Mystery of teleportation

Blurry, tangled, a mess, yes.

Scrambled, jumbled, incomprehensible, just confusing...but, definitely not making sense. That's the gist of 'how' their chatter hit me.

Their voice filled the air, but it all went right over my head. It was all, fuzzy.

I caught their tones, the highs, the lows, the emotions...but the content? Lost.

Then, the train let out a faint hum as it started to move.

Probably because it's stuck in the past.

To me, it felt like a relic, but here, it passed for modern...modern in this world.

An electric train, zooming at 300 km/h.

Back home, we had hydrogen-powered trains floating on magnetic-lev tech; this was a step down.

My snooping attempts were futile, thanks to the train's chaos and clamor.

Subpar tech...

Yeah, frowned upon, but I felt justified to eavesdrop on the two kids.

Why yes, they were the main cast of the world after all.

"I just wish I could hear them properly...," I sighed.

[That can be done, master Noah] Nano's mechanical voice resounded in my head.

Confused, I spat, "How?"

[With the advanced nano technology of the 23rd century, as a nanite, I have the ability to enhance the hearing and other senses of the user.]

Just hearing that, and instinctively my brows furrowed.

Yes, I was 'somewhat' aware about nano's biotechnological prowess, after all, grandpa hope briefed me on the subject. But this, was just absurd...

Surprisingly, I was neither shocked, nor thrilled.

I gave a nod, trying to wrap my head around it.

[Affirmative. Enhancing auditory input abilities...] Nano confirmed.

Suddenly, every little sound in the train hit me like a ton of bricks — from the gentle wheezes of passengers to the clinking of chains.

The sensory overload hit me like a stampede of shitting hippos, leaving me dizzy and stunned.

[Adjusting...]

[Task completed.]

Nano confirmed the audio tweak was good to go.

Result: I could finally decipher Aurora and Takahashi's chit-chat. All other pointless NPC noises were kicked to the curb.

"Soft as baby butts," Aurora giggled and squished Takahashi's cheeks like Play-Doh.

"Stop!" He interrupted, irritation lacing his tone.

After some time, Aurora squirmed in her seat, sneaking peeks at Takahasi beside her.

"So, what's up? We agreed for the arcade today, right?" She tried to sound casual.

Takahasi dropped his phone, meeting Aurora's gaze. "Yeah, we did. I'm looking forward to it," he replied calmly.

Aurora, confused about his sudden enthusiasm, couldn't resist asking, "What's with the change? Usually, you shut down my ideas."

Aoi chuckled, "Well...today's special."

Before she could ask more, he explained, "My parents know me. They're iffy about me roaming near the outskirts."

It was clear his passion for monster hunting led to this restriction.

He went on, "But when I'm with you, they trust you'll keep me in check. Funny, huh? It should've been the opposite."

Aurora narrowed her eyes, his intentions finally clicking.

Threateningly, she warned, "I'll tell uncle Takahasi if you're planning one of those 'hunting missions'."

"But it's no biggie if we go together!" He countered. And with a flourish, he added, "Plus, it's just goblins!"

'Just goblins?' I was floored by his naive comment.

The Takahasi Aoi I knew was far too calculating to become reckless and put himself in danger.

Although goblins were rank G monsters, I had designed them to be astute and shrewd.

Even though their physical strength was not much, they had intelligence and cunning that could outsmart others.

It would take at least three E ranked guys to handle a group of goblins because of their tactical nature and ability to outsmart opponents.

In other novels and manhwa's they always show the goblin as the cannon fodder and weakest monsters. But while writing the novel, I created the world in a very realistic manner.

If a monster was slow, I gave it toxic venom which could paralyze the enemy in seconds.

If the monster was weak like goblins then they were going to work together like a team.

If a monster flies in the air, then I gave it good eye sights.

As I watched Takahashi Aoi, I found myself thinking, 'Right, he still needs some time for that character development to kick in. He was pretty dumb in those early chapters.'

It was then that a gentle voice pierced my thoughts. ["Attention passengers, we've reached Avalonia village."] The intercom spoke softly.

Just that.

Just hearing those words evoked a bittersweet smile. My gaze dropped.

It was a human voice...

Who would've thought there'd come a day when I'd actually miss a fucking mechanical voice.

'Why me?'

Sigh!

I glanced briefly at Takahashi and Aurora before heading off my own way.

I wasn't worried about their safety. Their bodyguards must be lurking around somewhere. As rich their family was, it was the bare minimum. Besides, don't these characters usually have something called pot rumor? Well whatever. It would be nice if I have a pot rumor too.

***

The Avalonia forest was located on the outskirts of Avalonia village.

Due to its tall trees that constantly cast shadows on the ground, it was also known as the dark forest.

Avalonia was situated on the outskirts of Krenada city.

