A few minutes after Evan had settled down and started distracting himself with food, the unconscious Arthur began stirring awake.
"Oh, you're finally awake."
That iconic line was the first thing Arthur heard, his vision still blurred. After a moment, he managed to pull himself together and looked up to see Evan and Jamie enjoying a full-course meal.
"What happened?" Arthur asked, his voice hoarse.
"You passed out from energy deficiency. Never thought that would be your Achilles' heel."
Evan replied while taking a bite of his meal, and Arthur blinked rapidly, still trying to make sense of his words.
He lifted a hand to press against his temple but misjudged the strength, which caused a painful throb in his head.
"Ah, careful. Don't use the same force as before. Your body's stronger now."
Jamie warned, and Arthur looked down at himself, a realization washing over him as he flexed his fingers, feeling the new strength flowing through his body.
It was undeniably stronger.
But then his eyes widened as the full extent of what had happened hit him.
"Where the fuck did all my energy go?!"
At his outburst, both Jamie and Evan erupted into laughter, unable to hold back as they watched Arthur's stunned and bewildered expression.
They laughed for a solid minute, completely ignoring Arthur's obvious annoyance. Finally, Jamie caught his breath, leaned back in his chair, and spoke.
"Dude, just take a look at your status board."
It wasn't much of an explanation, but Arthur went with it. He opened his status board, and as soon as the numbers registered, his eyes widened in disbelief.
All of Arthur's stats, except for his intelligence, were now at 'X3' or X3 Neutral. From what he knew of Valmone's system, 'X3-' stats were typical for beings at Inferior Transcendence, between levels 900 and 933. 'X3' stats, however, were the range for those between levels 933 and 966.
His stats had previously been stuck at 'X3-', with a stat level of 1/100, unable to grow further due to his Undefined Level and Existence Realm. Until he became a Transcendent, his stats couldn't increase through levelling up.
Or so he thought.
However, the Regal Void Expanse Realm and this mysterious Garden of Stars had proven that existence had a tendency to contradict itself.
The second sphere he consumed had increased his stats to X3 Neutral, although the stat levels were still 1/100. While he couldn't progress further through levelling until Transcendence, his base stats had undeniably grown.
This meant that the boosts he would gain upon reaching Transcendence would be astronomical. The transition from Sovereign to Transcendent involved an exponential increase in power, no matter the starting point.
With X3 Neutral stats, the leap would be far greater than he had originally estimated.
"Bottom line is, you're probably going to start as a Transcendent with Superior Stage stats, dude. You really are breaking records," Jamie interrupted his thoughts, grinning.
Evan laughed and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he's really breaking records."
But Jamie turned to Evan with a raised eyebrow. "Why are you talking like you're any different? You're going to start as an Intermediate Sovereign, no doubt."
"Nah, my stats are still 'X2-', so that's only Inferior Stage Sovereign," Evan replied.
Jamie waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, that's Inferior Stage Sovereign, while you're still Superior Legendary with at least 30 levels left before you hit Sovereign. What do you think will happen by the time you finish those 30 levels and then make the jump?"
A moment of silence passed, and then Evan sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, okay, I get it. I'm ridiculous too."
"Glad to see you know." Jamie chuckled.
Meanwhile, Arthur continued to stare at his status board, his thoughts swirling.
To think he now possessed the power of an Intermediate Stage Transcendent—and he wasn't even a Transcendent yet.
What was even more surprising was that this was only the result of consuming the second sphere from his Starry Meal. There was still a third sphere waiting for him.
Without hesitation, he popped it into his mouth, his mind already predicting the kind of boost he'd get.
But after a moment passed, nothing happened.
Arthur blinked in confusion, unsure of what was going on.
"Does this thing have an expiry date or something?"
Jamie and Evan exchanged a glance, and Jamie shrugged.
""Nope, it doesn't.""
Arthur frowned at their answer. "Then why don't I feel—oh."
His words abruptly cut off as the effects hit him all at once. Just as he'd predicted, the third orb was enhancing his Destruction powers.
But it wasn't just some surface-level enhancement; it went deeper.
His energy circuits were enhanced for faster and more efficient energy usage, but that was just a by-product of the real reward.
The real reward was something far more significant—a deeper comprehension of the Law of Destruction.
His comprehension was increased, bringing him closer to mastering the Basic-Rank Law of Destruction, which would unlock the requirements for becoming a Low-Tier Deity.
