The transition was far from the smooth, clinical experience Li Ke had expected; instead, the world dissolved into a cacophony of white noise, a static-filled void that felt like being shredded and reassembled by a blind god. The Traveler was gone, leaving the blocky safety of the Minecraft realm behind. The moment he selected Toph's coordinates, a violent sensation of spatial displacement took hold, twisting his gut as the pixelated landscape blurred into streaks of green and brown. Suddenly, a jagged streak of crystalline light shot out from the temporal void, slamming into his palm with the weight of a falling star.
"What the—?" Li Ke gasped, his fingers curling instinctively around the burning cold object. Before he could even squint at the glowing mass, the universe snapped back into sharp focus. He was no longer in a silent stone hall but standing in the center of a vibrant, chaotic marketplace that smelled of roasted duck, incense, and unwashed livestock.
The crowd was a sea of moving bodies, but there was no sign of the small, powerhouse earthbender. He performed a quick, 360-degree sweep, his eyes darting between silk-draped stalls and stone archways, confirming she wasn't just obscured by the foot traffic. She was completely missing. "Wait... isn't this system supposed to drop me right next to the other Traveler?" he muttered, a seed of annoyance sprouting in his chest.
Confused and feeling dangerously exposed, he looked down at the mystery gift. It was a pulsing crystal, thrumming with a rhythmic, subterranean energy that resonated with his very soul. Simply holding it gave him a peculiar, intuitive sensation: this was a dimensional anchor. If he could ever fully saturate this shard with enough World Power, he would possess a permanent "hearthstone" to return to the Minecraft world whenever he desired.
"Interesting... Why grant me a tether now? Is it a synergy with the Fire Keeper skill?" He was genuinely curious; none of his previous companions had received a parting gift of this magnitude. He surmised that the world itself—recognizing him as a "Restorer" who had stabilized its fading logic—had offered this shard as a token of cosmic goodwill.
"Things are getting complicated," he whispered, tucking the heavy pendant safely into his shirt. This wasn't a digital skill he could just summon; it was a physical, fragile object. If he lost it in a fight, his bridge back to that peaceful sandbox was gone for good. Still, looking at the bustling, colorful world around him, he doubted he'd be yearning for the lonely life of blocks anytime soon.
"Now... where the hell is Toph?
Li Ke scanned the crowd, but Toph was nowhere to be found. Didn't we agree to some "mutually beneficial" interaction? he wondered. She didn't get cold feet and run off, did she?
He soon noticed the locals were staring and whispering, their eyes lingering on his tattered, grime-streaked gear. Looking down, he realized he was a total mess—his clothes were tattered and filthy from weeks in the blocky wild, covered in a fine layer of pixelated dust and monster ichor.
He quickly moved through the town, observing his surroundings with a critical, weary eye. The fashion here was a bizarre, jarring mishmash of eras; some wore flowing robes reminiscent of the Qin and Han dynasties, while others sported the sharp, structured styles of the Ming and Qing. It felt like a Westerner's superficial "best of" collection of Chinese history—an aesthetic collage that should have been a disaster. Yet, paradoxically, the individual details—the embroidery, the fabric weights, the way the silk caught the light—were incredibly authentic and high-quality.
"In an animation, you'd call it Western ignorance,"
Li Ke muttered, stepping over a puddle.
"But seeing it in reality? It's just surreal."
He caught a glimpse of the local currency and sighed in relief as he saw metal coins changing hands at a vegetable stall. He had plenty of gold and raw ore in his spatial pack, which should be easily exchangeable for a decent meal. He planned to find a quiet inn to rest, grab a bowl of something steaming and spicy, and then head out before his presence caused a scene.
The language wasn't an issue—the signs were all in Traditional Chinese characters and everyone spoke a clear Mandarin—but the way they phrased things was jarringly stiff. It sounded exactly like English translated into Chinese through a clumsy machine, full of odd idioms and backward syntax, but he decided not to overthink it as long as he could communicate.
The local street food smelled delicious—ginger, garlic, and roasting meat—but without local change in his pocket, he had to keep moving toward the quiet edge of town. Since Toph wasn't at the landing zone, he figured he'd just move on quietly and track her down through the earth-rumblings later.
