedric watched them without a flicker of surprise, though a faint hint of curiosity stirred behind his exhausted gaze.
He already had a feeling about what they were.
"The… rewards?"
[Yes. Take your time to inspect them. They aren't going anywhere.]
Cedric leaned back against his pillow, studying the trio before making a move.
The sphere on the far right hummed with a sharp, faint vibrational hum, its light dense and opaque. The center one was almost translucent, swirling like captured smoke within a glass cage. Then there was the first sphere on the left—placid, calm, and seemingly waiting just for him.
He lifted a heavy arm, fighting off the lingering numbness in his joints, and slowly reached toward the leftmost orb.
The moment his fingertips grazed the outer boundary, the ethereal glow didn't simply disappear—it imploded inward, collapsing into a pinprick of light before solidifying with a crisp, plastic clack.
Gravity claimed it instantly. Cedric caught it in his palm, surprised by its mundane weight.
It wasn't some ornate relic or a gilded treasure chest. Instead, it was a simple, palm-sized capsule, split down the middle with a colored dome—an unmistakable gachapon toy casing.
Yet, clinging to its smooth surface was something distinctly personal: a small, cream-colored note, meticulously folded and fastened by a single dot of wax.
Curiosity winning over fatigue, Cedric turned the capsule over in his hands. He peeled back the edge of the note, his breath catching slightly as his eyes caught the ink.
As promised, this is the reward for winning. It should help you a lot. — Dealer
Cedric read the note once, a hint of genuine curiosity flickering in his dark eyes. With a light, decisive flick of his thumb, he popped the capsule open.
Whummm—!
The atmospheric pressure inside the room spiked instantly, followed by a muffled, thunderous roar detonating right in the palm of his hand.
From within the hollow shell, an incandescent pillar of pure white radiance erupted toward the ceiling like a raging geyser of concentrated light.
It wasn't merely visual luminescence; an invisible shockwave rippled through the air, whipping the window curtains violently back and depressing the mattress several inches beneath him.
Cedric froze, his pupils contracting into pinpricks. A jolt of sharp, instinctual surprise shot through his spine—he hadn't anticipated a gift from Dealer to carry such violent, overwhelming force.
He instinctively recoiled, lifting an arm to shield his face. Yet before any defensive motion could fully form, the roaring column fractured into countless ribbons of swirling, celestial plasma.
They hissed through the air, violently coiling around his wrists, forearms, and chest in a blinding vortex of starlight.
Strangely, there was no searing agony. The chaotic maelstrom swiftly stabilized, sinking seamlessly into his pores and anchoring itself deep within the marrow of his bones.
Cedric's breath hitched in his throat.
Deep inside his body, something fundamental shifted on an axis he hadn't even known existed.
His senses sharpened with quiet, staggering clarity.
The hospital room felt profoundly different. The rhythmic, mechanical hum of the air-conditioning unit overhead separated into distinct vibration cycles, the muted rustle of fabric from nurses pacing the hallway outside became sharp and directional.
Yet, layered beneath that heightened physical awareness was a strange, unfamiliar static.
The presence of life itself—the breathing bodies behind thick drywall, the orderly two rooms down—registered only as faint, muddy blips at the very edge of his consciousness.
It was like trying to spot a flickering candle through dense fog. It was disorienting, requiring intense focus just to pinpoint their general direction, and it slipped away the moment his concentration wavered.
A semi-translucent interface pulsed into view before him.
[PASSIVE SKILL ACQUIRED: THE PATH OF AN AURA GUARDIAN]
[Stage I – Aura Awakened]
[Sub-Skill: Aura Perception]
Cedric stared at the floating text for several long seconds, letting the syllables roll silently over his tongue.
"Aura Guardian?"
[The Aura Guardians are individuals capable of perceiving and manipulating Aura, the quintessential spiritual energy intimately woven into all living beings. Aura can be sensed, tracked, projected, and eventually shaped into an absolute force by those who possess sufficient talent and discipline.]
[At your current stage, Aura Perception allows you to sense the latent presence of nearby life, detect subtle fluctuations in their life-force, and maintain spatial awareness of your surroundings even when your physical senses are compromised or entirely obstructed. But be mindful, your perception is raw and highly unrefined. You are merely standing at the threshold of awakening.]
