The Gate Traveler

We were on the other side of the Gate for eight days, and only two days passed on Earth—that explained how the forest looked days after a fire. It was days.

When I presented Alfonsen with the plants I had collected, his eyes widened in awe. “From where did you acquire these remarkable specimens?” he asked, his voice full of admiration as he examined the leaves.

“Beyond the Gate. Can you use them?”

He nodded enthusiastically, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Indeed! They are magnificent,” he exclaimed, his hands already moving to sort through the collection.

“I’m glad. Enjoy,” I said, clapping him on the back. I didn’t think he even heard me or noticed the touch. He entirely focused on his new plants—smelling and chewing on some leaves.

Mahya proposed a detour to Shanghai to finish the boat before our journey to Tibet, and I agreed. She was right; if the Traveler en route to Earth were to contact us, we might need to leave fast. We boarded a train to Shanghai, and during the journey, I checked for messages from Lis, Lyura, or the Traveler. The Archive held no comments from them, but a new post from Mahya caught my attention.

 

Tr. MN “Versailles, Clueless, Hungry, Inventor” Hi Lis, I hope you’re still enjoying the Dragon Plane. We are okay and continuing to travel between the Gates. Recently, we fought giant rats, and John did a fantastic job. Your training paid off. I have a question: In the books you gave John, is there anything about translocation, teleportation, or something similar? Continue to have fun and keep in touch. Mahya, aka Versailles

 

I asked Mahya, “Are you planning to build a teleporter?”

She looked at me with a furrowed brow and asked, “What are you talking about?”

“You asked Lis for books on teleportation,” I clarified, raising an eyebrow.

She laughed. “It’s not for me, it’s for you.”

I looked at her with a question mark on my face. “Huh?” I tilted my head, genuinely puzzled.

She crossed her arms and asked, “You didn’t even realize what you did, didn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied, shaking my head.

Mahya took a deep breath before explaining. “My parents are veteran Travelers who have visited even very high mana worlds. I traveled with two of their friends to two high mana worlds and spent nearly fifteen years in their company. Lis is an even more seasoned Traveler than my parents. And none of these people can store something without touching it.

“My parents trained me for years before I set out, and I have a mana sense of almost three meters, but I can’t store anything within my sense without touching it. I’ve never heard of anyone who can store things across a barrier. You didn’t drag the rats out of the ground through a tunnel you created; you stored them directly into your Storage. This isn’t a regular storing function; it’s teleportation or translocation.” She tapped her finger on the table, emphasizing each point.

Teleportation?!

I blinked at her, her words sinking in. I believed I was using my Storage as intended—efficiently and conveniently. But this? This was something else entirely. The idea of having such a power without even realizing it... It was a little unnerving.

“I didn’t even know it wasn’t possible,” I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck.

“That’s exactly my point. When you’re not aware of the limitations, you do amazing things. That’s why I said you’re scary,” she concluded with a small smile, shaking her head as if I were a puzzle she couldn’t entirely solve.

During the rest of the journey to Shanghai, I was deep in thought, turning over her words.

I guess I’ve been breaking the rules without even trying. That’s me, always fumbling into power without a clue. I’ll never get rid of the Clueless moniker.

I felt the weight of it. Teleportation—something no one else could do, something I hadn’t even realized I was doing. It was mind-blowingly huge, impossible to grasp fully. Sighing, I shook my head, trying to eliminate the heavy feeling. I didn’t know what to do with this information or how to develop it further. Shrugging, I set it aside. I’d been through this before, back in my early days in Shimoor, stumbling through magic and mechanics, not knowing what half of it even meant.

It worked out then. It’ll work out again... I hope.

In Shanghai, we checked how our boat was doing, and it was fine. Mahya returned to tinkering with the engine. She handed me eight pieces of thick copper cable and instructed, “Engrave the rune ‘Transfer’ here and here, here in the middle the rune ‘Balance,’ and here the rune ‘Connection,’” she directed, pointing to each spot precisely.

“Yes, boss,” I said with a salute.

