When we arrived at the airport, the hum of engines and the whiff of jet fuel filled the air. Alfonsen’s eyes widened as he watched the ndings and take-offs and looked increasingly armed every passing minute. “I have signifit reservatiarding this mode of veyance,” he said, the words barely audible over the distant roar of a departing flight.

  “Sorry, Alfonsen,” I said, my tone a mix of apology and exasperation. “Flying is the only way to reach a, and you have already flown ond saw that it’s not that bad. Besides, flying is the safest way of travel in this world.”

  Lis spoke in my mind, “Not with the rising mana levels.”

  I kicked his leg and gred at him. Mahya was making choking sounds again, clearly enjoying herself far too much. To make matters worse, she’d ied Lis with her mischief, and now he was making those annoying choking sounds. I wale them both—because with friends like these, who needs enemies?

  On the flight, Rue wao flop on me again, but I told him, “Fet about it, buddy. This flight is twelve hours long. I’m not going to be squished aing all this time.”

  “John! Bad! Friend!”

  “You sit on the floor and put your head on my p or sit in your seat. Your choice.” I was excelling at this assertive thing.

  He sat in his seat, hung his head like a sad child, and sighed deeply, audibly, aally. I had no idea how he even mahat. He looked like the world’s weight was on his shoulders, and he was bug u. He also sent me powerful feelings of disappoi and sadness. After thirty minutes, I broke down and said, “Fine, you y on my p. But if my legs fall asleep, I’m kig you off.”

  He thumped me with his tail and flopped on me like a wet noodle.

  I’m a total pushover.

  I sighed deeply, too.

  ?━━━━???━━━━?

  After we rested from the flight, we rented a car, and the first thing we did was drive to the Gate, which was four hours away. A big surprise awaited me.

  Travelers Gate #1152948532

  Destinatioh/Gaia/Terra

  Status: Ied

  Mana level: 27

  Threat level: Moderate-low.

  “I don’t uand,” Mahya furrowed her brow, clearly puzzled.

  “Parallel world,” Lis and I answered her together.

  Hey, look at me! I know stuff!

  I couldn’t help but feel a bit smug. It wasn’t every day I got to funt my knowledge.

  “How do YOU know?” She asked me.

  “Read about it in the Archive.” I shrugged, trying to sound casual.

  “Ugh! I hate opening the Archive; it’s such a mess.” Mahya wrinkled her nose in disgust—clearly not a fan.

  “Yeah, but you find good stuff there, too,” I said, remembering the tless hours I’d spent digging through that chaos.

  She didn’t look vinced; her face still twisted in distaste.

  “The Archive is appalling. My family’s private archive is signifitly superior,” said Alfonsen, catg us all off guard. All of us turo look at him, surprised. That was the first time he spoke without demanding or pining.

  “Do you have copies with you?” I asked.

  “Regrettably, this is not the case,” he replied stiffly.

  “You know you just say ‘no,’ and it will vey the same idea, right?” I asked him.

  He looked embarrassed, his cheeks tinged pink, and nodded.

  “Want to travel it?” Mahya asked me.

  “No, not really. It be o be familiar with the y of the nd, but we have the Travelers’ Map for that. I prefer to see something new.”

  “Aren’t you curious to see the differences?”

  “Yes, a little. But I traveled only one world except Earth, so I want to see the rest of the universe.”

  “You traveled only one world?” asked Alfonsen, sounding sdalized. “But you are s.”

  “John is talented, although he thinks he’s hopeless,” Lis said, ing an arm around my shoulders and giving them a firm squeeze.

  My face reddened, and Mahya ughed, her eyes twinkling. “Those blushes are so cute!” She said it in a tone like she was talking to a child.

  I tried to kick her leg, but she jumped away, ughing.

  Shaking my head at the troublesome imp, I cast Invisibility and crossed the Gate. When I was oher side, I checked the mana levels oh—it was still six.

  Good.

  Wheuro the hotel, I opehe Map and the puter to pn our route. I had every iion of t a and seeing all the exg things this try had to offer. As I studied the Map, something caught my eye—it now had thirteen gates, which fused me and made me pause. I distinctly remembered a different number.

  I quickly pulled out my list and double-checked the information. “Lis, how many gates do you have in a?” I asked.

  “Twelve,” he replied, gng over at me.

  I looked back at the Map, the extra gate standing out like a sore thumb. “Now there are thirteen. You think araveler crossed over to Earth?”

  “Probably.” Lis opened his o, or I thought he did—his eyes lost focus. “If Gates ge their destinations, more Travelers will e here.”

  I made a list of all the exg things I wao see in a and marked their proximity to the Gates. For the wo hours, we iated what to see and which route to take.

