Chapter 60 – Rescue (Patreon)

After our return to London, Lis continued tinkering with his transistor, and I set off towards the next Gate. It was near Boleigh, and as soon as I was about to cross the Gate, I felt a strong warning. I decided to give up on this Gate and check it later. It was interesting that the first time I touched the Gate near Land's End, I didn't feel any warning, but at this Gate, my Luck or Perception shouted, "Don't go there."

The next Gate was in a stone circle known as Boscawen-un. I arrived in the area late in the evening, and as soon as it was dark, I approached the Gate. I touched the Gate and felt a faint warning, as if told, "You can cross it, but tread carefully."

I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield just in case, then crossed the Gate. On the other side was an open plain with grass, flowers, and trees in the distance. I saw figures moving in the distance, but they were too far away, and I couldn't determine if they were humans, elves, or other creatures. In any case, I didn't linger but went straight back to Earth.

The following day, I asked Lis, “You said that you feel a warning whenever you touch a Gate to a very high-mana world. But when I touched the first Gate, I felt nothing; the second, I felt a strong warning, and the third, a mild ‘be careful.’ Any idea why?”

“Yes, of course. It has to do with intention. Do you intend to travel that world? If you do, you will receive a warning every time, as worlds with very high mana levels are hazardous. If you only intend to pop in and out, you feel a warning only if a danger is close to the Gate.”

"Oh, makes sense.”

The next Gate was near a place called St Just. As soon as I approached the Gate, I felt a warning and urgency, like I had to be careful on the other side, but I had to do something. There was a discrepancy in my feelings; the warning stemmed from either my Luck or my Perception, while the sense of urgency came from a different source; it felt like the source of the rebukes.

I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield, then crossed the Gate. The area on the other side was flat, with grass, boulders, and a small grove not too far away. I looked behind me, and the Gate was two large boulders. As soon as I crossed the Gate, I felt a Traveler, and the sense of warning increased. It was strange; the Traveler felt close but weak, disappearing and reappearing like a radio station that lost reception and regained it.

I began to sneak quietly from boulder to boulder in pursuit of the feeling. After about a hundred meters, I saw a human lying on the grass; all their limbs were at unnatural angles as if they were broken, and there was a lot of blood around.

I approached them carefully, and up close, I saw that it was a black girl with long hair. I touched her and cast Diagnosis. All her internal organs suffered damage, with some wholly ruptured, and most of her bones were shattered. There was something else inside her body that the Diagnosis couldn't decipher, but it was harmful. I examined her with my mana sense and felt a harmful mana that ate her from the inside.

I cast two Healing Touch on her to keep her alive, but I decided not to linger; the feeling of warning was getting stronger and stronger. I picked her up, re-cast Invisibility to hide us both, and started sneaking to the Gate while casting Healing Touch repeatedly. Thirty meters from the Gate, I felt my Mana Shield shatter and an intense pain in my shoulder and head from the backlash. I almost fell, but I stayed on my feet by sheer will. Fifteen meters from the Gate, I felt an intense pain in my right leg, and this time, my leg collapsed, and I fell.

I extended my hands while falling so I wouldn’t fall on the girl. I tried to get up but couldn’t; my leg didn’t function. I put the girl on my back and crawled to the Gate using my arms and one good leg.

Two arrows flew over my head, but they didn’t hit me. I concluded that they could feel the disturbance in the mana, like I did in the first Gate, but couldn't see through my Invisibility. A meter from the Gate, I felt a blob of harmful mana pass close to me, but it didn't hit me. I crawled through the Gate and emerged on the other side. It seemed that sunrise was near, so I had to find a hidden corner, but first, I had to take care of my leg. I touched my shoulder and felt an arrow stuck in it. I ripped the arrow out and almost screamed from the pain, but I held back and healed the place.

I examined my leg, and it was in bad shape. I had a noxious mana in my leg that tasted like rot and was climbing up my leg. I tried to heal the leg, but it didn't work. I tried to stop the progression of the spell with my mana, but it also didn’t work. I was getting desperate; it was very close to a significant part of my body.

As a last resort, I cast Exude Mana on the spell, and it stopped climbing up my leg but didn’t leave my body. I cast Exude Mana repeatedly on the spot, and slowly, it leaked out but took a big chunk of my mana with it. To break it down faster, I also sent a tendril of mana down my leg and started to de-aspect the mana. I had read about and practiced this technique, but it was entirely different when I applied it to myself in a panicked and painful situation.

