Chapter 8: Chapter 7

"Now that we've got the more preachy bits out of the way, let me get into some of the more practical bits of advice for any multiverse traveler." Hedge explained, laying out a plan, "Consider it a travel guide of sorts, the do's and don'ts of world hopping. We'll go over that, and then determine where I'll send you."

"And how will you determine where to send me?" I asked.

Did he have some methodology he used or was it just going to be the nearest available world? 

"That depends. How good is your knowledge of pop culture? Any world you're confident about? Big fan of a particular series? I can send you to one you know about well." 

Hmm... I suppose that is the right way to go about it. Since fictional worlds are real as well, it's better if I go to a world that I know well. It would make it easier to survive. Meta knowledge is a broken cheat, after all.

"Nothing encyclopaedic but I am up-to-date on most pop culture icons and franchises."

"That makes it a bit tricky." Hedge tapped the table lost in thought.

"How so?"

"If you don't know a lot about any world in particular, then sending you there might very well be death sentence. And that's not a good investment, you understand?"

"I'm with you till this point, yes." I nodded. 

"Now the thing about being a multiversal traveler is that you have potential access to a lot of resources but little in the way of extracting them, unless you create a dyson swarm or grey goo for that, which while not a bad idea, themselves cost a lot of resources to make."

"Yeah. You need money to make more money. I know the principle."

"Right. And meta knowledge is a good leverage to get a foot in the door. Sell predictions to the characters or steal their power ups before hand, snatch their golden fingers before they have the chance and such. But by far, the most practical way to go about world hopping is to do it from a central home base." He gestured around us, "Like my base here for example." 

"Are you suggesting I conquer a world?" I asked with an amused grin, "Didn't you just warn me about tyrannical expansionism?"

"I'm not talking about conquering a world per se. Just ruling from the shadows is enough or having a great deal of influence on the world to the point no one can raise a stink about your operations. Though, conquering it whole is the best approach. You don't have to turn into a multiversal plague, just take over one world as a base and that's enough. You can then use it as a nexus to spread your influence and extract the resources you need via agents like my homunculi. And there's no two ways about it, you'll need a shit ton of resources. In some ways, it's quite like being a cultivator. 

Ruling a world will give you the capital and labour force necessary to extract them on a massive scale till you can build your own drone swarm or gruel mud or whatever else your preferred method is. 

It's even more important for you, if you want to start a multiversal merchant conglomerate. The sheer logistics of that will be beyond what you alone are capable of, unless you intend to remain a small time peddler for the next couple hundred years." He explained, before taking a reassuring tone, "No shame in that, of course. You do you. But you seem to prefer practicality over morality, so I'm just putting it out there. Not to mention, worlds have another innate advantage - natural defenses. Worlds have naturally generated interdimensional barriers that you can tap into and reinforce with your own methods to create a dimensional fortress. A safe zone or nexus for you to rest and prepare during your travels. Exhibit A." He snapped his fingers, and the windows opened up to reveal the outside. There among a starty sky, a beautiful painting of the cosmos, shimmered a layered forcefield, runes and data flickering by on its many layers as it calculated something. On one end I could see something being focused on and parameters being read out. Below it some research assistants worked on what seemed like a hologram of the local multiversal cluster, isolating worlds and noting down data onto their work stations. On another end, a portal opened up and a homunculus jumped out from it, patting the flames off of his burning clothes as he related information to another homunculus attending to it. All of it moved like a well oiled machine, like a sophisticated program. As expected of a multiversal research station! 

I couldn't help but feel amazed and a little bit giddy at the thought of one day owning something like this. 

"So like a citadel of Ricks and the whole central finite curve thing." 

"Yeah, something like that. You'll understand once you get to a certain level." He replied as we finished our coffees. With another swipe of his hand, he sent them away.

"Also, remember, most worlds don't only have natural barriers, they also have native entities that rule them. Gods, spirits, world wills, etc. And they will not appreciate you taking control of their world, taking away their power or even intruding on their domains. Most of the time, they won't interfere directly, sometimes because they can't be bothered to squash an interdimensional fly themselves and sometimes because they straight up can't, period. But don't let that distract you from the fact that you are a threat to them and they will try to eliminate you via their agents - priests, assassins, madmen, crusades. 

This is worst with world wills but resident gods and spirits aren't exactly sunshine and rainbows either. 

Once they know you are an otherworlder, there's a 50-50 chance they'll do their best to kill you or steal your abilities. 

