Chapter 6 – The Transmigrator's Code Phrase
Aurore parted her lips, momentarily unable to grasp what had just happened.
—Ning Lu knew that the Aurore inside the "Cordu Village dream" was only a soul fragment reflected in the dream, so after successfully entering it with Sefirah Castle, he chose to use their shared identity as Transmigrators to get closer to her.
Aurore's importance spoke for itself; as Lumian Lee—the Calamity of Destruction, Primordial God Almighty's half-body, Cheek's "Primordial Hunger" wild-daddy, "there's not enough room here," Alista Tudor—she was his most vital anchor. Getting close to her was tantamount to getting close to Lumian.
And Lumian was the dream's owner and one of the crucial pieces on the gods' board.
Ning Lu understood that even with Sefirah Castle veiling his aura, being flung to this point in time by the countdown on his hand meant the Castle—symbol of incomplete secrecy and change—couldn't hide him completely from Evernight Goddess, Adam, and the rest.
So to survive in this plague-ridden, core-tomb of a world, he had to grow stronger as fast as possible—and digesting the Beyonder characteristics he already had and obtaining new ones was clearly the simplest way.
Standing to the side, Lumian watched Aurore's frozen expression and cautiously murmured, lowering his voice as much as he could,
"Sis, do you know this guy? Does he have anything to do with you?"
"…Maybe."
Aurore's face was complicated; she shook her head at Lumian and motioned him to make room:
She needed to confirm the stranger's identity before letting him into her home!
Aurore planted herself in front of the door and cleared her throat:
"I need to ask you a few questions. I can only let you in after I'm sure who you are."
She intended to speak Chinese the whole time, using it to test the guest whose identity was still a mystery:
"Odd change, even no-change?"
"Look at the quadrant for the sign." Ning Lu answered instantly.
"How are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Imperial jade-liquid wine?"
"Could it be that I'm a southerner who rarely watches the Spring-Festival Gala?" Ning Lu adjusted the monocle on his face, then decided it pinched too much and took it off again:
"One-eighty a cup. Lucky I know the gag. These code-phrases are worn out—can they still prove who I am?"
"But didn't they just work?" Aurore raised an eyebrow, a look of relief flashing across her face. "You haven't met any other Transmigrators before? When did you cross over?"
As she spoke she waved Lumian over, signalling him to open the door and let Ning Lu in from outside.
While following his sister's order, Lumian stared at Ning Lu with a mix of resentment and vigilance as the man stepped slowly inside:
He understood none of the exchange; he only saw a rare ease and wistfulness settle on his sister's face.
Never had Lumian so hated being illiterate in mysticism.
Without hesitation Ning Lu delivered the answer he had prepared:
"2025."
"Twenty-five?" Aurore exclaimed, puzzled. "That's way later than when I arrived…"
She paused, warily scanned the surroundings, then skilfully erected a sealed Wall of Spirituality after shutting the door:
"We'll talk later. Right now, sir, I need to know… why are you inside my brother's dream?"
She switched to Intisian for that last line; Lumian's eyes snapped to Ning Lu, ready to shield his sister at the first wrong move.
"Dream?" Ning Lu's tone turned odd for an instant, but he quickly suppressed it. "First, I need to be sure—you've heard of the Extraordinary Aggregation Principle, right?"
The Extraordinary Aggregation Principle… Lumian filed the unfamiliar term away in his mind.
Ever eager to gain Beyonder power to protect his sister, he hungered for any knowledge related to Beyonders.
Aurore hesitated, then after a long moment gave a reserved nod:
"I know it."
"I suspect your brother is… special. I entered his dream, and that dream itself proves it." Ning Lu chose his words carefully. "I hadn't planned to come here—passing your village was probably drawn by the Beyonder force converging on him. Friend, you shouldn't keep stopping your brother from obtaining Beyonder characteristics; this world is dangerous, and he's already entangled with the Beyonder world."
"And deeply so."
"As for me… once I set foot in this village, something trapped me here. Before that I'd used certain Beyonder means to learn the key to leaving—never expecting it to lie in the dream of a fellow countryman's little brother."
Ning Lu spoke softly; the last sentence was in Chinese.
He remembered Aurore was a sequence 7 Warlock with divining and decoding abilities; she would surely try to verify whether his words held any lies.
But every sentence he had spoken was true.
—He had indeed used a Beyonder method to locate Lumian's dream; that method was called Sefirah Castle.
—He truly was a Transmigrator from 2025, though Aurore and the other old day remnants were not.
—And he really was trapped here by certain forces—just not the ones they imagined.
Aurore stared at Ning Lu for a long time, then slowly nodded and finally said,
"I believe what you've said."