As I y in bed before sleeping, I repeated the same a as st time before we went down to the ge. Betwees, the mushroom valley, and the ge, I had a lot of practi on fighting, mainly with my swords. To advance my wizard css, I o practice using my magi bat. I opened my profile and reviewed all my options to decide what I would work on the day. My profile looked the same, except Telekinesis had gone up three levels and moved from the General Spells list to the Wizard Spells list.

  After thinking about it for a moment, I remembered that when I bought Ahesia to heal Rue, the spell appeared in the Healer Spells list rather than the general list.

  Was using something in a specific css automatically associated it with that css?

  It ged nothing, but it was intriguing. I was still trying to figure out how this system worked. It was so fusing, not user-friendly, and filled with so many holes that anything I uood about it felt like a bonus. After a few minutes, I let go of these philosophical thoughts and refocused on the reason I had opehe profile in the first pce.

  Let’s see: I want to use a Mana Shield to protect myself and train my Mana Dart more. Of course, Telekinesis remained a very effective tool. And what else?

  I was scrolling the profile up and down when my eye caught on Lightning.

  Hmm, I haven’t tried it in bat yet.

  It seemed like a good idea. I also added Exude Mana back to the list. Not for the little monsters—we needed crystals, not just to kill them—but if it could slow down the bigger ones, it would be beneficial. In addition, I decided to practice keeping my mana sense spread out in any situation, even if it was fusing during bat.

  After breakfast, we headed towards the ge. With the balloon, it took two mio reach the valley. It took us almost an hour on foot, mainly because we had to climb up a steep ine and slid down several times. Eventually, Mahya got fed up, took out an axe, and carved steps at the steepest points of the ine. That solved the problem of sliding down.

  When we reached the ge’s rim, we peered over the edge but could only see maybe ten or fifteeers down. I took out my stro binocurs, but they didn’t help; the ge was too dark inside. No trees were he rim, but twe rocks stood nearby. We ed the rope around the rocks, ensuring it was secure, and Mahya went down first.

  After three minutes, she jumped back up, her expressioermined. “I think the height is something like three hundred or three hundred and fifty meters, but I didn’t get all the way down. After about twenty meters, I found a rock ledge and used it to jump,” she said, brushing some dirt off her hands. “On the way down, I got an idea. Before we tih the rope, I want to try it.”

  “What idea?” Al asked, his brow furrowed.

  She turo me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “You hover. Have you ever tried h with someone?”

  “No...”

  “Do you think you ?”

  “Maybe? I won’t know until I try.”

  She jumped on my back, ing her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. “There’s no time like the present,” she said.

  I ected to the wind and rose in the air. It wasn’t harder or heavier, and I didn’t feel Mahya’s weight more than I did on the ground, but I had tthen my e to lift both of us. We rose twenty meters, theuro the ground.

  “Well, it seems I hover with someone, but that doesn’t solve our problem. I already told you I ’t move forward, back, or sideways. Only up and down. So I’ll lift us in the air and bring us back to the ge’s edge. How exactly is that helping us?”

  “Leave it to me,” she said fidently.

  The ge had a U-shaped end. She uhe rope from the rocks ao the right end of the U, calling to Al, “Go to the opposite end and catch.”

  Al moved to the left end of the U. Mahya tied a stoo the rope’s end, spun it several times in the air, and threw it to Al, who easily caught it. She tied her end to another rod called out to Al to do the same.

  She returo me, jumped on my back, and said, “Use the rope to get to the middle and start going down slowly. Don’t rush because I haven’t checked the whole dest, and I don’t know if there are any protruding rocks.”

  I had to admit, it was not a bad idea. “Get off my back for a moment,” I asked.

  After she got off, I got on all fours, held the rope with one hand, and told her, “Get back up.”

  Once she was on my back, I floated, holding the rope. Hand over hand, I advao the middle of the rope. When I got there, I had to figure out how to turn my body so it wouldn’t be parallel to the rope. After a few tries, I discovered that if I pulled with one hand and pushed with the other, I could ge my angle.

