Chapter 61 – The Danger is Not Always the Obvious Thing (Patreon)

After God knows how long, I woke up and went directly to the kitchen. I was starving and dehydrated. I ate standing up, directly from the fridge; I couldn’t even wait to heat the food. After twenty minutes of eating and drinking non-stop, I began to slow down and notice my surroundings. I heard a murmur of voices from my room, washed my face, and went to investigate.

When I opened my bedroom, I saw the girl still lying in bed, Lis sitting beside the bed, and talking to her quietly. Rue had his head on her belly, and she was scratching his head.

When I entered, she looked up at me and said something to Lis that I couldn't hear; he helped her out of bed, and she came up to me, hugged me, and said, "Dara."

I understood her; it was, “Thank you.”

Lis said, "It means thank you."

"I understood that."

Lis facepalmed; he facepalmed!

Ha-ha! I’m not the only one who does that!

"Of course, the book First Steps in Ritualism and Circle Creation was in Parshan."

The girl buried her face in my neck and cried, so I held her and let her get it all out.

After she calmed down, I led her to bed and diagnosed her again. She was much better. She wasn’t dehydrated anymore; her body produced some blood and started taking in nutrients, but she needed more help. She still had food in her stomach, so I sent a healing through her and monitored the reaction. She began to break down and absorb the food more quickly.

I went to the kitchen, brought more food, and said, “Eat; your body needs the food to heal. I’ll help it absorb it faster.”

“Thank you for everything. I have no words to express my gratitude.”

“You’re welcome. Let’s get you in good shape, and then we’ll talk.”

She ate, and I healed her until her body was much better. I sank my awareness into her one open mana channel and examined it. A surprise awaited me: The furrows I dug and layered as a bypass stabilized and became a "real" mana channel. I was relieved since I was worried that it wouldn't hold.

There was a spot in her mana channel that I didn’t open wide enough; it was barely a hair wide and needed more expansion. I sent a mana tendril into it and started “drilling.” She yelled in pain and jerked her hand away.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t know it would hurt,” I said.

“What are you doing?” She asked me.

"There is a spot in your mana channel that I didn't expand enough, resulting in a blockage." I said, “If I can open it wider, your regeneration will improve. Also, I need to open the rest of your channels.”

She looked worried and said, “It hurts like a stab with a thick hot needle.”

"I'll make you go to sleep so you don't feel anything. I’m sorry I didn’t do it immediately; I didn’t think it would hurt.”

She thought momentarily and asked, “You promise it won’t hurt?”

“I promise.”

She nodded and lay down more comfortably. I applied Anesthesia and began working on the thin spot. I doubled its width and tripled it, and the mana flowed much better.

I moved to her left hand and began working on the mana channel. I already knew what I was doing this time, so I immediately started with the "drilling." Whenever I came across a burned-shut spot, I immediately built a bypass with layers to connect the rest of the channel. It went much easier and faster.

After treating her hand for about two hours, I removed the Anesthesia and checked her general condition. She was fine; this process didn't require as many resources as normal healing.

I checked my mana: 1310/8800.

I asked Lis, "How long have I been sleeping? After all I've been doing, my mana seems too full."

"Two days."

"I slept for two days?!"

"Yes. I knew you were exhausted, so I didn't bother you." Lis said, "Mahya woke up about three hours after you went to bed, so I took care of her as much as I could. Mostly, I made sure she drank, ate, and rested. I also occasionally cast a Minor Heal on her; that's the only healing spell I know."

"You did an amazing job; thank you. I should also introduce myself; I forgot to ask her name."

“I think she understands you were focused on her health.”

She was still sleeping, so we left the room quietly and closed the door.

I asked Lis, “Did she tell you what happened to her?”

“She didn’t want to talk about it. She just said that she wants to forget that ‘terrible, terrible place.’ I agree with her; Tír na nÓg is a nightmare.”

"I'm going to let her rest and check two gates near London." I said, “If they’re safe, I’ll go in; I need the mana regeneration. I won’t stay to train, only to fill my mana.”

“Be careful.”

“I will; don’t worry.”

