Chapter 19 – Fly high through apocalypse sky

 “Flying this shit is hard.”
“Flying excrement of any kind poses difficulty to most humans. But with Runecraft, solids of any kind become easy to fly.” - Runecraft enthusiast

Vera was playing around with alchemy.

Using alchemy with her own supply of energy was satisfying. However, there were few things to use alchemy with.

“If you want more material, you’re going to have to hop Dimensions.” The Chuckling Dragon chuckled again. “You know, your ‘Sweethearts’ are now at the same Spirit Rank as you.”

Vera was embarrassed momentarily. She had been doing cultivation for over 15 years and her creation the Koi Koshi bacterial growth was now ahead of her in Body Realm, alongside her in Spirit Realm and the only thing Vera had to show for her 15 years was 2 more Soul Realms.

Vera had two options, going for Dimension Hopper, the next rank in the Spirit Realm or achieving the Half-step to the next Soul Rank; Half-step to Nascent Soul.

‘Since they were both similar to one another in the new-school cultivation, why not train both and get good simultaneously?’

“That is a reasonable idea. It is also the reason why cultivators are usually brought up with all three acting in concert.” The Chuckling Dragon affirmed Vera’s desire.

This was a principle that made cultivation possible in multiple different ways. It was built on understanding of the world. And multiple explanations could lead to the same amount of understanding of a concept.

Vera was reminded of elementary school where a teacher said this about cultivation, he used the example of learning multiplication through multiplication tables which is required early on but becomes unwieldy for larger numbers where you use the crisscross method.

Not understanding something means you are viewing it from a direction that does not yield a result which makes sense; it needs to be viewed from another direction.

********

Vera spent days controlling her Soulforce, using techniques she knew, techniques she was learning and Soulcraft.

She also spent a lot of time on alchemy and attuning herself to the Suzhouzan Dimension.

The Suzhouzan, was an important Spirit World for cultivators. Like Earth, it had an entire universe, making it a super-stable Dimension. The second reason was its proximity, in terms of Spiritual Travel, Astral Projection and Soul Transfer, it was closer than any other stable Dimension. Yet another benefit was that of not being claimable, that is to say, it didn’t have a ruler.

Unlike the other closest Dimension, Duodongzeng, time inside of Suzhouzan flew at a similar, but slower rate to Earth. This meant that one could experience tranquillity in a much better way. It was brimming with Soulforce, so collecting it, which was one of the main uses of cultivation, was much easier.

It was an almost tranquil idyllic zone, except for a small caveat. A voice constantly reminded you that you don’t belong. The problem of this voice wasn’t learning to ignore it, it was learning to live with it. Learning to ignore the voice had caused many to get lost within its beautiful, peaceful, nature and tranquility.

Attuning herself to the Suzhouzan required a Soulcraft ritual. Vera felt lucky that one of the main way teachers taught was showcasing many different things and assisting students who had questions.

By going back in her Mind’s Gate to the teaching about the Suzhouzan, Vera was able to recollect all the steps necessary for the ritual.

A magic circle, the most basic way of using Soulcraft, was the most simple and basic way of using magic. Many people had found this independently of their knowledge of cultivation. A magic circle would use energy, in the form of Soulforce, Heat or Lifeforce from blood to create an out-of-this-world interaction.

Carrying a fundamental law of physics from a place with a completely different set of rules would often result in death; so that’s why defensive magical circles were a must.

Historically, bridging the gap was only considered safe if you knew how you were constructing your ritual. This is where the biggest improvement came. Scrying. A Scrying magic circle would allow your astral projection to understand a Dimension and glean information about it without exposing yourself or your word to danger.

Vera made a magic circle with Sakura petals which were ceaselessly flowing from the tree.

She was almost done when she heard a chuckle “Not bad for a first attempt, although I would do some changes. I can’t tell you how you should change the part opposite of the Sakura Tree.” He chuckled again and went on to interact with the little mushroom boys.

Vera missed not being able to see them under the microscope. However, the daily connections through her entering of the Soul Realm allowed her to see its growth.

Both she and her ‘Sweethearts’ had been taking what seemed to be an unlimited supply of Soulforce from the Chuckling Dragon.

