Standing in his gaming room, looking at his rig, Sam squeezed his fist in frustration.

He should have known about the stress the game would inflict on his body and brain. He had the memories of his other-dimensional self watching those reports, horror suffusing his entire body, yet he still ignored it and went ahead, doing who knows what to his body.

Raising his hand, he watched as his hand began to shake almost imperceptibly as he let go of the squeeze. Naturally, the doctors told him it was temporary, loaded him up with enough medicine to overdose a small-town drug gang, a few exercises to do, and a list of things to watch out for.

Shaking himself, he returned his attention to the gaming pod. Already set up, updated with the newest medical technology, with a few odds and ends, ready for playing.

Lucy had made him promise not to go back to the game for a few days after he was let go by the hospital.

Sam spent most of the time cleaning up his home, putting away things that the medics had disturbed, reorganizing a few things, as well as setting up the new pod that was delivered. He was pretty sure the old one was in a lab, being looked over by countless researchers, trying to find out what happened.

The rest of his free time was spent with his friends.

He spent some time with Lucy, brainstorming about solutions for issues in the game or just watching brain-dead TV shows. He went out with Lara and Dan for a meal, talking about this and that, just happy to see his friends being happy.

Katie simply dragged him – and Isabella – to some kind of futuristic (at least to him) indoor go-kart place, having rented the entire place for the day. The three of them drove the high-tech vehicles all over the variable and often weirdly constructed tracks. Honestly, driving upside down was pretty cool!

They even had a zombie mode where hard light zombies were trying to catch them, and they had to kill as many as possible before being overwhelmed.

Naturally, when Lucy caught wind of this excursion, she instantly began to berate Katie for being careless with him.

Still, he was back and ready to jump into the game.

Well, that's what he thought in the morning when he woke up. But as he stood in front of the device, his legs felt like they were filled with lead, making the steps toward the pod rather difficult to make.

Sam remembered the pain, the confusion, the sheer terror at the realization of what happened, and some part of him didn't want to experience it again. Intellectually, he knew it was almost impossible that the same thing would happen, as Future Unknown was very clear that they had updated both the software and hardware to prevent that. However, with the way he operated, always straining against the boundaries, there was a rather sizable chance that he could find another chink in the company's armor and get himself hit with something more devastating than a stroke. Even if modern medicine (costing a lot of money) had basically trivialized the incident compared to what he would have experienced in his old world, he still didn't want to do it again.

'Almost dying once was enough… Shit. This is hard…' he thought as he looked down at his legs and with great will moved one of them. Then another step and another.

Soon, he was touching the pod and smiling slightly.

The allure of adventure was hard to resist.

'Lucy is going to kill me…'

[Welcome back, Solar!]

[We are happy to note that you returned from your sabbatical!]

[Would you like to go over the patch notes and the information about your new gaming pod?]

Sam stared weirdly at the login screen, then let out a sigh.

'Might as well give it a read…'

Clicking on the yes button, he was instantly transported to an empty room, where an exact copy of his pod and a desk with a stack of papers waited for him.

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, he picked up the papers and began to read.

An hour later, he leaned back in the chair that he had spawned and went through the information, trying to process everything.

Apparently, there were more safety limits on the device as well as reduced stress on the brain when operating the brain-game interface. Several updates to the medical warning systems, including feedback to the player about the chances of a medical emergency happening.

The hardware also contained several more medical devices, including some kind of synthetic blood replacement that could be injected in case of blood loss and several other futuristic liquids, gels, and whatnot, all to alleviate things that could instantly kill people.

It was rather ironic that most of them were designed to prevent the exact same thing he suffered from.

Shaking his head a little, he left the review room, the space fading into nothingness behind him as a new screen appeared in front of him.

[CONTINUE GAME?]

Waking up in the bed he had fallen into was rather strange. While his memories of the last moments were rather mushy, he still remembered not taking off his clothes. Or buying sinfully comfortable and smooth silk pajamas.

Not that he needed to figure out where it came from. Both the top and bottom of the pajamas were black as the blackest night, with small skulls and flowers sewn into them.

Next to the bed was an enormous fluffy puff, which currently housed his loyal companion, who seemed to be waking up just as he pulled the blanket off him.

As soon as the giant dog became cognizant, he immediately jumped on the bed and began furiously licking his face.

"Hahaha! I missed you, too, you big lug!" he exclaimed happily as he hugged the excited familiar. Sam spent the next few minutes just luxuriating in the silky soft fur of his companion before idly looking out of the window.

'Yup. Still an endless void…'

However, no matter how much he wanted to just stay there, there were things he needed to do. Including finishing up in the Void Tower and returning to the proper material plane.

While in convalescence, Tim had kept him up to date with the movements and actions of their enemies, and the blood mages really were close to finishing their logistical trains. Tim stated that he sent out a few saboteurs and spies, but due to the whole blood magic thing, it was rather difficult to get closer to the important people.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Basically, blood mages could sense the blood magic in other people and, due to Sam's orders, their people stayed very far away from that stuff. Still, Tim's efforts were enough to get a general picture of the war machine being built against the Emerald Kingdom. According to Lucy, even the politicians and the royal house of the kingdom were finally waking up to the reality of the situation.

They haven't done anything useful, but at least they were aware of what was happening.

He hoped…

At least she was kinda having fun trying to wrangle the hoity-toity types into something resembling order.

Sam really didn't dare to ask how that was going.

Sighing slightly, quite aware that he had been doing that a lot nowadays, he gently pushed the pouting Lucky away from him and stood up from the bed properly, stretching a little.

It was time to face reality…

Well, the in-game reality.

With another heavy sigh, he opened the system, while his other hand found Lucky's head.

