What he saw was almost the exact same scene as when he ra…cough, walked confidently away under their admiring gazes. The only difference was that instead of three standing figures, there were only two, with the last one lying in a pool of blood on the ground.
“Why are they just standing over Evans' dead body? It has been like 30 minutes.”
Samuel was baffled and unsettled by this development. No sane person could be standing perfectly still for that long without moving or talking. Especially when it's standing over a dead body.
“Hello?”
No one responded to his call. Both Luisa and the assassin didn’t even react.
“Are they… dead? Their eyes are staying perfectly still as well, without even blinking."
Samuel started inching his way towards the presumed group of dead people. This isn’t really the way a typical cowardly person would behave, but the situation called for some guts.
“They truly are dead, but how? They just happened to die, presumably at the same time, without any sign of injury or struggle. That doesn't make sense. Also, why do they feel so archaic? It’s like looking at dead trees. It's like they have experienced withering due to time.”
As he reached three meters in front of the group, all three of the bodies started glowing a golden color before disintegrating into dust.
“What is happening? Is there some super-powerful being around here? If so, why am I completely fine?”
The dust, without any warning, started swarming around Samuel.
“NOOOO, why is my mouth cursed?”
Before he could even shed any tears, the dust pressed itself through his skin and into his body. It felt like thousands of ants crawling under his skin. However, this was not all. The dust was all making its way towards his brain; although it was slow, he could still feel it. Without the chance of resisting this development, he was forced to resign himself to his painful death.
“Damn it, typical of my luck. I get the chance to transmigrate, which is incredibly lucky, but I get tortured to death by golden dust formed from three human bodies within the hour of my arrival. Why? Wait! Why do the grass and trees all seem to be turning into golden dust as well? And the rocks! What is happening?”
His thoughts did not get the opportunity to continue because all of the golden dust surged towards him, as if he were a magnet, before entering his body. This further enhanced the level of pain he was feeling, as well as the speed the dust used to get to his brain, and soon everything went black for Samuel. Again.
Immense golden light in the form of dust surged into his body. Slowly, all of the immediate surroundings were dissolved into this dust, with the area of its effect slowly expanding. Since Samuel's body was limited in surface area, the dust spent a lot of time orbiting him before being able to enter. A circular area of over 1000 square kilometers, all covered in a barrier that appears to have been expanding, started turning into golden dust. It didn’t matter whether it was humans, insects, beasts, grass, trees, spiritual fruits, the ground, or even the air. Everything soon transformed. All surging towards the center of this sphere.
…
10 years later
Samuel was in an area of pure darkness, surrounded by a gray spherical barrier. Floating in the center, seemingly slumbering peacefully. Only it wasn't peaceful. IT. WAS. PAINFUL. His body was fine, but his mind was aching like nothing had ever been aching before. The feeling of ants crawling under his skin was now the feeling of ants gnawing on his brain. The same feeling he had been experiencing for a long time already. However, today he could feel it intensifying, yet his lucidity was also increasing. His thoughts finally became coherent again. This equivalent increase continued until Samuel finally, after an eternity, could open his eyes again. The moment he did that, that damned pain disappeared without a trace.
In the most cold and apathetic voice one can ever imagine, Samuel asked, "How long has it been".
Which is a fair question. 10 years of torment and constant pain would feel like an eternity. It would be impossible for someone to keep track of time in such a situation. Or would it? Information quickly surged into Samuel's now-reinforced mind.
"10 years outside?"
The coldness in his voice was diminishing rapidly, and the apathy was replaced with bafflement. Not because of the '10 years' part, but rather the 'outside' part.
"Does that mean time passed differently here compared to outside? Amplified by 10,000 times, what does that even mean?"
As he continued to think about the time he spent in this hell, information kept appearing in his mind.
"WHAT!!! I spent 100,000 years here! How is that possible? Wouldn't I turn to dust?"
