This was ridiculous. I ignored the church bell when it tolled five times. There were so many cracks to be fixed just on the side of the wall that I was facing. The basement was approximately 500 feet long and 800 feet wide, or 400,000 square feet (I checked by walking along the walls and using my steps as a rough measuring tape).

The average size of a newly constructed house in America was about 2,700 square feet. In other words, the convent could fit about 150 new American houses. Just a fun fact. And I admit this was totally irrelevant to the task at hand. But could you blame me? After all, I was totally BORED after an hour spent supervising my earth elemental to fix the cracks.

The problem with summoning this creature was that it required an upkeep of 1 mana per minute, which was how fast I was regenerating my personal mana. Thus, I had only 10 mana remaining in my mana pool. Even worse, my minion was not intelligent enough to find the cracks on its own. Therefore, I had to supervise the work rather than do something else like taking a nap.

In the end, I tried to relieve my boredom by running irrelevant facts inside my head while my minion made the repairs in the basement. Unfortunately, the wall that we were facing was 800 feet wide. And we weren't even half-finished after an hour. Judging by the time spent fixing 400 feet worth of cracks, we will need approximately six hours to finish the entire basement. Ouch.

What made the task worse was that Sister Waverly had her own duties to attend to at the convent. Thus, she could not visit the basement and keep me company while my minion did the work. While I was appreciative of my summoned minion's diligence, it couldn't talk and I had no interest in holding a six-hour monologue in the basement.

Fortunately, Sister Waverly brought supper down at approximately 6.45 pm and I took my dinner break then. To my pleasant surprise, dinner consisted of fish and ale. We ate together for the next 15 minutes until the church bell tolled seven times. Unfortunately, we couldn't engage in conversation because the fish had a lot of bones and we had to spend a lot of our time eating carefully to avoid swallowing the sharp fish bones.

Once the sister left the basement, I resumed the repair work with renewed vigor. I had already finished the repairs to the original wall and I was halfway finished with one of the smaller walls. The work on the wall was done within a half-hour. My earth elemental worked continuously without complaint or taking a break. Apparently, as long as I fed my minion a steady, constant supply of mana, it was content and obedient.

Sister Waverly came down again after the ninth bell. By then, I was working on the final, shorter wall. She stayed as a silent observer until my work was finally completed just before the tenth bell.

Once the repair work was completed, the nun did a walkaround to inspect my work. She moved the Light sphere as she walked. She did a thorough inspection and confirmed that all the cracks in the foundation had been fixed.

When she gave me a thumbs-up, I received an in-game notification: "Minor faction quest COMPLETED. +2,000 XP, +4,000 Reputation, +8,000 XP." I bowed deeply to Sister Waverly for the generous experience reward. Frankly, I didn't expect to gain 10,000 XP for a night of repairs. I dismissed my minor earth elemental and I felt relieved when my minion returned to its home.

"Brother Mulligan, it is already past curfew. The Head Sister has granted permission for you to stay in the guest room for the night. Please follow me," Sister Waverly said.

I was surprised because I didn't expect a man to be allowed to remain under the same roof as the sisters of the convent. But since it was already past curfew, the Head Sister probably didn't want me to be on the street alone so late at night. If I was harmed by criminals on my way home or taken to jail for breaking curfew, she didn't want it on her conscience.

I was led out of the main building. We entered a separate building to the left of the convent. The other building appeared to be a dormitory. It was a three-floor building with a brick stone exterior and I was given a room on the very top floor.

"We rise at dawn. Please rest for the night. Have a blessed evening, Brother Mulligan." Sister Waverly nodded slightly and then closed the door behind her.

To my surprise, I didn't hear her lock the door. I walked over and confirmed that the door did not have a lock. I wondered if the lack of a lock was meant to convey a level of trust within the sisterhood. On the other hand, this allowed the supervisors to conduct surprise bed checks. In any case, I decided not to worry about it. After all, I was only going to stay in the room for one night.

My guest room was tiny. It had a bed, a nightstand, and a window. There was a thick blanket on the bed, a towel on the nightstand, and a small bucket of water on the floor in front of the stand. I washed my face with the water and then wiped with the towel. I climbed on the bed, covered myself with the blanket and closed my eyes. Due to my mental exhaustion, I quickly fell asleep.

***

I awoke to the feeling of my arm being shaken. I opened my eyes and saw the bright blue eyes of Sister Waverly looking down on me.

