Then a flicker—cold and colorless—spreading like light beneath a frozen lake.
Ren opened his eyes to a white void, smooth and endless. No horizon. No sky. Just emptiness, humming faintly with potential.
He was standing.
His breath caught—not because he was winded, but because something was missing.
Weight. Ache. Gravity.
The constant soreness in his shoulders from delivery runs… gone.
In its place, silence.
A familiar chime echoed around him—clean, digital, final.
[PROJECT A.U.R.A. ONLINE: SYSTEM BOOT COMPLETE]
A translucent interface materialized in front of him—gray-blue with thin gold borders. It hovered, waiting, pulsing faintly.
[Welcome, Akira.]
[Time since last login: 1,146 days.]
[Patch Notes]: [View] | [Skip]
[New Subclass System Detected: You have unclaimed eligibility.]
Ren blinked. His hands—bare, steady—hovered near the interface.
He ignored the patch notes and tapped the notification below.
Subclass Prestige Detected
Alchemist → Master Alchemist
Unique path requirements satisfied.
This prestige subclass is one-of-a-kind. Only you may claim it.
Would you like to confirm subclass prestige?
[Yes] ?[No]
Ren stared at the screen.
Master Alchemist?
He hadn’t heard of that before.
He paused, a flicker of doubt surfacing.
What even is this? Since when could you—
The system responded before he could finish the thought.
[INFORMATION REQUESTED — MASTER ALCHEMIST]
Prestige subclasses were introduced in Update 5.3.1.
This unique path is granted to players who:
– Created 500+ non-recipe-based alchemical items
– Maintained multi-guild crafting contracts over 30 days
– Completed the hidden questline “Origin of Elements”
– Defended a designated zone using only crafted items during a live event
– Holder of the unique title: Master Alchemist
Your account has met all criteria.
Would you like to claim this prestige path now?
Ren’s breath hitched.
He didn’t even remember half of that.
Still...
The name pulsed faintly in the void.
Master Alchemist.
A title that once might have meant something.
He tapped [Yes].
The interface dimmed. The chime deepened, soft and sonorous.
Master Alchemist Prestige Confirmed.
New skill tree unlocked.
Exclusive crafting systems enabled.
System tag: "The Master Has Returned" — hidden from public view.
A new window unfolded beside the system text—circular, branching like a constellation. Lines of silver light arced between glowing nodes, each labeled with unfamiliar names.
His eyes scanned the first few:
[Crystalline Infusion] — Transmute potions into instant-use spell glyphs.
[Volatile Synergy] — Combine offensive mixtures mid-cast for unstable effects.
[Soulglass Catalyst] — Bind reagents to enchanted memory slots for rapid crafting.
[Grand Distillation] — Passive. Reduces reagent waste during batch synthesis.
[Aurum Vein] — Unlocks transmutation of rare metals from harvested components.
The tree extended outward, far beyond what fit on the screen.
He didn’t recognize any of it.
And somehow… that felt right.
He closed the preview.
Initiating environment load...
The white void pulsed once, as if breathing in.
Then the world cracked open.
A gust of wind swept across his face—fresh, pine-touched, threaded with distant bell chimes and the faintest scent of burning mana.
Light spilled in—brilliant and sudden.
And when Ren opened his eyes again, he was standing in the heart of Elaris—a city of light and latticework stone, woven into the living breath of Solauris.
The moment Ren stepped forward, the weight of the void behind him collapsed like a dying breath.
He was standing in the city of Elaris.
Not the version he remembered—simple stone walkways, a modest fountain, and a half-dozen merchant stalls under flickering lanterns.
No. This was something else entirely.
Above him, floating spires threaded with glowing filament hovered effortlessly in the sky, their undersides lined with enchanted rings that shimmered like the surface of a moonlit lake.
Glass-paneled bridges arched between towers, crisscrossing like veins of starlight. Ethereal banners flowed across magic-tethered poles, each one fluttering with player guild emblems, quest bounties, or market adverts written in half a dozen scripts.
