The Dijiang—Mess Hall.
There weren't many people in the mess today. Maybe that was what "normal" looked like.
As usual, Bai Ling picked a corner table and took small bites of bread that was a little too dry and a little too hard. While he ate, his gaze kept drifting to a girl seated not far away—beautiful, with chestnut hair and gently curved goat horns. A Caprini, cute in that quietly disarming way.
The girl seemed to notice him watching. She lifted her head and returned the look with open, curious eyes, as if asking without words what he was trying to confirm.
Truly… no matter how many times he looked, the resemblance hit him all over again.
So similar—nearly identical—to the girl in his memories named Eyjafjalla.
Except this one wasn't Eyjafjalla.
The same horns. The same hair color. Even her temperament felt eerily close. Yet Bai Ling could be certain of one thing: she was an independent individual. A Re-Traveler.
Her name was Eldera.
When Bai Ling first learned what a Re-Traveler was, he'd been confused. Only after he'd actually met them did he understand why Warfarin had worn such a complicated expression when he let slip certain things he knew.
In the short span of that absent-minded stare, he had even stopped chewing.
"Bai Ling?"
The natural call snapped him back to reality.
The one greeting him was an old familiar face—an unmistakable head shaped like a white lizard's, memorable at a glance.
"Hm? Antal."
He swallowed a mouthful of bread. Looking at this operator—so much younger than the figure in his memories—left him feeling both familiar and strangely distant.
The name "Antal" might not ring a bell for most people. But if you said "12F," then it probably would. Still, Bai Ling knew the truth: this person wasn't 12F. Just someone with a similar appearance—and similar Originium Arts.
"You've been looking rather… distracted lately," Antal said.
"…I remembered a few things from the past."
Bai Ling turned back to his food and kept eating. By then, Eldera had already gathered her tray and left the mess hall.
Antal set his own utensils down and watched Eldera go, as if something had just clicked into place.
"It doesn't look like your feelings toward Miss Eldera are the usual kind of fondness most people show."
"…Yeah," Bai Ling said softly. "Because her name is Eldera."
He stuffed the last piece of bread into his mouth, swallowed quickly, and wiped the crumbs from his fingertips.
"Since you've come to eat, your training's about done for the day, right?" Antal asked.
During this stretch of time when Bai Ling had been, in a manner of speaking, eating and living here for free, he'd discovered what could only be described as his "bonus" for transmigrating.
If he wanted to, he could see the workings of any kind of "energy." And on the back of his left hand, there was now an emblem—an eagle skull with horns—packed with an oppressive, concentrated power.
In his previous life, Bai Ling might've gone hunting for relics and tried to summon Heroic Spirits.
But this world clearly didn't have those myths—or the relics tied to them.
So of course, it should've been impossible to summon anything.
Because his ability had awakened, Bai Ling was quickly pulled into certain internal departments, where he offered guidance and proposed revisions.
Maybe they really were short on hands here. After he started working, Bai Ling found himself growing familiar with more and more people—especially Warfarin, who seemed to have some… ideas about him.
Antal hadn't even started eating yet. "I never imagined Originium Arts could be applied like that. I'm looking forward to your next test."
"It's just a few trivial tricks," Bai Ling said.
Even as he spoke, another thought kept circling in his mind.
If a Re-Traveler was a new individual who inherited someone's memories and personality…
Then what would happen if the original owner of those memories met the Re-Traveler face-to-face?
Holding onto that question, Bai Ling didn't return to the dorms after lunch. Instead, he headed for the training grounds.
If he ate and went straight to sleep, he'd probably gain weight. Better to walk it off.
And in the training grounds, Bai Ling ran into Eldera again.
Her small figure stood out sharply against the vast, empty space—especially at midday, when the place was deserted.
She wasn't on a mission today. She was here practicing her Originium Arts.
She really did resemble someone from his memories.
Diligent. Serious. Capable.
But there were differences, too.
Her body was healthy. Her hearing was fine. She could run and jump with ease.
Watching fire dance through the air carried a beauty of its own—and in Bai Ling's eyes, the energy's rippling pathways shimmered like living veins.
No wonder she was so lovely. Even the way she displayed her technique was lovely.
So focused was she that she didn't even realize Bai Ling had been standing not far away the whole time.
"Hm? Senior Bai Ling?"
"…Yeah." Bai Ling forced himself to separate Eldera from Eyjafjalla in his mind and answered carefully, "Your control is really good."
He couldn't quite name what he was feeling.
Eldera carried Eyjafjalla's memories, her Originium Arts, even much of her personality.
But she was a Re-Traveler—someone born again, a memory-body within Originium that chose to return to the world and be reborn.
Yes, the similarities were many.
But she still wasn't the original.
It felt more like reincarnation—memories carried over, but the emotions tied to those memories fading into distance.
Yet even looking at Eldera alone, Bai Ling struggled to articulate exactly where the difference lay.
But if Eyjafjalla were truly here, he felt he could explain it in an instant.
Sensing something off in him, Eldera stopped practicing. She turned and walked over, coming to a gentle halt at his side.
"Senior? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Bai Ling said. "I just remembered something."
He lifted his eyes and looked at her, the expression in them complicated. That look made Eldera realize immediately what his abnormality stemmed from.
"…Is it something about 'me'?"
Eldera didn't know much about Bai Ling. She'd only heard bits and pieces from Warfarin.
But she did know this:
Bai Ling seemed to know many things.
Not about Endfield Industries. Not about the Administrator's exploits.
But about Rhodes Island's stories.
And that naturally included the story of "herself."
"…Was it that obvious?" Bai Ling asked.
On the point of being considerate, she'd inherited that too.
"You make it very obvious," Eldera said, lightly.
Her hand came to rest on his shoulder, gentle—meant to soothe.
"…"
Feeling that warmth only made it harder for Bai Ling to continue. He turned his head and looked out across the empty training grounds, searching for anything—anything at all—that could ease the moment.
But there was no convenient distraction.
Eldera might carry Eyjafjalla's memories, but to Bai Ling, bringing up Eyjafjalla in front of Eldera felt… wrong.
If only Eyjafjalla were really here.
The instant that thought surfaced, a pulse of energy rose from the emblem on the back of Bai Ling's left hand.
As the eagle-skull mark blurred, another symbol began to sharpen into clarity—
The outline of a staff, crowned with ram horns.
At the same time, Eldera seemed to sense it too. She pulled her hand back from Bai Ling's shoulder and turned toward the training ground's entrance.
There—
A figure she knew with a familiarity that cut straight to the heart walked in at an unhurried pace, as if curious about where she was.
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