Cedric gave a slow, deliberate nod. He let his eyelids slide shut, straining to grasp the new sensation.
It was incredibly faint, slipping through his mental grasp like water.
He simply felt the vague, indistinct presences of life lingering nearby—a quiet, instinctual nudge at the back of his mind. It was raw, unpolished, and honestly a little headache-inducing to maintain for more than a few seconds.
He opened his eyes, exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"So this is Aura."
[A mere fraction of its full potential, yes. But a solid foundation nonetheless.]
Cedric turned his gaze back toward the foot of the bed, his hand lifting toward the remaining two spheres.
But before his fingers could even clear the edge of the blanket, a violent, resonant pulse hammered against the inside of his skull.
Thump.
His vision blurred momentarily, his pupils narrowing to fine points. A cascade of urgent notifications flared in vivid amber.
[NOTICE: 'EMPATHY' IS ACTIVELY RESPONDING TO 'THE PATH OF AN AURA GUARDIAN'.]
Cedric froze, holding completely still. The newly awakened Aura stirred within him as it encountered the familiar presence of Empathy.
[Empathy is resonating with Aura Perception.]
[Integration process initiated...]
He watched the progress bar crawl across his retinas with a quiet, patient fascination.
The subtle tension between the two abilities gradually eased into a soothing warmth, and the process concluded in the span of a single heartbeat.
[Integration complete.]
[Empathy has been fully assimilated into The Path of an Aura Guardian.]
[The Path of an Aura Guardian has advanced.]
[New Sub-Skill Unlocked: Emotion Aura.]
Cedric honed in on the final line, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Emotion… Aura?"
[Emotion Aura is the direct result of your innate Empathy trait assimilating into The Path of an Aura Guardian, advancing the path to the next stage. Aura Guardians inherently possess the capacity to read the emotional states and latent intentions of living beings through their Aura. However, the complete integration of your Empathy has served as a catalyst, advancing this specific discipline and refining it into an instinctual branch of perception.]
[Rather than requiring prolonged, deliberate conditioning to decipher the subtle fluctuations in an entity's Aura, this fusion allows you to register and discern shifts in emotion or hostile intent with far greater clarity than any novice practitioner at this stage.]
Cedric let the systemic explanation settle into his thoughts.
"So… Empathy is a shortcut."
[More accurately, it acted as a perfectly compatible foundation, allowing The Path of an Aura Guardian to bypass its initial, rudimentary phase and evolve this sensory threshold directly.]
"Useful," he murmured, his fingers curling slightly.
[Indeed,] the System chimed, though its tone held a trace of clinical caution.
[Though do not let early success breed arrogance. You have barely taken your first breath as an Aura practitioner, let alone mastered its depth.]
"I know…" Cedric replied evenly.
Brushing the lingering mental fatigue aside, he reached out toward the second hovering sphere.
The instant his skin made contact with the outer shell, the warm silver brilliance collapsed into a dense, solid weight.
Resting in his palm was an unusual silver vial.
Its polished metallic body was smooth and slightly tapered toward both ends, while a finely linked golden chain was securely attached to fixtures on either end, forming a loose arc.
Tucked neatly beneath the chain was a small parchment tag, dangling by a silver thread.
Cedric slipped the tag free and turned it over.
Hello, little one. Are you doing alright? To be honest, I was quite surprised myself. At first, I thought Gambler would bet on Game 4, but who would have thought he'd place his bet on Dealer instead? And so, against all odds, the victory fell into my hands. In any case, I wasn't entirely sure what would suit your taste, so I simply picked something from one of the worlds under my care. I hope it serves you well. — Observer
"Observer..."
Before he could inspect the strange vial any further, a deep blue status screen snapped into focus.
[ITEM ACQUIRED: CADUCEUS]
[Origin: The City]
[Original Composition: A specialized silver vial containing an advanced, ferrofluid-like liquid metal. The vial serves as the artifact's containment vessel, while the liquid metal within can alter its shape and mass to form the desired configuration.]
