.
.
.
—
/Tap tap tap…/
-Chapter End-
-Author's notes…-
In the middle of the night, in a dark room, a single man stared intently at a computer screen, reading through a long wall of text with a baffled gaze.
The man was relatively young, his room was tidy and above all, he seemed to be doing well in life, at least from his appearance alone.
As he reached the end, the young man's eyebrows furrowed, his patience reaching its end…
"Bla bla bla... What?... Huh?"
"The Arc ended?"
"That's it? That's the darned end?"
His expression turning livid, he soon touched his forehead with a sigh as he fell back onto his chair, looking at the ceiling as he let some wind from his ceiling fan blow on his face.
"Of course, that's the end, dumbass Chinese novel…" He said with a scoff as he scratched his chest
'It's always the same, why did I even give it another chance?'
This wasn't the first time he felt like this, betrayed and dumbfounded by the writing prowess of whoever sat on the other side of the web.
He was an avid reader, he enjoyed passing his time reading. Be it a fan fiction to an a more mainstream book, he was glad to read them, preferentially through his computer screen.
He enjoyed Novels, having gone through multiple phases as he went over from Japanese to Korean and now finally… Chinese works.
But for the same reasons he stopped reading those, he now saw himself at a bind.
"There's nothing good to read anymore…"
'My favorite works take too long to update, the other works I follow can't give me that thrill, and the rest is too bad for me to even stomach.'
'My friend tells me it's just how things are, but he's a trash eater, I won't resign to the crap the internet is trying to feed me.'
Yet… Here he was…
"... Honestly… It wasn't that bad of an ending… But why is it so darned trendy?"
This book once appeared to him by chance as he perused the thousands of web novels on one of his favorite websites.
A simple story that went by the cringy name of: The Resurgence of the Limitless Card Emperor.
It was a story set in a vast world full of tropes, with the main theme being the individuals known as Card Masters.
A Card Master was a person born with the talent to handle Cards. Items capable of holding tangible power that could manifest into reality for all kinds of convenient and deadly endeavors.
The main character of this story was a dumbass that was born with a low ranked Card Talent called Rudimentary Card Alchemy, which was obviously useless and trash to the point everyone around him made fun of him, pushing him around to the point he was often used as bait for monsters and the like.
What were monsters? Ha… Just one of the many tropes in that world…
If inherent talents weren't enough, you had monsters rampaging around through mysterious means, Dungeons, Secret realms, Noble families, and all the boring bits and pieces you are to expect from most modern Novels anyway.
All stacked together into one horrendous package… Which wasn't anything new, as most works nowadays made use of them more often than not.
Which wasn't something most readers complained about, what they didn't like was the execution most of these displayed.
Anyhow, in this cruel and brutal world where the weak are devoured by the strong… The main character goes on his journey to become the greatest of all time because his useless Talent was obviously baddass because everyone was lacking a screw to realize its greatness.
All the while, he could commit mistakes, grow, fight, and commit more mistakes because he was a dumbass.
Being very young at the start of the story, it wasn't a problem if he made a mistake or two, the problem came when he made the same mistake, over, and over…
And over again, while still, obviously, winning.
Because the world spun around the crazy bastard.
"I've read 1700 chapters of this crap and yet there's been seemingly no emotional growth on the main character, he has no maturity!"
"He's been the same idiot that blushes at a pair of tities and can't handle money for the last 6 years of his life! And he's 21 by now dammit!"
There was only one reason this charming young man put himself through the emotional and physchological torture that was reading this work…
'How this crap have such impeccable writing and story development while also being so godawfull inconsistent?!'
That's right, the only reason he stuck with this story was because it was writing flawslesly.
Every aspect of the narration was perfect, the details of every scene, the fights, and the emotions and expressions the characters desplayed…
They were all so perfectly written that he could vision and picture their conversions!
The problem was… The novel lacked a great deal of worldbuilding and pacing, together with its terrific plot development.
The novel always progress through idiotic plots or "power of heaven" where everything happened centered around the mc just for the sake of it.
There were never any scenes showing background characters plotting anything, there was never any consequences for the mcs actions, and more often then not, mechanics and ideas which could greatly affect the world or invalidate certain story aspect were thrown here and there, causing the story itself to be quite inconsequential.
