After immersing himself in the sensation of mana…
Or faking the exercise to avoid getting more embarrassed, David moved toward the summoning gate.
Checking the time on the phone, he mumbled to himself.
"Six hours... I hope Mom and Dad won't skin me alive for disappearing like this."
On any other day, David's disappearance might have gone unnoticed, but he is sure that the news about Cosmic Confluence will be all over the new channel and web. So disappearing for long and weird phenomena happening at the same time would make them filled with anxiety.
And it wouldn't be like they hadn't touched the phone or T.V. in that amount of time.
'Let's move.'
There are two ways of navigating between Cosmic Confluence and the outer world.
First, through the formation of a portal that can be formed through the command of the user. The portal takes about a few minutes to completely form and to be ready to use.
But the drawback of a long time comes with a huge advantage as well i.e. the portal can be formed anywhere. Also, the user cannot be disturbed during this process or the portal would destabilize.
Second, through the summoning gate. The owner can directly enter the whirlpool and they would be teleported in an instant. The only drawback of this method is that the summoning gate has a fixed location.
So given the comfort, David naturally opted for the second option and walked towards the summoning gate.
As he neared, the gate illuminated, spiraling into existence in a matter of seconds. Stepping through, David felt the disorienting pull of the portal and he can say for sure that the sensation of being sucked whole by the portal wasn't a pleasant one.
******
In a dimly lit, cluttered room, space twisted and contorted as a blue light spread through the darkness. From the portal emerged a figure with black hair and dark brown eyes – David
Crossing the portal and looking at the familiar surroundings, a sigh of relief escaped from David's mouth.
'At Least this portal works properly and I can teleport back to home in one piece.'
Hearing about things and seeing with one's own eyes are different things. And people tend to believe more with their own eyes as well.
Removing his boots and peeling off the dirty clothes, David changed into fresh garments.
David moved towards the laundry but for some reason, he decided to check the clock.
"What the…"
David exclaimed as his eyes landed on the clock, nearly dropping his previous dirty clothes from his hand.
The clock was not past even 3 and he was sure that he spent at least six hours inside the Cosmic Confluence.
"Don't tell…"
'...that the time moved at different places in Cosmic Confluence.'
"This… can be beneficial but I have to be more careful when spending time between two worlds. A proper distribution has to be made."
The wheels inside his brain were running at a fast pace, figuring and hypothesizing things.
Realizing the potential benefits and dangers of time disparities between worlds, he resolved to allocate his time more carefully in the future.
Time disparity is a thing that is pondered by the scientists relating it to the difference in gravity in different sections of the universe but nobody had seen it with their own two eyes.
But here he was seeing it firsthand.
"They say anything is possible in this world."
And now he was fully sure of it.
Pinching his arm as another form of self-assurance, David finally moved to the laundry and stuffed his clothes in the washing machine.
Coming back into his room, he immediately grabbed his laptop and searched about Cosmic Confluence.
And this is where the show began.
Hundreds of thousands of new web pages are shown in the search option.
"Information sure travels fast in my world."
Skimming through the content to make sure that Keira hadn't lied, David finally settled at rest after 40 min of sending it online.
Information nearly lines with what she had told him.
But there were more to account, more serious ones.
Apparently, when one crosses the world and enters the Cosmic Confluence for the first time, in addition to abilities, its common language called Cosmic tongue was also given- directly imprinted in their mind.
This startling revelation had left David confused at first but after replaying his conservation with Keira inside his head, a shill was sent down to his spine.
"I was talking in that language all along."
And he didn't even find out till now like it was his mother language all along.
Realizing how Cosmic Confluence can play with someone's mind like this, a fear started forming in him.
But he forced it away and moved towards other information. Even more serious and critical information was present on the web.
"Summons can also be brought to the homeworld of the lord using a crystal-like magical stone, named Lord Seal."
There was nothing wrong with this sentence. It was even in favor of lords to protect themselves and their loved ones anytime.
But what was disturbing was where these stones were found.
"In the heart of a lord. Extracting it spelled either death or the loss of lordly powers."
This revelation shed light on the constant danger faced by lords, pursued by various factions and entities for their power…
Inside the Cosmic Confluence, by the lords that want their subordinates to move between two worlds.
By summons that are freed from their lords and want to explore the new world and its riches.
Natives that hadn't experienced any other world other than Cosmic Confluence and want to see the other worlds.
Various powerful fractions and galactic empires that want to expand their reach to the new world.
Various other races that either want to trade or enslave new races.
Outside, in their home world, by wanderers that have lost their lord power and have their anchor in the Cosmic Confluence are situated in a dangerous area.
And knowing how long it takes for a portal to form, without summoning gate, it is better to kill a lord and take his Lord Seal, to teleport to his area.
Also, if the lord seal is not much damaged, it could be reinforced by a high-tier Artificer and could be used to take that dead lord's summoning gate or any other conquered summoning gate fully under his own control.
So in short, being lord had its own advantage but not without placing a target on their head.
Therefore, many opted to abandon their lord power and choose to live as wanderers.