“I don’t believe you. I saw the blood and hole in you; you forgot to change your shirt before I arrived.”

“Don’t worry about it; it was just an arrow. Aside from that, I risked it to get her out. If I hadn’t sensed her, I would have left immediately.”

He held me by my upper arms and said, “Don’t take unnecessary risks. If a Traveler is in Tír na nÓg, it was their choice and mistake; you don’t have to pay for it. It’s amazing that you got her out, but you could have just as easily died. Please remember that. I was in that world for eight days, and I still have nightmares.”

I patted his shoulder and said, “I promise to be more careful.”

He looked into my eyes to see if I was telling the truth, relaxed, and nodded. I was determined to exercise greater caution, having already sustained two injuries. It wasn’t life-threatening, but the pain was awful, and I had no intention to repeat the experience.

Before leaving, I checked my blinking red light.

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Level up

+3 Intelligence, +3 Wisdom, +3 Perception, +1 to all other stats

Class: Wizard Level 3

_________________

Finally! I worked so hard to learn for this class, and it was annoying it didn’t progress like I expected.

I looked at the Wizard class to see if something else progressed.

___________________

Sub-class 2: Wizard Level 3

Wizard Abilities

·         Mind Split x3

·         Mana Sensing [Medior]

·         Mana Saturation [Apprentice]

·         Mana Manipulation [Senior]

·         Mana Regeneration x 1

Wizard Spells

·         Harvest Mana Crystal [In Progress]

·         Harvest Game [In Progress]

___________________

Nice. My mana sensing and manipulation progressed.

It was already evening, so I drove to Stonehenge first, touched the gate, and felt great danger. I knew that if I crossed the Gate, I would die. I forgot about it and drove to the next Gate.

The location was close to a town known as Loxhill. I found an out-of-the-way parking spot under the trees and headed to the Gate. I felt a mild "tread carefully" suggestion when I touched it. I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield, then crossed the Gate.

I came out in the middle of a forest with the biggest trees I'd ever seen, and they were pink. More specifically, the trunks of the trees were brown, but everything else was pink. Everything was pink—the leaves, the plants under the trees, and the moving, blinking lights between the trees. I remembered something Lis said about blinking creatures, so I didn't look at them but listened to my Perception. I still felt a slight warning but no tangible danger. To be safe, I didn't add mana absorption to my channels so that the magic wouldn't give away my location. I settled for a regeneration rate of 52 points per second. It was still over 3,000 points per minute. The regeneration here was simply a dream; it was too bad it was so dangerous.

I was full in less than two minutes and left through the Gate. It was the most beautiful and magical place I had ever seen, but I wouldn’t use this Gate for my regeneration training. I arrived at my car, and it was smeared with pine needles and sap. I got really annoyed; it was a rental that I had to return in good condition. I looked at the tree and said, “What, you couldn’t wait until I left?”

I got back home, and Lis looked frantic. When he saw me, he shouted, “You said you’re going to close Gates, in and out, not regeneration training. What happened to that promise?”

“That’s what I did. One Gate was too dangerous, so I went to the next, regenerated, and left.”

"So, where have you been all this time?"

I just looked at him, uncomprehending. I left in the evening, and it was still night. But he looked frantic when I got home, so I asked, “How long was I gone?”

“Three weeks! The only reason I knew you were still alive was because Rue was still alive. But I thought those monsters captured you.”

“Shit! I went to the first Gate, touched it, felt it was too dangerous and left. I drove to the second one, felt the danger was tolerable, and went in. I saw the blinking things you told me about, so I didn’t look at them. It took me two minutes to regenerate. I left immediately after and drove straight home.”

“Are you sure you didn’t follow them?”

“Positive. I was leaning against the Gate the whole time, looking at the ground and monitoring the area with my Perception.”

“I think you should stop going to the Gates here; that place is too dangerous.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

He hugged me and said, “Never do that again.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Mahya hugged me from behind and said in English, “Lis wanted to go in after you to rescue you. The only reason he didn’t was that Rue looked unconcerned. You’re lucky you have a familiar, or you might have lost a friend.”

I decided that it was time to give up on the UK gates; the danger is not always the obvious thing.