Chapter 55 – Back to Earth (Patreon)

I slept another night in the tent, and my mana was almost full by morning. I looked at my profile as my mana ticked up by three every second. I was missing less than a hundred points and was thrilled. Now, I didn’t need to sit and actively regenerate, and my channels took the maximum they could on auto. Automation for the win!

I stored the tent and got back to the house. I found Lis on the porch with a book and told him, “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“You regenerated fast! I was sure it would take a few days more.”

“I had a method to regenerate faster with aspected mana, and yesterday, I developed a method to regenerate even faster.”

“How?”

“I built a spiral in my mana system, which increased my regeneration; I even regenerated while asleep!”

Lis looked embarrassed and rubbed his neck awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I know about the wizard spirals. I even have three my friend, the wizard I told you about, built for me. I should have told you about it; I forgot about them.”

“It’s okay. I enjoy discovering things myself; it helps me realize I’m not hopeless.”

“You are not hopeless, not even a little. Your first two classes could be attributed to the imminent integration of Earth, but you got the Wizard Class after a short journey on a low mana world. That takes talent – a lot of talent. For comparison, I got my first sub-class five or six years after I started traveling. During this time, I cleared dungeons with a sword, including two with psionic spells as a reward. I got my sub-class after using those spells and a sword to clear a few more dungeons.”

“Thanks for the pep-talk.”

“What is a pep?” Lis asked.

“It’s the feeling of happiness or energy. So, a pep-talk is something to make you feel better.”

He nodded and said, “I was waiting for you to regenerate. I’m ready to go.”

I called Rue, and Lis stored his house. I have been traveling for over a year, and during this time, I stored many things, including my big tent, but seeing Lis store a two-story house was still something.

Rue came running, and I told him we were going to Earth. He didn’t have an opinion on the subject.

I told Lis, “I remembered that I have a lot of engineering texts in my storage, so now it’s my turn to apologize for forgetting about them.”

He laughed, patted my shoulder, and said, “Thank you for making me feel better about forgetting the spirals. And don’t feel bad about the books; I’m enjoying the ones you gave me.”

I remembered something that bugged me and asked, “When we talked about the book, you said it was ridiculous because there can't be a store or communication between planets. But the Guidance communicates with us in every world, even in translation. So how can that be?"

"You are confused, my friend. The things I was talking about are man-made. The Guidance was not made by people but by Cosmic Entities. This is completely different."

"What is the difference?"

"Cosmic Entities are beings with limitless power. Some worlds believe they are the ones who created the physical world. They have many names: Cosmic Beings, Cosmic Gods, Celestial Gods, the Ancient Gods, the Guiding Spirits, and many, many more. Many worlds have temples, and in other worlds, churches where people pray to them for help or blessing. They are not people but supernatural powers that are above matter."

"What is the difference between a temple and a church? It’s not the same?" I asked.

"No. A temple is a place to come, pray, ask for help, or express gratitude. Of course, there are priests or priestesses there, but people decide to dedicate themselves to a God or Cosmic Entity by choice or for familiar honor or prestige. Churches actively send representatives to convert people to believe in one entity or another."

"And all these worlds believe in the same entities?"

"Yes, some of them have different names, but when you find out what the entity represents, you find out that it is the same Cosmic Entity called something else in a different world."

"It's strange; on Earth, there are many different religions, and there have been many wars to make people believe in one religion or another. On the other hand, you tell me that many worlds believe in the same entities. How is that even possible?"

Lis laughed and said, "Is there any proof on Earth of the existence of the gods responsible for these religions?"

"No."

"And that is the root of the problem. In the worlds I told you about, there is proof of the existence of these gods."

"How."

"Religious classes that have the name of the god or entity, like a Paladin of The Two-Faced God or a Faith Healer of The Triple Goddess."

"I should have guessed.” I said, “I didn't think about the fact that people in mana worlds have classes. It makes sense that there would be religious classes with the names of the gods. I even read about it in books."

"A day when you learned something new is a day that was worth getting up in the morning."

“So lately, I shouldn’t sleep at all. I keep learning a lot of new things.”

Lis roared with laughter.

We started to climb toward the Gate, and I told Rue, “I hope the winter has ended on the other side. I know you hate snow.”

I got an empathic agreement from him.

Lis turned to him in surprise and asked, “You hate snow? But you are half fur; You can’t even feel it.”

I got a feeling of cold feet and a strong distaste.

Now I was surprised, “That’s your problem? Cold paws?”

I got a firm yes and an even stronger feeling of distaste.

“I thought you didn’t like it because it wet your fur.”

He shook himself like he shakes to fling out water from his fur.

“Yeah, makes sense.” I said, “In Chicago, sometimes I saw dogs with dog shoes in the winter. Maybe we can find something in your size.”

I never felt such happiness from him before. I laughed and scratched his ears.

We crossed the Gate to Earth. With Rue’s new size, I was thrilled I didn’t need to carry him through the gate.

I activated my ability to glamor myself and once again to glamour Rue. Luckily, my mana went up so much because that alone cost me 800 mana. After that, I conjured a new passport for me and documents for Rue. Another 400 mana gone. I remembered the world information from the Traveler about the Earth and got him. I looked at my passport, and the picture was of a young man with brown hair and eyes who looked a bit like me, but a completely different person. The problem was that the passport still showed the name John Rue.

I asked Lis, "I conjured a new ID for myself, but my name didn’t change. What am I doing wrong?"

"You need to change your name in your Personal Information; the new name will appear on the documents. Sorry, I forgot to tell you."

"Remember when you told me to stop thanking you? Stop apologizing. If I don't ask something, it's my fault, not yours."

He nodded his head and said, "Okay."