After I engraved all the runes, I returned the cables to her, and I became her assistant, watching her closely as she tightened, connected, fastened, and moved all kinds of things in the engine area.

“You’re not doing stuff with the engine?” I asked, slightly surprised by her focus on everything but the primary component.

“There’s no need; the engine is perfect. The surrounding parts need work because they feed power to the engine,” she explained, her hands never stopping as she worked.

“You know best,” I said with a shrug, trusting her expertise.

We worked for three days, with Mahya occasionally giving me things to engrave. Then, I helped her put them in place and connect them to the rest of the system. When we finished, she told me to start the boat.

When I turned the key in the switch, I was amazed. Before, the engine was noisy. After the overhaul, it was quieter, but I still heard it. Now I heard nothing. I felt the vibration that indicated the engine was running, but it was utterly silent. The vibration also felt stronger, like the engine had more power.

I turned off the engine and asked Mahya, “Do you know you’re an artist?” I couldn’t hide the admiration in my voice.

She laughed. “Thank you,” she said with a playful bow.

“Is everything working okay?” I asked, glancing back at the engine, still in awe of its performance.

“We’ll see. If there’s a problem, I can take care of it on the way. We also have over forty spare crystals, so depending on how she behaves during the voyage, I can see what else I can improve,” she replied confidently, cleaning her hands with baby wipes. I understood why she bought too many. She already used a whole box.

“Excellent! Now, let’s go back to the hotel, and tomorrow, we’ll sail up the river to a quiet spot to store the boat,” I said, eager to wrap up the day.

Everyone had a list of things they wanted to buy before our trip to Tibet. Alfonsen had been talking for days about finding beakers and small glass bottles, eager to experiment with the plants I’d collected. He also planned to buy large wooden barrels—soaking valerian plants was apparently the critical step in making a proper sleeping potion. Mahya, on the other hand, was laser-focused on hunting down glass-blowing equipment. When she mentioned it, the excitement in her eyes made it clear she was already thinking about her next project or hobby. Rue, as usual, had simpler goals. He wanted to visit a DVD store where he could stare at the colorful covers and decide which ones to watch based solely on the pictures. I, of course, had my own plan—to check the markets for rare and exciting ingredients for cooking.

We spent the entire day going from place to place. By afternoon, we stumbled across a street stall selling baseball caps with bright red text: “I got Shanghai’d in Shanghai.” Mahya snatched two up immediately, laughing. “These are ridiculous. I love them!” she said, tossing one to me. Rue eyed the hats curiously, and when I plopped one onto his head, he blinked, then shook it off with a grunt. Hats apparently weren’t his thing.

Alfonsen, however, stood back with a look of utter disdain. “There are certain depths I refuse to sink to,” he declared, arms crossed as he gave the caps a final dismissive glance.

Mahya pulled my arm. “Let’s find a quiet place for a moment.”

We went around the corner, and her eyes lost focus. She looked at the hat, looked up again with unfocused eyes, and asked, “You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” She waved her hat and asked in an incredulous tone, “This pushed me over the threshold? This?”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Look!” And popped out a screen.

 

 

“Ha! You’ll be a merchant like me,” I said with a grin, nudging Mahya playfully.

“Numerous Travelers possess this class due to their frequent trading of various commodities,” Alfonsen said. “My family advised me to steer clear of this class,” he added, glancing away and looking uncomfortable.

“Why not?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“This is a class for commoners. Our status is royalty, not merchants,” he said stiffly, lifting his chin as if the thought alone made him feel above it all.

“But you’re also Travelers. Why not take a class that can help you earn a lot of money?” I pressed, genuinely confused by the contradiction.

“It is lacking in dignity,” he replied, his voice steady but his posture even more rigid.

I shook my head in bewilderment and turned to Mahya. “Are you going to take this class?” I asked, hoping for a different perspective.

“I don’t know yet,” she said with a shrug, her tone casual. “In any case, there’s no way I’ll take it for points. I’ll decide when the Guidance offers it for free,” she added, sounding much more practical.

After finishing all our shopping in Shanghai, we sailed down the Huangpu River in search of a quiet place to store the boat. Using my mana control, and occasionally cheating with telekinesis, I sat in the front and controlled the helm and sails.