It was as if the author was making the story bad on purpose due to some higher order goal…
"And now… After finishing its newest arc… I can tell for certain that…"
'THIS AUTHOR IS FULL OF CRAP!!'
There was no need to go over the reasons why he was upset. It was best to close our eyes and move on…
"I'm done with this! I still have so many games to play, enough wasting my time with this. I won't last through the last 1000 chapters this story has to offer."
'At this point, I'm better off quitting to the end just to see how it ends.'
/Creak…/
The young man got up from his chair, upset at the story and, above all, himself for persisting through with the mess that was this crazy story.
Inside his mind he couldn't help but envision a 1000 different ways the Main character could've done things to achieve his goals. But alas, despite him trying to send his complaints to the author, this was but a nameless corner story, destined to never take off and ever surpass 100K views…
Even now, years after it had been posted, it had barely 12K views, and of those 12K, 1400 came from him as each chapter he read counted as a view.
It was truly a trashy novel that threw away most of its views with the very first frustrating moments it had.
With a heavy heart, he wrote his final complaint at the end of the chapters, saying:
-I'm done with this crap! How hard would it be to give the mc half the brains of all villains combined? Because they aren't that far off from his stupidity!-
-If you read this far or stumbled into this comment by chance, then I'm sorry for you fam! But turn around and never read this crap!-
/Clack!/
Just as his message was posted on the chapter, the door to his room closed as he left his room, leaving his computer screen alone as it waited for its master's return.
/Din!/
Not long after, a reply came into his message, it read:
-How about you try it then?-
If he was there, the young man would've open his eyes in shock… As the one who replied was actually… The Author!
How happy he would've been to finally be able to give him a piece of his mind!
But alas… He had other priorities to attend to…
/Bzzz…/
…
/Blink blink…/
/Lights off!/
Suddenly, his entire house was clad in darkness, stopping the man in his tracks as he went to fetch a cup of water.
"Hm?... A power outage? It's not even raining outside."
He kept his ears open, ready to hear one of the road transformers explode, but nothing happened.
He could still see light coming from the windows, the street was still definitely lit.
He lived on the second floor of this apartment, so he would know if everyone got the same treatment.
"Dammit… I don't have any candles. Where's my cellphone?..."
He turned back to his room as his eyes got used to the light, tracing his steps as he slowly avoided tripping on anything on his path.
/Creak… Grab/
Entering his room, he was quick to find his phone, shaking it to turn on the flashlight.
'Finally… Now, what should I…?'
/LIGHT!/
/SHINE!/
Then, as suddenly as the darkness came, it went away. Blinding light taking over his eyelids as his room lit up!
"Urg!... Darned light… Huh?..."
But as he closed his eyes, he noticed something rather odd…
'Wasn't my lights off to begin with?'
/Open… SPLASH!!/
"?!"
The young man opened his eyes, only to feel a rush of water splash directly onto his eyelids.
"GUASHFHAS?!"
Soon enough, his body began to spin as he felt himself be tossed inside what he could only define as a giant washing machine.
His body spun time and time again as he tried his best to define where was up and where was down, but things were getting harder and harder, his vision became fainter and fainter as he lost his breath.
He couldn't understand anything, where was he? How did he get in this situation?!
But just as he began to lose hope, or better yet, fight even more fiercely, his body stopped spinning, and he got a moment of clarity.
The moment when you are about to die, his mind got extremely clear.
He remembered what he had to do, he could see them, the bubbles moving upward…
/SWIM!/
He followed them with great zeal, the golden bubbles, and finally, he saw light, shining through the water…
/SPLASH!/
/GAAASP!!/
"HAAA… HAAA… H-Hel… BLERG!... Haaa…"
"Huff… Huff…"
/SPLASH!/
Golden light shone onto him with the full power of the sun, and warm wind hit his face, soothing his panic, even if little…
/Bump… Bump…/
"Wh… ?!?!?!"
Something hit his shoulder, momentarily waking the dazed man, so he turned to the side, ready to check what it was when…
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"..."
A faceless being was right beside him, "staring" straight at him…
He immediately screamed in panic as he realized he wasn't alone, that all around him, he was completely surrounded by those faceless monsters as they drifted across this ocean.
"Where the fuck am I?!?!?!" He exclaimed in fear as he pushed the being back
/Drift…/
To the grace of his ever-waning sanity, the being merely drifted away from him, vanishing amidst a hundred other beings, all facing the same direction, the distant horizon.