The thought of dust now truly horrified him. Being tortured for 10, no, 100,000 years by something will obviously cause some discontent amongst those tortured. It is only natural.
Who would ever think that the lazy Samuel, who spent years of his life living in a pile of dust, would actually become afraid of it?
While Samuel was trembling in fear, as all true men do, the gray barrier started dissipating. Samuel was stunned.
"What even is this barrier? Oh, it's my cocoon; that explains everything. Like hell, it does! What kind of breakthrough cocoon is this? It traps me in here for ten years, distorts time by 10,000 times, makes me absorb all matter in the range of 1000 square kilometers, and forces me to undergo ungodly torture. Why am I so unlucky? But, Samuel, it means your talent is really, really strong. This is clearly a good thing. Shut up! Why did I have to suffer for 100,000 years to obtain it? Am I not a transmigrator? How is it cheating if I have to pay such a disastrous price for it as well as use time to obtain it?"
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The barrier continued to dissipate as Samuel ranted about his cursed luck. However, before it could fully vanish, a pressure that can only be described as quite strong appeared out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere. Just because this world is one of cultivation doesn't mean it's void of all logic. There is nothing within the barrier except time, not even space. When all the air, spiritual energy, and space in the outside world are surrounding a void, pressure is unavoidable. Instantly, as the barrier dissipated, space surged in, creating countless cracks, all containing suction forces, which dragged the stunned Samuel into them.
"How many bad things are going to happen to me? Give me a break! Please!"
But was it truly a bad thing? What Samuel didn't know was that, outside the barrier, there were hundreds of some of the Cyan continent's most powerful people. A huge gray barrier that no living thing has ever emerged from, including some of their descendants, in one of the treasure grounds of the younger generation, would surely attract some attention. And attention it attracted indeed.
"Why is space behaving so erratically as soon as the barrier starts to fade?", a burly young man with long, red hair and eyes asked out loud.
"Maybe whoever or whatever was in there is escaping", some other young man replied.
"You foolish younglings, why would the being who set up a barrier formidable enough to withstand our combined attacks for more than ten years be 'escaping'? Look at the area that was covered! There is nothing there. Nothing at all. Presumably, the thing inside devoured everything there was inside the barrier, including space. The barrier must have blocked all entry, including that of space and spiritual qi."
It was the turn of an old, sage-like existence to speak. He had a typical gray daoist robe, long white hair and beard, a hunched back, and a slit between his eyes.
"Master Kellin, does that mean my descendant is dead?", someone asked.
"Yes."
The response seemed to hit hard, with a few in the crowd while others were secretly reveling in their misfortune.
"We should all just be happy this being didn't place the entire world in one of these barriers. Be my estimates, it should be capable of such a feat."
Instantly, the entire place fell silent. Until the most well-dressed, royal-looking man said, "Go home. I declare that the Mountain of Transcendence will be barred from entry for the next 100 years. In case the being returns to this area."
Meanwhile, this 'being' was throwing up all his stomach acid, flying in the dizzying and contorted warp dimension.
“Oh god, no, not this. Ough, oh no. Please stop. Jesus, no, what have I done to deserve this? Ough, there is nothing more to throw up; please stop.”
Samuel. Was. Suffering. Vomiting is one of the worst things known to man, and continuously doing so dozens or even hundreds of times is nothing short of torture. Luckily, before he started crying, an opening appeared in the space tunnel. Unluckily, the opening was hundreds of meters in the air, above an ocean.
“NOOOO, I hate the ocean! Why do I have to suffer through the things I hate the most? Pain, vomiting, and the ocean—this is hell. Wait, is this hell? Did I not transmigrate but die and end up in hell? But then why would I be granted a super talent related to time?”
Samuel was questioning his very existence at this very moment. But the moment didn’t last very long. Before he could even react, he fell stomach-first, right into the ocean. As a cultivator, you would think it wouldn’t hurt him. But. It. Did. Presumably, it’s because the water elements enhance its density. Or the muscle memory of trying this before. We will never know.