The good life, no need to get up.

I went to the saloon to check how Rue was doing without television and found him napping on the couch. Alfonsen was reading one of his romances beside him, and I saw Mahya on the back deck. When I approached, she was patting the deck and cooing to the boat. “You are such a beautiful baby. Yes, you are. There is no other in this world like you. You are perfect. My perfect baby.”

When she saw me, she jumped and looked embarrassed.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed. I call her ‘good girl’.” I told her with a smile.

She nodded, and we continued to sail in silence.

We sailed for half a day and didn’t find a suitable spot. Most of the way, there were settlements along the river. And in areas without settlements, there were boats and ships. We reached a river connected to the Huangpu River, called the Dazhi River, and turned into it, hoping to find a quiet place without people. Only in the evening, when it got dark, we found a place with a lot of trees around a bend that hid us from most directions.

I took out my biggest inflatable dinghy and told Rue, “I know you don’t like small boats, but we have to store the big boat. Cope with the small boat for a few minutes, and then we’ll use the E-foils to get to the nearest settlement.”

He sighed audibly and mentally, but nodded.

After everyone was in the dinghy, I took my binoculars, ensured we were alone, and stored the boat. We took out the E-foils and surfed to Luhui Town. After spending the night in Luhui Town, we took a bus to Shanghai the next day. We missed that day’s train to Tibet, so after buying tickets for the following day, we spent the rest of the day touring Shanghai.

The following day, Rue stood before me, his large eyes wide with expectation, his tail wagging furiously as he telepathically demanded, “Rue chocolate cake! Strawberry ice cream! Coconut ice cream!” His ears perked up, as if that sealed the deal.

I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “No, Rue, you can’t have cake for breakfast. You need protein, not sweets.” My voice was firm, but Rue wasn’t having it.

He huffed and stomped his paws to emphasize, “Cake! Ice cream!”

“No! I’m not giving you cake and ice cream for breakfast. Forget about it!”

His response was immediate, a sharp bark punctuating his telepathic complaint, “John no friend! No love Rue!” The betrayal in his mental voice felt almost comical, but he followed it with another loud bark to emphasize his seriousness.

“Rue, be quiet for a second,” I said, trying to focus. I could’ve sworn I heard a knock at the door, but Rue’s mental shouting drowned everything out.

“Rue want cake! Chocolate!” His barking continued, echoing both in my ears and my mind.

I shot him a glare. “Shut up, Rue! And you’re not watching Sponge Bob again.”

I was sure it was somebody from the hotel coming to complain about the barking, but it was Mahya. “I think we need to give up on the Tibet idea.”

“Why?”

“The Traveler headed to Earth arrived; check the Archive.”

Tr. SS Greetings, John Rue. This is Sonak Susil. I have arrived in the world of Gaia. Right now, I am located in Germany. I do not wish to use flying apparatuses. Please instruct me on how to get where I need to go to help my friend.

I did an internet search on my computer and wrote him a reply.

Tr. JR Hello Sonak, and welcome. I didn’t find ships from Germany to the United States. You need to travel to England. There are trains from Germany to the city of Paris in France, and from there, a train to England. In England, take a train to the city of Southampton. There is a cruise from Southampton to the City of New York in the United States in twenty-three days from now. From New York, you need to travel to the state of Nevada to the city of Las Vegas. We will be sailing from China, but it might take us forty to fifty days to get there. Please let us know where you are staying if you arrive before us. If we arrive first, we will let you know.

After writing the reply, I told Mahya, “His timing is shit. Two days earlier, and we wouldn’t have stored the boat,” I muttered, shaking my head in frustration.

“Yeah, but at least he caught us before leaving for Tibet,” she replied, her voice calm. A slight shrug showed she shared my annoyance.

“Did you tell Alfonsen?” I asked, glancing over at her.

“Not yet, I’ll do it now.”

Well, it looked like our Chinese trip had ended. At least this unexpected twist stopped Rue from throwing a fit over the cake. He was happily eating chicken breasts and liver with mushrooms.