We arrived back at The Gnashing Teeth around half past 5Af. I could already see a healthy crowd inside through the windows. Talking to Doun and Mira would be an issue since it would interfere with business.

  When we walked in, Doun immediately pounced on us. “Void! I need you to get changed. Janelle quit on us and we have no one to work the floor. You other three? Supper’s available at the bar if you want it.”

  “Dad, can I eat first?” Void called across the room.

  Doun jabbed his finger toward the stairs leading to the residences. “We have customers waiting.”

  Void lowered her head and shuffled toward the door. I could hear her grumbling about maybe quitting the Guard wasn’t a good idea. I smiled and shook my head. She always helped out her family in the end. As I prepared to go to the bar with Lia and Tizek, I heard a shout to my left. “Oliver? I’m glad to see you found the place!”

  I turned and, in a booth, I saw Willem. His raccoon face was beaming at me. With him was a red-furred middle-aged squirrel-clan woman and a pair of squirrel-clan teens. Both were on the younger side with the girl around 15 and the boy 12 or 13. Both of the kids had raccoon-style fur patterns. Willem waved me over. I turned to my companions. “I’m going to talk to Willem for a bit. You can go on ahead and eat.”

  Lia looked over at Willem and gave him a bashful smile. Tizek ignored us and decided food was more important. The two left to the bar and, after pulling an empty chair from a nearby table, I sat at their booth. “Heya Willem. Is this the beautiful family you told me about? You never mentioned your wife was so radiant.”

  “Oh stop. I’m on the wrong side of 40,” the squirrel-clan woman said with a smile. “I see what you mean, dear. He’s strangely well-adjusted for being summoned from a different reality.”

  “My name is Oliver. And who is this lovely lady I’m talking with?” I replied with a smile.

  “I’m Sari and these are our two kids, Jennifer and Darren,” Sari said as she gestured to the kids. “I hear you met my sister, Jummi. She said Willem introduced you.”

  “I did?” Willem said as he looked down at the table confused.

  “Sure, you don’t remember? I mentioned the king wanted to buy my mug and you said Jummi would give me a better deal for it,” I lied. I really didn’t like gaslighting Willem like that.

  Willem still looked puzzled. “I guess. It was a hectic week. I’m also glad you, you know.” Willem nodded in Lia’s direction. “How did you figure that out?”

  I shrugged. “It made sense when I thought about it. Besides, I don’t abide by it much.” Willem and Sari gave me a look of relief.

  I looked over at the kids and gave them a nod to acknowledge their presence. It wasn’t good to ignore the young just because the adults were talking. I caught Jennifer staring at my exposed chest. “Sorry, kid, you’re way too young.”

  “Yea,” Darren butted in. “Besides, he’s the one I heard was walking around smelling like shit.” Jennifer turned away with a look of embarrassment. I gave Darren a grateful nod. I didn’t want to have that weird tension of a kid going through maturity eyeing me.

  “Darren! Jenny!” Willem snapped. “Don’t be rude. I’m sorry. They’re both going through the change and Jenny is going to be an adult in a few months.”

  I waved it off. “Don’t worry. It’s true though. I fell into a sewer trying to get a ring for a Lost and Found quest. What have you been up to?”

  “Not much. The ritual called for one mage of each attunement. It made sense since everyone showed up attuned to a different element. The king has the other mages teaching magic. I think I was supposed to be your instructor, now I’m mostly helping heal injuries from training. I’m off today because of the arena event,” Willem explained.

  That gave me an idea. “That makes you light attuned I take it?”

  “Good guess,” William said.

  “Not much of a guess. Illian mentioned he was expecting me to be light before I got tested. From what you just said, it was a simple process of elimination,” I replied, once again scrambling to cover up my little mistakes. I was enjoying being in a new situation. This is a conversation we never had before.

  Willem picked up his mug and took a sip of beer. I really wanted one myself, but I couldn’t as long as Tizek was around. “Why do you ask?” Willem asked after he set his mug down.

  I put the book on the desk. “I’d like to pick your brain on this, mainly these control rods.”

  Willem looked at the book and was confused. “Since when could you read? I thought you six were illiterate.”

