Chapter 342: Change, Melting Hammer

It has been quite a while since I last entered this mental space. After all, coming here is akin to falling into a dream; it is not a restful state, and while I can sleep, it is never truly refreshing.

Stepping into this private sanctuary, Wang Yu surveyed the pitch-black void. The only thing that could be said to exist here was the door standing solitary at the very center of the expanse.

It looked no different than before—nothing but that lonely frame. Once, it had held a flickering wisp of hellfire, but Wang Yu had long since plucked that out and put it to use.

"Hm? Is something different?"

Wang Yu raised an eyebrow. He sensed a subtle shift, though he could not pinpoint where. It was a mere intuition, a faint dissonance he could not yet verify.

Confirming that the surrounding void remained as desolate and ink-black as ever, he concluded the change must lie within the door itself.

He approached and scrutinized the structure. The broken handle, the slightly weathered and damaged door panels, the conspicuous notch he had accidentally chipped into the frame—everything was exactly as he remembered. He was about to dismiss it, until his gaze drifted downward.

"Wait, the floor? Damn, those food crumbs are still there. There really is a change. I remember clearly that the area bordering the door wasn't floorboards before."

He muttered in surprise, noting that the material where the threshold met the frame had transformed. The original black, solid void had been replaced by the floorboards of his own home—a perfect, one-to-one recreation, down to the stubborn debris wedged in the cracks that were always so hard to clean.

"When did this start... I honestly never noticed."

He crouched down, running his hand over the small patch of flooring that extended about ten centimeters outward. The texture was identical to his memory, fading gradually into the black, featureless void that defined the rest of the space.

Wang Yu could not recall when this floor had appeared, nor why. This door, so inextricably linked to his transmigration, still held secrets he had yet to unravel.

"What was I doing before I crossed over? I've thought about it a thousand times. Just sleeping normally. I woke up to that damn wild wolf—it nearly killed me the moment I arrived. That thing was far stronger than any wolf back on Earth."

"The door, the door... what is a door for, if not to pass through? Could it be that the other side is my home? Unlikely. I’ve tried before; if I could have climbed out that window, I would have done it ages ago."

Wang Yu crossed his arms and pondered. He had plenty of time. With the Council of Elders dismantled, he could finally rest easy. With Aivia by his side, he didn't worry about his wounds festering; his body would do the work of healing itself.

"Creak."

He pushed the door open and stepped inside. Compared to the outside, the room was unchanged. It was the same bedroom he had lived in for years: the cluttered desk, the single-occupant bunk bed, the guitar that never quite stayed in tune. Everything was exactly where it belonged.

"If nothing has changed in here, then the changes outside shouldn't have happened either."

He scanned the room, but his intuition confirmed there were no subtle differences.

"Then..."

He tapped his fingers on the desk and walked to the window, pulling back the half-drawn curtains to reveal the full view outside.

"Nothing changed there, either."

The view was of his neighborhood. Living on the sixth floor gave him a decent vantage point. Below, in the small park, he could see children playing on the gym equipment while their grandparents sat nearby, lost in a game of chess.

Like a bird frozen in mid-flight, everything was static, as if caught in a time-stop spell. It was no different from the first time he had witnessed this scene.

"Click."

"Huh? Could this be opened before? No, that’s impossible. If it could, I definitely would have tried to climb out."

As he watched the scenery, Wang Yu’s fingers had subconsciously flicked the latch on the window. It gave a soft click and slid open. The window, which had previously been as immovable as if welded shut, now swung wide.

Wang Yu was genuinely stunned. Does this mean I can climb out? And if I do, what then?

He leaned his head out, the six-story drop posing no threat to his current Great Knight-level constitution.

"Thud!"

Before he could jump, his head collided with an invisible barrier, preventing him from leaning any further.

He pulled back, rubbing the spot. It felt solid, yet there was no pain. In his own mental space, he seemed incapable of injury; he had never felt a moment’s discomfort here.

He didn't try to stick his head out again. Instead, he reached a hand through the window. Sure enough, a few dozen centimeters out, he felt the air wall. It was this barrier that blocked him; even with the window open, he was trapped.

"Well, whatever. No need to rush. Change is a good thing. It seems the door is expanding its influence, and my range of motion is growing with it."

"Regardless, I’ll have to keep an eye on these changes. I need to understand what triggers them and decide whether I should encourage them."

