After our return to London, Lis tiinkering with his transistor, and I set off toward the Gate. It was near Boleigh, and just as I was about to cross it, I felt a strong warning. I decided to give up on this Gate and check it ter. It was curious that when I first touched the Gate near Land’s End, I didn’t feel any warning. But When I touched this Gate, my Luck or Perception screamed, “Don’t go there.”

  The Gate was in a stone circle known as Bos-un. I arrived te in the evening, and o was dark, I approached the Gate. When I touched it, I sensed a faint warning, as if gently remio tread carefully.

  I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield just in case, then crossed the Gate. Oher side en pin with grass, flowers, and trees in the distance. I saw figures moving far away, but I couldn’t tell if they were humans, elves, or other creatures. Not wanting to linger, I went straight back to Earth.

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

  “Yes, of course. It has to do with iion,” he expined, pointing a finger for emphasis. “Do you io travel to that world? If you do, you’ll receive a warning every time, as worlds with very high mana levels are hazardous. If you only io pop in and out, you’ll feel a warning only if danger is close to the Gate.”

  “Oh, makes sense,” I said, nodding in agreement as I finally uood.

  The Gate was near a pce called St Just. As I approached, a feeling of warning and urgency washed over me. I o be careful oher side, but there was also something important I had to do. It was a mix of feelings; the warning came from either my Luck or Perception, while the urgency seemed to e from another source. I retty sure it was the same source that rebuked me whenever I criticized the system too harshly. My judgmental text box was urgio do something.

  I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield and crossed the Gate. The area oher side was ft, with grass, boulders, and a small grove nearby. I looked bad saw the Gate formed by twe boulders. As soon as I crossed, I sensed a Traveler. The warning from my attributes grew stronger, as well as the feeling that urged me to act—like it was telling me, “Hurry, you don’t have much time.” The Traveler felt close but weak, fading in and out, like a radio station losing and regainiion.

  I began sneaking quietly from boulder to boulder, following the feeling. After about a hundred meters, I saw a human lying on the grass; their limbs were at unnatural angles, and there was a lot of blood around.

  I approached carefully and up close saw it was a bck girl with long hair in Afri braids. I touched her and cast Diagnosis. Her internal ans suffered damage, with some ruptured and most of her bones shattered. There was something else inside her that the Diagnosis couldn’t decipher, but it was harmful. I examined her with my mana sense a a harmful maing her from the inside.

  I cast two Healing Touch spells oo keep her alive but decided not to lihe warning feeling was getting stronger. I picked her up, re-cast Invisibility to hide us both, and started sneaking back to the Gate, casting Healing Touch repeatedly. Thirty meters from the Gate, my Mana Shield shattered, and I felt an intense pain in my head from the backsh and a searing pain in my shoulder. I almost fell, but stayed on my feet by sheer will. Fifteeers from the Gate, intense pain hit my right leg, causio colpse.

  I extended my hands while falling to avoid nding on the girl. I tried to get up but couldn’t; my leg was useless. I put the girl on my bad crawled to the Gate using my arms and one good leg.

  Two arrows flew over my head but missed. I cluded they could sehe disturban the mana, like I did at the first Gate, but couldn’t see through my Invisibility. A meter from the Gate, a blob of harmful mana passed close, but didn’t hit me. I could almost taste the foulness—it was full of nasty aspects. I crawled through the Gate and emerged oher side. It seemed near sunrise, so I had to find a hidden er, but first, I had to take care of my leg. I touched my shoulder a an arrow stu it. I ripped it out, almost screaming from the pain, but held bad healed the wound.

  I ied my leg, which was in terrible shape. A noxious mana that tasted like rot, decay, and putrefa and had a dev aspect was climbing up my leg. No matter what I did to heal, it didn’t work. I tried to stop or block the progression with my mana, but that didn’t work either. The noxious mana devoured my mana. Desperate, I cast Exude Mana on the spell, stopping it from climbing but not removing it. After repeatedly casting Exude Mana, it slowly leaked out, but took an enormous k of my mana with it. To break it down faster, I sent a tendril of mana down my leg and started to de-aspect the mana, like I did to a crystal. It was harder when applied to myself in a panicked and painful situation, especially with mana that had a dev aspect that kept “eating” my mana.

