Lotm Rogue-like across worlds.

The next day, the symptoms of the cold completely disappeared. The morning began with cleaning and airing the house to get rid of all traces of the disease. The cold wind that blew into the room through the open windows carried with it the smell of dampness, mixed with the scent of fresh herbs and earth. Kuro automatically completed his business, realizing that all this would soon lose its meaning. The house that had been a part of his life was now only a temporary shelter, an attachment to which could not overshadow common sense.

Ordinary things like cleaning up the household suddenly seemed like an unnecessary waste of energy. Only a strange sense of completion forced him to bring the process to an end. He worked in silence, not paying attention to little things like the creaking of the floor under his feet or the fine dust barely visible in the sun. It's all going to be nobody's business soon.

After finishing with the house, Kuro locked the door and pulled the curtains, plunging the room into semi-darkness. Today, he was going to take a closer look at his abilities. Pushing the bed back against the wall so that there was more free space, he sat down in the center of the room and began.

The first step was to master spiritual vision. It would allow him to see the astral body and the spiritual essence of the surrounding beings. To activate, it was necessary to imagine a unique object in your mind that would serve as a focus for concentration. Closing his eyes, Kuro tried to create something truly unique. But his mind stubbornly clung to familiar images until he finally settled on the tesseract, a four—dimensional cube.

It was harder to imagine him than he had expected. The cube rotated as if trying to turn inside out, its edges twisted, disappeared, and came back again. Focusing on it was akin to holding onto an elusive thought. Gradually, as the extraneous thoughts disappeared, the shape became clearer.

Concentrating on this image, Kuro raised his hands in front of him, bringing his index fingers together. Slowly opening his eyes and focusing his gaze behind his fingers, he began to notice faint reddish highlights that began to appear around them. It was the first success.

Quickly getting used to the new sensation, he decided to set up a gesture for activation — a light closing of the eyes for a couple of seconds. Now it was possible to enter the spiritual vision with a click.

When his vision activated, Kuro studied his body. All the colors corresponded to his knowledge: the limbs glowed red, the head was purple, the digestive system was yellow, and the heart was green. The general aura remained white, which indicated his good condition. However, he still couldn't keep his eyes open for long — after two minutes, a slight pressure began in his eyes, accompanied by a dull pain in his head. He understood that this was a temporary restriction that would disappear as soon as the potion he had drunk earlier took full effect.

Turning off his eyesight, he took a deep breath and moved on to the next ability, divination.

Of all the known methods, the only ones available to him were fortune-telling in a dream, numerology and a pendulum. The rest required complex materials that he didn't have yet.

Fortune-telling in a dream was the most interesting. It was necessary to ask the same question seven times, focus on it and let the body sink into sleep. In this state, the astral body began to see fragments of the future. It sounded simple, but it required a lot of concentration.

Numerology was based on the analysis of personal data: date of birth, height, coordinates of the place of birth. Complex calculations turned into predictions that had to be interpreted. Kuro had already tested this method on himself, and its results were alarming — his fate, apparently, would be interrupted.

The pendulum turned out to be the simplest. In the morning, he bought a cheap piece of jewelry from one of the villagers. Holding the pendulum over his palm, Kuro asked questions, watching its movement. Clockwise rotation meant a positive response, counterclockwise — a negative one. The speed of rotation indicated the degree of confidence in the answer.

After several experiments, he decided to try to ask the question that worried him the most.:

— The way to the Raftel.

Concentrating, he repeated the question seven times. As soon as he finished, sleep came over him instantly. However, instead of images, he saw only a thick gray fog, in which it was impossible to see anything.

Kuro frowned when he woke up.

—Still, there are limits to prediction,— he muttered.

The only explanation was a lack of power or the influence of some alien will. Perhaps with the development of his abilities, he would be able to break through this fog.

After trying again, he asked another question:

— The closest opportunity to leave the island is closer to the Grand Line.

After repeating the ritual, images began to pop up in his mind's eye, like broken fragments of a mirror that joined and disintegrated. The first fragment was clear: a newspaper appeared in front of him, its yellowed paper looking faded from time to time. But the numbers on the front page were clearly visible—July 28th. Kuro remembered this date, his gaze involuntarily lingered on the title, which he could not make out, as if the text was persistently slipping from memory.

