Chapter 206: Time Dilation

Normally, he used his mana to reinforce his Mana Heart, and used all sorts of spells to make sure his heart could contain his ginormous mana pool.

However, once his consciousness moved to his other body, he wouldn’t be able to control the mana in this body anymore, so allowing it to build up too much could potentially damage or even destroy his Mana Heart.

That’s why he had emptied his mana.

Alex noticed that his mana recovery had improved after ranking up. The increase was within the estimate, so he calculated that by the time his mana recovered enough to put serious strain on his Mana Heart, he should have already returned to this body.

After nearly emptying the mana inside his first body, Alex felt slightly lightheaded. He took a moment to make sure everything was ready before activating the Return skill.

[5 Origin Energy consumed.]

’What the—? It should have used two or three units. Why did it increase agai—’

Before Alex could finish the thought, his consciousness suddenly blurred. The world around him disappeared.

...

Alex woke up with a gasp. His second body felt strangely refreshed, as though he had been sleeping for several hours peacefully. His mind was the same. His body moved on instinct, and he stretched his arms and legs.

A notification appeared in front of him.

[Synchronization will begin. Please prepare.]

A warm energy spread through his body. His second body’s stats and the state began catching up with those of his first body, and he could immediately feel his mana pool increasing at a rapid pace.

His mana continued to rise as the synchronization progressed. Although he had emptied most of the mana in his first body before activating Return, the System was providing mana to his second body to match the mana stat.

Alex found the process soothing. He could also feel his body becoming more naturally attuned to mana thanks to his class evolution, and the mana flowed through him much more smoothly than it had before.

He immediately began using Blood Vitalization Spell. At the same time, he checked the Mark of Origin. He noticed the base price of Return skill had increased to 4 Origin Energy. After thinking a bit, he realized it must be because he had ranked up.

Ranking up made him stronger, so transferring his strengthened consciousness between two worlds took more energy. Thinking so, he started creating a Life Rune, allowing his mana to carefully form the familiar pattern while he looked around.

They were outside the Titan Reef Crab dungeon. The entrance to the dungeon was directly in front of him, and Alex realized that he had been laid down beside a tree while he was unconscious.

’Why are we outside? It should’ve much safer inside the dungeon since we cleared it already,’ he thought.

Frank was sleeping nearby, while the rest of the group was resting around a small fire. They were eating and talking, and several of them even had smiles on their faces, but their clothes were worn and damaged from their time inside the dungeon.

Something about them immediately caught Alex’s attention. Thanks to his Advanced Battle Instinct, he could see the subtle changes in their movements and muscle control, and it was obvious that every member of the group had become tremendously stronger.

’Did they advance to Adept Rank already? What the hell happened while I was gone for them to become this strong?’ Alex wondered.

Before he could think about it any further, Emma suddenly stopped eating. She turned toward him while still holding a piece of crab meat in her hand, and her eyes widened when she realized that Alex was sitting up.

"Alex! You’re alive!" she exclaimed, her words slightly muffled because she was still chewing.

Everyone around the fire immediately turned toward him. Alex sat up properly while continuing to work on the Life Rune, and when he completed its final shape, he dipped it into his hand so that the rune could absorb life essence from his body.

He looked at the others and noticed the relief on their faces. The couple, Yulia and Joseph. both sighed. The law college student, Sarah, looked considerably less tense than before, and even the little girl, Petra, who rarely showed much emotion, gave him a small smile.

"We thought you were dead. You were gone for almost half a day," Emma said after swallowing the food in her mouth.

Alex frowned in confusion. "Half a day? I was gone for only six hours, though."

"No, it has definitely been half a day," Emma replied, looking just as confused as he was.

The others exchanged uncertain glances, and Alex’s mind spun before remembering a topic that had been trending on Dwitter.

’Time Dilation.’

He knew what Time Dilation was thanks to movies like Inception and Interstellar, but he had never expected to actually experience it himself. After thinking about the difference in time, he finally spoke.

"It seems like two hours here are equal to one hour on Earth, or at least something close to that."

Everyone was shocked by the realization. Even Alex hadn’t expected the difference to be this significant, and he immediately understood how much of an advantage this could give Ascendants.

The Land of Origin was clearly much better for leveling up than Earth if time passed twice as quickly there. They could spend more time training and exploring while only a fraction of that time passed on Earth.

Even so, Alex didn’t regret returning to Earth earlier. If he hadn’t gone back and stopped the Wild Orcs, they might have completed the portal, which could have resulted in his sister’s death.

If hundreds of Wild Orcs had managed to come through the portal, they could have also destroyed the city. In that situation, even Alex’s first body might not have survived, so returning to Earth had still been the right choice.

Alex sat down with the group and explained everything that had happened on Earth. He told them about the monsters, the portals, the changes taking place, and finally the Assessment, causing their expressions to change repeatedly as they listened.

Joseph remained the calmest among them. After Alex finished explaining, the former Navy SEAL looked at him and said, "Sounds like we’ll need to go back quickly and check on our bodies."

"Why didn’t you return already?" Alex asked.

..

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