Right then, so how do I make gravity into telekinesis. Technically it already is. The only problem I have with that is the lack of control. It affects everything that gets near enough. Which is what I’ll now try to rectify.

Let’s go back to the analogy of space being a two-dimensional plane. My spell, currently, can either make a divot or a mound. So, if I want to make it function like telekinetic power, I’ll have to remove the curve.

Instead of a divot, it’ll just be a cylinder-shaped hole. Or instead of a mound it’ll be a plateau. Basically, I just want to make the effect be a jump instead of being gradual.

And, I suspect that once I have enough power to actually create portals that this is how that works too.

Now, onto actually doing it.

Let’s start with just a simple gravity well. Now, I only have to get rid of the slope and I’m done. How do I do that.

Casting again but just slightly next to the first one, I do the opposite and create a repulsive ‘force’. But that doesn’t quite work. Sure, it’s a small step in the right direction, but the metaphorical slope is still there. Plus, now there’s a small mound next to it, instead of a flat plane.

Shit, ok. Maybe I do need some more training after all. I have to figure out how to change the actual shape of my spell, not just move it.

So, I get onto that. And find out it’s much easier that I would have expected.

Huh, maybe I should have done this at an earlier point in my training. I’m not exactly proficient in it, but I didn’t have to spend hours upon hours trying, and failing, to figure it out.

It doesn’t take long for me to change the shape from a circle to an oval. And then, I manage to make one side steeper that the other one.

Wait, what?

Are you telling me that I can achieve my goal without utilizing all the other techniques I learned? Was it a waste of time to tech myself to cast multiple spells at once? Or how to reverse the effect?

Okay, no, that’s a bit extreme. I can use that in different situations, but still. I feel sort of cheated. At least it shouldn’t take that long now that I’ve familiarized myself with the spell.

Letting a part of my mind practise, I focus on another task. Making a basket.

Now, I’m sure you’re asking why I’d even need a basket, but let me tell you, there is a perfect explanation for that.

You see, I have been stuck in this lakeside clearing for way too long, and I think it’s time for an expedition. So, I’m making a basket in case I find anything interesting that I want to carry back.

Of course, you may ask why I need it for the expedition. Wouldn’t it be better to travel lightly and then return with a basket once I find something? And to that I say… okay, I just wanted to try it. And besides, it’s good experience for my skill.

But while I’m on the topic of expeditions, how about I check out that ritual site I came upon on the way here. It shouldn’t take that long, especially with silent step nearing level fifty. By now it provides a noticeable boost to my speed. In addition to keeping me quiet and all that.

Hmm, but it may take me a while to find it. Because while I remember the general direction I came from, there are no path to follow and wasn’t really paying attention that much back then.

So just in case, I’ll bring some food with me. Aha! And that’s why I’m trying to weave a basket. Which was my original reason and not something I came up with just now. Not at all.

Anyway, basket, right. At some point I realized that the bark of the birch trees nearby has another use. Unlike the inner bark, which is good for eating, the outer bark is more flexible and can be woven into things, like basket.

By alternating a pattern of over and under, the relatively weaker strands of bark become quite tough. Tough enough to carry a couple days’ worth of food, at least. Which bring me to food.

After improving my mind a bit more, or maybe just through a spark of inspiration, I remembered that the bark is edible even when uncooked. And yes, it doesn’t help the taste or texture at all, but it’s good to know.

Either way, I cook it anyway. Not only does it feel safer, but it’s part of the ritual that imbued the food with better taste, so I don’t risk leaving that step out.

While I’m preparing this basket, which will be more of a backpack once it’s done, I’m also cooking a bunch of the bark spaghetti to take with me. I shouldn’t be long for that long, but better safe than sorry.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The next day, I’m ready.

I progressed a lot with distort spacetime yesterday. I can even create the distortion in a more geometric shape, for example hexagons, but the edges are still not a point as they should be. They are smoother, even if I’m getting to the point where it’s indistinguishable.

So, eating breakfast, I head out. A quick check on my skills is the last thing I do before I’m back in the forest.

Level Up!

Fortified mind – level 58 -> 59

Languages – level 30 -> 31

General knowledge – level 36 -> 37

Visualize – level 49 -> 51

Parallel processing – level 61 -> 62

Improvised implements – level 32 -> 35

Meditation – level 41 -> 42

Digestive system – level 0 -> 7

With a backpack on my shoulders, a knife in hand and high expectations, I travel through the forest in the direction of the only interesting thing I found there.

My high expectations don’t last though, as I’m soon reminded of the monotony of walking through an untamed forest.

