One Step Closer (and I’m about to Break)

Yin Wei was rubbing her temples with her fingers, 'Why is this happening on my shift?'

A group of twelve women in old and damaged clothing were crying loudly. They had sat on the benches of the Entry Point facility, and refused to answer questions after stating they were refugees. This has been going on for twenty minutes, and she decided she had enough.

"Supervisor Shen Wu, please report to the front desk", was announced over the loudspeaker.

Five minutes later a man that looked in his thirties appeared at Yin Wei's teller booth, "What seems to be the problem, Daoist Yin?"

"These women here arrived about forty minutes ago and wanted to claim amnesty. But they refused to answer any questions and just sit there crying", Yin Wei reported, "I'm requesting permission to suppress and remove them from the island as I believe they are hidden cultivators with an ulterior motive."

"Just one moment", Shen Wu said and walked over the group.

After five minutes, he returned to Yin Wei's workspace, "Permission granted, I also believe your speculations and will answer to the manager if anything happens from this."

Fu Zhen was sitting on the bench with her crew watching the man walk away from them.

One woman that was hiding half her face giggled, "'Daoist Fu' it should only be a moment before that stupid man forces that woman to allow us entry. How could anyone possibly reject the 'gifts' you promised him."

"I suppose it's my fault", Fu Zhen scowled, "I selected the woman, because I though she would be more sympathetic towards our plight."

Another member spoke up, "Once this place is acquired by the boss, that little Qi Gathering woman will submit easily."

Fu Zhen said, "I think that the other crews were just exaggerating the situation. Look how weak everyone is, I should just take over everything and hand it over now."

As the idea continued to roll around her mind until she convinced herself that nothing could go wrong.

She stood up and tossed the veil and covering she was wearing, "Attention to all you weak little bugs, I, Captain Fu Zhen of the Crimson Heart Raiders demand…AHHH."

She and the rest of the women felt powerless as their cultivations disappeared. An alarm blared in the building, and lights flashed in the hallways as six drones decloaked and pointed weapons at the group.

"Mercy, my lord, please have mercy", Fu Zhen screamed as security forces surrounded and easily captured them.

"Take their images, fingerprints, and auraprints and kick them off the island", the lead guard instructed the others.

The women felt humiliated as their images were taken by some weird artifact, and they were forced to place their hands on a crystal ball. Then they were escorted to the pier where they were forced back onto their ship.

"This is your one chance", the guards warned Fu Zhen and the rest, "Leave now, and continue for the next five hundred kilometers. If you don't leave now, these laser array formation will fire on you."

All the women saw light beams pointed right at them, and when they tried to move the light beam followed them perfectly.

"If you stop before five hundred kilometers, the Thundersteel array formations will destroy your ship and everyone on it", the guard finished.

Fu Zhen and her crew quickly set off and the ship left the Gran array. As they felt their cultivations returning, they sighed in relief but continued going.

As the commotion died down at the Welcome Center, a young man and woman sat in their chairs not daring to move.

"Metis, I don't think our background will be enough to enter here, what should do?", Octavus whispered to the young lady.

"I don't know Octavus", Metis replied.

"Metis and Octavus to window one please, Metis and Octavus to window one please", the speaker announced.

The two stood up and went to the window with a one display over it.

"Welcome to Sun & Moon island, how may I help you today?", Yin Wei asked the couple.

"We are spiritual beasts from the nearby sea and we wish to visit your island", Octavus said.

"Of course", Yin Wei replied.

Then she began to brief the couple on all the rules and penalties of the island. Once the two of them understood and signed an agreement, they were directed towards the evaluation room. Walking out from there with their identification cards ready, they walked to the resource exchange room before ending up in the city. After they followed the instructions to order a taxi, that sat down on a nearby bench.

A conversation could be heard from another bench close to theirs, "Minister Ye, I don't know if you own a pod, but I recommend trying out the Synapse app from time to time. It's supposed to improve your mental state, and improve your chances of breaking through. No, no, it's not new, it's been there for awhile but everyone fights, plays cards, or races that it gets ignored. I know your your close to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage so give it a shot. Who knows maybe you will try it tonight and by new morning, it will happen. Ok I have to go now, I have a trip to southern Nanying again so make sure your cultivation room is prepped. Have a good night", the man talking touched the flat artifact and walked through the welcome center.