[Status: Heavily Modified]
[This artifact underwent extensive structural reconfiguration prior to user transfer, allowing the vial itself to directly interpret and respond to the user's intent. The vial functions as the primary means of directing the liquid metal contained within, translating the user's commands into corresponding instructions.]
[The vial itself is constructed from an exceptionally durable material, granting it extraordinary resistance to impact, abrasion, heat, and deformation. Under ordinary physical forces, the vial is virtually impossible to break, allowing it to withstand the extreme stresses generated by the liquid metal within and the forces encountered during combat.]
[Upon receiving a command, the vial automatically directs the liquid metal to flow outward from either end, or simultaneously from both ends as desired. The liquid metal then alters its shape, redistributes its mass, and adjusts its physical properties according to the command, allowing it to freely form any shape, tool, weapon, or other configuration envisioned by the user. Once deployed, the entire substance functions as a unified, continuously controllable medium.]
[The liquid metal possesses exceptional structural hardness and durability, allowing formed configurations to withstand extreme mechanical stress, impact, and deformation without compromising their integrity. However, its rigidity is not fixed. The user can freely adjust the material's physical consistency, ranging from extremely rigid and hardened states to highly flexible and pliable ones, allowing it to bend, stretch, coil, compress, or flow according to the user's intent without losing cohesion.]
[This variable physical consistency allows the material to adapt its properties to the configuration being formed. A weapon can be hardened to maximize striking power and structural integrity, while other configurations can remain soft, elastic, or fluid-like to absorb impacts, wrap around objects, pass through confined spaces, or change shape continuously during operation.]
[The material is not restricted to conventional dimensions. By redistributing its available mass, the liquid metal can expand to an immense scale, allowing the user to create exceptionally large weapons, barriers, platforms, or other constructs. However, stability scales inversely with size: the larger and more massive the construct, the harder it is to sustain over time. Constructs deployed at extreme scales can only hold their structural cohesion for a limited duration before the expanded mass naturally destabilizes and begins to collapse back into a fluid state.]
[The artifact's self-sustaining properties are the result of the extensive modifications performed prior to transfer. The liquid metal possesses autonomous regenerative capabilities, rapidly replicating itself to replenish lost or dispersed volume from its existing mass. This process functions consistently even under high-tempo combat conditions, ensuring the user maintains a continuous supply of material.]
[Due to additional modifications performed to adapt the artifact to environments fundamentally different from its original world, the liquid metal possesses heightened environmental stability. Exposure to Ether-rich environments does not readily disrupt its cohesion, internal structure, or connection to the vial, allowing it to remain stable under prolonged exposure.]
[This stability extends to direct interaction with Ether and Ether-corrupted environments. The liquid metal does not readily crystallize, degrade, or lose its controlled state simply through ordinary Ether exposure, allowing its existing properties to remain largely consistent within Hollow environments. However, exceptionally concentrated Ether or prolonged exposure beyond normal operating conditions may still place additional strain on the modified material and temporarily affect its consistency or responsiveness.]
[When engaging Ethereals in direct combat, the liquid metal's variable consistency allows it to adapt to their highly resilient, Ether-mutated physiology. Unlike conventional weapons, which can suffer structural degradation and material fatigue during prolonged combat within Ether-rich environments, the artifact's adaptive physical properties allow it to maintain its structural integrity under repeated stress, enabling it to remain effective against Ethereals without suffering comparable deterioration, while effortlessly matching the combat performance of specialized weaponry engineered specifically to deal with Ethereals.]
[Despite its compact appearance, the vial's actual internal capacity is vastly greater than its exterior dimensions would suggest, allowing it to store an enormous volume of liquid metal within its seemingly small frame.]
[Any deployed material can be freely recalled into the vial at will, provided it remains within the artifact's active connection. Material that becomes fully severed from the vial—whether deliberately released by the user or separated through external forces during combat—will temporarily retain the exact structure and physical properties it possessed at the moment of separation. This residual stability lasts only for a limited period, after which the material will gradually lose its structural cohesion and revert to its natural liquid state before undergoing progressive molecular degradation and ultimately breaking itself down into inert matter, preventing detached material from remaining permanently outside the artifact or being recovered by others.]
