Two days had passed since that day, and Noah had settled into a productive rhythm. By day, he played the part of the dutiful son, soaking in time with his family. By night, he and Yuki retreated into her sub-dimension.
He had discovered a new feature the next day: time dilation. Within the confines of Yuki's Sub-dimension, Noah could stretch time itself. He set the ratio at 24:1—one full day of training for every single hour that ticked by in the outside world. It was the ultimate cheat for Noah who was in a hurry.
Yuki, guided by a strange, ancient instinct, had reshaped the void to suit her soul. She transformed the dimension into a sprawling, hushed forest buried under thick blankets of ivory snow, where a gentle flurry fell from a twilight sky that never brightened. When Noah asked her about the choice, she simply leaned into the cold, a serene mist escaping her lips. "It feels like home," she had whispered.
Their time inside wasn't solely dedicated to the grind. Noah used his Three-Food Ticket to introduce Yuki to the wonders of modern junk food—pizza, burgers, and an array of sugary confections. Her initial shock at the explosion of flavors was palpable, but it was the sugar that truly claimed her. Yuki developed a near-instant, deep-seated obsession with sweets.
Seeing an opportunity to spoil his maid, Noah dipped into the shop to purchase his new favorite item: the Infinite Vending Machine. This item was described as being able to generate any sweet treat the user has seen or eaten an infinite amount of times with no cost or cooldown. It wasn't the size of an actual vending machine, as Noah could hold it in his hand, which he liked.
It was a "broken" item in every sense of the word, and Yuki was shamelessly abusing its power, often seen nibbling on chocolate bars while they lounged in the snow. However, the levity was balanced by intense discipline. Noah spent the bulk of his time in deep cultivation, his eyes set firmly on reaching B-Rank.
The motivation was simple: Roman. By the time the academy doors opened in the original novel, the protagonist had already reached B-Rank. Noah knew that with his current resources and the time-dilated sub-dimension, he could match—or even surpass—that trajectory. He had three months of "real-world" time, which translated to years of potential growth inside the frost-covered forest.
Yuki acted as his Teacher. When Noah finally bothered to check her status screen, the sheer weight of her heritage nearly took his breath away. Her race, the Nivareth, was the first ever born from the very concept of Ice. This primordial origin granted them extraordinary gifts: absolute cryomancy, a vastly extended lifespan, and—most significantly—the ability to manifest an "Ancestral Form."
Because she is only half Nivareth, she can only tap into 50% of this form's true potential. However, that limitation hardly diminishes its power. For exactly five minutes, she can achieve total oneness with the concept of Ice—a feat reserved only for those whose very existence is derived from the frozen element.
Beyond her racial heritage, her specific bloodline provides further boons geared toward precision and resilience. It grants her perfect control over her ice affinity and slows her aging even further. She grows stronger in cold environments and possesses the ability to numb her emotions on command, allowing for cold efficiency when it is needed most.
For a fleeting second, Noah regretted not copying her bloodline, but he quickly dismissed the thought with the casual arrogance of a man who held the keys to an infinite shop. He could always buy something better later. He could even buy lifespan if he grew bored of aging.
Noah was living his best life, and he was doing it on his own terms. He wasn't obsessing over the plot of the game, nor was he scrambling to kill the protagonist's future heroines or steal every "Fortunate Encounter" the world had to offer. Why would he? He possessed an infinite store. He possessed a taming power that defied the laws of nature.
Stealing crumbs from Roman's table felt beneath him. Where was the thrill in sabotaging a rival before the race even began? No. Noah wanted Roman at his absolute peak. He wanted to wait until the "Hero" was at the height of his power and then crush him so decisively that no one—not the professors, not the heroines, not even Fate itself—could claim it was a fluke.
He wanted to be the shadow that the sun couldn't burn away. This newfound focus on his own path led him to the present moment. The sun was rising on the second day, and it was time for a different kind of education. Today, Noah would go hunting with his father.
Noah stood before his sprawling mansion, the morning sun saturating the world in a golden hue. The air was thick and stagnant, clinging to him like a second skin. He shifted slightly, feeling the familiar pull of his black leather armor; it molded to his frame with such precision that it felt less like a garment and more like a natural extension of his body.
Deep within the silent expanse of her sub-dimension, Yuki sat perched upon a drift of pristine, shimmering snow. Despite the ethereal distance between them, the contrast of her frozen realm didn't dull her senses; she saw what he saw, and heard every rustle of the wind against his gear.
Noah's patience, however, was fraying. He had been standing like a statue for half an hour, waiting for his father, and the silence of the estate was beginning to get on his nerves. "Where the hell is he?" he muttered inwardly.
"Maybe he forgot?" Yuki's voice echoed in the back of his mind, playful yet curious.
"Father doesn't forget," Noah countered.
"Maybe something happened?" He frowned. It seemed impossible; at this point in the story's timeline, there shouldn't be anything significant enough to catch Victor's attention unless the narrative was already beginning to warp.
Tak. Tak. Tak. The rhythmic strike of heels against stone echoed from behind. Noah turned slowly, his eyes narrowing as he prepared a greeting for his father—only to find Mary, his mother, standing there instead. A faint, knowing smile played on her lips as she took in his bewildered expression.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice flowing like warm honey. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Noah returned the smile before stepping forward, pulling Mary into a hug that lingered for a heartbeat too long—a rare moment of genuine warmth—before they both stepped back.