I opened my Personal Information and thought of a name. I still wanted to stay John so I wouldn't have to get used to a new name, but I wanted to change the last name. The only name that came to mind was Smith, but I was embarrassed to choose something so banal. Finally, I had an idea: in high school, after an altercation with some bullies, they started calling me The Psycho. After a while, some cheerleaders thought they were cute and nicknamed me John the Ripper like I was a serial killer. In defiance and as a private joke, I changed the name on my profile to John Ripper and conjured a new passport with the name. At least it cost only a 100 mana.

I looked at Rue, and he looked the same. That was odd, I did pay the mana. Again, I asked Lis, “Why does Rue look the same? I paid the mana for his glamour.”

“He is part Traveler now, and your familiar. Travelers can always see the true form of another Traveler. Did my eyes look glowing green or dull brown when you met me?”

“Glowing green.”

“My eyes are always glamoured on tech or low mana worlds to look brown; you simply see through the glamour.”

“How do I see his glamoured form?”

“Unfocus your eyes with the intention of seeing the glamour.”

It took me a few tries, but I got it. Rue looked like an extra-large Saint Bernard. Good, I was worried that he would look like a Great Dane or something, and the fur wouldn’t match the glamour.

I asked Lis, “How come his size is the same?”

“Glamour can change appearance, but not physical dimensions; you still occupy the same space. It’s not a physical change, but a magical illusion.”

Yeah, it made sense. It wasn’t a shifting spell but a “look different” spell.

I told Lis, “I hope I can find a pawn shop in Baden-Baden, which is the closest town, by the way. I didn’t save any Earth money; I didn’t think I was coming back.”

“Don’t worry,” Lis said, “I have local money.”

“Why?”

“Low mana worlds usually have very few Gates. I wanted a nice short vacation after my ordeal, not to be stuck there for months and months going from Gate to Gate looking for an interesting world. I planned to come back here and look for a Gate here. There are a lot of them here and ways to fast travel. It was much more sensible.” Lis said, “Now that I think about it, I should have guessed Earth is heading for integration. There are a lot of Gates.”

He laughed and added, “Maybe our combined Luck made me forget.”

I laughed, too, and nodded in agreement.

I took out my backpack and strapped it on so I’d look like a hiker. Lis saw it, said, “Good idea,” and copied me.

We walked fast to escape the rain and didn’t talk for a while. I was in my head, trying to see if I reacted badly to returning to Earth. But so far, I was fine. I knew that I healed a lot on Shimoore and let go of a lot of shit, but sometimes things get re-ignited. But no, I was fine, and I also didn’t feel like I was coming home or returning or anything of the sort. It was another world to travel.

On the outskirts of Baden-Baden, a police cruiser stopped beside us, and a cop got out and approached us.

I told Lis quietly, “Let me handle it.” And he nodded.

The police officer approached us and said, “Guten Tag die Herren.”

‘Hello, officer. I’m sorry, but we don’t speak German.”

“Hello, gentlemen. You have to put your dog on a leash. You cannot walk with a free dog in the town.”

“I’m sorry, but we were camping, and the rain started. So, we packed quickly and left, but somehow, in our haste, we lost the leash. I promise we will buy one in town, but we must get out of the rain; we are freezing.”

“November is not good time for camping.”

“Yes, we found that out.”

He nodded, got back in the cruiser, and drove away. That was nice of him.

There was heavy snow the last time I crossed the Gate, so it was winter. It was about a month and a half ago in “Shimoore time,” but it was evident that at least six months had passed on Earth. I was in Shimoore for about fifteen or sixteen months and wanted to find out the date, but I didn’t want to ask the officer.

When we got to town, I led Lis to the Holiday Inn Express, where I had stayed the last time. We checked into a double room, and they didn’t even have a problem with Rue. I saw some newspapers on one of the tables in the lobby and went to check the date: November 7th, 2023.

Four years passed on Earth since I left. I knew it would happen, but it was still jarring.

In our room, after I dried Rue and both of us took a shower, I asked Lis, “Did you learn some other Earth language?”

“No, only English. There was no need.”

“I think we should go to the UK.”

“Not America? It’s bigger, and I understand they speak English too, no?”

“Yes, it’s also my home country, but they know about the Gates.”

“How?”

“I have no idea, but out of 11 gates, eight were on army bases, so I don’t want to take a chance.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“I’ll get you the engineering books,” I said.

“Thank you.”

I moved one of the beds and started summoning my bookcases one by one and pulling all the relevant books I could find:

Mechanical Engineering
Automobile Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Aerospace engineering
Computer Engineering
Industrial engineering
Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
Engineering Drawing
Thermodynamics
Solid Mechanics
Power engineering
More Mathematics
Transportation engineering
More Mathematics
Materials engineering
Structural engineering
Drafting
Electronic engineering
Optical engineerings
Manufacturing engineering
Machine Drawing
Fluid Mechanics
Another 5 books on Mathematics
Manufacturing Technology
Sketching
Kinematics of Machinery
Mechanical Measurements
Heat and Mass Transfer
Linear Algebra and Ordinary Differential Equations
Introduction to Electrical and Electronic Circuits
Data Structures and Algorithms
Modern Physics
Abstractions and Paradigms in Programming
Engineering Graphics and Drawing
Automata Theory and Logic
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Architecture
Computer Networks
Engineering Schematics

I finished emptying the third bookcase of the relevant subjects, and Lis looked dazed. He was staring at the pile of books I made on the bed with excitement and fear. I decided to stop at this point, even though I had seven more bookcases and many book crates.

I patted him on the back and said, “Have fun.”

He looked at me wide-eyed, shook his head, and stored all the books. Poor guy, he had no idea what he was in for. I had a lot more books. Mwahahaha 👿.