As we rose i-air balloon in the m, I asked Mahya, “Do you need a boost from the wind?”

  “No, I prefer to fly slowly to find a pce to put the house.”

  We flew leisurely over the cliffs, scouting food spot. A few options looked det, but nothing stood out. The rocks ged as roached the other end of the ge. They used to be covered in moss and pnts, but now they stood tall and looked like old guardians, with yers of rich, reddish-brown rock shaped by the weather over thousands of years.

  There were pyramid-shaped formations with clear horizontal lines showing the geological history embedded in their rough surface. In the background, many simir but unique rock structures stretched into the distance, creating an impressive se. The clear blue sky had a few fluffy white clouds castile shadows on the cliffs, enhang their texture ah. The se pletely trasted the green and yellow ndscape we saw earlier.

  I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures; it was too beautiful to resist.

  We flew between two cliffs and approached the rim of the ge. No matter how hard we looked, it was too dark to see beyond a few meters. We kept flying oher side of the ge, but the terrain was the same. The sandy cliffs gradually turned into cliffs covered with vegetation and moss. Again, we saw some depressions that looked spacious enough to pce the house, but getting from there to the ge’s rim seemed plicated.

  Mahya turned us around with her fantastic gadget, auro the ge’s edge. When we reached the edge, she steered us away from the ge, and after a couple of minutes, we flew between two extremely high cliffs and arrived in what felt like heaven.

  It was a breathtaking view. There was a medium-sized ke, surrounded by tall cliffs from the dire we came from, and green mountains oher side. The ke was calm and clear, mirr the tall mountains around it. The rocky beach trasted with the deep blue water. I could see patches of grass and trees all around. Everything ristine, like a paradise ready to be discovered. It was geous and calming, making me want to kick bad take it all in.

  When I took a deep breath, I felt the area was full of mana. It was more thaher side of the cliffs, but not as much as the ge, somewhere iween. trating, I “tasted” the mana and figured it was nature mana with some hints of water and life. With every deep breath I took, I felt more and more rejuvenated.

  “This looks perfect,” I said.

  Mahya and Al nodded, but Al added, “We arrived here in two minutes using the balloon. However, how long will it take us to reach the ge by walking?”

  “Are you in a hurry?” Mahya asked him.

  He looked surprised by the question, thought momentarily, and then said, “You are right. There is no rush. We have an unlimited amount of time. The s will remain in its pce.”

  After we nded with the balloon, we walked along the ke, looking for a suitable spot for the house. After a few hundred meters, we found a perfect pce. It was a grassy area that sloped towards the ke but was elevated enough that the house wouldn’t flood if it rained.

  I took out the house and remembered Al and Lis’s advice that the house could create pocket dimensions. I instructed the house, “Open a small house, but create all the usual spaces inside.”

  The house opened as usual: The roof emerged from the core like a flower, opening its petals, and then the floors unfolded, but this time, there was only one floor.

  The final result was a log house, oory tall, with a sloped roof. It had a rge front porch supported by wooden posts. Nicely stacked logs made up the exteriiving the house a cssic, rustic look. The front had big windows that let iy of natural light. It was right on the edge of the ke, with a small stoh leading from the door to the water. Wooden shingles covered the roof, plementing the ’s natural appearance.

  We went io check, and everything was as usual. Even the rooms’ shapes remaihe same. I patted the breakfast bar and said, “Good house.”

  I looked at Rue to ensure he didn’t protest me calling the house good, but he seemed fine—probably because I didn’t use the words “good boy.”

  The pce was so peaceful and picturesque that for the week, we did nothing but enjoy ourselves. We zoomed around the ke on the e-foils and swam. Mahya took the boat out in the middle of the ke, and we fished with rods. I baked cakes and pies and cooked delicious dishes with the crabs from the isnd and the fish we caught. We barbecued on the porch twice, and I evehe smoker for the first time. I smoked some fish and crabmeat, and the results were delicious.

  Rue announced, “John must smoke Rue lots yummy crabs.”

  Al asked me to tell the house to boost his mushrooms. The mushrooms doubled in size within three days, so he had to move them to bigger pots. After some sultatioried another experiment. Instead of manually moving the mushrooms, we asked the house te the pnters. It worked like a charm, and Al was over the moon.

  On the night of the seventh day, it started to rain and didn’t stop for ten days. It wasn’t a torrential downpour, but it was strong enough that we didn’t want to go to the ge in those weather ditions. Most of the time, we stayed home or took short walks outside. It wasn’t cold, just wet.

