At once, a flurry of bright blue sparks surrounded us, bouncing off our skin but causing no physical harm.

  We were floating in a large cloud of sparks, with no sense of which direction we were headed in. I reached out, grabbing Amelia by the collar of her shirt like a kitten and drawing her up against my body.

  Wei grabbed onto the sleeve of my hoodie, and Yang pulled Yue tightly against himself, trying to shield her from anything that might suddenly burst through the sparks.

  Wei was directly across me, his face stoic as if this wasn’t out of the ordinary for him. That was right—now that he regained his memories, he was the most experienced out of all of us.

  He spun his sword in his hand with unbelievable expertise. The long white fabric of his robes billowed around him almost magically.

  Just beside him, Yang weilded his staff, his grip firm as he extended it. His eyes were glowing as he sifted through various blue screens, equipping himself with elixirs, skills, and higher levels as though he was about to enter the battle of his lifetime.

  The blue sparks moved in a frenzy all around us, going faster and faster until we were spinning rapidly, barely able to keep a hold of each other.

  I was growing dizzy from how overwhelming the entire sight was and squeezed my eyes shut. Finally, I felt my feet slam down on solid ground, and my eyes shot open.

  I placed Amelia on the ground and then looked around me, letting out a sigh of relief when I saw my entire party was just beside me and safe. All of them had smal blue markers above their heads, denoting that they were in my party.

  Then, I took in my surroundings.

  “Wow,” I uttered.

  This is so cool! “Amelia exclaimed, jumping up and down out of excitement and shooting her fist up into the air.

  Around us was a mock up of Venice, with all its narrow streets and roads. Tall orange, blue, and yellow buildings surrounded us. The cobblestone was bumpy beneath our feet. Long green vines with fat red roses wove up and down the buildings.

  Above us, the sky was a vivid turquoise. It was also where the citadel’s expansive size was made clear. The sky wasn’t a neverending border—it was a ceiling. All the clouds had been painted on it, and it was as though lights were placed behind the synthetic sky to give it the illusion of beind outdoors.

  We were officially in the Ascension Citadel.

  Right off the bat, Bohemian Grove and Major Arcana would break through this fake ceiling to work their way into the throne room like Feiyu did in Surviving My First Run.

  There was nothing to be found on the main floor except a horrific number of beasts and challenges—unless, of course, you knew about the nodes.

  Yue let out a low whistle, slowly lengthening her body. “I guess I’ll never need to book a flight here anymore. Isn’t this beautiful?” She asked, taking a few steps until she found a small stone bridge. She ran over to it and peaked over the edge, taking in the murky blue river beneath it and turning back to us in excitement.

  “There’s no time limit for this arc, right? Maybe it’s time for us to take a little break in Venice.”

  I walked up the windy, narrow roads, dragging my fingertips along the lengths of stony buildings beside me.

  With all of us coming from the bustling city of Shanghai, sights like this were utterly remarkable. Even Yang paused to simply admire the architecture. Wei’s eyes gleamed with awe, but he was far more restrained in his movements.

  “Let’s spend a moment here, just to look for any nodes. Yue, you can use Magician’s Hand to detect the illusions that are masking the nodes. Amelia, use Stone’s Aura, and you should be able to detect the nodes when they’re nearby.”

  I then pointed to Yang and Wei. “As for you two, I want one of you to follow Amelia and the other Yue. Make sure they aren’t attacked as they look for the nodes. I’m also going to look for the nodes, but I’m going to try to figure out where we are in the citadel, so we know where we go next.

  “If any of you bump into the Major Arcana or Bohemian Grove, immediately send a message into the party chat, and we’ll all come with backup. For now, all of you should stay in this fake Venice location.

  “It looks like the voting system hasn’t started yet. Once it does, we can get over that hurdle. Does everyone understand?”

  [Disciple Yue has activated Magician’s Hand!]

  [Disciple Amelia has activated Stone’s Aura!]

