The day, I began pag up my camp, my eyes lingering on the surroundiy. The sparklihe majestic waterfall casg down the cliffs, and the lush greenery made me wish I could capture the moment forever. I reached for my camera and remembered ahing I had fotten. My pn was to develop the film and print the photos to see if the camera worked in this fantasy nd—I might have been hasty leavih.

  Deg to use the film, I set up my darkroom tent, eager to capture the ethereal beauty around me. I snapped photos of the ke, the waterfall, and the t cliffs. I even scaled the side of the waterfall to a ledge for some aerial shots. Pushing my kayak into the ke's ter, I took pictures as mementos of my daring waterfall jump. As a private joke, I stuck the paddle iree and took photos of it. After setting up my camp again, I pced a bottle of wine and a winegss oable and took another photograph. That was the st shot in the film.

  Setting up the darkroom tent, I carefully prepared to develop the film, feeling both excited and anxious about the results. The process was intricate and required meticulous attention to detail. I started by mixing the chemical baths for developing, stopping, and fixing the film. Each step had to be timed perfectly to avoid ruining the ives.

  For color prints, I o use an eo project the image from the ives onto photographic paper. However, without arical light source, I faced the challenge of direg the sunlight just right. I improvised by positioning a series of mirrors outside the tent to refled focus the sunlight through a small window I had crafted ient's fabric. It was a delicate setup, requiring stant adjustments to ehe light was her too dim nor too intense.

  The first few pictures were disasters. The sunlight was too harsh, overexposing the images and washing out the colors. I cursed under my breath, adjusting the mirrors and trying again. The attempt was better but still far from perfect—this time, the light was too weak, leaving the images underexposed and murky. I felt frustration bubbling up, but I took a deep breath and made further adjustments.

  After what felt like ay of trial and error, I finally got the bance just right. The sunlight was directed evenly, and the images began to emerge clearly on the photographic paper. I watched in awe as the ses of the magical world materialized before my eyes. The vibrant colors of the ke, the casg waterfall, and the t cliffs were captured beautifully. I even mao get a perfect aerial shot from the ledge of the waterfall and a serene picture of my kayak floating in the ke's ter.

  My heart raced with excitement as I hung the prints to dry. The sense of aplishment was overwhelming. I had do! Taking photographs in a magical world ossible! I couldn't tain my joy and started pyfully shaking my butt in a little victory dance. But then I immediately stopped, feeling self-scious. Even though I was by myself, the habit of maintaining posure was hard to shake.

  As I gazed at the drying photographs, a sense of pride washed over me. Each image was a testament to my perseverand creativity. The final photograph, a still life of a bottle of wine and a winegss oable, was a fittio the roll of film. It was the perfect memento of this surreal adventure, a blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary.

  It was te afternoon when I finished, so I stayed another day.

  The following day, I packed everything for the st time, took out my kayak, and began paddling out of the grotto. The river oher side was wider and shallower, with a slower current. It suited me just fine. I tiraveling on the river for a few hours until I reached a rge rock outcropping. The river curved around it and turned almost 60 degrees. Not wanting to turn back, I headed north on foot.

  The northath had a forest, but it wasn't as dense as before. The trees were shorter with a smaller opy, but, unfortunately, there was more underbrush; I even had to use my machete. After fighting my way through an area with dense bushes, I came out to a clearing and came face to face with a wolf. It looked different from wolves oh. It was thin ara long, with matted fur and a sinister glint in its eyes. Its growl was a low, menag rumble, revealing rows of giant, razor-sharp teeth that seemed te for its gaunt frame.

  I took a cautious step back, and the wolf poune. On instinct, I grabbed its front legs and threw it hard. It shot into a tree, and I heard a crack; I didn't know if the tree cracked or the wolf. Whining softly and bleeding, it y in a crumpled heap on the ground. It looked so pitiful, and I felt guilty. It attacked me, but I had encroached on its territory. I also noticed that it was very thin, almost emaciated.

  I decided to heal it and approached slowly. When I reached out with my hand, it tried to bite me. I spped its muzzle.

  "Stop that!"

  It started whining again.

  "Sorry for hitting you. No biting!"

  I Diag, and it was in awful shape. Both of its front shoulders were dislocated. It had four broken ribs and was experieng internal aernal bleeding. Also, its hind leg had suffered severe damage. It had broken in the past in two pces and healed incorrectly, resulting in torn muscles and a signifit amount of scar tissue.

  I healed the bleeding first and started to heal one rib. It tried to bite me again, but less enthusiastically. I didn't want to sp it again with all this damage, so I got an idea. I summoned a sock, grabbed its head, and put it on its muzzle. It didn't look happy.

  "It's your fault f to bite me."

  One by one, I healed the ribs. It retty obvious how easy it was. I didn't have to forything; no pushing or tration. It was so smooth. I popped its shoulders in a a healing wave through its body. Much better. I took off the sock, and it licked my hand. I scratched it behind the ear.

  "Sorry for throwing you so hard; I was unaware of my rength."