Arthur scanned through his status board in silence, before lifting his gaze and turning to Jamie.
"Thanks for bringing me here."
Arthur genuinely meant it. The benefits he'd gained were significant. Even if they didn't directly help him fulfil his final Transcendence condition, they would undoubtedly play a major role afterwards.
Then he looked to Evan and asked.
"What about you? What did you get?"
"Pretty much the same as you.
Energy quality upgrade, Law power buff, Skill and Stat upgrade."
Evan answered while waving over the automations, and they approached, Arthur put in an order for regular food—his earlier energy depletion had taken more out of him than he thought, and he was starving.
The food that arrived tasted just as amazing as it looked, and when they were all done eating, Jamie finally spoke up.
"So, to be honest, I didn't bring you two here just for this.
There's another special place that gives triple EXP boosts, but unfortunately, it can only be accessed with permission from Revi—the Realm Lord.
And like I said earlier, she's not around."
Jamie sighed, clearly disappointed, a feeling Arthur and Evan shared. But there wasn't much they could do.
Right then, Byrant reappeared, though this time he was dressed more formally. When he saw Jamie, his eyebrows raised in light surprise.
"Huh? You're still here, J-man?"
"Was just about to leave." Jamie stood up as he responded, his reply bringing a small smile to Byrant's face.
"What a coincidence. I was about to leave too—Her Majesty sent me on an errand."
At the words 'Her Majesty', Jamie froze, eyes wide with surprise. Turning to Byrant, he asked for confirmation.
"Wait…who sent you on an errand??"
"Uh… Her Majesty?"
A long silence followed as Jamie processed the response. His expression slowly shifted from surprise and a mischievous grin spread across his face.
Byrant instinctively stepped back when he saw the sudden shift in Jamie's expression, but it was too late. Jamie closed the distance in a blink, clapping his hand down on Byrant's shoulder.
"So, you mean that 'Her Majesty' is in this Realm as we speak?"
Byrant didn't want to answer that question. Every instinct in him screamed to run, but Jamie had already frozen the space around him, so escape wasn't an option.
Left with no choice, he gave a slow, reluctant nod, and Jamie's grin widened.
Arthur and Evan, watching from nearby, exchanged puzzled glances. They had no idea why Jamie was suddenly so delighted.
"Jamie, context?" Arthur finally asked.
Jamie turned to them, still grinning.
"This guy is a 'Spirit King'. There's only one person he would address as 'Her Majesty' and that's the 'Spirit Empress'."
"?!"
Evan's eyes widened as understanding dawned.
'Kayla's here!'
And judging by Jamie's mischievous grin, he was clearly cooking up something that would no doubt involve her ending up where they were.
'Unlike with Artemisia and Beatrix, this encounter is one I can avoid.'
That thought passed through Evan's mind.
Kaylatheurge clearly didn't know he and Jamie were here. If she did, she'd be doing everything in her power to leave the RVE as fast as physically and spiritually possible.
That was just how much she did NOT want to be anywhere near him.
And with good reason—Jamie's grin was mischief incarnate, the kind that guaranteed trouble.
Evan, however, wasn't aware of that. What he did know was that sooner or later, he and Kayla were bound to cross paths during his time in this past.
Why was he so sure?
Simple—because of the memory that surfaced when his Vision Seal was released.
Kayla had told his Prisma self that she'd met the Evan from the future, which meant that at some point during this timeline, their paths would cross.
'So why not now?'
With that thought, he silently nodded, an action that released Jamie's last restraints.
The man drew a deep breath and retracted the passive magic and law energy he radiated, suppressing his presence as much as possible.
Noticing this, Arthur shot him a questioning glance, prompting Jamie to explain.
"If Kayla senses me coming, she'll bolt.
I don't even think this is enough. Instead of going to her, I need her to come closer… close enough for me to grab her before she can run."
The way he spoke made it sound like he was planning to kidnap her.
Which, in all fairness, wasn't that far from the truth.
Jamie extended his hand toward the space in front of him and spoke.
"Come, my friend. I'm going to need you for something."
Arthur and Evan exchanged puzzled glances at this. Who was Jamie talking to? There was no one there—at least, not that they could see.
Their confusion didn't last long. The space in front of Jamie's palm suddenly tore open like fabric being ripped apart, revealing a patch of darkness.