Cedric turned the silver vial over in his hand, studying its compact construction. The polished metal was cool beneath his fingertips, its weight perfectly balanced despite its deceptively simple appearance.
The chain connecting both ends shifted softly with his movements, the tiny links glinting beneath the dim hospital lights.
For something so small, it possessed a strangely reassuring solidity.
His thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the suffocating abyss of the Hollow—the screeching terrors of aberrant Ethereals, the taste of ash in the air, and those desperate, bloody seconds where he had been forced to defend his life with crude pieces of twisted rebar and broken concrete.
'Never again.'
But suddenly, a quiet spark of curiosity nudged past his usual reserve.
Gripping the vial firmly in his palm, Cedric focused his mind, projecting a deliberate mental command toward it as though directly issuing an order.
Then a soft, metallic hiss answered him.
From the top opening of the vial, a stream of pitch-black liquid metal surged forth like living shadow, viscous and utterly devoid of reflection.
Within a fraction of a second, the inky fluid hardened, snapping into a sleek, razor-sharp trench knife forged from seamless, obsidian steel. The balance felt instinctive, the edge humming with quiet lethality.
Cedric tilted his wrist, watching the deep, ink-black surface absorb the room's sterile light. Then, with a subtle shift in thought, the blade liquefied again into a pool of pure abyss.
This time, the pitch-black metal stretched and narrowed into the needle-thin tip of a mechanical pencil, perfectly reproducing the slender graphite point. With a slight shift of intent, Cedric reshaped it into a pair of compact wire cutters, the two jaws opening and closing with precise mechanical movement.
He paused for a moment, then let his curiosity take over.
The metal flowed across his palm and became a small screwdriver, complete with a narrow shaft and a precisely formed handle. From there, it flattened into a simple wrench, then twisted into a slender hook. Cedric rotated his wrist, and the entire mass responded instantly, collapsing and reforming without the slightest hesitation.
He tried something more complicated.
The dark metal rose from his palm and assembled itself into a miniature folding knife, complete with a hinged handle and a narrow blade. A thought later, it melted apart and reformed into a compact set of lock picks, each individual tool taking shape with surprising precision.
Cedric's eyes narrowed slightly.
He imagined something far more intricate.
The liquid metal bubbled across his palm, separating into countless tiny segments before fitting themselves together piece by piece.
And a small humanoid figure gradually emerged, complete with articulated joints, layered armor plates, a helmet, and a pair of miniature mechanical limbs.
Cedric turned his palm slightly.
The little figure moved with him.
In that moment, he looked just like a child playing with a new toy.
After that, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
"It is useful," he said softly.
[That was precisely the benefactor's objective.]
With a stray thought, the dark figurine collapsed into a ribbon of black fluid and slipped cleanly back into the vial, leaving the surface pristine and dry.
Cedric closed his fingers around the cool silver vial and commanded it into his Inventory. The artifact dissolved into a subtle ripple of light, disappearing into the dimensional storage space.
Then, his eyes drifted to the third and final sphere.
Cedric stared at the final hovering sphere, his hand held still in mid-air.
The first payout was from Dealer. The second belonged to Observer, the victor of the wager. Logically, this third sphere had no reason to exist.
He didn't reach for it right away.
"System. Where did this come from?"
[The sender is listed as anonymous. This item does not belong to the official prize pool.]
Cedric stayed silent for a second. His brow twitched slightly, but he pressed no further. He reached out and touched the sphere.
The light scattered into faint sparks, leaving an empty capsule and a neatly folded note resting in his open palm.
He unfolded the paper. Across the center was a single line of flamboyant, delicate script:
Consider this an apology from your aunt for causing you some trouble. The gift should make life considerably easier for you, and it's not enough to draw suspicion. Enjoy. ദ്ദി( • ̀ω•́ )✧
Cedric stared down at the paper.
"...Aunt?"
A faint frown creased his forehead. He had no aunt here, let alone one capable of this nonsense.
[A/N: In case you guys don't remember, the sender is Joyful, lol. The person who was partly responsible for Cedric's current injuries, but also partly responsible for him being rescued just in time.]
Before he could discard the empty shell, a sharp chime resonated in his mind.
Ding!