  In the end, our route looked like this:

  The Forbidden City, The Great Wall of a, The Summer Pace Beijing—Gate Dohe Mausoleum of Light, The Northern Imperial Tomb, Shenyaerracotta Army, Xi’anLeshan Giant Buddha, Sigdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, SiZhangjiajie National Forest Park, HunanCruising the Li River, GuilinThe Yangtze River and the Three GesThe Cssical Gardens of Suzhou, JiangsuHangzhou’s Historic West LakeShanghai’s Promehe Bua Pace, Tibet—2 Gates in TibetI also made a list of all the things I either wao buy or discovered that I needed, based on my notes:

  Copper s—find a wholesaler and them out.Tools—all types; check with Lis if he ge some of them into Magitech.DIY equipment.Fabric, yarn, sewing equipment—check about manual sewing maes.Medical supplies—even things I don’t think I’ll need, including a rge supply of saline solution.Massage beds for treatments.Coolers of all sizes—a lot of them. Those are best sellers.Takeaway tainers—all sizes.Folded cardboard boxes.Shoes + ces + socks.Sungsses.Detergents + ing equipment.Girl stuff, including makeup, hair brushes, perfumes, etc.—sult with Mahya.Cheap e jewelry.Office supplies.Painting and art supplies—especially a rge iory of brushes for rituals.Crafts supplies—sult Mahya.Dog & cat food—just in case.Games and toys for children.Toiletries of all kinds.Backpacks in different sizes.More Bows, arrows, crossbows, and bolts.Baby food.Cheap decorations and art.Towels.Bedding: Linen, bs and pillows.Metal kit utensils.Metal cooking equipment.Fire lighting equipment—rge matches and kit lighters.Spare furniture.A bigger boat with sails, the smallest that Rue will agree to board—find sailing csses to learn to sail it.I checked how much money I had left, and I had over two hundred fifty thousand euros from my sales and the two huhousand from Mahya.

  I saw Sotheby’s in Beijing and jured papers for all the jewelry I bought in Shimoor. They showed my ownership and insurance. Each piece had a separate certificate that detailed the metal and gems and when and where such teiques were used oh. The papers didn’t state that it was from Earth, only when and where such teiques were used oh.

  Very sneaky of you.

  I felt amusement directed at me. I thought I finally raised my Strength stat enough—I didn’t eve.

  Yay for mental fortitude!

  I visited Sotheby’s Beijing and put the jewelry on sale. Since I was already familiar with the process, I k would take at least 45 days.

  After a iation with Lis that a will have workshops not avaible anywhere else, I also booked some workshops. During the whole iation, Alfonsen looked at Lis and me every time we talked, and he had an amazed expression. He looked like he was watg a tennis match, with his head turning from oo the other.

  Finally, he couldn’t tain himself anymore and asked Lis, “You possess a substantial amount of power in parison to him. For what reason do you refrain from telling him what to do?”

  “He is my friend, not my subordinate, so we decide things together. That’s how friendship works.”

  Alfonsen looked thoughtful. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

  Beijing Private Tai Chi Cssese Calligraphy Css for Small GroupCooking Css Beijing Dumplings and CuisineBadminton CssTea Ceremony WorkshopLearn to make sugar paintingLife Awakening: Finding Your True SelfFeng Shui sulting and Study CssTraditional ese PhilosophyAg CssMahjong CssAll of us, even Alfonsen, ehe tours in the Forbidden City and the pace, but they couldn’t uand what was so special about the wall of a. I evehem the history from my tablet, and it didn’t help.

  “A wall is a wall. Whether you saw one or a hundred, it doesn’t matter; it’s still a wall,” Lis said, looking puzzled.

  Mahya and Alfonsen were nodding along emphatically when he spoke in total agreement.

  “Aliens are no fun!” I decred, feelied.

  “You’ll be one soon, too,” Mahya said and started ughing at my expression.

  We started with the workshops, and Lis liked the Tai Chi css. He kept the skill and even bought more books on the subject, most of them in ese.

  Alfonsen loved the tea ceremony and begaing the o give up the ability point. We told him to keep it, and he looked so surprised that I thought his eyes would fall out—they were that wide. I couldn’t uand him; his way of thinking was weird.

  In the sugar painting css, Mahya kept eating the art supplies until the instructot upset. So, she started eating mine.

  For some inexplicable reason, the system disagreed that Finding Your True Self and ese Philosophy were skills and refused to give us the points. I even argued with it out loud—it didn’t work.

  The four of us liked the Mahjong css but decided not to keep the skill point—we could py it without a skill, and we all bought a Mahjo. I added the item “Games for adults” to my shopping list.

  I hadn’t received the money from Sotheby’s yet, so we went sightseeing and visited the Temple of Heaven, the Yoemple, the Beijing Temple of fucius, and the National Museum of a.

  Before the museum visit, I told them that even if half the exhibits were “old stuff that somebody dug out of the ground,” I didn’t want to hear about it. Lis and Mahya pouted at me and still had a lot to say about the archaeological exhibits.

  Finally, all my items sold, and I was richer by a little over 200 thousand dolrs.

  Not bad, not bad at all.

  Mahya and I visited the Pearl Market and bought a lot of jewelry with freshwater pearls. Our stop was the Five-Star Merdise Wholesale Market, and we bought a lot of things on my list. Mahya thought my list was great and copied it for herself. Alfonsen followed the two of us during all our shopping and listeo everything we said, but didn’t have an opinion.

  I asked him if he needed help verting his moo the local currency so he could shop and stock up on merdise to sell.

  “A prince should not behave like a oner,” he scoffed, looking at me down his nose.

  At least he used everyday English. You o learn to appreciate the little things.