He was only 'nothing' for a few moments, but that was still far too long; he gasped for air as he returned and found himself standing in the strange, dark brick room.
The ominous door loomed before him, and when he turned around, he saw the window, the back wall, and the armor stand.
The light blinked on in front of him, and quickly unfolded into a long line of text.
[You have passed the evaluation scenario, 'the siege of roikos' stats and evaluation will now be shown.]
[Humans slain: 2. Humans dead due to outside factors: 15000]
He winced at this, apparently his last kill of the prince had been counted to him even though the prince had fallen on the blade himself.
[Daemons slain: 0. Daemons dead due to outside factors: 30000]
He was taken aback even more by this; however, the Daemons had had at least twice the number the humans had, and he was surprised at how many had died in the end.
[Evaluation: You possess enhanced physical attributes and an innate spiritual domain.]
His eyes bulged. "That's it!? I went through all that for this!?"
Another section became clear under that, as he calmed slightly, waiting for it to fully appear, he wondered what an innate spiritual domain even was.
[Achievements: You did not succeed in saving the city of Roikos; your actions were notable nonetheless.]
At the next words, he felt his anger flare up again.
[Traitor: You are of a treacherous nature; the first being you killed was a human.]
It appeared as a list of feats from the scenario that were being listed out, one by one.
"Damn it! I had no choice, he was after my head!"
The light was deaf to his protests and continued listing them off.
[Last Man Standing: You were the last surviving 'human' when the simulation ended.]
[Dark Sympathy: Whether it was cowardice or treachery, you did not kill a single Daemon during the invasion.]
He shook his head but didn't bother objecting to this, and simply stared as two Final categories appeared.
[Kingslayer: Truly treacherous indeed, you yourself put an end to the life of the heir to the throne.]
[Sole Survivor: When the Scenario ended, you were not the only living being remaining, however upon further calculations, the system has decided that you would have survived past the 'end point' of this scenario.]
He was about to get mad once again after reading the description of [Kingslayer], but was simply confused after reading the last description.
"I would have survived? how? The entire castle felt like it was about to be destroyed. There's no way I would survive that."
He looked at the spherical light that emitted the incandescent runes, pausing for a moment.
"Are you just spewing bullshit?"
The sphere did not answer, but all the text was slowly absorbed back into it and faded from existence.
He felt a strange sensation, like something was being pinned to him; it was oddly painful, but seconds later the sensation ceased entirely.
The sphere moved around from side to side before another message appeared in front of him.
[soul-system attachment is impossible; external system attachment is required to dispense rewards.]
He stared dumbly at the light.
[Do you accept?]
[Yes]
[No]
'Hmm, did it say rewards? well I haven't got anything yet, might as well.'
He concentrated hard on [Yes]
He felt an impactful stabbing sensation on his right shoulder and saw that a string of white light was now attaching the Sphere to it, leaving behind a small scar.
The string slowly faded, but he could feel the 'attachment' was still there.
[Dispensing Rewards.]
[Slain one Awakened human, obtaining Pure Core Fragments.]
[Slain one Reborn human, Obtaining Pure core fragments, remnant salvaged.]
['Nethersbane' obtained, stored in inventory.]
[Pure Core Fragments must be circulated in the innate Spiritual domain.]
That was the end of the text, leaving him with a couple of questions.
'What the hell? I don't have an inventory?'
On queue, the sphere of light began glowing, and he looked at it in confusion, but no more text appeared.
He looked at his palm and then back to the sphere, before reaching out to it awkwardly.
The light intensified, and he suddenly felt his hand touching something.
He grasped it and pulled.
In his hand was the familiar shortsword, its black middle as unscathed and strong as ever, the outside as sharp and golden as during the scenario, although a few chips were visible on the outside from during his fight with the black knight.
He smiled and placed the blade back into the light. With a flash, it was once again stored inside the inventory.
Well, he had figured that out, but what about this Innate spiritual domain? he had not the faintest clue how he could access that.
He looked to the sphere of light, which did not do anything in return. He then shut his eyes and focused on the words, which also did nothing.
After racking his brain for a moment, he remembered something he had read in a novel back in his time as a student.
'But isn't something like that just too foolish?]
He sighed and sat down, closing his eyes and calming his mind to a great extent.
He did not focus on anything in particular, simply looking for a place within him that he could not feel or see usually.
The darkness around him moved, but he saw nothing until only the feeling of moving consumed him.
And then he felt.
A strange sensation of standing on the darkness itself, and suddenly he was no longer sitting on the floor of the strange room, but standing over a great abyss.
however he realized his neck was not looking down, as he actually did so, he could barely comprehend what he was looking at.
The abyss was the sky, and he was standing on something separate; he was not standing at all.
He was a sphere of light that illuminated the Abyss. He felt a wave of energy wash over him, and felt it nourish him and make him stronger, growing slightly brighter and illuminating deeper into the bottomless chasm.
But he was in the sphere of light no longer; he was looking up at it.
Or rather, he was looking at a minuscule pinprick, from the bottom of the impossibly deep abyss.
He could not see the space around him; he could only feel.
He felt something familiar appear beside him, and looking, a small ray of light lit up one single patch of ground beside him.
And in that patch, motionless stood the Black Knight whom he had dueled at the end of that Scenario.
He sensed that if he willed it, he could face the knight once again.
But, looking back up at the star, he knew that he did not have the strength to face the knight, even as a memory.
With a sigh, he returned to the room.
He opened his eyes and felt his body; it had become ever so slightly stronger, and he assumed he was now an awakened.
The process had been messy, but after making it through, he was excited to return to the world.
He felt his surroundings start to sway, and the sphere of light shone towards the door once again.
He grabbed the handle; the only destination in his mind was the exact alleyway he had come from.
And turning the handle, he felt the space give way rather than him going into the hallway.
The room burst apart, and his perception cut out.