Chapter 3: Wasteland Visitor
Note: Dear readers, I am the author, and I own the copyright to this novel. This is not a translation of someone else's novel. I write it in my native language and then translate it into English.
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Dawn broke over a planet in the solar system of World Beta-SIX-A-985.
The land was a desolate dark red, covered in coarse gravel. Radioactive wind swept across the wasteland, scraping against the skin like a dull knife.
“Humanity destroyed itself before it ever escaped the cradle of its homeworld. Nuclear war brought civilization to an end. Countless warheads rained down upon the earth, sending enormous mushroom clouds rising into the sky. The glory of the old world vanished beneath a shroud of radioactive dust.
“Chaos, violence, death, desire... The survivors clung desperately to life. Clean air and pure water became as scarce as hope itself. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, no one knew—but under the effects of horrific radiation, mutants began to awaken among humanity...”
“All right, that’s enough. Stop reading,” Finn said, cutting off the rookie’s recitation.
Standing in the middle of the barren wasteland, Finn looked the Spacetime Destruction Bureau’s newest recruit up and down.
The kid was about seventeen or eighteen, with a short buzz cut with faded sides and an acne-scarred face. He wore an oversized black hoodie, sagging baggy jeans, and a beat-up pair of white Air Force 1s. A bulging black backpack hung from his shoulders, stuffed with who knew what.
The Spacetime Destruction Bureau had a standing policy for missions involving rookies.
Take a rookie out on a mission and bring him back in one piece: 100 Contribution Points.
Bring him back crippled: 90 Contribution Points.
If his body was unfortunately destroyed but you managed to salvage a wisp of his soul: 80 Contribution Points.
If the rookie died: 70 Contribution Points.
So taking rookies on missions was guaranteed profit with no risk...
No, wait. It was a mission.
“Hello, Senior. My name is Jimmy.” The rookie looked at Finn with an eager-to-please smile, completely unaware that he might be worth only 70 Contribution Points.
“No need to call me Senior. I may be over six hundred years older than you, but I’m still a young man.” Finn shook his head slightly.
“Got it, bro,” Jimmy said, switching forms of address without missing a beat.
Finn had come to this planet in search of its World Nucleus. To give its rookie some field experience, the Spacetime Destruction Bureau had assigned Jimmy to assist him.
“So it’ll be the two of us making our way through this wasteland. By the way, what’s your ability?” Finn asked.
“Laser Rain.”
“Laser Rain?”
Finn vaguely remembered Laser Rain being some kind of dance—maybe a street-dance routine.
But what kind of ridiculous superpower was called Laser Rain?
“Give me the basics. How do you activate your ability, and what does it do?”
Finn suppressed the urge to mock him and decided to hear the details first. After all, he shouldn’t judge before knowing the facts.
“My ability activates when I perform the Laser Rain dance,” Jimmy replied with a perfectly straight face. “Then I can select an area within a one-kilometer radius and make a barrage of laser beams shoot down from the sky.”
“A barrage of laser beams?”
Finn thought it over and understood Jimmy’s ability. By performing a specific dance, he could summon laser beams from the sky to strike his target.
If that was really how it worked, then it was clearly an area-of-effect attack—and potentially a very powerful one.
“You don’t believe me, bro?”
Jimmy raised both hands over his head, pressed the heels of his palms together, and spread his fingers in a flashy dance pose. With a completely serious expression, he said, “I can show you right now, but I’ll need some music.”
“No, no. That won’t be necessary.” Finn waved him off, speechless.
“How did Big Sis Avasarala discover you?” Finn asked, suddenly curious about Avasarala’s methods.
“You mean Ms. Avasarala? She’s a really kind person. About three days ago, I was squatting over a pit toilet taking a dump and worrying about how I’d afford a ticket home the next day. Then all of a sudden, there was an earthquake!”
Jimmy’s eyes widened. Even now, he still looked shaken by the memory.
“And then Big Sis Avasarala suddenly appeared and saved you?” Finn guessed.
“No. A wormhole suddenly opened inside the toilet and sucked me in! I almost died from the spatial distortion! Then Big Sis Avasarala appeared like an angel and teleported me into another dimension. After that, she awakened my ability.”
