Chapter 553: A New Plan
Chapter 553: A New Plan
"No, still no luck." On the fifth day of his research at the Multiverse General Store, Liam ran his fingers through his hair in frustration after another failed attempt at deciphering the symbols. He had initially thought that recording the simplest arcane symbols and patterns on the doors would be enough to start his research, but these past few days had shown him that it was far from enough. He could sense the knowledge contained within these symbols, but when he tried to study them closely, they seemed to be shrouded in a fog, always just out of reach no matter how hard he tried.
"Is it because we don't have enough reference points, so we can't recognize these completely independent symbols and patterns?" Hermione, whose hair was a bit disheveled from days of intense research, offered her insight. "Like how many ancient scripts remain undeciphered without a reference point, just like dead languages."
"But the problem is, these symbols are a manifestation of certain rules of the universe, not a written language from any civilization", Liam shook his head. "So theoretically, there shouldn't be any reference points—"
"Reference points, reference points—" Liam's eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait, I've got it. Although these symbols don't have corresponding text, we can look at their secondary applications and work backward to understand them. I was so foolish not to think of this earlier, Hermione. Thank you so much, if it weren't for your suggestion—"
With that, Liam suddenly pulled Hermione into a tight embrace and kissed her passionately. It took a while before they finally broke apart.
"Really, I haven't brushed my teeth in days", Hermione said shyly, turning her head away, but her curiosity quickly overcame her embarrassment. She turned back to Liam, her face flushed. "Okay, what exactly did you think of? I'm still a bit confused."
"Here's what I realized", Liam said, taking Hermione's hand and sitting down with her on a chair. "I was blinded by the new knowledge. At my current level, it's nearly impossible to directly study the door, even its simplest parts. If not for my strong connection to this dimension, I might have faced grave danger from attempting to study knowledge beyond my capabilities."
Hermione nodded. Not long after the Study Group was formed, she and Luna had learned over afternoon tea about how Luna's mother had met her fate. From that moment, Hermione knew that exceeding one's own abilities, no matter the effort, would only lead to failure, and sometimes even the loss of one's life.
"But now I have an idea. I can study the dimension's inter-world teleportation function to indirectly research the runes on the door", Liam said excitedly. "My previous research wasn't entirely fruitless. Since this Multiverse General Store is closely linked to me, I can barely grasp that the arcane symbols and patterns on the door are the secret to its inter-world teleportation. If we can carefully study even the simplest part of this power, it will be a significant step forward in our mastery of the dimension."
"But—how do we access it?" Hermione asked, still puzzled. "Each time we traverse the door, it's just a brief moment, and there's no trace of power to study. I don't think we can learn much from the process."
"No, no, no", Liam shook his head. "Don't forget, besides the normal traversal method, we have another, much longer method that allows us to study these things thoroughly—" At this, Liam winked at Hermione, mimicking the Headmaster's gesture.
"I remember", Hermione clapped her hands excitedly. "It's the method you used to escape with me from the Brazilian Temple. I saw Belle the other day! Her son is really cute—"
"Yes, that's the method", Liam quickly redirected her when he noticed she was veering off-topic. "So, let's pack up and start our journey to discover a new world together."
"Sounds great." Hermione nodded. "We don’t have any urgent matters to attend to right now, and to everyone else, we’ll only be gone for about an hour."
After a well-deserved rest at the World of Ice and Fire palace, Liam and Hermione activated the Emergency Escape power. The familiar noise, akin to an airplane taking off, filled the air, and once again, they experienced the intense sensation of being pulled by an external force.
Since there were two people, the magic power balance of the dimension passage was once again disrupted. However, the Spatial Turbulence that could have been fatal in their second year was now much less dangerous. They easily allocated some of their energy to create a Magic Barrier to block the tearing forces, while simultaneously diffusing their power to study the dimension forces directly exposed to them.
This was much simpler than the mysterious knowledge on the door. Liam quickly began recording the knowledge about the dimension contained in the escape passage, which was related to the door at the Multiverse General Store.
Finally, when their feet touched solid ground again, they had completed their records of all the dimension-related knowledge in the escape passage.
"This journey was too short", Hermione complained softly. "I still have so much to figure out."
"Don’t worry, I’ve recorded everything. My guess was right; the knowledge in the dimension passage can indeed serve as a key to help us understand those complex diagrams and texts", Liam reassured her. "And there’s another piece of good news: we are definitely stronger than we were in the past. A few years ago, we would have found this passage too long to endure."
"You’re right, time flies", Hermione sighed, then asked, "Where are we?"
Liam also took a moment to observe their surroundings. Unlike the previous times when they often appeared in places filled with nature and wilderness or steeped in ancient history, this time, they found themselves in a place with a strong modern vibe.
To be precise, they were on a rapidly moving Subway. Through the windows, they saw the dark tunnel with occasional white lights flashing by.
Since it wasn’t rush hour, the Subway was sparsely populated, with many empty seats. In their car, only a few people were scattered about, either listening to music or reading newspapers, and none of them noticed the sudden appearance of two new passengers.
"Welcome to New York—" Liam read a subway advertisement aloud. "We are on a Subway in New York."
"The Big Apple, huh? Sounds great. I’ve always wanted to visit this city, especially the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park. Unfortunately, I never had the time before. Now, exploring New York will fulfill my dream", Hermione said, sounding pleased.
However, Liam grew tense. In countless movies, New York was always the primary target for destruction. He knew of over 20 stories where New York was devastated. This random teleportation had him worried about the potential dangers of the world they had landed in.
The only consolation was that certain worlds had significant architectural differences from the normal New York. Liam decided to get off at the next stop and go above ground to see which world they were in. If it was too dangerous, he would leave New York as quickly as possible and find a secluded place to hide, then leave the world once the cooldown period ended.
As Liam was thinking, a sudden sound of shattering glass came from the side. A man in a suit had broken the glass at the back of the last subway car and rolled in.
(End of Chapter)
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