After I finished engraving the first mask, I called Al over.

  “Please spray some potions on me; I want to check that the mask works.”

  To be safe, I sat down on the couch. Al took out a small vial and spshed some potions on me. I erfectly fine, but Rue, sitting on the couch watg TV, fell asleep on the floor.

  Shit! I didn’t think about him.

  After visiting the pet store, I now had three leather muzzles.

  At dinner, a thought crossed my mind, and I leaned forward slightly, asking Sonak in a measured tone, “Sonak, do you have the Telepathy skill?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Do you have any spare skill points?”

  Sonak’s demeanor shifted subtly, a hint of a smile appearing. “Yes, I do,” he said. “While you were immersed in learning runes, Al took me to several workshops.” His eyes lit up as he spoke. “We both mao colleine skill points.”

  I gnced up from my pte, impressed. “That’s excellent,” I said, genuinely pleased. Sonak’s smile broadened, and he looked proud.

  “Buy the Telepathy skill. We don’t knoe might e across on the base we’re headed to, and speaking out loud might give away our location.”

  He nodded, and his eyes lost focus for a minute. “Bought it,” he firmed.

  “Good. Don’t worry about the points. Right now, oh, you collect a lot of them.”

  “Yes, I discovered this fact. This is amazing!” he said, excitement in his voice.

  It took me ahree days to finish the engravings of all the masks. I called the Amo Inn again to reserve rooms, but they were full.

  I called the entire group into the living room. With everyohered around, I took a deep breath and expined, “The inn is full, and there are no avaible rooms.”

  Their faces showed a mix of disappoi and frustration. I tinued, “The distance as the crow flies is 83 miles, but by road, it’s 150 miles. It will take about three hours to get there by car, assuming there are no surprises along the way.”

  They nodded, abs the information. “So, our options are to drive every day from Vegas or wait five days for rooms to bee avaible,” I cluded.

  Mahya raised her hand slightly, her face thoughtful. “Why don’t we stay at your house instead of taking rooms in an inn?” she suggested.

  I shook my head firmly. “That’s impossible. The entire area is an ope. They would see us right away. Even if the soldiers don’t see us, the satellites will.”

  Mahya’s eyes lit up with fidehe poles I made will hide us,” she promised, her expression ear.

  Curious but skeptical, I asked, “ you expily how the poles work?”

  Pulling out one pole, she nodded. She held it up for everyone, revealing three rows of runes engraved around it like a snake. She poio the first row and expined, “This row bends the light, so the entire area between the poles bees invisible.”

  Her finger shifted to the sed row. “This row duplicates the surrounding area and creates an image in the viewer’s mind of what is around the poles, so there is no invisible dead spa the middle.”

  Finally, she poio the bottom row. “This row sends into the observer’s mind the impression that nothing is iing here and gives a small o their mind to remember something important they o do.”

  She fidently said, “Eveellites wouldn’t see the house because of the bending of the light.”

  She poio three specifies. “When someone’s blood is applied to these runes, it unlocks the formation. Then it has no effect, and you see the truth.”

  I nodded slowly, abs her expnation. The group looked relieved, and Mahya’s fidence was reassuring. This could work.

  We rented a jeep and drove close to Area 51. I didn’t want to get too close, so about ten miles from the base, we got off the road and started driving through the desert, looking food pce to park the house. After two hours, we found a perfect spot between two hills. Mahya first took out the poles, took measurements with a tailor’s measuring tape, which made me ugh, and positiohe poles. I removed the house and thought Sonak’s jaw would hit the floor.

  I telepathically told Mahya, Al, and Rue, “Don’t tell him anything about the dungeon core.” And they nodded slightly.

  After the house was situated, we started with the step of preparing the potion. Al gave each of us a pot full of the potion, aarted filling the balls. I trated oion and created a mental image of the empty orbs in the bag, put a finger into the potion, not wanting to take ces and do it with just my mana field, and gave the order to the potion to store in the orbs. I took out the first bag and checked. 90% of the balls were now filled with a cloudy green liquid.

  Yes!

  I took out the empty balls aed the process until I filled all 1,000 balls, which were my responsibility.

  We decided to go and scout the area that night, waiting for it to get dark. I opened my Profile and reviewed my entire list of abilities. Since I already knew about my strange and inexplicable tendency tet my abilities, I went through the list again to remind myself of all the tools I had at my disposal.

  I noticed a em in my wizard css: Wind. It wasn’t wind trol, uniagic, or anything else, just Wind. It also didn’t have the cssification in brackets.

  I tried to click it with my mind to open an expnation window, but nothing happened.

  “This is a shitty user interface,” I pined out loud to the world at rge.

  I felt a rebuke directed at me. “You get upset as much as you like,” I said, waving my hand dismissively. “It doesn’t e the fact that this is a shitty interface. Maybe standardized help files with a table of tents and an index are too much to ask, but a small line of expnation or dire regarding the step or level is the minimum.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Sonak’s voice was a low growl, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

  I felt a warning directed at me. “Rex, I won’t say anything. I promised, didn’t I?”

  “To whoever desighe Guidaerface,” I replied, exasperation dripping from my words.

  Sonak’s face twisted into a murderous look, his eyes darkening with rage. His entire body tensed, and he seemed to grow taller, more imposing. “This is bsphemy!” he shrieked, his voice rising to a pitch that echoed off the walls.

  “No, it’s not. If somebody designs a shitty product, they should know about it so they fix it. Right now, the Guidance is more of a hindrahan a help,” I tered, my frustration giving my voi edge.