  Finally, my leg was fine, and I could get up. I picked up the girl, cast Healing Touch, a lightheaded. My mana was down to 110/8800. The regeion oh was terrible, but I needed mana to heal her. I ran to my car, cast oo remove the visible blood, almost fainted, covered her with a b like she was sleeping, and ran back to the Gate.

  Once again, I cast Invisibility, id down on my belly, and crawled through the Gate. I created the Absorb aspe all my els and increased the amount until the pins and needles sensation. Willing to suffer a bit but not harm myself, I watched my mana tick up by 43 every sed.

  I y there, regeing as fast as possible. An arrow flew above my head; they sensed me. My mana was at 2,780. I took a d stayed a few seds longer. Another arrow flew, and a nasty mana blob hit one of the Gate stones. I remembered the dangerous feeling from the ruined gate in South America, and not wanting to risk the Gate’s destru, I quickly crawled back to Earth, trying tee until the st sed. My mana was at 3,806.

  Oh, I packed my els with the Absorb asped checked; my mana ticked up by one every six seds.

  Hmm, maybe there’s more mahe Gate?

  I returo the car and started w on the girl. First, I had to address the malevolent mana in her system, as it ed 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. Her dition worsened, but the nasty mana diminished a little. Repeatedly casting it, the noxious mana was diminishing, but I started losing her “reception” again. I stopped and tried to de-aspect the mana again. It was more manageable this time, and I could break it down slowly. Finally, her body was free of it, and I exhaled with relief.

  I switched to healing her internal ans; bones could wait. I healed her heart and lungs first, but the lightheaded again. She was out of danger now, but I was empty. My mana was at 80/8800.

  Take a sed ce?

  It was mid-m already, and there were tourists he Gate. I touched it and received a warning, but not a “shouted” warning. I risked it. Again, I y on my belly and crawled in. Pag my els with Absorb, I y there regeing. After a couple of minutes, I saw two elves running out of the grove. I immediately crawled back out. My mana was at 6,064/8800. The regeion in Tír na nóg was off the charts. I wished I had such regeion oh, but without the danger.

  I stayed by the Gate for over four hours, repeatedly casting Invisibility on myself. The regeiohe Gate was better.

  When I was full, I returo the girl and tinued healing her. I finished with the internal ans and switched to the bones. In the middle of healihe red light started blinking. I checked it:

  Level up +3 intelligence, +3 wisdom, +2 vitality, +3 free points Css: Healer Level 11 Stat points: 3

  Based on my previous injuries, I added the free points to stitution. I facepalmed; I fot to ask Lis about stats distribution.

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

  The spell Healing Touch has reached its maximum level [25]You choose a new spell to level: Healing Dart Healing Sphere ralize Curse

  I was sure that the nasty mana I drained was a curse, and it irritated me I got it after the fact. Still, I checked the other two.

  Healing Dart Send a dart of healing

  The name retty self-expnatory. I felt like the system 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 oer radius and grows by a meter every five levels.

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

  The ralizing Curse was also self-expnatory. I didn’t read the expnation; I was sure it would say ‘to ralize a curse’ or something simir. There was no reason to ence the system to think I was an idiot.

  Because of my previous experiend because it was the most specialized, I chose ralize Curse. I could get by without the other spells, but I his one for the future.

  I tio heal the girl until I was almost empty again. While invisible, I returo the Gate and touched it. I felt a strong sense of dahe fuckers were probably waiting oher side to catch me.

  Tee, I stayed right o the Gate, and it took me almost eight hours to be full again. I returo the car and finished healing the girl. After diagnosing her, I determined she was dehydrated, emaciated, and had suffered severe blood loss, but her injuries were mostly healed, even though she remained unscious.

  It was better to drive home and take care of her there. When I tried to start the car, there was no response. I tried repeatedly, and the car wouldn’t start—it was dead. Frustrated, I called 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. While I mao rescue and heal her, the car refuses to start, and she is still unscious. 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 do.”

  “Did you heal her in the car?”

  “Yes…” I said, fused.

  “How much mana did you use?”

  “Maybe twenty thousand?”

