BXBX NOVEL Chapter 198: The Island
Chapter 198: The Island
With curtains drawn to shield the sunlight, a shadow of a man was sitting in a dimly lit room at a plain wooden table.
His hands were placed against his chin, allowing his head to rest on his hands as he stared ahead.
Just moments ago, he received a flurry of new memories.
It meant that one of his clones died somewhere in this vast world.
After understanding every piece of new memory, it was clear whose memories those were.
"Ryan," his voice was emotionless. "A failure."
The door then opened, and a butler-outfit-wearing man stood there, holding a white rose in his hand, its petals gently falling to the ground.
"Sir, one of the white roses is dying," he said. "Did a clone die?"
"A clone of acting, Ryan," the man crossed his legs. "I am angry, beyond belief."
The butler placed his hand on his chest and bowed. "I am more than willing to avenge my brother's death."
"I am not angry at the killer," the man said. "I am angry at Ryan. He revealed my existence- it was too premature."
"The killer found out your identity?" The butler asked. "More reasons to burn down the place he is hiding at."
"If I wanted your opinion, I would've asked for it," the man snapped.
The butler panicked and knelt on the ground. "It wasn't my intention to be rude, sir."
"And no, he doesn't know who I am. However, he knows that I exist, and that's all that matters for now."
Crack.
At that moment, something shattered into a million pieces in the outside hallway.
Then, some hurried voices of the servants came from behind the door.
"Sigh..." the man pinched his glabella and shouted. "Stop moving!"
With a single command, hundreds of people froze inside the residence, looking like mannequins in a store display-they were all his clones-over a hundred of them!
The butler wasn't immune to the command, and he was frozen in place as well.
"Finally-peace and quiet."
The man stood up and walked over to the curtained window, then peeked outside into the bustling city of the Imperium.
"You've played your cards well, Adam, yet you also do have weaknesses."
With a discreet smile, he turned around and headed out of the room.
"Move."
A single word, yet a powerful command, reverberated throughout the residence, and all the hundred clones began moving, continuing their lives as if nothing had happened.
...
At the Eldertree Institute, Adam and Terry rushed down the woody corridor.
After a short while, they arrived at the exit and saw that its door was missing.
It seemed to have been blasted into pieces.
"What happened to the door?" Terry asked.
"It was locked, so I had to do something to get back to the institute." Adam said.
"Its door was made out of Eldertree wood-it isn't easy to destroy..." Terry said with a wry smile.
"You got that right."
Adam said and then his beautiful wings sprouted from his back.
Then, he grabbed Terry from the back of his shirt and started flying towards the far end of the twenty-fifth floor.
While hanging from the hand, Terry saw the vast destruction of the forest.
The trees had been toppled over, the ground was scorched, and the dark clouds in the sky hadn't fully dispersed yet either.
"How did you survive all that..."
Terry wondered out loud, and he felt like he couldn't ever reach such a level of strength.
Without answering, the wings carried them to the end of the floor, and there they found the door that led to the New World.
They landed right in front of it.
It looked like the door was just standing there without anything to hold it. If one opened it, one would think that there was nothing on the other side.
However, after further inspection, it was clear that this was where the floor ended.
At the other side of the door, there was more of the forests and mountains, but when Terry touched at the side of the door, it felt like he was touching a wall and that those forests and mountains were nothing but painted on.
It was, however, such a vivid painting that everything looked real.
"So, what happens when I walk through the door?" Terry asked. "Will I arrive on the New World?"
"No." Adam said. "You've got to take the tutorial before the 'gods' of that world allow you there, so I've heard. You'll get logged out when you step through, and when you log back in, it will be in the tutorial after you've registered for it, of course."
"I see..." Terry looked back at the enormous Eldertree. "I am not sure whether I am ready. Can't I stay here?"
"They'll notice my departure, and since you're my roommate, they'll interrogate you." Adam said. "I can't say with certainty about what they'll do to you, but you're ready for the
tutorial."
"You think so?" Terry asked in hesitation. "I couldn't do anything against Ryan except run away. I think I am not ready."
Adam opened the door, and there was nothing except an empty void beyond it.
"The tutorial is easy," he said. "Your teachers have been preparing all of you for it, but they
don't teach you one thing, the mentality."
"The mentality?" Terry asked in curiosity.
"Since the students have been prepared for the tutorial, when it's finally time for it, they're nervous, as they don't want to fail after spending so much time to prepare for it.
"They also think it's difficult since so many fail it, but that's not the case.
"All you need to be is confident, and the tutorial is as easy as it gets."
"Is it really just that easy?" Terry asked. "Just be confident?"
Adam smiled and patted him on the back. "Remember to wear warm clothes."
"Warm clothes?"
Without answering, Adam just pushed him through the door, and Terry's screams got cut
short as he disappeared into the void.
Adam stepped through the door, then turned around to catch a final look at the Eldertree and then closed the door behind him, also disappearing into the void.
...
The winds of winter came and went.
It was already the time for the rainy season of the spring, the rain pouring down like a
symphony of nature's tears.
The waves of the Blind Sea crashed against the sharp rocks of a small island that jutted out of the water like a forgotten monument to some long-lost civilization.
By the sharp rocks on the island, a cane-wielding old man sat under the shade of a crumbling stone archway, watching towards the ocean and at the storm that was raging some distance
away.
At that moment, from the storm, a single boat sailed through the crashing waves, and there
was a man standing on it, paddling against the wind.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Its one mast had collapsed as the result of the storm. However, with the one paddle, he managed to approach the island.
"A visitor..." the old man muttered to himself as he watched the boat approach. "A rare
sight."
As soon as the ship neared the island, the rain stopped mysteriously and the sun peeked from
behind the clouds.
The man removed his hat and looked at the island with a deep look.
"The island of the crying woman." Adam narrowed his eyes.
The End of the Third Volume, Eldertree Institute!