R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 30

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 30 (in editing-v1)

Shin took a deep breath as he walked through the First Gate.

A flash of white light overwhelmed his eyes and then the world vanished.

It reappeared, a split second later, in the form of an enormous, empty white room.

“Huh?” Shin blinked, his eyes narrowing as he looked around.

He instantly activated his Warping Phaser Type Ability, overlaying his vision with a world made of tens of thousands of interconnecting lines.

“Well, at least it still works in here.” Shin muttered quietly, feeling relieved. He tapped on one of the lines and instantly travelled through it, teleporting to the other end 10 meters to his left.

Shin’s unique Type Ability was a power that gave him an enormous amount of solace. The fact that he could teleport his way out of trouble in the face of virtually anything served as the bedrock for Shin’s confidence when it came to the brutal reality that was the 7 Layers.

Before he could make any other observations, Shin heard a loud thump coming from behind him.

Immediately, Shin teleported 15 meters towards the way he was facing. The moment he arrived, he spun around, instinctively activated his Spatial Ring and pulling out his Soul Pistol.

The first thing he saw was the shadowy guard he had fought against outside charging at him.

Without hesitation, Shin raised his Soul Pistol and let loose a single, precise shot. He activated his Expand Ability as he did, transforming the bullet into a literal cannonball.

With a resounding thump, the bullet turned cannonball blasted into the shadow clone and destroyed it, killing it instantly. Black, shadowy essence flowed around the creature for a few seconds before it dissipated into the air, leaving behind nothing.

“That’s tough, dude. You’re like an NPC that keeps respawning.” Shin shook his head apologetically. He then began to pan around the area, looking for signs of other enemies.

“...”

There was nothing else here.

“Well, okay then. So this is what Micheal meant by a place to train…” He muttered to himself with a sigh.

Shin began to do some warmup stretches, just in case anything else happened. Immediately after he started, he made several observations.

He was stretching, but it wasn’t exactly the same as normal. He could finely feel every single detail of his body, something that wasn’t the case for him normally.

This wasn’t his real body, but some sort of simulated body connected to his Soul. Micheal had told him that their real bodies would remain in some sort of time stasis while they trained in here, but it was something Shin couldn’t quite comprehend until he experienced it himself.

The clearest example of that had to be the fact that he now had his real left arm back, instead of the Melding Plate Arm Artifact that had replaced his left arm on the First Layer, after it had been ripped off. 

“How weird.” He opened and closed his left hand before turning his gaze towards his Soul Pistol.

He could pull items from his Spatial Ring and his movements and physical form felt identical.

‘I don’t feel even the slightest bit tired, or hungry, or thirsty.’

Physical exhaustion inside the First Gate was completely eliminated.

“If that’s the case, then…” Shin looked down at his hands and shrugged,

“Let’s get to it.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Time passed like water flowing down a river.

“Woah!” Shin teleported through the air, launching himself upward as he dodged several speeding bullets. He spun around as he reappeared, whipping out his best close range gun, his Soul Pistol, and unleashing several rounds of his own.

“Expand!” The bullets turned cannonballs hurtled through space, aimed at a shadowy clone of himself.

Just before the bullets connected, the clone vanished, teleporting away.

“Damn, that’s really annoying. So this is what it feels like.” Shin spat out as he teleported again, this time reappearing on the ground.

The clone began to repeatedly teleport up high in the air, making it impossible for Shin shoot it down.

After a couple of seconds, however, a smile appeared on Shin’s face as he tracked the clone’s movements.

“You poor soul...” Shin’s eyes flashed as he lowered his right hand, pointing his Soul Pistol down.

“You merely adopted the ability to teleport.” Shin raised his right hand up, slowly bringing the gun out above him as he aimed.

“I was born- well, actually that’s not right.” Shin frowned.

“Whatever.”

He fired.

‘Expand!’

Shin had aimed the pistol at an empty spot roughly 30 meters up and to his right. At the time he fired, there was nothing there, and the shadowy clone was actually another 15 meters back and away, teleporting in mid-air.

For a split second, it looked as if he had completely missed.

However… a tiny instant later…

The shadowy clone teleported exactly into the spot Shin was aiming at.

A loud thump rang out as the clone exploded, leaking dark essence everywhere as it died without fanfare.

“Teleport spamming in front of a teleporter… rookie mistake.” Shin shook his head.

He walked over to where the last bits of shadowy essence were falling. The bits of darkness landed on the ground and slowly fizzled out, dissipating into nothing.

Shin patted the spot where it had been.

“Try harder next time.”

He got back up and stretched his arms.

