Chereads / Traveling Worlds / Chapter 2 - Baecho-Xixie

Chapter 2 - Baecho-Xixie

on a large piece of a dead planet, A boy was walking on the platform unbothered by the suction of space, he held a harpoon in his left hand and on the other was a revolver.

The glowing energy bridges that still held the weight of the dead world occasionally lit up, The countless echos of their sounds revolving around each other creating a loop of drifting echos.

This is Echo Drift.

"So i have to explore now?" Allen walked away from the boat and into the landscape, to say the world of echo drift was normal is an understatement.

Allen could already tell he might spend a long while in this world. "I have no bullets, wait?! i can't even use a gun"

[Revolver bullets X10 has been given as a beginner item,The way to shoot a basic revolver is already ingrained in your brain]

Allen paused mid-step, staring blankly at the notification that hovered in front of him. "Already ingrained in my brain? What does that even mean?" He raised the revolver in his hand, the weight of it suddenly feeling more natural, as if his muscles instinctively knew what to do.

With a resigned sigh, he muttered, "Alright, I guess muscle memory it is." He flicked open the chamber, finding it empty. Moments later, a small pouch materialized on the ground in front of him. Inside were ten shiny bullets, neatly lined up.

[Revolver Bullets (x10) Added to Inventory.]

"Guess that's one less thing to worry about," Allen muttered, loading the revolver and snapping it shut. The sound echoed briefly, merging with the world's endless chorus of distant, drifting sounds.

He looked up at the jagged landscape. The ruins of what might have been a city lay ahead, pieces of buildings precariously balanced on the floating fragments of land. Twisting energy bridges connected these fragments, pulsing faintly with a life of their own. The glowing moss clinging to the ruins gave the impression that the planet was somehow alive

just barely.

"Alright, let's see what I can scavenge," Allen said, setting off towards the distance.

Allen walked for about two minutes until his leg hit something, he bent down and grabbed it without any hesitation. What he hit was a cylindrical object the size of his fist, inside it was a pure white glowing crystal.

[You have found a void Cache, using the harpoon has a 50% chance of opening it while using your hands has a 10% chance of opening it]

"Ofcourse there is percentage's to these things" He muttered with sarcasm, he then used the sharp harpoon and poked the cache, as expected, nothing happened.

"am i supposed to break it with the harpoon or something" He asked incredulously.

[Affirmative]

He didn't answer at the screen in frotn of him and immediately applied pressure on the harpoons, the cache started cracking and a bright white light appeared.

[You have successfully opened the Cache]:

-Echo Gear(Sellable Value:0.5,Fusable:Revolver)

-Baecho Totem(Value:0.3)

-Coin Flip.

[Echo Gear: An item that when fused with a revolver, it upgrades the gun chamber to shoot an additional bullet bullet after the first and last ones].

[Baecho Totem: A beast native to this world, it resembles an earth bat but have slightly larger ears and have the ability to disguise themselves].

[Coin Flip: if it lands on heads, you gain fortune, if it lands on tails prepare to receive misfortune].

Allen stared at the glowing notifications, his mind buzzing with equal parts curiosity and dread. He picked up the items carefully, feeling their strange textures in his hands. The Echo Gear was a small, mechanical fragment, humming faintly with energy, while the Baecho Totem was smooth, like polished stone, but faintly warm to the touch.

And then, there was the Coin Flip. A simple, metallic coin with a glowing edge. It felt heavier than it looked, almost as if it carried a weight beyond its size.

"Well, these are… something," Allen muttered, turning the coin over in his fingers. The description loomed in his mind—heads meant fortune, tails meant misfortune. He didn't like the sound of the latter.

His eyes darted to the revolver. The Echo Gear had a clear use, and the thought of upgrading the chamber was tempting. But first, he wanted to deal with the coin. Its faint hum seemed to grow louder, almost beckoning him.

"Do I flip it?" he muttered to himself, his fingers tightening around it. The notification didn't specify when he had to flip it, but something told him that leaving it unflipped might attract even worse luck.

Taking a deep breath, Allen whispered, "Alright, let's get this over with."

He flicked the coin into the air, its glowing edge spinning in a mesmerizing blur. Time seemed to slow as it reached its peak, then descended, landing squarely on the cracked ground in front of him. The coin emitted a faint chime as it settled, glowing brighter for a moment before the result was revealed.

It landed on heads.

[You have received Fortune: +1 Rare Drop Guaranteed in Next Cache.]

Allen exhaled in relief, his shoulders relaxing. "That wasn't so bad," he muttered, picking up the coin, which now felt inert and slightly warm, like it had fulfilled its purpose.

"Alright, time to deal with this gear," he said, turning his attention back to the Echo Gear. The revolver in his hand seemed to react to the proximity of the gear, the metal faintly vibrating. Following his instincts, Allen pressed the gear to the chamber.

The revolver let out a low hum, glowing for a moment as the gear fused seamlessly into its design. The notification popped up again.

[Revolver Upgraded:

-Enhanced Chamber: Fires an additional bullet after the first and last rounds.