The air itself shimmered faintly, laced with drifting particles of light—coded ambiance, polished to perfection.
Ren moved forward slowly, boots touching down on white marble etched with luminous gold trim.
Even that felt new. The stone beneath him was cleaner than memory. Too polished. Too perfect.
All around him, players bustled—some casting spells as they walked, others riding low-hover familiars or sleek aetherboards that curved gracefully through the city skyways. A group of bards played a soft synth-woodwind blend near the market square. Their music shifted with proximity, layered and reactive.
Laughter echoed nearby—sharp, cheerful, foreign.
Ren didn’t recognize any of it.
He passed by a fountain that had once been the city center. It was still there—sort of. Now expanded into a full-tiered sculpture: crystalline water flowing upward through levitating arcs. An NPC in ceremonial robes sat at its base, offering blessings and buffs for passing players.
No one looked at him.
No one paused.
To them, he was just another low-profile login—someone new, or worse, irrelevant.
He opened his HUD.
No guild tag. No whispers.
His friends list flickered once—one name glowed green at the bottom of the list.
Still online. Still there.
But Ren’s own status remained fixed at the top.
[Offline] — a setting he’d manually enabled three years ago.
He hadn’t thought to change it.
Or maybe… he wasn’t ready to be seen.
He closed the interface with a breath that lingered longer than it should have, then leaned lightly against a stone wall near the marketplace. The material thrummed faintly with embedded enchantments.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Everything had changed.
He didn’t wander aimlessly.
Even if he told himself he did.
His path curved through the quieter veins of Elaris—beneath hanging lanterns and hollow archways, past what used to be the alchemy district before automation replaced artistry. The air here smelled less of wind and mana, and more of dust and stone.
And memory.
The storefront was still there.
It looked smaller than he remembered—tucked between a sleek rune vendor and a scrollbound florist, both gleaming with recent polish.
But his shop?
Faded awning. Cracked glass. Dust grimed the windows from the inside.
And above the door, hanging crooked from rusted brackets, his old emblem still swung gently in the breeze: a silver flask encircled by two crescent arcs.
[Registered Property Detected]
Structure ID: Shopfront #A92–2F
Owner: Akira
Upkeep: Maintained
Activity: Dormant — 1,146 Days
Status: Locked (Manual Override Required)
He hovered over the interface.
Override.
It was still linked to his credentials.
The system chirped once—soft and low—and the lock gave way with a mechanical sigh.
The door creaked open.
Inside, the shop was dim and still.
No scripted welcome jingle. No magical glow.
Just the hollow hush of time suspended.
Dust clung to every surface—glass counters, shelf edges, display racks.
Half-filled flasks sat abandoned in the alchemy stations like forgotten thoughts.
The hearth was dark. His brewing table, cold.
And yet... everything was still there.
Exactly as he left it.
Ren stepped inside slowly, fingers brushing across the counter as he walked past it. The wood remembered him. So did the layout. His muscle memory moved before thought: step to the right, avoid the uneven floor tile near the corner, duck slightly beneath the low-hanging herb rack that no one ever fixed.
He stood behind the counter and looked out.
From here, the shop looked… like him.
Not ruined. Not lost.
Just sleeping.
A UI panel flickered quietly into view.
Last upkeep payment received: 18 days ago.
Source: Anonymous Contribution
He stared at it.
Not Yuna. She didn’t have access, nor would she know about his shop.
He hadn’t done it either, he had been absent for 3 years.
So… who?
The thought curled in his mind like steam rising from a warm brew.
Someone had kept this place breathing when he couldn’t.
He exhaled through his nose and leaned forward, resting his hands on the countertop.
The dust didn’t bother him.
Neither did the silence.
For the first time since logging in, something felt real.
A soft chime echoed through the shop—different from the ambient system tones.
A quieter sound. A startup pulse.