Which is why I get back into my almost forgotten habit of mind TV. Yes, I indulged in it every now and then while by the lake, but most of the time I was very busy and didn’t have the capacity for it.

Now though, I not only have the skill at a higher level, but I also don’t have that much to focus on. Sure, there’s a bit of focus om being stealthy and a bit of focus on observing my surrounding, in the unlikely scenario that something still lives here, but other than that I’m free to do whatever.

Hmm, actually, I may not go ahead and watch fake television after all. There are more useful things to do. Like mapping the area out in my head. I could maybe get a skill for that, but why bother when a strong enough mind can remember that and more.

I also try something I hadn’t tried since before I got the skill for it. Meditating with only a part of my mind. It goes almost entirely against the nature of meditation, but if I do manage it it’ll enhance my already superhuman mind even more.

That’s how most of the day passes. Just walking and working. By the time the sun sets, my mind is exhausted and I’m ready to sleep.

Which is a bit of the opposite of what I’d expect to happen. After all, once you achieve a greater stat in mind, you’d expect to get a higher mental capacity and say goodbye to feeling tired. Then again, fortified mind is giving an enormous amount of discipline that I never had before. Which, when combined with parallel processing, allows me to keep up with the quantity of stuff the rising mind stuff allows me to do. I’ve really lucked out with that combination.

Having learned from my first night in this hellscape, I lay down as far away from any of the trees and get to sleep. Which meditation helps a lot with. Without it it’d take me a lot longer.

The sun rises and I continue with what I’d been doing yesterday. If only I could have been this productive back on Earth. I would have taken over the world in no time!

By midday I think I’m somewhere around the spot of the ritual stones and the weird hole in the ground. Now I only have to find it.

Which, fortunately, doesn’t take that long.

The site is pretty much exactly as I left it. The ginormous stones surround the deep pit, the inside of which is pitch black even as little as a meter in.

Except that this time, I can sense more. I can sense magic, even if only a little bit. And while there isn’t much, the hole in the centre of the formation still has a faint misty feeling coming out of it.

Cautiously, I approach. Which is stupid since the last time I was here I entered and nothing happened. But such is human nature, even if the mind surpasses the normal limits. Actually, am I even human? Never mind, it’s not like it matters.

After a while, when nothing happens, I relax and sit down on one of the stones. Sure, they are big and tall, but they are also on their sides, so it’s easy to get on top of them.

Snaking on a bit of birch bark, I enter a light meditation and focus more on the magic coming off of the pit. It’s strange.

Sort of a different flavour than my m own mana. Sort of… no, not bitter. More like something new that you’d never like, but know that if someone forces you to consume become delicious. Acquired taste, I think it’s called.

And this is something like that. Except that you have to translate that feeling into magic. And I have no idea how I could ‘consume’ it.

Maybe casting spells with that flavour would count?

Anyway, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. More like it’s an echo of the initial casting. Am I also leaving things like that behind? Or does that only happen with special magics? Or maybe only if a spell is sufficiently powerful?

Strange, strange indeed.

Alright, onto the next thing on my agenda. The inscriptions in the stones.

Last time I used it to get the first level of languages, but couldn’t glean much from it. Only identify a few recurring patterns.

This time though… Well, if not anything else, I’ll at least try to memorize as much of it as I can. I’m sure it’ll be useful eventually, and also as inspiration for the written part of my own language.

Speaking of which, let me try something.

I concentrate, entering a bit deeper into meditation.

Then, I speak the word for activate in my own language while imagining the carvings in the stones glowing and something happening.

I have no idea if this is going to work without knowing what it’s supposed to do, but I might as well try.

And something does happen.

A small, almost imperceptible amount of mist leaves me and gather around the stones. And causes the patterns on them to glow.

Yeah, I suppose I was a bit too hopeful there. It’s be a bit stupid if that’s all it took to activate unknown magics.

And then the glow abruptly cuts of. Which is strange, because I haven’t stopped the spell. Moreover, I still feel that misty feeling distinct to magic around the stones.

And then it vanishes. Or rather, it gets absorbed into the inscriptions. I tense, ready for anything. Well, not really anything. Mostly just ready to flee.

The magic travels along the stones, gathering into one spot. I almost relax again, thinking it’s just a weird battery. But then, the condensed ball of what used to be a harmless glow spell gets launched into the abyssal pit in the middle of the clearing.

Where it vanishes. Completely vanishes. It doesn’t get absorbed like with the stone, nor does it dissipate until I can’t sense it like with my own spells. No, it just straight up stops existing.

Almost as if it was devoured.