Aktdrna was three times larger than Earth.

The planet was divided into five continents, with a massive ice volcano located at the south pole.

Nobody goes to the ice volcano, which is a good thing for me. One of the eight mysteries is hidden there.

While these continents were populated by humans, there were also elvish, orcish, rulers', and dwarven domains within each of them.

Currently, I was in the continent of Tressia, and the human domain was located in the center, surrounded by the kingdoms of elves, dwarves, rulers, and orcs.

Rulers were basically half human and half animals. Also known as beastmen.

There was a good relation between humans and rulers.

On the other hand, orcs and elves looked down on humans. Orcs had good relationship with beastmen and elves.

Humans being at the very middle of it was mostly protected by demon invasions, and the complex relationship between all the races, created a structure which created peace on the planet.

Of course, one must also take into account the existence of dragons, a powerful race whose presence was unknown to most.

With their strength and formidable abilities, even a combined effort from all five species would likely fail in an attack against the dragon king, Zephyr.

But, there's a reason why Zephyr has yet to make a move.

'The demon king, Azaezel.'

Azazel keeps Zephyr in check, creating a delicate standoff between the two powerful entities.

But the unsealing of the Demon god will soon mark the commencement of the 4th cataclysm.

It made me wonder, why did I named it as the '4th' instead of the 3rd cataclysm?

Strangely enough, the reason why I excluded the 1st cataclysm from my novel eludes me. I mean, I only ever mentioned the 2nd cataclysm in the story. Where did the 1st cataclysm go? Vanish into thin air?

Well whatever, it probably does not matter.

***

"Huff..fuck...!"

The terrain was rougher than I expected, making it hard to collect my breath as I went deeper inside the forest.

I had to stop my bearing, as there was no path for me to directly follow.

Two hours already past since my journey and my breathing was a bit rough. My lungs felt the steam.

I was trekking towards a spot in the forest where there was supposed to be a huge stone below a giant banyan tree.

That's where the mystery of teleportation resided.

The reason why no one was able to find it till now is because you had to do a certain ritual for it to show itself.

Banyan trees usually grew in forest clearings, at least according to one book I read. Here's hoping it wasn't just some literary prank, or else this would be a big waste of time.

And from what I researched, there was indeed a grand forest clearing up yonder in the northern sector of the dark forest.

Time passed as I kept going. Thanks to the phone's compass, I was able to keep my direction straight.

Initially, in here, I wondered... I was the author of this world, so, did I have godlike abilities?

Only natural to entertain such delusions.

So I experimented, with a few things...

Moving objects with thoughts, rewriting reality... Needless to say, it didn't take long for reality to slap some sense into me. Turned out, I was no god.

Well, that was stupid maybe yes, but had to try...

As I was thinking this and that, beads of sweat began to trickle down my back, clinging to my shirt. Unbothered, I pressed on deeper into the foliage.

But I swear, every now and then, I couldn't help but notice a peculiar sensation—a static tingle dancing across my skin, followed by a certain pulsation in my blood...veins.

Strange, yes. But not strange enough to warrant immediate concern so I decided to check on it later.

And so, just like that, some more minutes. Then, I finally saw it.

"Haaah...!" Exhaling a long, much required breath, I dazedly stared at the scenary presented before me.

"I expected something out of the norm but this..."

Yes, this...was not norm. A huge towering tree stood before me. The banyan tree.

I retrieved a knife from my bag and sliced open my palm; blood immediately began to flow out.

"My escape..." I grinned.

Nano's robotic voice interrupted my thoughts.

[Injury detected. Initiating healing process.]

To my surprise, I watched as the tissues in my hand began to reform, like a spider spinning a web, until my wound was entirely healed, leaving only the blood.

"Fascinating," I remarked, without even realizing.

I held up my left hand and began to chant in a language unknown to any. It was a mantra I wrote in the novel for the mystery of teleportation.

My voice grew louder and louder, as I chanted, "Om ignis lux. Invictus mentis! Lux et spes!"

The words echoed off the trees and bounced back at me.

The wind began to pick up, causing the leaves to rustle and dance around.

Suddenly, the rock beneath the banyan tree began to vibrate with hum.

And then... it happened.

The large rock under the banyan tree started breaking as if glass is shattering, and a chunk of it was now hovering in the air, a few feet off the ground.

The rock hovered, floating on its own, almost as if it was alive.

The boulder fragment crept languidly along, as though controlled by an invisible force, eventually settling on my left hand.

Gradually, it proceeded to absorb the blood from my left palm like a sponge.

Soon the rock began to alter in both color and shape, gradually morphing into a red bracelet encircling my left wrist.

[Acquired the mystery of teleportation! You have acquired a mystery! A legendary achievment!]

The message flashed infront of me.