[Notice: Automated Crafting System “Amber Loop” Reactivated]
Owner Settings: Akira
→ Scheduled batch queue resuming...
→ Alchemy hearth set to low idle
→ Passive synthesis: enabled
The hearth in the corner gave a faint mechanical click.
A few empty vials shifted in their slots.
Then, slowly, the central cauldron lit with a gentle violet glow—its enchantment rune pulsing once, then settling into a steady, quiet rhythm.
Ren said nothing.
But his chest felt heavier.
Not with grief—
With memory.
The cauldron’s glow cast long shadows against the walls, slow and steady like a heartbeat too long forgotten.
Ren leaned against the counter and watched the arcane fumes drift upward, violet mist curling toward the rafters. His hands rested still on the wood, fingers brushing against faded scorch marks and old engraving grooves left from rune work. Familiar. Quiet.
He hadn’t realized how long he’d been standing there when the soft ping broke through the silence.
[Private Message Received]
Sender: Kuroshi
Ren’s breath hitched. Just slightly.
The name blinked in the corner of his vision, waiting.
He stared at it.
It had been years since Daichi—Kuroshi—had sent him a message. Not since the hospital. Not since life had become a blur of shift work, empty grocery lists, and silent nights spent in front of a screen that never quite let him go.
His fingers hovered above the message, the cursor blinking like it knew the weight of what was coming.
Slowly, he clicked.
“You actually came back.”
“Took you long enough.”
The words were blunt, familiar. Kuroshi's dry humor had always been like this—no frills, no warm-up. He always got straight to the point.
Ren sat still, reading it again. A small, breathless laugh escaped him. Maybe Kuroshi hadn’t changed all that much.
He opened the next message.
“Still hiding behind [Offline] status like an idiot, I see.”
A beat passed before another one followed.
“...You alright?”
Ren stared at the words. That simple question. The weight of it settled in the pit of his stomach.
He didn’t reply immediately.
His fingers hovered over the keys, unsure.
He was still catching his breath, he realized.
Still trying to figure out if this was really happening.
His reply was short, automatic. Nothing more than a reflex.
“Yeah.”
“Just... catching my breath.”
The response didn’t come as quickly this time. But eventually, it appeared.
“Figures.”
“Still, I guess I kept my word.”
Ren frowned faintly, curious.
“What word?”
A pause.
Then, the reply came, a little slower, but warmer this time.
“That I’d be here when you came back.”
“No matter how long it took.”
Ren stared at the words, and something clicked.
A subtle warmth filled the space, something quieter than the flickering glow from the cauldron.
So this was Yuna's doing, then.
He exhaled, soft, almost a chuckle, before typing a final line.
“Sorry for the delay. I must've kept you waiting all night.”
Kuroshi didn’t reply right away. The conversation ended with a muted silence.
Ren looked at the glow of the cauldron, feeling it simmer in his chest. He stood idly at the counter, fingers still resting lightly on the edge of the wood, his eyes tracing the flicker of the cauldron’s glow. The quiet hum of the crafting system in the background filled the space, but he barely noticed it anymore. His thoughts wandered—slow, almost too slow—drifting in the same way the mist curled toward the rafters.
It had been years since they had a real conversation with each other, but somehow, Kuroshi's presence felt like an anchor. Despite everything, there was still a meaningful tie that brought him back into the game world, something in real in the world that hadn’t forgotten him. Maybe that was enough for now.
Ren stood still for a moment, letting the flicker of the cauldron’s glow dance across the wooden counter. The shop had also been here waiting for him, as if frozen in time. However, he wasn’t ready to step back into it. Not yet. Not until he could get a grasp on everything the game had to offer, both new and old.
A new private message pinged into view.
“By the way, I’ve been paying the upkeep on the shop. Had to make sure the place didn’t get wiped and resold while you were gone.”
Ren’s heart skipped.
He stared at the message.
So it was you after all.
The reply came back almost immediately.