  On the proper position, I pushed with my hands to keep my head away from the rope line and desded slowly. The training I did in the mushroom valley was an excellent idea. With ara person on my back, it was much harder to trol my dest, but with enough tration, I mahat’s how we got to the bottom.

  After I put Mahya down, she patted me on the bad said, “You’re a great elevator.”

  She burst into ughter after I stuy to her.

  I floated back up and brought Al down the same way. Now, I had a problem with Rue. He couldn’t hug me with his arms and legs like Al and Mahya, but I needed my arms to move along the rope. After some trial and error, I could hold him before me and advance along the rope with my toes u. It was slower, and I had to split my mind to trate on the wind and the rope, but as soon as I started floating, his weight seemed to disappear from my hands.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Wind friend make Rue windy.”

  “So you hover too?”

  “Yes! Rue windy.”

  With one hand for safety, I held onto his colr, then released the other hand, ah hovered down.

  When we reached the bottom, Mahya and Al looked at us wide-eyed. Al asked, “Did y levitate, or was that my imagination?”

  “Rue windy! Jon hover. Rue hover,” Rue announced proudly.

  “So we have two elevators,” Mahya said, ughing.

  “No! Rue no elevator. Only Johor.”

  “Thanks, buddy,” I said, annoyed.

  After equipping ear, we started moving deeper into the ge. Nothing was iing except for a few bushes ri normal and tainted mana that grew vertically from the rock. I poihem out to Mahya, and she jumped up, cut them off the cliff with her sword, and stored them when she nded. After about a hundred meters, we saw one of the ivorous bushes with acid-shooting flowers.

  We immediately put on our masks, and I told them, “Don’t do anything. I want to try something.”

  I approached the pnt and cast Exude Mana on it. I was too far away, and the spell didn’t reach it. It shot acid at me, and I jumped sideways. Some of the acid hit my shield, and it sizzled but held. Just in case, I recast it, rushed forward, cast Exude Mana again, and jumped back. The pnt drooped and looked tired. I saw it trying to pick up the tral part and failing. I sent a lightning bolt at it, and the red light started fshing.

  Yes!!

  I tur into a crystal, and we tio move forward.

  “That was very effective,” Mahya ented.

  “Yeah, I’m trying to work on my magic to advahe wizard css.”

  “Good idea,” she said, patting my back. After a moment, she suggested, “We should turn invisible.”

  “I thought we aren't doing that so the monsters could find us, no?” I asked.

  “They doly have ao hide. We’d better see them before they see us.” Mahya’s eyes darted around, sing the surroundings.

  We all turned invisible and tinued. After awenty meters, we saw a group of manta rays h in pce. I unicated telepathically, “Let me take care of them. Kill those who pass me.”

  Stepping forward, I sent a lightning strike to the first manta ray. It fell, and I quickly tur into a crystal. The rest of the manta rays started flying toward me. I sent anhtning strike, p additional mana into it. It struck the first manta ray, then split and struck two more, breaking again to hit five more. The remaining lightning tinued into the distance, hitting nothing. All the manta rays struck by the lightning fell. I cast the crystal version spell on them, but one remained alive. I cast Mana Dart, and it was dead. To my surprise, the mana dart split in two.

  Al, Mahya, and Rue killed the others, and I turhem into crystals.

  “How y dart split in two?” I asked Mahya, puzzled.

  “It reached level five.”

  “But it reached level five st time, and there was still only one,” I said, my fusion growing.

  “It just reached level five, and you didn’t have a ce to discover the addition.”

  This way, we tihrough the ge. Most of the monsters we entered were familiar from our first visit. We mainly saw manta rays, a few more acid-spitting bushes, the giant bugs with scythe-like legs, bats, and a lot of pims. After several experiments, we discovered that my initial method with the pnt erfect: Exude Mana to make it droop, then a lightning strike. And because we were invisible this time, there was o jump back to avoid acid. For the manta rays, the lightning worked best. Against the pims and is, it was less effective. It slowed them down but didn’t kill them. The pims were excellent training targets for telekinesis. It was satisfying to lift them, flip them over, and sm their heads into the ground.