"Where's Father? Did something happen?" His voice was measured, the calm of a man who had already begun to distance himself from his former self. Mary matched his composure, her stride graceful as she began to lead the way with Noah following closely.
"Yes. The Blanco Kingdom has been getting bold recently. Their 'God-Touched' hero has apparently been implementing sweeping changes with his newfound influence." There was no anger in her tone, only a flick of amusement—the kind a predator shows when a prey animal tries to growl.
"So my interference worked," Noah thought.
He knew the lore better than anyone. In the original game, Roman was a hero, yes, but he was a glorified pawn—a divine tool. He was influential, but he was shackled by his blind loyalty to the Blanco Kingdom, viewing them as his moral superiors.
In every sense of the word, Roman had been the world's greatest weapon, but also its most controllable. "But if he's making moves on his own... if he's using his influence to pivot the kingdom's policy... he's smarter than before." Did the thought of a more competent protagonist make Noah nervous?
Pfft. No.
A wide, feral grin split Noah's face. His crimson eyes gleamed with a dangerous, predatory light. To say he was happy was an understatement. Though his soul was that of a modern Earthling who should have been trembling, his new sadistic streak had carved out a battle-hungry personality that craved the challenge.
Mary caught the expression out of the corner of her eye and felt her train of thought grind to a halt. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. 'What has happened to him?' she wondered. He felt like a different person entirely. She shook the thought away for now; she would interrogate him after their outing.
[Noah.] Atlas's voice sliced through the chaos of his thoughts like a blade. Noah's face instantly snapped back to a neutral mask. 'Damn, I need to keep a lid on it,' he thought, forced to manually steady his thumping heart. "What does Father plan to do about it?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.
"Well, the boy has been trying to establish a Church of Light within our borders, using the names of the Twelve Seraphim as leverage," she paused, a cold smirk playing on her lips. "Victor, of course, took that as a personal insult. He's heading to their capital to show them exactly what happens when they overstep."
Noah frowned, puzzled. "How? I know Father is powerful, but surely he can't take on an entire kingdom alone?" Mary smiled mysteriously. "The day you told us you awakened, Victor decided to test his luck. He attempted to summon a new entity," she paused, her smile widening. "Let's just say... what he pulled from the void was something that even gave us pause."
"Something scary even to them?" Noah's mind raced. It was common knowledge that Mary and Victor were feared across the continent, but not just for their raw physical stats. Their true terror lay in their specialized talents.
Mary, the Queen of Beasts, possesses a talent that allows her to dominate any beast she defeats in combat. She is effectively a one-woman legion. In the game, her true numbers were never revealed; she was a ghost story told to soldiers—an empress who could annihilate entire divisions without ever drawing a blade herself.
Victor, the Lord of the Dead, possesses a talent that allows him to summon a singular, legendary soul of the departed to serve him. This being is not restricted to their world's history and scales perfectly with Victor's own power. Since Victor is currently SSS-Rank and gains a new summon for every rank achieved, he effectively commands eight SSS-Rank entities simultaneously.
They were the ultimate duo, one a relentless summoner, the other a ruthless tamer who broke the will of monsters to do her bidding. While the other three Dukes of the realm were equally "broken" in terms of power, Mary and Victor were a unique nightmare.
"We're here," Mary said softly. Noah snapped out of his internal monologue, realizing he'd been walking on autopilot. He looked up and felt a chill. Before them lay a forest so dense that the afternoon sun couldn't pierce the canopy. A thick, obsidian mist rolled out from between the gnarled trees, smelling of damp earth and old magic.
"Why are we here?" Noah asked, his voice dropping an octave. This wasn't just a forest; it was a Forbidden Zone, a place where anything below A-Rank was considered prey. "What? Are you scared?" Mary teased. "No, it's not that. It's just... how am I supposed to defeat and tame anything in there?"
"You only need to land the finishing blow to trigger your talent, right? Or are there other catches?" Mary asked. "No, just the defeat. And they can't be more than two ranks above me," Noah replied. "And you're E-Rank, correct?" Mary asked casually.
"Actually, I'm D-Rank now. I advanced yesterday." The silence that followed was heavy. Mary stopped dead in her tracks. "Repeat that," she said, her voice stripped of its teasing edge. "I'm D-Rank. I broke through last night," Noah replied with a bored shrug, as if he were discussing the weather.
"You... you awakened two days ago," Mary whispered, rubbing her temples. "I swear, you're trying to give me a migraine." She stared at him for a long moment before throwing her hands up. "Fine. It doesn't matter. I'll stop asking questions."
She gestured toward the dark treeline. "The plan remains the same. We'll find C-Rank beasts in the outer perimeter. I'll break their bones; you deliver the final strike. That should be enough for you to tame them, right?"
"Yeah," Noah lied easily. His system didn't actually have those restrictions, but there was no need to reveal his full hand just yet. Mary nodded, her eyes flashing with a familiar, dangerous spark, and turned toward the entrance of the Forbidden Zone.
++++++++++
END.
ENJOY~