As the twins are now controlling the cart, they actually take an off-ramp from the main track, while still in this watery area. It’s a silent ride, as both of them seem to concentrate on something while operating it.

Bringing a thought to my mind.

… Are they both controlling it right now? Or is one controlling it, and the other operating some other aspect of the cart I’m not aware of?

My guess is the latter, as even when I was checking into the cart earlier, I didn’t go too deeply. I sensed a bit of danger in doing so.

Since they are busy, I sit and think about my upcoming approach to the situation. Coming up with strategies to get what I want in the upcoming negotiation. Readying myself for what I need to say and do.

Several twists and turns rock the cart slightly, but it’s not long before the angle of the off-ramp rises, going into a steeper slope. All until we break the surface of the water. Arriving in yet another area.

Unlike the other areas, this one seems much more constrained.

To add to it, this seems to be the most familiar of all, despite my never having been here.

This area just looks like a normal library. From my world, I mean.

Wooden shelves of normal height, holding a variety of books. A standard numbering system on the edges of the bookcases and shelves. And areas for reading, with chairs and tables nearby.

There are windows above some shelves, with frosted glass revealing a cold exterior, completely unlike the outside I am familiar with. In the distance, I can hear the crackle of a few fireplaces.

Combined with the warmth I can sense around us; it is quite the comfortable environment.

Of course, there is one more thing I notice here.

Computers.

Modern, albeit slightly dated, computers.

… Yeah, this can’t be real.

I thought this seems a little too much like what I expected a traditional library to feel like.

That’s probably the best part of being from another world. When an illusion tries to show me something that I would normally expect, it makes it that much easier to determine that it is, in fact, an illusion.

Which leads me to turn toward one twin, Mao, who has now stopped concentrating, to ask something.

“So, what exactly is behind this illusion? What actually exists here?”

My scan could always tell me the specifics, but that will definitely cause issues, as evidenced by my preliminary checks.

Dang, I can’t wait until I can start encrypting information from my scan using quantum mechanics. Then I can at least use the basic level of my scan without worrying about things like this.

Mao turns sharply to me and even Ling’s concentration breaks for a moment, as her sister practically shouts in my ear.

“SHHH… don’t say that!”

Ling’s arm frantically waves at her sister as her face scrunches up even harder. Whatever she’s doing is requiring quite a bit of concentration.

Mao still takes the hint and speaks in a whisper near my ear.

“You don’t want to wake it up.”

She pauses. Before adding.

“I know you worked out something with Elder Lu earlier, but I’m almost totally sure this time that you shouldn’t.”

Huh.

Well, that’s ominous.

I suppose that might be the source of the apprehension I felt when I did the check to see if it was safe to scan the area.

Though, the feeling I’m getting from this area isn’t that something is reading my mind or pulling this out of me, but that I’m seeing something that I expect to see.

Which raises one enormous question.

Why is my healing constitution not going off?

I know for a fact that it handles illusions. So, maybe this isn’t really an illusion? Or maybe it only deals with illusions that are affecting me specifically and are not part of the environment. Which would mean that magic tricks would get me every time, without my abilities to show me the truth.

But that still makes it confusing on why I’m seeing things from my world. Unless my brain is filling in the dots.

Which is quickly confirmed by an internal check. I can technically decipher the information my eyes are seeing to find the true form of the surrounding area. And in much higher realms, I might even push past the illusion and use my senses to determine the reality… but I think I’ll wait on all of that, until I’m out of the belly of the beast.

Which I’m increasingly wondering if it is a metaphor, in this case.

Yeah. Definitely going to see how to do the encryption sooner than later.

It’s easy to see that all of this is tied to together and they are my only source of information here.

I lower my voice to a matching whisper, asking Mao a few questions.

“What’s actually going on, then? Is this area safe?”

She nods.

“Yeah, there’s quite a few people who actually use this area to work and study materials when they need a calm environment. But that’s not what we need from here. We need to find the hidden rooms within here, so we can securely speak. The information you gave earlier was certainly useful, but the other libraries will have likely gotten word of that information.

“This will allow us to use your knowledge first, before it spreads to the others.”

I give a quick nod, as that makes sense based on their group structure.

Ling gives a small whisper to Mao, who smiles widely at her words.

“She’s found it. Pay close attention to your surroundings for this one. Even some elders love this, though they try not to show it.”

Interesting, that must mean this area works on them as well.

My eyes are closely watching the area and remembering what I see, so I can figure it out later. But even with that, I was completely unprepared for the transition.

It’s like scales fall from my eyes and the surrounding area, revealing floating disks arrayed both horizontal and vertical, all covered in archaic scripts. Their appearance is like some magitech formation construct, except used with qi and formations. With all one apparent goal.

Sealing, containing, and hiding.

If the area under the mountain that I was teleported to with the sect leader was considered 4/10’s security compared to other containment areas in the world… this would be a 6.

Of course, the security is based on realms I haven’t even witnessed yet. So, a 4/10 is far more than enough to deal with beings on the level of Nascent Soul and the realm above.

Proving to me again that there are veritable monsters out there… and even greater secrets and realms to be found and navigated.

A soft, rhythmic white and blue-green glow is emitted by the region, with a quivering haze present in the atmosphere. The surrounding sound is changing and the sound of both a dreamscape tones of chimes and distinct notes.

Since leaving my world, this is the first time I've heard any electronic music. Adding to it is the sound of something that sounds like an otherworldly choir, but is likely not made by any actual voice. Just a combination of various things that produced such a phenomenon.

… in some ways, this is kind of nostalgic, a fact that I’m sure wasn’t a purposeful one by the creators. It truly sounds like the dreamscapes of my world.

I want to come back here. Rather than that last area, I feel much more at ease here. Even if I can’t cultivate, I’ll need to just think on solutions and the calm that I get here, would be great to getting my thoughts together.

Our cart continues to move as I’m lost in my thoughts, but my subconscious catches something, causing me to look closer. Some discs are arrayed in a logical pattern, towards something in the distance. During my intense scan, I focused solely on the distance to determine navigable space. As I should have expected, it is actually much, much farther away from us than it should be, since I can just barely see something in the distance.

Another distortion of space. I’m noticing a pattern in the sect and library.

While I sit shocked here, Lin and Mao aren’t even looking at my expression, as the beauty of the area has captured them as well.

But soon, they get ahold of themselves.

“Okay, we’ll just enter one disc and then we’ll be able to talk more. Though this area is safe as well.”

Enter the disc? More space manipulation, I assume.