  He let out a low whistle. “Your car is dead and gone, my friend. May it rest in peace. The magic fried it.”

  “Shit, I didn’t think of it,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead in frustration.

  “Happens. Tell me where you are exactly.”

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

  While waiting, I located a car rental in wall and made arras to have it driven to St Just. It took Lis ht hours to get to me. I left him with the girl and rushed to get the rental car. Thankfully, it was still 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 remembered my earlier question, and turo him, “I fot to ask you whe: What is the best stats distribution? I’m always unsure what to do with the free stat points.”

  “Most Travelers save the free Trait o vert to ability points, I’m really gd I don’t have to do it anymore. Anyway, in our case, I’d say everything is important.” He gestured with his hand as he expined, “To learn and advance as a Wizard, you require Intelligend Wisdom. Strength and Agility are necessary for self-defense, stitution for survival, Perception to avoid surprises, and Vitality to have a long journey.” He paused, sidering his words. “When I will level up , I will increase my lowest Trait and work from there.”

  “Yeah… makes sense,” I nodded, abs the information.

  Whe home, I put the girl in my bedroom and tio che her.

  “I have no idea what’s wrong,” I told Lis, frustrated. “She’s doier now that I healed her, but she’s still not responding and doesn’t have enough resources. I tried everything, but nothing works.”

  Lis walked over to her, lifting one of her eyelids. “You won’t be able to wake her up; she is pletely maed. You o get her tee.”

  “How do you know that? What does it mean?” I asked, frowning.

  “You didn’t read about it yet?” Lis g me with a hint of disbelief.

  “No.”

  “Look at her eyes,” Lis said, pointing. “They are pletely bck. 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 maion, it shuts down.”

  “But I emptied my mana almost to zero many times and never lost sciousness,” I argued, puzzled.

  “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 tio cast after that, you will start to empty your body’s mana stores, and when they’re empty, you will go into a a until yee.”

  “She is neing,” I said, shaking my head in frustration.

  “No, she is not,” Lis firmed, her expression serious. “That’s what you have to examine and solve.”

  I sank my awareness into her and looked for her mana system, but couldn’t find it. Her body was devoid of gold. Finally, I found a bck orb in her head. As I followed the usual path of the els, I discovered thin bck lines, suggesting that her els had been fried. I followed the el down her right arm until it reached its end in her palm. Attempting to i a mana tendril into the el, I found it burned shut.

  My attempt to cast Healing Tou the els was unsuccessful. Fortify Life Force didn’t work either.

  Trying a different approach, I forced my way into the el with mana. It opened 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 el. The progress was less than a millimeter, and the effort mentally exhausted me.

  Shit, this is not going to work.

  I remembered one of the mana exercises I did ba Shimoor, when I was training for the ritual. I had to create a ball of mana in my palm and spin it clockwise and terclockwise. That gave me an idea: I extended a tendril of mana and spun it like a drill clockwise. Iing the tendril into her el, I could progress better. It was still slow and took an ungodly amount of tration, but I progressed millimeter by millimeter.

  There were pces in her els so severely burhat I couldn’t open them and had to create a bypass. The problem with the bypass was that it wasn’t a el 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 er from mana around the inside of the new el to keep the mana in. I was lightheaded again, had a headache, and was only halfway done.

  I knew I couldn’t leave it a; her ditio deteriorating, and I had to apply Healing Touch occasionally to keep her stable. I divided my mind into three parts. With one part, I packed my els with Absorb to get as much mana as possible. With the sed, I kept monit her and casting healing whenever needed. And with the third, I recreated the drill and tinued as my mana allowed.

  Lis brought me food and water, so I took a quick break and tinued. After over twelve hours, the first el en. Monit it with my mana sense, I felt mana slowly entering her body.

  Thank you, Guiding Spirits!

  I was utterly and pletely done for. With a splitting headache, uo stand, and distorted vision, everything seemed to swim before my eyes.

  “Lis!” I called.

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

  “Please help me get up and go to bed to rest. I opened one of her els, and she is taking mana. At the moment, I ’t do anything else; I’m too depleted.”

  He helped me up and led me to his bed. I just fell on it and was out ihan a sed.