A brilliant platinum window flashed into view.
[REWARD CONFIRMED AND DISTRIBUTED]
[10,000,000,000 DENNIES HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED DIRECTLY TO YOUR SECURE PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNT.]
Cedric stopped breathing.
The air in his lungs seemed to crystallize.
His gaze locked onto the text, his analytical mind suddenly grinding against the insurmountable absurdity of the number.
A one. Followed by one, two, three... ten zeros.
Ten billion.
He blinked once. A heavy, deliberate blink.
He closed his eyes tight, waited three full seconds, and snapped them open again.
The notification remained suspended in the air, crisp and glowing, actively mocking his disbelief.
He let his head fall back against the coarse pillow, the steel springs of the hospital bed groaning softly beneath his shifted weight.
His voice came out as a hollow, dry rasp. "Ten billion."
[Confirmed. Ten billion Dennies, cleared of all regulatory flags and fully accessible via your debit card or banking app.]
Cedric stared fixedly past the digital text, his eyes lost in the faded acoustic tiles of the hospital ceiling.
For a prolonged, unbroken expanse of time, the only sound within the sterile room was the monotonous, steady rhythm of the vitals monitor: beep... beep... beep...
He had never considered himself a creature ruled by greed. Money had never been his idol, but he was far from naive about its ruthless, unyielding reality.
Food, medicine, shelter, personal dignity, the mere legal permission to draw breath without harassment—every single facet of survival in this ruthless era was chained to capital.
And now, sitting in a threadbare hospital gown, he held ten billion Dennies.
Cedric worked his jaw, slowly forcing his voice to regain its usual calm cadence despite the cosmic shift rattling his chest.
"Put that into perspective for me. Its purchasing power here?"
[For a private individual? It is an astronomical, near-mythical fortune,] the System replied, its digital tone unusually vivid.
[While it will not place you among the mega-rich oligarchs or the governing board of New Eridu's monolithic corporations, ten billion Dennies offers absolute financial independence. It is more than enough to secure high-end housing in a safe district, cover top-tier medical care, and live comfortably for the rest of your life without working.]
Cedric listened in absolute silence.
In his Inventory rested Caduceus, an ever-shifting marvel of liquid-metal engineering capable of transforming into virtually any form or weapon configuration at will.
Deep within his nerves hummed the awakened pulse of Aura, an ancient, miraculous discipline that could elevate human senses beyond mortal limits.
Yet, looking at that quiet string of ten zeros glowing on the screen, both the mystical legacy of the Aura Guardians and the lethal perfection of the Caduceus suddenly felt completely overshadowed.
Cedric let out a long, quiet sigh, feeling a bone-deep, profoundly liberating exhaustion wash over his shoulders.
"I'm rich."
"…"
The System then interrupted his rare moment of peace with another sharp chime.
Ding!
[Not yet.]
[There are still a few things you have yet to claim.]
Cedric blinked.
He had almost forgotten that the System wasn't finished with him yet.
[ACHIEVEMENT COMPLETE]
[ACHIEVEMENT: FIRST HUNT]
[You have encountered and defeated 10 Normal Ethereals while using a body that was not designed for combat.]
[The reward for this Achievement has been upgraded.]
[Reward: Endure]
[PASSIVE SKILL ACQUIRED: ENDURE]
[Effect: When the user's body suffers damage severe enough to cause imminent physical collapse or unconsciousness, Endure will forcibly maintain the user's physical function for up to 1 minute. During this period, the user can remain conscious and continue to fight despite catastrophic physical damage, while the immediate debilitating effects of shock, pain, and exhaustion are temporarily suppressed. However, Endure does not restore, repair, or otherwise heal the underlying injuries. Once the effect ends, all suppressed physical consequences will immediately return, and the user will be left in the same physical condition they were in when the ability was activated.]
Cedric read the grim description with quiet focus. "One minute."
[Exactly.]
Cedric nodded.
Another chime followed immediately.
Ding!
[ACHIEVEMENT COMPLETE]
[ACHIEVEMENT: ANYTHING CAN BE A WEAPON]
[You have demonstrated exceptional aptitude for utilizing your surroundings and improvised objects to gain an advantage in combat. You have also accomplished a feat considered statistically near-impossible: defeating an Elite Ethereal while your body was on the verge of collapse.]