"It's time to get up," the nun said quietly.

"Already?" I mumbled as I sat up on my bed. I stretched my arms and finally got off my bed.

My guide kept the door open for me and closed it behind me. I followed her down two flights of stairs and we reached the first floor.

As we walked down the hallway, I peeked into various rooms and saw nuns of various ages kneeling and praying. To my surprise, I was led to the front lobby, where Head Sister Kira was awaiting our arrival.

"A blessed morning to you, Brother Mulligan," the sister greeted me.

"A blessed morning to you, Sister Kira," I replied. "Thank you for allowing Sister Waverly to accompany me on a personal mission."

She waved a hand. "It's fine. It is important for our sisters to help those in need."

"How much do you know of my mission?" I asked her.

The old nun smiled gently and shook her head. "I didn't ask Sister Waverly. I trust her judgment and if she believes that it the Will of the Gods of the Law and Order to accompany you, then I defer to her judgment."

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"Thank you," I said and bowed deeply to her.

"And I owe you my thanks for your diligent work in fixing the foundation of our convent. Our budget is limited and we lacked the funds needed to hire tradesmen to make the repairs. I checked the basement myself and I'm impressed at your ability to fix the entire basement in only half a day." Sister Kira bowed deeply to me to show her appreciation.

"It was fortunate that I had a magical solution available," I replied modestly.

The old nun shook her head. "It was the Will of the Gods." Sister Kira checked the clock; it was almost time for Prime, or the 6 am service. "I will see you in a week, Sister Waverly. Until then, may the Gods of the Law and Order watch over you both." She nodded slightly.

We bowed deeply to the head sister and then stepped out of the convent.

The church bell soon tolled six times.

I closed my eyes and activated my Spirit Sense. I tried to detect any malevolent auras nearby but found none. "Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." I then activated Navigation Sense and made the Big Oak Tree my destination. I followed the map in my mind and started walking.

Sister Waverly followed me silently. Somehow, she knew what I was doing and avoided interrupting my concentration.

Since it was still quite early in the morning, there were few commoners up and about. Nonetheless, it took almost an hour for me to return to the inn. There were two reasons. First, Saint Mary's Convent was located in the most western part of the city while the inn was in the eastern section. Simply put, the distance between the two locations were quite vast and we had to literally walk across the city to return to the Big Oak Tree.

The second reason was that I had to take periodic breaks from using my Spirit Sense. Since the ability allowed me to detect ALL auras within my surrounding, I needed to concentrate in order to separate and distinguish the individual auras. Maintaining my concentration while walking was very mentally taxing. However, I had no choice but to keep my ability activated because I was really concerned about being ambushed by assassins again and having the ability to detect evil aura was a way for me to detect those would-be assassins.

Additionally, I was mindful of the fact that I had a nun as my travel companion. As she was unarmed and unarmored, I didn't want to engage in combat with assassins and have my healer end up in the crossfire. Head Sister Kira had put her faith and trust in me to keep Sister Waverly safe, and I didn't want to disappoint her. Thus, I was extra cautious in avoiding assassins even if this meant delaying my return to the inn.

When I arrived at the Big Oak Tree, I received the following in-game notifications: "Navigation sense SUCCESSFUL. +100 XP. Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. +500 XP." I was gratified to see that my diligence had paid off in the end. I gave myself a little fist pump and then I entered the inn. I waved at the receptionist, walked through the half-full dining room, and then entered the VIP room. Surprisingly, Van, Rijana, Bjoukia, and Bjoukin were already up and having breakfast.

They noticed my companion and they looked at the sister with great interest.

I turned around to introduce her. "This is Sister Waverly. She has graciously agreed to accompany me as a healer in my next mission to unlock the final Ph'laen Ruins. She will be with us for up to a week," I explained.

"My name is Bjoukia and I'm glad to have you with us," Bjoukia said with a broad smile. As a fighter, she welcomed having a healer in the party. She had been relying mainly on healing potions to heal herself during our adventures together. A competent healer was worth her weight in gold.

"Please join us for breakfast," Van added with a big smile. He, too, was glad that Sister Waverly was joining the party.

As we sat in our seats, the waitress entered. "What would you like for breakfast?" she asked.

I pointed at the food on the table. I saw that it was oatmeal and tea. "Whatever they're having is fine."

