After we left the dungeon, I opened my house again, and once more, I got the spooky on stilts. On the first day, we just rested. I barbecued steaks aables on the pord smoked seaks for Rue. He couldn’t stop eating them a out sounds of happiness every few minutes. It was hirious—he chewed with his mouth but spoke telepathically. Still, for some unknown reason, his telepathic excmations sounded like he was talking with his mouth full and chewing. It greatly amused the three of us. We ughed the whole time, and Rue didn’t mind being ughed at. On the trary, he wagged his tail whenever we ughed and muttered, “Thhooo gooff!” It took me a few seds to realize he was trying to say, “So good.”

  Except for the first snake I “peeled” and cut into steaks, we had over fifty fresh, unprocessed snakes. I debated between processing them the usual way or building a loot spell. I had an idea of how to go about it, but it only applied to snakes, and I wanted something more enpassing. My problem was that my knowledge of creatures was quite limited. There were the quills-bears and scorpi-dogs from Tuohe mini bison and goats from Shimoor, and snakes. I was sure there were many more creatures I could harvest and process, and I wanted my loot spell to enpass them all.

  After a day of wavering in indecision, I facepalmed again and sighed heavily.

  When will I stop doing this and feeling like an idiot?

  I had the Spell Weaver ability, so I could create various loot spells and then bihem—maybe.

  My frustration was growing increasingly because of the system’s ck of guidance. I had the Spell Weaver ability, which I still didn’t know how to use. I tried to poke it several times, but the system offered no expnation. The ability notification I received was very pretty, with the gold background and calligraphy, but it provided little guidan what to do with it or how to do it.

  I no longer had the strength to pin about the system. I looked at the sky, sighed, shook my head, and took out a magic script book to learn more symbols, deg to start by building the first spell to harvest snakes. Iure—someday—I inteo solve the mystery of how to ‘weave’ all the different spells together.

  At least with the increase in my intelligence, I could learn more and more symbols, oer the other, almost without breaks. At least the system was good for something. Of course, the new magic script e another ability point, but for now, I was fine. When I fihe first book, I paid another point and learned another. Both took me three days to finish. Like I said, at least the system was good for something.

  From the first snake, I khese snakes didn’t have a venom sac; they were probably strictors or something. If the venom sad fangs were big enough, I wao create a loot spell incorporating them. I remembered Mahya saying the big ones were good fgers.

  I found Mahya in the spell room still disassembling the Jeep and asked her, “Besides meat, ski core, venom sad fangs, what else be collected from a snake?”

  Mahya looked up from her work. “You also collect the scales. They’re tough; you use them tthen armor or make fancy decorations—bones for crafting wands, especially for Dark or Mystical arts. If you’re careful wherag the eyes, they be valuable in alchemy, along with the gallbdder, liver, and blood. I’m not sure which potions specifically, but Al would know. The venom gnds, too, but I’m not certain—ask him about that. There’s also a small market for snake hearts. In some worlds, they’re used in rituals to symbolize strength and vitality, but it’s a hing, so I’m not sure if you’d want to collect them unless you end up in a world where that’s valuable. That’s about it, I think.” She paused for a couple of mihen nodded. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  It was a signifit list, much lohan I thought. I went to ask Al about what Mahya said was suitable for alchemy.

  I found him in his greenhouse. “Al, I asked Mahya what is harvested from snakes, and she said that the eyes, liver, blood, gallbdder, and venom gnds are used for alchemy. Is that true? And is there anything else she didn’t mention?”

  “Yes, she is right,” Al nodded, wiping his hands on a cloth. “The things you listed are primary ingredients for potions, specifically ohat boost perception, vitality, and toxiance. Venom gnds are essential for creating both antidotes and highly toxic substances. Alchemists use the heart to create rare elixirs that boost physical strength or stamina. Wheely prepared, it is possible to pulverize the bones and use them as a foundational element in potions that need a stabilizing agent, particurly in intricate mixtures. Basically, every part of a snake holds alchemical value, depending on your brewing goals.”

  Hmm, this was even more plex than I had initially thought. Besides everything they mentioned, I also wao ehe spell ed and purified everything and cut the meat into steaks. I began pnning the magic circle and quickly realized it was much, much more intricate and plicated than I anticipated.

  Lis mentiohat our Ste was uo Travelers and that the ste abilities of other csses were very different and far more limited. Initially, I sidered designing the spell so everything would automatically go into Ste, but that wasn’t possible. I o find solutions, but I had no idea where to start. Blood would need vials or bottles, meat would need ing, and so on.

  As I worked on building the magic circle, I realized it would need “cause-effect” pos. If there was no venom sac, the spell shouldn’t try to harvest it to save on mana. If the venom sac got damaged, the spell should ralize the venom instead. The magic circle kept growing more extensive and plicated, and I felt lost at some point. While it was a lot of fun w with magic scripts, calg all the parameters, permutations, dependencies, and everything else felt like trying tram an AI, not just a spell to harvest one measly snake.