"Huff… Huff…"
/Splash… Splash…/
No matter how loudly he screamed, nothing happened, and with a single one, he realized nothing would happen if he kept at it.
Worse… Maybe by screaming, he would attract their attention, so he kept to himself, taking a deep breath.
Shaking… He focused.
'My God… Where am I?'
That was when he finally took a good look at his surroundings.
Above him was a golden-orange sky full of yellow-brown clouds, drifting endlessly who knew where.
Golden light shone from within them, however, it was hard to say from where.
For as bizarre as it may sound, it was as if the sun wasn't there yet everywhere at the same time…
But oftentimes, holes would form in the sea of clouds, and for a split moment, he managed to see a glimpse of this distinctive golden sun hidden beyond.
/Splash…/
'The current…'
As he looked around, the current around him strengthened, and he felt himself be pulled away at a fast speed.
He didn't stop his analisis though, still looking around intently.
"Deep breaths Jonathan… Deep breath… Oh my fuck, what is that?!"
Jonathan's eyes shook as he looked forward.
There, he saw the ocean… Bend upward…
Like a waterfall but flipped, the entire ocean was now visible to him, together with the thousands of faceless entities floating on its waters.
'What the… No shot… This has to be a dream! But it doesn't feel like one at all…'
'JUST WHERE AM I?!'
A massive ocean of golden water under a golden sea of clouds, in it, tens if not hundreds of thousands of faceless entities floated towards the horizon.
As time passed, Jonathan eventually reached its edge, and like many before him, he began to ascend towards the sky.
"..."
'I don't feel gravity, in fact, I don't feel much at all…'
'I don't need to move my feet to float, its as if there's something pushing me upward. I don't even need to move at all, the current does everything for me.'
'Where… Where are we going?'
Somewhat calm, Jonathan began to recess his situation, trying to instead figure out things beyond his condition.
He looked back to see where he came from, and he noticed something odd.
'I… I see now.'
'So we're in some sort of river… An incredibly wide river… Tens of kilometers wide.'
'Undearneath the river there's some sort of darkness…'
While the sky was golden, Jonathan was quick to realize the golden river seemed to be floating above a dark mist…
Coils of fog often reached to its edges, and whenever they passed, everything in its path vanished, including the faceless beings.
/Gulp…/
It was also when he realized how close to 'death', he trully was…
'Should I swim to the center of the river? No! There's no guarantee it'll be safer…'
'On the contrary, if I move too much, then… That was why I stopped speaking.'
His instincts kicked in, the best way for him to survive was for him to hide as best as possible.
However, as he thought more and more, Jonathan arrived at a conclusion, one he dreaded greatly…
"Am… Am I…"
'Dead?'
Myths and legends passed through his mind as he floated on the river, and for as terrible as it was, there was only one explanation for his situation.
He wasn't in some elaborate prank, this was impossible.
He couldn't be in a dream, it couldn't feel like this, he was far too 'clear' for it to be that.
Then…
'The… The lights…'
'Did I die when the lights turned back on? But to what?!'
'A power surge? But was far from any cables! The only thing in my hand was my darned cellphone!'
Jonathan ran through his head trying to find reasons to what could've possibly sent him to the afterlife, but the only thing he found was frustration.
/Shua!/
"!"
Finally, he reached the top of the waterfall, and with a loud splash, he and many others crossed to its top, thus starting the next section of the endless journey.
"..."
'I can't see shit.'
There were far too many before him, and above all, everyone seemed taller than him for some reason.
/Look…/
"..."
Jonathan raised his hands from the water, and for the first time, he realized how he actually looked…
'I'm also… Then… This means…'
It was far too obvious, but it was something he was desperately trying to avoid admitting.
His hands were translucent and slightly opaque, very much how every faceless creature around him looked, if only a little more "visible".
'Everyone around me… Is dead.'
Tens of thousands of souls, making their way towards their next life…
'Okay… Deep breath… FOCUS!'
'If I'm truly dead… Then I need to gather my thoughts!'
'If I refer to everyone around me, then I'm in an incredible situation! Not counting what happened before I came here… Ahem…'
'I'm dead… In the river of… I'll assume this is the river of reincarnation.'
