Reincarnated in a scientific magic world

When Meeks opened his eyes again, there was no rift, no screaming void—only sunlight filtering through leaves the color of liquid gold. He lay in a meadow where flowers hummed gentle harmonies and the air smelled of rain-soaked earth. His body felt weightless, his mind oddly quiet.  

‘Am I… dead?’ he wondered, sitting up slowly.  

[User Status: Stabilized]  

[Location: Nexus Resting Grounds (Tier 1)]  

The System’s message floated before him, its usual urgency replaced by a softer glow.  

A figure emerged from between the trees—an androgynous being with bark-like skin and hair that trailed ivy. Their voice sounded like wind through autumn leaves. **“You are neither dead nor alive, Catalyst. This is a place of recovery.”**  

Meeks blinked. “Catalyst?”  

The being gestured to a stone bench beneath a willow tree. “Sit. Your body and soul need to harmonize after channeling primordial energies.”  

---

The garden defied logic. Streams flowed uphill, butterflies left trails of starlight, and time itself seemed to pool rather than pass. Meeks learned the being was called the Gardener, a caretaker of souls who’d transcended their original purpose.  

“Why am I here?” Meeks asked on the third day (or what felt like days). He’d spent hours tending glowing mushrooms that sang when watered, his System interface dormant.  

The Gardener pruned a rose made of light. “Your Reality Anchor worked, but your mortal form couldn’t survive the backlash. The System preserved your consciousness here while it… recalibrates.”  

“My friends—Lira, Jax, Kaela—are they safe?”  

“They live,” the Gardener said gently. “They mourn you, but their world is healed.”  

Relief and guilt tangled in Meeks’ chest. ‘I saved them… but I left them.’  

---

### **System Notification:**  

Reinitialization Progress: 84%  

---

Weeks (months? years?) blurred. Meeks learned to meditate in a grove where thoughts took physical form—his anxieties manifesting as storm clouds, his rare moments of peace blooming into fields of lilies. The Gardener taught him to weave starlight into tapestries that showed fragments of Eryndor: Aldryn lecturing a solemn S-Class, Kaela tinkering with a device that bore his fingerprints, Lira staring at the night sky as if searching for him.  

“Why show me this?” Meeks asked, fingers trailing over an image of Jax laughing.  

“To remind you that endings are rarely absolute,” the Gardener replied.  

---

On the day the System finally reactivated, Meeks stood at the garden’s edge, where the meadow met an endless ocean of stars.  

[Reinitialization Complete]  

[New Designation: Realm Catalyst (Tier 1)]  

The Gardener joined him, holding a seed that pulsed with faint light. “You’ve been given a choice. Stay here in eternal peace, or return to the cycle of struggle and growth.”  

Meeks hesitated. ‘Would they even want me back? Do I deserve it?’  

As if answering, the System projected a message—not its usual text, but a shaky, handwritten note floating in the air:  

*Meeks—  

If you’re out there, we’re close to a breakthrough. The Anchor left a… signature.  

Find us.  

—Lira*  

The words dissolved into stardust.  

Meeks closed his hand around the seed. It warmed his palm, roots spiraling gently around his wrist.  

“Looks like I’m not done yet,” he said.  

The Gardener smiled. “Then tend your garden well, Catalyst.”  

Light swallowed him again—but this time, it felt like coming home.  

---

### **New Quest:**  

**Return to Eryndor**  

Objective: Rebuild your connection to the physical realm.  

Reward: ???  

---

End of Chapter 8