Instantly, he was bombarded with countless screens, each one flashing at him to read it first. It took him almost half an hour to make sense of the mess. Another bit of work made sure that in the future these screens would be collected into one, while also setting up several filters that would hopefully funnel the incoming information into a more digestible form.

Though he had to dismiss a few retroactive medical warnings that popped up, mentioning his unfortunate accidents and offering options to solve them.

'Little late, don't you think…' he mused as the screens vanished and he was left with the information he wanted.

And oh boy, what information it was.

"Let the numbers go brrrrrr…." He muttered as he began to read.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[You are now… Level 125!]

[Gained 42 unassigned attribute points!

[Thanks to your magical innovations and pioneering, you gained +5 MAG, WIS, PER!]

[Thanks to enduring a trial that would devastate most mortals, you gained +5 END!]

[Thanks to surviving something that you shouldn't have, you gained +1 LUCK!]

A veritable feast of points. Still, as he looked at his status, Sam couldn't help but grin. Something in the works for a long time would be finished today. First, he brought up Perception, Strength, Agility, and Vitality to 50, then added the rest to Wisdom and Dexterity.

Instantly, another screen showed up.

[Congratulations! You managed to get all your base attributes (except LUCK) over 50!]

[You gain the Perfectly Balanced skill!]

[Perfectly Balanced: As all things should be, your attributes are balanced equally. Borne from this balance, your strength is increased, both in quality and power. Resisting your skills is much harder, while the strength of your skills is also increased. This improvement starts at 10% and is increased by 0,01% every time you gain an attribute point after acquiring this skill.]

Sam grinned as he read the description of a very familiar skill. Currently, it was unknown to the masses, but he was sure there were some people who knew about it. Yet, in the future, it was one of the skills that differentiated the truly powerful from the average player. Granted, it was much easier to acquire if there was an entire guild helping you to level up, but he was still happy he managed to get it pretty early with just good ol' fashioned luck.

Satisfied, he returned his attention to the rest of the information.

[Perfect Mana Core is now Level 42!]

[Mana Scales is now Level 181!]

[Due to the damage you have suffered, you gained the Hardened Scales subskill!]

[Hardened Scales: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Due to the damage you have suffered, your scales have hardened beyond the norm. The defensive value of your scales is doubled.]

[Mana Weaving is now Level 69!]

[Thanks to your effort to touch the mana in the void, you gained the Ethereal Touch subskill!]

[Ethereal Touch: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Grasping the ungraspable is not an issue for you. Increases the effectiveness of all Manipulation-type skills.]

[Void Manipulation is now Level 58!]

[You have locked eyes with the void, you gained the One With the Void subskill!]

[One With the Void: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) You are one with the void, and the void is one with you. Decreases the cost of void-natured spells by 0,1% for each level in the main skill.]

[Void Affinity is now Level 78!]

[Thanks to spending your time quelling the void, you gained the Anti-Void subskill!]

[Anti-Void: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Due to your affinity and mastery over the void, any attack that is void-natured does less damage. Damage is decreased by 0,1% for each level in the main skill.]

[Void Soul is now Level 61!]

[Spending so much time in the void has affected you. You gained the Void Born, subskill!]

[Void Born: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) When surrounded by void, your defenses increase and your defenses against void-natured attacks are doubled.]

[Unknown Sight is now Level 24!]

[Illusionary Mana Slash is now Level 10!]

[Mana Body Infusion is now Level 48!]

[Mana Architecture is now Level 78!]

[Creating spells seems to be your hobby, you gained the Well-made Frames subskill!]

[Well-made Frames: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) Your foundation is solid, and now the frames are gaining shape. Decreases the mana cost by 5% for each skill level of setting up spells with long casting times.]

[Silent Casting is now Level 20!]

[Silent Casting has been absorbed by Perfect Mana Core!]

[Field Healer is now Level 20!]

[The Way of the Forerunner is now Level 88!]

[Due to spending a long time in battle without rest, you gained the Endurance subskill!]

[Endurance: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) When a battle lasts long, you do not get exhausted. The more a battle lasts, the higher your Stamina Regeneration becomes. Gains +1 Stamina Regeneration per minute of uninterrupted battle. The maximum is the level of the main skill.]

[Adaptive Coordination is now Level 99!]

[Oversight: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) The penalty for casting spells or using skills against or on a large number of targets is decreased by 0,1% for each level in the main skill.]

[Master Runecarver is now Level 31!]

[Physical and Magical resistance is now Level 38!]

[Corruption Resistance is now Level 78!]

[Dimensional Mana Resistance is now Level 88!]

[Void Immunity is now Level 42!]

A pretty great haul…

Sam made sure that his skills were sorted and some notes taken for the future before turning toward the last part of his gains.

[You successfully crafted a new spell!]

[Obliteration: Level 0/100 (0%) (Active) You gather the void, set it to explode when in contact with your target. Targets affected by the spell fuel the spell with their mana, causing more and more explosions.

Group spell: The spell is a group spell, requiring several mages to work together to cast it. When casting alone, the caster receives several penalties, and the casting time and cost are increased accordingly.]

Sam just grinned. He had a feeling that with the skills that he managed to gather, all of them decreasing casting times, costs, and such, he could cast the spell alone rather easily. Granted, he wouldn't be able to spam it, but he knew that his enemies would loathe it soon enough.

Giving another once-over to his status, he nodded and got out of the bed, dislodging a pitifully whining Lucky.

"Sorry, Lucky. Need to talk to the lady of the Tower," he told the wolf, who instantly changed his demeanor and began wagging his tail, nose pointed toward the door.

Sam chuckled a little.

"Well, then, show me the way!"

"Woof!" And the wolf was off, with Sam sedately following after him.

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