There was no way to confirm he was on his way to reincarnate, but one thing was certain:
'I have my memories and sense of self while everyone around me doesn't.'
'If I'm on my way to my next life… Then maybe I can influence my destiny a little.'
'Maybe choose where I'll be born, in which time, family… Wealth… Appearance…'
'Even if not, then I need to use my consciousness to turn this to my benefit, even if little.'
/Don!... Don!... Don!.../
"Hm?..."
Suddenly, loud bells fell beyond the clouds, their loud chimes echoing through him and those around him, shaking their bodies down to their very center.
The Bells seemed made of green jade, with strange symbols etched on their surface.
They tolled happily and eagerly as if welcoming all on the river. At least, that was how he felt as he looked at them, the emotion just seemingly sprung on his chest.
But just as he began making sense of their appearance, all of the bells vanished, returning to the clouds in the blink of an eye, as if sucked there by an otherworldy force.
'What was that?'
A strange omen washed over him, or maybe it was the warm water splashing onto his face…
But he made sure to remember their appearances, as even if little, they were quite unforgetful…
/Splash!.../
"Hm? A divergence… Wait a minute…"
As the river extended beyond the bels, multiple rivers began to split from the main one, and within them, dozens of thousands of 'souls' began to travel across their expanse, going somewhere beyond his sight.
However, just as he considered where they could be leading, he spotted a few unusually shaped souls mixed in with the others…
'That… Looks like a dog… And that one… A cat…'
'Don't tell me those rivers…'
If his interpretations were true, then that river led straight to a terrific fate, so he made sure to slowly swim far from them, and soon enough, those few rivers vanished into the horizon.
/Splash!/
"..."
'The pace is increasing…'
/CRUNK!/
The sound of metal stretching… Chains…
"!"
In the distance, his first hurdle appeared.
Seven unimaginably tall gates awaited his passage, each glowing in their unique, translucent lights.
He called them gates because instead of doors, there were glowing films made of what seemed to be a form of gas cascading down to the water.
Like the bells, the gates were adorned will all forms of strange runes and shapes, but most striking were the seven giants standing atop each. Holding gargantuan weapons as they guarded the gates.
'Those are… A form of classification?'
Because the river began to curve upward, Jonathan managed to glimpse at the bottom of the gates, and notice how each gate had a different density of individuals crossing through them.
From left to right, the first two gates were packed full of people, with a density even higher then the usual on the river.
The third and fourt gates were just as dense as most of the river, no difference there.
But the density of people crossing through them changed drastically from the fifth onward.
He could barely count the number of people going through the fourth gate, but from the fifth onward, he at least had a grasp of their total numbers.
'There's about… A few hundred people crossing through the fifth gate every minute?... Probably a bit more…'
'But the sixth gate… I can easily count it on one hand.'
'And the seventh…'
The path to the seventh gate was mostly desolate, with one or two Souls crossing through it occasionally. But it was clear that from millions of Souls, only a few had the "honor" of passing through it.
'It could be a trap, what if these gates determine if I'll be born with a healthy body or not? Maybe the more I'm to the left, the higher my chances of being born without an arm or an eye…'
'That would be the very definition of destroying oneself due to greed.'
/Splash!/
His time was coming to an end and he was fast approaching the gates, if he did not start swimming now, he would be forced across the third gate in no time.
'It seems my predetermined fate is the third one, but it shouldn't be too hard to reach the fourth or even the fifth…'
'But is that really what I want?'
/SWING!/
"?!"
To his surprise, one of the statues suddenly swung its mighty weapon, destroying something underneath its gate violently!
And as he moved, soon enough, another statue swung its weapon, and then another, and then another…
'Why! Why are they swinging their weapons?!'
Jonathan focused, if he was caught by one of those, then he would certainly die as his Soul dispersed into this world…
'Hum?... T-THAT!!'
Finally, with a keen eye, Jonathan finally figured out the reason why the guardians were killing the Souls underneath them.
Maybe it was because he lacked a physical body, but his sight was incredibly accurate, allowing him to see far into the river and with great detail, although it didn't explain why he was unable to gaze upon the bells that clearly…
'They aren't attacking the people, they're instead… Striking at something under the water!'
/SPLASH!/
Just as he reached that conclusion, a Soul just a few feet from him was suddenly pulled underwater, vanishing from sight.
