I joined Mahya for the motorcycle project, and for the first time, I felt the impay stats. I had to study the other book of engineering runes. Before, my limit was six runes before my head felt like it would explode from internal pressure. Now, my limit was nine runes, and the pressure was lighter. It was still not pleasant, but I didn’t feel like my head was about to explode. I metaphorically patted my intelligerait on the bad tio study runes.

  This book only tained runes representing or reting to reys, nodes, switches, repeaters, transceivers, amplifiers, terminals, gateways, ectors, and signal boosters. And it was smaller thaher book. I didn’t need all the runes for the project, but if I was studying the book, I figured I might as well study all of it.

  The more I learned about runes and magic script, the more I realized you could build anything to work on mana. Runes and magic script symbols were just mana pathways for the magic to flow through and create a specific effect. With enough knowledge about those pathways, you could adapt any advaeological deviot just those from Earth. It was simply a matter of knowing enough runes ic script and having suffit engineering knowledge. No wonder Lis received the css he did. He spent two years studying twelve to fifteen hours daily, c every possible engineering subjed a substantial amount of mathematics. When I bihat with all the magic books he gave me, I fully grasped what Mahya meant when she said that mana worlds are not stupid but follow a different path of development and progress pared to a teological world.

  If I added dungeon cores with their ability to absorb and process materials into something else, it didn’t open a new world for me, but aire gaxy. I was sure we hadn’t discovered all of our core’s capabilities, and I started pnning all kinds of exg experiments to do with it.

  After two days of studying and taking breaks to prepare iing fish dishes, I joined Mahya on the enormous deck where we worked. We arrahe deck, which was cluttered yet anized, with tables strewn about in a manner only we uood.

  Mahya handed me a pile of meical parts and said, “Use the blueprint to see what to engrave on each part.”

  I saluted her and started w.

  It took me two days to finish engraving all the parts, while Mahya engraved copper wire. She tried again to get me to work on the copper wire, but I wasn’t ied. Although I was sure the jeweler’s loupe made it much easier to see, the thought of engraving on it didn’t appeal to me.

  As we worked, I felt a dirty maer my mana field. I immediately took out a crossbow, my fiightening around the grip as I waited for the cat to show itself. As soon as I saw it, I shot it. One shot, one kill.

  “Yay me!” I muttered under my breath.

  I tried t the cat towards me with my mana field, but it didn’t work. Sighing, I stored it, took it out again, and cast my new spell. Within thirty seds, a small mana crystal and a crossbow bolt y on the deck.

  “You have to teach me that spell!” Mahya excimed.

  “Sure. When we’re done,” I replied, nodding.

  She looked puzzled. “Why did you shoot a cat with a crossbow?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, totally fused.

  “You have a mana dart, and you pihat it’s still level one, and you ’t advas level. Here’s the ce. Shoot cats with it instead of a crossbow.”

  I scratched my head in embarrassment. “I didn’t think about it,” I admitted.

  She ughed, shaking her head. “There was a reason we picked the niame Clueless,” she said with a pyful grin.

  I wao protest but had to admit defeat after a minute.

  After finishing the engravings, I handed her all the parts, and she started assembling the motorcycle. Meanwhile, I went to take care of the cats that the core created while we were busy.

  Rue helped me locate the cats, and I shot them—yes, with a mana dart this time. Initially, I hree darts to down a cat, but after the ninth or tenth cat, I only wo. I checked, and my Mana Dart had finally gone up to level two. After some more cats, I needed only one. I checked again—level three.

  I love progress!

  The cats were getting bigger. Before, they reached my knee; now, they reached mid-thigh. When I checked the core size, it was bigger but still smaller than my fist. Mahya’s hand was smaller than mine, but not by much.

  Oh, well, it still needs more time.

  Mahya found me. “I need you to bine all the crystals you have collected so far from the cats into seven crystals this size,” she said, showing me a circle about the size of an apricot. She handed me a pile of crystals. “Those as well. After you bihem, I need you to engrave ohe magic circle you engraved on the rge crystals.”

  I shook my head emphatically. “No way. There lenty of room on the big crystals. I could squeeze the circle on a crystal the size of an apple. But not on something as small as an apricot. There’s no room for all the symbols and runes. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the circle is pretty plex.”

  She sighed, rubbiemples. “Yes, I noticed. What’s the smallest size you engrave it? The smallest.”

  I thought momentarily, my firag imaginary lines in the air. “An apple, or maybe a little smaller.”

  “Okay. So I need five crystals of the smallest size you engrave the circle on. If you still have crystals left after bining them, engrave more. We have another motorcycle and ATV to vert.”

  That’s what I did for the hree days. I merged crystals, engraved magic circles, and occasionally killed a cat with a mana dart. It was very vehat our core produced monsters for us at a rate of one every fifteen minutes or so.

  When I brought her the first batch of crystals, she looked up and said, “I saw the answer Lis wrote to you. I think he’s right. We’re leavih too soon. We must use this opportunity to fill all our missing csses. Leaving now is a mistake.”

  I crossed my arms and frowned. “Oh, e on. The reason I’m not going back to Earth is not just because it’s my home p. I’m sick of that pce. I want to see new worlds. You and Al traveled in magical worlds, and you even traveled in an advaeological world.”

