Once he confirmed that his “Two-Way Gate” ability had virtually zero cost, no cooldown, and precise targeting, Luke felt like his heart was being roasted over hot coals—both anxious and burning with excitement.
After the initial wave of overwhelming surprise passed, a more specific and agonizing question arose: How did time flow between these two worlds?
He rushed back to his rented room, rummaging through his drawers to dig out every old phone, tablet, and fan-buzzing laptop that could still power on.
He fully charged them all and calibrated their clocks.
Blue Star time: May 4, 2025, afternoon.
Taking a deep breath, he grabbed one of the phones and willed the portal open.
Flea Bottom, that familiar corner.
The damp cold and foul stench washed over him instantly.
He quickly placed the phone on a relatively dry stone in the corner, took a quick glance to record the local time in the alternate world, turned off the screen, and willed himself back to his rented room.
The clocks on the other electronic devices in his room had advanced by only a few seconds.
He waited.
He waited anxiously for ten minutes.
Then, he traveled across again.
The corner.
The phone on the stone had not been found or taken!
Luke held his breath, leaning down to check the time—it was roughly ten minutes past when he had left!
The discrepancy was within a minute, likely due to his own delay in operating and observing.
Ecstasy struck him once more, but this time he remained cooler.
He repeated the experiment using different devices, varying intervals, at different times of day, and even tried leaving devices on Blue Star while staying briefly in the alternate world to cross-reference.
The result was undeniable: time flowed at the exact same rate in both worlds!
However long passed on Blue Star, the exact same amount of time passed in the alternate world.
There was no miraculous “a day in heaven is a year on earth,” nor was there any frozen-time cheat to exploit.
Yet, this actually gave him peace of mind.
At least he didn’t have to worry about expiration dates, nor did he have to fear returning only to find centuries had slipped away.
The next critical question arose: Could he change the teleportation location?
Was he restricted to line-of-sight travel between his rented room and that single corner in Flea Bottom?
If so, that would be a massive limitation.
In the dead of night, around 2:00 AM.
Luke changed into dark sportswear, tucked an old phone and a fruit knife into his pockets for self-defense, and slipped out the door.
There were too many surveillance cameras in modern society, and hotels weren’t safe either!
Fearing hidden cameras, he had no choice but to head out into the unpopulated wild to conduct his experiment.
He blended into the urban shadows like a phantom, heading toward a park a few kilometers away that featured a small wooded hill.
The park had long been closed for the night, its iron gates locked tight.
However, that couldn’t stop an unemployed young man determined to explore his superpower.
He found a secluded spot, scaled the low perimeter wall, his heart pounding like a drum as his feet hit the ground.
Sparse streetlights dotted the park, leaving most areas submerged in thick darkness, punctuated only by the chirping of insects and the occasional hum of distant traffic.
He moved with a clear goal, heading straight for the deep woods where stray cats were said to hang out at night and patrol guards rarely visited.
The moon was blocked by clouds, leaving it pitch-black beneath the canopy.
Soft fallen leaves and tangled roots lay underfoot.
A scent of damp soil, humus, and nocturnal plants filled his nose—a stark contrast to the stench of Flea Bottom, yet carrying an eerie, primitive quiet of its own.
This was the place.
He selected a relatively flat patch of ground behind a large tree, stopped, and forced his breathing to steady.
Concentrating his mind, he imagined Flea Bottom in the alternate world!
Not that specific corner, but another secluded alley tail he had noted during his daytime exploration.
As the thought formed, dizziness swept over him.
The scene shifted before his eyes.
No one noticed a person had suddenly appeared out of thin air!
It was still night in the alternate world, but here it was even darker and quieter, save for the faint sound of distant dog barks and a drunkard’s mumbles.
He had succeeded!
The departure point on Blue Star could indeed be chosen at will!
He quickly memorized the physical features of this new landing spot in his mind: an abandoned, dilapidated wooden barrel and a crooked half-door.
Then, he tried moving within the alternate world.
He tiptoed down the alley for a dozen meters, turned a corner, and stopped behind another pile of debris.
Standing still, he closed his eyes and concentrated on returning to Blue Star—imagining the small wooded area and that specific large tree.
He returned instantly.
Soft fallen leaves remained underfoot, with the pitch-black canopy overhead.
His position…
He clicked on his phone flashlight, the weak beam sweeping over his surroundings—right behind the large tree where he had left!
Not an inch off!
“Yes!”
He suppressed a quiet cheer and pumped his fist in the air.
He attempted a few more trials.
