The white mist gradually contracted, slowly transforming into a garden filled with birdsong and blooming flowers.
Wade blinked as he looked around at the familiar surroundings.
"Huh? When did I fall asleep?" Wade scratched his head and muttered.
"You were looking for me?" A pleasant voice came from ahead.
In the pavilion at the center of the garden, the Senior was still wearing the same green robes.
She sat in an armchair with her back to Wade Reynolds, calmly drinking tea.
"Yes... I've made some discoveries. I think you'll find them interesting," Wade Reynolds said as he walked over with practiced ease.
He reached the pavilion, pulled out a chair, and sat down across from her.
"It seems it must be something very important," the beautiful Senior said unhurriedly as she poured him a cup of tea.
After Wade had gradually grown stronger, the senior had immersed herself in research on how to purify the "residue."
Not wanting to disturb her, Wade had rarely come to see her anymore.
This time, however, Wade had taken the initiative to request a meeting with her, which meant the matter could not be trivial.
"Something happened today, and it made me think of you," Wade Reynolds said.
The senior lifted her teacup and took a sip without speaking.
Clearly, she was listening.
So Wade began recounting everything that had happened in the Forbidden Forest that day.
The chaotic ancient magic triggered by the dark creatures, the parallel worlds, the people who had been exchanged, and the fading memories.
After Wade finished explaining everything, he noticed that the senior's pale hand was gripping the teacup tightly, her knuckles turning white.
Clearly, she had thought of her own situation as well.
"You mean... I'm not actually the me from this world, but the me from another world?" the senior asked hesitantly.
Wade Reynolds pondered for a moment. "At first, I thought so too. But after thinking about it more carefully... your situation may be somewhat special."
"Special? But according to your earlier theory about parallel worlds, the place where my body is located shouldn't be capable of opening a passage to a parallel world. After all, there aren't so many different kinds of dark creatures around my body," the senior said, raising another question.
Wade Reynolds sighed. "Senior, don't forget that the reason so many different types of dark creatures are required is because the dark magical energy they emit collides with one another, producing an enormous amount of ancient magic, which under certain conditions opens a passage between parallel worlds. And you... in this world, is there any place with more ancient magic than what exists within you?"
The senior frowned. "But if that's the case, then wouldn't that mean parallel worlds are overlapping around my body every moment?"
"Senior... you were wearing a Disillusionment Cloak," Wade Reynolds continued. "Before you were sealed in that place, your magic had not yet grown so powerful. It was hidden within you and could be controlled and restrained at any time, so it would not cause parallel worlds to appear."
"And after you were sealed, both your magic and the residue within you were covered by the Disillusionment Cloak. Because of that, they still would not cause parallel worlds to appear. So something must have happened that caused the ancient magic in your body to erupt."
Wade continued, "I want to ask... when you felt your consciousness being attacked and then lost your name and memories, what was your state like at the time? Did anything unusual happen?"
The senior raised her eyes to look at Wade. After a long moment, she nodded. "Yes."
Wade immediately became excited. "So what happened?"
The senior spoke slowly. "Actually, I never mentioned this to you before... after many years of hardship, my Nightmare Magic finally reached a new level on that day."
A flash of exhilaration appeared in her eyes. "At that time, both my consciousness and my body had been trapped in one place, unable to move for nearly twenty years. You have no idea how desperately I wanted freedom. No... freedom was too extravagant. I only wanted to move... even if it was just a finger."
"So when I realized that my Nightmare Magic had grown powerful enough to allow my soul to leave my body... do you know how happy I was? I was almost mad with joy."
"Although my soul could not stray too far from my body, it was still the most precious freedom imaginable. My soul could move around. Compared to the beginning, when even moving a finger was an impossible dream, this was far better."
"That day, my soul stood not far from my body, spreading my consciousness wildly in all directions, savoring that hard-won freedom."
"I had never before tried extending my consciousness so far. The sensations it brought back were so vivid. Even now, I cannot forget the pleasure of that moment."
As she spoke, a faint smile of satisfaction appeared on the senior's face.
Then the smile vanished, and a layer of frost settled over her expression.
"Then... it happened. A part of my consciousness was attacked. And then... I lost my name... until today."
