The Gate Traveler

When we arrived at the airport, the hum of engines and the whiff of jet fuel filled the air. Alfonsen’s eyes widened as he watched the landings and take-offs and looked increasingly alarmed every passing minute. “I have significant reservations regarding this mode of conveyance,” he said, the words barely audible over the distant roar of a departing flight.

“Sorry, Alfonsen,” I said, my tone a mix of apology and exasperation. “Flying is the only way to reach China, and you have already flown once and saw that it’s not that bad. Besides, flying is the safest way of travel in this world.”

Lis spoke in my mind, “Not with the rising mana levels.”

I kicked his leg and glared at him. Mahya was making choking sounds again, clearly enjoying herself far too much. To make matters worse, she’d infected Lis with her mischief, and now he was making those annoying choking sounds. I wanted to strangle them both—because with friends like these, who needs enemies?

On the flight, Rue wanted to flop on me again, but I told him, “Forget about it, buddy. This flight is twelve hours long. I’m not going to be squished and melting all this time.”

“John! Bad! Friend!”

“You can sit on the floor and put your head on my lap or sit in your seat. Your choice.” I was excelling at this assertive thing.

He sat in his seat, hung his head like a sad child, and sighed deeply, audibly, and mentally. I had no idea how he even managed that. He looked like the world’s weight was on his shoulders, and he was buckling under it. He also sent me powerful feelings of disappointment and sadness. After thirty minutes, I broke down and said, “Fine, you can lay on my lap. But if my legs fall asleep, I’m kicking you off.”

He thumped me with his tail and flopped on me like a wet noodle.

I’m a total pushover.

I sighed deeply, too.

 

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

 

After we rested from the flight, we rented a car, and the first thing we did was drive to the Gate, which was four hours away. A big surprise awaited me.

 

 

“I don’t understand,” Mahya furrowed her brow, clearly puzzled.

“Parallel world,” Lis and I answered her together.

Hey, look at me! I know stuff!

I couldn’t help but feel a bit smug. It wasn’t every day I got to flaunt my knowledge.

“How do YOU know?” She asked me.

“Read about it in the Archive.” I shrugged, trying to sound casual.

“Ugh! I hate opening the Archive; it’s such a mess.” Mahya wrinkled her nose in disgust—clearly not a fan.

“Yeah, but you can find good stuff there, too,” I said, remembering the countless hours I’d spent digging through that chaos.

She didn’t look convinced; her face still twisted in distaste.

“The Archive is appalling. My family’s private archive is significantly superior,” said Alfonsen, catching us all off guard. All of us turned to look at him, surprised. That was the first time he spoke without demanding or complaining.

“Do you have copies with you?” I asked.

“Regrettably, this is not the case,” he replied stiffly.

“You know you can just say ‘no,’ and it will convey the same idea, right?” I asked him.

He looked embarrassed, his cheeks tinged pink, and nodded.

“Want to travel it?” Mahya asked me.

“No, not really. It can be nice to be familiar with the lay of the land, but we have the Travelers’ Map for that. I prefer to see something new.”

“Aren’t you curious to see the differences?”

“Yes, a little. But I traveled only one world except Earth, so I want to see the rest of the universe.”

“You traveled only one world?” asked Alfonsen, sounding scandalized. “But you are so strong.”

“John is talented, although he thinks he’s hopeless,” Lis said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and giving them a firm squeeze.

My face reddened, and Mahya laughed, her eyes twinkling. “Those blushes are so cute!” She said it in a tone like she was talking to a child.

I tried to kick her leg, but she jumped away, laughing.

Shaking my head at the troublesome imp, I cast Invisibility and crossed the Gate. When I was on the other side, I checked the mana levels on Earth—it was still six.

Good.

When we returned to the hotel, I opened the Map and the computer to plan our route. I had every intention of touring China and seeing all the exciting things this country had to offer. As I studied the Map, something caught my eye—it now had thirteen gates, which confused me and made me pause. I distinctly remembered a different number.

I quickly pulled out my list and double-checked the information. “Lis, how many gates do you have in China?” I asked.

“Twelve,” he replied, glancing over at me.

I looked back at the Map, the extra gate standing out like a sore thumb. “Now there are thirteen. You think another Traveler crossed over to Earth?”

“Probably.” Lis opened his own Map, or I thought he did—his eyes lost focus. “If Gates change their destinations, more Travelers will come here.”

I made a list of all the exciting things I wanted to see in China and marked their proximity to the Gates. For the next two hours, we negotiated what to see and which route to take.