“Still, that’s not a bad idea. I never thought about teleport spamming like that. That’s pretty unique.” Shin looked up at the air, his eyes lighting up with a hint of excitement.

“If a fake clone of me can do it, then I should be able to do it too, right?” He grinned.

“Let’s find out.”

.. .. .. .. .. ..

“How long has it been…?” Shin muttered to himself as he relaxed on a poolside, reclining chaise lounge chair. He was lying down on the chair as he meditated, one of the many of an assortment of random things he had in his Spatial Ring.

“At least the view is nice.”

Around 400 meters away from Shin, directly in front of him, was a slowly erupting volcano. A stream of lava flowed down the side of the rocky mountain, emitting bright red flames amid an ocean of magma.

Shin’s reclining chair was set on a small stone mesa that was adjacent to the volcano. There was no vegetation or animals nearby, only red rocks, grey rocks, white rocks, and flaming lava of various types.

In the First Gate, there was no Sun or Moon, and no concept of day or night. Instead, the world around Shin appeared as if it was always daylight. Since he didn’t need to rest or sleep, the lack of a Sun was not a particularly pressing issue.

“Hmm… if I count backwards from the time when I first arrived.” Shin concentrated for a moment,

“Yeah, that’s right.” Shin smiled and nodded to himself,

“I haven’t been keeping track at all.”

He had no idea how long he had been in here.

His days had devolved into a 16 hour chunk of repeated combat and an 8 hour chunk of time for himself. The clone he fought had become much smarter. It was capable of using cover and teleporting in to ambush him at opportune times. It used the same weapons he did and could fire and Expand its own bullets to try and take him out.

However, Shin hadn’t just been sitting still. He had been doing his utmost to practice everything he could and, as a result, saw immense growth.

He had practiced using his Warping Phaser Type Ability to the point where it truly felt like he had been born with it. He could teleport anywhere within range on command with ease.

In addition to that, and as a result of his practice, Shin’s connection to the world around him had subtly changed. He could sense the tangible flow of the space around him. It was a difficult feeling to describe, but it was akin to his Soul being in tune with the physical world in his area.

This meant that every time the shadowy clone tried to teleport in, Shin could instantly sense the diverted flow of space that came about from that teleportation. As a result, it was now functionally impossible for the shadowy clone to warp in behind him and take him by surprise.

‘Well, for now, at least. If the clone grows incredibly skilled at teleporting, it might be able to teleport without leaving any ripples in the flow of Spacetime.’ Shin’s brows twitched at the thought.

That was what he had put a great deal of focus into himself after he realized he could sense the flow of the world: teleporting without affecting the flow of space at all.

So far, if he wanted to do a perfect teleportation without sending out even the faintest ripples, Shin discovered he had to concentrate for 2 seconds before he could achieve it.

‘Even that is still absurdly hard.’ He had improved that time immensely from the original 11 seconds it took when he first accomplished it.

“This is quite fun.” Shin spoke to himself with a small smile on his face.

“Let’s keep it up.”

.. .. .. .. .. ..

“I’m not in my real body, so why on Earth am I so cold?!” Shin grumbled to himself as he shivered, wrapping his body in layers of blankets.

The world around Shin had transformed into a winter wonderland, a tall, pine forest that was frozen in place, covered in layers of snow and ice. Shin’s breath flashed out in the air in front of him, a cool, white fog forming in place.

“Damn it. I should have seen this coming.” Shin swore to himself as he thought back to the last region he had been in.

In the volcanic region, he could keenly feel the heat from the passing flow of lava. It only made sense that there would be a region that was freezing cold as well.

“I hate the cold.” Shin pulled out a winter parka out of his Spatial Ring and threw it on.

A half second later, his eyes twitched. He immediately vanished.

Right after that…

A small explosion shook the air as several large cannonballs smashed the spot where he had been standing. Chunks of dirt, ice, and grass were flung up in the air, cascading about in a large, chaotic mess.

“There you are.” Shin’s eyes blazed with fury as he held on to the side of a tree, tracking the direction he felt space fluctuate in. At the end of his gaze was the shadowy figure of his clone.

“I know it’s not your fault that the world is stupidly cold right now.” Shin spoke as he stared down the clone, watching it teleport away.

“But I’m going to choose to ignore that and blame you anyway.” Shin cocked his gun and teleported after it.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

“I’ve always been good at reading people.”

Shin’s voice echoed as he floated on a large inner tube, lounging in the midst of a humongous ocean.

Shin still wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had arrived in this training world. Several months, at least, by this point.

In that time, he had picked up a habit of talking to himself. He did enjoy talking, after all, and with no one to speak to, he had to make do with what he was given: namely, himself.

Shin pondered his own state of being as he quietly floated on the back tube, the rocking waves of the ocean below soothing him.

