Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

Since she said that, I stopped thinking about sad things.

I brought my mind back to reality and asked her something I'd been wondering about since saying goodbye to Cyra.

"If I'm not wrong, you can get some extra info straight from the 'Holy Ones', right? Our world's Nicola has been missing since the space tunnel showed up. Can you tell me where she is?"

At first, I came to Earth to find Cyra and Nicola. But so much kept happening on Earth, I didn't have time to look for Nicola.

Even when the space tunnel went crazy and vampires took over M-country, I still didn't hear anything about her. That's not normal!

"She didn't come to Earth! As for where she went, I'm not allowed to tell you that."

As I thought, Feliciana from World 14's answer proved my guess. Nicola never fell to Earth! So no matter how much we looked, we couldn't find her.

So do we have to start over and figure it out from Eldoria Continent?

But so far, Nicola hasn't shown up in the other world. Is she hiding from us on purpose? If so, things might be easier!

Since Irene disappeared in the space tunnel, I'm most worried Nicola had the same problem and fell into some random parallel world. That would make it really hard to bring her back.

"Even though with Adrian by your side, your future has endless possibilities, always remember what I said. Only by using your power well can you find the true path to a good future!"

I was thinking about whether I'd need Galadra's help to solve this, when I suddenly noticed the voice next to me had disappeared. I quickly looked up.

But all around was empty and quiet. No sign of Feliciana from World 14 anywhere.

"You'll never be forgotten..."

I stood there stunned for a long time, my heart unsettled. I could only softly say my feelings to the air.

...

Finally, the next day came.

Today was the big day when the tunnel connecting the two worlds would officially close. Even though it would take a few more days to totally disappear, it couldn't be used after this. So the H-country government held a big farewell party. They invited members from both worlds to join and exchange gifts.

First, even though the Ilandra Dominion Empire had fought with the H-country military as the losing side, Princess Katarina led the imperial envoys to earn some trust from the H-country government.

They didn't get any weapons, but they did bring back lots of blueprints for basic industrial equipment and science books. These outdated technologies can still keep the empire busy for years!

Besides the agreed payment to the angels from the H-country government, I got extra rewards as the "hero" who saved Shine Metropolitan.

As for the specific rewards, H-country money was useless to me since I was leaving Earth anyway. But we'd need to survive and adventure in Eldoria Continent, so Earth's high-tech gear was what really tempted us!

I didn't want much for myself, just some phones, computers, solar chargers, and stuff like that. But the list I made for my friends filled a whole page!

Luckily the H-country government was generous enough to meet a lot of my unreasonable requests. So Adrian finally got the Gatling guns he wanted - two of them!

These weapons have great firepower, but they're really heavy. Good thing we both have storage rings so that's not a problem. And Adrian looked pretty comfortable holding one in each hand.

The only thing to watch out for is ammo. As long as we have enough ammo, it should work instead of his bow and arrows for a long time.

The biggest issue was the color...

"Your boyfriend has unique taste!"

Somehow Cyrae had quietly come up beside me. Since she was leaving Earth pretending to be Cyra, she didn't ask the H-country government for any gifts through me. But seeing Adrian happily waving the Gatling guns around, she couldn't help teasing.

"Haha, 'Golden Gatling', you know!"

I laughed awkwardly. At Adrian's level, gun bullets don't really make him much stronger. The main reason is he thinks it looks cool!

But here's the problem - why does a guy who never really used guns before love Gatling guns so much now? And which H-country official had the awful idea to paint both guns bright gold? The name sounds impressive, but it looks super tacky.

Nearby, Reed was checking out her new top-of-the-line computer and generator. She saw us talking, listened quietly for a bit, then walked right up to Cyrae and asked bluntly:

"You're a fake, right? But all the other Cyras from other worlds were sent back. I heard Feliciana mention there was a Cyrae who came from another world and stayed on Earth for decades. So are you Cyrae?"

"...She figured it out?"

Cyrae was surprised. Seeing she couldn't hide it anymore, and feeling no need to deny it in front of me, she looked at me questioningly.

"I didn't tell her!"

Of course I hadn't told anyone about Cyra and Cyrae switching places, except Adrian.

But Adrian definitely wouldn't tell Reed about this for no reason. So the only possibility was Reed guessed it herself, and guessed pretty accurately!

"Even though you're supposed to be the same person from different worlds, your personality is so different from Cyra's. Anyone who knows her well could easily tell! Also, Raydwin's been acting weird lately - he stopped looking for Cyra. So I've been suspicious for a while, but I saw Feliciana was involved too, so I kept quiet..."

Reed explained her reasons, then glanced at me. After all, Cyra and I were clearly on the same side.

We were all high school classmates who came here together. Of course she didn't want anything to go wrong with Cyra at this critical time. She kept pushing: "Where did the real Cyra go?"

The problem was, this wasn't a good time to explain everything to her. After today when we leave Earth, we won't need to keep it secret anymore. For now I could only give a simple answer:

"Cyra couldn't resist the temptation to stay home. And Cyrae wanted her husband's soul to enter the Cycle of Rebirth, so it worked out for both of them!"

"...I see!"

With Reed's smarts, of course she understood what I meant right away. I'm not sure if she was sad about the sudden seperation, but after hearing this she was quiet for a bit. Then she turned and left alone to pack her things.

"Yeah! Reed had a chance to stay on Earth too. Why did she decide to leave with us? What about her parents? I don't think I've ever seen Reed go visit them. Doesn't she miss them?"

Watching Reed walk away, I suddenly thought of something and couldn't help asking Cyrae beside me.

Actually, I knew very little about Reed's family before. I'd only heard they weren't very well off.

"The world I was in might be different from this one, but I remember Reed mentioning once after we transmigrated to the other word that she never had parents. She probably grew up in an orphanage..."

Cyrae's voice seemed heavy. Only now did I really learn about Reed's past. I didn't know what to say.

...

After the farewell party, Wayne Peng and his group took us all to the Eldoria Continent side before going back.

Standing by the one-person-high tunnel entrance, after the other followers went in, Wayne Peng and I shook hands one last time. But then he showed a weird smile. His tone suddenly changed and he asked me:

"I've always been curious - which of my high school classmates are you? Can you tell me a little bit at the end?"