Interlude (1)
Static crackled, zzzt, zzzzt...
Flash!
With a burst of light, I landed in a familiar urban sprawl.
And the moment I arrived, I felt it.
"Ugh..."
My body had reached its absolute limit.
The golden incantation that had forcibly held me together lost its power, and I could no longer move.
Thud.
The backlash from overtaxing my body came crashing in.
After pushing myself to the breaking point of my limits, what awaited me was severe physical damage.
My bones felt like they'd been ground to powder. My organs and muscles were a mangled mess, throbbing in agony, and the blood pooling from me had formed a thick puddle.
In truth, I'd braced myself for this to some extent.
I'd used a risky method to forcibly unlock my potential, so I knew the recoil would be intense.
But experiencing it firsthand, I couldn't help thinking this was too much. It wasn't pain a human could endure.
"Urgh..."
In a familiar back alley of the city, I lay sprawled like trash, groaning.
"Can't... collapse here..."
If I stayed like this, I'd die. Even if I survived, the end would be miserable.
In this world, sleeping rough was synonymous with death. Organ harvesting, kidnapping, human experimentation... a horrific fate awaited.
Yet knowing that, I was powerless. Not just drained of energy, but even the minimal mana to move my body was depleted.
What could I possibly do in this state?
As despair gnawed at me and my consciousness began to fade, my vision blurring.
In that haze, I desperately wished.
I don't want it to end like this. Please, somehow...
"———you?"
"Don't be sad. I'm here."
"The story never truly ends."
As I plummeted through the sky, I saw a hand reaching out.
A hand wrapped in warm light... belonging to someone so dearly missed, so achingly distant.
I grasped it as if entranced.
My mind sank into darkness.
[Good... body... intact...]
[Just a bit... wait...]
[I'll... transport...]
[Please... like this... no...]
[It's okay... wake...]
[Definitely...]
[When will you wake...? A day should be enough.]
Floating hazily above the clouds.
Faces of people drifted by like ghosts—faint, ethereal forms peering down at me before vanishing somewhere.
As I stared blankly at the bizarre scene, my lost senses gradually returned.
Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch...
And just like that.
My consciousness surfaced.
"Ngh...!"
Pale light poured from the ceiling lamp.
And a gleaming, lustrous outline reflecting it.
"...What're you staring at so intently?"
A gruff voice snapped me back to reality.
"Uh..."
Only then did I realize what I'd been blankly staring at.
A burly black man wearing dark sunglasses. The gleaming outline was none other than his perfectly bald, hairless scalp.
"...If you're awake, say so. Don't creep me out by staring."
The sunglasses guy spat it out in his gravelly voice.
His face looked like some mobster, but his overall vibe was the opposite.
Dressed in a white coat, calmly flipping through a chart—he stood out like a bear meticulously carving a statue.
"...It was too shiny to ignore..."
"Don't say that to a balding guy. Sigh... Anyway, any discomfort anywhere?"
I was lying on a soft bed, changed into hospital clothes, surrounded by complex medical devices.
And a soft, warm sensation from my right hand.
Turning my head, I saw a girl peacefully asleep, holding my hand.
"Hunya..."
"...Sofia?"
At my mutter, Sunglasses Guy smirked.
"She's been glued to your side the whole time. You two must be close, huh?"
"Who are you...?"
"Name's Zero. This is my private clinic."
A clinic, huh.
I thought I was done for, collapsing helplessly, but somehow I'd survived by the skin of my teeth.
Feeling a wave of relief, I asked,
"...What happened?"
"Thank Walter and his daughter. They dragged your near-corpse here."
Suddenly, I recalled the hand reaching out in my hazy mind. Was it Sofia's?
"Damn near killed myself saving you. What the hell happened to leave you in that state? Your etheric circuits were all fried—you almost ended up mana-crippled for life."
"...That..."
"Like swallowing dozens of awakening e-drugs at once. Lucky we restored 'em, though."
"I did push myself a bi—"
"Save it. Tch. I don't wanna hear your sob story. Spare a thought for the doc who has to listen to that crap daily."
After that, Zero muttered something like, "17th District folks are always..." as he swapped my IV bag.
"...Thanks, Doc."