  I paused, my voice growing more intense. “I’ve been a Traveler for seven ht years, and the only world I’ve seen is Shimoor. It was nid calm, and I iate of mind I was in. But the only magical things I saw were some people with the Identify ability, a mage that could dis if I told the truth, some level 1 monsters, and one magical barrel that purified water. That’s it.”

  I uncrossed my arms, gesturing passionately. “I want to see iing worlds, magical things, what mana does to the enviro, mas, and even monsters. As difficult and dangerous as the dungeon was, it was also exhirating because it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I want to experience more things like this. Don’t get me wrong, I eravelih with you, but it’s where I grew up and I already know the pce. Maybe iure, after the iion, it will be iing aing to me. Right now, it’s not. I want to see wonders.”

  She shook her head, her lips pressed into a thin line. “Yes, but we’re wasting the opportunity.”

  I sighed i. On the one hand, I didn’t want to return to Earth, but oher hand, I felt I was being unfair to them by f them to give up this opportunity. I tried to think of a solution, my fingers drumming oable.

  Finally, I said, “I tio travel alohout you and give you a ake the most of Earth. Lumis has fourteen gates, I ted. Two more lead to Earth—one more in ada and one in Aska. You leave me your or Al’s phone, and when I reae of these Gates, I’ll cross it and call you to see if you’re ready to meet or want to tinue exploitih.”

  She shook her head and said in a sharp tone. “No, no way! We’re not leaving you or splitting up. We o think of another solution.”

  I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I had no more ideas.

  Rue wagged his tail and spoke up. “Time oh fast. Time on Lumis slow. Long time on Lumis. Short time oh.”

  Did I mention that I have the smartest dog in all the worlds?

  I k, petting and scratg his ears. “You are the smartest, most genius, and coolest dog in all the worlds.”

  He rewarded me with lots of tail wags and face licks.

  Mahya looked puzzled. “I don’t see how that helps.”

  I stood up, thinking aloud. “By my estimate, the mana took five to seven months to go from seven to eight. We don’t kly when it went from six to seven or up to eight, so that’s as accurate as I estimate. Three weeks to a month here is a day oh. You think we would travel in Lumis for fifteen years?”

  “Not a ce,” she replied firmly.

  “Exactly.”

  “So let’s travel this world,” I suggested, “and when we’re ready to tio the one, we’ll decide whether to return to Earth for a certain period or tio a new world. Maybe we’ll find a fasating Gate along the way, and this question will be moot. If not, theh currently has a lot of Gates. We always use it to travel to a better Gate—we have the list—and on the way, collect whatever you want.”

  Mahya nodded, a small smile f on her lips. “That sounds like a pn.”

  I was relieved.

  After I finished merging all the crystals and engraving them, we had seventeen crystals.

  Mahya looked at the crystals, frowning. “It is not enough.”

  I uzzled. “I thought you wanted five for the motorcycle. If I’m not mistaken, you said seven and the down to five. There are seventeen here. What’s the problem?”

  “I need five per motorcycle, at least eight or maybe even ten for your ATV, and only the spirits know hoer Jeep. And don’t fet the jet skis.”

  I shrugged. “Do we need everything now? Are you pnning to vert all the vehicles while we wait for Al?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Right now, we wo motorcycles and an ATV.”

  I did a quick mental calcution. “So you need between one and three more crystals, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “The core make enough monsters for one crystal in about two days. Maybe two and a half days. Maybe we also put the sed core on the vent a bigger monsters?”

  Her eyes widened in arm. “Not a good idea. You never know what kind of monster we’ll get. I don’t feel like fighting the giant snake or that weird thing with the tentacles and dozens of eyes. I still have nightmares.”

  I shuddered. “Fair point. We’ll stick with the current core then.”

  She facepalmed. Ha-ha—dies alemen—she facepalmed! I’m not the only clueless one here. “I’m going to put the core in the boat. We no longer he crystals in the boat or the charging station. Order the house to open the pilr, and I’ll be right back. In the meaake out the boat on the ke.”

  On the way to the ke, Rue joined me, speaking louder than usual, “TV at home w!”

  “Yes, I know. Why? Do you want to go watch TV?”

  “No! Rue do cat patrol.”

  “Good boy. Cat patrol is important.”

  His tail wagged so intehat it almost created a localized hurrie.

  Mahya collected all the crystals from everywhere and gave them to me for merging and engraving. This project took three more days; we now had thirty-one engraved crystals. She seemed much calmer, probably because the number of crystals was enough to vert one jeep or something.

  She assigned me the task of disassembling Al’s motorcycle. Meanwhile, she finished assembling her motorcycle and ensured everything was w correctly. I barely had time to disassemble a third of the bike when I heard her excim, “Yes!”

  “What happened?” I called out.

  “You’ll see,” she replied with a grin.

  She sat oorcycle and started driving. The engine came to life pletely silently, and the runes on its body glowed with a soft, almost imperceptible blue light. I stood up, staring in amazement. The wheels spun effortlessly, and though mana was invisible, the glowing runes hi the powerful energy running through the mae.

  I kneere w on verting a motorcycle into Magitech, and I had experieh the boat, but this was still incredible to see. A motorcycle from Earth running on mana instead of fuel. The silent engine made it feel almost unreal, like it glided on air.

  Mahya’s face lit up with excitement as she drove it around. She practically glowed with joy. And I couldn’t help myself; I started g and jumping in exhiration. “You did it!” I called to her.

  She threw her fist in the air and shouted, “Yippee!”