Looking at the image of the naked woman, the young man can’t help but praise and curse his luck. He had never seen anyone so beautiful, even in pictures online, but this is not what he intended to happen at all. Or at least, he didn’t think so.
There was still the possibility that this video had something to do with music based on the fact that she was holding some kind of stringed instrument, but everything else about the image tells him that he’s looking at a girl who just got laid.
He feels deeply disappointed with both the video and himself. The video because of course the first thing he found on the internet would not only be porn, but from the looks in the girl’s eyes, the kind of porn that he would feel guilty watching. And disappointment in himself because, of all the things he could have grasped onto when they were appearing in the Omega Browser’s Space, of course, the first thing he’d reach out to is a naked woman.
He lets out a deep sigh and considers whether or not he can even find it in himself to watch the video and finds that he is conflicted in more ways than one.
Logically, he should watch it because it is a result that came up when he was searching for ways to strengthen his soul. Even if it did absolutely nothing, it might provide him with the insight he needs to use the star again.
But, emotionally, he wants to watch it because the woman is easily the most attractive person he had ever seen, but judging by the fact that she seems to be looking right at him with her starry eyes, she is making the video for whoever is recording it.
He hesitates for several minutes and tells himself that he is going to watch it for the sake of his soul before doing his best to calm his beating heart and reaching out with his mind to touch the image.
Immediately, the woman begins speaking to the person recording her, “It’s a shame my sisters can’t know of you. I would very much like for one of them to play the Three Realms Fate-Guiding Verse for the both of us. Then…”
The woman grins before asking the person recording, “If we were both to bathe in the River of Fate, would you spend your time enriching your soul or would you satisfy my whims?”
A chuckle and a man’s deep voice answer the woman. “Naturally, I would satisfy your whims. Why would I pay attention to water when the most beautiful woman in the Three Realms is right in front of me?”
“Then you are a fool!” She replies, a haughty look on her face even as the corners of her lips curl up in a smile and nine fluffy tails appear out of nowhere to wave happily behind her back. “Even the proudest youths of the Three Realms can only look at it from afar and never bathe in the River of Fate. It is a privilege that belongs only to my Nine-Tailed Fox clan! That you would give it up just for another taste of me…”
She shakes her head, a look of faux-derision on her face. “You truly are the greatest fool in all of existence!”
“That is true,” the deep voice responds. “But compared to stealing the princess of the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, is this even worth considering?”
The woman laughs happily, “It is good you know your crime!”
After a moment, the woman seems to settle down and says, “The River of Fate is dangerous, and not just because of my family. Though the Three Realms Fate-Guiding Verse will only send a projection of your soul to the River of Fate, that is not to say that the consequences you might incur will be meaningless. If my family sees you bathing in the river or you encounter some wicked-hearted expert outside of it…”
The woman pauses, her words seemingly stuck in her throat as her body tenses.
“I understand,” the deep voice replies. “In this world, you are the thing that matters most to me. My path of cultivation only exists to let me stand alongside you. So, no matter the opportunity, I will never take any risk that might separate us.”
She nods at him, a look of resolve in her eyes, and then says, “I can only play the verse a maximum of three times. After that, it will depend on the strength of your soul to activate the Celestial Jade to remain in the River of Fate.
When the verse ends, you will be expelled from the River of Fate and return to your body, but the effect is not instantaneous. You must be mindful not to be caught or the consequences might be irreversible!”
“I know,” the voice replies and the recording seems to make a slight dip.
“Good. Then I will begin.”
She takes a breath and begins to press her fingers against the strings of her instrument and the sounds it makes are strange and unnerving, but beautiful nonetheless. Each time the woman places her fingers against a single string, multiple ethereal notes sound within the young man’s mind.
Very quickly, the young man finds that he is losing focus, his thoughts and feelings drifting away from him and the sensations of his body becoming more distant. Before he can understand what is happening, he finds himself standing on verdant green grass between the trunks of ancient trees.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Looking around, he can’t tell if it is day or night because it doesn’t seem to be bright out but he can still clearly see mist floating above the ground, swirling between the trees, and floating up into the air. When he focuses, he can even hear the sound of the woman’s music playing within his mind, but it seems distant with the Omega Browser’s Space closed.
But, when he looks down, he realizes that him being a ‘projection’ of his soul also means that he doesn’t have any clothes on. Feeling uncomfortable with his naturism, he hopes he doesn’t encounter anybody until he can find something to do with his dangly bits.
Despite that, he feels a deep sense of awe when he sees the effects of the music. Then he realizes he doesn’t know what he is supposed to do or where he is supposed to go.
“Is this place even the River of Fate?” He wonders while looking around for any sign of water.
There doesn’t seem to be anything that he can see, but a light breeze does seem to be blowing moist air against his skin from somewhere not too far away. Not knowing what else to do, he begins moving toward it.