Just as he reached the outskirts, a woman came stumbling out of a dark alleyway, looking frantic and disheveled. Close behind her was a man with a distinctive, heavy burn scar covering half his face. He looked dangerous, his eyes burning with a focused, desperate intensity.
"Help me! This man is trying to kill me!" the woman screamed, her voice cracking as she bolted toward the crowd. The scarred man roared back, his voice thick with frustration, "Azula! How much longer are you going to keep up this pathetic charade?"
So, they know each other, and it's personal, Li Ke thought, his hand drifting toward his belt. He kept walking, wanting no part of a domestic dispute in a world he didn't yet understand. Suddenly, the air hissed with a sound like escaping steam. Bright blue flames erupted from the woman's hands, met instantly by a disciplined blast of red fire from the man. The two elements clashed violently, sending a wave of heat through the street. Li Ke noted that while the woman's attacks were reckless and wild, the man was carefully containing his fire, angling his blasts to avoid hitting the fleeing bystanders.
Then, the woman veered off-course—straight toward him.
"Give me your sword, peasant!"
She hissed, her eyes wide and glowing with a terrifying, manic light. As she lunged, Li Ke saw her face up close; she was hauntingly beautiful, but her expression was twisted and predatory. She reached for the dagger at his waist with lightning speed.
"Sorry, I don't lend weapons to strangers," Li Ke said, his voice cold. His combat instincts kicked in instantly. He stepped aside with a fluid motion, narrowly dodging her grabbing fingers. She was faster than he expected; the moment she missed, she spun on her heel and launched a vicious, high-velocity kick aimed squarely at his head. Li Ke raised his arm to block, instantly coating it in a layer of Mana Burst to harden his defense. Even then, the raw force of the impact was enough to send him skidding five feet back across the dirt, his boots carving deep furrows in the earth.
However, with a fluid spin, Li Ke dispersed the remaining kinetic energy and watched as the woman lunged once more for the blade at his waist. The scarred man behind her hesitated, seemingly wary of hitting Li Ke in the crossfire, and held back his fire.
"Looks like the roles of hero and villain are pretty clear here," Li Ke muttered, his eyes narrowing. He flicked his wrist, and a lash of crimson flame manifested before him, snapping toward the charging woman like a whip. Her reflexes were bordering on supernatural; even at point-blank range, she managed a desperate, acrobatic dodge, twisting her body in mid-air. In the same motion, she swung her arm, summoning a blade of Azure fire that sliced through the air toward Li Ke's throat.
"You're completely insane!"
Any lingering curiosity Li Ke had felt about the locals vanished. He met her aggression with the raw, unbridled power of his newly acquired Draconic flame. A violent torrent of fire erupted from his palm—a surge of energy so intense it looked more like liquid light than a flicker of gas. It overwhelmed the woman's blue flames instantly, the sheer concussive force slamming into her chest and sending her tumbling backward into a stack of wooden crates.
Li Ke finally drew his blade, realizing the situation had escalated to a fight for survival. He attempted to channel the heavy Dragonfire through the steel to end the fight quickly, but a sharp, metallic crack echoed in the air. Under the extreme, supernatural heat, the metal began to warp and glow a dangerous white. This standard-issue sword simply couldn't handle the sheer intensity of his new power.
"I definitely need a better weapon," he muttered, retracting the heat and reverting to standard flames.
But the woman—Azula—was already pushing herself back up. She settled into a grounded, precise stance, and then—
Bolts of electricity began to crackle between her fingertips.
A primal sense of danger spiked in Li Ke's mind. With no cover nearby, he instinctively hurled his heavy travel pack toward the incoming strike. The lightning hit the bag with a deafening crack, and the resulting discharge caused a secondary burst of energy that threw both Li Ke and the woman in opposite directions.
As Li Ke was tossed toward a stone well, a desperate thought flashed through his mind: If only the water could catch me...
It was a fleeting wish, but suddenly, he felt a strange connection to the environment. The water from the well surged upward, forming a liquid cushion that caught him mid-air, gently lowering him to the ground instead of letting him slam into the stone.
As he stood up, bewildered by the sphere of water he had just commanded, he saw the man and the woman staring at him in total disbelief.
"That's impossible!" they shouted in unison.
How could anyone besides the Avatar master more than one element?