Chapter 393: Change?

"RAY!"

Van, Felix, and Kai found themselves running towards the figure who had just fallen out of the gate like a meteor.

Chloe, who was weakened and had just been tended to, managed to push herself back to her feet and bolted after the others.

"Wa—"

A healer tried stopping her, but it was too late.

The excitement the cohort felt from seeing Ray safe and sound clouded whatever reasoning they might have had.

Trisha didn’t run— she briskly rushed forward, almost like a sprint of sorts.

Ray was still dusting himself off and rubbing his aching nose when he saw the cohort rushing towards him.

But the very next second, just a few feet away from the boy— the cohort suddenly slowed down simultaneously.

All at once, they halted together.

Their faces flashed with confusion as they stared at the Tribrid in front of them.

Even Lincoln had rushed over the moment he had seen something shooting out of the gate— fearing it was a beast, he needed to be on site.

Seeing the cohort pause, he hurried his footsteps, fearing the worst.

"Ray?! Is that you?" Felix asked with a raised eyebrow, his head tilted to the side as he scanned the boy from head to toe.

Lincoln rushed forward and soon passed the cohort.

But seeing that the figure that had crashed out of the gate was human, he slowed down tremendously before freezing.

His brows knitted in confusion as he looked at the boy several times.

As if unsure of what he was seeing, he pulled out his tab and tapped on the screen a few times.

Then he looked up again.

Ray was terribly confused.

Why was everybody staring at him weirdly? He had no idea.

’Wait. Is Nebula peeking out?’ he wondered in panic.

Then he began looking around, but he couldn’t see any signs of the Spider Queen, so why were they looking at him like that?

"Ahem... Ray Dawson?" Lincoln called out with a curious look.

"...."

Ray lifted a brow at the Sergeant.

"Yes? That’s me."

Still in disbelief, Lincoln gazed back at his tab and then proceeded to swipe upward.

A hologram appeared in front of him— hovering an inch above the tab.

"You went into the red gate as a fifteen-year-old and now, you look.... look..."

".... Different," Trisha uttered as she stopped beside her cohort.

If Ray said he wasn’t confused, he was just lying to himself.

’The fuck are the—’

He paused as realization dawned on him.

’The evolution! Fuck.... did it change me?!’

He hadn’t even had the time to check his system rewards after the evolution, talk more of looking at his physical appearance.

The Echo Registry had taken his focus before transitioning into jumping out of the gate.

Honestly, after the evolution, he didn’t think much of any changes because based on his previous two evolutions, he hadn’t changed much.

No outward changes to him, so he felt like this one would be the same.

So if they were staring at him like this, what changed?

’Horns? Fangs? Or something else....? Shit!’

"He’s now as tall as me. The hell happened?" Kai questioned with a stunned look.

"Eh?" Ray uttered in confusion.

Lincoln snapped his fingers a few times and a Militant walked forward and stood two feet in front of Ray.

Waving his hands a few times, a mirror appeared in front of Ray— hovering directly before his face.

’Mirror ability huh? What a nice ab—’

He froze as he turned his gaze back to the mirror.

"....?!"

His eyes slowly stretched wide as he touched his face.

’The hell? Why do I look like I’m in my early twenties?! I’m just fifteen. Wait... taller?’

Quickly snapping his head downward, only then did he realize something.

His uniform pants were torn at the hem. They were significantly shorter than what he remembered.

Earlier, the brown pants stopped directly above his ankles.

But now, the pants had become so short that with just a little more stretch, they could reach his knees.

Looking back at the mirror, he stared at his sharp jawline and defined chin.

His grey eyes widened even further and, squinting closer, it seemed as though he could see an almost golden glow hidden within their depths.

"What happened in there?"

Lincoln interrupted the boy’s shock and admiration for his transformed body.

The Militant took that as his cue to leave.

Dismissing the mirror, the Militant quietly stepped away.

Ray was still touching his face repeatedly, as though he was still mesmerized by what he had seen just moments ago.

Trisha caught herself stealing a few glances at him every now and then.

"The gate closed up? Does that mean you all managed to defeat the boss?" Lincoln asked, snapping everybody out of their thoughts.

"...."

The cohort exchanged uneasy glances before swallowing nervously.

What were they supposed to say?

It’s not like they had planned to defeat Nebula.

They hadn’t even believed they possessed the strength to do so. As such, they had never thought about what they would tell the Corps if they actually returned alive.

Snapping out of his daze, Ray lifted his head and looked directly at Lincoln with a firm gaze.

"How long?"

"....?!"

"Huh? I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re asking," Lincoln uttered with a frown.

Slowly but steadily, Ray began approaching the Sergeant while a screen hovered before his face.

He wasn’t even looking at the entire screen, only the small tab floating within his field of vision.

[Age: 16]

Because his face looked older than before, Ray had decided to check his status tab— specifically, his age.

Just to be on the safe side.

Time inside a gate world moved differently from reality.

It could be years inside a gate world while only seconds had passed in the real world.

Similarly, it could be days inside a gate world while years had passed outside.

That possibility worried him, so he checked the age tab...

...only to discover that he was already sixteen years old.

"How long has it been since we got pulled into the red gate?" Ray asked again, his hands curling into fists as he feared the worst.

"...."

"Six months. That’s how long you were all gone."

The answer didn’t come from the Sergeant himself.

Everybody turned toward the direction from which the voice came.

Berg could be seen walking forward with a murderous look in his eyes.

The murderous intent wasn’t even the cohort’s biggest concern.

It was what he had just said.

"Six months?!"

____

[A/N: Finally! It’s here. My fucking 18th birthday! Hehehehe! This author is legally an adult now. As a present or something, I promised a 5 Chapters mass release. Well, let’s get the party started! 🥳🥳🎉]