TravelingDreamer

  Steering was boooriiing!

  I tried to keep reading while steering the helm, but it was impossible. Although I could split my mind, I couldn’t split my eyes. Trying to e up with something else to occupy myself with, I remembered my Ste. In Shimoor, I used to sort through it occasionally tanize my stored items, but I haven’t done so i years. With all the shopping I did in London and Paris, in various cities during our European trip, and the extensive shopping in a, my Ste was a chaotic jumble of items. It was as if a whirlwind had swept through, scattering items without a thought to their location. The sheer chaos of it all was overwhelming.

  Splitting my mind, I kept looking at the sea and looked into the Ste, and this time, it did work, but it was weird. I looked at the sea with my physical eyes, while simultaneously using my mental eyes to “look” into the Ste. Even though these were mental eyes, I saw through them, which caused a great deal of fusion. Having two viewpoints simultaneously was a pletely new experiene, and it felt extremely disorienting. The world seemed to spin around me, and I struggled to find my bance. I tio sit there a used to this split perspective. After about two hours, the fusion gradually lessened, allowio focus on both my surroundings and the Ste. The experience was a mix of fasation and disorientation, presenting a level of fusioirely unfamiliar to me.

  With a renewed focus, I began s through my belongings, reanizing them into specific categories. I set aside a distinct area for items I inteo sell and a separate space solely for food. I also moved the house and e equipment, such as boats, to a different part of the Ste. Ohese tasks were plete, I focused oems that didn’t fit into any specific category. During this process, I stumbled upon the wooden ring I had gained in the dungeon in Tuone, sparking a thought.

  Sending a telepathic message to Alfonsen, I asked him, “I have a ring that gives 2% extra stitution; are you ied?”

  “Not a very high pertage.”

  “Yeah, I got it from a baby dungeon.”

  “I would appreciate having it until I find a superior option.”

  “It’s yours.”

  After pg the ring in my pocket, I tinued s through my belongings. I stumbled upon the box Lis built for me, and I couldn’t help but facepalm. I still haven’t used it! I retrieved the box, the file-access device, and the music-filled hard disk Mahya built for me.

  Puzzled, I turhe three devices this way and that, scratg my head.

  Hmm, how do I use them?

  I looked closer and saw something stig out from the device that should access files with a matg entry oernal drive. I ied the tip into the drive, heard a click, and now it looked like one device—half transparent and looking crystallihe other half metal, with runes c its entire surface.

  That was simple...

  I examihe strange speaker, going over all the rods and antennas stig out of it and searg for a e point, and checked the file access devid looked for a mount point, but found nothing.

  Hmm, I’m sure Lis made something useful. I only o figure out how to use it.

  I approached it from a different angle. When I examihe device that accesses the files, I identified a charge ruhis rune was in the book I studied for the boat project. By toug the ruh my finger, I could el mana into the device. The device tio charge until I felt it was no longer receiving more mana. Even with the device fully charged, I didn’t see any ge.

  What now?

  When I examined all the runes on the device, I saw they were part of the tai field.

  I asked out loud, “What the hell, Lis? How do I use this thing? Couldn’t you leave an instruanual or something?” I threw my hands up, staring at the runes helplessly.

  Mahya heard me and approached, raising an eyebrow. “Who are you talking to?” she asked, her voice ced with curiosity.

  “Lis.” I gnced over my shoulder at her.

  “He’s not here if you haven’t noticed,” she ughed.

  “I know that, but pints in my mind doesn’t carry the same weight as pining out loud.” I shrugged, feeling foolish.

  “What are you pining about?”

  “How do I use this thing? I figured out how to ect the drive to the access device, and I charged it, but ’t figure out the rest.” I gestured at the device, frustrated.

  “Did you charge the speaker?”

  “No.” I frowned, realizing I’d missed something obvious.

  “Charge it.” She rolled her eyes at me.

  Yeah, yeah.

  After I charged the speaker, she turhe device over and showed me a circle in the middle with the rune e and aical circle at the bottom of the speaker. “Pce the two identical runes on top of each other,” she instructed, pointing. Then she poio a of runes and asked, “Reize these?”

  I looked at them, and they were familiar. “They’re ‘Access,’ ‘Activation,’ ‘Information,’ and ‘trol.’” I he realization dawning on me.

  “Put your finger on Access and flow mana into the rune.” She watched ily as I followed her dires.