  Sonak looked like he was about to hit me. He ched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and then he made a straion with his hands. Holding his thumb and index fiogether, he touched his heart and forehead like reverse wings with his three free fingers. “I will not work with an Infidel. I am leaving,” he decred, his voice trembling with barely tained fury. He turo Mahya and Al, his eyes bzing. “You should leave too, or the Spirits of Old will punish you.”

  “What about your friend?” Mahya asked, her voice a mix of and fusion.

  Sonak’s expression softened momentarily, torween his anger and loyalty. He nodded, his resolve hardening again. “I will stay to rescue him, and then we are leaving. I will not travel with an Infidel and a sinful person,” he spat, the words ced with venom.

  His rigid posture and stiff shoulders spoke volumes of his e as he turned away. The air was thick with tension, and I could feel the weight of his anger pressing down on me, a palpable force that made the room feel smaller and more oppressive.

  After dark, we snuck towards the base while invisible and reached a four-meter-high barbed wire fence. Of course, Sonak felt the o touch the fence!

  God, he’s an idiot!

  He got electrocuted ao the ground, unscious. I bent down a a Healing Touch through him, even though I didn’t want to do it. He stood back up and looked embarrassed.

  We saw lights ing towards us from ihe base, so we turned and ran back quickly to the house.

  When we were far enough away, I asked him, “What exactly were you thinking when you touched arice?”

  He looked away. “I didn’t know it was electric.”

  We returo the house but saw lights in the distance.

  “Shit!” I said, “They’re looking for us. Let’s quickly store the house and the poles a out of here.”

  “They won’t see the house,” Mahya said.

  “True, but the formation will fall if they drive straight and hit one of the poles. Or at least that’s what I think will happen based on my uanding.”

  “You’re right. Let’s get out of here.” She said, nodding her head firmly.

  We packed everything and ran for half an hour away from the base. After half an hour, we arrived near a high hill; I climbed it and took out my binocurs. I looked at the base and saw Hummer vehicles driving around the base but not ing towards us.

  “Okay, we’re far enough,” I said. “Let’s find a new pce for the house.”

  The night, Mahya and I went aloo scout. Sonak tried tue that he should e too, but I wouldn’t hear of it. Whe within fifty meters of the base, I sat down. Mahya put her hands on my shoulders. I reected to the wind ahrough the sequenotions again. “Searg, please help me; I’ve lost a friend, sense of a Traveler, o find him, this is the search area, looking for a friend I’ve lost, sense of a Traveler, sense of a Traveler, searg in this area, please help me, searg for a friend.” Again and again, until I felt an uanding.

  We sat there waiting, and ten mier, I got a response: Sense of a Traveler, bad buzzing, the air is buzzing, sense of a Traveler, deep underground, the air is buzzing, don’t like the buzzing, an impression of a low building with a lot of motion around it, people? Bad buzzing, disruption, low building.

  I sent a questioning feeling, enpassing the entire base and then zeroing in on the building. Where is the building?

  I got fusion iurn.

  Agaial images of the base on the Map, sense of searg, building? Aed it three times.

  Happiness, a dire—southeast, open space, low building, and motion around it.

  I sent the wind my admiration, gratitude, appreciation, and love.

  She ruffled my hair, and our e broke.

  “Found him,” I sent to Mahya.

  “Where?”

  “In the southeastern part of the base, after an open area, a low building with many soldiers patrolling around it.”

  “We o scout it. I jump over the fence.”

  “I don’t want you to go alo’s too dangerous.”

  “I’m not Sonak. I won’t approach; just look from afar.”

  “I’ll buy the Jump skill and e with you.”

  “Won’t work. At level one, you’ll be able to jump maybe a meter and a half.”

  “I don’t want you to go aloalking with an invisible person without seeing expressions or physical reas was stra felt like unig into the void.

  “Rex, I’m not stupid and have invisibility and stealth.”

  “Fine,” I exhaled in frustration. “But do it fast. If you’re not ba three hours, I’ll find a way to follow you.”

  I sat there, my entire body coiled like a spring, vibrating with ay, waiting for Mahya to return. After what felt like ay, she finally appeared. “Let’s get out of here,” she sent to me. “We’ll talk at home.”

  My tension and worry for Mahya had been building up for hours. Every passing mihout her felt like ay. When she finally returned ahat message, relief flooded me, mixed with a sense ency to leave the pce immediately and find out what had happened.

  Wheuro the house, Sonak, Al, and Rue eagerly awaited us. We settled down in the living room aed our findings.

  “The wind tracked him down for me,” I started, my voice tense. “He’s in some kind of bunker deep underground. There’s a room there where the air hums. I’m not sure, but I think it might be a field that cels out mana. The building is heavily guarded.”

  Mahya added quickly, her tone serious, “I mao observe the building from the outside and eavesdrop on the soldiers. They’re aware that someone is attempting to rescue the Traveler. Although they’re not certain, they have ected Sonak’s i at Nellis Air Force Base aerday’s fent to the Traveler. Security around the building has been increased. They didn’t specify how much, though—no numbers or pertages mentioned.”

  “I think we should go back to Vegas for a week, or even ten days, ahe extra security die down,” I suggested, breaking the tense silence. “Right now, they’re jumpy and on high alert.”

  I turo Sonak, trying to reassure him. “My intuition is quiet; your friend is in no danger.”

  Sonak looked frustrated but nodded relutly, aowledging the practicality of the pn.

  So, back to Vegas.