  Shit, I forgot about I was supposed to be illiterate. “Something about coming to this world has made it significantly easier to learn. Maybe it has something to do with my ability. Illian said he’d never heard of it before.”

  Willem seemed to accept that answer, though I could tell he had some reservations about the explanation. He wasn’t more an expert on interdimensional summoning magic than I was, which is not at all. “How did you end up with a book on view slate operation and why are you interested in it?”

  “Since, you know,” I glanced over at Sari and paused.

  Willem gave me a brief nod and whispered, “She knows.”

  “Well, I need to be useful,” I continued. “Back on my world, I was into something called optics. It’s the study of light.”

  “You studied the light element? I thought you didn’t have magic in your world,” Willem asked.

  “Nah, light as in the thing being emitted from the crystals in the ceiling. It’s a lot more complex than that though,” I explained. I didn’t want to get into the various EM properties, visible spectrum or the double-slit experiment. They didn’t know these things here. “I figured it would be an easy way to make myself useful.”

  “I’m not sure,” Willem said. “There’s not a lot of demand for screens and eyes. They have limited application. I’ll answer what I can since they’re something most light mages dabble in while apprenticing.”

  “First, how easy is it to get the materials?” I asked.

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  Willem looked at the schematic again. “For you? The only hard one would be the silk. That comes from an Advancement 1 dungeon called Silk Caverns. The crystals are found in an Advancement 0 dungeon an hour ferry ride to an island to the south called Mermaid Falls. They come in large chunks about the size of your torso and a single one can keep up with demand for a year, so they’re not worth much.”

  There was one last piece of the puzzle. “Can mana be reflected? If so, what materials would I need?”

  Willem frowned. “If you’re thinking of making anti-magic armor, that won’t work. Once magic is converted into a spell, it has to be specially countered with magic.”

  “But what about raw mana or the mana flowing through the crystal?” I asked.

  “That’s easier. Various magical devices wouldn’t work otherwise. The most common is glass treated with an alchemical reflection tonic,” Willem said. “Glass is cheap since sand is a mining byproduct but the tonic can cost a bit. A flask runs 20 gold and can make a full-length mirror’s worth of reflective glass. The mirror will also lose its properties in two years since the tonic requires dungeon materials.”

  I didn’t care the glass wouldn’t last long. It didn’t need to. I had just one more question. If this worked out in my favor, then we had a plan. “Will using more or less of the tonic increase the reflective properties? Like, can I make one around 95% as potent as a second glass? I want to set it up so a concentrated mana mass will move through one before the other.”

  “Sure,” Willem said. “That’s possible. But why would you want to?”

  “Hey, if what I’m thinking works, you’ll be the first one I tell,” I said. Willem smiled at being offered insider knowledge on a wacky otherworld invention. I continued, “In any case, I’ll get out of your hair. I see Void is pissed I’m over here yukking it up while she’s in her waitress outfit serving food. Nice to meet you, Sari, Jennifer and Darren.”

  “I’m glad to see Doun and the others took you in. They’re good people,” Willem said. I then waved farewell as Void came in behind me to deliver the family their meal.

  I sat down with Lia and Tizek. Lia was sipping at her stew and savoring the flavor while Tizek already finished his. I looked at Tizek’s mug and saw fruit juice. I gave Doun a nod of approval for remembering Tizek’s not permitted alcohol.

  Void walked in behind me. “What were you talking about?”

  I tapped the book. “This. I think this is going to work. We’re going to need to hit Mermaid Falls first to get some materials. It’s also Advancement 0, so you three can build up some strength.”

  “Mermaid Falls, huh? You sure you want to go there?” Doun asked, butting into our conversation.

  “Dad, come on, this is private,” Void protested.

  “Not while you’re on the job, young lady. Besides, it’s a bar. The bartender hears all. As for Mermaid Falls? That’s an easy one for you four, but hardly anyone goes in there unless there’s a call for a transmitter eye control crystal. It’s a water dungeon,” Doun said ominously.

  I groaned and so did Void. A water dungeon. Those were always awful. “Still, we need to go. There’s something I, uh, Void read about in this book I need.”