  A list appeared on the crystal drive. It looked just like a list on a phone or tablet s.

  “Cool!” I excimed.

  “With the other hand, scroll up or down—it works like a touch s. When you decide which song you want to hear, double tap on it.”

  I chose the song Dust in the Wind by Kansas. The song started pying through the speaker, and I started singing along with a huge smile.

  I HAD MUSIC! I was over the moon and tio steer and sing for hours with a massive smile until Alfonsen repced me at the helm.

  “Did you reach a decision?” I asked him.

  “Not yet.”

  I squeezed his shoulder, support. “Take your time. Make sure it’s what you want so you won’t have as ter.” I gave him a reassuring smile.

  He nodded. I handed him the ring ao the back deck to tinue reading the book about mana trol.

  ?━━━━???━━━━?

  Mahya was corre her estimate of our speed if a little servative. We left Yakushima at dawn and docked at the Tobiuo Pier in Chichi-Jima two hours before sunrise. If my calcutions were correct, our speed was 29 knots! Sihe sea was still very calm with almost no wind, the speed was 100% ine.

  I patted the ded said, “Good girl. Mahya is right; you are perfect.”

  A Google search revealed that there wasn’t much to do in Chichi-Jima. The pce’s charm was mainly because of the beautiful beaches, but we weren’t ied in swimming. We visited the Ogasawara Marine Product ter and saw small sharks, rays, sea turtles, and various local fish. We ate a Japanese di Fuku-, slept on the boat, and sailed with the sunrise. If my calcutiarding our speed were correct, we should reach Guam in 28 hours.

  From the very beginning, it was clear that the weather ditions had ged. The o was choppy, and there was wind. At least it was in the right dire. The wind got stronger and stronger until Alfonsen asked me to repce him at the helm. His sailing skill was still level three, while Mahya’s and mine were level six, so he didn’t feel fortable steering the boat in these ditions. I quickly uood the problem: the boat flew too fast between the e almost maximum speed and the sails receiving a solid wind. To avoid hitting a boat or ship, I slowed dowor more and more until we were sailing almost only on wind power.

  Rue felt terrible and threw up several times. Luckily, Alfonsen had the spell.

  I called Rue, “e here, buddy, put your head on my p.”

  He whined softly but mentally shouted, “Bad boat! Rue no like!”

  I patted him and cast Healing Touch. That’s how I tio steer for fifteen hours, one hand on the wheel and one hand on Rue, as I cast a Healing Touch every few mio help him. He looked miserable, and I felt sorry for him. If he develops such severe motion siess, I’ve decided o tease him again about his hatred of small boats. If they made me feel that way, I would hate them too.

  When Mahya came to repce me at the helm, she said, “If the Gate in Guam leads to a world with a manageable mana level, we should take Rue in and have him kill monsters or mas.”

  “Why?”

  “He wo more levels. At level ten, his stitution should be high enough to prevent motion siess.”

  “Good idea. We will definitely check this option.”

  It took us aen hours to reach Guam, and I spent this whole time casting Healing Tou Rue. My boy felt so miserable a whining softly. The spell helped, but the motion siess returned fast every time. He was so miserable that he even stopped shoutially.

  We finally docked at Sumay arina, got off the boat, and looked for a nearby hotel. Rue o feel dry nd. When we heard a storm roag on the news, we felt relieved that it missed us mid-sail. I metaphorically patted my Luck trait on the bad went to sleep—I was doer taking care of Rue for twenty-five hours.

  The storm hit the isnd of Guam and raged for two days. During that period, we stayed at the hotel, and Rue was ecstatic to watch TV finally. I made progress on the mana trol book and realized that, for now, I should give up the idea of drawing mana through Rue.

  It turned out that first, you o achieve total trol of the internal mana while progressing toward trolling the external mana. Only when you pletely trol internal mana, you train in plete trol of external mana. Only after achieving profi trolliernal mana at advanced levels, you begin to el it. I haven’t even looked up how to draw mana through Rue. I wasn’t there yet.

  Two days ter, after the storm had passed, we checked the Gate. Of course, the Gate was a surprise. What else is he Gates surprised us so many times that I stopped feeling surprised. This time, it was Alfonsen’s turn to be speechless.

  Travelers Gate #561117230Destination: LeylosStatus: IedMana level: 50Threat level: Moderate-high

  Alfouro me and Mahya, looking at us wide-eyed. “I fidently state that a Gate linking Leylos to a teological world has never existed.”

