Otherworld

In the hazy darkness, a point of light slowly rippled.

A familiar presence surrounded him, gradually calming Arthur.

In the darkness, an instinct was magnified again and again, transmitting a piece of information into Arthur's mind.

In an instant, Arthur understood where he was.

He raised his head and looked ahead.

There, a point of white light flickered, hanging high in the dark sky like a white sun.

As if sensing Arthur's gaze, the white sun ahead rippled gently, stirring faint waves in the surrounding space. Through some unseen connection, it conveyed information to Arthur's soul.

"Is this a world's coordinates?"

In an instant, Arthur understood what it was.

Now that he was here, he understood the reason behind everything.

His soul seemed to be special. Somehow, it could receive certain information from the void, detect the coordinates of some worlds, and use those coordinates to establish a connection with them. Given the right conditions, he could travel to other worlds.

In his previous two lives, the reason an ordinary person like Arthur had crossed between worlds twice was this very ability. It had allowed him to be reborn in other worlds both times.

This Transmigration Ability had always existed within his soul, but it had only been fully activated recently, bringing him to this dark space.

Thinking of this, Arthur grew thoughtful.

He recalled when those strange dreams had begun. His keen intuition allowed him to sense a pattern.

Was it because I activated the Life Seed?

The thought crossed his mind, and the white sun before him flashed brightly.

Its light was gentle yet sharp—the light of a world, without any real heat.

Feeling its radiance, Arthur instinctively reached out toward the white sun before him.

A crisp cracking sound rang through this space, where only souls existed. Then a massive door appeared before Arthur and slowly swung open, pulling him straight inside.

Before Arthur could react, a tremendous force from the other side began drawing him in. He couldn't resist at all and was pulled straight through the door.

Beyond it, a world slowly revealed itself to him.

···········

His consciousness gradually returned, and light appeared before his eyes once more.

Arthur abruptly opened his eyes. A keen glint flashed in them as he scanned his surroundings.

The sight around him made him freeze.

Before him stood an ancient, towering building, eight or nine stories high. It was in terrible disrepair, as if abandoned long ago and worn down by the passage of time.

Plants grew across the building, climbing along its ancient walls. Green moss covered the gray stone.

The scene was both familiar and strange, leaving Arthur stunned. For a moment, he almost thought he had returned to the peaceful world he had once known.

But the sight that followed quickly dispelled that notion.

In the distance, the black soil trembled. A gigantic monster, three or four meters long, burst out of the ground.

The monster had eight long legs, each tipped with a sharp-looking hook. Its body resembled that of certain insects, but it was countless times larger, making it all the more terrifying.

Thanks to his excellent eyesight, Arthur could clearly make out the creature's features.

Instinctively, he darted aside and hid behind the building.

Under normal circumstances, insects tended to have poor eyesight, but Arthur was certain this beast was far from normal. It might well be able to spot him.

He had only just arrived, and had no desire to get dragged into a fight with these monsters for no reason.

As the beast in the distance gradually moved away, Arthur suddenly remembered something and hurriedly thought, Chip, activate monitoring mode and monitor my surroundings!

"Diagnostic template activated!" The moment he gave the order, a mechanical voice rang in his mind. To Arthur, it sounded wonderful.

Thank goodness the Chip is still here. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

He carefully checked the state of his body and found nothing had changed.

The strength within him and the Life Seed were still there, and the Chip's scan detected no differences either. Clearly, this wasn't an illusion.

It seems I didn't just travel here as a soul this time. My whole body came with me.

The thought crossed Arthur's mind, and he grew thoughtful.

With that in mind, Arthur slowly placed his right hand against his chest.

As his thoughts shifted, a strange sensation came to him from within his soul.

"I have to wait seven days before I can go back?"

Instinctively, Arthur understood the sensation and murmured the words aloud.

Transmigration wasn't something that happened out of thin air. Even with this innate ability, using it required energy.

After this journey, most of the power Arthur had accumulated had been spent. If he wanted to go back, he would have to wait a while longer.

Thinking of this, Arthur shook his head and looked ahead.

The world before him was somewhat like the one from his first life, though its technology seemed far less advanced, and things didn't look too good.

He was standing beside a tall building, with a street behind him. It looked somewhat like a city from the modern era.

After standing there and thinking for a moment, Arthur headed toward the city.

He was alone in this world, with nothing but a sword and some gold coins. He had no food or water, so making it through seven days would be difficult.

Compared with the wilderness, it would surely be easier to find food in a city.

Besides, Arthur wanted to find some information in the city to learn about this world.

The city wasn't far away. At his pace, he reached it in just a few minutes.

But once he was inside, the eerie atmosphere made Arthur frown.

It's too quiet.

The thought crossed his mind as he looked down the long street before him.

The street looked rather old. Although there were modern buildings, there were also many wooden ones, scattered all around.

The technology in this world didn't seem particularly advanced.

As Arthur passed a building, he spotted a photograph on the ground.

It was a black-and-white photograph, crude in appearance. It showed a couple and a little girl of about four or five, all smiling happily.

Beside the photograph lay three mummified corpses that had been dead for who knew how long: two women and one man, two adults and one child.

The male corpse's arm stretched out, pressing firmly against the photograph. After lying there for so long, it had stuck to the picture.