Chapter 9 – Me, Myself & I

When Karlo tried to go back, he found that the staircase had vanished.

‘Of course it did. Looks like I can only use my trump card. Qi Sense!’

Instantly, he could once again see the string of Qi that connected him to Old Garber.

‘As long as I follow this, I’ll get there eventually.’

The line stretched beyond the horizon.

Karlo took a look at his panel.

[Karlo Berrio

Cultivation: F

Qi: 10/11

Life: 60yrs

Affiliations: Yellow, Blue

Talents: Truth Seeker

Techniques: True Basic Qi Gathering (5/per hour); Qi Sense (Lv. 1); Qi Infusion (Lv. 3)]

‘Damn, Qi Sense has already used 1 Qi. No wonder I got Qi deficiency before. I’ll have to turn it off soon.’

He took another look at the direction the line was traveling and committed it to memory before deactivating Qi Sense.

Karlo breathed out and sat down.

‘Things have been so hectic, I need to think. Let’s just go from the start. Besides, today marks the end of my first week in the world of cultivation.

‘On day 1, I woke up in this world and I chose to go into the desert/tundra area. I then arrived at Green Village, where I met 4 other people from Earth. That reminds me, I wonder what happened to them?

‘Anyway, that night, I finished rearranging the first page of the cultivation booklet.

‘From day 2 to day 4, I was just rearranging the booklet 90% of the time.

‘On day 5, I completed the booklet and began cultivating before falling unconscious.

‘On day 6, I woke up and my cultivation had gone up to F Grade and I also unlocked my Truth Seeker talent. I then went out and met Old Garber, whose mission I still have to complete. I unlocked Qi Sense, went down a spiral staircase, and found Mrs. Dandy’s tailor. Then, again, I fell unconscious.

‘When I woke up, Mrs. Dandy gave me another mission, and through it, I unlocked Qi Infusion and got it to level 2. I also learnt how to manually speed up my cultivation. Then I went to sleep.

‘That brings us to today, day 7. I woke up and my Qi capacity had increased by 1. I finished Mrs. Dandy’s mission, receiving a silver coin and leveling Qi Infusion to level 3.

‘Coral was then supposed to take me to the bathhouse, but we ended up at one she had never seen before. In the bath, I met Jovie Tops, a man who gave me a bad feeling.

‘When we got back and told Mrs. Dandy about the situation, it looked like she knew the guy, and she said something to Coral about leaving. Then, she forced me to leave through the same staircase I came down to get there.

‘When I went up the staircase, I ended up here. In the middle of nowhere.’

Karlo had known the old lady had some secrets, but things seemed to be a lot more dangerous than he had anticipated.

‘Whoever this ‘Jovie Tops’ is, it looks like he’s bad news.’

Karlo looked again at the piece of paper Mrs. Dandy gave him. ‘I’m sure most of my questions will be answered if I read this, but... if the old lady didn’t want to tell me, I owe it to her to respect her wishes.’

After gathering himself, Karlo got up and began walking in the direction his Qi Sense had indicated. Even though he hadn’t figured out anything, he felt a lot calmer than before.

He thought about taking a look at the forum while he walked but decided against it as he didn’t want to risk going in the wrong direction.

So, bored and cold, he kept walking.

‘Wait, why am I holding this coat instead of wearing it?’

He put it on and instantly felt warmer.

‘That Qi infused thread really does make a difference.’

And then he kept walking.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been walking as there was no way to tell the time. Even posts on the forum only showed the day they were posted, but not the time. The foggy sky blurring the sun didn’t help either.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Despite that, he felt like he had been walking for at least an hour and, thanks to his F Grade cultivation, he didn’t feel tired at all. Now and then, he would make sure he was going the right way by using Qi Sense.

‘Come on Karlo, surely you could be doing something while walking.’

He didn’t think about this for long, though, as he suddenly spotted movement in the distance.

He cautiously watched, but didn’t approach. His talent had warned him that whatever was in that direction might be dangerous.

‘Qi Sense.’

His eyes were opened, and he saw a huge amount of Qi flowing beneath the snow in that area.

Karlo smiled, ‘Rule 1: Always listen to your talent.’

The ground began rumbling, then suddenly moved upwards. Then a booming noise sounded in his ears.

“Roar!”

It was only then that Karlo realized what that mass of Qi was. It was a polar bear the size of an elephant, and it was staring directly at him.

Funnily enough, Karlo’s first thought wasn’t one of fear or figuring out how to escape, but instead, he wondered what this thing even ate. Because, thinking about it, he hadn’t seen a single animal thus far and, from what he remembered, polar bears were carnivores.

‘And another thing,’ he thought. ‘Why was it buried underground?’

‘What the hell are you thinking about? If you don’t do something, you’re gonna be the next thing it eats!’

Unfortunately, no method he thought of, even with adrenaline coursing through his body and even when time felt as if it slowed down, nothing seemed to work.

While he had begun cultivating, and even had some Qi based techniques, nothing was all that useful in a fight.

There he was, looking at a polar bear five times the size of the ones on Earth speeding towards him like a truck, and all he could think was, ‘I’m about to die.’

“Inala! Stop!”

