After the ritual, I was utterly wiped out, and Rue looked like he was dragging. We returo Lis’s house, had an enormous meal, and both went to sleep. When I woke up, the sun looked like it was iernoon, but it felt like I had slept longer. ing downstairs, I found Lis sitting and reading a book.

  “Good m,” I greeted.

  He ughed and replied, “Good tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” I asked, puzzled.

  “Yes, you slept for a day and a half.”

  It surprised me. I felt exhausted from the ritual, but didn’t expect to sleep that much. I checked my mana: 623/8,800.

  Wow! My mana jumped up!

  “My mana jumped up 1,200 points. Is this normal?” I asked Lis.

  “Impressive. Normally, it goes up 400 points after this ritual, but probably because of your tri-mana system, it went up 400 points per orb. That is the only expnation I think of.” He ughed, adding, “Did I tell you I am jealous? Even if I did, I would repeat it. Surely, with this jump, you should already be iwo or even three thousand range.”

  “Umm, I started with 7,600... I’m now 8,800,” I replied, rubbing my ne embarrassment.

  He looked at me wide-eyed, his mouth agape. After a minute, he asked, “How much was your mana when it awakened for the first time?”

  “Um, 3,000...”

  “I should have guessed. I already told you that your father es from a very high mana world. You should thank the itities for your mana,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief and smiling.

  “Why?” I asked. I couldn’t help but be curious about the answer.

  “I started with 400 and reached 5,200 after over 300 years as a Traveler.”

  “Remember when I told you about the se I did with six or seven thousand?” I said, frowning as I tried to recall the details.

  “I believed you eled it in is.”

  “I’m not that crazy!” Laughing, I excimed.

  “Yes, I should have guessed by your rea to the idea of doing it again,” he ughed, shaking his head in amusement. After a minute, he added, “When do you want to go to the world across the Gate?”

  “You meah? Why did you put it that way?” I asked, tilting my head.

  “I did not know the name, and I told you to look at it as a Traveler, so I will not call it your home world,” he expined, shrugging.

  “I like your way of looking at things,” I said, nodding in agreement. “About going to Earth, I want tee fully, but I have nothing else I want to aplish after that. By the way, where is Rue?”

  “He woke up a short while ago, asked for a big meal, grumbled that the food I gave him was not ri mana, a outside,” he replied, pointing towards the door.

  “Asked? Grumbled? How? He speaks now?! I’m totally fused,” I said, my eyes widening in shock.

  Lis ughed and said, “No, he will never speak iraditional sense of the word; he does not have a suitable vocal structure. But with time and progress, he will master mana speech. Today, he unicated with me like he unicates with you, with emotions and impressions. Did you not read about it in the book about familiars?”

  “It said his unication abilities will improve, but I assumed it meant with me, not others.”

  “Oh, I see. He is a familiar now. He is tethered to a human soul, so he unicate with others since you , but only with people or beings with mana,” Lis expined, smiling.

  “Awesome! My dog talk! Or kind of talk? ... hmm ... Yeah...” I scratched my head in fusion.

  Lis roared with ughter at my fusion. With a shake of my head, I went in search of Rue. He was outside, lying in the sun. I petted him, scratched his ears, and diagnosed him. He was healthy and i shape, and I felt delighted. I sank my awareness into him to see the ges mana-wise.

  I located his three tiny orbs, maybe three millimeters in diameter or even smaller. He had the four mana els in his legs, but they were hair-thin, and he didn’t have the work of the smaller els throughout the whole body. I read in the book that the mana system of the familiar is initially at its beginning stages, but I expected a more progressed or developed beginning.

  “We e you on mana-rich meat to help develop your mana system,” I told him.

  A a very enthusiastic agreement from him.

  “Yeah, I thought you would like the idea.”

  I went io talk with Lis again. “Lis, you told me about a standard familiar package, but I don’t remember all the details. you give me the list again? I’ll write it down this time.”

  “Sure. It is Invisibility for crossing the Gates, Stealth for scouting, Ste for food and water, Telekinesis so he have more freedom, One of the Crowd so you hide his appearand jure identification, and Mana Shield for prote,” he expiig off each item on his fingers.

  “Thanks,” I said, pulling out a notebook to jot dowails.

  He nodded and got back to his book. I noticed it was the book I gave him about an apocalypse. Curious, I asked, “What do you think about the book? Is the description of the apocalypse accurate?”

  “It is pletely ridiculous but very eaining,” he said, smirking as he flipped a page.

  “Why ridiculous?” I leaned against the door frame, intrigued.

  “First, the idea that the hero get AI. AI is teology; teology does not work with mana. I heard from other Travelers that there are advaech worlds where you buy an AI, but to install it, you must undergery to impnt the AI in your head,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Also, the idea of a shop between worlds is impossible. The worlds are not ected, and as far as I know, even in the most teologically advanced worlds with several ies on other ps, there is no unicatioween worlds. unication will take months or even years to reach the other p. I do not uand how this idea work when the physical world is built as it is.

