It had been almost 8 hours before I woke up again, still feeling fatigued probably due to it being my first ti today using a VR Pod and that too for 2 virtual days—
Not like that was a thing, Maxin had said.
But for soone like who was slow when it ca to technology, calling it like that nade it easier for to understand.
Luckily, I had changed into my sleepwear before passing out on this velvet sofa, saving the efforts of getting out of this comfy sofa-cum-bed and go change again.
It was night already, around 8 pm.
And judging from the closed door to what was supposed to be my room in my childhood, I guessed that Pixie must have returned back and signed off to rest.
Not to forget the fact that unlike , she did not even have any powers.
Still, that girl had guts.
The kind that didn’t always scream or fight or swing a sword—but the quiet kind.
The kind that endured.
Anyways, keeping my thoughts about her aside.
I was starting to feel hungry.
Night had fallen.
The estate was always quieter around this ti.
No energy weapons clanking.
No training dummies exploding.
No cousins yelling about strategy or team formations.
Just soft ambient lights and the occasional chirp of birds that cald the brain.
My stomach growled like a Tier 1 beast had been denied evolution.
I needed food.
Groaning. I forced myself upright, folding the blanket I’d been curled up in.
My joints cracked like I was eighty.
Probably all that simulated damage catching up with .
After folding the sheet and tossing it onto the couch’s side arm like so exhausted bachelor from a bad sitcom, I shuffled toward the kitchenette.
Now, when I say kitchenette, don’t imagine sothing classy with mana-infused blenders or an AI-operated stovetop.
No, this was your classic old kitchen that shouted ho.
Ho sweet ho.
I opened the top cabinet and there it was—The Golden Treasure.
Instant noodles.
The good kind.
Rich in sodium, low in life decisions.
I held the packet like it was so sacred relic. "You and , buddy. Like the good ol’ tis." I said, feeling giddy.
It was stupid how sothing so simple made feel happy and rejuvenated.
I filled a pot with water, let it boil, and began my ritual.
Tearing the packet open with reverence, I dumped the dry noodle brick into the pot, the sll of preserved wheat and stale spice powder hitting like all the nostalgia at once.
While it cooked, I leaned against the counter, eyes hazy, just...rembering the past.
Back in the outskirts of the Von-Stein Empire, when I used to live with grandma Sylvie, I used to do this almost every night.
Not because I had so deep craving for cheap noodles, but because I had to.
The money grandma earned from backery for the two of us was barely enough to keep us afloat.
Not to forget that Ma also needed dicines at that ti to cope up with her health.
And so, Instant noodles were what I could afford as my new comfort food.
I’d sit under the dim light of my study table on the first floor, reading those old scroll-like textbooks about combat theory, mana training, while slurping them like a poor man’s child.
No VR pods.
No enchanted beasts.
And definitely nothing to do with these scheming old gods.
Just silence, broken by my slurps and the wind beating against the half-broken window.
And now?
Now, so much ti had passed that even the Von-Stein Empire had changed.
After the System descended, it didn’t even keep its na.
It was just the Subcontinent of Ro now—fancy title slapped on by the all powerful Gods after a thousand restructures.
Borders were redrawn and Cities were rged.
Mana towers had started to be constructed everywhere as the trend of cults popped out of nowhere.
Nit only this, but because of the system, even people with untapped or unawakened potential had started to arise and gain power.
The whole hierarchy and power system made through ao many trials and errors throughout the century had all vanished from existence like so texts of the past.
All that old familiarity, gone.
I used to hate how small my world was.
How stuck I felt.
But now that I think back to it, I kind of miss it.
To be honest?
I’d been missing it since the day Ma said that we had to leave.
Siiii*
A loud whistling sound woke from my thoughts, looking behind , I realised that the noodles were ready.
Turning of the fla, I grabbed a ceramic bowl—yes, I had one, and poured it all in.
The steam rose like incense at a shrine, fogging up my face for a mont and I excitedly looked forward to the taste I had beco so uses to eating that it had actually beco my comfort food.
Adding the flavor powder, I gave it a mix, and took the bowl back to the couch.
Deciding not to turn on the lights since it was night already, I just sat there, bowl in hand as the room beca dim except for the soft streetlights outside filtering in through the blinds.
Not wasting another precious mont, I slurped the hot and juicy noodles down my mouth.
They were salty...and slightly too spicy. I thought.
Perfect, just the way I like em.
For a second, nothing else mattered.
Not the missions.
Not the pressure.
Not the bloodlines or heirship or powers.
Not even the crazy system that had turned our world into so level-grinding nightmare.
Just noodles.
In the house that contained all of my mories with my mom...
’It felt good.’ I thought, realising that I should do this more often.
The hum of the estate generators buzzed in the distance.
This, I realised—
This was peace.
Even if it only lasted until the next ergency or family drama or weird god-thing, I was going to enjoy it.
***
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