Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

Chapter 374  The rest

Reynold was still for a long, long time while clutching Kairen's clothes and resting his head on the young boy's shoulder. His breathing had claimed down and so had the palpation of his heart that was so intense that even Kairen could feel it. Even though the man's situation has returned back to normal, Kairen didn't attempt to push him away from himself forcefully. He kept playing with the long strands of crimson hair while organizing his thoughts in silence. He didn't feel that uncomfortable while being hugged.

'So, all I need to do is to ignore these voices, which are supposedly the memories of my previous life, and keep doing whatever I have to do until Reynold finds a cure for me.'

Kairen had also thought about the issues regarding Fate and the contract. What he concluded was that he couldn't do much in this situation. Anyway, wasn't it good that he and his brother were saved by that Fate dude? Although he was worried about the possible future developments that Fate might cause, he had neither the power nor the knowledge to change anything right now.

"...We must proceed to the other gates soon."

Reynold's muffled voice entered his ears at that moment. Kairen moved his head a little bit back and glanced at the back of Reynold's head.

"Shall we travel all over the world in order to approach the gates?"

Wouldn't that take too much time?

"There is no need for that."

Reynold slowly released his grip on Kairen's clothes and moved back. His hair was disheveled, mostly due to Kairen playing with them for a while, and his face was slightly pale but now as much as a few minutes ago.

"It'll be a little hard and slow at first, but you can try connecting to the other gate even in here."

"How should I do that?"

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"Just like before."

The man combed his hair with a hand and tied them behind his head with a ribbon. A few strands of stray hair that were left out of the ribbon cascaded down his shoulders and a bunch of shorter ones were covering his face. Kairen thought that he, for once, looked like a normal person, probably a little bit more good-looking than most normal people.

"You just need to repeat the same thing you did before, but with more precision. I don't think that the location matters, but you can try going to a high place, probably the top of a building, to be safe. There might be some fluctuations between the universal powers that might hurt the ones close to you."

Kairen nodded his head while listening.

"Just like you did before, you have to concentrate on the flow of power in the areas around you. It'll take longer for you to detect any flow of universal powers as the other gates are far away, but it'll be faster than traveling to all those places. Although teleporting will also help, I don't think it'll be easy and fast to explain everything to all the military heads in those different locations each time we visit a gate."

Kairen agreed with Reynold. It was troublesome if they encountered any agents or other people who were guarding the gates. He was sure that the people who had managed to live in this world like that weren't as clueless as to leave the gate without anybody watching over it.

"Also, they all tend to tilt towards you a little bit. The stronger your power gets, the more they'll desire to reach you. It'll get easier and easier as time goes on. Once you notice their presence, do the same thing as before. Reach out to them, grab on them, and swallow them whole. The more you do, the more the rest of them will be drawn to you. It'll get faster and faster, but remember that you need to take a break in between. Don't get greedy and don't lose your mind over their power, or your soul might get even more damaged..."

Reynold paused once he mentioned Kairen's damaged soul.

"It might... It might make you hear or remember uncomfortable things..."

Kairen knew that he meant his memories. He nodded his head once again.

"I know. I'll do my best to ignore them."

"Yeah..." Reynold glanced at Kairen and then glanced at the outside of the building. "It'd be safer if you just gave up on getting rid of the gates in here."

"But didn't you say that it'd be beneficial for me if I got stronger by swallowing these gates?"

"...Yeah."

It was both beneficial and dangerous for Kairen. Kairen knew that nothing came for free and that he always had to take some risks if he wanted to achieve what he wanted. Sometimes thinking about the thing he wanted to do gave him unpleasant feelings.

The phrase 'Saving the world' sounded too grand and magnificent. It felt like a great deed that someone would do out of their pure love for the world because they were caring and loving towards the place. It was something that a truly strung individual could do.

It wasn't what Kairen thought he was doing. He was neither good-hearted, loving, pure, nor strong. He was just a passerby who wanted to play with the powers in this world, get stronger in the process, and get rid of his guilt as a result. He was doing everything for himself, because of his own selfishness, and nothing more.

That was why every time that phrase or anything related to 'saving the world' was mentioned, he felt guilty and uncomfortable. Still, he didn't say anything to oppose Reynold and instead, got up to his feet.

"Then, should I start?"

He dusted his clothes and walked to the entrance of the room. Reynold followed suit.

"I guess you still need to have a conversation with that man."

"I can talk to him later. I want to try what you just taught me as soon as possible."

"Hmm..."

Reynold hummed gently while walking down the stairs behind Kairen.

"But you need to eat something first."

"Huh?"

Kairen stopped walking for a second. He suddenly remembered how hungry he was now that it was mentioned.

"Can't I eat after I-"

"Dealing with a gate takes a long time. You can't work properly if you are hungry and have no energy."

"...Right."

Nodding his head, Kairen decided to shamelessly request some food from Daniel.

. . . . . . . .

"How is it going?"

Kairen's tightly clenched eyelids shook for a second. A drop of sweat rolled down his cheek.

"I-I can sense two large masses of power from two different locations. A thin aura is leaking out from them, moving this way."

"Try to grab it."

Reynold raised his head to look at the sky. The dark night sky was clean and without any clouds. Gentle moonlight illuminated the area on the rooftop where they were sitting.

"Don't be rash and take it slow."

His soft voice entered Kairen's ears, who was struggling with two gates at the same time.

"You'll manage to do it no matter how long it takes, just like the previous ones."

"Mhm."

Kairen let out a muffled voice after being reminded of the few gates he had taken down in the past few hours. Though, he had dealt with them one by one and not two at the same time.

"We'll take a rest after you are done dealing with these two."

Kairen would really appreciate that.