"!"
'Shit! What is the method of classification here?!'
Because he was so focused elsewhere, he didn't notice how dozens of Souls were vanishing every second, but now, it was evident to his eyes.
A new problem emerged, he needed to cross the gates, but without being dragged underwater!
'A pattern! I need to identify a pattern here… HM?!'
With a sharp gaze, he found out what was missing. The key to survive this mess!
'They're not attacking indiscriminately, they're going after everything that moves.'
'Some of the Souls are still moving around, albeit slowly, and soon after they do, they are pulled down by something…'
'Don't tell me… Those things are here to hunt down… People like me?'
Jonathan's expression went dark as he raised his head to face the gates.
If he was going to change his fate, he had to make his choice now…
'Fuck it! I have a plan.'
With great diligence, he raised his arms outside of the water… And pulled one of the Souls in his direction.
/Sha sha…/
Slowly, one person at a time, he began moving towards the right, toward the Higher gates…
'As long as I don't move my legs, whatever's under the water won't be able to differentiate me from the others unless they can see over the water… Which would be a damn shame.'
'At this speed, I won't have any problem reaching the fifth… No! The Sixth gate!'
Jonathan set his gaze at the higher gates, if he was going to reincarnate, it would be the highest life possible!
/Pull… Shua…/
One person at a time, he moved to the right, and soon enough, he saw himself at another crossroads…
As the density of Souls decreased, he soon saw himself stranded.
'Shit… Is this the best I can do?...'
Worse, he could feel the current under his feet pushing him to the left, it was trying to fix his altered fate!
'No way in hell I'm getting back there after all the work I had to reach the sixth gate…'
'There's not much left, if I continue down this path, crossing the gate should be a breeze! But…'
He looked to the right, towards the great gate in the distance…
It seemed to shine with a greatness he could not describe…
At that moment, Jonathan's greed spoke the loudlest, and above all, his fear took the best of him.
As even at this moment…
/Raise…/
Jonathan looked at his arms, they were growing fainter and fainter by the minute.
'Whatever's going on, it'll soon affect me permanently.'
'I don't know what'll happen once I cross it, but I'm betting on the off chance it'll put a stop to whatever's happening to my bo… Soul?... Sigh.'
'But how do I get there? If I move too much, the "sharks" will get me…'
'But if I stay still… Aha!'
Another brilliant idea flashed across Jonathan's face.
'Wait… Wait… Now!'
He moved as far right as he could, and soon enough, his first 'victim' appeared.
A pure Souls, brighter then the others, quickly swam through the river of reincarnation, zooming through everyone at high speeds.
He couldn't tell why, but the further to the right you went, the faster you became!
Maybe it was a way to concentrate more people on the left, but if that was the case, then they should've done the contrary…
Anyhow, the moment the Soul bolted through, he latched onto their neck!
/PULL!/
A great force catapulted him towards the right, pulling him further to the rightmost section of the river! And despite the pulling force to the left, he was still moving closer and closer to the right.
'It worked! But at this rate, I'll end up pulling this guy with me to the sixth gate…'
Whoever this guy was… Or girl… It was impossible to tell gender with Souls… Anyhow, whoever he was, their fate was defiantely not enough to sustain both of them throughout the Seventh Door.
/GRAB!/
So with a smirk on his face, he quickly latched onto another passing Soul with his left arm, holding one Soul in each arm.
With this much force, the faint force on his feet was overpowered by their collective pushing force, setting him on course against the heavenly door.
'HAHAHAHA! I'm a genius! Just wait for me!... Whatever's on the other side…'
'If it's back on Earth, then please, make me rich! And at the very least… Within a timeline where I can at least give my parents their farewells…'
'And if somewhere else… Please make it a Cultivation world! I wouldn't mind an Isekai either! Like uh…'
A thousand ideas passed through Jonathan's mind as he approached the gates, glorious images of possible futures he could have…
To be born as the son of a King or a rich merchant to even the eldest son of a famous martial clan of Murin, everything was possible, even those kinky stories about the sole man in the female Elf tribe!
If it was the Golden Gate, everything was possible! This was where Kings were born!
(Everything was but a figment of his imagination, of course…)
/Open…/
"?!?!?!"
As he approached the gate, the giant guardian, the sole one that had yet to move, opened his eyes and gazed down at Jonathan.
