Just a Guy and a Gate to the Multiverse - Chapter 36 (Patreon)

Chapter 36: I wish...

— Jafar POV —

What treachery is this?! This is not how my grand design was meant to unfold!

My patience was wearing perilously thin.

After years of meticulous planning, I should have been standing on the threshold of my greatest triumph. Instead, I found myself staring at a dead end, quite literally.

At first, everything had unfolded precisely as I intended. I had finally located the artifact capable of revealing the Cave of Wonders: a golden scarab beetle divided into two halves.

Obtaining the first half had been simple enough. For the second, I employed a thief, a vulgar and insignificant piece of street filth, to steal it on my behalf. To the fool’s credit, he succeeded, and no one was any the wiser. No one but the thief knew that I, Jafar, Grand Vizier of Agrabah, had orchestrated the entire affair.

Once reunited, the golden scarab was supposed to lead us directly to the Cave of Wonders. For a time, it appeared to do exactly that. Bathed in a radiant golden light, it soared across the desert, guiding us toward a seemingly unremarkable patch of land before finally dropping into the sand.

And there was nothing.

Nothing but sand stretching endlessly in every direction.

The Cave of Wonders did not rise from the earth. No great entrance revealed itself. Even the scarab had become lifeless and unresponsive, as useless as the common vermin I had brought with me.

It was an intolerable source of frustration for the second most powerful man in Agrabah.

We searched the area thoroughly, yet found no trace of the cave. Then, to my mounting irritation, the lowlife thief, whom I had always intended to use as a disposable pawn to retrieve the magical lamp, noticed something I had overlooked.

Footprints.

They were faint, nearly erased by the desert winds. Stranger still, they appeared from nowhere and ended just as abruptly, as though magic itself had carried someone to and from that very spot.

I had known the desert all my life. Its winds are merciless. They erase footprints within hours, sometimes in less than one. Those tracks could not have been old.

Someone had been there shortly before us.

And that someone had reached the Cave of Wonders just before I, the great Jafar, could claim the prize toward which I had devoted most of my life.

The realization filled me with a fury so profound that I could scarcely contain it.

Worse still, I had no idea who the wretched interloper was.

But I would find him.

And when I did, he would pay dearly for his insolence.

The lamp belonged to me. It had always belonged to me. Whoever had dared to take it would soon learn the terrible price of standing between Jafar and his destiny.

Once the thief had outlived his usefulness, I disposed of him personally. His death eliminated the final loose end that might have connected the theft to me. Such had been his fate from the moment I hired him. He had simply been too stupid to recognize it.

With that tiresome matter concluded, I began the journey back to Agrabah.

There was much work to be done.

It appeared I would have to continue flattering that corpulent, witless Sultan for a while longer, smiling obediently while enduring his incessant foolishness and the defiance of his equally aggravating daughter.

How I despised them both.

The palace, the throne, the kingdom, all of it should have been mine already.

And soon, one way or another, it would be.

— Matt POV —

After hearing my ridiculous wish—one that affected matters beyond his own reality—the Genie stared at me for over a minute before finally muttering in confusion, “That’s strange.”

“What’s strange?”

“Your wish is strange!” He pointed a finger at me, causing the word strange to appear on a neon sign above my head.

“I know. That’s why I asked for it. I want to know whether you can affect matters beyond your own universe!”

“Well, I shouldn’t be able to! Even an amazing being of phenomenal cosmic power like myself should be limited to the confines of my own universe. Yet it seems I can grant your wish! There’s something inside you that makes it possible!” the Genie announced grandly.

“You can?” Could he actually affect the powers granted to me by an ROB?

“I can, although there appear to be some limitations.”

“What kind of limitations?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that I can fulfill your wish, but only with certain restrictions. I don’t even understand what I’m affecting inside you. It’s beyond my pay grade!” the Genie explained with a confused shrug. “Do you still want me to do it?”

Of course I did! Even if the wish came with limitations, it should still remove the cooldown from my World Attunement.

“Do it!”

Sparks shot from his hands and struck me, causing my body to glow with rainbow-colored light. A warm, burning sensation spread through me, but I was too distracted to examine it more closely because something else had caught my attention.

[ Skill Evolution detected! ]

[ World Attunement evolved into Multiversal Physique! ]

[ Obsolete Passive Effect detected. Granting a new one! ]

[ Multiversal Physique Lvl. Max: You possess the Multiversal Physique. Your body adapts to every environment you encounter within the vast expanse of the Multiverse as though you were a native of that universe.

