The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 137: Chapter 137: Welcome Back to Earth

Ares slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the noise.

Cars were passing along a wide road nearby, people were talking as they walked past, and somewhere in the distance, music was playing from one of the shops that lined the street. It took him a moment to process all of it because the last thing he remembered was standing on the roof of Starlight before activating Dimensional Crossing.

He looked around.

Tall buildings surrounded him on every side, their glass windows reflecting the afternoon sunlight while enormous advertisements played across several digital screens attached to the buildings. The streets were crowded with people, most of them dressed in ordinary modern clothing, and despite the unfamiliar changes in the city, there was something about the place that immediately felt familiar.

"This place..."

Ares slowly turned his head.

"Did it actually work?"

He looked at the people passing by, then at the signs written in Korean.

There was no mistaking it.

He had returned to Earth.

The realization brought a faint smile to his face.

"To think that simply thinking about Earth while activating Dimensional Crossing would actually bring me here."

He took a slow breath and looked toward the surrounding buildings.

"The air feels the same."

After spending so many years in another world, even something as ordinary as the atmosphere felt strangely nostalgic.

He was still taking in the scenery when three young women walking together suddenly slowed down after noticing him.

The first woman looked at him for several seconds before quietly nudging the friend beside her.

"Wait, is he wearing an academy uniform?"

Her friend looked over.

"That doesn’t look like any school uniform I’ve seen before."

The third woman glanced at Ares from head to toe.

"He’s probably cosplaying."

Ares noticed them staring and turned toward them.

The first woman immediately smiled.

"Excuse me, sorry for asking, but are you a foreigner?"

Ares understood her without any difficulty.

He answered naturally in Korean.

"No, I’m not."

The three women froze.

"...You speak Korean?"

Ares looked slightly confused by their reaction.

"Yes."

"Your Korean is really good."

"I’d hope so."

The three exchanged glances.

The second woman leaned closer to her friends and whispered.

"He’s definitely not a foreigner."

"Then why does he look like that?"

"Maybe he’s part of some production?"

The first woman looked back at Ares.

"Sorry, but are you actually wearing that for cosplay? I’ve never seen an academy uniform like that before."

Ares glanced down at his clothes.

It was the uniform he had been wearing when he left Starlight, and now that he looked at it from their perspective, he could understand why it attracted attention. The design was clearly different from anything normally worn by students in modern Korea.

"Something like that."

He decided it would be better not to explain.

The third woman suddenly raised her phone.

"Can we take a selfie with you?"

Ares looked at the phone.

"A selfie?"

"Yeah."

She smiled awkwardly.

"If you don’t mind, of course."

Ares considered it for a moment before shrugging.

"Sure."

The three women immediately became excited.

"Really?"

"Wait, seriously?"

"Come here, hurry!"

Ares stood between them while one of the women held up her phone.

After taking several pictures, they thanked him repeatedly before walking away, though they continued looking back at him while whispering excitedly among themselves.

"I told you he was handsome."

"His face is actually insane."

"And his voice!"

"Do you think he’s an actor?"

"There’s no way he’s just a normal student."

Their conversation gradually disappeared into the crowd.

Ares watched them leave with a slightly amused expression.

Then he looked around again.

There was no longer any doubt.

This was Earth.

More specifically, this was Korea.

"I really did it."

He couldn’t help smiling.

After spending years in another world, standing in the middle of a familiar city felt almost surreal.

But that feeling didn’t last long.

Something caught his attention.

A group of people was walking down the street several meters away.

Unlike everyone else, they weren’t wearing ordinary clothes.

One man carried a large shield strapped across his back, while another wore reinforced armor covering most of his body. A woman beside them carried a bow and a quiver filled with arrows, while another man had what appeared to be a spear secured across his back.

They looked less like tourists or cosplayers and more like a group of adventurers preparing to enter a dungeon.

Ares stared at them.

"...What?"

Something was wrong.

He could feel it.

Mana.

There was a noticeable amount of mana coming from every person in that group.

Ares narrowed his eyes.

"Wait."

He looked around.

There were more of them.

Another group further down the street was wearing similar equipment, and this time Ares noticed several people carrying swords, staffs, and other weapons that had no reason to be present in an ordinary modern city.

What confused him even more was the reaction of the civilians.

Nobody seemed surprised.

People simply walked around them as though seeing armed individuals in combat equipment was completely normal.

Ares’ expression gradually became more serious.

What’s going on?

He had spent years away from Earth, but this wasn’t a change that could have happened quietly.

Why are there people walking around Korea dressed like adventurers?

Ares hesitated.

Could I have arrived somewhere else?

The thought was immediately rejected.

No.

The language was Korean.

The buildings were familiar.

The streets were familiar.

Even the atmosphere of the city was unmistakably Korea.

This is Earth.

He activated True Sight.

The moment his vision changed, information appeared before him.

Name: Kim Dong-hyun

Rank: D

Class: Shieldbearer

Ability: Iron Wall

Mana Capacity: D

Physical Enhancement: C

Ares stared at the information.

He followed the man for another moment before looking at the woman carrying the bow.

Name: Choi Mi-rae

Rank: D

Class: Ranger

Ability: Enhanced Tracking

Mana Capacity: C

Physical Enhancement: D

Ares’ expression became increasingly confused.

"Rank..."

His eyes moved across the information again.

"Class. Ability. Mana Capacity."

He lowered his gaze slightly.

"What is all of this?"

The people around him continued walking as though nothing unusual was happening.

Ares remained where he was, trying to understand what he had returned to.

Earth was supposed to be a world without magic.

At least, that was the Earth he remembered.

Yet now people possessed mana, classes, abilities, and physical enhancements, while groups equipped like adventurers openly walked through the streets of Korea without attracting the slightest bit of attention.

Ares slowly looked toward the distant buildings.

Something happened to this world while I was gone.

And judging from what he had just seen, whatever had happened was far bigger than he had initially imagined.

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