After returning to the starting point and opening the house, the three of us colpsed onto the couch, utterly exhausted. Rue sprawled out on his beanbag. Every muscle in my body ached. It wasn’t the kind of soreness a spell could fix, but a deep mental fatigue that seeped into my bones. Cooking was out of the questioually, we dragged ourselves to the breakfast bar and ate whatever we had in Ste.

  During dinner, I tried to think of a solution. I knew for sure we didn’t have enough crystals for all the jet skis, but I didn’t have the strength for another day like this.

  “We o think about how to work smarter, not harder,” I said, leaning ba my chair. “Remember Rat Isnd? We found a solution to how to ‘take care’ of rats without fighting hundreds of them.”

  Mahya houghtfully, tapping her fingers oable. “I see what you’re saying, but you’ve stored up enough progress in yhting css for many levels ahead. What’s holding you back is your progress as a wizard. We don’t have that luxury. To advan our csses, we have to fight. It took me eight years to advane level, and the level will take even longer if I look for shortcuts.”

  “Yeah, I hear you. But what is our purpose here? Are we here to advance your css, or to collect crystals?”

  “Both?” Mahya asked, her voicertain.

  Al cleared his throat. “If we discover a more simplified approach, we will achieve some adva,” he stated. “Ultimately, it still helps people or the world.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “In order to advance a css, one of two things must happen,” Al expined, his tone measured and precise. “What you do should be people or the world, or you should strive to enhance your skills or abilities. For example, when you heal someone, you advan your css. However, if you successfully heal an unfamiliar ailment, learn how to serve mana in a healing spell, or use a spell in an innovative mao treat a new dition, you not only help a person but also enhance your profid, as a result, you receive much more adva in the css.

  “In order to advance our csses, we must strive to refine our skills and engage in fights that tribute positively to the world. Although we dedicate years to training and honing our skills and rea extraordinary level of proficy, our css’s adva will be limited if we fail to utilize these abilities to be others or the world. Oher hand, our css may experience minressioo the aid we provide, but if we do not actively improve our abilities, the impact will be minimal.”

  “You have to remember something else,” Mahya added, leaning forward with a serious expression. “Lis and I trained you, of course, so that you could defend yourself. But the main reason was to advance your css to the level of a ‘half price’ css at least, or preferably to a css that you get for free. That way, you’d get bonuses from the Guidanot just the knowledge you gaihe hard way.

  “To achieve that, you must do things beyond what you’ve learned and trained in. In the dungeon, you did something new with the crazy energy beam you used to crack the dungeon guardian’s heart, but other than that, I haven’t seen you do anything new or different. Work on it if you want to advahe css to a higher power level.”

  Hmm, they gave me a lot to think about.

  I y in bed, uo fall asleep. Their words pyed in my head like a broken record, and in the end, I had to admit that I had dohing to advance my css. Shifting my perspective on the ge, I realized it was not only a pce to collect crystals, but also a training opportunity. I opened my profile and scruti, searg for anything I could use to promote my css.

  Name: Je: 20

  Familiar: Rue Level 13

  Dispy Css: Healer Level 12Healer Spells:

  Heal Muscle - 22Diagnose - 15Stop Bleeding - 6Heal Bone - 13trol Blood - 14Healing Touch - 25ralize Poison - 5Purify - 18 - 20Ahesia - 1row Flesh - 4Fortify Life Force - 9se - 2ralize CurseHidden Css: Gate Traveler Level 5Gates to level: 13/17

  Css Abilities:versionTravelers’ ArchiveIdentify - 3Ste - x15 (216,000 m3)Local Adaptation:Spoken nguageWritten nguageRunes/Magic ScriptMapOne of the CrowdProfession: Mert Level 8Skills:

  Bargain - 15Sense Hoy - 10Appraisal - 12A Nose for Business - 20Sub-Css 2: Wizard Battle Master Level 8Wizard Abilities:

  Mind Split x4Mana Sense [Adept]Mana Saturation [Apprentice]Mana trol [Junior]Mana Regeion x 3Mana Oneness [Novice]WindLightningSpell Weaver [Novice]Wizard Spells:

  Harvest Mana CrystalHarvest Game [In Progress]Battle Master Skills:

  Unarmed bat [Junied ons [Junior]Mana bat [Apprentice]Blunt ons [Medior]Bded ons [Senior]Polearm Mastery [Junior]Hafted ons [Junior]Firearms [Novice]Sub-Css 3: Bard Level 4Bard Spells and Skills:

  Are LulbyHarmonic Illusion - 1Rhythmic Resonance - 1Guitar Pying - 17Flute PyingViolin PyingPianoSaxophone PyingHarmonica PyingLute PyingCello Pying - 5Poetry - 4General Spells:

  Mana Dart - 5Mana shield - 5Spellbinding - 3Invisibility - 13Mend - 2Adaptable Light Ball - 4Restore - 23Heat - 3Absorb Mana - 9Exude Mana - 2agical Text - 16Telepathy - 7Privacy Sphere - 3Telekinesis - 10Copy Text - 5General Skills:

  Making Beer - 1Mining - 5Pencil Sketg - 1Develop ive - 3Print Photograph - 2Photography - 9Butchering - 1Skinning - 1Limonaking - 1Sailing - 8Engraving - 10LTA FlightJump - 2StealthRiding - 1Motorcycle Meic - 3Car Meic -1Gssblowing - 1Wo - 1Leather Crafting - 1Metalw - 1Bookbinding - 1Health: 6,850/6,850Mana: 11,100/11,100

  Strength: 62Agility: 60stitution: 62Vitality: 75Intelligence: 90Wisdom: 91Perception: 70Luck: 58Creativity: 25Stat points: 0

  Ability points: 223

  As I y there, staring at my profile, I felt overwhelmed. There were so many things to work with that I didn’t know where to start. I remembered a line I read in a book by James Haddock. One character there had a saying: “How do you eat an elephant? Oe at a time, oe at a time.” Snickering, I tried to figure out how to eat this elephant.

  First, I checked the general list to see if I needed everything there. My profile was just too damn long. I never used the beer or limonaking skills, and with the amount of alcohol we bought, I doubted I would ever hem. So, I verted them to ability points a looking.

  The hing I verted encil sketg. Initially, I thought I’d use the skill to sketch the pces I visited, but with meical cameras w in mana worlds, there was never a need.

  I saw the mana shield and winced. Since I had the new armor, it hadn’t crossed my mind to cast a shield on myself. It might have saved me from that nasty bat bite if I had. Awo options were using telekinesis to throw monsters around and casting exuded mana on them. Losing the polluted mana they were made of should harm them, shouldn’t it?

  I thought about what else I could do, and my gaze kept being drawn to the Spell Weaver ability. I hadn’t tried using it actively yet. My problem was that I often discovered things by act, like the lightning in Paris. On instinct, if my attention was elsewhere, like st the magic circles in the palm of my hand. Or under duress, like disc the Spell Weaver ability in the dungeon. But after doing it instinctively, I had to figure out how to do it sciously and sistently, and that was a whole different ball game.

  After some time, I closed my profile and listeo myself regarding the elephant. Right now, the bites I was going to work oelekinesis and Exude Mana. From experience, I knew I wouldn’t make progress if I tried to work on too many things at once. Like he said, “Oe at a time, oe at a time.”

  The day, we woke up physically refreshed but still took a “mental health day” after all the fighting. I spent a few hours on the porch reading a book in the m. Mahya disassembled the jet ski, and Al took care of his mushrooms.

  After a few hours, Al approached me and said, “I am ied in gathering the small radiant mushrooms we spotted at the entrao the ge. Could you please joio ensure I am not surprised while I gather them?”

  “Sure,” I replied.

  Rue joined us, and the three of us headed to the ge. I deployed my mana sense. I preferred not to use it when fighting because the random movements around me fused me, often doing more harm than good. But now, to ehing surprises us, it was the perfect tool.

  As we passed the bent trees at the entrao the ge, they startled me, and I stopped abruptly.

  “What happened?” Al asked, looking ed.

  “These trees tain polluted mana,” I replied, my eyes sing the twisted trunks.

  “Are they monsters?” he questioned, stepping closer to examihe trees.

  I focused my mana sense and said, “ly. They are real living trees, but they tain normal mana, which I think is nature mana and polluted mana. This is very strange.”

  Al’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Is the mana level in the ge higher than the ambient mana?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “ you check?” he asked eagerly.