[The reward for this Achievement has been upgraded.]
[Reward: Weapon Mastery]
[PASSIVE SKILL ACQUIRED: WEAPON MASTERY]
[Effect: During combat, the user's instincts will immediately recognize almost any object within reach as a viable weapon and provide an instantaneous, intuitive understanding of its optimal lethal or tactical application. This instinctive understanding also extends to conventional weapons, allowing the user to rapidly adapt to and utilize unfamiliar weapon types with remarkable efficiency.]
[The skill does not grant mastery through knowledge alone. Instead, it provides the user's instincts with an immediate understanding of how a weapon should be used the moment it is placed in their hands.]
Cedric's eyes scanned the explanation.
[A towel can become a weapon. A pencil can become a weapon. A carrot can become a weapon. A chair, a remote control, a broken bottle—almost any physical object can be weaponized instinctively.]
[The same principle applies to actual weapons. Blades, firearms, polearms, clubs, bows, specialized weapons, and unfamiliar weapon systems can all be utilized with an instinctive understanding of their basic handling, strengths, weaknesses, and most effective applications.]
"...A carrot and a pencil?"
[Yep. And don't ask me to demonstrate.]
A faint crease appeared between Cedric's brows. He looked away from the interface, deciding it was better not to picture it.
[To prevent these lethal instincts from becoming a psychological burden or causing you to accidentally hurt someone, Weapon Mastery primarily manifests only when you are actively engaged in combat or under genuine threat.]
Cedric nodded. "So I won't plan a murder someone with a spoon."
[That would make daily life unnecessarily complicated. And messy.]
"Yes."
…
…
…
Then, for a long moment, the room fell completely still.
"…"
Cedric's expression went blank for a moment.
Then a faint breath escaped through his nose—almost a laugh, though there was too little energy behind it to become one.
He shifted slightly against the pillow.
The sheets whispered beneath him.
The room had grown quiet again. The harshness of the night seemed strangely distant now, softened by the steady hum of the machines beside his bed and the pale glow spilling across the walls from the hospital lights.
Cedric's eyes wandered without any particular destination.
Past the curtain.
Past the monitors.
Past the dim reflection of himself in the darkened window.
Eventually, they settled on the ceiling.
"…"
The white surface above him was completely unremarkable.
A faint shadow stretched across one corner where the light failed to reach properly. There was a tiny imperfection near one of the ceiling panels, barely noticeable unless someone was lying beneath it with nothing else demanding their attention.
Cedric stared at it.
"…"
For once, there was no immediate threat demanding his attention.
Just silence.
And within that silence, the enormity of everything that had happened tonight slowly began to settle.
His biological foundation had been rewritten.
He had awakened to Aura.
He possessed a versatile weapon capable of changing its form at his command.
He even had enough wealth to buy something he had spent so long chasing without ever believing he would truly obtain.
Freedom.
"…"
The thought lingered.
He continued staring at the ceiling, the soft rhythm of the machines beside him filling the spaces between breaths.
The weight of everything that had happened finally settled into the quiet of the hospital room.
For several moments, the System remained silent, as if giving him time to savor that fragile peace.
Then, its voice emerged with a gentleness that was almost parental.
[…Cedric.]
'Yes?'
[You have gained more power tonight than you probably realize.]
A brief pause followed.
[Perhaps, from now on, you will no longer find yourself in the same miserable situations you once did. You now strongth enough to take care of yourself and protect your own life.]
Another brief pause.
[However… I still want you to remember this.]
[The fact that you now possess powerful abilities does not mean you are expected to handle everything yourself simply because you are capable of doing so.]
Cedric remained still, listening.
[Endure exists so that you can survive when things go wrong. Weapon Mastery ensures that you are never completely helpless when forced to fight. Aura allows you to perceive threats before they reach you. Caduceus means you no longer have to defend yourself with scraps of metal and broken concrete.]
A brief pause followed.
[But none of those abilities were given to you so that you could continue living as though you were alone.]
Cedric's expression remained thoughtful.
[For a long time, you have treated solitude as the safest option.]