  I had already learhat Exude Mana didn’t work well against bats, and lightning created the same effect. A lightning strike equaled no bat, but they were excellent targets to practice my Mana Dart. The scythe-legged bugs required an alternative approach. We grabbed their scythe legs with telekinesis to prevent them from attag, giving Mahya a ce to decapitate them, or Rue a ce to take their heads off with a bite.

  Something new surprised us in two instances: serpentine creatures with iridest scales and massive predatory birds with ember-like feathers. The system called them dreadscale vipers and embercw rocs. The snakes were no problem; I electrocuted them, which made them spasm. Mahya cut them in half, and we moved on. The birds were a bit more challenging because they flew. Mahya killed a few with the rifle, but most of them fled up.

  I tried something new: I ected to the wind and hovered, and when I got close to them, I cast Exude Mana on them, oer the other, causing them to fall. The fall killed some of them, and the team below took care of the rest. Clearing the ge today was much more straightforward than st time. Our familiarity with the monsters helped, but it wasn’t the only faagic was simply awesome. I wao facepalm for not using it earlier, but I refrained so they wouldn’t ugh at me.

  In the early afternoon, we entered the first monster we had see time we ehe ge. One of the furry beings we had seen at the sed entrance appeared again. This time, I could see it more clearly since I wasn’t caught off guard and busy proteg myself. The monster was stra looked like a bination of a bear, goril, and pangoli didn’t quite resemble any of them. It was also twice the size of the first monster we entered.

  I tried electrog it, but that only made it angrier. It charged at me, and I had to dive to the side to avoid being crushed. It turned and charged again, unerringly knowing my locatioe my invisibility. Mahya and Al attacked with their swords, and Rue bit its leg to slow it down, but it barely faltered. I sent another bolt of lightning, and judging by its roar, it hurt, but it didn’t stop the creature. I dodged to the side again, realizing this o end quickly.

  Deg not to py anymore, I drew my swords. As the creature bore down on me, I seized it with telekinesis. My mind strained like a muscle cramping, barely slowing the monster, but it was enough. I coated my swords with mana and thrust each bde into one of its knees. I dove sideways again; it colpsed forward, and I cast Exude Mana on it. The creature’s movements slowed, and Mahya jumped onto its back, swiftly decapitating it.

  Feeling dizzy, I checked my mana: 80/11,100. I watched it as it jumped to 108/11,100 a slightly better. Lightning used a lot of mana, but at least my regeion here was fast. After resting for aen minutes and feeling stable again, we headed back. On the way, they harvested everything we skipped while looking for monsters—mainly bushes, some crooked low trees, the strange crystallials that grew from the cliff face, and the tiny glowing mushrooms Al took for his potions. I stood guard with my mana sense spread as wide as possible. I thought they excluded me from the harvesting because I killed over 60% of the monsters. That was very nice of them—friends are simply awesome.

  Wheuro the end of the ge, Mahya jumped on my bad said, “Up, please, good sir.”

  I rose in the air, ughing, and Rue rose beside me. When we arrived at the top, I grabbed the rope, Rue grabbed my pants with his teeth, and I brought us to the ledge. After Mahya stood on the ledge, she pulled Rue on it, and I went back down t up Al.

  Wheuro the valley, everyone was too tired and not thinking straight, leading to a serious mistake. I instructed the house to open the deck, and they dumped everything they had collected onto it. It took the house almost half an hour to absorb everything, but the monster with the tentacles and eyes materialized on the deck when it finished. It was much smaller than the one we fought in the dungeon—about the size of an elephant instead of a p it was still the creature with tentacles that shot bck mana. The only good thing was that it wasn’t very mobile.

  We dashed away. Mahya took out one gun and threw ao Al, while I shot the monster with crossbow bolts. Every time it got closer, we moved further away. Because of the dista was easier to dodge the bck mana darts. After two or three mihe monster colpsed. I tur into a crystal, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.

  “We’re not doing that again,” I announced.

  “No shit, Sherlock,” Mahya said, colpsing onto the grass.

  At least the crystal was the size of an e. It’s essential to look at the bright side.