Starting from different positions on Blue Star—including dark flower beds, the top of the small hill, and even behind a park bench…
Traveling to various locations in the alternate world, walking a distance there, and then returning to Blue Star.
The rules became crystal clear:
The traversal capability was strictly limited to cross-world travel; it could not be used for short-range teleportation within the same world.
If he wanted to teleport directly from the park back to his rented room on Blue Star?
No chance.
Instant travel from point A to point B within Flea Bottom?
Also impossible.
The return location was strictly locked to his “point of departure.”
If he traveled from Point A on Blue Star to the alternate world, even if he ran to the ends of the earth in the alternate world, choosing to return would inevitably bring him back to Point A on Blue Star.
The inverse held true as well.
While this rule left him slightly disappointed that he couldn’t play “instant teleportation courier” in one world, it offered immense security.
At least he wouldn’t accidentally drop into a dangerous trap with no way back.
Just as he finished the final round of tests, leaning against a tree trunk to summarize the rules while his mind brimmed with excitement over mastering these laws—
Suddenly, an indescribable realization struck his consciousness like a flash of insight.
Much like his sudden understanding earlier that he could freely travel between worlds, this time he “felt” the existence of something else.
It was not a voice, nor was it a text prompt, but rather…
a sense of space.
An intangible, formless “place” attached to his own consciousness, yet undeniably tangible and reachable.
Subconsciously, he turned his focus inward toward that sensation.
A…
space.
A cube.
Side length…
three meters?
3×3×3 cubic meters!
Tentatively, he imagined placing the fruit knife he had been holding into that space.
His hand grew light.
The fruit knife was gone.
Luke’s eyes widened, his breath catching.
He immediately willed it to return.
A heavy, cool metal touch returned to his palm.
The fruit knife lay intact in his hand, its blade glinting faintly in the phone’s ambient light.
It wasn’t an hallucination!
Trembling, he tried placing an old phone inside this time.
Success.
Taking it back out.
Success.
Placing a stone from under his feet inside.
Success.
Taking it out.
Success.
He even tried placing a handful of fallen leaves inside, then using his mind to retrieve only a single leaf.
That exact leaf appeared right between his fingertips!
27 cubic meters!
A portable, static storage space completely under his mental control!
“Ha…
haha…”
A low, raspy laugh escaped his throat, sounding unnaturally stark in the silent woods.
“I’m rich…
I’m fucking rich this time!”
Unable to hold it in any longer, he leaped up, waving his arms and spinning in circles like a lunatic.
His suppressed ecstasy burst out as a muffled roar.
“No more wage slaving!
No more taking shit from anyone!”
“Damn it, it’s finally my turn to have a cheat!
God has eyes!”
He shouted until his throat hurt, his cheeks burning hot with excitement, tears nearly welling up from laughter.
All the accumulated frustration from unemployment, the despair when he first transmigrated, and the terror of an uncertain future were completely ignited and evaporated by this spatial ability, turning into soaring ambition and excitement.
His wild, howling commotion naturally shattered the late-night tranquility of the small woods.
“Who…
who’s there?!”
A panicked, hushed female voice came from not far away, accompanied by rustling noises and the faint glow of a phone screen.
Luke’s wild laughter and flailing stopped dead, as if his throat had been clamped shut.
Oh shit!
Overjoyed turned to sorrow!
He ducked down immediately, using the shadows of the trees to hold his breath.
Peering through the gaps in the foliage, he saw a young couple holding hands, peering timidly in his direction.
They were clearly terrified by his sudden fit, the romantic atmosphere completely ruined.
“It seems…
seems like a lunatic…
let’s go, quick!”
The guy pulled his partner, discarding romance entirely as they stumbled back along the path they had come.
Their hurried footsteps and suppressed gasps quickly faded into the distance.
Only after the faint light of the phone screen vanished completely outside the woods did Luke let out a long breath, cold sweat soaking his back.
Careless!
He had gotten way too ahead of himself!
He slapped his own cheeks to force himself to calm down.
Looking around, the dark woods seemed to have regained their eerie, quiet stillness.
He couldn’t stay any longer.
He straightened his clothes, composed himself, and stored both the fruit knife and the phone back into his space!
A single thought was all it took—it was horrifyingly convenient.
Then, like a true phantom, he slipped silently along another, more concealed trail out of the park, disappearing into the deeper dark of the urban night.
Back in his rented room, he double-locked the door.
Leaning against the wooden panel, Luke’s heart was still pounding wildly from the sudden fright, the lingering fear, and the massive, unassimilated joy.