The girls kept staring at Benjamin’s smiling face, at the spot where he had been standing, their eyes fixed there, until... The dawning realization slowly spread across their features.

"Huh?" Martha’s eyes widened dramatically at the sight — or rather, at the lack of sight — her mouth falling open in shock. "H-He’s not there anymore

Heka rubbed her temples slowly with both hands, pressing her fingers against the sides of her head as if trying to soothe a growing headache.

She soon explained in a slightly exasperated voice. "Yes, he did the exact same thing this afternoon, earlier today, he vanished right in the middle of our conversation. Somehow, our minds fail to process the slight gap in perception, the tiny missing fragment of time, when Benjamin teleports away from our presence.

"It is as if our brains simply refuse to acknowledge the moment of departure, leaving us staring at an empty space and wondering when he left and how we did not notice it happening."

Lulu’s eyes sparkled with intense interest and academic excitement as she processed what had occurred.

Her mind raced through possibilities and theories and explanations at high speed. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and spoke in a voice full of wonder and enthusiasm. "That... might be a type of reality bending ability, a power that affects not just space but also perception, memory, and the flow of conscious awareness!

"If that is truly the case, if Benjamin genuinely has access to that kind of ability, then maybe Benjamin will know of the fabled ’Higher Realm’ that Lulu read about once in a very old scroll. Most people dismiss it as fiction and fantasy!"

"Higher Realm?" Heka raised a brow, her curiosity piqued despite her lingering confusion.

"Yes, that is exactly what it is, but also more than that," Lulu explained, her voice taking on the quality of a lecturer addressing a classroom. "It is a hypothetical dimension, a theoretical layer of existence that we cannot perceive with our normal senses or interact with through our normal abilities.

"It is somewhat like the spirit world, but different in fundamental ways. Only the difference is that the Higher Realm is always with us, surrounding us at all times, interwoven with our own reality, and we simply cannot affect it under ordinary circumstances."

She paused to let this information sink in before continuing.

"It drains an enormous amount of magical energy simply to exist inside that dimension for any length of time. Lulu read that even a single demon — and demons are Beings of absolute magic, creatures composed almost entirely of raw mana and supernatural power — can only survive and remain intact inside the Higher Realm for approximately two minutes.

"Then they would break down into pure mana and fuse permanently with the dimension itself. They’d be dead, of course. Their consciousness erased, and their very essence absorbed into the fabric of that higher reality."

"Eh?! S-Such a terrifying and dangerous place, why would anyone ever want to go there?!" Heka yelped in shock, her eyes wide with alarm and her body tensing at the description.

But then, a blush bloomed across her face, spreading from her cheeks down to her neck, as if the very danger of the place made her want to visit it even more, drawn by some inexplicable attraction to risk and peril and the unknown.

"Normally, if one can die there so easily," Lulu added, her tone thoughtful and analytical, "it means they cannot possibly have the ability to go there in the first place. The fact of being able to enter would require a level of power and resistance that would also prevent such a quick and total destruction.

"But Benjamin might have basically skipped out of time and space just now, removing himself from the normal flow of our perceived reality without real effort. If he can do that, he might be able to do more. He might... be able to time travel if he focused his abilities and concentrated!"

Martha made a slightly exasperated smile at the hyperventilating Lulu, whose breathing had become rapid and shallow with excitement.

Her words were tumbling out faster as she spiraled deeper into her theories and speculations.

"Uh, maybe you should calm down just a little bit, sis," Martha made a wry smil, "Take a breath. You are getting yourself all worked up over possibilities that might not even be real or achievable."

"Ehehe!" Lulu flashed her cute teeth in a bright and cheerful grin, then scratched the back of her head with one hand in a slightly embarrassed gesture, "Lulu is just so glad that her Benjamin is so amazing and so powerful. He is full of surprises! It makes Lulu happy to know that she chose such a wonderful man to be the father of her b-baby!"

***

**

*

Benjamin’s POV

Haaaa!! What a situation I have found myself in.

Ever since I woke up from that unusually great slumber, it has been one thing after another.

One surprise followed by the next, a relentless cascade of shocks and revelations that have left my head spinning, and my mind struggling to keep up with the pace of events.

And each one, more astonishing than the last.

Seriously, I had turned into a Level 4 demigod.

That is not a small increase.

It is a leap across an entire category of existence, from the peak of mortal potential into the lower rungs of divine power.

And my previous time as an Arch human — already considered exceptional and extraordinary by the standards of mortals — was already feeling like cheating, like I had been given an unfair advantage over everyone else around me.

Now, to make matters worse and complicated, if I do not control this my power properly, or if I do not have Sys run some calculations, people’s careless and unfiltered thoughts will start pouring directly inside my head on their own.

Like, for example, everyone in a room could be completely quiet, not speaking a single word aloud, and yet it would feel like a huge, crowded, and chaotic marketplace inside my mind!

Like voices shouting, whispers rustling, fragments of sentences and half-formed ideas, or stray emotions bouncing off each other like birds trapped in a closed room, all of them competing. The worst part is, I would not even know who was thinking what at that time.

Though, mental voices mostly belong to the owner to said mind.

Mhm. I suddenly feel like Kuzunoha.

If I am not careful and I let my guard down, I might think that someone said something to me directly, whereas they only thought about it inside their head.

Something like!

"Huh...? Why are you telling me you didn’t wear any panties, and now the wind is distracting you so much?"

That kind of confusion could lead to all sorts of social disasters and embarrassing misunderstandings.