In the m, I went looking for a car to buy. I remembered promising Rue a fast car. Even though I was a little worried about driving on the opposite side of the road, I reassured myself that I could always drive slower until I got used to it.

  Our neighbor, Miss Maggie, was oairs, so I asked her, “Good m, Miss Maggie. Do you know anyone selling a van or another vehicle big enough for Rue?”

  “Good m, deary,” she replied with a warm smile. “I haven’t heard, but if you ask Henry in the pub, he will surely know; he knows everything that goes on here.”

  “When does he open?” I inquired, adjusting the strap of my bag.

  “Only iernoon,” she said, gng at her watch, “but he’s there now to and prepare everything; if you kno the window, he’ll e to the door to talk to you.”

  “Thanks.”

  I went looking for Henry at the pub. I knocked on the window, and a fat man came to the door, squinting through the gss before opening a crack. “What do you need?” he asked gruffly.

  “Are you Henry?” I asked, tilting my head.

  He nodded.

  “I’m looking to buy a car, and Miss Maggie said, you know everything happening around here. So, I came to ask if you’ve heard of anything?”

  He scrutinized me momentarily before replying, “I don’t know you. How do you know Miss Maggie?”

  “I think you know my dog. A big Saint Bernard named Rue.”

  He started ughing, his belly shaking. “That’s y? You know he’s an alcoholic?”

  “Yes, I’m trying to make him quit, so he goes and asks the neighbors,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  He ughed even louder, spping his leg. After he stopped ughing, he wiped a tear from his eye and said, “Alright, alright. I’ll help you out.” He gave me two names of used car dealers.

  I bought a car, collected Rue, a out to the first Gate. The Travelers’ Map didn’t have names of pces if you didn’t put them there specifically, only a general view of an area. So, I found a pce selliailed maps of the entire try, bought every type of map they had, found a spot by the road, opehe first map, and looked at it. I fot to ask Lis how to “upload” a map, but figured this should work. After a minute or two of looking at the printed map, I opehe Travelers’ Map, but nothing was new. I sidered calling Lis to ask, but decided against it. He wouldn’t be with me on my entire journey, and I o figure things out myself.

  After some thought, I tried something else. With the Travelers’ Map open, I focused on the specific se of the printed map in front of me. After a sed, I gnced back at the Travelers’ Map and saw that it had updated the area I was looking at on the printed map, now showing names, roads, and even road numbers.

  Success!

  Returning to the printed map, I looked at it se by se to ensure I left nothing out. I checked my Map, and it was all there. I tio “upload” all the other maps until I had a detailed Map of all the English Isles. It uploaded everything: towns, roads, hotels aaurants, tourist attras, just everything. If it was on the map I was looking at, it got updated oravelers’ Map.

  It’s unfair that it doesn’t stay updated for the raveler. What’s the problem with just letting it stay like this? So we have to work harder?

  I felt a rebuke directed at me.

  I said to the air, “Just thinking. Don’t get all worked up.”

  Rue gave me a strange look a a feeling of a question.

  I scratched his ear and said, “Don’t worry about it, buddy, just talking to a judgmental text box.”

  I felt the rebuke again.

  Shit, I fot to ask Lis about this unication. There’s no doubt that I should do it.

  I felt a firm “NO” and a sense of danger. I wasn’t sure if the threat was to me if Lis found out about it, or if the thingy warned me it would bee a danger if I told anybody.

  “What’s the big secret? It’s not like somebody hurt you. I’m pretty sure you’re all-powerful and shit, so what’s the secrecy?” I asked the air, exasperated.

  A feeling of amusement washed over me, and again a firm “NO.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll keep my mouth shut,” I said with resignation.

  I didn’t get a respo was iing: When I asked a question, nothing happened, but if I criticized, I got a rea.

  Somebody is pretty touchy up there.

  I waited, but didn’t get a rebuke this time.

  Ha, are y to pretend like you’re not?

  Again, no response.

  Returning my attention to the Map, I looked for the first Gate. It was on the southern tip of the isnd, near a pce called Land’s End. When we arrived, I saw many standing solitary stones far from each other. I felt the Gate and followed the feeling, finding a big round stoh a hole in the middle—it looked like a donut standing on its side—and aone near it were the Gate’s anchors. We arrived by evening, but the pce was still full of tourists, so I waited till nightfall.

  I spent the evening sitting on a cliff enjoying the sea. The area was beautiful, and the sound of the waves breaking on the cliffs put me in a tranquil mood. Rue spent the evening chasing seagulls. I didn’t know what his problem was with those birds, but I could feel his annoya every bird he chased.

  At night, I returo the Gate, told Rue to stay on the Earth side and make sure no one saw me, cast Invisibility and Mana Shield on myself, and crossed the Gate. My mana els were on fire as soon as I was oher side, and I immediately jumped back to Earth.

