After yet another failed attempt to ect to the earth, I had to cede defeat and search for another solution. With a heavy sigh, I sat in the middle of the yard for over half an hour, rag my brain for new ideas. Finally, a spark of inspiration struck me, and I knew what to do. However, I had to return to the books t this idea to life. Although I had learned a lot of magic script symbols, I realized I was still missing some crucial oo aplish my goal.

  I lounged in the living room, my feet propped up oable, p over some intricate magic script symbols. Mahya abruptly interrupted my focus when she plopped beside me, her arms full of paintball guns and an engraving pen. She immediately set to work on the guns, her brow furrowed in tration.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, gng up from my study.

  “Engraving,” she replied, not b to look up.

  I raised an eyebrow. “I see that. But what are you engraving and why?”

  She paused, a mischievous glint in her eye as she looked at me. “I am making the guns silent and increasing their range and shooting power. When I’m dohey’ll shoot strohan rifles with real bullets.”

  I nodded appreciatively. “Oh, good idea.”

  “Of course, I’m a genius,” she said with a wink, her hands deftly moving over the guns.

  I chuckled auro my studies, though I couldn’t help but occasionally steal g her work. After a few hours, Rue trotted in, his tail wagging furiously. His face lit up with pride as he reported the results of his patrol.

  “Rue do patrol! Rue do security! Rue on the prowl! Dangerous Rue!” he procimed, puffing out his chest. “Rue scare bad cat! Rue chase two bad cat! Rue tell beetle go away! Beetle no go! Rue push beetle way!” His tail wagged furiously as he reted his exploits, eyes gleaming with pride.

  I exged a weary look with Mahya, both of us rubbing our temples in unison. Rue’s exuberaal shouting was giving us both a slight headache.

  “We urgently o find a Gate so that he raise his level,” Mahya muttered, massagiemples with a sigh. “I’m sure that after level ten, he will stop shoutially.”

  I nodded in agreement, my eyes drifting back to the magic symbols before me, though my mind was already wandering to potential solutions.

  In the evening, Al returned from the workshop without Sonak. His posture was stiff, and his expression was solemn as he ehe room.

  “Where’s Sonak?” Mahya asked, her brow furrowed in .

  “He remained behind to engage in gambling,” Al replied, his tone measured. He paused momentarily before tinuing, “I wish to take this opportunity to discuss something that has been troubling me.”

  “What?” I asked, leaning forward slightly, sensing the gravity in his voice.

  “As the future heir to the throne,” Al began, his eyes fixed on a distant point, “I have undergoeraining not only iters of Gates and Gate s but also in the governand rule over Mirbit. This training enpassed gover, taxation, the handling of nobility—”

  “We know all that; you’ve told us many times,” I interrupted him. “Get to the point.”

  Al ined his head slightly, his expression unging. “Apologies. Part of my training involved identifying potential troublemakers. Sonak is not merely a potential troublemaker but a firmed one. I harbor serious doubts regarding the prudence of tinuing our mission with him.”

  Mahya sighed, rubbiemples. “I was afraid of that too.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said, crossing my arms. “The problem is that it’s his friend we’re going to rescue, so I find it hard to believe he would agree to stay behind. And I’m not sure his friend would agree to apany us without him. Also, don’t fet that his friend is currently cut off from access to mana. I suspect he hasn’t had a ce to learn English. How are we going to unicate with him without Sonak?”

  They both looked thoughtful, their faces mirr my .

  “I think we have to take him with us,” I finally said, gng between them, “but we o be on guard, knowing he might do something stupid or malicious.”

  Mahya and Al exged a weary ghen nodded in silent agreement, looking resigned.

  It took me two more days to learn aire book of magic script and collect all the symbols I he hours flew by as I immersed myself iricate designs, my fingers stained with ink from flipping through pages and jotting down notes.

  Armed with part and a pen, I sketched the needed magic circle. As the lines and symbols came together, I quickly realized I would wo circles: one suspended in the air and one on the ground. The realization hit me like a cold spsh of water; I had to create the circle in the air with my mana, and after some ption, I uood that I also had to form the circle on the ground with mana rather than just drawing raving it.

  During my earlier training in Shimoor, I had learned about creating magic circles from mana, but I hadn’t practiced it because it wasn’t relevant to the rituals I had to perform at the time. This situation was different. I had to practice creating magic circles with mana, a skill that was now crucial.

