Parallel Memory

-THUD!

"Ahh… Ouch!"

Landing on my butt, I involuntarily let out a sound. The thing that just happened was similar to how portals work. However, the force that pulled me inside was several times stronger than a portal.

Even if I ranked up several times, I felt that I could not resist such force.

Even Professor Mia who is in Rank-A+ could not resist that force and I think she has also been sucked into this place.

(...)

I thought for a while about the event that just occurred.

This place was definitely inside a Gate.

Gate is similar to a Dungeon but the time in the Gate is much slower than outside unlike a dungeon where one minute inside the dungeon is equivalent to one minute outside the dungeon.

In Gates, one month could mean 1 day or even only one second outside. Another difference between dungeons and gates was that gates' appearance would be accompanied by a powerful suction pull that would draw in everything in its vicinity.

Another difference is that once the Gate is conquered, it will disappear after some time like it never existed at all. A dungeon, even if one does defeat the boss, would still exist and spawn another boss after a period of time.

After its appearance, Gates will function as a normal dungeon. Other people could enter it and conquer it.

However, with the time difference, it might be months and years before reinforcement from outside arrives inside a Gate. It might take only an hour outside, but a year might have already passed inside the gates.

I stood up and surveyed my area. All I could see was an empty white space. Though of course, it was not a room with a white wall, it was a place covered in heavy snow.

All the things within my sight were covered in snow with no other color in sight. The Gate's environment was a snowy and cold place similar to the north pole.

The environment was easy to survive in for me since I have high resistance to cold temperatures. It is also true for Professor Mia.

Even if she (which is likely) is sucked into this Gate, she would easily survive in this place. Other people might not be able to deal with such low temperatures but it was normal for the Ice mage like us.

Always dealing with Ice energy, it would be weird if we could not withstand a low temperature such as this. Ice energy we use is many times colder than this.

Anyway, the environment was no problem for me. I could survive here as long as I didn't encounter dangerous monsters.

I don't know what rank this Gate belongs to.

However, I assume that this is not a low-level Gate. Judging from the aura and density of mana it released when it appeared in Agora Town, it could be a very high-ranking Gate.

Furthermore, based on Professor Mia's worried expression, I expect this gate to be at least Rank-B. She would not have reacted so strongly if the Gate that appeared was of low rank.

If it were below that, Professor Mia could easily conquer the Gate. She might be able to conquer this Gate even if it is Rank-B but not Rank-A.

One more thing that Gate differed from the dungeon is that, unlike its dungeon rank, the Boss rank is sometimes higher than what Gate rank is.

It happened at several Gates, where the Gate were judged to be Rank-B but the boss monster was Rank-A.

Even in Rank-A Gate, Professor Mia might survive with her strength until reinforcement arrives but with my strength, it would be near impossible for me to survive for months if the Gate rank turns out to be A or even B.

(...)

Shit! I think I am really in a tough spot now. It might have been a smart choice if I never left that evacuation center.

No use regretting now.

I need to think of a plan to survive here. Conquering this Gate is out of the question with my current strength. Even a Gate of Rank-D might give me a run for my money.

There is no question that this is a high-ranking Gate.

"What happened to my Rank-B luck? Is it taking a shit?"

Most of the time, I would thank my luck but it seems to turn into a shitty one. I might have used all my luck to survive Solomon's attack, maybe?

To get into Gate, not to mention that there is a high possibility of Gate rank being high.

Anyway, I need to decide quickly what I need to do. Without any plan, I could very well turn into food for the monsters.

(...)

I had many options to choose from; one option was to just wait here, hiding until reinforcements arrived.

My second option was to rank up quickly and defeat the boss. If I train here for at least 2 years, I might get strong enough to defeat a Rank-B Gate boss.

My third option was to try and defeat the Gate boss in my current state though it might be impossible if the dungeon rank is high. However, there is also a possibility of the Gate rank being low though it is very unlikely

However, the plan that could that have high chance of succeeding and was more realistic to execute was finding Professor Mia. I know for sure that she is in this place. There has been no incident of any person escaping from the Gate suction force.

Even Rank-S heroes get into low-rank Gate because they can't escape from it.

However, even if she didn't get sucked into the Gate, there is a high chance that she entered right after she saw me get sucked into the Gate.

If she waited for help from others, it would probably be weeks and months in the Gate and I could be dead by that time. From my understanding of Professor Mia, she would definitely jump in to save me.

With her by my side, my chance of survival would increase several-fold. No amount of plan and method could ensure my life as much as being with Professor Mia.

Before starting to search for Professor Mia, I would first need to know my own position. Right now all I could see was white snow with no other thing in sight.

I decided to head north, which appeared to be high ground. The higher I was, the easier it would be for me to see the area, allowing me to find Professor Mia more easily.

-BADUM! -BADUM!

The sound of my heart beating was so loud that people 10 feet away could actually hear it.

No matter how calm I tried to be, I was still scared and anxious about finding Professor Mia. No amount of preparation could be enough to face the dangers in a High-ranking Gate.

-THUD! -THUD!

Having entered an unknown place, Zero was afraid he might encounter something he couldn't handle. He felt a pressing sense of urgency to locate Professor Mia as soon as possible.

He hurriedly sped up as he continued to run at a pace that would not exhaust him.

There was currently 2 months' worth of food in his spatial ring, so he was not worried about food for the time being.

In a blink of an eye, Zero has already run over 50 kilometers, but he still could not find anything except the white snow and a little bit of green grass.

Though it was a fortunate thing he didn't encounter monsters. With the dungeon and Gate being a place for monsters, it was quite lucky for him to not meet any monsters.

He continued to move at high speed.

-ROOOAARR!

Suddenly, he heard a roar accompanied by a terrifying aura. Zero shuddered for he sensed a very terrifying aura coming from the roar.

He quickly buried himself beneath the snow and held his breath. He didn't dare to move even an inch until he was sure that the monster outside was not there.

From the aura that terrifying roar contained, Zero was sure that the monster was at least Rank-B. He previously fought with lots of Rank-C monsters and he knows that terrifying aura does not belong to a rank-C monster.

Luckily it didn't seem that the roar was aimed at him. If that monster had seen and was planning to attack him, he knew he had only a very slim chance of being alive.

After being sure that the monster was not coming in his direction, he came out of the snow he buried himself in.

Zero immediately changed the course of his direction. While he was curious to see what type of monster that might, however, if he encountered that monster, there was a huge chance that he'd meet a calamity that could kill him easily.

Now, I was certain that the Gate was of very high rank. Even the monster I encountered for the first time in the Gate was of Rank-B.

In my opinion, the boss monster who is the gate's apex predator should be at least Rank-A in strength.

The situation is not looking good for me.