At the Medical Bay, Solendel Corporation...
An uncomfortable silence had replaced the chaos. After Karess had led the three people in ancient robes out, the spacious medical bay was left with only Zen and Zaria.
Zen still sat motionless on the bed, his eyes still vacant, as if his spirit had not yet returned to his body. Zaria looked at him, her heart aching. She glanced at his hands, which, just moments ago, had been covered in blood.
"Your hands..." she murmured.
Zen looked down at his own palms. Solendel's Nano-Med Tech had done its job perfectly. The "Nanocells" had already repaired the wounds, leaving his skin smooth, as if nothing had ever happened.
But the invisible wound... it was too deep for any technology to heal.
"Zen," Zaria took a deep breath, trying to sort through a million questions. "Those people... what are they? Where... where did they come from?"
Zen was silent for a long time, so long that Zaria thought he wouldn't answer. And then, a hoarse voice spoke. "They're... probably... people from that world."
"That world?" Zaria frowned. "The people from his sect... Xu Yianzi's sect."
Zaria's entire world stopped spinning. "Wait, wait," she stood up. "The dreams... the dreams you've been telling me about. The story of Xu Yianzi. The 'dream world'..." She glanced at the door where Karess had just led the "people from the dream world" out. "...It's... real?"
Zen didn't answer. He could only close his eyes slowly. Zaria almost collapsed. "Then... then how did you do it? What power? What power do you have... that can 'pull' people... out of a 'dream'!?"
["He didn't 'pull' them, Ms. Zaria."]
A cool, familiar, synthetic voice spoke up in the room. "Sora" had opened a communication channel.
["What occurred was a dimensional 'rupture,' caused by Master Zen's unstable mental state. He 'brought' them here... unintentionally."]
"Sora!?" Zaria whirled around. "How do you know about this!?" (She knew Sora was connected to Zen, but she never thought it was this deep.)
["But that is not the most significant problem right now."]
"What!?"
["The most significant problem is 'The Rift' that remains open above our atmosphere."] Sora paused for a moment. [" 'Spirit Power' is flooding into our universe through it... in massive quantities."]
"Spirit... Power?" Zaria pressed her hands to her temples. "What power is that now!?" She held her breath, trying to stay calm. "Fine, Sora. Do you have any recommendations? A way to close that rift?"
["From my analysis, the dimensional 'wound' is healing itself... but it is too slow."] For the first time, Sora's voice was laced with concern. ["I fear the leaked energy... may have an irreversible effect on our universe."]
And as if to confirm her words. ["Ah, there it is. I am receiving numerous image and video reports from observation stations across the entire system."] Sora went silent, processing the data.
Sora projected a hologram in the middle of the room. It was an image of "The Rift," unleashing "brilliant red lightning" (Red Sprite Lightning). But it wasn't just one image. It was an image from Planet Noverra, from Planet Velmira... from every planet in the Aetheryon System (Level 1). Every star system... was being "bathed" in this new energy.
["It has... spread everywhere,"] Sora whispered. ["The 'Spirit Power' has already spread throughout the entire solar system."]
At the South Assembly Point...
Chaos was the only word to describe the situation. 1,001 "refugees" stood huddled in the middle of the vast plaza. They were dressed in tattered, dust-covered, ancient Taoist training robes. Children, women, the elderly, and warriors. They stared at the "buildings" made of white metal, at the "sky" where "vehicles" flew past, their eyes filled with fear and confusion.
"Mr. Karess, sir!" a security officer ran up to him, his face pale. "Report, sir! Confirmed numbers from Sora: 1,001 people. All ages. The youngest is maybe... 3 years old. And the... the... oldest..."
Karess raised an eyebrow. "Spit it out. What is it?"
"Y-Yes, sir! My Sora scanned him, and the system said... 1,735 years old!" The officer was practically in tears. "I asked Sora so many times! But no matter how I scanned or checked, it came up with this age! But... but he only looks like he's 40 or 50! How is that possible!?"
Karess let out a long sigh. "Enough. I'll ask Sora myself." He tapped his Bio-Core. ["Yes, Master Karess,"] Sora's voice replied in his head instantly. ["The data is correct. That man's lifespan is 1,735 years. As for the reason... he is from..."] Sora stopped. ["I... am not authorized to disclose that. Not until Master Zen gives permission."]
"Hmph," Karess snorted. "Fine. I get it. It's probably his 'power'," he muttered to himself. 'So mysterious... both you and your AI, Zen.'
He looked at the confused crowd. The sound of an ancient language was a loud murmur. "How are we supposed to communicate with them?" Karess asked Sora.
["Ah, as for that language,"] Sora replied. ["I can assist."]
At her words, the blue holographic form of "Sora" materialized above the refugees. And she "spoke"... in perfect, ancient Chinese (a language she had "learned" from dreaming alongside Zen in Xu Yianzi's world).
The refugees looked up. Hearing their familiar "language"... from a "goddess" floating in the sky... the chaos... slowly began to settle... leaving only bewilderment.
At the Energy Research Lab, Solendel Corporation...
On the other side of the base, the science team was facing an even more alarming "truth."
"Dr. Enzo!" Dr. Aris, the energy specialist, shouted. "Do you feel that?"
Dr. Enzo, the head of medicine, nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the holographic screen that was displaying a wildly fluctuating energy graph. "I feel it."
Their own awakened powers were "vibrating." Enzo, whose power was "Matter Transmutation," was "feeling" a new form of "matter" that he had never known... "flowing" through his body. Aris, whose power was teleportation, was "seeing" the spatial dimensions around him warp... "distorted" by an "energy" he had never encountered.
"Sora," Aris said, his voice tense. "Analyze this."
["Analyzing,"] Sora replied. ["Preliminary results: This is a new form of energy, never before recorded in our universe."] Sora paused. ["Initiating deep analysis."] ["Ah... found it. From the central Sora databank. This energy is called 'Spirit Power' or 'Qi.' Or, to put it in terms you are familiar with... it is the 'power' you've read about in 'Cultivation Novels'."]
"WHAT!?!" A scream came from "Dr. Ira" and "Lina." They stared at each other, wide-eyed, before turning back to Sora. "Wait! Sora! Are you saying... th-those... 'Immortals'... they're real!?"
Lina continued, "Hehe... in that case, I want to try cultivating and flying. I wonder if that's possible..."