  Yue and Amelia instantly left, bursting into buildings and hunting for anything out of the ordinary. Wei and Yang followed closely behind.

  [Hindsight activated!]

  I wasn’t sure how effective Hindsight would be, but it was my best bet at detecting the nodes and staying alert. I ran up one of the narrow alleys before reaching a dead end. A classic Italian building towered over me, ordained with what felt like too many windows and balconies.

  For some reason, a dreadful and eerie feeling was flowing through me, but I had no idea what was so offputting about the current situation.

  I leapt up, catching the ledge of the first balcony in my hand.

  Hindsight calculated the distance to the next balcony. Too far—I grabbed Zhige and dug the blade into the wall before I hooked my heel over the hilt and pulled myself up.

  [Observers Chat]

  Socrates: This place is utterly massive. I’ve been zooming out for ages, and I just caught a glimpse of the end. How many nodes are there?

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  “I’m not sure how many there are,” I answered outloud.

  [Observers Chat]

  MoldyBlanket: Who is talking to her privately!! Share with the rest of us!!

  Aslan: All of us are curious.

  [Demon Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven scolds Disciple Peijin for keeping secrets.]

  [Dozens of gods agree with Demon Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven’s sentiment!]

  I huffed, partly from the difficulty of scaling the building and partly out of annoyance. “The question was just about the number of nodes we would need to go through to discover the heart. I’m not sure how many there are.”

  [Divinity One Who Fights in Front is still impressed by Discple Peijin’s knowledge.]

  [Editor’s Pen activated!]

  [Ascension Citadel contains 5 nodes.]

  [Error! Impossible within karmic restraints.]

  [Potential edit: Ascension Castle contains 10 nodes.]

  [Accept/Deny]

  [Rejected potential edit!]

  Ten was far too many. I wanted to minimize the effort my party members would have to go through.

  If I remember correctly, Ascension Castle had six distinct locations: Mediterranean Europe, American cities, Arabian Coast, Central American jungle, the throne room, and the limestone caves, where the heart could be opened.

  By having only one node in each location, this would minimize the karmic pushback. It wouldn’t alter the original design as much as only having five nodes placed randomly, since we would still have to navigate the entire main floor. And, it was much less than having ten total nodes.

  [Ascension castle contains one node for each distinct map location.]

  [Edit granted!]

  [Observers Chat]

  GotoKat: If there are thirty and your party can barely detect them, you are fried

  Aslan: True

  Socrates: Hopefully there’s less than that. For Peijin’s sake.

  Nipon23: why not 300 :P

  I finally made it to the top of the building. I peeked over the top, using Hindsight to scan for any potential threats. When none were detected, I threw myself up, pulling Zhige out of the wall and gripping the blade firmly.

  I looked up. I was near the synthetic ceiling now. If I jumped up using all my strength, I should be able to slash through it with Zhige, and be closer to the throne room. I surveyed my landscape.

  This was the tallest building in this area, but creating that hole now might alert the other parties of where we currently were. I looked around, trying to see where the next map locations were, when I finally realized what had been making me feel so on-edge.

  In Survivng My First Run, the citadel was teeming with creatures. Demons, ghosts, terrifying puzzles—all of it was here, pushing the parties closer together. But, especially from this vantage point, I could see that we were totally and utterly alone here.

  “What the hell…” I muttered, shaking my head back and forth.

  I walked toward the edge of the building, bracing myself before I leapt down onto the ceiling of the next. I jumped across dozens of feet with each step thanks to my boosted stats until I finally caught a glimpse of the next location.

  The top of various American buildings protruded from above the Mediterranean landscape. That would be our next location, and after that, it would be the Arabian Coast and the Central American jungle.

  [Observer and god voting will begin in five minutes!]

  I jumped at the sudden blue screen, my grip on Zhige tightening. Maybe it was through voting that more creatures would be spawning. I quickly turned around, leaping off the building. I gripped the side, dragging my fingertips down the bricks to slow my descent until my feet landed firmly on the ground.