Finally, my leg was fine, and I could get up. I picked up the girl, cast Healing Touch, and felt lightheaded. I checked my mana: 110/8800. The Exude Mana spell cost me more than I thought. I needed mana to heal her, but the regeneration on Earth was terrible. I went quickly to my car, cast Clean on her to remove the apparent blood, almost fainted, covered her with a blanket like she was sleeping, and ran back to the Gate.

I cast Invisibility again, lay down on my belly, and crawled through the Gate to be low on the ground. I created the Absorb aspect in all my channels and increased the amount until the pins and needles sensation. I was willing to suffer a bit but not harm myself. I looked, and my mana was ticking up by 103 every second.

I lay there and regenerated as fast as possible. An arrow flew above my head; they sensed me. I checked my mana: 2,170. I decided to take a chance and stay a few seconds longer. Another arrow flew, and a nasty mana blob hit one of the Gate stones. Seeing a broken Gate in the past, I decided not to risk the Gate's destruction. I quickly crawled backward to Earth, trying to regenerate until the last second. Mana: 3,406.

On Earth, I packed my channels tight with the Absorb aspect and checked; my mana ticked up by one every two seconds.

Hmm, maybe there is more mana near the Gate?

I returned to the car and started to work on the girl. Firstly, I had to address the malevolent mana in her system, as it consumed a portion of the Healing Touch’s mana. I sent a tendril of mana into her and tried to de-aspect the mana, but most of my mana got devoured. I didn’t have a choice but to cast Exude Mana on her. I felt her condition worsen, but the nasty mana diminished a little. I cast it repeatedly, and the ugly mana was diminishing, but I started losing her “reception” again. I stopped and again tried to de-aspect the mana. It was more manageable this time, and I could break it down slowly. At last, her body was free of it, and I exhaled with relief.

I switched to healing her internal organs; bones can wait. I first healed her heart and lungs, but then I felt lightheaded again. She was out of danger now, but I was empty. Mana: 80/8800.

Take a second chance?

It was mid-morning already, and there were tourists near the Gate. I touched the Gate and received a warning, but not a "shouted" warning. I decided to risk it. Again, I lay on my belly and crawled in. I packed my channels with Absorb and lay there regenerating. After about a minute, I saw two elves running out of the grove. I immediately crawled back out. Mana 6,064/8800. The regeneration in Tír na nÓg was off the charts. I wish I had such regeneration on Earth, but without the danger.

I stayed by the Gate for another three hours, repeatedly casting invisibility on myself. The regeneration near the Gate was better.

When I was full, I returned to the girl and continued healing her. I finished with the internal organs and switched to the bones. In the middle of healing her, the red light started blinking. I checked it:

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Level up

+3 intelligence, +3 wisdom, +2 vitality, +3 free points

Class: Healer Level 11

Available stat points: 3

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I added the free points to Constitution based on my previous injuries. I facepalmed; I forgot to ask Lis about stats distribution.

The red light was still blinking, so I checked it.

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The spell Healing Touch has reached its maximum level [25].
You can choose a new spell to start leveling:

Healing Dart
Healing Sphere
Neutralize Curse

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I was sure that the nasty mana I drained was a curse, and I was pretty peeved that I got it now after the fact. I checked the other two.

_____________ 

Healing Dart
Send a dart of healing.

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Yeah, the name was pretty self-explanatory. I felt like the explanation was actually saying, “What’s not to get, dumbass? It’s what it says.”

_____________ 

Healing Sphere

Create a sphere of healing energy around you. The sphere starts at a one-meter radius and grows by a meter every five levels.

_____________

This one also sounded good and could have helped me today to heal myself and the girl at the same time.

The Neutralizing Curse was also self-explanatory. I didn’t read the explanation; I was sure it would say to neutralize a curse or something like that. There's no reason to encourage the system to think I’m dumb.

Because of my previous experience and because it was the most specialized, I chose the Neutralize Curse. I can get by without the other spells, but I needed this one for the future.

I continued to heal the girl until I was almost empty again. While invisible, I returned to the Gate and touched it. I felt a strong sense of danger; the fuckers were probably waiting on the other side of the Gate to catch me.

To regenerate, I stayed right next to the Gate, and it took me almost five hours to be full again. I returned to the car and finished healing the girl. I diagnosed her, and she was dehydrated, emaciated, and suffering from severe blood loss, but as far as her injuries go, she was healthy but was still unconscious.

I decided to drive home and take care of her there. I tried to start the car, but nothing happened. I tried repeatedly, and the car wouldn’t start; it was dead. I decided to call Lis.

When he answered, I said, “Lis, I need your help.”

He immediately sounded worried and asked, “What happened?”

