It turned out it didn’t matter much that I didn’t get directions. Betsy must have been talking to the other animals in the barn and had us on a wide open stone road in almost no time. The road looked like something out of the Roman Empire, but it was even bigger than I could have imagined. It was like a four-lane highway. Just like trucking at night when there was no one on the road, there wasn’t really anyone on this road now either.

  I kept checking to see if Betsy really needed me to do anything by letting go of the reins or go for extended periods with closing my eyes. Every time I opened them or rechecked on things, Betsy kept clopping along the stoned road, staying right in our lane.

  “Alright then Betsy, I’m going to leave you to it. Find somewhere to pull off when you need some rest?” I tested. “I’m going to work on cleaning my bunk area and go through some of these manuals and books I have.”

  She gave a loud bellow and even turned back. The ox even went so far as to give me a nod, and I grinned. From my books, I knew spirit beasts were more like people. When I wondered why Betsy couldn’t talk, I just figured she wasn’t powerful enough yet. Not high enough level, or rank, or whatever system this world might have used. I was going to need to find someone to teach me the basics of all of this and how it worked on this world.

  I put those thoughts away and climbed over the bench and into what I sectioned off as my bunk. I had been wondering all day how I ended up with books. The only book I actually owned and kept in my truck was a copy of the Tao te Ching. I had some collector editions of books I had kept in my grandmother’s basement, but I couldn’t imagine bringing them on the road. They were just from the book series I had really liked and then, bang, Kickstarter editions happened. Well, what else was I going to spend my money on?

  When I looked at the pile of books, I smirked. There, on top, was the one the skeleton mentioned. ‘The Wandering Dragon.’ The books looked about what you’d expect old Japanese books to look like. They were just bunches of pages strung together with a wooden cover and backing. The fronts of these, though, also had small pictures. On the front of ‘The Wandering Dragon’ was an image of an outline of what looked to be a tall, bulky man holding a long straight sword.

  Under that book was another with an image of twin suns drawn on it. One was blue and one was yellow under the name ‘Twin Stars.’

  I closed my eyes and lowered my head. “Jesus,” I mumbled aloud. The audiobooks on my phone had been turned into path and technique manuals? I’d have to figure out what happened to the Sci-Fi or western mystery books I had. I loved this series about this aged sheriff in Wyoming. Outside of the Xianxia stuff, it was one of my favorite go-to series.

  “Betsy, this is awesome!” I called out to her and just gave a loud bellow in response. I could once more see those eyes rolling in my head. I put my hands on my hips and turned in the wagon to look out at her. ”What’s wrong? Maybe some of these can actually help?”

  But any feeling I got past that was gone now as Betsy navigated the road and trudged along. I narrowed my eyes on the ox. At this point, I was realizing Betsy was indeed a sassy ox. Maybe there was more to Betsy than I originally thought. Once we got this job done and a bit of money, maybe we’d have to figure out some things, the both of us.

  So, speaking of my phone. I dug around the books and tried to stack them out of the way best I could. What happened to my phone? I figured it would not be a phone anymore since a cell phone obviously didn’t go along with Fantasy Land’s motif, but if my audiobooks have been transformed into technique manuals and my tractor trailer had been transformed into an ox and wagon then what could my phone have been transformed into?

  I didn’t find anything until I got to the bottom of the pile. There were dozens of books. One with a picture of what looked like a medieval hodgepodge store and then above it, the title was written on the backs of what appeared to be playing cards. There was one where it just had a paintbrush under a drawing of some clouds. One was a picture of a house and what I took to be a spiritual aura around it. I smirked. All great books, I nodded to myself. I couldn’t imagine how good they might be as cultivation manuals.

  On the bottom, was a small crystal. I blinked. That must be my phone? I grabbed the crystal and looked it over. It was smooth and flat and looked like a dull blue. I turned it over in my hands, careful with the sharp edges. I felt the power it gave off and frowned as I wondered what it could be or what it could do. It must be my phone though, right? I set the crystal down next to one of the small piles of books I made. I was going to need to get some crates or something to hold the books in. The wagon didn’t have all the cabinets and hidey-holes like my truck did.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Then I took a moment to wonder how smooth the ride had actually been. Back home, these books would have already been thrown back down from the piles I set them in. A mile down the Mass Pike and this area would be like it was when I first found it. Kind of amazing at the quality of a work of the people who built this road. Maybe they didn’t get as much snow. That’s what I’d attribute it to. They didn’t get as much snow in Fantasy Land, so they didn’t have to work on the upkeep as much.

  I sighed.

