"Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four...." Kaan counted, sweat dripping from his forehead onto the worn gym mat. Four months of disciplined exercise had noticeably broadened his shoulders.
During those four months in Şile, he had already spent ten more Golrums to cover the cost of renovations and securely setting up his new home. "Damn, relocation is expensive," he thought, "but this is mandatory for future operations." After a quick shower, he headed to his garage, which was now a pristine workshop-lab. He trained a lot because his web-novel reading experience had taught him not every dimension would be as simple as Aethel. Between his workouts and continued small experiments, he was slowly discovering new, beneficial traits of the Ring's system.
While Kaan was experimenting, a hidden menu popped in front of his vision. He had accidentally discovered a new ability of the Ring: an auto-repair function.
DING!
New Ability Unlocked: Auto-Repair Function.
Requirement: Usable Sources required to initiate repair sequence.
Kaan immediately checked the status of his most valuable asset. The interface popped up, centered on the near-broken Universal Material Analyzer (which Kaan instantly decided to nickname UMA—his naming sense was clearly terrible, but functional).
Target: Universal Material Analyzer (UMA)
Current Usable Sources: Golrum: 119
Needed for Full Repair: 60 Golrums
YesNo
"Sixty Golrums is a lot," Kaan thought, his hand hovering over the 'Yes' option. "But this Universal Material Analyzer—this UMA—is ten times more valuable than any gold. It has more uses than i can think."
He pressed Yes.
60 Golrums were immediately deducted from the Kaan. The Ring's system silently swallowed the gold, and the UMA, resting on his workbench, began to glow with a strange, faint blue light. After the light had faded away, he looked at the brand-new, factory smelling UMA.
"This function is really gonna save me a lot of time."
One of the other ability of the ring he realized the Auto-Translate function, which had automatically activated in Aethel, now required training. He discovered this by accident while boxing his old university textbooks. As he handled one, the Ring's interface blinked.
DING!
Would you like to absorb the book "Engineering 101" to analyze the language?
YesNo
"Analyze the language? What the hell does that mean?" Kaan questioned.
The Ring silently clarified: In order for the Auto-Translate function to work, books of the target language must be absorbed.
Since the book was written in his mother tongue (Turkish), Kaan pressed No. But the strategic implication hit him immediately: he thought it would be beneficial for him to be able to understand other languages. Once he moved to Şile, his first major shipment wasn't machinery, but literally a mountain of romance and history books in various languages—from ancient Latin to modern Mandarin—ready for the Ring to devour.
Kaan didn't waste time. Reasoning that Latin was the root of many European languages, he hoped it would provide an efficient database for the Ring's system. He picked up his first book, with a dusty looking cover: "Mysterium Arcae Boulé."
Would you like to analyze the book "Mysterium Arcae Boulé" to integrate the language?
YesNo
He pressed 'Yes' at the speed of light. Immediately, a faint golden halo appeared above the book, and the Ring's interface popped up.
Analyzing....
The book "Mysterium Arcae Boulé" analyzed successfully. Language determined to be: Latin.
Needed books for full function: 19
A wave of bright, silent energy flowed from the book directly into the Ring, and the ancient text crumbled into fine dust. "So, you need twenty books total for this language," Kaan mused, quickly calculating the investment. "Time to feed this thing." He then rapidly absorbed the remaining Latin books from his stockpile.
DING!
Auto-Translate function now supports Latin.
Kaan grinned. "Great. Let's try this then." He grabbed an Italian book next. He found he could activate the function by sound, calling out, "Analyze!"
Analyzing....
The book "La Divina Commedia" analyzed successfully. Language determined to be: Italian.
Similarities with "Latin" have been found.
Analyzing similarities...
Analysis complete.
Needed books for full function: 10
"Oh, nice. It works!" Kaan's eyes glowed. "If you feed it with similar languages, the system determines the common roots automatically. This saves a massive amount of time and effort."
Kaan had now successfully laid the linguistic foundation for future , and he devoted himself to absorbing every book he could get his hands on. To broaden his knowledge of the modern world, he read through every academic paper and technological blueprint he could find online, operating with the intensity of an otaku cramming for a final exam.
Now, four months after returning from Aethel, Kaan was finally ready for his next dimensional journey. Having learned his lesson, his first priorities were clean power and contingency. He packed a military-grade backpack with MREs, bottled water, spare clothes, a high-capacity power bank, and spare USB-C cables for both the Ring and the UMA.
"I don't know where the Ring will send me next," he muttered, surfing through cosplay and military surplus sites for disguise options. "I need versatility." He strategically ordered a collection of clothing: Murim-style martial robes, a generic mage's cloak, and a rough peasant sackcloth.
Three days later, with his arsenal of supplies secured in his Şile lab, Kaan was ready. "All right! Let's see what the system has planned. Travel Interface!"
The Ring's interface snapped into sharp focus:
Welcome to the Interdimensional Travel Database!
System Note: Since you made a significant contribution to a dimension which was below your home dimension's level, you are guaranteed to be transported to a higher-level dimension this time.
"Don't I have a choice in this?" Kaan grumbled.
System Note: Your level is currently too low to select your destination.
"Goddamit, I know I'm low level," he sighed. "Let's get this over with. Start dimensional travel!"
Starting dimensional travel!