When Ash first saw the realm of Eden from high above in space, he was shocked to realize the similarities between the map of the game he had played and the scenery spread out before him, the resemblance so striking that for a brief moment it felt as if memory and reality had overlapped.
Although the match was not perfect, because the Eden before him was far too vast while the map he had once explored had clear limits, there were still enough familiar patterns in the terrain, the arrangement of regions, and the flow of land and water that it could not be dismissed as coincidence.
But the game itself had never been confined to a single map, since different servers held different regions, and only after the world story progressed to a certain stage were all those server maps fused together into one enormous landmass.
That final merged map had once felt massive while he played it, yet now, looking at this place with his own eyes, it felt like nothing more than a small and incomplete version of what truly existed.
It took Ash one week to verify whether this place was really the Eden he knew or not, and during that time he moved across several regions, visiting monuments and locations he clearly remembered from the game, carefully comparing each detail instead of jumping to conclusions.
By the end of it, there was no doubt left.
Everything matched, not perfectly, but closely enough that the conclusion became unavoidable, and the only real difference was scale, as if the game had only shown a simplified version where only the most important places existed, while the world he now stood in was the complete and expanded reality behind it.
After confirming that, Ash went to find Snow.
He needed answers, because there were too many things that did not make sense, including how she had arrived here, How the Dragon Library and their sacred land came here, and what exactly had happened during the time he was absent, so instead of wasting time on speculation, he chose the most direct path.
He spent a few days traveling across the vast land, and even with his current speed and abilities, the sheer size of this place made the journey take longer than expected, which only reinforced how different this realm was from anything he had known before.
After those days of travel, he arrived above a seemingly endless ocean, its surface calm and vast, stretching far beyond what his sight could capture.
He could feel Snow’s presence far below.
Without hesitation, he descended into the water.
The ocean was deep, far deeper than any ordinary sea, and as he moved further down, the light faded until only darkness remained, yet that darkness did not hinder him in the slightest, as his vision cut through it effortlessly.
Even then, it still took him several more days to reach the bottom, the depth of the ocean almost absurd, as if the distance itself was meant to keep everything hidden away from the surface world.
Throughout the entire descent, his body showed no signs of fatigue, his movements steady and controlled, and at one point he found himself quietly appreciating the efficiency of his new body, because if he were being honest, there was a certain satisfaction in knowing that such effort meant nothing to him anymore.
When Ash finally reached the ocean floor, he saw a scene that completely surpassed his expectations.
For a brief moment, even he was taken aback.
Then, without realizing it, a smile appeared on his face.
Because on the ocean bed, there lay a humongous white serpent, her massive body coiled upon itself and covered in layers of weeds, sea plants, and drifting remnants that had settled over her through time, making it seem as if the ocean itself had slowly claimed her presence and turned her into a part of its silent depths.
Snow’s size had increased to such an extent that if anyone else were to see her like this, they would mistake her for a legendary sea monster that had existed since ancient times, sleeping in the darkest corners of the ocean where no light could reach.
Ash moved closer and observed her carefully, his gaze steady as he checked every detail without rushing, and after a thorough inspection, he confirmed that she was not in any kind of danger, but had instead entered a deep hibernation state that seemed completely natural for her condition.
The reason behind it, however, was not normal.
There was a massive source of energy within her body, so dense and overwhelming that even Ash could clearly sense it without needing to focus too deeply, and that alone was enough to explain why her body had chosen to shut down into hibernation.
What is this huge energy source? And how did she even absorb this much without exploding?? Is this the reason she fell into hibernation??
Every sign pointed in that direction, and there was nothing contradicting it, which left Ash with no real reason to doubt that conclusion.
At the same time, he could see that the energy within her was being absorbed at an extremely slow pace, almost as if her body was carefully processing it bit by bit to avoid any imbalance, and that made it clear that she would not be waking up anytime soon.
With that understanding, Ash made a decision.
He transferred her into his Soul Space. Because he could use the time difference between his soul and the real world to wake Snow faster.
Despite her rank having already reached the Overlord stage, which corresponded to the Mythical Stage for humans, the process went smoothly, without any resistance Snow appeared inside his Soul Vault, something that would have been impossible for him before.
Ash paused for a moment after that, recalling how he had once tried to do the same with Lumielle and failed completely, the contrast between then and now making the difference even more apparent.
There was no clear explanation.
In the end, he could only attribute it to the changes his body and existence had gone through, especially after all the reformation he had experienced, which seemed to have removed all of the limits that once restricted him.
With those limits gone, it made sense that he could now store a being of higher rank without any issue.
At the same time, another thought crossed his mind.
If one looked at it from a different perspective, his current strength was already far beyond that of a normal Mythical Rank being, and perhaps that was the real reason why he was able to store Snow so easily.
There was no definite answer.
Ash did not dwell on it for long.
Without a clear conclusion, he simply accepted the uncertainty for what it was and moved forward, knowing that sooner or later, the answer would reveal itself through further experimentation and experience.
With Snow being out of the picture, Ash could only take another method to find the answers that he was seeking, since waiting for her to wake up would not give him anything useful for now and he had already confirmed that her condition was stable.
Thus, he started to use his abilities such as and to learn all sorts of information, choosing targets carefully and making sure not to rely on a single region so that the information he gathered would not be similar.
It took him a few days to get the basic understanding of the place, and during that time he learned things such as the difference in time flow within this realm, and more importantly, he came to understand the existence of the Universal System that now everyone possessed.
The Universal System had become more than just a tool in people’s life here.
It was now a symbol of identity, something so deeply integrated into the lives of people that those who did not possess it were seen as outsiders, not out of hostility, but because such a case had simply become abnormal in this new world.
And it was not evil in any sense.
From what Ash observed through multiple memories, it actually helped individuals break various limits placed on mortal species of the realm, guiding their growth in a structured and efficient way that made progress far more accessible than before.
But if one looked from another perspective it was also a kind of surveillance that was done by someone to keep an eye on everyone and everything to make sure nothing goes wrong or may to find something.
Although Ash did not learn too much about the deeper truths of the Realm of Eden, he was able to gather a consistent account of what had happened from different people.
These people had been living on their respective planets as usual, until suddenly, without any warning, the sun vanished, and their entire world began to move toward a certain direction, as if pulled by an unseen force that no one could resist or even comprehend.
After that, their planets fused into a massive landmass.
As for how it happened, why it happened, or who caused it, there was no answer.
No one knew.
The only thing they understood was the result.
This land now housed countless races from across the universe and gave them the opportunity to break their boundaries and grow stronger at a pace that had never been possible before, something that many had already begun to accept as the new normal.
When Ash learned about how the Universal System worked and how it helped people break their limits, he was completely stunned, not because of its power alone, but because of how familiar it felt to him.
The structure of it.
The way information appeared.
The interface itself.
It was exactly the same as what he had seen in the VR game.
Of course, Ash could not see the status window of others directly, but as he was viewing the memories of different individuals, he could clearly see the appearance of the status window through their perspective, and there was no room for doubt.
Even the functions that the Universal System provided were the same as what he already knew.
That realization settled in his mind quietly, but its weight was undeniable.
***