Wade sighed. "When you were wildly using Nightmare Magic and letting your consciousness roam everywhere, did the magic in your body experience a brief surge?"
The senior was slightly startled, then nodded. "Yes... but at the time I no longer cared about anything. I only wanted to enjoy that sense of freedom. Hmm... I think the Disillusionment Cloak on my body may have started to crack after that surge of magic."
"That would explain it," Wade Reynolds nodded.
"So you already know exactly why my name disappeared?" the senior asked excitedly.
"I still need to verify it... but I will need your permission," Wade said, frowning.
"What method?"
"May I take a look at your body?" Wade suddenly asked.
"..." The senior student looked at him with a frown.
After a long moment, she stood up and waved her sleeve. The surrounding environment instantly changed.
The garden vanished, replaced by a small stone chamber.
At the center of the chamber stood a crystal coffin emitting a faint white glow.
Inside the crystal coffin, the senior lay wrapped in a black cloak, her face pale and her eyes tightly closed.
Wade asked again, "The one speaking with me now, is that your consciousness, or your soul temporarily freed from confinement?"
"My soul," the senior replied. "Ever since the first time my soul came out, I have never wanted to return to that imprisoned body again."
Wade carefully examined the senior lying in the crystal coffin, then looked at the soul standing before him.
"You're comparing them?" the senior asked.
"As far as I know, the form of a soul is exactly the same as a person's physical body," Wade Reynolds said.
"Yes."
Wade sighed. "Then it's confirmed."
"Confirmed what?" the senior student asked nervously.
"On the left side of your neck, the body has a small black mole, but your soul does not. Also, the person in the crystal coffin has pierced earlobes, but your soul does not. And the body in the coffin has marks on the bridge of the nose, the kind left from wearing glasses for a long time. Did you used to wear glasses?" Wade Reynolds said gravely.
The senior's expression suddenly changed. She rushed to the crystal coffin and carefully examined the body inside. After a moment, her lips began to tremble.
"So... the body in the crystal coffin isn't mine?! How is that possible? This is clearly my body. My soul came out of it back then!"
Wade sighed, then said, "According to the conclusion we reached earlier, when parallel worlds intersect, the same person standing in the same location may be exchanged with their counterpart from another parallel world."
"Clearly, when you were freely using Nightmare Magic, the surge of magic that occurred opened a passage to a parallel world. So at that moment, it wasn't that your consciousness was devoured. Rather, your real physical body disappeared from this world. In its place was the body of you from a parallel world."
"As the surge of magic gradually subsided, the passage between the parallel worlds closed. Your real body and your soul were separated, and your body completely vanished from this world. Normally, once your body disappeared, everything connected to that body would also be erased from this world. Not just your name. It would be as if you had never existed in this world at all."
"But your body disappeared, yet it did not completely disappear." Wade Reynolds looked toward the senior lying inside the crystal coffin.
"The you from a parallel world arrived. Because of that, you inherited all the memories contained in the body of that other you. However, that version of you ultimately does not belong to this world. Your true name therefore disappeared along with your real body, lost in another parallel world."
"As for this new you, because her soul also remains in another parallel world, she is incomplete as well. Because of that, her name was likewise erased from her brain by some force of the world."
"From a biological perspective, human memories exist in the brain. So even though you use Nightmare Magic to maintain the state of your soul leaving your body, you are still using the magic contained in the body itself. As for the memories of your soul, they are simply a reflection and copy of the memories stored in your body. The same applies to souls and to ghosts. You know this. Ghosts who have lost their bodies cannot learn new things."
"You believed that your consciousness was attacked and that you lost the memories of a certain period, including your name. In reality, that was only an illusion. The reason is that your body disconnected for a moment and then automatically connected to a new body."
"In other words, what you lost were the memories belonging to your original body. As for the memories you still retain, they are actually the memories that originally existed in the brain of this new body."
"That parallel world must be extremely similar to ours. Because of that, the experiences of the senior in that world were likely almost identical to your own. That is why you never noticed."
The senior stared at Wade Reynolds with a blank expression. "So you're saying my body ran off and left my soul behind."
"Yes."
Wade Reynolds had said a great deal, but in the end the conclusion was quite simple.
The senior student's body had crossed over, while her soul had remained behind. The entire set of hardware had been replaced, and even the storage card was new.
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