  The burniion disappeared once I was oh, but my els felt raw, as if I’d scrubbed them with a barbecue iron brush. Direg my awareness into myself, I checked them and thought they looked wider than before, but wasn’t sure. I saw a few pces with micro-tears. Cheg my mana, I saw it went up about 280 points during the sed I was oher side.

  Toug the Gate, I checked the mana level.

  Travelers Gate #2672165

  Destination: Tír na nóg

  Status: Ied

  Mana level: 89

  Threat level: Lethal

  It never crossed my mind that my spirals would be good oh but a problem elsewhere with a higher mana level, but it should have. I tried to cast Healing Touy els and almost screamed from the pain.

  OK, no using magic for now!

  I returo London to let my els heal and think about a solution.

  Wheurned home, Lis asked me, “Did you gh a Gate?”

  “Yes, but I entered a problem. I almost tore my els with the mana level there and had to jump out quickly. I o find a solution to this issue.”

  He looked thoughtful and said, “I never even sidered the possibility. I don’t know much about wizard spirals. I know wizards build them to boeion, and an advanced wizard build them in others, like my friend did for me as a thank-you. You know more than me about this subject.”

  I nodded ao my room to think about the issue.

  It took my els a week to heal. After a day, they felt less raw and more like muscle pain after a workout, gradually subsiding until they felt normal. I monitored the tears, which healed naturally after three days—the pces where the tears used to be felt normal and with no sting damage. After a week, when I was sure all was fine, I cast Healing Touyself. I didn’t feel the spell do anything, but there was no pain or disfort.

  When Rue came home that evening, I told him, “I’m going to return to the Gate and solve the problem with my els. This time, I want you to stay home. I’ll try to stay ihe Gate longer, and with the time skips, I don’t want you to sit by the Gate for a long time.”

  He was very unhappy a me a powerful feeling of .

  “Don’t worry, buddy. My iion is to stay close to the Gate and not venture even a meter away. I will stay in tact with the Gate, and at the first sign of someone approag, and it doesn’t matter if it’s human or creature, I’ll jump back to Earth. I won’t endanger myself, just solve the problem with my els.”

  He sent me a feeling that he had given up on the argument but was still unsatisfied.

  That evening, I drove to the st Gate I visited, parked in a secluded spot, and walked to the Gate. Befoing through the Gate, I “broke” the closing points of the spirals and waited until they pletely unraveled and no trace of them remained.

  After crossing the Gate, I turned my attention to my els. There was a slight itg sensation, but no pain. I looked around and saw I was in a narrow raviween two high cliffs. I could see about five meters ahead before the cliffs turned a er. The air was cool and damp, carrying the faint st of moss ah. I looked behind me and saw a very shallow cave. The back wall was about a meter from the Gate’s anchors, covered in a thin yer of moisture that glistened in the dim light.

  I crept forward quietly to the er of the cliff, my footsteps barely audible on the soft, mossy ground. As I peeked around the er, the ravine tinued another few meters before turning again. I strained my ears, listening for any sounds that might indicate nearby danger, but all was quiet. The silence was almost oppressive, broken only by the occasional water drip from the cave. I looked up and saw tree branches above that hid the sky, their leaves rustling faintly in a gentle breeze. The pce felt eerily empty, devoid of any people or creatures.

  To be safe, I stayed as close as possible to the Gate without going through it. I just stood there ahe mana soak into my body. After less than an hour, the itg sensation disappeared. I checked, and my mana was full.

  I took out a rusty sword and eled Restore. The itg sensatiourned when I rehe sword and stopped the spell. I kept casting Invisibility on myself to stay hidden, and at some point, it went up. Now, it sted close to ten minutes. While trying to el Restore, I had difficulty staying aware of my surroundings, so I couldn’t listen for any signs of approag sounds ures. I tried to split my mind so one part would tinue paying attention to my surroundings and the other would tinue eling, and it worked. I could tihout losing situational awareness.

  Hours passed as I stood there, rest swords and abs mana. After a while, the itg stopped, so I added a small amount of the Absorb asped tihe Restore/Absorb cycle. I didn’t know how long I stood there, but I ran out of swords, had to add more of the Absorb aspect, and my els looked wider.

  After building a loose spiral with only five rings in each orb, the itg went up a notch, but was still bearable. Switg to part, I saturated it with mana. The itg subsided, and it felt like I was ready for a tighter spiral. However, I was out of part and swords, starving and tired, and my feet hurt from standing for hours.

  It was a good day’s work, and it was time to head out.

  It was the middle of the day oher side of the Gate. Sneaking quietly behind one of the standing stones, I made sure nobody could see me and dropped the Invisibility. I took my pho of Ste and checked the date. Five days passed oh. In my estimate, I was about a day or maybe a little longer oher side, but wasn’t sure. I became too engrossed in what I was doing.

  After calling Lis to let him know I was fine, I found a pce to eat, had an enormous meal, and drove bae. On the way, I sidered some ideas on how to spend mana to tinue increasing my regeion. It was a great opportunity that I didn’t want to waste.