NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: King Kai
After quickly devouring the food, Lady Annin continues her talk with Shen.
"Before proceeding any further, I have to warn you that going to the Other World through this method with a physical body intact can be very dangerous. The steam can disorient your mind, damage your consciousness, and it could even lead you astray to other parts of the cosmos."
"Even the Demon Realm?"
"Maybe. . . though putting the demon realm aside i have noticed that regardless of the topic, you sure seem to know a lot about the them!.." Annin questioningly glances at Shen. a suspicion has arose in her. "demon realm is a dimension outside our universe, how could you possibly be aware of such a place?"
"I just happened to stumble upon an alien ship, with all the weird knowledge perfectly stored in its AI system. Coincidentally, the language wasn't a barrier." he gives a poor response.
". . ."
"Hmph! It's fine if you don't want to say, but at least give a believable excuse."
". . ."
After the conversation, despite understanding the possible consequences, Shen decides to act. The path of development for humans is limited, so he has to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself, irrespective of the danger—of course, in a calculated manner.
. . .
A short while later, Shen is lying on the ground, with Annin's palm on his forehead. She mumbles some spells under her breath, and gradually, Shen is enveloped by a greenish hue. Light scatters from his eyes and mouth—a magical sight to behold.
"Done!" the otherworldly woman exclaims, removing her hand from Shen's forehead.
Blue-haired Launch looks perplexed by the proclamation, as no outward change seems to have occurred, but when she is about to question...
The unconscious body of Shen on the floor starts to rise up; however, weirdly enough, two bodies start to emerge in front of the beholders' eyes, essentially duplicating. One body is lying as it was, while the other seems to be emerging.
Her mouth is left open at the sight before her. "Ara~"
"This is great," Shen says, bringing his hands to his head and touching a glowing circular object. "A halo!"
"Yes, that's a halo, so technically you could be called dead; however, in reality, you aren't, as your actual physical body is still breathing. Your soul is still connected to your physical body on a metaphysical level, like a satellite connection. Although I have provided you with a soul-body, so you wouldn't be a formless soul cloud, you can't interact with or touch objects in this world with that body," Lady Annin immediately explains to sate his curiosity.
"I understand. So now, what do I do?"
"Nothing much, you just have to enter the fog."
"Okay! Thank you for your help," Shen says, expressing his appreciation as he hovers toward the dense steam rising from the large pot below.
.
.
.
[I slowly disappear into the water vapors; my world completely turns white. I drift aimlessly—at least, that is what I perceive—as my body proceeds onward without my free will. I have no control over my entire body.
Finally, after what felt like hours of my mind being in a constant state of inaction and confusion, my surroundings change, and I also regain control over my body.
Before me are three portals, all seemingly replicas of each other, yet I feel compelled to enter only one. I feel a pull toward the middle door, which has a slight golden hue... it feels like a preprogrammed instinct.
Since this is my first experience, I take no chances and enter the middle door. For the time being, I am just checking things out; later on, I will check out the other two portals too.
As I enter the middle portal, a bright light momentarily blinds me. I tightly close my eyes due to the pain, and after I open them when the pain subsides, I look around.
Clouds... there is a long line of white clouds in front of me. Some people are shouting at these clouds, requesting them to move faster... these people—or rather, people with demon-like features—are probably the employees of the Other World.
"Hello there," I approach one of them.
The red demonic man confuses me for another employee slacking off. I swiftly resolve the misunderstanding, after which the man takes me to King Yemma, the deity who judges all the souls that arrive in the Other World. The ogre-like man is like an office worker, with his desk, chair, books, and all... I explain myself to him.
"I know who you are. That girl Annin has already told me everything via a telepathic link." King Yemma flips through the book he's holding. "If I remember right, I found in your record that you even saved your planet from imminent destruction. You are worthy to receive King Kai's tutelage."
Weird how he called Lady Annin a "girl," but I guess that is only natural since he's the judge of the dead and is probably millions of years old.
I give my thanks to King Yemma and continue on my way.
I have arrived at the start of a long and narrow road, magically suspended mid-air, with seemingly nothing supporting it. This is Snake Road, the route to King Kai's planet. I walk and walk, then I fly.
This path is so long that one would assume it's nearly impossible to reach its end, and that would actually be true for most people. But that's certainly not the case for Shen; this is nothing more than a slight inconvenience for the Crane Hermit.
I am not in a hurry, so I take my time, leisurely strolling along the way.
A while later, seeing no end in sight to the boring road, my amusement takes a nosedive. Well, it was to be expected. The novelty of a new experience is bound to die down fast... a man can have a little fun, but now it's time to be serious.
I hurry along the path at full speed, reaching my destination after approximately a whole day of travel. I find myself at the tip of Snake Road, a dead end.
A cloudy abyss stretches below me; everything is yellow, the color of the clouds that are everywhere. I look around, searching for anything noteworthy.
My eyes catch sight of something in the distance—a spherical green ball. A planet, maybe... I fly off to that location, and indeed, I have found the planet of King Kai, guardian of this universe's North Area.
Smiling, I gradually get near the planet and almost instantly fall, landing on my knees on the grassy ground.
"Ouch!" Cursing at myself, I get onto my feet.
That surprised me; I had forgotten about the 10x gravity of this place for a second there... I was taking it too easy, and this happens. At least, as a silver lining, with this, I can confidently say I have truly arrived.]
As Shen is reeling from his hefty mistake, a man shows up.
"Welcome! Welcome to my home... but who are you?" the man speaks.
Blue-skinned, with insect-like antennae on his head and a round-shaped body—most commonly known as a fatty alien. 'Is he fat, or is that just how his species is supposed to look?' Shen wonders in his head.
"I? I am Shen. Aren't you Sir King Kai?"
"Yes, I am Kaio, ruler of the Northern Area of the universe. What business do you have with me?" King Kai curiously asks. (A/N: "O" in Japanese means King.)
"Hello, Kaio-sama. I am here on the approval of King Yemma. I request that you train me, please."
"Hmmm! Train you? What do I do?" Kaio ponders with his fingers on his chin. "Train, I could; my energy drain, it would. Do what I should," he rhymes.
. . .
"Hahahahahahaha!" Shen hesitantly laughs. He knew this was coming; he was already prepared to laugh at Kaio's lame puns.
Sure enough, King Kai has a satisfied smile plastered on his face. "Great! It looks like we share a great sense of humor. This is a good indication, but you have to first tell me a killer pun."
A play on words that could possibly make the god laugh? Easy, Shen thinks.
"How about this, Kaio-sama, please listen carefully," the Crane Hermit says, ready.
"Hmmm! Go on."
The mood becomes serious.
"What do you think two's response was when One said, 'I would like to know your name'?"
"What?" Kaio asks.
"Two said, 'Me too.'"
Kaio-sama blinks twice, analyzing Shen's words, trying to comprehend the pun. After remaining still for a few seconds, he figures it out.
*Pfttt!! "So that was it." King Kai's laughter spreads, happy tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Wow! Amazing!... you slayed it."