“In one of the Gates, I found a Traveler. I rescued and healed her, but the car wouldn’t start, and she is still unconscious. I need you to get here and keep an eye on her. I’ll get another car, get her home, and see what else I can do.”

“Did you heal her in the car?”

“Yes …”

“Your car is dead and gone, my friend. May it rest in peace. The magic fried it.”

“Shit, I didn’t think of it.”

“Happens. Tell me where you are exactly.”

I gave him directions and waited. I checked the girl occasionally and saw that her condition deteriorated every half an hour, but when I healed her, it got better again.

While waiting, I located a car rental in Cornwall and made arrangements to have it driven to St Just. It took Lis a few hours to get to me. I left him with the girl and rushed to get the rental car. Thankfully, it was dark when I got back with the car. Lis transferred the girl into the new car, and I drove us home.

On the way, I asked him, “I forgot to ask you when we met: What is the best stats distribution? I’m always unsure what to do with the free stat points.”

“Most Travelers save the free Trait numbers to convert to ability points. In our case, I’d say everything is important. To learn and advance as a Wizard, you require Intelligence and Wisdom, Strength and Agility for self-defense, Constitution for survival, Perception to avoid surprises, and Vitality to have a long journey. When I level up, I will increase my lowest Trait and work from there.”

"Yeah... makes sense.”

When we got home, I put the girl in my bedroom and continued to check on her.

I told Lis, “I have no idea what’s wrong. I healed her, and she's fine, except her resources are empty, and she won't wake up. I tried everything, but nothing worked.”

Lis walked over to her, lifted one of her eyelids, and said, “You won’t be able to wake her up; she is completely mana-depleted. You need to get her to regenerate.”

“How do you know that? What does it mean?”

“You didn’t read about it yet?”

“No.”

“Look at her eyes,” Lis said. “They are completely black. She has no mana in her system, so you won’t be able to wake her up. Healing spells will help a little, but she needs mana urgently. When a body suffers such severe mana depletion, it shuts down.”

“But I emptied my mana almost to zero many times and never lost consciousness.”

“You emptied your power orbs; you didn’t deplete your body. If you empty your orbs to zero, you will suffer from mana burn and a severe headache. If you continue to cast after that, you will start to empty your body’s mana stores, and when they're empty, you will go into a coma until you regenerate.”

“She is not regenerating,” I said.

“No, she is not. That’s what you have to examine and solve.”

I sank my awareness into her and looked for her mana system, but I couldn’t find it. Her body was devoid of gold. Finally, I found a black orb in her head. Following the usual path of the channels, I discovered thin black lines, indicating that her channels had become fried. I followed the channel down her right arm until it reached its end in her palm. Attempting to insert a mana tendril into the channel, I found it burned shut.

I tried to cast Healing Touch on the channels, but it didn’t work. I tried Fortify Life Force, but it didn’t work either.

I tried a different approach: to force my way into the channel with mana. It did open up a bit at the beginning, but not enough. That gave me hope. I created a thin tendril of mana and tried to push it into the channel. I was able to progress less than a millimeter and was mentally exhausted from the effort.

This is not going to work.

I remembered one of the mana exercises I did back in Shimoor. I had to create a ball of mana in my hand and spin it clockwise and counter-clockwise. That gave me an idea: I extended a tendril of mana and began to spin it like a drill. I inserted the tendril into her channel and was able to progress better. It was still slow and took an ungodly amount of concentration, but I progressed millimeter by millimeter.

There were places in her channels that were so severely burned that I couldn’t open them and had to create a bypass. The problem with the bypass was that it wasn’t a channel but a furrow I dug, so the mana dissipated into her body. I leaned on what I learned from harvesting crystals and created an envelope or wrapper around the inside of the new channel to keep the mana in. I was lightheaded again, had a headache, and was only halfway done.

I knew I couldn't leave it and rest; her condition kept deteriorating, and I had to apply Healing Touch occasionally to keep her stable. I divided my mind into three parts; in one part, I packed my channels with Absorb to get as much mana as possible. With the second, I kept monitoring her and casting healing whenever needed, and with the third one, I recreated the drill and continued as my mana allowed.

Lis brought me food and water, so I took a short break and continued. After over twelve hours, the first channel was open. I monitored it with my mana sense and saw when mana started to enter her body slowly. Thank you, God or Guiding Spirits!

I was done. I couldn’t stand up, had a splitting headache, and everything swam in my vision.

I called, “Lis!”

He came running and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I need your help to get up and get to bed to rest. I opened one of her channels, and she is taking mana. I can’t do anything else right now; I’m too depleted.”

He helped me up and led me to his bed. I just fell on it and was out in less than a second.