[Over time, you learned to rely primarily on yourself. When something went wrong, you looked inward for the answer. When something hurt, you endured it quietly. When a burden appeared, you instinctively reached for it yourself.]
[Eventually, carrying everything alone became a habit.]
Cedric remained silent.
[That is what needs to change.]
A brief silence followed.
[Start with your Pokémon.]
[Learn to rely on them more.]
[A Trainer is not meant to carry every burden while their Pokémon merely follow behind. The bond between them is supposed to go both ways. You guide them, protect them, and help them grow. In return, they stand beside you, fight for you, and protect you in ways only they can.]
[You will have strengths they lack. They will have strengths you do not possess. That is precisely what makes the partnership work.]
Cedric's mind briefly drifted toward Gible.
That ridiculous little creature with its oversized mouth, stubby limbs, and almost absurdly energetic movements.
The way it waddled around with complete confidence, stubbornly sticking close to him, always seeming eager to involve itself in whatever he was doing.
It was difficult to look at something that cute and immediately imagine sending it into danger.
[I know,] the System said softly, as though it had already anticipated the hesitation.
[You don't particularly like the idea of your Pokémon being hurt simply because they are strong enough to endure it.]
Cedric said nothing.
[And that instinct isn't wrong.]
The System paused briefly.
[But there is something you need to understand about Pokémon.]
[Battle is not merely a duty imposed upon them by their Trainers. For Pokémon, fighting, testing their strength, overcoming challenges, and protecting what matters to them can all be natural parts of their lives.]
[As the bond between a Pokémon and its Trainer deepens, another instinct can emerge alongside those things—the desire to protect the one they have chosen as their partner.]
The System's voice remained gentle, though there was a quiet certainty behind it.
[That bond can become incredibly strong. A Pokémon may place itself between its Trainer and danger without being ordered to do so, simply because protecting its partner has become instinctive.]
Cedric's expression softened slightly.
[That is why you cannot treat your Pokémon as fragile creatures that must never be allowed to fight.]
[Shielding them from every danger may feel like protection, but doing so constantly can deprive them of the experiences through which they develop strength, confidence, instincts, and a deeper understanding of the world.]
A brief silence followed.
[Overprotection can do more harm than good.]
[A Pokémon that regards you as its partner may not want to remain safely behind you while you shoulder every danger alone. It may want to stand beside you. It may want to protect you, just as you want to protect it.]
[Letting them do so is not a failure of your responsibility as their Trainer.]
[It is trust.]
Cedric lowered his gaze slightly.
The image of Gible lingered in the back of his mind, stubborn and cheerful and far too cute for its own good.
He still wasn't particularly fond of the idea.
But perhaps that wasn't the point.
[And the same lesson applies to the people around you.]
Cedric's eyes shifted slightly.
[Ellen. Anby. Billy. Nicole. Wise. Belle. They have already chosen to stand beside you.]
[They are not simply people who happen to be around you.]
[They are your friends.]
The System's voice remained soft.
[For so long, relying on others has been something you instinctively avoided. That has made one thing easy to forget: depending on someone does not make you weak.]
[It means recognizing that a burden does not always have to rest on a single pair of shoulders.]
A pause.
[Ellen can fight. Anby can fight. Billy can fight. Even Nicole, despite looking a bit useless, has surprisingly good fighting skills.]
[And strength is not the only thing that matters. Each of them has knowledge, experience, judgment, and abilities of their own. Those things have value precisely because they are different from yours.]
[You don't have to become the strongest person in the room before you can trust the people standing in it.]
Cedric remained silent.
[That is the part you need to learn, Cedric.]
[You already know how to stand on your own.]
[Now learn how to stand beside others.]
The System paused again.
[As a Trainer, you are not required to personally defeat every opponent. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give the right command and let your Pokémon take the lead. In another situation, supporting a friend may matter more than trying to solve the problem yourself.]
[The same applies when someone has more experience than you in a particular situation. Let them take charge when appropriate. Listen. Contribute where you can. And when your own strengths are needed, they will be there for you.]
Cedric's shoulders relaxed slightly.
[Your Pokémon are your partners.]
