Patting himself dry very slowly, Gaius pulled on a set of loose clothes…that he vaguely recognised as his own. They seemed a size or two too large now, which was the world’s way of telling him that he didn’t just not grow, but he had also shrunk in the past three years.

The cool air stung his skin lightly as he opened the bathroom door, only to see Isabelle, Nakama and a very familiar-looking sculpture three-quarters his height waiting outside, along with a small sculpture sitting on Nakama’s shoulder. Instead of asking why they were there, however, Gaius directed his attention to the larger sculpture and asked, “La-Ti, is that you?”

“Yes, teacher.”

“Any issues with your new body?” Gaius asked. “What was the process like? Describe it to us.”

There was a slight pause, and then his apprentice launched into a small description of how Weiwu had brought him out and placed him into the sculpture Nakama had built, although now that Gaius had a closer look, it was more of a hyper-realistic doll.

La-Ti’s explanation wasn’t all that useful, however, given that he had no idea what really was happening. The kid’s explanation was more of a blow-by-blow recount of sensations he’d felt when exiting Cybral and the other areas to enter Orb.

“Mortals have their own limitations, I guess.” Satisfied with La-Ti’s assurance that he was feeling fine in his new body, Gaius looked at Nexus, who waved merrily back.

“Master Gaius! Welcome home!”

Gaius had a feeling that the artificial intelligence wasn’t all that hyper the last time he checked, but three years did indeed pass, after all. “I’m back.”

“Unfortunately, you need to get up to speed with the recent changes to Orb,” said Nexus. “Many things have happened in the past three years, and I judge that it will be in your best interest to know about them.”

“Indeed.” Gaius glanced at Nakama and Isabelle. “Can the two of you help me back to my bed? Standing around here is causing me considerable distress.”

Supported by the two of them, Gaius returned to his bed, which, by the looks of it, had been changed for fresh bedsheets while he was washing up. The boy didn’t say anything, only choosing to pat Nakama’s and Isabelle’s shoulders with his right and left hand. Sitting down on the bouncy mattress, Gaius set Nexus down on his bed…which was evidently the cue for the others to sit down on the bedroom floor.

“Nakama,” said Gaius, “you should go to bed. It’s like what, two in the morning?”

“Three, Master Gaius,” Nexus corrected.

“But it’s a weekend tomorrow,” Nakama replied, a small pout on her face. “And I had a lot of sleep just now.”

“I don’t think entering Cybr—alright, fine. Just don’t do this tomorrow.” Gaius’ initial response died in its cradle when he saw Nakama’s googly eyes. Somehow, despite the fact that she was as tall as him now, he still had little resistance to any attempts to act cute on her part.

Lying back down on his back, Gaius groaned slightly. His bones clearly didn’t like that act, but lying down was infinitely preferable to standing up. Wrapping the towel he was using earlier around his head, Gaius rubbed his hair slowly in an attempt to dry it, but Isabelle was already prying his hands away gently.

Mm, it feels great, but having Isabelle to dry my hair makes me feel bad. Gaius reached towards his head again, only for his golden-haired retainer to gently push his hands down. Craning his neck, Gaius saw a little grin on Isabelle’s face, and a gentle force returned his head to its original position.

As Isabelle continued to rub his hair dry, Gaius cleared his throat. “Nexus, do tell me about the events you think I should know about.”

“Very well, Master Gaius.” Nexus looked around, before climbing onto Gaius’ chest. The little fellow was virtually weightless, but it felt a bit odd for a sculpture to climb onto his body to tell him about the news.

The artificial intelligence clearly didn’t have any qualms, however. Sitting down on his chest, Nexus said, “There has been an upsurge of Lords and Paragons in the past three years, or by how the re-naming initiative by Queen Hyperion classified them, semi-divinities. Over a thousand Knights have appeared in the past three years. As for Lords, a hundred and forty-two have emerged on Orb, with over half from the Republic of Francois.”

“That’s a suspiciously huge number,” Gaius noted. “What’s with that?”

“If you ask me? Just pure luck,” Nexus replied. “I believe the Five Lands are trying to figure out why too, but naturally, I don’t know what the results of their research are. And as for Paragons…five have appeared, but details about them are sketchy.”

A warm hand touched Gaius’ cheek, but the firm force behind it prevented him from turning his head to look at Isabelle. Somewhat miffed, Gaius returned his attention to Nexus and asked, “What other important things happened?”

“Let’s see…” Nexus tapped its foot. “There’s a lot of news regarding technological advancements, as well as a comprehensive strengthening of the Five Lands’ military. Remember the Unity? There’s like sixty or more of them now, and those commissioned later have even more guns.”

Gaius thought back to the time when the Unity was pursued by Paragon Shizo and a familiar spirit of the Human God, and then rolled his eyes. “I don’t remember the Unity firing any shots when we were chased back then, though.”

“In the North’s defence,” said Nexus, “none of them saw a need to have anything more than a skeleton crew in bringing back the phrontistery’s students.”

“What happened afterwards?” Gaius asked.

“Oh, it was a mess. The Pinnacle wiped the floor with Shizo’s supporters, the ones that came for the Conference of the Four, and then dispatched half of the North’s army to the East to wipe out the organisations associated with Paragon Shizo. While he was at it, Pinnacle Kolya also helped Paragon Ying Xin reorganise the Plenum.”

“I’m not sure what’s the appropriate response to that,” Gaius replied, “but something along the lines of ‘dayum’ might cut it.”

“That’s pretty much how everyone else responded,” Nexus noted wryly. “And there’s a piece of very recent news that is incredibly relevant to you.”

“What news?” Gaius asked.

“The people of Ark City have returned to the Five Lands.”

“What?”