So don't let them. Don't let them know. Don't let them win. And most certainly do not let them take any of your abilities away. 

Be safe. Be silent. Fly under the radar as much as possible until you can go toe to toe with them or their agents. And remember, once you are ready, once you have all that you need to conquer the world, do not hesitate. Wipe. Them. Out. Utterly and completely. There is no room for negotiation at that point so don't even give them the chance. Understood?"

I nodded and couldn't help but be moved at his concern for me, even if it was only as an investment.

I smiled. 

"Yes sir, crystal clear."

"Good." He huffed, and suddenly realization flashed in his eyes.

He sighed. 

"You derailed the conversation. For the third time today." 

I grinned. 

"And now I've lost track of what I was going to say."

I raised an eyebrow. 

"Don't you have eidetic memory by now?" 

"I do. It just takes time to sort through the three dozen different streams of thought I'm following every minute-Aha! Found it." He waved his hand over the table, and employed the same spell as before again, Flash Air, otherwise known as Displacement Magecraft, and a series of finely cut jewels appeared on it.

Flash Air seems super convenient. Note to self, master Flash Air ASAP. 

"Is this more funding for me?" I asked swiping for the jewels with a playful grin only to have my hand slapped away.

"Ow!"

"That's what you get for being too cheeky." He wagged a finger at me before pointing at the jewels. 

"Do you know about jewelcraft?"

"Yeah. It's a magecraft that stores magic in jewels to use as a foundation for quicker spell catalysis. Very expensive and just as powerful in the right hands." I sifted through my new memories, "They're also used in combination with the concepts of the Kabbalah to create golems and summon facsimiles of beasts and angels? Wow. Very versatile." My eyes shine with a curious glint, "Hm? Couldn't you also use them as a conduit for legend and create pseudo servants then? Maybe trap their essence inside and connect it to their legend to summon their phantoms?"

My mind ran like a speeding train as I ironed out the kinks in the idea. 

"Maybe transpose- no, possess. Yes. A temporary possession. Combine it with artificial personalities and you could make an army of servants." 

"You really are absurdly intelligent, aren't you?" He looked at me with praise and a little bit of disappointment. 

"It's a simple correlation." I shrugged. 

"Which you made within seconds of learning about the basics of jewelcraft. It took me three weeks to come up with the idea behind class cards." He sighed, deflated. 

Class cards?

I couldn't find any mention of them in my memories.

Though given his reaction, I could make a guess. 

"Aww, don't feel too bad. Not everyone can come close to my awesomeness." I teased with a smug grin. 

"And you've got an ego to match." He poked my cheeks, "Someday that'll come back to bite you in the ass if you don't keep it in check."

"It already did." I said with a sombre tone. 

Neal's betrayal... I could have, no, should have spotted it but I didn't think he'd ever want to make an enemy out of me. And in my hubris, within that facade of logic, my ego got the better of my judgement. 

Never again. 

"At least you have the self awareness to survive it." Hedge patted my shoulder, and brought my attention back to the jewels. 

You are reading story Into The Kaleidoscope at novel35.com

"Back to the topic -and no more distractions-"

"No promises." I quipped causing him to shake his head.

He got directly to the point. 

"These are elementally attuned jewels used to find out your elemental affinity. Now usually, homunculi don't have any affinities but seeing as you are a human soul in a homunculus body, that may have changed." He grabbed my hand and placed a ruby in it, forcefully activating my magic circuits, "So we'll just do a little tests to figure it out." 

My magic circuits flared with a ghostly blue, and magic coalesced upon the surface of the jewel, rippling like waves on the sea as I waited for something to happen. But a few moments passed by and-

"So no fire affinity. Alright, next one." 

One by one, he repeated the process. 

Earth, represented by Opal, no reaction.

Wind, represented by Emerald, no reaction.

Ether, represented my diamond, no reaction. 

Until finally, he placed a sapphire in my hands. And no sooner had he activated my magic circuits when water began to bubble out, dripping from the jewel onto the table like an open faucet.

"Water it is. And a very strong affinity for it too. Interesting." He magicked the water away and took back the jewels. 

"I figured it'd be Wind or Earth, even Ether, but then again, Water suits you bit too well."

"So does that have a special meaning or...?" I asked.

"Oh, it does. Water isn't just the element of aqua. It also represents concepts like reflection, boundaries, depth, pressure, flow, life and change among others. It's important for you to know about it when choosing which spells to learn. It also helps add effects to your bounded field if you are so inclined, like a bounded field that reflects attacks or heals people in its area of effect. You could even work plant spells into it. Imagine a grove of flowers blooming with every step you take."