  Doun looked down at the book. “Already looking to learn a trade? Not the best, but I approve. Good to see you being proactive. Just be sure to register at the Guild before going. They don’t like unplanned visits. Reservations will be in your ID and it’ll give you a map and tips. Maps are a little weird since they don’t have pictures, only text, but they’re useful.”

  “Thanks, we’ll be careful,” I said.

  “You’ll do fine. The water isn’t even deep enough to drown in unless something weird happens,” Doun said. “Let me get you some stew. And Void? Why have you been staring at Oliver instead of working? You two just share a first kiss or something?”

  “No!” Void yelped.

  Doun let out a snuffling chuckle. “Just take it slow. As much as I’d like grandkids, you need to make sure you’ve found the one.”

  “Dad!” Void sputtered and ran out of things to say. I thought it was adorable when she was flustered.

  “Get back to work. We have customers who need to be seated,” Doun said with a wave of his towel before he went down the bar to check on other patrons.

  Void’s mouth was hanging open after having her father say those things out loud for the whole tavern to hear. A few patrons were chuckling from the display. She took one look at me, snapped her mouth shut and rushed off to the patrons waiting to be seated. Yup, adorable.

  I pulled out my ID card and flipped it to the back. I maneuvered my way to the dungeon section and searched for Mermaid Falls. The dungeon was wide open for reservations. We could even book it out for an entire week if we wanted.

  “What do you think?” I said and included Lia and Tizek in the decision.

  Tizek’s head ruffles fluttered. “My lord, I am ready at any time to prove my worth.”

  “I know you are, buddy, but I’d rather you stay alive,” I told the overly eager youth.

  “Can we train a little more?” Lia asked. Her first fight in the morning was still fresh on her mind and she was uncomfortable with her current skill level.

  “No problem. We can delay a bit. But we do have to focus. We have to save up 20 gold, find a craftsman who can carve out the crystal, build our device and charge up a whole lot of mana storage crystals. We also have to buy camping gear for our dungeon run,” I explained.

  Lia looked downcast. “That’s a lot of money. I don’t think we can do it.”

  “I’ll tell you something upstairs,” I whispered. “Otherwise, do you think five more days is enough training?”

  Lia nodded. “I’ll try.”

  “That goes for you, too, Tizek,” I said. “You’ll need to get over your hesitation to cast healing spells.”

  Tizek’s mood deflated to match Lia’s. I gave both of them a reassuring pat on the back. “Look. We’ll get through this. You always do. Besides, don’t let it get in the way of your stew. I should be the one depressed because I don’t have a bowl yet.”

  My depression was immediately dispelled when Doun arrived with my bowl. I eagerly lapped it up, burning the roof of my mouth in the process. Afterward, Lia, Tizek and I ventured upstairs where I invited the two to my room.

  The rooms at Doun and Mira’s place were humble. A simple straw bed with thin sheets was under a window which could be opened to get fresh air. There was a night stand, a dresser and a couple of stools. It wasn’t much, but it was what I considered home in this world. On most of my loops, I was able to afford staying in a high-quality inn for three months on my platinum Sovereign, but The Gnashing Teeth was still where I was most comfortable.

  After Lia and Tizek sat, I took the bed and set my checked-out book on the night stand. “I’ll fill in Void later, but I do have an option if we aren’t able to make enough money.”

  “You know where a secret treasure is?” Lia asked.

  “Nothing like that,” I replied. I then pointed to my belt buckle. “This is my secret option.”

  “Is that a dangerous weapon from your world?” Tizek asked.

  I laughed. “No, buddy. It’s just steel.”

  Lia shrugged. “That’s not much. I know you said iron is selling for a lot, but that little bit will only get a few silver coins.”

  “That’s not the secret,” I said. I flicked my belt buckle. “You see, this metal isn’t magical.”

  The two stared at me, not comprehending what I just said. I continued. “This metal won’t rust, tarnish or, this is important, won’t ever dissolve into mana. It’s permanent.”

  That got their attention. Both Lia and Tizek’s eyes widened when I said that. “Your metal is permanent where you’re from? How do you not get flooded in it?” Lia asked.