  “Well, the inal Gate you came from also ged,” I said.

  “This is correct, but Lis informed me it was a newly introduced Gate to your world,” he said.

  “The Gate might have been there before, but nobody went through it, so it didn’t appear on the Map,” Mahya said.

  “Hmm, I cur,” he answered.

  “Are you pnning to take this Gate home?” Mahya asked.

  “No. I am presently deliberating whether to accept the role of the heir apparent. heless, even if I opt to proceed, my travel time begahan a year ago. There is still some time left for me before I have to go back to that terrible ordeal,” Alfonsen said.

  “Think this pce is good for leveling up Rue aing rid of his seasiess?” I asked.

  “I will know our location once we cross the Gate,” he said.

  As we crossed the Gate, Alfonsen opehe Map and said, “No, this is not a good pce.”

  “Why?” Mahya asked.

  “In our world, we sider the areas deep within the mountains to pose a certain danger. sidering the mana level, seeking a more suitable option would be more advisable,” Alfonsen said.

  “It’s your world; you know best,” I said.

  I checked the Gate from the other side. The mana was still holding at seven, which was good.

  Travelers Gate #561117230Destinatioh/Gaia/TerraStatus: UedMana level: 7Teology level: LowThreat level: Humans–moderate. Other species–very high.

  Once we got back to the hotel, we had a meeting and decided against going to Rota Isnd. The storm had caused us to lose two days, and we agreed we would rather spend those two days in Guam.

  We went on a Valley of the Latte Jungle Riverboat Cruise, which sted a whole day. Fortunately, Rue had no issues with the riverboat’s stability, and there were many children, so he made a lot of small friends. We visited Uer World, ate good food, swam in the calm sea again, and raced on the E-foils. After three days of rest and fun, we sailed at dawn, heading to the isnd of Pohnpei in Miesia.

  About an hour after we sailed from Guam, fog started. Initially, the fog appeared as scattered pockets with areas of greater visibility. But gradually, the fog became thicker and thicker until it seemed as if we were sailing through milk. The wind pletely stopped, and a creepy silenveloped the surroundings. I was at the helm, and it was a strange experience—gradually, everything became deathly silent.

  I couldn’t sail like this. The sailboat glided silently through the water, its bow disappearing into a thick, white wall of fog. My visibility didn’t eveend to the bow. Extending my mana sense as far as it would go, I gained about teers of “visibility,” but it wasn’t enough to navigate. On the river, my mana sense sphere was wider; here, it felt like the fog muted it—like it had something in it that muted everything. I had a pass and the Travelers’ Map, but as far as the sea ditions were ed, I was sailing blind. Everythi and sounded muted, adding to the uainty. I couldn’t hear the waves pping against the hull.

  With my Mana trol, I closed and tied the sails, lowered the engine speed to the minimum, and called Mahya and Alfonsen over.

  “We have two options,” I said. “Either turn bad return to Guam or tinue ao the Marshall Isnds.”

  “Weren’t we going to Miesia?” Mahya asked.

  “The Marshalls are part of it, but we must drop Pohnpei,” I said.

  “What factors o be sidered when evaluating each option?” asked Alfonsen.

  “The same factor applies in both cases. I detect objects about teers ahead using my mana sense. When someoakes over the helm from me, they will have even less visibility. It’s dangerous to approa isnd and navigate into a marina when you ’t see anything, and the open sea is also dangerous without visibility,” I said.

  “What are your thoughts?” Alfonsen asked.

  “I think we should tinue. Both to not lose this time and because the open sea may be dangerous without visibility, but less dangerous than an area near an isnd.”

  They both agreed with me, and I tinued navigating. Our sailing speed was something like three or four knots. I was afraid to sail faster. At least in these ditions, the sea was as smooth and calm as a river, so Rue didn’t experieny motion siess.

  The fog cleared a bit ie afternoon, and visibility improved to about five meters from the boat’s bow. After hours of navigating with my mana sense and seeing nothing with my eyes, my entire body was te one point, I even closed my eyes to “see” better with my mana. To give myself a break from stress, I asked Alfoo repce me for a bit. I y on the cou the saloon and tried to calm the nerves and tension in my body. I was tense like a spring, which didn’t improve my mental peace.

