Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35: From Desert to Desert

Farthen Dûr, the heart of the Beor Mountain Range and an infamous, massive hollowed-out mountain housing the dwarven capital of Tronjheim, had been a magnificent sight. It was an entire city built inside a mountain!

It was something I had to see, and I was glad I had done so before leaving this world, as I wasn’t sure when I would have such an opportunity again. A city like this wasn’t exactly common, even in the vastness of the Multiverse.

Neither was the Isidar Mithrim, also called the Star Sapphire, a common sight in the Multiverse. The impressively large red gem, measuring sixty feet in diameter, was the crown jewel of Tronjheim. It served as the roof of the city, with only the Dragonhold, where the Dragon Riders usually stayed, rising above it.

It had been carved into the shape of a beautiful rose, although I had no idea why it was called a sapphire. After all, it was red, aside from the streaks of gold running through it. Those golden streaks actually came from Saphira, who had repaired the Star Sapphire after it was destroyed during the battle with Durza shortly before I arrived in this world.

In all honesty, I was half tempted to ‘borrow’ it. After all, a jewel like this could only be found in a true fantasy setting, and even then, such treasures were rare. However, I wasn’t a scumbag, and I would have felt terrible for taking such a beloved piece of dwarven culture away from them.

Besides, I had no practical use for it other than the fact that it looked impressive and was completely unique.

My stay in Tronjheim with the dwarves lasted only a few days, as it was mostly for my own enjoyment and sightseeing. Overall, I had already completed everything I wanted to accomplish or obtain in this world, and I was nearly ready to leave.

Still, I graciously accepted the well-crafted set of armor the dwarves had prepared for me in gratitude for saving their king on the Burning Plains. Even though I wouldn’t have much use for it, since my power armor was superior, it was still a masterpiece of dwarven craftsmanship. It would look magnificent wherever I decided to display it in the future.

I also enjoyed the feast they held in my honor. There was an enormous amount of food, including plenty of meat, and the dwarves made some incredible alcohol! Feasting with dwarves was simply part of the genuine fantasy experience.

After that, however, the time soon came for me to leave Alagaësia for good.

———

Standing among the vast dunes of the Hadarac Desert and taking one last look at the beautiful night sky above me, I prepared to leave.

This time, I stored my mobile home inside my Pocket Space. It was large enough to hold it as long as I adjusted the space’s dimensions accordingly. Although I had stocked up on resources and provisions, my mobile home still had enough room to store everything in my possession.

That remained true even after I added a shit ton of treasure from Galbatorix’s liberated treasury.

There was no reason to drive it through the Portal when I could carry it much more conveniently.

I wore the long robes of the nomadic clans inhabiting the Hadarac Desert. At my waist hung the sword that had once belonged to Vrael, the former leader of the Dragon Rider Order, and before him, the first Eragon—the very first Dragon Rider. Its stark white hilt shone beneath the starlight.

I wasn’t alone. Beside me stood another figure dressed in long robes similar to mine.

Focusing on my target location, I summoned the power of my Skill, and a massive Portal appeared. When I said massive, I meant enormous.

Half of it seemed to be hidden underground since its center had appeared directly in front of us, but it still extended more than three kilometers into the sky. I had wanted to see what a full-sized Gate looked like, and now I had my answer.

It didn’t seem to be transporting the sand beneath us through the Gate, even though half of it was immersed in the ground. Perhaps I had to will that to happen.

However, I wasn’t going to test it right now. I didn’t want several tons of sand passing through the Gate with me, so that experiment could wait until next time.

Glancing at my companion, I said, “Go through it.”

He nodded, stepped forward, and entered the rainbow-colored Portal before disappearing on the other side.

Hmm, it didn’t feel as though my quota of sixteen people had been affected the way it usually was when I passed through the Gate.

The first time I used the Gate, it had felt full as soon as I passed through it, as though nothing else could follow. After the Skill upgraded and allowed me to bring other people with me, it never felt as though it had reached its capacity whenever I traveled through it. I also had to will it to close.

However, I had never actually brought another person with me, which made it difficult to be certain.

Either the feedback the Portal gave me wasn’t related to the number of people passing through it, or a Synth didn’t count as a person, regardless of how biological it was.

Yes, my companion was a Synth. I wanted to see how my Gate would react to one.

I had prepared another small test as well. I picked up the desert rat waiting inside a small cage on the ground beside me and commanded it in the Ancient Language to pass through the Gate. Even without great intelligence, animals instinctively understood the Ancient Language.