More importantly, you can carry those traits with you as long as you have free Slots available, and those Slots can be freely exchanged. You can store the Power System of your current universe in a Slot and use it outside that universe.

You currently possess 3 Slots. Every five years, you will gain another Slot.

Note: Powers already incorporated into your Skills are unaffected by this restriction.

Slots:

Fullmetal Alchemist: Average Human

Jumper: Average Human (Jumper)

< None >

Passive Effect: The User learns the first local language of the region in the world he travels to.

Modifier Effect: You may specify a variation of your current race that exists within your current universe to place into a Slot. However, you will only receive the average talent of that variation, even if it possesses special properties.

Passive Effect: Your Companions (0 / 15) also possess the Multiversal Physique (Number of Slots: 1). This Passive gains an additional Slot whenever you do. You remain in control and may freely modify, grant, or remove the physique and its Slots.

You may fill a Companion’s Slot with either a copy of one of your currently occupied Slots or the Power System of the universe you are currently visiting.

Sub-Skills:

Lifeforce Manipulation: The User possesses the ability to sense, absorb, transfer, and store Lifeforce. Its power and range are determined by the User’s base stats and degree of mastery. ]

This was amazing! It was far better than having a five-year cooldown!

I now had much more freedom to travel. There was no longer any need to plan my journeys around that cooldown unless I wanted to take a Power System with me and didn’t have an available Slot.

That meant I effectively had two free Slots right now.

One was already empty, while the Jumper Slot was practically obsolete because my Jumper teleportation powers had already been integrated into my Skills.

I would need to adjust my plans, but this gave me so much more freedom. More accurately, it allowed me to change my plans considerably.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected the Genie to be capable of something like this.

Then I noticed a blue hand waving in front of my face.

“Helloooo! Is anybody home? Should I call an ambulance? Is everything all right in there?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I chuckled at his antics. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

In an overly dramatic manner, he began to blush and clasped his hands together. His eyelashes grew to an enormous size as he blinked at me.

“Well, thank you! You’re really making me blush. Judging by your reaction, everything worked out to your liking, then?”

“It did!”

“That’s great to hear, Master! So, do you have a second wish for me?”

“Hmm, I do. But first, could you return to your lamp for a moment? There’s something I’d like to try.”

“Sure, I can do that, even if it’s cramped in there.” He sighed. “You know, all this power comes with a tiny living space.”

“I know. It’ll only be for a moment.”

He transformed into a heavily decorated general and gave me a salute before vanishing in a gust of blue smoke that flowed back into the lamp.

Next, I pulled my Synth out of my Pocket Space and handed him the lamp.

“Go on, rub it!”

With a whoosh, blue smoke poured out once again and reformed into the Genie.

“That was fast! What was that abo—oh, we have a guest. Who is this? Where did you come from?”

“He’s a friend of mine. I called him here.” I gestured toward the lamp. “He rubbed your lamp, so does that mean he has three wishes now?”

“I see. You’re a crafty one, former Master.” The Genie grew to an enormous size and inspected us with one of his massive eyes while pulling out a magnifying glass from somewhere. “No matter how strange your friend looks, and ignoring the fact that he has the soul of a newborn, he has three wishes as well.”

So Synths really did have souls? Hmm, did that mean the Multiversal Gate didn’t count souls?

Either way, that wasn’t important right now. My infinite wish plan was a success!

“Okay, go ahead and wish for what I told you earlier.”

“Oh, so you gave him a wish to make?” The Genie returned to his normal size before pulling out a purple book with ‘Da Rules’ written across its cover. “Hmm, is that legal?”

The book looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen it before.

“You said there were only three rules, and none of them are being broken. Why wouldn’t I be allowed to suggest what someone else should wish for?” I pointed out.

The Genie continued flipping through the book’s pages, but he didn’t seem to find anything relevant.

“You appear to be right. No matter how strange this situation is, neither of you has broken any of the rules.” He snapped the book shut. “Well then, go ahead and state your first wish, Master Numero Two!”

“I wish for an artifact that can freely change its user’s true age, making them younger or older,” the Synth said, repeating the first wish I had instructed him to make.

“Well, that’s easy.”

With a snap of his fingers, the Genie made a pocket watch appear in the Synth’s hand, and he immediately handed it over to me.