Spending that Soulforce didn’t seem to weight down upon Vera as much as it had done at the start, she could refill up 15 to 18 times now before needing a rest.

Days were going smoothly, almost idyllic to Vera, after the daily rush of going to and from the University. But something in the back of her head made her snap back to reality. Her reminiscing was stopped by a terrible voice saying, “You don’t belong here!” This ended her connection.

Her scrying of the Suzhouzan was a partial success.

She was able to connect to the Dimension and got affected by its time relationship, but luckily, she couldn't ignore the voice or she would have been caught in a perpetual state of being trapped within the tranquilizing confines of that Dimension.

A profound terror passed down her hypothetical spine. ‘Not having a body makes it difficult to place certain feelings which are associated with areas of the body,’ she thought.

“Oh, don’t become cynical just because you got a little scared by the Suzhouzan.” The Chuckling Dragon chided her.

The dread and terror caused by that … voice, it was indescribable. How someone could learn to live with it, was completely beyond Vera.

“Remember you don’t have any of your emotion canceling techniques.” The Chuckling Dragon was quick to point out “If you did, you might have had a much milder response.”

Still frozen with fear and dreading the second attempt she went to sleep.

********

The next day, Vera scryed the Suzhouzan twice. The first time ended just like the previous one. However, the second time around she felt motion. She was no longer still within the Suzhouzan, she could move through it. Her vision, which at first was filled with a uniform stillness, slowly started sharpening into shapes.

She was flying, soaring through the endless green. Vera felt free, like she had found the place where she belonged. This was true scrying. Not whatever fake-ass shit she had been doing before.

Her Spirit form shimmered in the light of something in the sky.

Multiple somethings. The scene was perfectly idyllic, at least that’s what Vera thought.

The problem with the scene was, it was also extremely nondescript. The details of this world just weren’t there, like a half-baked creation. ‘More like an overbaked one.’ Vera thought to herself and giggled.

The peace and serenity were overwhelming, to the point she started falling asleep.

“INTRUDER! Get OUT! OUT! Leave!” The screaming that was intelligible before became crystal clear and much scarier, as the raspy voice of roughly feminine cadence assaulted her would-be eardrums.

This canceled the connection she had built to the Suzhouzan.

Vera felt all the hairs on her Spirit body raise and a feeling like cold sweat going down her back came back to her.

“Hahaha, this is one of the friendliest, of the Cardinal Dimensions.” He checkled, before continuing “I guess that means you are now ready to interact with it.” He continued playing around with her Sweethearts.

“After just three scryings?” Vera blurted out. She immediately realized she should’ve just thought it and the dragon would understand her.

“No need to be flustered. You have created a link already, which makes interaction much safer.” He chuckled, “And this one is the safest ones among those you might have known about.”

Vera was already calmed by the aura of the place, and she focused her Soul Realm to try to clear her mind again.

Interacting with her Sweethearts made her feel warm and fuzzy again and she regained the stamina to continue on her quest for Spirit Realm interaction.

She prepared another magic circle, this time without the scrying functionality. Focusing, she felt the link and following it she plunged her hand in.

Nothing

…

Nothing

‘A bout of Nothing again.’

A strange sensation overcame her, a mix of Claustrophobia and Agoraphobia.

‘How can I feel two opposite phobias at the same time?’ Is what she would have said if her voice came out...

A dizzying sense of vertigo overcame her, a spinning sensation, with the blackness receding to the more tranquil Suzhouzan she had been accustomed to.

“LEAVE! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!” The voice from before sounded so much closer and it was even scarier than before. Vera didn’t care, it was preferable to the endless expanse. Or was it a confined space before?

A feeling similar to her Soul Transference overcame her and she anchored herself on that sound.

“I got you now!” Vera exclaimed as she entered the Suzhouzan Spirit Dimension.

Her mind was bombarded by an influx of information as if an explosion appeared. An immense satisfaction filled her.

She had not only landed on another Spirit Dimension, but she had also achieved the third rank of the Spirit Realm: Dimension Hopper, which would be roughly the equivalent of rank 25 in the new-school system.

Vera sparkled in bliss for a moment.