-Slightly Improved Stability.]

"Now we're talking," Allen said, testing the weight of the gun. It felt smoother, more balanced, like it was eager to be used.

With the upgrades complete, Allen turned his gaze back toward the ruins ahead. The faint pulsing of the Core Spire was visible on the horizon, but before he could head that way, another noise caught his attention a faint fluttering sound, like wings.

His hand instinctively went to the Baecho Totem. "So… bats, huh?" Allen muttered, scanning the dimly lit sky. Sure enough, a small, bat-like creature swooped down from above, its elongated ears twitching. Its body glowed faintly, like it was absorbing the ambient energy of the ruins.

The creature stopped mid-air, staring at Allen with curious, intelligent eyes. Then, with a sudden screech, it flitted toward him. Allen tensed, raising the revolver, but before he could fire, the Baecho Totem in his hand began to vibrate.

The bat halted its approach, circling him instead. Its screech turned into a series of chirps, and the totem's glow pulsed in response. Allen lowered his weapon, watching as the creature finally landed a few feet away, tilting its head as if studying him.

"Alright, little guy," Allen said cautiously. "Are you here to help me or bite my face off?"

The bat let out a soft trill, almost like a laugh, then launched itself into the air, flying in the direction of the Core Spire. It paused mid-flight, looking back at him.

"Looks like I have a guide now," Allen said, shrugging. "Lead the way, I guess."

The glowing Baecho led Allen across the jagged ruins, darting ahead but always staying within his line of sight. The Core Spire grew closer, its pulsating energy becoming more intense, sending ripples through the air like a heartbeat.

After a while, the bat flew down and landed on the shoulder of a stone figure, it chirped looking at Allen. "You want me to touch it?"

The Baecho didn't make any sounds but Allen got the idea, he looked closely at the stone figure and was initially suprised.

"It doesn't look broken and it looks weird" The figure in question had large ears on top of its head like the Baecho and smaller human ones.

Its features were humanoid but exaggerated, with long fingers curled around a jagged staff and a face split by a sharp, toothy grin carved into the stone. The glowing moss wrapped around its base, giving it an eerie, alive quality.

Allen cautiously approached, the revolver steady in his hand. "Alright, if this thing comes to life, I'm shooting first and asking questions later," he muttered. The Baecho flitted to the top of the statue, chirping as if urging him forward.

[You have found a Dead world inhabitant, usually beings whose world's become a dead world, they all die but if the planet wants an individual to survive it will put them in a state of stasis and give it a quarter of its energy, usually these beings do not know what happened to their worlds, they can be awakened since they are victims to the collapse of a world]

Allen stared at the stone figure, his fingers still gripping the revolver tightly, though he was starting to wonder whether that was the right move. The Baecho's unblinking stare and insistence on the statue made him uneasy, but he had already learned in Echo Drift that ignoring the strange could lead to worse outcomes. The bat chirped again, its glowing body hovering just above the statue's head.

"Okay, okay," Allen muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Let's get this over with." He reached out cautiously and placed his hand on the smooth, cool surface of the stone figure's shoulder. The moment his fingers made contact, the world seemed to hold its breath. The hum in the air grew louder, vibrating deep within Allen's bones, and the moss around the statue began to pulse in time with the strange rhythm. The Baecho screeched again, darting around in excitement, as the statue's cracked face slowly began to shift.

Cracks appeared, running down the figure's neck and spreading across its limbs. The stone groaned, as if resisting movement after eons of stillness. Allen took a step back, the revolver held tighter, ready to react at a moment's notice.

The Baecho then disappeared and dissolved into the stone body, destroying the stone and revealing a figure with long hair.

"My head hurts, oh thanks for releasing me from my stone confines" It sounded like a girl and at the same time he wasn't sure if it was a girl.

"uhhm, You were the Baecho?" Allen asked curiously.

The girl/boy opened its pink eyes. "Yes and no, Also stop looking at me like that, it's rude"

Ahh so it's a girl, ok, Allen squinted his eyes and observed her closer, she had grayish blue skin and blue hair, the staff she's holding also looked strange. "So you're a girl"

"Yes, it's sometimes confusing for natives to identify our gender back when everyone was still alive, but everyone knew i was a girl, Anyway's the Baeko you saw is just my people way of projecting their souls out of their body, I'm not exactly the Baecho, but my essence or a part of me is, in a way, connected to them." She paused for a moment, as if choosing her next words carefully. "You could say I was… recycled into it, a sort of survival instinct that the planet uses when things go wrong."

Allen raised an eyebrow, still processing the strange exchange. "So you're like a loved by the planet?"

"I don't know" She said with a troubled expression.

"…Right, So i am going to enter the spire and see if i can find anything to loot, if you want you can follow me, also My name is Allen i was tossed into the void with no explanation at all and this happened today"

"That does sound confusing, My name is Xixe, in my world it means Silent Ring" She replied with a smile on her face.

Allen who was tired of constantly holding a harpoon on his hand lodged it on the ground. "Well then Xixie, i hope you won't try to kill me"