Brand New Life Online: Rise Of The Goddess Of Harvest

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After Elisa and Monica left, Elena looked at everyone.

She had already told them about her little brother and the tree.

Even so, she gave them something.

It was a bag of Spirit Cores from Avalon.

“These Cores hold the power to awaken Spiritual Hearts… Acorn, I know you can find a way to make them work for your people,” Elena said. “I… I have to go now. Please, everyone, take care. I will return… for my brother.”

FLASH!

Elena pressed the glitched [Log Out] button, and her entire body was compressed and burned into a flame of glitched, buggy data.

Feeling sharp, burning pain all over her body, Elena moved between dimensions, seeing countless colors and sensing many membranes pierced by her body and soul.

And then…

TRUUUM!

A glitched portal opened, and she fell from it, landing on the grass.

“Ouch! Ahh… ugh…!”

As Elena groaned in pain, she looked around, finding herself in her house’s backyard.

Many Spirits appeared, greeting her.

Even the Druids, in their animal forms, greeted her.

Her friends were there, speaking with them.

At the same time, others ran toward her.

“Elena! You’re back!”

“A-Ah? Ahh…”

She noticed her skin was still blue, and she bore her horns and equipment from BNLO…

Yet they recognized her, perhaps because she coincidentally had a spell that allowed temporary transformation.

The same applied to her friends, causing no further ruckus.

“Elena?”

“What happened? Where are Elayne and… Katherine?”

It was Rose and Albert. They had a special rune from her mother, allowing them to enter the Domain as trusted friends.

A third person stood with them, a tall, imposing sorceress from Europe who had become her mother’s friend.

“My, you’re still in that form? What’s going on? You came running through space… that’s no simple spell. D-Did something happen to your mother?”

It was Olivia Coyett.

“Mom is… mom…” Elena muttered, unable to speak clearly.

“We’ve been worried. You said you’d return in a couple of days, but it’s been a week!” Rose said.

“We’ve been guarding the Domain but… Something bad happened, right?” Albert asked. “What… what’s going on?”

“Elena… we’ve known each other for a while. We’ve fought together,” Rose said. “I see you as family. This goes beyond our organization’s demands. This is personal.”

“Mom…” Elena muttered.

“…” Olivia stayed silent, sighing.

She knelt, patted Elena’s head, and hugged her.

“It’s okay…”

“Ah?”

Elena was shocked. Olivia had somehow guessed everything

“With my Eyes, it’s easy to tell what troubles someone’s heart…” Olivia said, her voice pained. “Elayne… something happened to her, right? Something akin to death.”

“…! Nngh…” Elena muttered, crying but shaking her head. “Ugh…! It’s so frustrating…! I couldn’t do anything…! Uugh…!”

“My god, you’re just a child,” Olivia said. “Nobody expected you to do more than you could… don’t blame yourself.”

After that, with the Druids and everyone else, Anna and Elena’s friends explained as much as they could while eating, they were starving.

Apparently, when they traveled between worlds, much time passed, though it felt like seconds to them.

A week had gone by since they left, though to Elena it felt much longer.

Kaguya, the Cherry Blossom Dryad, appeared at some point. Feeling her master’s soul vanished worried her.

Despite her master’s absence, she anchored her existence to the Domain, saving herself from being sent back to her origin.

After two hours of explanation, everyone grasped what had happened.

It was, as expected, incredibly dreadful and despair-inducing.

“Oh my god, Elayne…” Rose muttered, her hands trembling as she rubbed her forehead, tears falling. “In this line of work, you get used to colleagues dying, but… Elayne was different… she was my dear friend… I… I’m so sorry…”

“A Demon King of Death…” Albert muttered. “Hellberos, do you know who this is?”

“…” Hellberos stayed silent. “I am a lowly demon. How do you expect me to know everything?! But… hm, I remember hearing that from the demons. As that girl said, he comes from another world, a parallel world to Earth. Our supreme king is also related somehow. So they’re cooperating? This is the worst possible news we could have received.”

“Avalon, such a grand and beautiful realm, overtaken already… I cannot believe the great Oberon was seduced and brainwashed!” Olivia exclaimed. “And Elayne…! I had so many plans with her. I wanted her to join my family, to grow together…! Damn it! Damn it all! This cursed destiny! This wretched fate!”

“So that game you were… experiencing was a connection to that other world too?” Rose asked. “It’s hard to believe… but seeing what you’ve become… you merged with your in-game avatars? T-This is so ridiculous…”

“…” Albert sighed. “We must report this to HQ… Elena, I’m sorry, but we cannot keep this secret. It’s urgent we inform everyone about the Demon King of Death as soon as possible! The existence of Arcadia… we already knew, but we had no idea a game was connecting to it. If we could have controlled that, maybe so many lives could have been saved… if anything, this is our fault.”

“No… it’s fine…” Elena sighed. “I… I don’t even know how to look human anymore. Ugh… I don’t think I can return to school or… resume anything I was doing before. Mom’s soul is in the Underworld. Erebus said if we can rescue her soul, and those of Mark and the others, and place them inside her tree, maybe they can be reborn like he was.”

“So by using the powers of another world, there’s a chance!” Olivia’s eyes sparked. “Elena…! If you and your friends truly mean to avenge Elayne and the others… and go to the depths of the Netherworld… then I can help you grow beyond your understanding.”

“What?” Elena asked, confused. “W-What is it?”

“You will join the Clock Tower Academy of Magus!” Olivia said, crossing her arms with a reassuring nod. “There, you’ll learn to channel your magical powers, master hundreds of spells, earn money, and buy all kinds of things! We can also investigate Arcadia together and find a way to rescue Elayne!”

“R-Really?” Elena gasped. “Joining an academy of magicians… ugh… that sounds really painful though…”

“Endure the pain,” Olivia said. “Only through endless perseverance can we achieve greatness and reach our goals, however hard and impossible they may seem.”

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