  Upon diagnosing it again, I discovered it was healed, but even more emaciated. As if the healing had emptied it. It devoured a couple of steaks I summoned for it ie. I exami again a a sed wave of healing. Diagnosing it, I could feel the meat breaking in its stomad getting absorbed. Two more steaks; now they broke slower. Okay, we were on the right track. I fed and healed it ahree times, and it looked much better. It was still very thin, but its body filled out a little, and its fur looked healthier.

  After summoning a bowl and giving it water, I sat there looking at it and started ughing. When I summohe bowl, I didn't think of a specific bowl, just "a bowl." And now I was in the middle of the forest with a dirty, emaciated wolf drinking water from a crystal bowl with vine and grape motifs gilded with gold leaf.

  I had to take a picture, or three.

  The wolf finished drinking and licked my hand again. I petted it and scratched its ear. It was dirty with blood and debris, so I cast three ing spells on it. It looked like it had just returned from a pet grooming salon.

  After feeding it more, I cast more heals. Its general physical dition improved steadily, but its hind leg remained unged. I'd o re-break it and cut it open to ect the torn muscles, but there roblem. My purchase solely sisted of medical equipment, with ns. Perf surgery on a scious patient was not my iion; it would be torture, so I tried to think of a solution.

  Maybe I'll put a pstic bag on its muzzle while monit it until it faints? No, it might wake up in the middle of the operation.

  It was a mistake to rely too muagid not think in practical terms.

  ht, magic!

  I checked the spell se of the abilities and found Ahesia.

  AHESIA

  Description: Ahesia is a vital healing spell used by profit healers to numb pain and iemporary unsciousness in their patients. This eled spell has duration, as its length depends on the healer's desire and mana reserves. It is essential during plex magical treatments, ensuring the subject remains free from pain and stress throughout the procedure. Cost: 1 Ability Point

  Yes!

  After summoning a table, I covered it with a pstic sheet, cast Ahesia on the wolf, and lifted it oable. Using a scalpel, I cut it open and now had a problem; the Ahesia was a eled spell, not a oime cast. So how do I trol the blood secutively with the Ahesia and then heal everything?

  I tried to trol the blood flow while eling Ahesia but failed repeatedly. Frustrated, I stopped the Ahesia and healed the wolf’s minor injuries before making atempt. As the wolf peacefully slept on the makeshift surgical table, I experimented for two hours. My many attempts and failures led me to a breakthrough—I learo "partition" my mind to maintain two simultaneous spells. It was incredibly taxing; I felt like my mind was "trembling" from the exertion, but I managed.

  With newfouermination, I made an incision along the wolf's hind leg, exposing the improperly healed fractures. Using a medical chisel and mallet, I carefully re-broke the misaligned bohe audible crack made me wince, but I quickly moved to trol the bleeding. I attempted to create another partition in my mind to cast Heal Bone, but found it impossible to mahree spells at once. Prioritizing, I let go of the blood trol spell, swiftly cast Heal Boo realign ahe fractures, and theablished trol over the bleeding.

  The absence of a hemostat to cmp the blood vessels was a gring ht—I had relied too heavily on my magic. I definitely left Earth too fast. pensating for the blood loss, I used Healing Tou the wolf after re-breaking and healing the other fracture.

  , I focused on repairing the torn muscles. I excised the ic tissue, releasing my trol over the blood to cast Heal Muscle. The muscle fibers began tee, but the ends didn't ect. trating intensely, I induced oo grow towards the other until they finally fused. This precise "growing" process required plete focus and drained my energy signifitly. I cast another Healing Tou the wolf to replenish its blood volume and then proceeded to repair the remaining muscles, methodically removing scar tissue and healing each segment. The wolf lost a siderable amount of blood during my repeated attempts. I cast three more Healing Touches, stabilizing it but notig it was dehydrated and had lost half of its new mass. Magic, it seemed, wasn't a panacea for everything—bummer.

  I cast Purify to prevent iion, followed by three ing spells to ensure a sterile enviro, and finally ceased the Ahesia. I was lightheaded from the intense mental exertion.

  The wolf woke up, almost fell off the table, and immediately went to drink. I gave it more food and water and cast awo Healing Touches. After the sed, I almost fainted. I checked my mana: 30/4200.

  4,200!? It was 3,000 before.

  I didn't uand how my mana worked.

  Still feeling woozy, I y on my bad breathed in mana.

  After a while, I felt better and opened my eyes. I was lying on my back, and the wolf was beside me with its head on my chest, which I etting absently. I was starving, so I summoned an enormous meal of hamburgers, fries, and colesw sad. The wolf tried to stick its fa the takeaway box.

  "No! This is mine. You got yours."

  It looked at me with sad puppy dog eyes. I'm a weak, weak man—I gave it a sizeable piece of roast meat.

  After casting the ing spell on myself twice to get all the blood off, I felt faint again.

  Deg to stay in the clearing tee for a day or two, I pitched my tent, ignited a fire, and ate more. When I went into the tent to sleep, the wolf followed me in and tried to push me aside to get some of the mattress. I summoned a thick, fluffy duvet cover for it. It looked very pleased with itself, licked my face, ao sleep.