Simultaneously traversing: the pinnacle of all realms

As night fell, Xavier returned to his stairwell and closed the door.

He hung his new school uniform in the closet, stacked the books on the table, and placed the magic wand next to his pillow.

Bobo cooed twice in the living room, the sound coming through the door like some distant background noise.

He turned off the light, lay down on the bed, and closed his eyes.

With a thought, his consciousness sank into that space.

-

Wu Lin Lü Ze materialized a set of tables and chairs, which he placed under a tree in the courtyard. On the table were a pot of tea and several cups.

He was still wearing that worn-out long gown, sitting cross-legged on a recliner, holding a palm-leaf fan in his hand, looking just like a retired old cadre.

Rainbow Cat Lü Ze sat cross-legged on the grass beside him, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing.

The white jade antlers on his head gleamed with a warm luster under the white light of the space, his white hair was draped with a silvery-white halo, and his aura became increasingly solid.

"Oh, you've arrived." Lu Ze saw Xavier, waved his fan, and said, "Sit down, pour yourself some tea."

Xavier walked over, sat down on the stone bench, and poured himself a cup of tea.

The tea was warm, slightly bitter at first, but with a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste.

"When did you learn to make tea?" Xavier asked.

"I was just thinking about it when I had nothing else to do," Lü Ze said. "After finishing all the work at the inn, I had nothing else to do, so I set up a small stove in the courtyard to boil water and make tea. Manager Tong said I looked like an old man."

"Aren't we just old men?" Xavier said, "in our past lives and this one."

Lu Ze paused for a moment, then smiled: "That's true."

Lu Ze opened his eyes, his amber-gold pupils looking at Xavier. He didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.

The sharing among several people was completed in an instant.

Xavier felt a warm current flowing through his body. Although he couldn't use internal energy in the magical world, this enhancement of his physical essence was real.

"Your power has increased again." Xavier looked at Lu Ze.

"I've been training a lot with Rainbow Cat and the others lately," Lu Ze said. "And Dou Dou taught me to recognize a lot of medicines, some of which are helpful for increasing internal strength."

Lu Ze chimed in from the side, "No, are you trying to become Gandalf the Battle Mage? With your power shared, I feel like my body is almost as strong as a master of external martial arts."

Xavier shrugged and said, "There's nothing I can do. Just like the limitations of this space, I can't contribute any of my magic or spells. The only things I can use are my physical abilities and basic mental strength."

"Magic can raise the upper limits of both body and mind," Xavier said. "While mental strength is impossible to measure, it should have increased significantly as well. According to this theory, our shared selves would at least be able to defeat many people in terms of basic stats."

Lu Ze nodded: "With just physical strength, ordinary demonic cult lackeys can't get close to me."

Lu Ze sighed, "I just didn't expect that you would become friends with Harry and the others."

Xavier seemed to remember something: "Halloween—"

"I could sense the life force of many people, but I couldn't sense Dumbledore's. When he needed to be in everyone's sight the most, I couldn't 'find' him. When Professor McGonagall rushed over to subdue the troll, she didn't see Dumbledore either."

"So where did he go? That's strange." Xavier's lips curled into a smile.

Lu Ze stopped fanning himself.

"You mean—"

"I don't know," Xavier said, "so I had an idea, and also a test."

"I think Dumbledore knows a lot about what happens inside Hogwarts. He knows about trolls, and may even know that Quirrell let them in."

The three remained silent for a while.

Lu Ze spoke up: "You're taking a risk."

"I know," Xavier said, "but I want to be sure how much control Dumbledore actually has over things."

"And then?" Lü Ze asked, "So what if it's confirmed?"

Xavier pursed his lips: "Then I can determine whether some things are actually 'scripted' or not."

It can only be said that the White Demon King is still a demon king, and he will use young wizards as pawns.

He said this with a wry smile, "It's like Harry and the others treated my abilities as a secret that needed to be kept hidden."

"After this semester ends, Voldemort's split soul will also be destroyed."

Xavier shrugged. "And the other fragments of his soul—those in the Horcruxes—do not share his memories."

Conversely, I also improved my image in the professors' eyes. Students with distinctive characteristics are more easily remembered than ordinary students.

Lu Ze thought about it and felt it made sense.

"In the end, Harry and Dumbledore will take care of Voldemort anyway," Xavier said. "What I'm thinking is that after the Voldemort incident is over in a few years, I'll try to stay at Hogwarts."

"Stay at Hogwarts?" Lu Ze asked.

"After all, there are only a few thousand wizards in the entire British wizarding world. The circle is too small and too exclusive. And the place with the most books in the entire wizarding world, apart from those pure-blood families, is Hogwarts."

"I've mastered some spells for the first year, as well as some for the lower grades like 'Flicker,' but I really don't dare to practice the spells for the higher grades without the professors' permission."

Xavier said earnestly, "Now that we have this shared space, I don't want to take any risks, even if they're a little bit bigger."

He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm trying to find a way to create a kind of auxiliary spell—like a memory palace—to help with memory or organizing thoughts. I'll try to filter, record, and summarize as many books as possible from Hogwarts. Later, when my access levels up, I might be able to access even more knowledge."

"Perhaps after graduation we'll have to visit some pure-blood families, or even go abroad." Xavier's eyes lit up. "And there's Nick Lemaître's alchemy. We now have a most fundamental, and also the most long-term, task—research into lifespan extension."

He looked at Lu Ze: "I will try to find the Philosopher's Stone later to make an elixir of immortality. In that case, my lifespan should be several hundred years."

Then he looked at Lü Ze and Lu Ze: "But at the same time, your lifespans are estimated to be about the same as those of ordinary people."

This is inevitable unless you can find a way to prolong life, but given the nature of the world, it's very difficult to achieve.

Lu Ze, on the other hand, was quite carefree. He picked up his teacup and took a sip: "To be born again is already quite an achievement. In my past life, I was a beast of burden. In this life, I've become a minor expert without much effort. At least I can guarantee that I can live a leisurely life."

His tone was relaxed, and his eyes showed relief.

"My plan is," Lü Ze put down his teacup, "that Lu Ze learned medicine from Dou Dou, right? I can share that with him later. Then I'll travel the world, preferably visiting all the martial arts families, collecting their martial arts techniques, learning from their essence, and creating a general outline of martial arts. That will also be useful for Lü Ze's future path."

Lu Ze pondered for a while.

He knew that in the world of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit, even the most skilled martial artist would not have a very long lifespan.

Fortunately, this world has many amazing natural treasures, from which we may find a way to prolong life.

"I also need to collect martial arts techniques from other worlds," Lu Ze said, "just like what Wu Lin Lu Ze said, to pave the way for my counterparts in other worlds."

The three remained silent for a while.

The fire crackled in the fireplace, and the steam from the tea rose gently in the white light of the room.

Lu Ze suddenly laughed: "You're saying the three of us are like this: one doing odd jobs in a martial arts world, one being a healer in an animated world, and one a bookworm in a magical world. What kind of situation is that?"

Xavier laughed too: "What's the big deal? It's just the daily life of a transmigrator."

Lu Ze's lips curved slightly, but he didn't reply.

"Alright," Lü Ze stood up, patted his robe, "it's time to go back. We have to get up early to work tomorrow."

"Me too." Lu Ze stood up. "Rainbow Cat and the others are on their way tomorrow, so I have to go with them."

Xavier took one last sip of tea and put the cup down.

"That's settled then. Take care, and we can talk on social media if anything comes up."

The three figures vanished simultaneously, and golden specks of light, like fireflies, drifted into the white space, slowly fading into silence.