The ride was uncomfortable, but Ben focused on keeping his body together.

The controlled monster swam as if its life's depended on it, almost killing itself on the way.

The creature finally released Ben after they arrived at his hometown island.

Crawling toward the Beach, Ben slowly re-enabled some of his body activity.

Now on the ground, looking at the starry sky, Ben felt pity for the monster he needed to control.

The creature would die of exhaustion, but unfortunately, Ben couldn't think of something else, so he had to use his questionable control. But since his mastery is so low, his mount always had a terrible time under his influence.

'The others should be free by now, at least.'

Ben had prepared as many ways out as he could. So he took control of more than a single monster, which forced Ben to make his order as simplistic as possible.

But choosing to let go of those worries, Ben closed his eyes and tried to feel his surroundings.

Although he couldn't sense the details, he quickly noticed that the prior flow was messy. And his action alone couldn't have impacted the flow to such magnitude.

'It worked better than I could ever hope for.'

Ben's mind calmed down.

While the situation was far from fixed, there was nothing else he could do.

Before taking action, he had set clear boundaries, so he left the rest now to whoever still cared about the world.

'The next few years will be chaotic. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it. It'll likely take a century for me to be able to walk around again freely. I still need to get to the tree, though.'

The next few days felt like a nightmare as Ben slowly crawled his way to the center of his hometown ruins.

He couldn't even burn his lifetime to speed the process up right now since he had damaged his refined soul to a dangerous extent.

---

Syd had integrated nicely with this island.

But even after so long, he still felt when his friend arrived.

So, he ran out to find a crawling Ben slowly traveling towards his house.

However, despite his initiative to communicate, Syd got no answer. And he was also too small to help his friend get to the tree.

So, he could only watch the slow process.

---

Opening his eyes again, after struggling, Ben had built some focus to make sense of his surroundings.

The first image he saw was of Syd staring at him, worried.

Ben smiled and began working on healing his body enough to talk for a bit.

"I'm alive, ain't I?" Ben whispered some time later.

Syd only stared silently.

"How is life here. Do you like it?"

Syd nodded.

"The mission was a success, so the world shouldn't end anytime soon."

Despite the painful experience, Ben still talked for a couple of minutes.

"Well, it might take a while, but I'll eventually wake up again. Until then, try to live. So, see ya later."

Syd came closer and touched Ben's face with a sad expression.

"It's only going to be a good nap, don't worry."

Ben's consciousness faded again as he entered repair mode.

At this point, he didn't need much. He only needed time to stabilize his life again. And although he lost most of what he gained on his last breakthrough, he still held enough to live comfortably for a couple of hundred years.

So, he concluded that the risk taken was very worth it.

And after considering the impact he must have had, Ben definitely won't feel so guilty about putting more pressure related to his future on his friend later.

He had some draft of what he wanted to do next, but his survival would depend on Ginn's development.

If his friend broke every mold, he would live. If not, then he would end up sleeping a long time.

However, since his inner consciousness forced his hand, Ben had chosen to act decisively. At least, this way, he wouldn't regret it as much.

...

In the first few weeks of his coma, the tree slowly grew thin roots until a few enveloped Ben. Meanwhile, the squirrels had been observing the situation and helping maintain the tree around their unconscious friend.

---

The actions of dozens of apex cultivators shocked and disrupted the routine of the Planet Spirit.

Wherever people went, that was the main topic discussed.

However, the surprising news wasn't the only reason for people's interest, as they could also feel the consequences of the ongoing battles. So, they couldn't ignore it even if they wanted to.

"This sucks. We'll need to buy another talisman."

Three independent male cultivators shared a small cottage. Yet their experience wasn't much different from others around the territory surrounding the prior Duchy Greatstar.

"At least we survived."

"But how could they destroy the city overnight! That's insane. I couldn't even retrieve my savings since I was outside."

"If I didn't see you back when I was running away, you would likely have returned and died."

"They all treat people like trash! If the Duke was evil, who cares if they had destroyed the castle. But what the city has to do with anything?"

"You know it! They don't take that shit lightly!" The one sleeping in a bag on the floor yelled.