Metis and Octavus looked at each other, a method to improve their chances of breaking through?!

Their taxi arrived and they entered, "Taxi, is there a place where there are pods?", Octavus asked.

"Market Garden QR pod cafe matches your description. Would you like to set your destination to here?", the voice from the car responded.

"Yes", Octavus answered.

"Destination set, the total amount owed is three low spirit coins. Set your identification card or Qphone on the lighted panel", the voice instructed.

Octavus placed the card down and heard, "No currency detected. One voucher to the bank is detected. Would you like to change your destination?"

"Yes", the octopus replied.

The taxi drove forward, surprising the two for a moment. They made their way to the bank and after being guided through the process, set up an account. They caught anothe taxi and using their previous experience, arrived at the QR pod cafe.

When they entered the doors, an odd feeling washed over them, Metis exclaimed, "I feel space laws, I belief we are in a secret realm."

What Metis felt was correct, the days after the sects left and the artisans arrived, Huoran has crafted, taken more land, and moved high traffic facilities into a secret realm but kept the physical buildings. The front door would bring the guests to the pod cafe, cinema, or even schools, which greatly expanded their capacity for visitors.

The two approached the front reception desk, and were assigned a room together. They followed the instructions, and were brought into the virtual secret realm. The starting room has been redesigned, when a user entered, they would appear here in this white blank room. A tutorial would show the user how to change the settings to decorate the room with free choices, and inform them of more choices that would appear when they achieved certain objectives or simple bought decorations from the new aesthetic store. The different modes looked giant spheres that could be entered, but could be changed to look like paintings, murals, or portals.

Metis didn't did care about all this stuff and found the mode the man mentioned, Synapse. The orb that represented the mode was clear with a constantly changing light inside, sometimes an old man, bugs, earth dragon, or a young woman.

'Maybe this represents all life', she thought, 'let's give it a try.'

As she walked into the sphere, it changed from a bright light to a more familiar darkness. She was surprised as she looked around, it looked and felt like the bottom of the sea, it felt like home.

'Maybe adjusting your mind to the most optimal condition is the key', she thought to herself.

As she swam around she subconsciously changed to her beastkin form. She found a nice cool and dark cave to settle in, and she prepared to meditate.

'Mediating here is very effective', she noted.

After about fifteen minutes, she opened her eyes and looked around, it felt like something was watching her. She decided to change places, and she left the cave, exploring around a few more reefs until she found another cave that was better than the first. Starting to meditate again, everything was going well until the nagging feeling came back again. As she looked around, she saw what looked to be a giant eye staring into the cave and at her. She immediately freaked out, and started changing her skin to match the color and texture of her surroundings. When she looked back at the spot, the eye was gone and nothing was there anymore.

'What ever that was, it was bigger and stronger than me', she told herself, 'Maybe I should exit this mode, it doesn't seem helpful for cultivating.'

When she thought about exiting, nothing happened and she tried a few more times before she realized she was stuck here.

A sudden impact hit the reef from the outside, and some coral and rocks broke away and the entrance to the cave widened.

Metis got nervous because she knew that the mind was a mysterious realm and she could be affected in different ways. She also was frightened because as an octopus, her greatest fear growing up was being chased and eaten by a predator. A few more impacts brought her back to reality as the entrance was opened more, and she could see a giant moray eel. The eel would be able to enter the cave after a few more attempts and Metis did what came natural. When eel swam back to start the next charge, she bolted from the cave towards the first cave which was smaller and harder for the eel to access. The eel immediately gave chase, and she used her experience to deploy ink to lose her pursuer. She sprinted towards the first cave, and just as she was about to make it, the moray eel had caught up and lunged at her. Just as she thought she would feel the teeth of the eel in her flesh, the scene warped and she was back at the starting room, looking human again.

"Fear in user almost exceeded safe levels, Synapse program terminated, scanning, Synapse app cannot be accessed again for thirty-seven hours", the voice told her.

Big news hit the city, Minister Ye was the first resident to breakthrough to Foundation Establishment stage. When the other Ministers offered their congratulations, they quietly inquired if anything had helped him breakthrough the realm. Minister Ye smiled as he said, "Synapse."