The moment it passed through the Gate, I felt no change in its feedback.

Perhaps neither the Synth nor the animal counted as a person. At least, I hoped that was the case. If so, I could easily bring animals with me through the Gate.

Of course, that depended on whether I had correctly interpreted the feedback the Gate gave me. I would only know for certain once I brought an actual person through it.

With nothing else left to test and three of my five goals already accomplished, I decided to pass through the Gate before someone noticed the three-kilometer-wide circle of rainbow-colored light in the distance and came to investigate.

I would complete my fourth goal in the next world. After that, it would only be a matter of continuing to refine the other three until they reached a level I found satisfactory.

As for my fifth goal—immortality—I would obtain it during my next World Attunement, perhaps even sooner.

The rainbow-colored light swallowed me.

When I stepped out of the Portal, I willed it to close behind me as my vision quickly adjusted to the new environment. I had already grown accustomed to the blinding rainbow-colored light inside the Portal, so it barely affected me anymore.

Once my vision cleared, I found myself standing in another desert, with the Synth already waiting patiently nearby.

“Wait inside my Pocket Space. I’ll need you later,” I instructed before sending it inside.

Since it was a Synth—a biological robot that didn’t really need air to survive—it could remain inside my Pocket Space without any problems. At least, it could stay there for a limited time, since it would eventually require some form of energy.

Taking a good look around, I realized I was standing in another vast desert. It was a good thing I had specified exactly where my Gate should bring me.

As soon as I took a few steps forward, the ground began to shake intensely. The sand in front of me shifted and reshaped itself as though something was rising from beneath it.

After only a few moments, two glowing, eye-like shapes emerged from the darkness while the sand continued to move.

The entire process lasted several seconds until the sand finally formed the massive head of a tiger with two glowing white eyes. It then opened its enormous maw in front of me.

A reddish-orange glow shone from within its mouth, illuminating a staircase that descended deep beneath the sands.

A grin formed on my lips. “The Cave of Wonders!”

I felt like a child again, watching the animated Aladdin movie for the first time. Experiencing it in real life, however, was far more intense.

Suddenly, the tiger’s head moved, and it spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.

“Who disturbs my slumber?”

This was it—the moment of truth that would determine whether my stay in this world would be simple or extremely complicated.

“It’s me, Matt!”

The tiger’s head growled before answering in its deep voice, “Proceed, but touch nothing but the lamp!”

There it was! My Gate had brought me to a branch timeline of Aladdin where I was recognized as the Diamond in the Rough.

What a relief. Had this not worked, my stay here would have been much more difficult. There was no way I was going to try tricking some cartoon-level magical protection to sneak into the Cave. Cartoon characters and magic were terrifyingly powerful.

Nobody except the Diamond in the Rough could enter the Cave of Wonders, and in the original timeline, that person was Aladdin. Otherwise, I would have needed to wait until he obtained the lamp and then somehow steal it from him.

I could have also tried taking it from Jafar later, but that would have been even more troublesome.

This was clearly the better outcome.

Now I had to wonder how much control I actually had over the specific timeline I entered. Could I simply choose a timeline in a particular universe where all the best items had already been collected and placed somewhere for me to take?

Could I choose a timeline where I was recognized as the God-King of an entire universe?

Sure, that would probably be boring, but was it possible?

It didn’t matter right now, because there was a magical lamp waiting for me.

I entered the Cave of Wonders and walked past the countless piles of gold and treasure. Although there was a shit ton of wealth here, I already owned a considerable fortune myself. It might not have been as much as what filled this Cave, but it was more than enough to keep me from being tempted.

After all, I knew exactly what would happen if I touched anything. I would lose my chance to ever obtain the lamp, and I really didn’t want to waste such an opportunity. Every other world I could think of that contained something with powers comparable to the lamp was far more dangerous.

I only stopped beside one particular pile of gold, not because of the treasure itself, but because of what was lying on the ground in front of it.

“Hey there!”

As soon as the words left my mouth, the magic carpet moved. It stood upright like a real person and pointed one of its corners at itself.

“Yes, you. Is there anyone else here?”

It shook its entire body from side to side.

“You seem lonely, trapped all by yourself inside this Cave,” I commented while watching the carpet and carefully making sure not to touch it. “Do you want to follow me? I’m going to retrieve the magic lamp and then leave this place.”