Leaning against the windowsill, Wang Yu looked out at the familiar view. His mood improved; he couldn't even stand in this position to watch the scenery before. This was progress.

Glancing at the bird flying low outside, he smirked, grabbed a napkin from the desk, moistened it with a bit of spit, rolled it into a ball, and flicked it at the bird.

"Pop!"

The paper ball struck the invisible wall and bounced back into the room. Wang Yu caught it, shrugging helplessly. His attempt at mischief had failed.

He wandered the room for a while, pulling books from the shelf to flip through them. The content was complete and normal, proving this room wasn't just a figment of his imagination—who would bother memorizing the contents of every book on their shelf? Some he hadn't even read.

Wang Yu didn't linger. A sensation washed over him: his body had recovered enough to function. His nap was over; it was time to wake up.

He pushed the door open and stepped out, preparing to return his consciousness to his physical form, when he realized he was still holding the paper ball. He had brought it out of the room with him.

He took two steps, but his hand was jerked back—the paper ball had hit the same invisible barrier that guarded the window.

"This is no small change. What could be the reason..."

He let go, and the paper ball fell to the floor, resting on the boards that extended from the door. It was trapped within that threshold. Wang Yu had never successfully brought an object from the room into the void before. This was a first.

Without further thought, he let his consciousness rise, returning to his body.

He opened his eyes and sat up. His body was still weak, but the massive void left by his injuries had been filled by the girl’s arcane energy. Now, he only needed to wait for his new flesh to be reinforced to its previous state.

He was no longer in the Council of Elders' chamber, but in their quarters in the Sky Mechanical City.

Aivia had been kneeling by the bed, checking his condition with magic. As he woke, she leaned in, asking how he felt—though Wang Yu’s own assessment of his body was far more accurate than any scan.

"How do you feel? That wound scared me to death. I knew the mark Aerylion gave you would keep you alive, but I was still so worried..."

The girl made no effort to hide her concern, pressing her cheek against his.

"Not bad. I'm recovering well, thanks to you and the Lady of the Night." He smiled, nodding and giving a thumbs-up to the Lady of the Night, who sat on the other side of the room.

"Thirty-six minutes," the girl replied.

"That’s fast."

That was the benefit of his physique. Once the healing started, he could wake up quickly. The idea of being unconscious for days was impossible for him.

"You're awake. I never imagined you could go this far. Even the most outlandish stories in the chronicles I've read don't compare to this."

Astartes’ voice echoed in his mind. Aivia had brought back the communication device, and it sat by his bedside.

"The Council of Elders is now in a state of 'non-existence.' Many of the restrictions on me have been lifted; I can speak to others besides you now."

"Regardless, I must thank you. You have successfully broken the blockade that the disciples of my creator placed on the progress of the Sky Mechanical City. You have finally set this stagnant city in motion."

"Stagnant water—that was what Merlin feared most. You have restored its vitality. I wish to express my gratitude, but as the Tower Spirit, I cannot simply hand over the assets of the Sky Mechanical City, just as that disciple of Merlin once told you."

Astartes marveled at Wang Yu’s feat while expressing sincere thanks. It had tried to change things for ages but had failed due to various constraints, until it met him.

"Because I am part of the Sky Mechanical City, the alchemy and machinery do not truly belong to me, and what I can access is likely of no use to you. However, with the Council gone, the rules seem to be shifting. We shall see what the future holds."

"As a token of my gratitude, I wish to bestow upon you this item that truly belongs to me; I believe you shall find it of some use."

Astartes spoke these words, and a heavy, archaic hammer materialized from thin air beside the bed, which Wang Yu promptly hoisted.

The moment the hammer touched his palm, Wang Yu sensed its nature: it was a relic, undeniably and uniquely bound to Astartes. With a light toss, he consigned the weapon into the void above his brow.

"This relic is known as the Hammer of Fusion; its power lies in merging two distinct inanimate objects, allowing one to toggle between their states at will."

Astartes provided a rough summary of the relic's properties, leaving many nuances unspoken. Wang Yu, however, was barely listening, his mind snagged on a curious realization: the fact that a tower spirit like Astartes could possess a relic raised a provocative question.

"Lady Darkness, pray tell if you might be able to wield this relic; should it prove compatible, the results might be quite unexpected."

Wang Yu held out the relic, the Scarlet Mark, and addressed the Lady of the Night, who had looked up, wondering why her name had been called.