Connor finishes absorbing the memories and stabilizes himself before he reaches out with Telepathy I.

“Alright, I have what we need,” Connor sent.

“Where to now?” Liza asked.

Connor considers for a second and then sends, “Let’s get some breakfast,”

“What about this asshole?” Sam asks.

“I have his memories, and we know where he is. Leave him. Besides, he’s going to sleep well into tomorrow. That should give us plenty of time to get out of here.”

“Fine,” Sam sends, but there’s a feeling in Sam’s mental connection that indicates he thinks it’s a bad idea.

“Remember, we’re in the past. The less we actually change, the better. Now, isn’t there an IHOP on the north side of town as you leave along Interstate 11?” Connor asked.

“It’s still there,” Sam sent.

“All right, One Connor Bubble Shuttle outside of the Balcony coming up,” Connor sends as he Shadow Steps to the balcony and uses Force Barrier to create the lower half of the Force Barrier Bubble, complete with two seats. He makes it with a slight opacity so they can see where to sit until they sit down. Then, the force bubble conforms to their bodies as the bubble closes over the three of them and becomes completely transparent. Connor waits for the bubble to become completely transparent while he floats up and behind Liza and Sam.

Connor lifts the three of them into the night sky and then heads northwest toward the IHOP. Luckily, there is a bridge over a highway right next to the IHOP Parking lot. Connor brings the bubble underneath the highway and lands under the overpass where no one can see. Connor deactivates the Force Barrier and then drops Stealth, “We’re here.”

Sam drops his Stealth first, followed quickly by Liza, who adds, “Yes, we are.”

Connor leads the two to the IHOP. They make their way inside and find that while it is the middle of the night, they’re still moderately busy, though there is no line.

The receptionist rushes over, grabs three menus and the napkin-wrapped silverware, and asks, “Welcome to IHOP, Party of three?”

Sam and Liza look to Connor, who looks at the receptionist and says, “Yes, if we could have both away from the door, please.”

The receptionist looks down to their seat planning, nods to herself, and smiles at Connor, “Yes, Sir. If you’ll follow me, I have a booth toward the back that will do.” She turns and leads the three of them down and around the aisle to a booth near the hallway to the restrooms.

Jen, their receptionist, sat them and took their drink order before heading off to load the order into their tracking and billing computer. Three minutes later, their waitress, Alice, walked out with their drinks and took their orders. Once she’d left the area, Connor smiled, “So, did you two have fun?”

“You could say that,” Sam states with a grin, “How about you?”

“Well, I found the leader of the people that targeted us. He won’t be a problem anymore. We can go over that elsewhere. While I was out of town, I had a chance to make you these,” Connor says as he pulls two sets of crystals out of his Inventory. He places a set in front of each of them. Each set of Crystals contains one Common Spell Crystal for the spells: Create Food, Create Water, Light, Force Dagger, Hack, Magical Bolt, Wizard Hands, Detect Magic, Healing I, and Silence.”

Sam and Liza take their ten Common Spell Crystals. It takes them a minute to identify all of them. When Liza finishes, she looks up, “How?”

“If you like those, you two will love these,” Connor says as he pulls out a Rare Mana Battery and sets one down in front of each of them. Sam and Liza reach out and immediately cover the glowing crystals with their hands. A moment later, both sets of eyes go wide just before all the crystals disappear into their inventories.

“There’s 1,000 mana in that Battery,” Sam hisses excitedly

“Yes,” Connor agrees.

“How?”

“Don’t worry about that. Once we’re somewhere somewhat safe, I’ll show you. For now, would you like to know what I discovered from the Agent?”

Connor pulls up Agent Smith’s memory of the meeting and quickly reviews his meeting with the Elf Silvana. He’d been on assignment on the West Coast and had taken a trip up Highway 101 to Klamath. The other Agent he’d been with, an older man who went by Agent Black, had driven them into the Redwood Forest until they came to the Foresty Department. From there, they made their way into the forest until they came to a giant tree with a man-sized archway in it. They’d stepped through, the lighting had changed, and Agent Black had told him to wait by the Archway while he talked to the nice lady. Agent Smith had seen her pointy ears and knew that this was either a cosplay set up of some sort or a set for a movie, that was until he saw the two suns in the sky through the trees.

Agent Black had talked with the woman for a while before he returned. He’d led Agent Smith back to the Forestry Department, where Agent Black made Agent Smith promise never to mention what he’d seen that day. Connor snickered. It was too bad for them; Connor had full access to Agent Smith's memories, which included him creating a “Deadman’s File,” which would be released 30 days after his death.

Connor was pulled through his thoughts as Liza asked, “Connor?”

“Sorry, I remembered where we needed to go next.”

Sam cleared his throat before he said, “You mentioned that you were going to take his memories; how’d you learn to do that?”

“Another skill. Anyway, let's dig in and eat, then hit a Walmart before we head out of town. We need to pick up some sleeping bags and possibly some snacks if you want.”

“Where are we staying tonight? You know they’re looking for us,” Liza pointed out.

“Don’t you worry about that; I’ve got it covered,” Connor said with a smile.

A minute later, their food arrived, and they ate while Sam and Liza informed Connor about what they’d been up to all day. When they finish catching him up, Connor smirked, “So, you're wanted by the authorities. It’s a good thing they won’t be able to track or find us soon.”

“How do you figure,” Sam asked.

“I’ll show you. Now we need to go shopping.”

Connor waited for Alice to return to the table and handed her a $100 bill. “That’s for the meals. Keep the change; we need to be going.”