"Ah, my savings!" The one worriedly watching the talisman exclaimed, ignoring his friend.

---

"Ginn!" Eloise yelled.

"What? No need to yell at me."

Eloise hurriedly reviewed the setup inside a white room.

"Are you truly going crazy this time?"

"No. It's working."

"It worked twice! How many suicidal experiments will you take head-on?"

"I will keep going until I feel like I can act when needed."

"What if you die?"

"I won't."

"What makes you so convinced?"

"I can feel it. The flow might be angry at me for jumping ahead, but it doesn't hold ill intent."

"But your safety!"

"Right now, I don't think I can die even if I wanted to."

Eloise looked at her husband dumbly. She didn't want to believe it since that sounded like a fantasy, but she did due to Ginn's seriousness.

"Why can't we take risks too, then?"

"You don't have some destiny protecting you. Simple as that. And I'll help you advance once I resolve my urgent issues."

"Do you think this many apex cultivators won't deal with the ritual?"

"I can't know, but I won't wait, either. And since I can see through the fog thanks to Ben, I don't feel I need to hesitate."

"He broke your mind. I can't watch this time. I won't. So, come look for me after if you don't die."

Despite trusting her husband, her worry was overwhelming her. So, to avoid becoming a liability, she stormed out of the white room.

At first, their actions at least made logical sense. While unlikely to work, Ginn had some chance of success. But after the first success, the experiments became too extreme for her since even when they worked, no one could explain why.

"I'm merely a cheat, so why shouldn't I abuse that? I'll be counting on you guys as always. But let's be clear. Don't play safe like last time, or I'll run the next procedure alone."

---

The world lived through a hurricane, but Ben felt lost in the middle of it.

'I slept enough and even burned my preparation on this tree, and my mind is still like this.'

Ben felt a strong dissonance in his mind.

Existing felt like a nightmare.

'I won't get better than this. I'll need to aim for a breakthrough next, sooner than I expected.'

He planned to watch over the for a while, but unfortunately, it seemed like he won't get to see the whole show.

Yet, Ben didn't mind it. He was still looking forward to a couple of hundreds of years.

In the end, he didn't do something he didn't want. He was following his instinct while being decisive.

'There is no one to blame.'

"I can only be proud of myself. I poked those idiots into action."

"Squeak?" An old squirrel talked to Ben.

"Hello, Syd. Long time no see!"

Syd squeaked loudly again and jumped into the bed.

"You look like a grandpa. It truly has been a while. Sorry for making you wait, and thank you."

Having a friend waiting for him felt weird, yet Ben enjoyed the experience. So, before taking note of the outside situation, Ben met Syd's family first.

...

'So melodramatic,' Ben thought.

A festive atmosphere took over his abandoned hometown, and in the middle of it was Ben trying to get used to his active consciousness again.

Over the hours, he began drinking water again, but he still couldn't eat.

Also, after things calmed down, Ben finally tried to have a read of the world refinement status. And as far as he could sense it within his sensory overload, the situation looked very optimistic.

While he still felt pain, now the reason was different.

'Not being pulled around feels nice,' Ben concluded.

At his side, Syd kept squeaking, trying to get his attention.

"I'll stay for a while. Don't worry."

Since there was no emergency, Ben chose to stay in his hometown with Syd, despite his tendency to lose memories while being here.

However, despite being awake, the years passed in the blink of an eye.

While his absentmindedness didn't help it, Ben enjoyed his stay as much as possible. He made sure to be there for the friend that kept waiting for him.

Nevertheless, time still passed. And while Syd gained a lot of longevity due to his mutation, the day to say goodbye eventually arrived.

But while he was there the whole time, Ben felt like he was somewhere else.

He felt like he was back in the past.

He drowned in this bitter-sweetness the whole time.

And because of that, he left as soon as he could. But he still made sure that Syd's family was alright first.

...

Ben stood in front of some vegetation. Rock tablets were on the floor, but nature had damaged them past recognition. Yet, he remembered this place.

This bitter place.

A cemetery.

"Time passes too fast," Ben whispered, alone.