Before Jin Shu could get a good look at the floating items, a strange white fog sprang up from the deep recesses of the space. The fog swept over everything quickly, leaving behind only the items from the cavern and a glowing book he hadn't noticed before.
"What just happened? Where’d those items go?" Jin Shu asked aloud.
“Unknown.”
“Mew?”
Neither of his companions could answer, though he hadn’t expected them to. One was a robot—or rather, a collection of robots—that knew as little about this world as he did. The other was a newborn tiger. It would have been stranger if they had known the answer.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he took a cautious step toward the floating items. Though he half-expected to fall through the empty space, his foot met resistance, as if there were an invisible floor.
He let out a shaky breath, nerves on edge from the invisible footing. I wish I could just have the items come to me. And just like that, they floated over to him.
"Wow, I can control this place with thoughts?" As he considered what to do next, an idea struck him. "Alright, let’s try this: bring back the things that got taken!"
A fog rose once more from the recesses of the space, but this time it didn’t sweep anything away. Instead, it churned at the edges of his vision, seeming both impossibly far and almost close enough to touch. The feeling made him queasy; his head throbbed, and black and white spots swam before his eyes.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" He shouted, halting the fog. The space obeyed, the fog dissipated, and the sickening sensation in his head vanished.
“Mew!” Yin'er gave Jin Shu's cheek a lick to comfort him. The feel of her rough tongue reminded him of a kitten, except hers was slightly rougher on account of being a baby tiger and all.
“This space seems to place a heavy burden on your mind,” Nano spoke as Jin Shu’s vision cleared. “It would be wise to limit yourself until we better understand its rules.”
"Good idea." Jin Shu took a step forward, approaching the floating items himself. Curiosity got the better of him, though, and he wondered if the items might sort themselves by usefulness. At his thought, they quickly organized, without the strange fog appearing.
He shuddered, remembering the fog’s effect on him, but turned his attention to the now-organized items. They floated in a line, with the most useful ones on the closest left and the least useful far to the right.
“Mew!” Yin'er watched in wonder as the items floated around.
The closest were various bullets, arranged by caliber without his prompting. The items on the right were mostly junk, like rocks, tattered books, buttons, door handles, and even a toilet. In the center was the glowing book, which seemed neither useful nor useless.
Maybe the space doesn’t know if I’ll find it useful or not, Jin Shu mused.
"Nano, can you count the amount of ammunition here?"
“Certainly! …There are 14,983 bullets of varying calibers. Would you like an exact count for each?”
"Yes."
“There are three groups of 5,000 bullets each: 9mm, 5.56, and 7.62.”
"I could outfit an entire platoon with all of that." He gave another mental command, and the bullets floated to the side. "But for now, let’s see what else is useful."
With the bullets out of the way, he could see the other items on the left. There were only two: a cellphone and a large animal fang, about the size of his head, that he didn’t recall seeing in the cave.
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He brought the two items closer. "Hm, what am I going to do with a cellphone in this world? It’s not like I can make a call back to Earth, right?"
“We have an idea for this device. Would you like to hear it?”
"Shoot."
“We do not have a weapon to shoot with.”
"No, I meant… tell me."
“Ha-ha. We know; that was a joke.” Nano laughed in a strange, monotone way.
"Oh… well, what’s your idea?"
“To place one of us into the device, we could use it to display physical data. You would need to feed it qi occasionally, though, as we rely on your qi to function. Without a host, we would enter a dormant state.”
"What kind of physical data?"
“Any quantifiable data could be displayed as 3D holographics to help with your cultivation and blacksmithing.”
"Huh? Holograms? How? Cellphones don’t display holograms…" Jin Shu was beyond confused. He’d adjusted to the idea of living in a cultivation world with high-tech nanobots in his body—as much as one could to such a bizarre situation—but for whatever reason hearing what Nano said made him feel like he’d stepped into a Sci-Fi novel or something.
“Based on your memories, your people already had access to holographic technology. And even in this world there exists illusion formations that serve the same purpose. So, is it really that surprising that we, as a higher form of technology could alter your lower technology?”
“Uhh… no, no I guess not?” Jin Shu paused for a moment, reflecting on his new and old lives. ”I might be letting the memories of my last life affect me too much.”
He began to think how he would have reacted before his old memories awoke. He would have believed that the cellphone was a type of artifact and Nano would use an illusion formation to create a type of projection. For some reason, if I think about it that way, it makes more sense.
“Alright, what do we need to do?”
“You'll need to place a drop of your blood into the phone.”
“Okay.” He tried biting his fingertip, but he couldn't feel any pain and his teeth didn't tear his skin. “What the hell?”
“Either you are protected from physical harm here or we are in a kind of virtual reality. Give us a moment, we will check…”
For a split second, Jin Shu felt as if he had lost something inexplicable, as if a part of himself—something that wasn't physical —ceased to exist for a brief instance. “Your body seems to be in a sort of trance right now, so, this is not a physical space.” Nano spoke again and the feeling left as quickly as it came. He figured that the feeling must have been caused by whatever Nano had just done.
“Hm, okay. Will do it after I find out how to leave…” He glanced at the fang floating next to the phone and the book floating further away. “First let's see what this fang and that book are.”
He grabbed the floating fang and examined it, but couldn't figure out how it was supposed to be useful. He made to toss it away, however Yin'er suddenly flew off his shoulder and grabbed the fang with her small mouth. The fang was larger than she was tall, so it was quite the comical sight.
Yin'er tried taking a bite out of the fang. They weren't physically here though, so she was unsuccessful in her attempts at taking a chunk out of it.
“Mew!!” She looked frustrated by the fact that she couldn't do anything to the fang.
“When we leave I'll give you the fang, okay?”
“Mew…” She nodded her head sadly, but in understanding.
With a mental command the book floated over, examining the cover, he found it to be titled in deep black flowing letters—Compendium of Runes and Their Crafting
As he opened the cover a bright white light flooded his vision. Coming and going in a flash.
“What just happened?”
“That book tried ‘uploading’ tons of information into your brain. We intercepted the transmission and can share it with you at any time.”
“Why'd you intercept it?”
“The amount of information would have temporarily crippled your mind.”
Jin Shu let out a breath of relief. “That sounds scary, thank you, Nano.”
“It’s wise to avoid overloading your senses,” Nano advised. “Would you like to access the information piece by piece?”
"Yeah, that sounds better." He placed his hand on the cover of the book, feeling a faint, pulsing warmth as if it was alive. This earring, and all its mysteries, was unlike anything he'd imagined.
"Alright," he said, looking around at the neatly organized items floating in the strange, starry realm. "Let’s figure out how to get back."
He closed his eyes and pictured himself standing in the cavern. Strange energy shifted around him, and he felt a pull, as if gravity itself had flipped. His vision blurred, and he found himself back in the cave, with Yin'er perched on his shoulder and Nano's calm voice in his mind.
“Welcome back, Jin Shu.”
Opening his eyes, he saw the glowing book held in his hands, solid and real. He imagined the fang appearing in his hand. The fang appeared in the air above the book, since he didn't have a free hand it clattered to the floor.
Yin'er pounced onto the fang, purring with joy as she nawed on it like a dog with a bone.
He took a deep breath, holding the book tightly. "I don't know what secrets this holds, but… I have a feeling things just got a lot more interesting."