Now that Sophia was gone, for the first time in a while, Shin was truly alone.

He had no responsibilities in here, no worries to drag him down, no one he needed to care for.

He quite enjoyed this break from the frantic hell that was the 7 Layers.

The easygoing smile on Shin’s face faded as his shoulders slumped, a long, exhausted sigh breaking free from his lips.

“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t good at that.”

Shin was born an orphan. His parents abandoned him long before he could remember anything. He had grown up in an orphanage for years without anyone willing to adopt him, forcing him to learn how to fend for himself.

His ability to read people was a skill he had picked up young.

Life as a poor orphan was not an easy thing. In the first 9 years of his life alone, Shin was transferred through 5 different orphanages.

It was only well after he turned 10 that he was finally adopted.

Shin’s smile returned as he thought of his adopted parents and his adopted little sister.

“That’s reminds me of Sophia and her sister.” Shin tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow as he spoke to himself.

“What were the odds? That was a crazy moment.”

Sophia’s little sister and his little sister both shared the same nickname: Anna. Their full names differed, with Sophia’s little sister being named Anastasia while Shin’s little sister was named Annabel.

He had bonded with Sophia over the coincidence, spending hours together sharing embarrassing sibling stories with each other. That had been one of his fondest memories on the First Layer.

“Poor Sofa.” Shin’s smile faded as he thought of his companions.

Micheal had become incredibly serious ever since he saw those visions of the future. It was like he changed into a different person overnight. Shin would have worried about him, but, somehow, Micheal was able to take everything in stride. It seemed like nothing at all could faze his best friend now.

The change was a jarring one, to be sure. Just how detailed were those visions of the future, that they could transform him so much? Still, he was still the same old Micheal that Shin loved like a brother, either way.

Sophia, on the other hand, was a different case. If Shin had to describe it in a single sentence, it felt like she was trying to become like Micheal, but kept missing the mark. Sophia had an incredibly strong level of self esteem, but that meant little in a world as terrifying as the 7 Layers.

She was straining herself tremendously, to a point that far exceeded what any normal human was capable of.

Micheal might not know, but when it came to the little things, Shin’s keen eye could pick up on even the most minute of changes.

The way Sophia carried herself, the way her eyes hardened and how she clenched her fists slightly from time to time, the tight expression that was constantly on her face…

They were the tell-tale signs of someone pushing herself to the limit.

In Shin’s eyes, that could mean only one of two things.

‘Either she pulls through all the things that are stressing her and comes out stronger than ever or…’ He frowned,

‘She breaks.’

So far, he had done everything he could to help out. He didn’t confront her directly because he could already tell that wasn’t what she wanted. She was a self-determined woman intent on solving her own problems. The last thing she would want was advice from him.

“Still… lame-, I mean, amazing jokes and funny stories can only go so far.” Shin sighed.

“I hope you’re doing okay without me.”

After a few seconds more, Shin smirked.

“Why is it that, in the middle of the Apocalypse, I’m more worried about my friends than I am about myself?” He snorted to himself and then began considering the issue seriously.

“Man, I’m pretty weird, now that I think about it.”

Shin had never been one to worry too much about things. Perhaps as a byproduct of the first 10 years he had lived as an orphan, Shin never expected much of anything out of life.

He would live as he pleased, making decisions that he would not regret. He lived every day by this rule, even here in the 7 Layers.

It was Shin’s unique mindset that let him adapt so quickly after he was Chosen during the 4th Wave. In his own opinion, Sophia’s willpower and mental strength far exceeded his. The reason he had a far easier time dealing with this new world compared to Sophia had to do, in large part, with his mentality.

“Whatever happens, happens. Just live a life you won’t regret. There’s nothing more you need to think about.” Shin sat up in his inner tube, a small splash of water sprinkling onto the floating rubber.

“There’s no point in worrying about things you can’t change.” Shin gave himself a silent round of applause for his own sage advice. The movement sent the drops of water on his tube drizzling down the side.

“That’s what life is really about.” Shin’s gaze flickered as he glanced off to his right, a small smile dawning on his lips.

His larger Soul Rifle appeared in his hands, hugged up against him and hidden from sight. He aimed the rifle while leaning it up against the inner tube, pointing it just below the surface of the water, roughly 70 meters away.

“Easy come…”

Shin cocked the rifle and abruptly teleported, the inner tube coming with him as he moved more than 50 meters in an instant.

He landed on the tube with a soft pat. In the same moment he arrived, his shadowy clone teleported in 20 meters away from him, exactly where Shin was now pointing his Soul Rifle.

“Easy go.”

He pulled the trigger.

.