  After a week, I gave up. I didn’t io abandon the loot spell entirely, but realized I needed more knowledge. And in this case, it wasn’t just magical knowledge—or at least, not wholly magical knowledge. I cluded I o learn a programming book or two at the beginner-plus level before searg through Lis’s books and diving deeper into creating materials with magic. I had no ce of pleting the spell without those foundations.

  This entire operation with the spell took me a week, so I thought it was time to check how the dungeon was doing. A check revealed that the dungeon had not yet regeed.

  Oh, well.

  When I returned home, Al roped me into another herb-gathering operation. This time, he didn’t want to pick them but to collect samples for his greenhouse. Before we went to collect the herbs, I had to create the right ditions for pnts of this kind. Ultimately, we decided e bathtubs filled with wet mud and stagnant water. I hoped it wouldn’t stink, and I decided that if it did, they’d have a little “act” that I wouldn’t know anything about.

  For the wo weeks, I hovered above Al, pying the violin and humming to calm the creatures. After the first day, this routio a ge in our living ditions. When I opehe house, several creatures tried to approach, but as soon as they came into tact with the mana-abs force field, they retreated and lost i. After Al and I returned from our first colle day, creatures surrouhe house. They didn’t try to pass through the force field or breach the house; they just sat around it and stared.

  Mahya ughed at me, saying, “You shouldn’t keep your fan club waiting too long. They’ll eventually want a refund for the ticket.”

  I stuck my to at her, making her ugh harder. To be safe, I activated the shutters at night, just in case.

  I kept going bad forth about what to do with the affinity stone. One moment, I thought I should learn the affinity on my own—that’s how I’d do before. But then, I’d remind myself how long it took to gain those affinities, how eae was anything but a quick process. Maybe I should use the stone and be doh it? But then again, the double be things was arming. And in the case of Nature, I didn’t even know where to start.

  Was I supposed to sit and stare at a tree or something?

  I was stud couldn’t make up my mind. The indecision was driving me crazy, so I went to sult with Mahya. When I found her, she was finishing up the Jeep’s disassembly and had already drawn the initial blueprint. Now, she meticulously worked on the big blueprint, carefully pg rune names in the right spots.

  As she pleted sketg a bent pipe aiculously beling the runes on it, I said, “Mahya, I want to sult with you about something.”

  She didn’t look up from her work but responded, “What’s up?”

  “The affinity stone. I’m not sure what to do with it. Lis expihe problem with double be from the Guidance, so I’m worried that if I gain the affinity from the sto might cripple my ability to trol or develop it. But oher hand, I don’t even know where to start learning this affinity, so this stone feels like a gift from heaven.”

  Mahya paused, finally looking up at me with a thoughtful expression. “You don’t have to worry about double be. It won’t happen in this case.”

  “Why not?” I asked, frowning.

  “Because you got the stone as a reward from a dungeon. You quered the dungeon and earhe reward. The Guidance won’t punish you by blog your progress. It wouldn’t be fair. It’s not like you bought it on a scroll or from the spell list. You ear holy, and not from the Guidance. Only you decide, but even if you get the affinity from the sto’s not like you’ll automatically master it. You’ll still o develop it.”

  She gave me a sideways gnce, her eyes sharp with uanding. “Actually, who am I saying that to? Of course, you know affinity is something you have to work on. I see you w on yours. It’ll be the same as with the wind affinity. You’ll have to develop it, stone or no stone.”

  “Then why did you tell me to develop it myself and not use the stone?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Because you sell it for a lot of money,” she replied with a shrug.

  I should have guessed that was the issue. We were already stinking rich, but Mahya was still very ied in money.

  “How do I learn the affinity, then?”

  “el mana into the stone,” she said, turning back to her blueprint as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  I poured mana into the stone, and it became liquid-like, seeping into my palm. It was a little freaky.

  I opened my profile, and I now had Nature under Wizard Abilities. As always, nothing was o it in brackets—just Nature. Mahya had been right; the Wind and Lightning were indeed affinities. She didn’t even know about Mist. The entire list looked the same and was in the same pce, just with Nature added.

  Intrigued, I asked, “How does an affinity show in your personal information?”

  She gnced up with a slight smile. “You look. I already told you that I have s from you.”

  I waited, expeg something to happen, but nothing did.

  “Um, you said I could look, but you’re not showing me anything,” I said, a bit fused.

  She started ughing and shook her head. “I’m guessing Lis told you Travelers don’t identify other Travelers, right?”

  “Yes…” I replied, still unsure where this was going.

  “Did he expin why?”

  “No…”

  “Use Identify on me,” she instructed, her smile widening.

  I activated Identify, and her personal information appeared in front of me. All of her personal information!

