Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(1-3VOL)

Traversing Space? Being Traversed?

I was so shocked to hear this answer from him that I could hardly believe my own ears.

Ever since confirming that Selene and I were definitely not in the Astralrealm Kingdom, I had been convinced that this bizarre experience was caused by us traversing across space. Even if we did not cross into another world, at least traversing within this world would have been my conclusion.

However, Alfreed was now telling me that this was not spatial displacement at all. I was utterly confused.

Wait, if this wasn't spatial traversal...

"Is it time then? Do you mean we have traversed across time?" I tried asking. Having been influenced by all kinds of online TV dramas, my mind raced to another possibility quite quickly.

If it was merely a problem of the time being off, that would also make complete sense. For example, we could be in some distant past or future thousands or millions of years from when we took on the mission back in the capital city. But that would make returning even more troublesome.

"No...you're overthinking things," Alfreed said with some amusement, seemingly not expecting me to think of the time aspect.

"Sorry, I must not have expressed myself clearly earlier."

He then reiterated what he said:

"It's not that you traversed space while up in the sky. Rather, it's that space itself moved you here."

"Space itself moved us here?" Selene and I exchanged confused glances.

Although I didn't get it at first, when prompted like that, I started to catch his meaning.

To be honest, traversing space and space itself moving us sounds the same at first glance. But if you think about it a little, there are still subtle differences between them.

Traversing space generally refers specifically to me passing through some spatial rift or portal to arrive in another space. It implies an active crossing.

Whereas space itself moving us means a chunk of space carried me through to another space. That indicates a passive teleportation.

While both can achieve the effect of switching spaces, the principles behind them are somewhat different. I had thought all along that Selene and I were the first type - inadvertently actively passing through a spatial rift to arrive here.

But the truth was that it was the second type - being passively moved to this place.

"So you mean...a chunk of space moved us here?" But from Selene's expression, she didn't seem to have wrapped her head around it yet.

"Then why didn't we feel anything while up in the sky?"

"No, it didn't happen in the sky."

I shook my head. According to this line of thinking, there was already an answer as to where the traversing happened.

"If I'm not wrong...we were already moved to this Dark Continent when we were still in Tethys Town?"

"That should be the case!" Alfreed said approvingly, seemingly pleasantly surprised that I could figure it out so quickly.

"That would also explain the dark pollution in Tethys Town."

I let out a breath and looked at Selene. Although she didn't understand it at first, with Adrian and the rest explaining it to her, she soon grasped it too.

"The dark elements had long existed on this Dark Continent. It was because the entirety of Tethys Town was suddenly moved here that it got eroded by the surrounding dark elements. That's what caused so many people to fall ill."