Karlo heard someone shout. He looked and saw people coming towards him and the polar bear.

Seeing this life-saving grace, Karlo shouted, “Help!”

The man at the front replied, “Yeah yeah, buddy, you’re fine. Inala, sit!”

The polar bear sat down.

***

The people who rescued him explained that they were travelers, and the polar bear was their pet and also a guard of sorts. Apparently, it had been scouting the area and noticed Karlo, so it started some sort of surveillance. Unfortunately, Karlo also noticed it, which resulted in the situation from before.

When they got to a cave that served as the traveler’s campsite, he learnt more about them. The leader of the travelers was a big guy called Chuck. They were going to Green City, a place on the same line dividing the desert and tundra that Green Village was on.

“So, who are you, partner?” asked Chuck.

“Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. My name’s Karlo Berrio, I’m going towards Green Village actually.”

“Really, where have you come from?”

“Uhm, it’s a bit hard to explain. The short story is, I was in Green Village, a bunch of stuff happened and I got teleported here. Now I have to find my way back.”

“Wow, that’s unfortunate.”

“Are you an outsider by any chance?” one of the other travelers asked.

“Huh, how could you tell? Is it that obvious?” Karlo felt a bit uncomfortable being asked such a question, but there was no option but to answer truthfully.

“Hahaha, those shoes make it plain as day.”

Karlo looked down at his sneakers and laughed. He hadn’t received any shoes from Mrs. Dandy. Anyway, he felt these were far more comfortable than what the natives were wearing.

Suddenly, the surroundings went silent while one of the travelers whispered something to Chuck.

“Hmmm,” Chuck stroked his beard.

“Is everything okay?” Karlo asked.

“If you’re an outsider, you must be able to receive missions, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Great! We actually have a mission for you. You see, we were planning to make a stop in Green Village because of a package we have to deliver there. This one specifically.” Chuck held out a large cylindrical object covered with a cloth. “But if you take it we can go straight to Green City. So, how about it?”

[Accept Grade (F) Mission?]

Before accepting, Karlo had to ask, “We’ve just met. Aren’t you worried about me simply stealing whatever it is you have to deliver?”

“Hahaha, I’m sure you wouldn’t risk taking the punishment for not completing a mission.”

“Huh... I guess you can count on me then!”

[Accepted Mission: The Traveler’s Dilemma (F)

Mission Objective: Deliver the traveler’s package to Mr. Tops in Green Village (0/1)

Reward: 5 Copper Coins]

‘It couldn't be, right?’ thought Karlo.

“That, that Mr. Tops wouldn't happen to be Jovie Tops?” he asked.

“You know him?”

“Is it possible we just cancel this mission?”

Not only would this mission put him in contact with an extremely dangerous man, but it didn’t even give a good reward.

Chuck looked sternly at him, “If you don’t want to do it, that’s your business. But I’m warning you, the punishment is horrifying.”

Karlo could feel that he was telling the truth. He felt that whatever the punishment was, it would be worse than having to meet Jovie Tops again.

Karlo sighed. ‘Why did this have to happen to me?’ he thought. “I’ll do it.”

“Hahaha, why look so depressed? I’ll treat you to a meal. You’re as thin as a stick. Although, you’re clothes are pretty nice.”

That was the third time someone had complimented his clothes already, and Karlo was beginning to feel curious.

“Do you have a mirror?”

“Uh, yeah. Tiana should have one. Tiana! Show Karlo here your mirror, would ya?”

A strong looking woman with an expressionless face came up to them, “Yes Boss. Karlo, was it? Come with me.”

Karlo gave a weird glance at Chuck who laughed and nodded at him to go.

He and Tiana walked a bit deeper into the cave, where the travelers kept their belongings.

“Wait here,” she said.

When she came back, she was holding a large bag with a strap, almost like a duffle bag.

She opened it, and like a magician’s trick, she pulled out a full body-length mirror.

Karlo felt like he should be amazed but by now he was over it.

He took off his coat and looked in the mirror. He saw a young man with medium-length black hair that was brushed behind his ears. His skin was slightly pale but seemed somewhat ethereal. He also had piercing black eyes.

His clothes were a long white robe tied with a sash around the waist and a shorter, wide-sleeved outer robe with black trim.

Karlo blinked. He turned away and looked back at the mirror. He squinted and widened his eyes.

“Tiana, I think there’s something wrong with your mirror. Who the hell is this guy?”

Not hearing any response, he turned around. “Tiana?”

The woman just kept staring at him with the same expressionless face and without saying a word.

“Okay...” he turned back to the mirror.

Looking closer, he began to see the resemblance between his own face and the one in the mirror.

‘But, if that’s me... If that really is me... Why wasn’t I an actor on Earth?!’

He breathed a sigh, ‘Forget about it. I’ll have that meal that Chuck offered me, and I’ll keep making my way to Green Village.’

He put Old Man Garber’s coat back on.

“Huh? What was that?” Tiana suddenly asked.

“What was what?” Karlo asked in return.

“You said something?”

“Oh, that. Don’t worry about it, it’s not important,” is what he said out loud, while internally he thought, ‘What a weirdo.’

Then he rejoined Chuck at the entrance of the cave. The food was ready and he was starving.