"May I know why you are hesitating?"
D was standing with his hands behind his back. He looked over his left shoulder and saw a man walking over.
"Oh, how are you feeling?"
The man came near him and stood next D. But, his eyes were fixed on the hexagonal glass chamber.
"Alive."
During the conversation that gave way to the upgrading, the apparition identified himself. His surname was unknown as a quarter of his memory was either wiped out or corrupted to an extent of no retrieval. But, from the conversation, something had happened that triggered the unannounced upgrade.
D brought his eyes back to the chamber. The hexagonal shaped construct was made of one-way glass created from some unknown substance. Inside it was Lee sitting cross-legged, with his eyes shut. For those outside the chamber, even the smallest of the movements in the inside were evidently visible.
---
A few minutes later.
"Let's open the chamber."
D raised his right arm and gave a gesture. At the same moment, a panel appeared in front of Lee, and made a notification ring.
*ding*
=====
Would you like to open the chamber?
[Yes] [No]
=====
Lee opened his eyes and stared at the words. D and the man glanced at each other when he hit the 'No' option. They were unable to understand what was happening. D frowned and waved his hand. A bluish grey panel came up and it only had a flatline running across it.
"How long do you want to stay in the chamber?"
The flatline in the panel showed fluctuations according to Dnekewy's voice and the same voice resonated in the chamber. Lee heard the voice and a smirk crept up his face. He was happy that his conclusion was right.
"I knew it was you, D. And I assumed that you would be watching me."
Lee stood up as he opened his eyes. A set of sleeveless upperwear, pants and undergarments fell from the thin air, in front of Lee. Lee immediately took them and wore it over, and covered his nakedness.
One of the glass around him slid upward and a green landscape unfolded in front of Lee. For a second, he was confused, amazed, speechless and curious by this view. A bright light came rushing into the chamber and shed its warmth over his being.
Lee changed his focus from the blue sky to the ground. He was completely awestruck by the short and dense grass population filling the ground. The landscape was all green and filled with energy.
Lee was unsure whether it was all real. He had assumptions that these are either illusions, or created by D for a warm welcome. To find whether his conclusions are right or wrong, Lee stepped out of the chamber.
A breeze swept across his face and it was refreshing like a warm tea on a chilly day. Lee striked off the second assumption as this had never happened when he was in the consciousness before. Now the first option alone remains.
Scanning around him as he turned his head, Lee found the perfect environment around him. There was no pollution, and the air was pure to its core. The grass was beautiful to look at, and brushed against his barefoot. The faint prickling sensation almost urged him to judge that these are not illusions. Because, if anyone could create illusions to such sophisticated and detailed extent, with sensory reception, then that would be a marvelous feat!
Turning his head to his right, Lee saw D standing next to a stranger. He could not find any familiarity with the face, so he hoped to ask D about the man's identity. Lee was rather curious about that person, who was standing next to D. Lee was aware that the sovereign does not have any living relative anymore.
Since the stranger was standing next to D, Lee was at ease. Thus he stepped towards the sovereign, who looked no different from his old and wrinkly figure. The only change Lee noticed was the glaive in his hand, which had replaced the walking cane.
The wrinkly face smiled at incoming Lee, and expressed his greetings.
"Welcome back from the dead, kid."
Lee approached and smiled in response, and glanced at the stranger. D saw his focus shifting towards the not-seen-before face. A need for introduction is necessary, his mind spoke.
"Lee, do you recognise this person?"
D asked and glanced at the face of the stranger. A faint smirk appeared on his face and he peered back at Lee. The young man had confusion written all over his face. He scratched his head, signifying that he had run out of memory to check.
"I have not seen him before. Who is he?"
Curious frown replaced his cluelessness as he averted his gaze to D. The sovereign chuckled at his response and spoke-
"This is Hudson. You may remember seeing him as an apparition."
Lee was taken aback by the answer. He had thought that D had sacrificed the soul for the sake of upgrading. To be honest, Lee had completely forgotten about the existence of the apparition. D continued-
"Hudson is more than four centuries old. His story is different from what we have speculated. He was not the wizard's soul, but the soul sacrificed for the ritual. He was bound with a spell that cleverly concealed the wisp of the soul of that malicious wizard, which controlled Hudson around like a parasite. Since only he knew about the wisp's existence, the wizard took caution to not let him be cool and chill, and casted a Maniac Berserk spell on him. Thanks to Gauthama, it broke away when a surge of his power swept across him.
During our conversation, Hudson gave many important information which immediately triggered the desire to upgrade. It was so quick and unexpected that even I was not ready for such a drastic step. But the content of the conversation was confidential and I approved it.
And where you stand is the one of the final results of the upgrade. Welcome to the habitable subspace."