Then a new image appeared. It was a marine patrol ship, moored at a wooden pier. He saw sailors in uniform with the emblem of the marine patrol unloading crates and barrels of food. They moved quickly, clearly, as if it were part of their well-honed routine. The sails of the ship fluttered in the faint breeze, and the masts creaked faintly, as if to remind them that the ship was ready to sail at any moment.

The last fragment was the office of the ship's captain. The sun slid across the maps spread out on the massive wooden table. The captain's figure stood out against the dim light coming from the oil lamp. He bent over the map, holding a pair of compasses in his hands. The route was plotted with casual confidence, as if it were the hundredth time. The red line pointed to the final destination, Logtown. At that moment, the vision suddenly ended, leaving Kuro alone with emptiness.

When he woke up, he lay on the bed, pondering the information he had received. His gaze unconsciously followed the crack in the ceiling as his thoughts formed a logical chain.

"Today is July 10th. I have 18 days to prepare," he mused.

The Marines could be the key to his exit, but it required a thoughtful approach. It was impossible to get on board just like that. He needed a reason. And, of course, it was necessary to speed up the digestion of the potion in order to be in the best shape.

Kuro got up from the bed and looked around the room. It looked almost empty, the things left in a hurry were a reminder that the house no longer mattered. He put on a light shirt, adjusted his collar, trying to look simpler but not defiant, and went outside.

The village greeted him with its usual buzz. Someone was tending cattle, their figures flashing on the hills in the distance. Nearby, peasants were busy pulling out weeds in the vegetable gardens. Men with their arms bare to the elbows were repairing a wagon. The sounds of a wheel hitting a bump and soft voices filled the air with life.

Children ran past Kuro, carrying with them the smell of something sweet. Their laughter was like a backdrop against which the village continued its leisurely rhythm.

Seeing a group of women sitting on a bench under the shade of an old oak tree, Kuro came closer. They were talking animatedly, waving their arms. The light wind fluttered their handkerchiefs, and they looked at passersby with benevolent curiosity.

Kuro stopped in front of them, slightly tilting his head in greeting. His voice was calm, but with a note of playful interest.:

— Hello, aunties. I've learned something. Don't you want to check it out?

One of the older women, with a sly glint in her eyes, squinted, crossing her arms over her chest.

— Come on, kid, what have you come up with for us here? No tricks, though.

Kuro smiled out of the corner of his lips, considering where to start. A plan was already forming in his head, but he understood that it was worth keeping it simple and without fuss.

He noticed that the women perked up, their gazes became more attentive, although they tried to maintain an appearance of indifference. Kuro spread his hands with a slight bow, as if offering his "art" to their attention.

"No tricks, aunties. Only honest work," he said with a smile that had something mysterious in it.

His voice was low, but clear enough for everyone to hear. The women's gazes swept over his lean figure, stopping on his face. One of them, younger than the others, couldn't stand it:

— Well, show me what kind of work it is!

Kuro carefully took out a pendulum from his pocket—a small copper pendant on a thin chain. The decoration seemed mundane, but holding it in his hands, he gave everything a touch of significance.

— It's a pendulum. I can use it to find out the answers to some questions. For example, what awaits you in the near future or what might happen if you decide to do something.

The words sounded like a challenge, and the women exchanged glances, clearly interested. The older one, the one who spoke first, chuckled,

"Fortune—telling?" We have enough of that here. Still, boy, it's interesting. Come on, look at something.

Kuro bowed slightly, holding the pendulum.

— good. That's the only reason I need your question. Something you want to know.

—Okay," said another woman, slightly younger than the older one. Her face was serious, but there was interest in her eyes. "Tell me, kid, how long will it rain?"

Kuro nodded, hooking the pendulum onto the chain and extending his arm forward. He concentrated, slowly swinging his arm to allow the pendulum to start moving. His gaze darkened, becoming distant. The village became quieter, as if all the sounds had faded into the background.

The pendulum began to rotate clockwise, its movements became faster and faster until they became even. Kuro was watching him intently. After a few seconds, he said softly,

"The rain will stop soon." The next few days will be clear, so get busy doing things that require dry weather.

The women whispered, exchanging glances. The older one narrowed her eyes in disbelief.

"We'll see, lad, we'll see."

The others started asking questions, some seriously, some jokingly. Kuro answered calmly, without losing confidence, but without trying to appear omnipotent. Each of his answers, even the simplest, made them listen, and he watched their reactions, while at the same time noting how it affected his progress.