  “It works different where I’m from. Our metal is also in the ground like yours, but it’s limited. Once we mine it out, it never comes back. We have to make do with the supply we have on our world,” I explained.

  “But that’s still not a lot of metal,” Tizek commented. “You can only make an arrowhead from it.”

  “Right, which is why I can probably get around 50 gold Sovereigns for the belt,” I said.

  “That’s a lot of money, but it’s less than your mug,” Lia said. “Why is that a problem? Why not sell it now?”

  “You see, my mug wasn’t a big deal. Sand is everywhere and making glass isn’t a massive secret. You guys usually just use the dungeon sand because it’s purer. I can explain why I had a mundane glass mug,” I said. I gripped my belt. “This? This is different. When someone figures out I have this metal, I get a lot of people trying to bother me about how it was made. I even had the Miner’s Guild put out a contract on my head to keep anyone from learning information I don’t have.”

  “Oh,” Lia said and turned her eyes down. “I see why you’re keeping it secret. But what about the other heroes?”

  “They came with little bits of metal on their clothing, too. But the palace gave them new outfits. The metal they brought would have been melted down into ingots to make into weapons and armor. By the time they dissolve, the stuff from my world will have been mixed in so thoroughly with yours the remnants will be difficult-to-find powder,” I said. It was the same for the smartphones they all had. The devices were tossed into an incinerator with their old duds. I could have blown Lia and Tizek’s minds if I didn’t leave mine on the bar top back on Earth when I was summoned.

  “You must be careful if selling it, my lord,” Tizek commented. He figured out the problem very quickly.

  “Rightly so,” I said. “There’s only one person who can discretely sell this metal without it getting back to me.”

  “Gully Jack,” Lia stated, knowing where I was going.

  “Yes, and I’d rather not interact with Gully Jack ever,” I said. “We shouldn’t have to. I think we can pull out 20 gold if we live outside the city and work nonstop for the next six weeks. We’ll need the last month to assemble the device.” I honestly had no idea how long it would take and figured we’d need a bit of a buffer to test it.

  “My lord? I apologize, but I am tired. May I go to sleep?” Tizek asked with a yawn.

  “It’s still early but I think you deserve it. It’s been a long day and you did well in the library,” I said. I looked at my health bar and saw it was still down 10% from the bumps I took falling out of the tree and down the sewer earlier. My stamina bar also had a healthy amount of grey in it from the library. “You, too, Lia.”

  “What about you?” Lia asked as Tizek got up and padded out of my room.

  “I think I’ll go down and help out with the tavern. It’s not fair Void is stuck there and we’re up here resting,” I said.

  Lia looked at me up and down. “I don’t think Doun would appreciate you working for him dressed like that.”

  I looked down at myself. I was still wearing my unbuttoned red checker shirt, denim short shorts and my floral pink boots. “What? I just had them washed earlier.”

  Lia looked at me with a classic “are you serious” expression plastered on her face. I shrugged. “Alright, I’ll just help Mira with the dishes.”

  “You’re strange,” Lia commented.

  “Thank you,” I replied with a smile. “What did I do to deserve such a compliment?”

  Lia snorted mirthfully. “I’ve never met a tenant helping out his landlord do chores.”

  “I don’t see them as my landlord,” I said. “They’re my family. I know you and the others don’t feel it just yet, but that’s what you’re all to me. Family helps family.”

  “But you paid them two gold Sovereigns,” Lia stated.

  I patted my stomach. “And we get two tavern-quality meals a day. And I know Doun and Mira will give us lunch if we were around, too. It’s a fair trade. Now go rest. I know you’ve got a lot of grey in your stamina bar.”

  Lia’s eyes turned toward the floor. “You really think of us as family?”

  “Of course,” I said. “I did say you’re a little sister to me. Tizek’s a valued student and, well, you know how I feel about the others.”

  I watched as emotions played across Lia’s face. She didn’t know what to do with what I said. I know I told her before during our first training session, but it seemed to have hit her harder now. “I’ll head to bed. Thanks for the talk.”

  “Good night,” I replied. After seeing Lia to her room, I wandered downstairs. Predictably, Mira wanted me to go back up, but eventually relented to my charms. That and Mira really hated doing the dishes.