Chapter 54: The Boundary Wall

The quiet room inside the apartment felt incredibly tight. Leo sat rigid on the wooden study chair, his dark eyes locked dead onto Stella’s face as his mind struggled to process her words.

"What the hell do you mean by that, Stella?" Leo asked, his deep voice cracking slightly under the sudden weight of the question. He leaned forward, his hands gripping his knees. "How do you know about the system?"

Stella let out a long, heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping as she looked down at her small desk layout. "Honestly, Leo... I don't know the exact origin of the System either. Nobody on our planet does, except the royal family." She looked up, her emerald eyes full of absolute seriousness. "Before the enemy broke through the palace gate, Princess Ophira looked directly into our eyes. She told us that we had to escape the planet to track down this exact program. She said that only the specific person who hosts this System has the unique power capability to save our home world, Luxora."

Stella stepped closer, her voice dropping into a soft whisper. "And fortunately for us... the exact moment our spaceship crashed into the atmosphere of Earth, our royal tracking device picked up a massive, concentrated spike of the core energy. The location led us straight to this university right after you put on that VR visor and the System permanently locked onto you.."

Leo stayed completely silent for a long two minutes, leaning his back against the study chair as he absorbed everything he had just heard. The reality of his situation was completely shifting. The VR System that had been commanding his life wasn't just a random game, they were the final hope for a completely destroyed civilization across the stars.

He rubbed his temples, a sharp frown tracing his jawline as another terrifying thought hit his brain. "Wait. If this Julia and her species are truly that overpowered... if they can literally freeze time and release mind-controlling worms across a whole planet... why hasn't she just killed us already? She could easily wipe us out in our sleep."

Stella immediately shook her head, a small, reassuring spark returning to her green eyes. "She can't, Leo. And it's entirely because of the System inside your body. The core code acts as an absolute defense against her species. Her imperial powers are heavily limited whenever she is near you. As long as you are alive, she cannot harm you directly."

Leo blinked, his mind running through the rules. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"Let's check your current stats and progress level," Stella said, reaching into her dark school bag. She pulled out a sleek, glowing metallic device that carried a faint royal seal on the casing.

Leo looked at the device, thoroughly confused. "How are you going to look at my stats? The digital screen only pops up in front of my own eyes."

"Princess Ophira gave us this sync drive before the portal initialized," Stella explained smoothly, tapping the glass screen. "It is somehow permanently connected to your System. Look."

She logged into the main tracking device, a small hologram of Leo's character status instantly projecting into the air between them. Stella filtered through the numerical bars, her brow furrowing slightly as her expression turned serious. "It's exactly as I feared... your current level is simply not enough, Leo. You need to train harder and reach a specific high level before you can ever hope to face Julia in an actual conflict."

Leo sat perfectly still, staring at the glowing status numbers floating in the dim apartment room. The weight of the harem drama, the midterm exams, and now an actual intergalactic war was suddenly entirely too much for him to calculate at a time. He stood up from the study chair aggressively, grabbing his duffel bag from the floor.

"I need to think about this, Stella," Leo said, his voice deep, flat, and completely overwhelmed. Without waiting to hear another word from her or Lunaria, he turned on his heel, unlocked the deadbolt, and walked straight out of the apartment, leaving the room in heavy silence.

.....

An hour later, the night had fully spread across the city sky. The ambient streetlamps cast long, dancing shadows across the empty concrete sidewalks as Leo walked completely alone down the dark avenue. The cool night air did absolutely nothing to calm the chaotic storm running through his thoughts.

TAP. TAP.

A sudden set of crisp, slow footsteps echoing from the shadows ahead caused Leo to stop dead in his path.

His dark eyes violently contracted in absolute, profound shock.

Standing right under the pale white glow of a broken streetlamp, blocking the middle of the sidewalk entirely, was Professor Julia. She had discarded her formal faculty folders, her mature hourglass silhouette standing tall and striking against the dark backdrop. She was looking directly at him with that same cold, velvety smirk tracing her mature lips.

She began walking slowly toward him, her movements completely silent.

Leo instinctively took a single, tense step backward, his muscles locking up for a fraction of a second. But the exact moment his heel hit the concrete, Stella’s warning words violently flashed through his mind. Her powers are limited. She cannot harm you directly. He tightened his jaw, forcing his tall frame to stand ground, refusing to back off another inch as he glared back into her smoky-grey eyes.

Julia stopped a mere three feet away from his chest. Without saying a single word, she smoothly raised her right hand, her slender fingers giving a sharp, crisp SNAP.

BZZZZT!

A massive, transparent barrier instantly detonated into existence, forming a complete, invisible dome wall that locked the two of them into absolute privacy, cutting off the rest of the street entirely.

Leo’s eyes narrowed instantly, his mind flashing back to the brutal combat block weeks ago. He recognized the energy immediately. "The Chimera... it was you. You were the one who sent that monster to attack me on the street and in laboratory."

Julia let out a velvety, deeply amused chuckle, her smoky-grey eyes carrying a dark, dangerous spark under the moonlight. "Yes, Leo. I absolutely did. And honestly... I truly, deeply wished that you had died inside that laboratory before I was forced to travel down to this planet myself. But... I suppose it's fine. The current situation makes things remarkably interesting now."

She leaned her beautiful face slightly closer to his, her voice dropping into a calm, mocking purr. "Don't look so aggressive, Leo. I won't waste my energy fighting you for absolutely nothing tonight. Your System core protects you from me. But do not get comfortable... I will eventually find a perfect way to eliminate completely."

Before Leo could even open his mouth to deliver a warning, Julia violently dissolved into thin air.

POP.

The immense pressure of the invisible dome barrier vanished in a fraction of a microsecond, the regular ambient sounds of the city street instantly rushing back into his ears. Leo stood completely alone under the pale streetlamp.