“Hey, what was that sound?”
From the thick water vapor, a ship that can only be described as grandiose emerged. On it stood a young woman, appearing to be in her early 20s, with long golden hair tied up in a bun. She was wearing loose red fighter robes. Anyway, the question was posed to a middle-aged, pirate-looking man standing at the bow of the ship.
“I think I saw someone falling from the sky, but I am not sure. I couldn’t really see through the vapor.”
The man had a voice that would make anyone turn their heads in confusion—the voice of a child. A child no older than ten years old. Clearly, the woman was used to this baffling contrast, yet she still appeared exasperated at his antics.
“Lukas, why do you insist on looking like that, yet you refuse to alter your voice?”
“Because it looks cool. Obviously”
“Do you only care about looking cool, but not about sounding cool? It doesn't make a lot of sense.”
“Whatever. There are only me, you, and Uncle Merling on the ship. Does it matter if I sound cool?”
Just as Quinn was about to respond to his question, a veteran, awkward cough interrupted them.
“Cough”
Immediately, there was silence. The silence was so crippling that the ship started quaking, just to avoid staying in it for a single moment longer. Samuel took the hint and decided to greet his ticket to civilization.
“Um, hello, kind sir and madam! Would it be inconvenient for me to borrow a spot on your magnificent ship to proceed back towards a populated area?”
As Samuel was undeniably most popular amongst his friends back on Earth (he had none), he often perused the dark side of the internet. And boy, did that help him here! A sir and madam. Wow! A remarkable performance from him. Could you imagine greeting them in a less formal way? He’d be turned down immediately! No shot some random goober who just belly-splashed into the ocean in the middle of nowhere would ever be allowed onto someone's ship.
Despite being stunned, Quinn still managed to formulate a response to this ridiculous series of events. Albeit, not a good one.
“Hello to you too; we have some extra room on this humble water vessel. But would you mind first telling us how you ended up here?
‘Water vessel? No one refers to a ship as a water vessel, or is this the difference in culture? Will they not let me on if I don't refer to it as a ‘water vessel’ from now on?’. Samuel was freaking out. He was in the middle of nowhere. How many ships could possibly be passing by this spot? This is his only chance to get home, lest he get eaten by some sea creature. As such, he steeled his resolve.
“I do not know how this happenstance came about, young Miss. One instant I was in the mountains, then the next I appeared hundreds of meters in the high heavens. As I was wallowing in my self-pity, I spotted your extraordinary water vessel cruising out of the thick vapor. Being akin to my life, I could only attempt to ask for a ride back towards civilization.
“I see. Well, I need to..."
Just as Quinn was about to respond to this nonsense with more nonsense, Lukas could no longer take it.
“Why are both of you acting so weird? And why are you both referring to the ship as a water vessel? It is a ship. S H I P. Got it?”
But Samuel didn’t get it. Not because what was being said was so complex, but rather because of how it was said. By an incredibly manly guy with the voice of a child. He. Was. Stunned. And so was Quinn.
“Lukas, you just said you wouldn’t talk with that voice around other people!”
Lukas: “...”
He totally forgot! Just as his face was about to explode from the rush of blood to his head, a calm voice came from the cabins below the deck.
“We have a guest. Stop acting so immature, both of you. Young man, you are welcome to catch a ride on this ‘water vessel', as you called it. But we are going to Stargate Port; from there on, you’ll be on your own to get home.”
Relieved that he found transportation and embarrassed that he was misled into calling the ship a water vessel, he hurriedly thanked the mysterious ‘captain’.
“Thank you, mister.”
“No need. Quinn, take him to the guest cabin, and let him rest. He looks like he took quite the fall.”
Samuel: “...”
He forgot that he landed like a plank. His entire face was beet red, and his clothes were disheveled. The minor amount of embarrassment he was feeling was now major.