Where Did My Clothes Go?

Darkness blanketed the land, swallowing the entirety of the Town of Kafuno. Wayne and Mike no longer needed to argue over who would enter first. Seeing that no one had paid it any mind for a while, the Gate of Truth simply swept everyone inside. Veronica had been right: only a legendary mage had the qualifications to enter the Gate of Truth. Mike was nowhere close to meeting that threshold, and his attempt to take a shortcut with the golden triangle magic circle had caused the Gate of Truth to lose control and fly into an outright frenzy. Even a true legendary mage would not dare open the Gate of Truth so rashly. That Mike was so brazen was the very definition of ignorance breeding fearlessness. Evidently, however, Mike knew none of this. He was immersed in the joy of entering the Gate of Truth, both arms raised high, waiting for infinite knowledge to descend before him. Knowledge came—surging forward like a roaring tidal wave. In virtually an instant, Mike's thirst for knowledge was satisfied. He drifted through the endless deep-space cosmos, acquired the truths of the world, and grew infinitely powerful because of it. From Wayne's perspective, Mike raised his hands, let out an "ah," and instantly lost all signs of life. Crisp, thorough, without the slightest ripple. The black mass of flesh collapsed and disintegrated, the laws contained within returning to the starry cosmos. Mike had realized his dream, merging into one with knowledge, never to be parted. Mike departed peacefully and in perfectly stable spirits. The sight made Wayne's scalp tingle with dread, and he hurriedly searched for a passage out of the Gate of Truth. In the back of his mind, an instinct told him that he had to leave early; if he waited too long, it would be too late. Unlike Mike, whose intellect had dropped straight to zero the moment he entered the Gate of Truth, Wayne actually regained his clarity. Unfortunately, he could not control his body, and his steps moved agonizingly slow. The skin of the monstrous giant had completely come alive. The folded flesh pulsed and breathed, filtering some sort of matter or energy from the deep-space cosmos. The massive eyeball was steeped in extreme pleasure, satisfied beyond measure. Wayne had fused into one with the Book of Greed; its pleasure was his pleasure. Yet this runaway delight filled him with profound unease. He worried that if he let the Book of Greed indulge itself, he would become the next Mike—dissolving into these stars and being assimilated by the cosmos. A person had to know their own limits. It was said that only a legendary mage had the qualifications; a magic apprentice had no business chasing such pipe dreams. Wayne let out a fierce shout, forcibly aborting the spellcasting. He snapped at the Book of Greed to rein in its desire, warning that if he went mad, none of them would come out of this well. If the Book of Greed knew how to show restraint and quit while it was ahead, it wouldn't be the Book of Greed; it would be the Book of Manners. Wayne forcibly halted the magic. The grotesque skin slowly receded, shrinking from three meters tall back to his original appearance. But the giant eyeball on his chest refused to give up, thrashing and throbbing wildly in resistance. A tug-of-war unfolded on the mental plane. On the surface, it seemed like a psychic battle between Wayne and the Book of Greed, but in truth, Wayne was fighting another version of himself. One was reason; the other was greed! Faced with a life-or-death crisis, reason ultimately triumphed over greed. The giant eyeball retreated into Wayne's body, ending this gluttonous feast with great reluctance. This was Wayne's first time fusing with the Book of Greed. During the fusion, greedy desire had overpowered everything else, and because of his initial indulgence, his mind had suffered considerable erosion. The most direct manifestation was on Wayne's chest. After turning back into an ordinary human, an eyeball-shaped mark resembling a sunburn remained behind. Wayne paid it no heed; he didn't have that kind of time. Thanks to his supernatural perception, he located a weak point in the starry cosmos. The Gate of Truth had not yet closed. If he left now, there was still time. After a few paces, Wayne suddenly realized that his three companions had also been swallowed by the Gate of Truth. Taking a deep sniff, he sprinted toward where the two people and one cat were located. The deep-space cosmos had no concept of up, down, left, or right, nor were there any footholds beneath his