  I nodded and stepped out of the ge, closing my eyes to better sehe surrounding mana. I felt the mana was deoward the ge, and in the dire away from it, more sparse. Moving another hundred meters away, I sensed an even more signifit difference. Returning to the ge, I felt the dense mana pressing around me.

  I turo Rue and said, “Watch my back, buddy. I o cheething.”

  With my mana sense guiding me, I walked in slowly with my eyes closed, carefully navigating around the rocks. The deeper I went, the dehe ma. I also sensed polluted mana not only irees but in the rocks, mud, and mushrooms Al wao pick.

  Returning to Al, I said, “Yes, the mana in the ge is more trated, and there are other things that tain polluted mana, not just the trees.”

  He looked even more pleased, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.

  “Why do you look so happy?”

  “Because mana levels higher than the world’s mana levels are excellent ditions for the formation of a dungeon. And if there is also polluted mana around, the ces increase by several hundred pert,” he expined, his excitement barely tained.

  I thought about it, but it made little sense. “I don’t know. It’s not in the middle of nowhere. It’s pretty close to towns and a big city. Surely someone would have found out if there was a dungeon here.”

  Al momentarily looked thoughtful and said, “Yes, you are right. Regrettably, that is the case.”

  “By the way, the mushrooms you want to pick also tain polluted mana.”

  “It’s not a problem. I have a way to purify them,” Al assured me, waving off my .

  “Okay. Just wanted you to know.”

  Whe to the mushrooms, Al started pig them, and I stood guard with my mana sense spread as far as it would go. Rue began growling, and a sed ter, I felt somethier my mana sense from my right. I looked towards it and saw one of the small bats flying towards me at high speed. For a ge, I remembered my decision from st night. As it got close enough, I cast Exude Mana on it. The bat slowed down in the air, looking like it was flying through mosses. I cast the spell a sed time, and the bat fell to the ground. Less than two mier, it dissipated pletely.

  “That was remarkable!” Al excimed enthusiastically, stopping his mushroom pig. “How did you aplish it?”

  “I cast Exude Mana on it.”

  “That is indeed an excellent idea!” He said, grinning.

  “Not really,” I said, shaking my head. “We’re here to collect crystals. If the monsters dissipate, that defeats the purpose.”

  We both stood, pting the spot where the bat had been before it dissipated.

  “Perhaps it could prove effective against mas,” Al suggested. “The size of the core remains stant, and will not decrease. Losing mana will result in decreased speed aened vulnerability, making them easier to defeat.”

  “You think?”

  “I am sure,” he said, nodding fidently.

  Unfortunately, I had to nix the idea of ??Exude Mana. That left telekinesis. Al went back to pig mushrooms, and I tio stand guard. Rue went deeper into the ge, doing what dogs do. I had no idea what. After twenty minutes, I saw him e running with a pim following close behind.

  As Rue ran past me, he barked, “Rue bring John a moo train.”

  “Thanks, buddy,” I said, giving him a quick pat.

  Ohe pim was close enough, I grabbed it with telekinesis, lifted it in the air, and then smmed its head on a nearby rock. The pim’s head reacted like a melon under simir circumstances and smashed in the same way. I cast Harvest Mana Crystal on it and stored the crystal.

  “Telekinesis?”

  “Yes, I thought about what you said yesterday, and I will use this ge to practice.”

  “I agree, that is an excellent idea. I will practice telekinesis with you.” He turo Rue and said, “It would be in your best io seize this opportunity as well. You have the spell”

  “Yes, Rue will train hard! Rue will be the best telekinesis!” Rue sounded very exuberant when he said it.

  By this point, we had given up on the mushrooms and walked deeper into the ge. Rue walked ahead, announg, “Rue bring moraining.”

  I heard him barking in the distance, and he came running back with five bats on his tail. I immediately cast a mana shield on myself, just in case, and grabbed the first bat that got inte. Al and I grabbed it together. For a sed, it was a small tug-of-war game, but I gave it up and grabbed the one. In this manner, we dispatched all the bats.

  We tinued with this “training” for a few hours until it started getting dark.

  “I like your idea of embrag a smarter work approastead of a harder one,” Al said.

  “Thanks.”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that when I said it, I meant more on the lines of poison or sleeping potion. At least one of them wouldn’t think of me as an idiot. Baby steps.