There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation before it began nodding eagerly. It was surprising how expressive a carpet could actually be.

“All right, welcome to the team. For now, don’t touch me. I don’t want to collapse the Cave too early.”

I continued deeper into the Cave with the magic carpet following close behind me. We passed even more piles of gold before reaching the end of the chamber and descending farther into the underground cave system.

I had completely forgotten just how enormous this place actually was.

“Could you lead me to the lamp?” I asked the magic carpet.

It gave me a salute before taking the lead.

With an actual guide, navigating the Cave became much easier. The carpet helped me avoid the countless traps along the way, each of which tried to lure me into touching something other than the lamp.

Eventually, we reached a large cavern containing an underground lake.

At the center of the lake stood a small island connected to the platform beneath me by a trail of smaller boulders. A single ray of light shone down upon the island’s peak.

That was it. That was where the lamp waited.

It was a good thing I now possessed a physique far beyond normal human limits, making it incredibly easy to reach the peak.

Without wasting any more time, I crossed the boulders, grabbed the unassuming, dirty lamp, and turned toward the carpet.

“Thanks for your help. You made this a lot easier, my friend. Now, let me hold on to you, and I’ll get us out of here.”

The carpet tilted its upper edge as it stared at me.

“Don’t worry. You’ll understand in a moment.”

I reached out and grabbed one end of the carpet before teleporting both of us a considerable distance away from the Cave of Wonders.

The carpet quickly looked around before turning back toward me.

“See how easy that was? It’s one of my special abilities. Don’t worry, though. I actually need to have seen a place before I can teleport there.”

While explaining, I watched as the Cave of Wonders sank beneath the dunes and disappeared from sight.

“Now then, let’s get away from here first. How about you show me what you can do?”

Before I could even finish my sentence, the magic carpet slid beneath me and lifted us into the air.

“You’re certainly eager. All right, take us several kilometers in that direction. I want to make sure we won’t be disturbed.”

———

After putting some distance between myself and the location of the Cave of Wonders, I finally pulled out the magic lamp and rubbed it.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The noise came first. The lamp began glowing with a red light as sparks burst from its spout like fireworks. Blue smoke followed, pouring out and forming a large body.

“Oy! Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck!” the Genie exclaimed as he stretched and rubbed his neck. He then grabbed me and said, “Hang on a second!”

The guy had the nerve to hang me on the wall of my own mobile home, even though there was nothing there to hang me from.

“And whoa!” the Genie shouted as his head spun in a full circle before he dropped me from the wall. “Does it feel good to be out of there! It’s nice to be back, ladies and gentlemen!”

I was nimble enough to land safely on my feet.

“Hello there! Who might you be?” he asked, suddenly holding a microphone in his hand.

“I’m Matt,” I introduced myself.

He immediately launched into a comedy routine accompanied by an entire musical number, letting out everything he had probably been holding in for the last ten thousand years.

Like the polite person I was, I continued listening to him.

“…You ain’t never had a friend like me~” the Genie sang, finishing his song as I applauded him.

“Thank you, thank you! We perform every month at the same place and the same time!” He bowed dramatically before turning back toward me. “So, what’s it going to be, Master?”

“My three wishes, right? Anything I want?” I asked for clarification.

I couldn’t clearly remember whether there had been any rules since this wasn’t one of the movies I had downloaded before leaving my home universe.

He transformed into a slightly haughty-looking version of himself and began counting on his fingers. “Almost. There are a few limitations and quid pro quos you’ll have to consider.”

I had expected as much. Even the Dragon Balls had their limits.

“Shoot!”

He immediately shot me with a realistic-looking water gun.

That one was on me…

“Just joking, just joking!” the Genie laughed before instantly drying me off. “Where were we? Right, the rules. First of all, rule number one: I can’t kill anybody, so don’t ask.”

“That’s fair.”

“Rule number two! I can’t make anybody fall in love with anybody else. And rule number three! I can’t bring people back from the dead. It’s not a pretty picture, and I can’t do it.”

As he spoke, he briefly transformed into a zombie-like creature before returning to his normal Genie form.

“So, what’s it going to be, Master?”

“Well, that’s fine. I have no interest in any of those wishes anyway.” A wide grin spread across my face. “Instead, how about we test your limits, Genie?”

“My limits?” he repeated.

I nodded. “Exactly. I wish to permanently adapt to every universe I visit and use its power system as naturally as someone born there.”

[ End of the Chapter ]