  [Party Chat]

  Peijin: Let’s all meet up by the bridge before voting starts. I’m not sure what the voting conditions will be, so be ready to draw your weapons.

  I darted back toward the bridge, and I was the first to arrive. Only moments later, Yue and Yang appeared, Yue panting slightly.

  “Any luck?” I asked, staring at Yue.

  “Nope. This place is massive. I’m hoping Amelia and Wei had better luck, since Amelia should be able to detect them more easily.”

  “I’m disappointed.”

  “Oh, shut up.”

  I tapped my foot impatiently on the bridge.

  “Yang,” I said, “I’m using up too many of my messages. I’m going to reach my limit soon. Can you ask where Amelia and Wei are?”

  “Got it.”

  [Party Chat]

  Yang: Amelia. Wei. Where are you guys?

  I waited expectantly for a message to pop up, but it never did.

  “Shit…” I grumbled, chewing on my lip

  “Do you think something happened?” Yang asked.

  “Maybe they’re at the node right now. I don’t think Wei would pull anything if he’s with Amelia, and Amelia definitely isn’t scheming something.”

  Before I could fully panic, a new message lit up the screen.

  [Party Chat]

  Wei: Sorry. At node. I’m trying to figure out how to explain where we are.

  [Disciple Wei has adjusted Party Markers.]

  At once, the blue party markers that were once floating just a few inches above our head shot straight up into the sky, flashing brightly.

  [Party Chat]

  Wei: Can every party see those?

  About a mile away, the blue markers of Amelia and Wei shot up into the sky. I turned back to Yang and Yue. “Let’s get there before the voting starts. Maybe we can figure out how the node works and get a bit of a headstart.”

  Without warning, Yang suddenly lifted both Yue and I into one arm. We both exclaimed loudly, hitting and kicking him until his other hand extended his staff.

  All three of us launched thousands of feet into the air with a scream, and as the staff fell forward, we closed more than half the distance. Yang repeated the movement, and we landed on a roof right beside Amelia and Wei’s floating markers.

  “I wanted to save us some time,” Yang said simply, gently placing us both on the ground.

  “Are you fucking crazy?!” Yue exclaimed, pounding his back with her fists furiously. “At least give us a warning!”

  “I thought I was gonna die for real this time…” I grumbled, stumbling forward.

  At the loud crashing sound of our landing, Amelia popped her small head out from a window a few stories below us.

  “Here, here!” She exclaimed, waving eagerly. “I found this one all on my own! Wei-shushu didn’t even have to help me!”

  Yue leapt down, catching the window ledge with her fingertips and swinging herself in. Yang followed after, grabbing onto her outstretched hand and pulling himself in. I grabbed onto his hand and did the same.

  The corner of the room was glowing bright blue. In the middle was a glowing cube, spinning slowly and exuding an almost blinding white light.

  Wei was standing on the edge of the blue corner. A massive screen was opened up before him. He turned toward me, awe in his eyes.

  “Peijin, come take a look.”

  “Shit, that already looks way too complicated,” I said, trudging toward him.

  [MEDITERRANEAN NODE]

  [Location: Building AK13829 — Floor Two]

  [Description: The Mediterranean node controls the citadel’s environment. Use the node’s artifact to toggle these settings regardless of the user's current location.

  Temperature: 5/10

  Weather: 5/10

  Gravity: 5/10

  Pollution: 1/10

  Light: 5/10

  Time Loop: 1/10

  Owner: Unclaimed

  I slowly turned to face Wei. “You know, we could really mess some things up…”

  Wei looked nervously at the toggles. “If every node is like this, whoever owns one has a terrifying amount of control over the citadel.”

  “The node’s consequences also extend to the owner of that node. So, if I were to set the temperature to 10/10, then everyone, including all of us, would go up in flames. It relies on some kind of mutually assured destruction if you think about it.”

  [Voting shall now commence.]

  At once the node exploded and flooded the room with ghosts and demons.