  My first two attempts were incredibly awkward. My trol over the mana for such a delicate task was terrible, and it kept getting cut off while I was eling it. That roblem because each symbol had to be drawn from start to finish without interruption, in one tinuous lihe frustration mounted as I struggled; the symbols flickering and fading with every misstep.

  Determio succeed, I deployed my mana seo enpass the area where I practiced the circles. The sensation of the mana flowing through me was intense, like a current of electricity c through my veins.

  What the hell?! That’s new!

  After a few mihe sensation subsided auro the normal slight, almost imperceptible tickle all over my skin and heaviness in my head. At least I was over the headache stage.

  With this enhanced awareness, maintaining the flow became easier, but it required a tration level I had never experienced before. Every muscle in my body tensed, my brow furrowed in deep focus. The surrounding air seemed to hum with energy, a testament to my effort. I could feel the weight of each drawn symbol, the importance of getting it right, pressing down on me. Slowly but surely, I progressed, each successful symbol a minor victory in my quest to plete the magic circles.

  When I was nearing pletion of about 90% of the first circle, the faint sound of a car approag caught my attention. Startled, I turo see who was arriving and, in a reflexive motion, raised my hand, palm fag the unfinished circle, and absorbed it into my palm with a surge of mana. I stood frozen in disbelief. I turned my palm up and stared at it, pletely shocked by what I’d just done. When I looked at my palm, I saw the circle beh my skin. It remained invisible to the naked eye, but I could perceive it with my mental sight, much like how I could see my mana system or Ste.

  How, in the name of all Guiding Spirits, did I mahat?

  Meanwhile, the vehicle stopped he neighb bungalow, and a family of four emerged. Two parents, apanied by two young sons, likely between the ages of 7 and 10, stepped out onto the quiet street.

  Rue spotted the children and bounded over to them with his usual enthusiasm. The father, appearing wary, positioned himself protectively in front of his children, blog Rue’s path.

  “Don’t worry,” I called to him. “He’s super friendly and adores kids; he won’t harm them. Just give him lots of belly rubs and ear scratches.”

  The father chuckled, but the mother still appeared ed.

  “He’s as big as a horse. What do you feed him?” she asked cautiously.

  I chuckled and replied, “That’s typical for this breed. Don’t worry; he’s very gentle and thoughtful when he’s around children. And if they’re especially kind to him, with plenty of treats, he might evehem ride on him. But that’s a iation they’d have to work out between themselves.”

  The mother visibly rexed and joined in the ughter.

  The kids pounced on Rue and begaing and scratg him all over. My boy looked in heaven, and his tail wagged so fast that he created a mini localized sandstorm. That gave me an idea; I almost saw the lightbulb go on in my head. The Earth was a stubborn, annoying mule, but the Wind was awesome and loved chaos. I was sure she would love to py with some sand.

  I walked over to the family, extending my hand with a warm smile. “Hi there, I’m John,” I introduced myself.

  The father shook my hand firmly. “o meet you John. I’m Jim,” he replied warmly. “We’re from Okhoma.”

  The mother smiled politely. “Hello John, I’m Maggie,” she greeted. “And these rascals are James Jr. and Russell,” affeately tousling the boys’ hair.

  The boys, wholly absorbed in Rue’s antics, barely aowledged the introdus. James Jr. giggled as Rue nuzzled his hand while Russell tried to coax him into pyich with a stick.

  I chuckled, gng at Rue, who seemed to be thhly enjoying the attention from the kids.

  “How long are you here for?” I asked, curious about their vacation pns.

  “A week. You?” Jim inquired.

  “I’m leavioday, unfortunately,” I replied with a hint ret.

  Jim ughed knowingly. “Yeah, every vaust end,” he iserated.

  “I hate to interrupt,” I interjected apologetically. “But I have something cooking I don’t want to burn.”

  “Don’t let us dey you,” Maggie replied warmly, giving me an uanding smile.

  I hurried into the house and called out to everyone, “We o switch locations. We have new neighbors, and I ’t practice with witnesses around.”

  “Maybe we should just park your house in the middle of the desert?” Mahya suggested.

  “But I want to attend workshops,” Al protested, disappointed.

  “We find a pot too far from Vegas. You and Sonak, with your bikes, easily get to Vegas,” I suggested, trying to offer a solution.

  Al nodded in agreement, though Sonak grumbled something indistind made an annoyed face before relutly nodding.