  Mahya finished disassembling all the jet skis and preparing the main blueprint with the names of the runes on all the parts. She hadn’t started building the jet skis yet, but everything was ready. The biggest issue reventing the intake from clogging with s debris. It took her a day and a lot of cussing engineering books, but finally, she designed a modified filter system that would keep most of the junk out of the turbines. Using a bination of fine mesh and rune-powered self-ing meisms, the intake now had a way to push debris out before it could clog the system. The entments on the new parts would allow the jet skis to glide smoothly through the murky waters without w about aquatic grass, mud, or other obstacles.

  After bining all the crystals I collected from the house feeding operation, we had forty-one crystals of suitable size fraving. Mahya gave me twenty-four, saying, “That’ll be enough for three jet skis,” and took the rest.

  Rue chimed in, “Rue also wa ski. Rue adveoo.”

  She looked at him for two seds, her shoulders slumping, and sighed deeply. Her entire posture radiated a sense of defeat as she rubbed her forehead. “Of course you do,” she said, then gave me eight more crystals.

  I chuckled quietly to myself, but not out loud. I didn’t want a sp on the bay head.

  I found out that Al had collected all the halluogenic mushrooms from the ge and nning to take over the kit to make something with them.

  “You are not cooking drugs in my house,” I told him firmly, crossing my arms and standing my ground.

  “As we mentioned before, your core is incapable of getting high,” Al said, looking slightly exasperated.

  “I don’t care,” I replied, shaking my head. “I don’t want to take any ces. Besides, even if the core ’t get high, we . I’ll arrange something for you.”

  “You use my boat if you want,” Mahya interjected, gng at Al and then back at me with a shrug.

  “Oh, that’s the perfect solution,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That way, her boat will be drugged, and not my house.”

  They shook their heads, and Mahya called me an idiot, but I didn’t care. The thought of my house being drugged and creating all kinds of psychedelic illusions inside made me shudder.

  Mahya took the boat out again, Al relocated there, and I helped her work o skis. It took me two days to engrave the crystals while Mahya worked on the copper wires. She had already learned not to ask for help with that part of the engraving. After finishing the crystals, I joined her, and we worked oher parts. It took us ahree days, and the rain finally stopped.

  Al came back, and after a sultation, we decided we didn’t have the energy to return to the ge for the time being. The idyllic atmosphere in the valley put us all in a rexed and zy mood.

  Mahya took another day to assemble the jet ski and ensure everything worked properly.

  Whe ski was ready, Rue announced, “Rue take first jet ski. Rue need check jet ski not dangerous,” and raised his nose in the air in a very proud pose.

  The three of us looked at each other and ughed. It was so obvious that it was an excuse he made up to get the first ride.

  This forced Mahya ao work o ski for awo days. Rue didn’t have opposable thumbs, so we needed a solution for his paws. After much trial and error, and copying some of the runes Lis used for the e-foils, we found a solution. We reinforced the front part to remain rigid, added four straps on the floor to hold his paws in pce, and adjusted some runes so he could trol the speed with mana and steer by tilting his body.

  After two days, the jet ski was ready. I expined how to trol it to Rue, and he went frolig on the ke. It was amazing to see. He quickly learned how to speed up and slow down, zoomed from one end of the ke to another, and made figure eights oer.

  During all this time, he kept exg loudly, “Rue is amazing! Rue is expert jet ski rider! Rue flies like bird on water! Rue is bestest Adventurer!”

  After three hours, he apparently drained all the crystals and didn’t have enough mana to tinue driving the jet ski. After st the jet ski, he swam and then ran to the shore. He shook himself whe to shore, pelting us with water. He put his paws on Mahya’s shoulders and licked her face as he called out, “Mahya best in the world! Mahya great friend! Mahya bestest ever! Mahya Genius! Rue love Mahya!”

  His enthusiasm caused his mental volume to return to the levels it was before he gained levels, ah got a telepathic headache again. Al, the lucky one, was ba the boat, so he didn’t have to suffer.

  After Rue’s excitement calmed down aopped yelling, I dried him off, auro the house for dinner. During the meal, we agreed we would make some progress on clearing the ge tomorrow. This time, we didn’t io fight all day but to work on a particur part until we were tired aurned home. We felt no reason to rush. We had a perfect pce to stay, a beautiful view, a fun ke, delicious food, and a happy dog.

  What else does a persoo enjoy life?

  Dogs Just Want to Have Fun