While he walks, he opens the Omega Browser’s Space and looks at the dimly lit star inside before closing it again. As far as he can tell, nothing is happening to improve its condition.
He isn’t really surprised, seeing as all he is doing is walking around, but there is clearly something abnormal about isekai’ing yourself after being isekaied, so he was hoping that there might be some improvement for the star. Though, from what he understands, he may or may not actually be here and he is only using a copy of a recording to experience this place right now in the first place, so maybe there just isn’t any effect for him.
But, then again, he knows that the woman wanted to bathe in the river with the man, and even though that seemed more about sex than anything else from the way she was talking, she also made it seem as though bathing in the river was something important. He just doesn’t really get why that is or what’s supposed to happen.
If he had to guess, he would say that the man and woman had discussed the most important information prior to starting the recording because they didn’t feel a need to record the conversation itself. It just so happened that he saw the end of their conversation because the woman thought of something to tease the man with.
Though, with that being said, he isn’t entirely sure that he can even trust what little he did hear of the two’s conversation. He’s certain they weren’t speaking English, and the fact that he was somehow able to understand them makes him think that the Omega Browser was doing some sort of translation in the background. But without having anything to compare the translation to, he has no way of knowing if he got the full message from what they said or if he lost some important details along the way.
Not much later, he finally sees water in the distance and begins running toward it, excited to figure out what is so important about this ‘River of Fate’.
With his excitement propelling him forward, it only takes him a minute to charge through the trees and arrive at the shoreline of a massive body of water. The only problem is that it’s a bit too massive.
“This isn’t a river, this is a fucking ocean!” He complains loudly. “Did I come to the wrong place?”
Looking out at the water, he hopes he had just seen things wrong from the ground, it just seems like there is way too much water for it to be anything but an ocean in front of him.
He even turns around and climbs a tree nearby before looking out at the water again. Even from twenty or thirty feet up in the air, he is unable to see the opposite bank of the so-called ‘river’ in front of him.
“Am I in the wrong place or is this river just really wide?” He wonders and makes his way back down the tree before approaching the edge of the water.
Looking to the left and right, all he can see is water. There are no crossings, no bridges, no ferries, and no boats. Nothing but water.
The water itself is clear enough for him to see the ground beneath it, even several dozens of feet away, but he doesn’t see any signs of fish, plants, or much of anything. It doesn’t even look like the water is flowing.
“Is this place like the dead sea?” He dips one finger into the water before bringing it to his tongue and licking it, but the water doesn’t taste like anything, even salt.
“Since it isn’t salty, it probably isn’t an ocean… but why is it so big?”
Dipping his hand into the water at an angle, he watches as the water is pushed up higher onto his hand.
“So it’s moving… but there doesn’t seem to be much pressure behind it. Is there an undercurrent?”
Taking a step into the water, he makes sure he is well-balanced on the ground before inching his way forward, constantly looking for any signs of a current that might drag him under. But as far as he can tell, there is nothing.
Even when the water approaches his waist, there doesn’t seem to be any undercurrent.
Opening the Omega Browser’s Space, he looks at the star for any signs of change but is quickly left disappointed.
“Nothing? How does any of this have to do with strengthening my soul then? All I’m doing is relaxing in the water!”
He moves a few feet closer to the shoreline and sits down while still in the water. Water immediately raises to his chest level, but he can’t tell if anything useful is happening at all.
“Do I have to be deeper in or something? Or am I supposed to drink it?”
Raising up his hand to scratch his head, he’s uncertain what he should do. He recalls the woman saying she would play her verse three times, but he doesn’t even know if she has completed it once, twice, or if he is quickly approaching the end of his time here, so he doesn’t know how long he has to experiment with the water.
“I don’t really know if I want to drink water without boiling it first, but this water seems fine to me and supposedly I’m just a projection so….”
He hesitates for a second before cupping his hands and dipping them into the water before bringing them to his lips and taking a sip.
Looking at the star, he says, “Nope. Nothing.”
He lowers his hands and lets the rest of the water spill out before standing up and taking several steps forward until he is submerged up to his stomach.
Moving forward slowly, he keeps an eye on the little star to see if it is having an effect, but even when he is standing with water up to his neck, nothing seems to be happening.
“Seriously! What the hell am I supposed to do here?”
He stops moving for a while to consider whether he should risk swimming further into the water, but with no one around he hesitates because he doesn’t know if he will suddenly find the undercurrent he’s been looking for.
After a minute, he says, “That woman said that the guy she was talking to would be sent out of this place when he stopped playing the recording of her music. So if anything happens, I’ll just stop playing the video and wait until I get kicked out.”
Then he prepares to take another step forward and begin swimming, but he is nearly startled out of his skin when he hears the high-pitched voice of a woman shouting at him from behind.
“You there! Who are you and how did you get here?”