Mouth was foul, but his professionalism was top-notch. To bring someone on the brink of death back like this.
"Doc, my ass. Just tested some new nanobots. Save the thanks for Walter."
Zero replied, his bald head gleaming. Even docs can't fix baldness, huh?
Shortly after Zero left the room, a welcome face appeared.
Innkeeper Walter.
"You're recovering well. Thank goodness. We were really worried at first."
Walter smiled kindly.
"It's been a while. Thanks for saving me."
"Indeed. Feeling better now?"
"Definitely... much better. Thanks to you and Sofia. I mean it—thank you again."
Walter smiled softly.
"We've helped each other before. Couldn't just leave you. ...I didn't want to see another person die."
"...You know that doc, Zero?"
"Old drinking buddies. Don't see each other much these days—too busy."
"Ah..."
Thud!
Walter set down a basket.
"Brought some on the way. Eat up and recover quick."
A basket filled with fresh apples, oranges, and such. A
[Real-Organic]
mark caught my eye.
Visiting gift, I guess.
"...Thanks. I'll recover fast and see you again."
"U... um... Dad...?"
Stirring at the noise, Sofia was waking up.
She bolted upright, wiping drool, and teared up seeing me awake.
"Sis! Thank goodness, really..."
"I'm fine. Not dying."
"When I saw you collapsed... I nearly fainted. Thought you were gone, it was so scary..."
Sofia's uncovered left eye gleamed white.
"But now it's green. Thank goodness... really..."
I stroked Sofia as she nuzzled me like a puppy.
A bit later, after Sofia's group left.
More welcome faces came to visit.
"...Is that what you wear to visit a patient?"
"Hey, what's wrong with this? I put thought into it!"
Their bickering echoed from the hall, making me smile involuntarily.
Slide! The gun shop duo entered—Barrett and Kyle.
"Heard you woke up, so we came. Feeling okay now, mage?"
"Getting there."
Barrett nodded once, then approached with uncharacteristic seriousness, her usual playful grin gone.
"First off... I'm truly sorry. Can't say it enough, even a hundred times. I don't know how you feel, but... I should've checked the Management Bureau's movements properly. My fault for sending you to the black market without thinking."
"Boss totally lost it when she heard the black market blew. Shaking like a leaf—rare sight."
"Hey, don't blab every detail...! Embarrassing!"
Whack!
"Gahk..."
Barrett's roundhouse kick sent Kyle flying.
"Anyway, mage. What went down at the black market?"
I recapped the timeline. Heading to I Block, first entering the black market, meeting the shaman spider and getting my ID, then barely surviving the Management Bureau Executor monster.
"...That's how it went."
"Whew... you really went through hell. Bad, real bad. What business does an Executor have slumming it there? They're busy patrolling up top. Dark web's blowing up over it. Black market exploding is unprecedented."
"The shaman spider..."
"...Heard. Saw the letter you brought too. Tsk... sad, but what can ya do? In this shithole world, human life or fly—same value. Sigh..."
Barrett genuinely mourned the shaman spider's death but comforted my return.
After a brief somber moment, Barrett spotted the fruit basket.
"Huh? Real fruit? ...No way, for real?"
"Yeah. Friend brought it."
"Damn, generous. That's over 500k credits easy. Thank 'em proper next time."
Thinking about it, this cyberpunk world was full of decadence. 'Real fruit' was a luxury.
"Here, a gift."
Flick.
Barrett handed over a gold-embossed voucher.
"Won it in some event ages ago... Sorry, best I got."
"It's fine."
"Oh, ID issue's on hold for now. Bureau's pissed about the black market—forging now's suicide."
"...Got it. Need another way."
I fiddled with the orange Walter left, pondering my goals.
The outline was clear. First, master this world's magic system and ascend to grand mage status.
Then... neither the Management Bureau nor Ether Bio Pharma could threaten me.
With my Grimoire, it wasn't pie-in-the-sky.
After discharge, time to seriously study magic.
My ultimate goal after gaining power was also taking shape.
The [Dimensional Gate].
As I'd checked at the library before, at the world's pinnacle loomed a massive dimensional rift to the so-called 'Upper World.'
Maybe, through that gate, a way back to Earth.