This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange - Chapter 857: 857: World's Worst Ride
Chapter 857: Chapter 857: World’s Worst Ride
Unfortunately for Kain and Serena, the relic paid them no further attention once it sent them on their way. Meaning that after casually transporting them to the Eastern Continent, it had barely stabilized the channel enough to ensure they survived.
The result? The experience was horrible.
If teleportation were a rocky ride on a river most of the time, which can make the more sensitive ‘seasick’, theirs was a storming vortex lined with razors and molten steel that cut at them.
Their stomachs turned inside out. Every nerve screamed as though their bodies were being torn apart molecule by molecule and stitched back together in the wrong order before being torn apart again. The twisting of space left their senses spinning—the smell of ozone, the taste of blood, and the uncanny sensation of crawling insects writhing under their skin. Their minds couldn’t tell which way was up or down; it was a storm of color, light, and pain.
Kain tried to clench his teeth, but it felt like his jaw was dissolving, his tongue separating into a thousand threads before snapping back. His organs flipped like they were inside a washing machine.
When they finally landed, the moment their feet touched solid ground, both collapsed in unison.
Kain dry-heaved, bile burning his throat, his head pounding so hard it felt like it might burst. He couldn’t even think clearly. Every breath made the world tilt. Judging by the painful groaning sounds coming from Serena’s direction, her condition wasn’t much better.
He didn’t have the energy to look over. Just keeping his eyes open was an achievement.
It was only after a few minutes that Kain forced himself upright, fumbling through the haze long enough to summon Bea. The microscopic contract came into being, her influence washing over them both as she enveloped both of them in her Pale Thought Field to implant splits that forcefully stabilized their conditions. Within seconds, the nausea and vertigo began to fade, their equilibrium returning as though a heavy fog was being lifted.
Finally, both of them managed to stand. Their faces were pale, sickly, and clammy with sweat, but they could at least remain upright.
They took a moment to breathe, steadying themselves, then turned to look around.
They were inside another waiting chamber—circular, domed, lined with faintly glowing runes and softly pulsing crystals. The walls were smooth silver-gray, identical to the trial relic waiting chamber back at Dark Moon.
Serena groaned softly. “So these relics are really connected… like a network.”
Kain nodded, rubbing the side of his head. “Probably thrown down across every continent. Each one acts like a terminal to the inheritance relic… used to screen successors.”
He walked a few unsteady steps toward the shimmering wall ahead. It rippled faintly, like water resisting his touch.
Serena frowned. “If we leave… what if this one’s inside a college like Dark Moon’s? We don’t even know what’s waiting out there. It could be a battlefield, the base of a powerful organization willed with high-level tamers, or even an Abyssal infestation.”
Kain hesitated, then gave a small smirk that didn’t quite reach his tired eyes. “I can find out.”
Serena blinked. “How?”
He didn’t answer, his expression going distant—his eyes losing focus as if looking far beyond this space.
——————
Kain’s awareness flickered, and in the next moment, he stood in Pangea beneath the sprawling branches of the World Tree.
The air here was tranquil and vibrant, the hum of Source energy so soothing that just breathing seemed to mend his weariness. Near the base of the massive tree, Bai Lian was instructing a pair of young elves.
The sight made Kain pause.
It seemed as though the second generation of elves had finally been born. Unlike the dwarves, conception among elves appeared to be more difficult. Therefore, although the first generation of dwarves by now were already grand parents, or even great-grandparents, the elves born not long after them had only just started concieving the second generation.
Bai Lian was teaching two young elves—a dark elf boy and a blond-haired common elf girl who both looked about six or seven—and their lesson appeared to be centered on a large stone resembling a chalkboard scrawled with symbols and numbers.
Mathematics.
The elven children looked absolutely miserable.
Their parents, nearby, offered sympathetic smiles of solidarity. They, too had endured Bai Lian’s terrifying lessons in “the cruel and difficult subject of mathematics.”
Bai Lian patiently explained something about numerators and denominators, while the two students wore the expression of condemned prisoners. To the elves, who excelled in the arts, literature, and music—many from the first generation already producing masterpieces that could rival Earth’s greats—numbers were their sworn enemy.
In contrast, the dwarves had devoured Earth’s sciences and engineering knowledge like it was candy. Kain remembered the second generation of dwarves, not long after birth, mastering calculus before they were even fully potty-trained.
By now, the first generation of dwarves and their children had likely already reconstructed every scientific advancement humans on Earth had taken centuries to discover.
Kain watched the elven children struggle through basic math and sighed sympathetically. “Since the World Tree’s presence supposedly helps with comprehension, their natural math ability must be really bad.”
The boy looked up first, freezing mid-problem. The girl followed his gaze—and both of their eyes widened in shock as they noticed Kain standing silently behind Bai Lian.
Bai Lian turned at their sudden stillness, her eyes widening slightly. She smiled and gestured for the children to take a break. They bolted away instantly, their relief almost palpable.
Kain stepped forward. Bai Lian greeted him warmly. “Kain… it’s been a while. What brings you here?”
He quickly explained everything—the relic, Serena, the teleportation, and the situation in the East.
By the end, Bai Lian’s expression had darkened. “The Abyss is invading the Eastern Continent already…” she murmured. Her tone was heavy, her voice carrying both sorrow and urgency. “I hope my family is okay… I will help in whatever way I can.”
Kain explained his current situation to Bai Lian.
She paused thoughtfully before continuing, “The trial relic there—I remember it well. It is not within any one college or sect. The East treats it differently from your continent. It is considered collective property—shared by the strongest nations and academies. Each year, they send their elites for trials.”
Kain looked relieved. “So it’s not in a city?”
She shook her head. “No. It lies deep in neutral territory, far from any capital, at the crossroads between the nations. Normally, it is guarded but largely unpopulated. Since the relic already reopened recently, there shouldn’t be many people nearby—just a garrison or two.”
Kain’s brows furrowed. “Then it might be safe to exit.”
“Maybe,” Bai Lian replied softly. “But you should be careful. The situation may have changed. The heir of my homeland—the girl I entered the relic with, her name was Lin Yue—was among those chosen to enter when it last opened. Since she never went back… the relationship between the nations may have shifted. Especially since it is impossible for them to know the cause of her death. They may assume that she was assassinated inside.”
Her words made Kain’s chest tighten. It would appear the situation outside wouldn’t be so easy to predict.
Bai Lian spent another hour providing all the information she could—the geography of the region, the political tensions, known safe routes, and any information she remembered about the relic’s mechanisms. It was far from complete, but every detail mattered.
Kain thanked her deeply, bowing his head. “You’ve been a great help.”
“And you,” she said gently, “are my people’s last hope.”
With a last glance at the tranquil world of Pangea, Kain willed himself back to reality.
——————
His eyes snapped open. Serena was watching him expectantly.
“Well?” she asked.
He sighed. “Good news and bad news. Good news, we’re not inside a college. Or any private organization, really. Bad news, who knows what it looks like out there now.”
Serena gave a long exhale. “Wonderful.”
They exchanged a look—half exhaustion, half determination.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Kain muttered.
They raised their hands in unison, making the same quitting gesture used in the Dark Moon trial.
The chamber around them began to hum, light gathering beneath their feet as the world twisted once more. In a flash, they vanished from the relic’s waiting room, stepping into whatever awaited them in the East.