Yeah. I couldn’t just let your legacy fade.
Ren stared at those words for a long time.
Then typed back.
Why?
What for? You could’ve let it rot like everything else.
Three years of maintenance fees... that’s a ridiculous waste.
There was a pause.
Then Kuroshi’s answer appeared.
Didn’t feel like a waste to me.
Ren smiled at the needless gesture. It was the kind of thing Kuroshi would do—quiet, steadfast, and with no expectation of recognition. But something about it pulled at him, as if the past had quietly slipped through his fingers and settled into the present.
When he had quit all those years ago, he had offered the ownership of the shop to Daichi, thinking it might be easier for his friend to take charge of it. Daichi had refused, and at the end of the day, Ren had told him it was fine—he didn’t need the shop anymore, didn’t need the weight of it. He was ready to let go, to let it fade into the background like a ghost of a life he had left behind.
He was glad, though. A small, quiet part of him was grateful the shop still stood.
Ren exhaled softly, his fingers tracing the edge of the counter. Somehow, despite everything, it felt like the world was waiting for him to come back.
Thread Title: "The Master Returns?"
Player: AlchemistExpert
“Strange dialogue from an NPC today. Something about ‘reawakening the old alchemical fires’, weird. Anyone else hear that?”
(1 hour ago)
Player: RuneCrafting101
“I heard the same thing. There was an NPC that said 'The Master has returned'... Is this some kind of hidden event? This sounds like the stuff of legends. We need to investigate.”
(1 hour ago)
Player: AlchemistHerald
“Wait, what? the town NPCs said something about ‘alchemy coming back to life,’ and ‘the Master reigniting the fires of alchemy.’ Could this be some hidden quest or system update? Anyone else catch that?”
(55 minutes ago)
Player: LurkingMage
“This is wild! I just overheard a bunch of NPCs talking about alchemy being ‘alive again.’ Something’s definitely going on, but I’m not sure what. Could be related to an event, or maybe some ancient alchemical secrets we’ve missed.”
(54 minutes ago)
Player: PotionMaster69
“I thought I was the only one who heard this. NPCs in different areas are all saying the same thing alchemy is ‘alive again.’ Feels like something’s being unlocked or reintroduced to the game. Anyone have any idea what this could be?”
(52 minutes ago)
Player: Nethereon
“Guys, am I the only one who feels like the system’s been acting weird? I went past a few NPCs today, and they all kept saying ‘alchemy is reawakening’ and ‘the Master has returned.’ This could be a huge event or update, but what’s the connection to alchemy?”
(43 minutes ago)
Player: Potion_Mancer
“This has to be part of a hidden alchemy quest. NPCs are practically begging for someone to step up and unlock whatever this is. The whole city’s talking about it.”
(42 minutes ago)
Player: ArcaneWhale99
“I’ve been hearing the same thing. NPCs talking about ‘alchemy fires’ and ‘the Master’s return.’ I’ve been in this game for a while, and I’ve never heard dialogue like this. It feels like something’s about to change.”
(32 minutes ago)
Player: ElvenKnightX
“Not sure what’s going on, but I overheard NPCs saying ‘alchemy will live again’ and ‘the fires are reigniting.’ Something is definitely about to happen in the world of alchemy. Could be a hidden event or patch.”
(31 minutes ago)
Player: QuestSeeker25
“I think something’s happening with alchemy. NPCs all around the city are reacting to it. Alchemical formulas everywhere. It feels like the start of a huge quest or event.”
(25 minutes ago)
Player: SilentTalon
“What if it’s a new class quest? Maybe a hidden Master Alchemist class unlock that was patched in with the last update? I’ll bet money it’s connected to ancient alchemical secrets.”
(12 minutes ago)
Player: MoonlitSorceress
“I’m telling you, something big is happening. I can feel it. Alchemy is coming back, and when it does, things are going to change. Whoever is behind this has knowledge that’s been locked away for too long.”
(1 minute ago)