'SHIIIIITTTT!!'
Obviously, whatever trick he was trying to employ wouldn't pass through the gaze of this Godlike existence, after all, every single one of them swung their weapons without even opening their eyes…
How come would this one seemingly 'forget' about his clear mischievous actions?
/Gaze… Close…/
"???"
But against all odds, the stone giant retracted its gaze, closing its eyes as it resumed its slumber.
'He… He'll let me go?'
Many ideas passed through his mind, thoughts of him being deleted just as he was about to cross the golden light of the gate…
But none of it happened and he crossed through it without a hitch, reaching the other side, his next hurdle.
/SPLASH!/
/Shine…/
"Urg…"
Jonathan crossed through the golden veil, reaching its other side, and as he did, the sound of falling water graced his ears immediately.
/Shuaaa…/
"..."
'What now?'
Before him was the usual, dozens of heads floating in the eternally flowing river.
'It seems we've all been gathered again… That's good, I thought I would be isolated with a few people after crossing, now it's easier to blend in.'
'What about my hands?...'
He raised his hands, and to his surprise, they now felt studier, more opaque than before.
'Also… Am I glistering a little?... Yeah, it's not an illusion, my bros are also glowing a little.'
He looked around, seeing that the number of Souls on the river rapidly increased as the current resumed its original pace.
Each Soul now glowed a little, with a few glowing brightly and others not as much. They also had faint colors but nothing discernible to the naked eye.
Jonathan didn't seem to have a color. If he had, he couldn't tell.
Of course, given how well his previous plan worked, he stuck to the earlier Souls he fetched in the river, calling them his bros.
He held them by the arms, always pulling them close whenever they drifted too far.
By now, a few minutes into this section, the river began to narrow, and everyone was back together and on track, which meant that if there were to be sharks on the water, they would have a more challenging time fetching him.
/SHUAAA!!/
"!"
Soon enough, he saw… Or better put, heard what would soon be his next hurdle.
'What's that?' He thought with a pensive gaze as he looked around warily
'It's the sound of a waterfall…'
/SHA SHA SHA!!/
"!"
Finally, at the edge of his vision, he saw what seemed to be a black cloud floating in the sky.
From it, black rain slowly fell, tainting the water dark and with it, everyone around it.
The colorless Souls soon began to gain color.
'It's not just that, further in the distance, there's a red cloud, and then a green one…'
'They're tainting the Souls… Is this good or bad?'
Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be avoidable as the cloud moved from left to right, so even if he avoided the brunt of the rain, he would eventually be tainted by it, even if slightly.
'Well… If I'll get tainted anyway… Then I should go all in from the start right?'
As he got closer to the moving clouds, he saw how the colors of the Souls began to shift, and how some began to adorn a multitude of colors.
'Maybe each cloud represents something… Emotions? Talents? Something else entirely?'
'Reaching a balance between these colors seems to be the goal of this stage, as regardless of what you do, you'll eventually have a color to your Soul.'
'If I was going to a Magic world, then I would say these represent my Elemental Affinities, but that's too much of an assumption…'
'If only I knew where I was going…'
'Anyhow, I've made my choice!'
"Huu… Let's go Bro 1 & 2… I'll get you both all dyed up… Damn…"
According to their path and the trajectory of the cloud, they wouldn't fall directly under it, passing only through the dyed river like most of the other Souls.
He noticed that the longer it had been since the cloud passed, the cleaner the water became and the less dye tainted the passing Souls, which meant he could avoid exposure to the black ink if he so wished.
But was that the right thing to do?...
In the end, he chose to go with the other statistical possibility!
'The clouds move rather fast, and their center is rather small, only a dozen meters across.'
'There are several "ranges" within the cloud, where the rain is more like a faint drizzle to the point where it looks like a waterfall.'
'If I want to get the best of it, then I must pass through its center… To calculate it's coming perfectly.'
'The window for that is rather tight as the cloud is moving rather fast, but given the current isn't too strong, I can fight it and extend my window considerably.'
'The problem is that I have quite the baggage with me…'
If he wanted to help his bros, than he needed to calculate things perfectly to minimize the margin for error. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to swim against the current to help them.
'I only have one shot… But that's all I need.'
/Swim…/
"Huu…"
'This is tiresome… And dangerous.'