  After gathering all the scattered equipment, we prepared the bikes and ATV for the trip to the desert. Rue seemed visibly upset to bid farewell to the children. I k, scratg behind his ears reassuringly. “Sorry, buddy, but I need you for a critical mission.”

  Rue perked up, his ears twitg with curiosity. “What mission?!” he barked eagerly.

  “We’re relog my house to the middle of the desert. You’ll o do a much rger patrol than usual—cover a vast area and ensure no oumbles upon our new location. If anyone approaches, I need you to alert us immediately.”

  “Rue watchdog! Rue warn!” he affirmed proudly.

  “Thank you, buddy. I trust you,” I assured him.

  As we revved ines and began our journey, a thought crossed my mind: “Maybe the movie Max wasn’t such a tactical error after all.”

  We gathered for dinner after finding a suitable location for the house aing up the cealment poles. Later that evening, I retreated to my room and opehe Archive, hoping to find guidance about my intense mana experience. As I prepared to reach out to Lis for advice, I sensed a stronger warning than before.

  “Really? I ’t even ask a friend for advice?” I thought with frustration. “I won’t mention the messages I’m receiving; I just need guidan where to find more information. I o uand what this was,” I silently pleaded.

  This time, I didn’t speak out loud. Sonak was around.

  Once again, I felt a powerful warning.

  “Fine, have it your way. But in exge, you o poioward answers, or it will drive me crazy.”

  A sense of amusement seemed to emanate in response.

  “It’s not funny,” I grumbled inwardly.

  The first time I had to extract the circle from my hand, it took me a few mio figure out how. Unfortunately, this time, there was nothing to make me do it instinctively, but in the end, I managed. I had to push some mana into the circle and out with my iion. Once you know the trick, it’s pretty easy. Getting the circle into my hand also took some trial and error, but eventually, I could pop it in and out in no time.

  After getting the hang of trolling the in-and-out process, I got back to building the circles. It took me another couple of days to finish the magic circles, especially since I had to tweak a few points tthen them. But finally, they were good to go. Standing bad admiring my handiwork, a sense of satisfa washed over me as I saw the perfect, beautiful circles I had crafted.

  When I started on them, I expected the mana color to be gold, as I saw in my mana system. But these circles glowed in a vibrant purple, just like my eyes. Cheg my mana system, I noticed the orbs still had that golden hue, but now they had swirling purple lines around the edges.

  I thought we had nearly finished everything. Mahya had finished engraving the guns. I had pleted the circles. We practiced shooting and using the trampoline. Aside from my ongoio practice with the circles, we were all set.

  Mastering those circles took me ahree of days. The Wind didn’t always cooperate immediately; I had to vince her to work with me. But finally, I felt ready.

  Sitting with Al, Mahya, Sonak, and myself in the living room, the atmosphere was a mix of relief aermination. Mahya nodded, a small smile of satisfa spreading across her face as she leaned bafortably.

  “You’ve put in quite the effort,” she remarked warmly.

  “Yes, indeed. A formidable challenge,” Al responded with a nod of agreement.

  I nodded in affirmation, feeling the weight of the task finally lifting off my shoulders. “It was tough but necessary. Now we’re prepared.”

  Turning to our pns for the uping mission, I leaned forward, hands gesturing to emphasize my point.

  “Let’s wait a few more days. The new moon is approag, making it darker. That’ll be our advantage,” I suggested, gng around to gauge their reas.

  Al houghtfully. “Ihe cover of darkness will serve us well. I cur,” he replied, his tone measured and analytical.

  Sonak shifted unfortably, clearly impatient with staying put. His expression darkened, atered under his breath, “Always deying everything...”

  The three of us exged a g didn’t react.

  After some deliberation, we agreed to duct the rescue at midnight on March 22, 2031. At the desigime, everyone had to arrive at the base, at the southern point close to the building from which we would rescue the Traveler.

  Mahya spoke, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “John and I were thinking of going gambling again,” she suggested, looking at me for firmation.

  I smiled, nodding in agreement. “Sounds like a pn. We’ll store the house a ready to move,” I firmed, feeling a surge of anticipation.

  “I will visit a new friend,” Al informed us.

  Sonak just grumbled under his breath. I thought he was cursing in some unknown nguage, but I wasn’t sure.

  With the final preparatio and a restless energy buzziween us, I khere was n baow—the tdown had officially begun.

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