Transcendent Gene
Chapter 237: Growth [1]

Chapter 237: Growth [1]

HONG!

’Good.’

As the second bell tolled, Gio looked around the room.

The escape mechanism was simpler than he expected. He only needed to provide power to several of the machines present before pulling a lever to manifest the portal. He left it unpulled for two hours, taking mental pictures and physical ones of everything he saw.

He tried to decipher the arrays on the ground and extrapolate the data presented in the drawings and charts attached to the research. There wasn’t much to find, in the first place.

’The people who used this warehouse were studying teleportation and spatial leaping, but their goal was never to reach us.’

From what he could understand, the arrays present were blueprints to the same convenience-teleportation technology humanity didn’t have the funds or resources to invest in.

’It’s proof that this was a part of a real world and not something generated from nowhere. It’s always been a theory that couldn’t be proved, but this Riftworld changes everything.’

It had to be a process similar to the Forthcoming that fragmented the world. The eruption of energy could explain how these devices were repurposed to connect two worlds.

’But that leads to a bigger question.’

If the monsters’ world was fragmented and turned into Riftworlds, then where were they?

’What if it’s not just one world? What if they also have a society as big as or even bigger than the Gehenna Complex? What if...’

His thoughts raced to places beyond where he thought he would go. He started to venture into territory that made him think he was going crazy.

However, the root of it all was a theory that was based on pure fact.

’And if more facts are found through these discoveries, those wild theories could very easily become far more practical.’

Gio shook his head and cleared it, turning his attention to the cat that was idly sitting on a nearby desk and watching him move around.

"You understand that we’ll be going to my world when we leave, correct? It won’t be the world you came from, and it won’t be a world you can recognize."

The cat nodded slowly as it jumped to the floor.

"You’re not a monster, but you’re an unknown creature. My world is currently at odds with the Monster Race, so I cannot bring you there without an absolute guarantee that you’ll behave."

He’d seen its power when it flared its killing intent. It couldn’t get by just because it had a more innocent personality around him.

"There are different ways we can go about this. Since you can understand my words, I think you must also be smart enough to know what they are."

As he spoke, the cat approached until it was standing in front of him. He knelt down to its level and looked into its eyes.

"When we get there, I don’t care if you want to enjoy freedom, find someone else, or stay with me. There are infinite possibilities for you. Just guarantee me that you won’t try to harm my race unless it’s to protect yourself from immediate danger."

The cat looked down at the ground, contemplating for a moment before holding its paw out to him.

Gio held out his hand as requested, and before he knew what was happening...

Hisss!

It lunged forward and bit into his wrist, sinking its fangs deep into his body.

"Khhhh...!"

He held his arm and hissed through gritted teeth. He immediately willed his energy to life, however, he was forced to stop it before he took any drastic measures.

Its energy entered him first and flowed up his channels, mixing into his own with clearly gentle intentions.

Gio hesitantly allowed it to move freely. Hekat was showing a clear displeasure, but it also wasn’t trying to stop anything, giving Gio another level of assurance.

The cat’s energy went up his arm and into his heart, making several rotations around his body before finally settling in his Aether Core. If he was sensing correctly, it formed itself into a bead in the center of the mass of energy, making the core look odd from the outside.

But the result was more important than the process.

When the bead was created, Gio felt an immediate link to the cat. It was similar to the link he had with Hekat.

Nyah!

It removed its fangs from his wrist and made a sound of satisfaction.

In Gio’s head, that single sound translated into a thought he could understand.

"Can you hear me?"

The blood leaking from Gio’s wrist stopped flowing almost immediately as the wound closed and was replaced by a tattoo-like mark in the shape of a crescent moon with two dots on each side.

"I can," he said, looking at the cat.

It seemed to smile.

"We have established a pact."

Its words were surprisingly complex compared to its behavior. Gio thought it had to be a cub of some sort, but it didn’t speak like one. Its voice was distinctly female with a tone similar to what one would expect from an archwizard.

"You are not my Master, but you have priority in this pact. If it is not a threat to my well-being, you have the right to command me."

In other words, Gio could set ground rules that it could not break as long as the pact was active.

Looking into its eyes with a frown, Gio asked,

"What are you?"

"I am...Nyx."

It introduced itself with a name worthy of a black cat.

"Refer to me as such."

Gio nodded slowly.

HONG!

The ancient bell tolled for the third time. The storm began to move.

"Then, Nyx it is. I can’t openly reveal you as something I found in this Riftworld, so stay in here for now," he said as he opened his Storage Hole.

"When we’re safe, I’ll bring you out. You can decide where you want to go after I teach you a bit about our world."

Nyx nodded and walked into the Storage Hole. As it got comfortable on the ground, Gio put the door away and walked up to the lever he had prepared.

’I already have a desire to stay for longer and find more. If this realm didn’t destroy itself the way it does, I might’ve skipped school to stay here for a while longer.’

Unfortunately, staying wasn’t an option. Even more unfortunately, his stint in the Riftworld took the majority of the time he had remaining in his four-day weekend.

He pulled the lever down. Several machines whirred to life and two arrays on opposite sides of the room glowed with magical energy.

Bzzt!

Crackle!

The world sparked with energy as particles collided in the air and created small bursts of blue and purple. Those bursts accumulated until–

Bang!

A hole was ripped in the fabric of the world. It became a portal that looked identical to the one Gio used as an entrance.

With only a single look back at what he was leaving behind, he stepped into the darkness.

And the entire world fell apart behind him.

He was correct in assuming that the destruction had been ongoing for a very long time. There was only a single thing he failed to consider.

The recreations the world made were imperfect. The foundations of those buildings were already fragile from being rebuilt so many times.

Every time the world destroyed itself entirely and reset, it lost pieces that made it what it once was.

In the past, it lost its nature and was left as a barren wasteland. It lost its life and it lost most traces of that life’s existence.

And though Gio entered at a time when the cities were preserved and there were more vestiges remaining within them...

It wasn’t guaranteed that those traces would still remain the next time the world came back.

In a sense, he held in his mind the final true remembrance of that Riftworld’s people.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.