[Your friends are people who have chosen to share the difficult parts of life with you.]
[You do not prove that you care about them by making every burden yours.]
[Sometimes, the better way to show it is to trust them enough to carry part of it with you.]
A long silence followed.
[And when they truly need you, you will be there.]
[Not because you must carry everything alone, but because that is what partners do for one another.]
Cedric's eyes drifted toward the darkening window.
[You spent a long time believing that depending on someone else was a liability. That surviving meant being able to endure everything by yourself.]
A pause.
[That may have kept you alive before.]
[But survival is not the same thing as living.]
The System's tone grew warmer.
[You have more power now, Cedric. Use it to give yourself choices, not another reason to carry the entire world on your back.]
[Sometimes you fight.]
[Sometimes you step back.]
[Sometimes you ask for help.]
[And when someone reaches out to you, learn to take their hand.]
The hospital room fell silent again.
Outside the window, the muted lights of New Eridu shimmered against the gathering darkness.
[From now on, you do have a choice.]
The System's voice softened into something almost reassuring.
[You have your Pokémon.]
[You have your friends.]
[You have people who can stand beside you.]
[Trust them.]
[Lean on them when you need to.]
[Let them carry you sometimes.]
[And when they need someone to lean on, be there for them.]
The steady beep... beep... beep... of the monitor continued beside him.
Cedric's thoughts drifted once more to the little blue Pokémon that had already become so attached to him.
Gible was stubborn, reckless, and absurdly energetic.
And, by all reasonable standards, Gible was almost unbearably cute.
The thought made the idea of casually sending it into danger feel even less appealing.
But perhaps protecting it did not mean keeping it away from every battle.
Perhaps it meant trusting it enough to let it grow, while making certain that it would never have to face anything truly beyond its limits alone.
And perhaps the same was true of everyone else.
Maybe Wise and Belle wouldn't want him to keep everything to himself.
Maybe Ellen wouldn't mind having him lean on her once in a while.
Anby would probably accept it without making a big deal out of it.
Billy would likely welcome it with his usual enthusiasm.
And Nicole... is Nicole.
But regardless, perhaps they wouldn't want him to keep shutting himself away whenever something became difficult.
They were his… 'friends'.
And maybe they could stand beside him.
"..."
A faint warmth settled somewhere in his chest.
The last traces of daylight slowly disappeared beyond the glass.
Cedric finally allowed himself to rest.
The quiet rhythm of the monitor continued beside him.
Beep... beep... beep...
And, for once, he let the night come without believing that he had to face it alone.
…
…
…
A/N: To be honest, this chapter was supposed to end right after 'The weight of everything that had happened finally settled into the quiet of the hospital room', but for some reason, I came up with the entire long conversation between the System and Cedric. And it was the right decision, lol.
Btw, To visualize what 10 billion Dennies means, let's check the prices of the items we already know about in the game.
For example, coffee at Coff Café generally costs around 1,500–2,500 Dennies, while meals at Waterfall Soup range from 1,800 Dennies for basic ramen to 5,000 Dennies for higher-end ramen.
For comparison, restaurant drip coffee in the US had a median price of about $3.65 in early 2026, while tracked latte prices averaged around $5.54, a 2026 survey of ramen menus found a median of roughly $10–$11.60 per bowl
Therefore, we can use a exchange rate of:
500 Dennies ≈ 1 USD
gives a reasonably intuitive scale for everyday spending.
That puts Cedric's reward at:
10,000,000,000 Dennies ≈ $20,000,000
But compared to New Eridu's mega-corporations:
+ In the aftermath of Astra Yao's concert incident, Evelyn mentions that Odeum Entertainment's(the company that Astra signed a contract with) market value was approaching 5 trillion Dennies or $10B after its stock had risen by 30%.
+ High Ambitions Corp (Finance): As a financial titan, its real-world scale would be comparable to JPMorgan Chase (~$940B) or Visa (~$700B).
+ Three Gates Corp (Heavy Industry/Defense): Comparable to giants like Caterpillar (~$370B) or Lockheed Martin (~$123B).
+ Rusty Cliff Corp (Ether Mining/Energy): Comparable to ExxonMobil (~$670B) or BHP (~$215B).