feet. Bizarrely enough, one could walk freely within it, and even breathe. It was hard to say what this cosmos truly was! After running for some distance, Wayne's stamina began to flag. The main issue was the tremendous mental toll. Under the protection of the Book of Greed, Wayne's mind had not been instantly crushed by the boundless ocean of knowledge, allowing him to retain his sanity and know to flee for his life as quickly as possible. Yet Wayne's foundation was far too flimsy. He had stumbled into a high-level instance he had no business entering. Even with a divine artifact shielding him, his sanity was draining away bit by bit. *I am beginning to understand everything (✗)* *I'm about to go insane (✓)* Wayne ran in a daze, the eyeball mark on his chest flickering erratically. An unbearable heat swept through his entire body. He instinctively stripped off his clothes along with all sense of shame, swinging freely as he stumbled onward. Soon enough, Wayne followed the scent and found his companions. Monica and William's appearances had changed drastically, but by now he lacked the capacity to think. He only knew this was the right scent, and these were indeed the people he was looking for. If you ever feel like you're carrying a heavy burden forward, don't just feel it—you're right. Someone is definitely riding your back, enjoying peace and quiet. Carrying all three of them, Wayne walked mechanically, his eyes having lost focus in a blur of pure white. His body followed one final command: move toward the light. Forward, keep moving forward, never stop. Far off in the deep-space cosmos, a colossal black silhouette bored through space. Shaped like a maggot, it possessed a gruesome, spiraling maw lined with fangs all the way from mouth to esophagus. Catching the scent of flesh, it drooled and lunged toward the four of them. One thousand meters! Five hundred meters! One hundred meters! Ten meters! Just as the behemoth was about to swallow all four in a single gulp, Wayne stepped through the white passage and vanished into deep space. The behemoth coiled and rolled, roaring in rage and frustration. Its spiraling mouth dilated, spewing dark green fluid. A feeding ground was marked. It would lie in wait, lurking for a while! *** Wayne had no idea he had narrowly escaped death, coming a hair's breadth from turning into dung. Had he known, he would have felt all the more fortunate about his judgment. The instance was far too high-level for him to dabble in. Right now, there was only one thing he needed to do. Play it safe and build up strength! Wayne woke up smiling. He had just had a dream that was thoroughly beneficial to physical and mental health. In a cabin by a lake, he was fishing when three long-haired female ghosts crawled out of the water. He couldn't see their faces clearly, only that they were fierce and well-endowed as they lunged at him with bared fangs and claws. Three midnight horrors, so aggressive they looked ready to ravish him. In his fluster, he forgot to fight back and was pinned firmly to the ground by all three. Plump, perky, soft, and springy. Just as the ghosts stripped off all his clothes, Wayne woke up smiling at the critical moment, ending the wild party prematurely. He felt a twinge of regret. Why did he have to wake up now? "If you've got the guts, keep going! Not that I care, but my friend wanted to see..." Wayne found himself lying on the second floor of a barn, a blanket beneath him and a quilt over him. They looked familiar—supplies he had purchased earlier and kept in the sedan's trunk. He shook his groggy head. Upon sitting up, he realized something was wrong. *Holy crap, where did my clothes go?* *Don't tell me that wasn't a dream!* Utterly bewildered, Wayne suddenly heard approaching footsteps and quickly dove back under the quilt, tucking it in. *Goddess above, please let it have been Veronica. Anyone but William...* *Monica is even more out of the question.* A fragrant breeze drifted over as three gorgeous figures gathered around Wayne—one frowning, one shy, and one eager to try. "He hasn't woken up yet..." "Then hurry. It won't be fun once he's awake." "Uh..." "What, you lost rock-paper-scissors and want to back out?" "No, I didn't..." "Tsk, how heartless. Wayne risked his life to save you and nearly died. What's the big deal about changing his clothes? If you don't want to, step aside and let me." "Shut up, I'll do it!" Veronica took a deep breath. Indeed, it was just changing his clothes, what was the big deal? Wait... it actually was pretty big. And so ugly!