Exactly nine days after the Silver Weaver and Silvana's conversation, the darkness that had surrounded her for so long finally began to dissipate.

Due to their situation, she had not seen any dreams while sleeping, and at first did not even realize that she was no longer asleep.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.

Her eyebrows twitched as she slowly opened her eyes.

"What the hell…?" Silvana muttered in a hoarse voice.

She looked around as she felt a bitter taste in her throat. It felt as if she hadn't drunk anything for several days or had returned after a long journey through the desert.

Well, one of her assumptions was close to the truth.

From the moment she fell asleep, she didn't wake up even for a short period. It was part of her contract with the Silver Weaver, but she wasn't used to it.

"Damn... My head hurts so much..." Silvana whispered as she moved toward the bathroom.

She was going to wash her face and brush her teeth, as usual, but when she saw her reflection in the mirror, her eyes widened in horror.

She looked like a mummy!

Her skin was dry, her cheekbones were clearly visible, and her eyes were exhausted as if she had been starving for a long time.

At that moment, her mind was filled with memories of her conversation with the Silver Weaver.

Silence.

She said nothing for a while, until she grabbed the edge of the sink.

"Tsk, he could have warned me that this would happen to me." She growled, gritting her teeth. "Agh... Alright, anyway, I have time until—!"

Realization struck her like lightning as she understood one thing:

"Adam, h-he... will wake up very soon!"

It seemed that Silvana's panic was unfounded, since Adam was far away at the spire, but if he wanted to return to the Citadel quickly, it would take him less than half an hour.

'Shit, shit, shit! I have to get myself ready before he uses the teleport! I can't meet him looking like this!'

As quickly as Silvana could, she washed her face, took a shower, ate breakfast, and got out her makeup kit.

She never used too much makeup, but always tried to look appropriate while performing her role as Adam's Operator. She had been taught this at the academy, and it was something she considered necessary.

While Silvana was rushing around and was already in the middle of the chaos she herself had created, Adam just opened his eyes.

He woke up half an hour later than Silvana, because even with the Silver Weaver's help, it was impossible to equalize their vastly different energy reserves.

"Aaaahhh!" Adam yawned, turning from his side onto his back. "I feel fine, but how long did I sleep? A month?"

Adam didn't know about the Silver Weaver and Silvana's plan, so it was a logical assumption after everything that had happened.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

Scratching the back of his head, looking half-asleep, Adam left his room. He wanted to find someone and ask how long he had been asleep, as he had no idea what the date was today. In the Tarnished Lands, such things did not matter much.

At the same time, the woman who had met him appeared from the other side of the corridor. It was no coincidence. She knew Adam had woken up and came to greet him.

"Mr. Adam, are you awake already...?" She asked, stopping in front of him.

Adam looked up.

"Hmm?"

From the look on her face, he could see that she hadn't expected to see him so early. She was surprised, and Adam didn't understand why.

"Did something important happen while I was asleep? Did something happen?"

The woman shook her head.

"No, just... You woke up much faster than we thought. I saw your wounds, they were serious, and your energy was almost completely depleted."

Adam's eyes widened as he finally understood what she meant.

"Wait, wait, I recovered quickly? How many weeks have I been asleep?"

She glanced away for a moment.

"Weeks? Hah, it would be difficult for me to answer that question, but I can make it easier—you've been asleep for 9 days and 16 hours."

Adam froze in place.

This was definitely good news, but he didn't understand why everything had gone by so quickly.

"I see you're as puzzled as I am," she noted. "Maybe you should eat first? We have a wide variety of food in our cafeteria."

"Yeah..." Adam nodded, confused. "That's a good idea."

...

A few minutes later, Adam was sitting at a table with only a cup of hot chocolate and a large piece of cake in front of him.

Although there was actually a wide variety of food in the cafeteria and he could have taken anything he wanted, for some reason, Adam didn't feel like eating a mountain of meat as he usually did.

His hunger was substantial, but not as strong as he was used to after a long recovery.

Suddenly, the world plunged into darkness as the Silver Weaver appeared before him.

"Hey." He waved his hand. "I see you're confused. Listen to me carefully if you want that dumb expression to disappear from your face."

"Agh...?"

Soon, Adam's eyes filled with light as his conversation with the Silver Weaver ended.

Even though the Silver Weaver's frown annoyed him to the core, Adam smiled contentedly.

"Hah, so it's all about Silvana, and she slept as long as I did?" He muttered, cutting a piece of cake with his fork. "Good, I didn't even know that was possible. I'll have to thank her somehow when she returns."

Adam continued eating, sitting alone at the table.

In fact, since it was early morning, he was alone in the hall. The spires were rather empty places; there were always all the necessary employees here, but there weren't very many Phantoms.

Only when a team arrived for some important mission could there be several dozen strong Phantoms at the spire at the same time.

But... That didn't mean there were no other Phantoms at all. Many went to the spires to carry out missions. They did this alone, in pairs, or in small groups.

Muffled laughter rang out in the distance when the young man and woman entered the cafeteria. They had just woken up and wanted to have breakfast, but as soon as they saw Adam, they froze in place.

Their eyes widened as they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"This..." The girl muttered with a pale face.

The guy gulped.

"Yes, it's... It's Adam Vinter! It's really him!"

Adam didn't know yet that instead of a quiet breakfast, he was in for a headache from the very morning.

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