In the end, our route looked like this:

1. The Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China, The Summer Palace Beijing—Gate Done
2. The Mausoleum of Light, The Northern Imperial Tomb, Shenyang
3. The Terracotta Army, Xi’an
4. Leshan Giant Buddha, Sichuan
5. Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Sichuan
6. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Hunan
7. Cruising the Li River, Guilin
8. The Yangtze River and the Three Gorges
9. The Classical Gardens of Suzhou, Jiangsu
10. Hangzhou’s Historic West Lake
11. Shanghai’s Promenade: The Bund
12. The Potala Palace, Tibet—2 Gates in Tibet

I also made a list of all the things I either wanted to buy or discovered that I needed, based on my notes:

1. Copper coins—find a wholesaler and clean them out.
2. Tools—all types; check with Lis if he can change some of them into Magitech.
3. DIY equipment.
4. Fabric, yarn, sewing equipment—check about manual sewing machines.
5. Medical supplies—even things I don’t think I’ll need, including a large supply of saline solution.
6. Massage beds for treatments.
7. Coolers of all sizes—a lot of them. Those are best sellers.
8. Takeaway containers—all sizes.
9. Folded cardboard boxes.
10. Shoes + laces + socks.
11. Sunglasses.
12. Detergents + cleaning equipment.
13. Girl stuff, including makeup, hair brushes, perfumes, etc.—consult with Mahya.
14. Cheap costume jewelry.
15. Office supplies.
16. Painting and art supplies—especially a large inventory of brushes for rituals.
17. Crafts supplies—consult Mahya.
18. Dog & cat food—just in case.
19. Games and toys for children.
20. Toiletries of all kinds.
21. Backpacks in different sizes.
22. More Bows, arrows, crossbows, and bolts.
23. Baby food.
24. Cheap decorations and art.
25. Towels.
26. Bedding: Linen, blankets and pillows.
27. Metal kitchen utensils.
28. Metal cooking equipment.
29. Fire lighting equipment—large matches and kitchen lighters.
30. Spare furniture.
31. A bigger boat with sails, the smallest that Rue will agree to board—find sailing classes to learn to sail it.

I checked how much money I had left, and I had over two hundred fifty thousand euros from my sales and the two hundred thousand from Mahya.

I saw Sotheby’s in Beijing and conjured papers for all the jewelry I bought in Shimoor. They showed my ownership and insurance. Each piece had a separate certificate that detailed the metal and gems and when and where such techniques were used on Earth. The papers didn’t state that it was from Earth, only when and where such techniques were used on Earth.

Very sneaky of you.

I felt amusement directed at me. I thought I finally raised my Strength stat enough—I didn’t even react.

Yay for mental fortitude!

I visited Sotheby’s Beijing and put the jewelry on sale. Since I was already familiar with the process, I knew it would take at least 45 days.

After a negotiation with Lis that China will have workshops not available anywhere else, I also booked some workshops. During the whole negotiation, Alfonsen looked at Lis and me every time we talked, and he had an amazed expression. He looked like he was watching a tennis match, with his head turning from one to the other.

Finally, he couldn’t contain himself anymore and asked Lis, “You possess a substantial amount of power in comparison to him. For what reason do you refrain from telling him what to do?”

“He is my friend, not my subordinate, so we decide things together. That’s how friendship works.”

Alfonsen looked thoughtful. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

• Beijing Private Tai Chi Class
• Chinese Calligraphy Class for Small Group
• Cooking Class Beijing Dumplings and Cuisine
• Badminton Class
• Tea Ceremony Workshop
• Learn to make sugar painting
• Life Awakening: Finding Your True Self
• Feng Shui Consulting and Study Class
• Traditional Chinese Philosophy
• Acting Class
• Mahjong Class

All of us, even Alfonsen, enjoyed the tours in the Forbidden City and the palace, but they couldn’t understand what was so special about the wall of China. I even read them the history from my tablet, and it didn’t help.

“A wall is a wall. Whether you saw one or a hundred, it doesn’t matter; it’s still a wall,” Lis said, looking puzzled.

Mahya and Alfonsen were nodding along emphatically when he spoke in total agreement.

“Aliens are no fun!” I declared, feeling defeated.

“You’ll be one soon, too,” Mahya said and started laughing at my expression.

We started with the workshops, and Lis liked the Tai Chi class. He kept the skill and even bought more books on the subject, most of them in Chinese.

Alfonsen loved the tea ceremony and began lamenting the need to give up the ability point. We told him to keep it, and he looked so surprised that I thought his eyes would fall out—they were that wide. I couldn’t understand him; his way of thinking was weird.

In the sugar painting class, Mahya kept eating the art supplies until the instructor got upset. So, she started eating mine.

For some inexplicable reason, the system disagreed that Finding Your True Self and Chinese Philosophy were skills and refused to give us the points. I even argued with it out loud—it didn’t work.

The four of us liked the Mahjong class but decided not to keep the skill point—we could play it without a skill, and we all bought a Mahjong set. I added the item “Games for adults” to my shopping list.

I hadn’t received the money from Sotheby’s yet, so we went sightseeing and visited the Temple of Heaven, the Yonghe Temple, the Beijing Temple of Confucius, and the National Museum of China.

Before the museum visit, I told them that even if half the exhibits were “old stuff that somebody dug out of the ground,” I didn’t want to hear about it. Lis and Mahya pouted at me and still had a lot to say about the archaeological exhibits.

Finally, all my items sold, and I was richer by a little over 200 thousand dollars.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Mahya and I visited the Pearl Market and bought a lot of jewelry with freshwater pearls. Our next stop was the Five-Star Merchandise Wholesale Market, and we bought a lot of things on my list. Mahya thought my list was great and copied it for herself. Alfonsen followed the two of us during all our shopping and listened to everything we said, but didn’t have an opinion.

I asked him if he needed help converting his money to the local currency so he could shop and stock up on merchandise to sell.

“A prince should not behave like a commoner,” he scoffed, looking at me down his nose.

At least he used everyday English. You need to learn to appreciate the little things.