"The same," the nun added.

The elven waitress nodded and left the room.

Once she was gone, Bjoukin and Rijana introduced themselves. "I'm Bjoukin." "I'm Rijana." The duo tried their best to make the nun feel welcome.

Rijana turned toward me. "Not that I don't appreciate having a healer in our party, but what made you decide to add one now?" she asked me.

I winced at the question because it was a delicate topic. Nonetheless, I wanted to be honest with my magic instructor. "Do you recall what happened when I was teleported back to the Transport Room?" I asked.

"You're referring to your blackout episode?" she asked.

I nodded. "I took a massive amount of damage because I received access to Matter. And that's AFTER I had a successful saving throw."

Van whistled. "You want a healer nearby in case you die during your next mission," he summarized my reason succinctly in a somber tone of voice.

I nodded.

Suddenly, the door opened. Dovarata and Bila entered the room. They noticed an unknown but attractive woman sitting next to me.

Bila hissed as she sat next to Sister Waverly. "Who's she?" the cat girl asked in a not-so-friendly tone of voice. She was unhappy to find another woman in her customary seat next to me.

The nun turned to her. "I'm Sister Waverly and I will be joining your party. I hope we get along," she answered with a bright smile.

The cat girl looked at the nun directly in the eyes.

The sister did not flinch from the intense stare.

Finally, Bila nodded. "Fine." Her tail twitched. "I'm Bila."

"And I'm Dovarata," the dracon interrupted. She, too, was not in her customary seat next to me. That seat had been claimed by Rijana.

"Pleased to meet you all," the nun said and bowed.

The waitress returned with a tray. She placed a bowl of oatmeal and a mug of honey tea in front of me and the sister. Then she turned toward Bila and Dovarata.

"We'll have the same," the dracon ordered.

The cat girl's whiskers twitched but she remained silent. To her disappointment, Bila learned that the inn did not serve meat for breakfast. BUT she did eat a hearty lunch and dinner (chicken stew and two whole fishes, respectively) yesterday on my dime. So it was fine to eat the chicken feed for breakfast this morning.

We ate breakfast in silence.

When I finished my meal, Van gave me a pointed look. "Will you tell them?" he asked quietly.

"Tell who?" Bila replied. Her tail flickered; her curiosity was stoked by his question.

Seeing that I wasn't inclined to mention it, the paladin shook his head. "Since Bila and Dovarata are also your bodyguards, they should be informed."

"Of what?" Bjoukia asked. The elven maiden was curious now.

"Ah! You mean the assassination attempt on Brother Lawrence's life!" Sister Waverly spoke up.

Bila slammed a fist on the table. "When?" Her pale yellow-green eyes glowed.

"It occurred after he stepped out of the church building yesterday afternoon," the nun answered calmly. "I happened to be walking nearby when I saw someone shoot an arrow at him. It missed and killed the poor man behind him." Sister Waverly made a sign of the cross over her head. "I took Brothers Mulligan and Van to my convent to shelter them from other possible assassins in the area," she added.

"And you didn't bother to tell us?" Dovarata growled. Her eyes, too, started glowing.

I raised my hands to placate them. "Well, a lot of things happened yesterday," I replied with a shrug.

"Uh-huh." The dracon was not buying it. "You were with him, Van?" she asked the paladin.

"Yes, I was," he nodded. "I chased the man. He had fired his bow from a rooftop across the street. He was dressed in all black and wore a hood which covered his face. He jumped over the wall and I lost him." Van shook his head.

"Is he from the Thieves' Guild?" Rijana spoke up.

"I have no clue," I replied honestly. "I haven't been approached by their representatives in this city."

The mage looked around the room. "Unfortunately, none of us here has the connections with the underworld society in London. We'll just have to be extra careful when we walk in the street," Rijana concluded while looking at each of her companions aside from me.

They nodded their agreement.

She looked at me again. "Where are the final Ph'laen Ruins located?" she asked.

"Oxford," I answered.

"When are we leaving?" Dovarata asked. Since she possessed the Orb of Travel and the only means of magical transportation to Oxford, she needed to know my schedule.

I was hesitant to reply. "As much as I would like to go there right away, I think it's important for me to train and add more spells to my spellbook before I leave London," I finally answered her.

The dracon nodded. "Fair enough."

"So you wish to stay here for another day or two at most?" Bjoukia asked,

I nodded.