  Name: Maya Salis (Mahya Num)Age: 25 (107)

  Dispy Css: Bdesinger level 33Bdesinger Abilities:

  ?    Swordsmanship - 13

  ?    Acrobatics - 17

  ?    Slow - 4

  ?    Jump - 25

  ?    Dual wield - 13

  ?    Dash - 21

  ?    Entangle - 3

  ?    Detect ot - 25

  ?    fuse - 6

  ?    Wall Dash - 25

  ?    Sink - 9

  ?    Blind - 11

  Hidden Css: Gate Traveler Level 9Gates to level: 12/38

  Css Abilities:

  ?  version

  ?  Travelers’ Archive

  ?  Identify - 12

  ?  Ste - x12 (110,592m3)

  ?  Local Adaptation:Spoken nguageWritten nguageRunes/Magic Script

  ?  Map

  ?  One of the Crowd

  Profession: Wood Artisan Level 17Wood Artisan Skills:

  ?    Precision Carving - 19

  ?    Wooden Alchemy - 12

  ?    Runiy - 22

  ?    eling Focus - 14

  ?    Mystitegration - 12

  ?    Colborative Imprint - 2

  Sub-Css 2: Magieer Level 5Magieer Skills:

  ?    Mana Circuitry - 7

  ?    Magitech Retrofit - 12

  ?    Mana Calibration - 6

  ?    Engraving - 14

  ?    Are Schematics - 4

  General Spells:

  ?    Invisibility - 25

  ?    Adaptable Light Ball - 2

  ?    Telepathy - 6

  ?    Wind Funnel - 2

  ?    Absorb Mana - 2

  ?    agical Text - 3

  ?    Copy Text - 3

  ?    Harvest Mana Crystal - 2

  General Skills:

  ?    Stealth - 20

  ?    Antimatter tai Field Engineering - 3

  ?    Energy versioor Design - 5

  ?    Crystalline AI Matrix Development - 8

  ?    Quantum Energy Harnessing Systems - 6

  ?    Psma duit Optimization - 2

  ?    Ielr Propulsion Drive Engineering - 6

  ?    Nano-Crystal Circuitry Fabrication - 9

  ?    Self-Repairing Neural Interface Development - 10

  ?    Advahermal Ma Systems - 11

  ?    Gravitational Field Stabilization Engineering - 5

  ?    Adaptive Quantum Algorithm Engineering - 7

  ?    Subspaunication Array Design - 5

  ?    Exotic Matter Iion Engineering - 2

  ?    Hydrogen bustion tai Fields - 3

  ?    Multi-Phase Energy Transfer Engineering - 3

  ?    Mosaic - 9

  ?    S - 3

  ?    Sailing - 8

  ?    LTA Flight - 3

  ?    Riding - 1

  ?    Motorcycle Meics - 5

  ?    Car Meics - 2

  Affinities:

  ?    Nature

  Health: 9,350/9,350Mana: 2,500/2,500

  Strength: 77Agility: 102stitution: 85Vitality: 102Intelligence: 66Wisdom: 66Perception: 74

  Stat points: 0Ability points: 289

  “How is that even possible?” I asked, shocked.

  “That’s how it’s with Travelers,” she expined calmly. “Just like we always see through gmor what a person really looks like, Identify works the same way and gives full information. That’s why it’s sidered taboo to use Identify on araveler without permission.”

  “How you even tell if someone’s doing it?”

  “ I use Identify on you?” she asked, a hint of mischief ione.

  “Yeah, sure,” I replied, feeling curious.

  As soon as she did, I suddenly felt naked and exposed, like I was standing in the middle of a crowd without clothes. I almost instinctively covered myself, feeling a strange urge to protect my privacy. It was so weird.

  “Spirits, I hate you so much for your crazy mana levels. It’s just not fair,” she said with a teasing grin, giving me a pyful push.

  “Look who’s talking. You have this crazy list of engineering skills that I don’t even know what half of them mean.”

  “You know I bought them; I didn’t learn them.”

  “It doesn’t matter. That list is still intimidating. It makes me feel stupid pared to you.”

  “Well, I keep telling you I’m a genius. Now you’ll believe me,” she said with a wink.

  “Yeah, yeah, keep dreaming,” I retorted, rolling my eyes. “By the way, why do you rarely use most of your css spells except the dashing and jumping?”

  “Because they cost a shit ton of mana,” she replied with a shrug. “If I cast all of them on a fight and some of them twice, I’d be out of mana,” she added, her toter-of-fact as she leaned back against the workbench.

  “I o figure out how to create Wizard spirals.”

  “Yes, you do. Yesterday,” she quipped, giving me a pointed look.

  “Yeah, yeah, OK. I’ll work on it.”

  At this point, she kicked me out and told me to stop distrag her. It was as good a time as any to che the duo see if it had regeed. And it had!

  When I informed Mahya and Al, they were thrilled, and we decided to run it tomorrow. Dungeon run wo, here we e.