There was no way to know if something was lurking in the water, but he had to paddle a little if he wished to match the timing.
And so he did…
'Alright, at this angle, the raincloud will intercept us, and we'll get exactly within its center!'
'If there's anything special inside, we'll find it.'
Jonathan didn't know if there was another hidden later within the cloud, an innermost circle only a meter across or maybe even smaller where the concentrated dark water fell.
But if there was, he would figure it out now.
/Shaa… Shaaa… SHAAAA!/
'It's here! Taka a deep breath and… Wait, I don't need to breathe…'
/SHUAAA!/
The dark cloud reached them, and they were consumed by darkness in the blink of an eye!
/Shua… Shuaa…/
/Gasp!/
"Cough… Cough…"
'Alright… I'm through.'
Moments later, Jonathan emerged on the other side, gasping for air despite not needing any.
It was a reflex more than anything. He felt he needed to breathe but in truth he didn't, he was fine keeping his mouth and nose closed for as long as he wished.
Although he didn't know if he had a face now…
/Raise…/
'I'm all black now… How odd.'
He raised his arms out of the water, and just like his 'friends', he was now completely black.
'The next one is the red cloud… It looks ominous…'
/SHA SHA SHA!!/
For the next few hours, Jonathan swam around the river, getting under as many clouds as he could.
At first it was easy, but then, multiple clouds began appearing simultaneously, and he eventually had to choose which clouds he should go under.
But given how he always traveled under the centermost of each cloud, he prioritized those he had never gone under before over repeated ones, and eventually, it reached a point most of the clouds on the way were repeats.
When this happened, he just relaxed slightly, letting the river take its course as he somewhat tried to get under the clouds.
And just when he thought it was over…
"Haaa… I'm tired."
'I've noticed something odd with the Souls.'
'As they get tainted by multiple colors, they seem to spiral around their outline, eventually condensing at the very center of their chests.'
'However, this is only better seen in Souls like mine, which have a very distinct color gradient.'
'Maybe this assortment is necessary to stabilize them…'
"Hm?... What's that?"
/Shuaa…/
It was hard to see, but Jonathan spotted it due to its contrast…
'A white, transparent cloud?... It's the last one from the looks of it.'
A small if not tiny cloud moving sporadically throughout the river, it rained down platinum colored droplets of water that as soon as they fell, vanished within the sea of Souls.
'That looks… Cool. But how do I get to it?'
The cloud wasn't moving from left to right, nor was it oving diagonally. It seemingly went whenever it wanted, raining onto whoever it wished.
'Maybe it's like before… The Cloud is choosing where it wants to rain rather than following a set pattern.'
'If that's the case, what's its… Oho!'
By using his two friends as a platform for him to overlook the river, Jonathan soon realized what the little cloud was doing. It was actively going after the shiniest of people, directly raining on them for a while before moving on to the next one.
It was also when he realized that most of the shinest clouds either had intense colors or a great variety of them.
'So the chosen Souls get either a greater variety to their Soul or specialize in one or few colors… Interesting, but nothing I should concern myself with.'
'What I should care about is… Making that cloud rain on me!'
To that, Jonathan began working…
'With these two next to me, there should be a considerable chance it'll pass through me, but I don't want the drizzle, I want the real thing.'
'To that… I'll have to make some adjustments…'
He looked around with the help of his bodyguards and soon found who he was looking for!
Slowly, he began swimming around the river, fetching the most colorful and shiniest of them all, putting them around himself as he awaited for the cloud to descend.
'Okay! It was very, very hard, but I now have half a dozen shiny Souls to guide me!'
'With me at the center, even if the cloud doesn't rain perfectly on me, I can just push one of the Souls aside or share the bath with them!'
'Now I wait…'
/Shuaa… Shuaa… sha sha… SHAAAA!!/
'It's here!'
The silvery rain was fast approaching, soon enough, it would cleanse him.
'I'm not sure what the silver rain do, but its definitely beneficial.'
'Come!'
/SHAAAA… Sha…/
/Stop…/
"???"
The tiny cloud suddenly stopped the moment it reached his group, and for a moment, it stood still, hovering silently above them.
'Don't tell me… It knows.'
Jonathan's expression sharpened, he wouldn't be giving any ground here, but so was the cloud.
An intense staredown began.
...
.
.
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Notes