After inspecting it, I realized that instead of displaying the time, it showed my current age down to the exact second. It had several more hands than an ordinary watch, including separate ones for days, months, and years.

“Use it like a normal clock. The wheel at the top controls your age,” the Genie explained. “Be careful not to turn it into the negative, or you’ll simply cease to exist.”

After giving me that brief warning, he turned back toward the Synth.

“What’s your next wish, my strange second Master?”

The Synth pointed toward one of the Visiontron or Tranquility Loungers I had obtained from the Fallout universe.

“I wish for this machine to be capable of perfectly simulating reality and all its rules, allowing anything experienced inside it to affect the user’s real body.”

The Genie examined the Visiontron from every angle before transforming into the equivalent of a mad scientist and beginning to tinker with the device.

“One Hyperbolic Time Chamber with programmable versions of reality, coming right up!”

Could he actually read my mind, or did he instinctively understand what his Master wanted and try to fulfill each wish as closely as possible? Either possibility would make him an incredibly helpful Genie.

After all, a Hyperbolic Time Chamber from Dragon Ball with interchangeable and customizable training programs was almost exactly what I had imagined.

It took only a few minutes for the Genie to finish.

“All done! You can program this baby as usual. I’ve added a Standard Mode that perfectly represents the reality the machine is currently in. Multiple people can use it, and the pod acts as the entrance. Just be careful to enter and leave one at a time!” the Genie warned as he gave the modified Visiontron an approving slap.

“Thanks!” I gave him a grateful thumbs-up.

This would reduce my training time considerably. However, I would need to obtain immortality first. After all, if the machine simulated reality while affecting my real body, I would still age inside it.

“It’s my job!” The Genie shrugged before addressing the Synth for the third time. “Now then, Second Master, what’s your final wish?”

I interrupted him and grabbed the lamp. “Before we get to that, I have a question. If either of us makes our third wish while the other still has one remaining, will the lamp disappear?”

The Genie’s lips grew comically large to emphasize his next word. “Nope! The lamp will only disappear to be found by someone else once I’ve fulfilled all my pending wishes.”

“Great!” I nodded. “Then it’s my turn again.”

“All right, what else can I do for you? Give me your second wish.”

“I wish for my brain to be capable of containing and using an infinite amount of information without suffering any negative side effects.”

This was an important wish. In fact, it was the main reason I had visited this world.

I could think of workable alternatives for most of the other things I wanted.

De-aging myself? There were pills on Greed Island in the Hunter x Hunter universe that could accomplish that.

A Hyperbolic Time Chamber? There was always the original.

Upgrading my World Attunement? That had only been a matter of time. The wish had merely made it more convenient.

However, I needed my brain to keep up with the exceedingly long life I planned to live and the enormous amount of knowledge I intended to obtain. While I knew of several intelligence-enhancing drugs and potions, I couldn’t think of anything that would allow me to completely surpass the natural limitations of my brain.

The Genie pointed a finger at me. A bright glow surrounded my head before quickly subsiding.

“Done! You can now learn as much as you want.”

“Just like that?” I didn’t feel any different.

“Yep! It doesn’t make you smarter or anything, but there’s no longer any limit to how much knowledge your mind can contain.” He clapped his hands together. “So, what’s your third wish?”

“Okay, the last one is somewhat related. I wish to possess an Analysis Skill that allows me to comprehend, learn, and understand anything with relative ease. That includes everything from magic and technology to natural and supernatural phenomena. You understand what I mean, right?”

I wanted to be able to study things more easily.

I had already tried studying several machines from the Fallout universe, the Wormhole Generator from the Jumper universe, and even some of the computers I had brought from my original world.

Unfortunately, it took an excessive amount of time to make even the slightest progress. When it came to the more complex devices, I could barely make any progress at all. In the end, I was still an ordinary person, even if my intelligence was slightly above average.

Being able to cheat in that regard would make everything much easier, especially once I entered the domain of magic.

“I see, I see. I can do that, especially since the word ‘Skill’ is once again triggering that strange sensation inside you that lies completely beyond my understanding.” The Genie raised both hands toward me. “Here we go! Your final wish is my command, Master!”

For the third time, a ray of light shot from the Genie’s hands and struck me, causing my body to glow once again.

However, I was immediately distracted by a notification appearing before my eyes.

[ New Skill has been created! ]

[ End of the Chapter ]