  “Sailing should be fun, not a stressful experience!” I pined mentally to the universe at rge a amusement directed at me. “Yeah, yeah, ugh it up; you’re not the one sailing in those ditions.” This time, I didn’t get a rea. I had bee so aced to these sporadiunications” that they no longer bothered me.

  Yay me!

  I saw Mahya reading the Bible and writing things down in a notebook every few minutes.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

  “Research,” she replied without looking up from her notes.

  “In the Bible?” I asked, bewildered.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” I asked, pletely fused.

  “Looking food souragical knowledge,” she said casually, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  “In the Bible?” I felt like a parrot, repeating the same thing over and over.

  “Yes,” she replied, unfazed.

  “Could you break down what you’re doing? I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I feel dumb right now because you’re not making any se all.” I crossed my arms, feeling increasingly lost.

  She finally looked up at me, her expression serious. “My father, who holds the [Lore Keeper] css, told me that during his travels, he discovered numerous evidence suggesting that magical worlds were oeological worlds, a finding that is not surprising giveegrations. But on two occasions, he found proof that teological worlds used to be magical. He called it ‘the ebb and flow of magic.’ I believe that Earth serves as another example.”

  “HUH?!” I just stared at her, open-mouthed.

  She smirked at my rea. “Don’t look at me like that. With this expression, you do look dumb. I’m going through your historical texts looking for proof of this theory.”

  I rubbed the bay neck, thhly fused. “It’s all very fasating, but why do WE care?” I asked, bewildered.

  “Runes,” she said simply, like the answer was obvious.

  “Runes?” I echoed, my fusion deepening.

  “Yes, how many rune nguages have you learned so far?” she asked, her tone challenging.

  “Two,” I answered cautiously.

  “Did you notice they are different?” she pressed.

  “Yeah, of course.” I frowned, still unsure where she was going with this.

  “Exactly. The more runes you know, the more you mix and matake amazing things or create new rituals.”

  I started ughing, the absurdity of it hitting me.

  “What is so funny?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

  “You want to go look for things that were buried underground, and somebody dug them up,” I said, ughing even harder. “How the mighty have fallen and crossed to the dark side.”

  She looked even more annoyed, and I roared with ughter, uo stop.

  We both heard a foghorn. We jumped up and ran to Alfoo check that everything was fine. He turhe wheel to the right, and we saw the shadow of a rge ship. It was massive, resembliher a cruise ship or a cargo vessel. The fog made it impossible to determihe exact distance, but I could feel the ship’s ushing us to the side and rog the boat.

  “Speed up,” I told him, keeping my voice steady.

  “Repce me, please,” he said in a shaky voice, his grip loosening on the helm.

  I repced him on the helm, tur further to the right, and increased the engine speed. I felt like we were on a thrill ride at an amusement park as our boat went up and down in the ship’s wake.

  Everything calmed down after a while, and the sea was as smooth as a ke again. Alphoood beside me, panting. I noticed his hands were shaking.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, gng at him with .

  “Give me a moment, please.”

  Once he regained his posure, he said, “I hate fog!” He shook his head, still visibly tense.

  “Go drink something, rest, and recover. I’ll navigate in the meantime,” I offered.

  “Thank you.”

  I remai the helm until su, by which time the fog had nearly dissipated. Mahya repced me, and I went to sleep. The sea was calm in the m, without a hint of fog.

  Thank you, Guiding Spirits!

  Alfonse fortable navigating, Mahya pursued her resear religious and magical topics, and I practiced expanding my mana se was useful in many situations; I had to maximize it.

  We tio sail for two days with no further surprises until we arrived at Arno Atoll. There was no marina or anything like that in Arno, so we dropped anchor a few hundred meters from the atoll and came ashore with the E-foils. I blessed the day we discovered these devices every day and blessed Lis for verting them to be mana-powered. They solved so many problems for us. We spent a day and a half in Arno Atoll. There weren’t any uras, not eveaurants, but the goon was lovely, and swimming in clear water with no waves was fun. We enjoyed a bike ride around the atoll’s perimeter and purchased a lot of uts. After a day and a half, we gave up visiting Jaluit and sailed directly to Hawaii. We preferred not to take a ce that more surprising things would happen along the way and dey us.

  As Alfonsen put it, “Should en to be ahead of schedule, we will find ways to occupy ourselves. However, arriving te would result in an embarrassing situation.”