"No thanks. I already look like a nordic twink. I'd like to retain some semblance of my masculinity till I get my body back to what it was before." I shuddered at the thought of forever being trapped in this form, "Another year or two in this body and I think I'll develop body dismorphia."

Hedge laughed.

"It's not so bad. Look on the plus side. You'll definitely attract a lot of milfs and big titty onee-sans with this look." 

I shook my head. 

"Meh. Milfs are overrated and big titty onee-sans get annoying real fast." 

"Heresy!" He pointed at me accusingly eliciting a chuckle from me. 

"Besides, you'll never get a girlfriend with that attitude." 

"I can get your mom if I want." I stuck out a tongue at him.

"I thought you didn't like milfs?" He snapped back with a smirk. 

"I can make an exception, just for you sport." I replied with a grin. 

We both giggled at it before he sighed.

"I'm gonna miss you." The table between us disappeared, and I found myself standing by the window.

"Do come back to visit from time to time." He said, handing me something. I looked down and found it to be a ring. It was made of wood and with a frame of silver etched across it like a spiderweb. At the crown sat an exquisitely cut ruby, reflecting a thousand shades of red, pink and crimson. 

"Of course. If your Limited Bullet Works doesn't kill me first." I replied absentmindedly as I felt something calling to me, like a faint buzzing and crackling.

"These young'uns!" He adlibbed, "No respect for what they're given. Hmph!"

I smiled when a realisation struck. 

"But wait, we didn't decide on a world yet." I said as I looked around for where the buzzing was coming from. 

"I already did." He said, looking at the forcefield outside with an intense look as if he was calculating something, "Tell me, how well do you know the world of Planetos?"

"From Game Of Thrones? Fine enough." I answered. 

"That'll do. It's an easy world, no high tier magic, no superhumans, no special artifacts that can kill you from orbit. Even their gods don't interact with the world directly, so you'll be relatively safe."

"Can I object?"

He looked at me with a cheeky grin and replied.

"Nope." 

I sighed.

"Okay. It's not the worst, I suppose. When in the timeline will you be sending me?"

"That's a surprise~" He chuckled as he began to do some calculations in the air. 

"I see. And what if, hypothetically, I don't remember it well enough?" I asked with hesitation. 

"Well, then you better hope you grasp the Kaleidoscope fast and get out of there. The Magicians world is close by. You'll get all that you need there."

"Then why not send me to Magicians in the first place?" I asked.

"Do you want to go to a world with active gods, eldritch threats and dragons hiding in every body of water, just waiting to hunt to down? Not to mention the magic there is practically analog reality warping. The magicians themselves will do anything to get their hands on the Kaleidoscope if they find out about it's capabilities. And trust me, they will find out. They have a million scrying and probability manipulation spells on hand at any given time. The characters looked stupid in the show but the actual world and it's inhabitants are terrifying. It's not safe for a first timer. The only reason I'm telling you about it is that if the Planetos gods come after you personally, it's a decent hiding spot. And that's all it is. A decent hiding spot and resupply point. Don't get uppity in there if you decide to pop over or they'll down you like the fucking Hindenburg." He warned. 

"I didn't realize it was that bad." I looked at him with a tinge of fear. 

"Yeah, the show made the world look positively cuddly. But remember, they lived on the best possible timeline. Every other timeline was a horror show, from anti-magic fascist regimes and magical genocide to multiversal fairy plagues. And that's the reality of that world." He explained. 

"Ok. got the message. Don't go anywhere near Magicians." I raised my hands in defeat.

"Alright. Ready?" He turned to me, a Kaleidoscope of eldritch hues swirling in his palm.

"I was born ready." I replied on instinct before I realized, "Wait, ready? You didn't even give me the mystic c-."

Before I could complete my sentence, he smirked and slammed a palm into my chest.

My magic circuits flared up, mystery actualized around me like a storm and the space in the room crinkled at its seams. 

Then in an instant, the world shattered around me like tainted glass and I fell through the Kaleidoscope, fractal whirpools of shards churning in all directions, each offering a glimpse of another timeline, another world, another multiverse.

And then, darkness consumed me. 

You can find story with these keywords: Into The Kaleidoscope, Read Into The Kaleidoscope, Into The Kaleidoscope novel, Into The Kaleidoscope book, Into The Kaleidoscope story, Into The Kaleidoscope full, Into The Kaleidoscope Latest Chapter