  But it’s not like they hadn’t been working on that bridge at the bottom of Jacob’s ladder for literally ever. I shook my head and pushed the depressing thought from my head. It wasn’t so bad here so far. It wasn’t home, but it wasn’t so bad. I rolled out a thick sleeping mattress I had and grinned. I knew it was going to come in handy to buy the upgraded bed for the bunk in my truck. That translated into what looked like a rather cozy bed roll that was super soft to the touch and even had a memory foam feel to it.

  I looked back out past the driver’s bench and Betsy was still plodding along at what appeared to be a good pace. The road as we got closer to some towns even had little lanterns hung up along the side of the road.

  “How ya doin’ Betsy?” I called out to her, and she didn’t even bother with a response this time. Just kept moving us along towards the night skyline. I smiled. Maybe I got really lucky, and hopefully Betsy knew we were going the right way. Did she integrate my gps when she was transformed into the ox and that’s how she knew we were going the right way? Thoughts to ponder on.

  “I’m uh…” I looked down at the bedroll slowly. “Just going to rest my eyes. It’s been a long day, but I’ll be awake, you know, if you need me.”

  That got a response. A loud incredulous snort.

  I looked down at the bedroll once more. “Really Betsy, I’ll be right here if you need me. Just do that thing you do where you give me impressions and I’ll get up.”

  She was back to ignoring me, and I yawned. Just ten minutes, I told myself and I looked up to the sky and wondered what time it was. When we weren’t close to the towns, the only thing that lit our way was the starlight. I took a moment and leaned over my driver’s bench to take in the sky. It truly was awe-inspiring. Being able to see the sky and stars without light pollution. My eyes tracked across the unfamiliar sky and I could even see what might have looked like a galaxy hanging in the sky.

  I idly wondered if it could have been the Milky Way as I laid down on the bedroll. I didn’t need to bother with the covers since it was summer. A nice warm night without it being too hot and sticky would be alright to sleep in. Not quite the sub zero temps I liked to blast my air conditioner in during the summers, but I was comfortable enough.

  As I laid there and looked up at the canvas that covered my wagon, I thought of some upgrades I would need to do. For one, a better bench. My ass and back were still hurting from trudging along earlier. Something that would let me look up at the sky during pleasant nights would also be nice. This sky was amazing to look at. I smirked.

  A wagon with a sunroof.

  So, some springs to make the bench bounce with the rougher roads and some cushion should be easy enough. Then I thought about Betsy’s yoke. She hasn’t complained yet, but I noticed that the leather straps rubbed right into her hide. Maybe getting some soft fabric to line the parts that touched her would be nice for her as well since she worked so hard to pull this extra long wagon. I was thankful this first load wasn’t too heavy since it was mostly just tea leaves. Maybe that’s why she could just keep going.

  Then I thought of the wagon itself. It was true, it was long. Way too long. Like the owner of that rest area said, it might end up being hard to make some of the turns in some of the smaller towns. Maybe I could do something more like an actual tractor trailer? Have my bunk in its own compartment with Betsy on a smaller wagon, and then a longer wagon trailed behind. It might be heavier for Betsy to pull, so we’d have to test it out, but it would make pivoting around corners easier. Then again, the length might not actually end up being a problem.

  I lamented for a minute at the loss of my cell phone. I wouldn’t be able to watch the ASMR videos to help me fall asleep. Between those and the sleeping aid pills I took, I slept through just about anything. Hearing something like ‘Hey, it’s me, Busy Bee,’ usually meant I was in for a good night's sleep. Then I frowned. There was also my Cpap machine. I remembered I lost the power cord to it one week when I was on vacation. That was a miserable week of trying to sleep.

  I rubbed my belly softly and wondered if my dumbass body learned how to breathe while I slept through the transformation of coming here and turning me into a cultivator. I sighed and closed my eyes before I laid on my side and closed my eyes. I wrapped my arms and legs around the extra long pillow I had and pushed all the thoughts of what I might have to do from my mind.

  If I needed to do it, I would. Simple as that. There weren’t really alternatives in life anymore. Nothing to lean back on besides myself and Betsy. The relationship with Hiragana was still new, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust the man. I shook my head and once more pushed those thoughts from my head. One more thought before I drifted off, Erana. Those oddly multi-colored eyes entered my head and I gave a soft smile thinking of the alchemist apprentice. Soon enough, the gentle rocking of the wagon and clip clop of Betsy’s hooves on the stones had me snoring.

  As of this posting there's 27 chapters and bonus stuff on the

  Hiroshi, Tale of a Sumotori

  You can also buy the entire book of Hiroshi, Tale of a Sumotori there!

  There's also a to help me get Hiroshi self-published and we've hit most of my stretch goals already. :D