“Hmm... What an interesting experience.” Finn had no idea how else to respond.
Jimmy continued, “Big Sis Avasarala told me there were three latent abilities hidden in my genes, and I could choose one: Laser Rain, ballet, or capoeira.
“I figured I’d never learned ballet, and I’d never even heard of capoeira. But I already knew the Laser Rain dance, so I chose the Laser Rain ability.”
Finn said flatly, “You should’ve chosen capoeira. It’s a Brazilian martial art that uses things like cartwheels, spinning kicks, and other acrobatic moves to attack opponents.”
“Seriously?” Jimmy looked stunned. “Big Sis Avasarala said that once I earn enough Contribution Points, I’ll be able to unlock another ability. My mission this time is to help you obtain the World Nucleus!”
Finn covered his face and sighed. His new partner really was an odd one.
And yet, for some reason, he was suddenly a little curious to see Jimmy use his ability.
“How are you with languages?” Finn suddenly asked.
Jimmy lowered his head, looking embarrassed. “I’ve never passed a foreign language exam.”
“No big deal.” Finn reached into his storage space and took out two small bottles of blue liquid. He handed one to Jimmy.
“Here. It’s a language potion. Drink it, and you’ll instantly learn the language spoken in this wasteland world.”
With that, Finn twisted off the cap and downed his bottle. Jimmy quickly drank his as well.
Finn had refined the language potions using instructions posted by the Pioneers on the Myriad Realms Network. He had already researched everything he could find about them.
There were many ways to master a new world’s language in a short time, including direct memory implantation and neural chips. Language potions were the cheapest option.
To make one, an alchemist placed a dictionary of the local language into a crucible and refined it with alchemical magic.
After drinking the potion, the user would gain command of the language and speak it as naturally as their mother tongue. However, they could still forget it if they went too long without using it.
“Pioneers” referred to the first people to cross over into a given world. Most Pioneers compiled information about the worlds they found themselves in and uploaded it to the Myriad Realms Network.
As for the Myriad Realms Network itself, that was a vast subject—one that couldn’t be explained even after three days and nights.
“Let’s go. The World Nucleus...” Finn stood on the barren earth and gazed toward the red morning sun in the distance. “I’m determined to get it.”
At the edge of their vision, they could just make out the ruins of a city. Several thin trails of gray smoke drifted into the sky.
Finn had information left behind by the Pioneers, but there wasn’t much of value in it.
According to the records, the ruined city in the distance was a large Refuge City. After the nuclear winter ended, the survivors had banded together and barricaded themselves inside, fighting off drifters, mutated beasts, and other military factions roaming the wasteland.
Finn and Jimmy set off for the Refuge City on foot.
...
Far in the distance, the roar of an engine shattered the morning silence.
A cloud of dust came rolling toward them. A wastelander with his hair dyed red and green rode at its head on a heavy motorcycle.
“Hey, man! Give us a ride!” Jimmy waved excitedly at the rider.
But people in the wasteland clearly weren’t known for their hospitality.
The man came thundering toward them, then circled Finn and Jimmy in a wide loop, kicking up a cloud of dust half as tall as a person.
“Ptooey!” Seeing the two of them covered in dust, the man spat and sneered. “A couple of outsiders without so much as a vehicle, and you think you can make a living in Black Mountain?”
His eyes narrowed as they settled on Jimmy’s bulging backpack. A greedy glint appeared in his gaze.
Keeping one hand on the handlebars, he suddenly pulled out a black pistol with the other, aimed at Finn and Jimmy, and opened fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunshots cracked through the air.
Finn didn’t fall.
Profound Energy condensed into an invisible shield in front of him, stopping every shot. The bullets flattened against the shield and dropped to the ground around his feet.
Profound Energy was the power Finn had refined through cultivating the Fire Profound Divine Art.
When the man saw that his bullets had done nothing, he immediately twisted the throttle and sped away.
Before leaving, he even offered them a friendly farewell.
“Fucking mutant, go fuck yourself—”
His curse was swallowed by the roar of the engine as the heavy motorcycle tore off into the distance, trailing a long plume of dust.
Finn frowned deeply, anger flickering in his eyes.