  “The idea that you must buy your house from the shop is also amusing. Your house is your house. It does not stop being your house because your world has been flooded with mana. Teology gradually colpses, that is true, but everything else remains the same. The world does not ge. It just starts w on different physical ws. Or rather, with an additional element that has a far-reag effect.

  “Also, the Personal Information described here is simir to traits in other worlds, not the Travelers’ Personal Information. But I ot uand the e between intelligend mana – these are entirely different things. And what is the e between a trait and regeieion depends on the width of your els and the amount of mana in the air, not some arbitrary number.

  “Furthermore, the idea that a world is a dungeon ot exist. Dungeons are created when there is a mana pocket with a much higher mana level than the world’s; it is a filter. But apart from these things, the book is very eaining, and I enjoy reading it.” He chuckled, clearly amused by the book’s absurdities.

  “What do you mean personal information is like in other worlds, not Travelers? I thought the system, uidance as you call it, is the same everywhere?” I asked, utterly fused.

  “No. There are worlds where the inhabitants have different traits from us. There are worlds where the process of getting a css is pletely different, and only among Travelers have I e across the fact that traits have physical aal aspects. It may exist elsewhere, but I have not entered it. I have a theory that we have the additional aspect to deal with the differences between worlds,” he expined, leaning ba his chair.

  “Huh.” That was a surprise.

  I let him get back to his book a back out to spend my ability points on Rue. Returning to Earth sounded better aer every minute since I needed more ability points. I opehe GT css abilities list to buy Rue the abilities Lis reended and had a surprise. The abilities had a new line regarding familiars, and they were expensive!

  Hmm, a familiar is a costly business.

  Ste: Rare Css Ability

  Gain a ste space of 64 m3 (4x4x4m). All stoods stay in a suspeate. Cost: 1 Ability Point

  There is no mana cost, but accessing the spa worlds with low mana levels (10 or below) takes longer and requires more tration.To expand the space, spend 1 Ability Point for +4 to all the dimensions:64 m3> 512 m3> 1728 m3> 4096 m3>Space expansion is unlimited, but expanding without raising your stats might cause a mental strain.

  Familiar Version:

  Buy your familiar ste space of 1 m3 (1x1x1m). All stoods stay suspended. Cost: 5 Ability Points To expand the space, spend 3 Ability Points for +1 to all the dimensions: 1 m3 > 8 m3 > 27 m3 > 64 m3

  One of the Crowd: Unique Css AbilityThis Ability is everything a Traveler o hide their status as a Traveler.In worlds with low to high mana levels, many csses view personal information or have runiagic script artifacts to view the personal information of a being. To help hide your status as a Traveler, you hide/edit parts of your Personal Information:* ge your o match local ventions. * Dispy your Profession or one of your sub-csses as your Css. * Dispy a false css based on one of your Skills or spells. * Hide any part of your Personal Information and dispy question marks instead. hat dispying question marks might direwatention your way. Cost: 1 Ability Point No mana cost.

  In teological and some mana worlds, various means of proving identity exist, such as identification papers, badges, identity chips, and more.Use this ability to jure the needed identifications to travel the world peacefully.A oime cost of 100 mana to jure identifications.

  If the identifieans are more advanced, such as ay chip ected to a tral database, it costs 500 mana to jure the chip and ect to the database.Depending on the need, more mana might be required to perform additional adaptations, or jure various credentials to ease your travels.

  If your race is unknown in the new world, you gmour yourself to look local.The gmour will remain stant and drop when you pass through a Gate to a new world.A oime cost of 300 mana in eaew world.

  Familiar Version: Buy your familiar the ability to hide its nature. In worlds with low to high mana levels, many csses view information or have runiagic script artifacts to view a being’s information. This Ability allows you to hide/edit your familiar’s information.Cost: 5 Ability Points

  Various means of identificatio in teological and some mana worlds, such as identification papers, badges, identity chips, and more. Use this Ability to jure the needed identification for your familiar. hat if your familiar does not have enough mana, you will have to spend your mana to use this Ability. A oime cost of 300 mana to jure identifications.

  If your familiar kind is unknown in the new world, you gmour them to look local. The gmour will remain stant and drop when you pass through a Gate to a new world. A oime cost of 500 mana in eaew world.

  General Spells and Skills: Unique Css Ability

  The Traveler visits many worlds, faces many challenges, and needs many Skills and Spells to travel safely and hide their status as a Traveler. As such, this css is not limited to the Skills or Spells the Traveler learn. A Traveler learn any Spell or Skill in the ected worlds.Cost: 1-3 Ability Points for each Spell or Skill.

  All Spells and Skills start at level 1.Use the Spell or Skill to raise its level.No mana cost to gain a Spell or Skill.Mana cost for use varies acc to the Spell or Skill.

  Familiar Version:

  You buy your familiar Spell or Skill from the lists. Cost: 3-9 Ability Points

  hat familiars without the required limbs ot use a corresponding Skill.

  I started with 35 ability points, but the 2 Gate Traveler abilities e 10 points!

  Invisibility, Stealth, and Mana Shield each cost 3 points, and Telekinesis cost 9! NINE!! Points.

  I had 40 points just retly, and now I have 7.

  Yeah, I’m definitely going back to Earth.