“Yes, Sir! Thank You, Sir!” Alice stated enthusiastically as the three of them stood and then made their way out of the IHOP. As Connor walked outside, he realized that a spell to temporarily interrupt technological devices might be handy. Of course, if he did that to all technological devices, that could cause problems for those with medical implants and the like. Also, vehicles and buildings. But it was magic, so maybe there was a spell out there that would interrupt only cameras? It still might affect the new cars with front-mounted cameras, but in 2007, there shouldn’t be too many of those on the roads.

Since he doesn’t have that spell right now, he walks. The closest Walmart is just west of the IHOP, less than a quarter of a mile away. It’s the middle of the night, so it should be open. Also, there are a lot more people on the road. Wait, it’s 2007, that’s twelve years before Covid 19. The lockdown hasn’t happened yet. So yeah, the Walmart is probably open in the City that Never Sleeps, a nickname it shares with New York City.

As they walk down the street, Connor asks, “So, how are the two of you on funds?”

“We still have most of what you already gave us,” Liza answers with a smile.

“Good, get some supplies. I suggest getting the food and drinks that you want. The Crystals I gave you will allow you to make your own food and water, but you’ll need something to hold anything you create if you’re not going to store it in your Inventory. Also, any clothes and tools you might think that you need that you can carry in your Inventory. I will also be picking up such items, but first, I’m going to sneak over into Sam’s Club and pick up a few more practical things before I go into Walmart. I’ll meet you inside.”

“You’re going to sneak inside?” Sam asks

“You’ll understand why I did when we leave here,” Connor states with a smile.

“Alright, I guess,” Liza says.

As the three of them walk between two buildings, Connor hangs back and walks over to the wall, taking note of all the cameras in the area. He steps behind a dumpster, Activates Flight and Stealth, and heads over to the northwest side of the parking lot where Sam’s Club is. A quick Shadow Steps inside. A few people are stocking the shelves and isles, but not many.

Connor floats above the floor as he looks over the large warehouse. While Astral Pocket is very beneficial, the lack of any foundation will make it hard for anyone but him to orient themselves. If he put a shed or some other structure inside the Astral Pocket, Sam and Liza might subconsciously orient the floor of the structure down. Since up and down are determined by the mind of the person within the Astral Pocket, that should help them rest a bit more easily, at least, he hopes so.

Connor immediately found what he was looking for in the middle of the floor. They’d set up a 15’ x 8’ shed that would do nicely. To show how much it could hold, they’d placed various pieces of equipment inside it, including a riding lawnmower, a pallet of fertilizer, and various gardening tools hanging on the sides.

Connor floats down next to the shed and waits until no one is nearby. Then, with a touch and a flex of his will, the shed and everything in it are added to his Inventory. Connor quickly checks his inventory and notes that all of the items inside the shed take up 86 inventory slots while the shed itself takes up 18, most likely because of its size.

Next, he floats along the top of the aisle shelves and picks up pallets of various items. He starts with boxes of plastic spoons, forks, and knives. Then, he picks up the most essential item: ten jumbo packs of toilet paper. Of course, he also picks up ten pounds worth of paper plates as well. As he moves to the next aisle, he notices sleeping bags and picks up six of them. That leads him to the clothing aisle in the middle of the room, where he picks up packs of underwear and socks of various sizes for men and women.

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The most inventory slot expensive items that he picks up are pallets of soda and water. Each pallet takes up 400 of his inventory slots. He picks up one pallet of Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Sprite, and Pepsi. Then he picks up one pallet of sixteen-ounce water bottles and one pallet of one-gallon water bottles. Just in case spells don’t work, he also picks up a pallet of Granola Bars and another Pallet of Beef Jerky.

There’s so much more he wants to pick up, but what he’s taken has been noticed, and people are rushing around now. That’s fine; he has most of what he needs right now. Connor makes his way to the front of the store. Shadow Steps out of the building and returns to the dumpster, where he drops Stealth and Flight. As he makes his way to Walmart, he checks to see how much inventory space he has used.

4,824 of 100,000 Inventory Slots

Connor made his way through the parking lot and over to the Walmart entrance. As he walked inside, he noticed a police car pull into the Sam’s Club parking lot. He couldn’t help but wonder how they were going to explain the missing items. Connor put that out of his mind as he reached out and established a connection with Sam and Liza with Telepathy I.

How are you two doing? Connor asked.

Good. Is there anything specific we need to pick up?” Liza asked.

I grabbed generic packs of underwear and socks from Sam’s Club. If you want something specific, I’d pick that up. Also, please provide any cooking utensils or handheld tools you think you might need.

Why? Sam asked.

I’m thinking more about the future and not right now. But with Magic in play, I thought that maybe we should be like Boy Scouts and ‘Be Prepared.’

So, you want us to grab anything and everything we think we might need if we were going on a long trip, such as clothes, toiletries, simple tools, and the like?

We don’t have a lot of room in our Inventory, Liza offered.

Get what you think you need. We’ll separate it into immediate supplies that you can carry. Don’t worry—we’ll have a place to store everything else, trust me.

How are we going to take this stuff with us? Sam asked.

Don’t worry; my Inventory has space. Connor said.

How much space? Liza asked.

Well, I’m not sure how it plays out exactly, but if every inventory slot can hold up to 5 pounds, I can carry 500,000 pounds. But that’s not where we’re going to store most of it once we rest for a bit. Anyway, I have it covered, so get anything you think you need, and we’ll meet up front when you’re all done.

“Okay,” Sam said.

“Alright,” Liza said.

Connor kept the Telepathic Link active for both of them as they all went shopping. The first thing Connor did was grab a shopping cart and head to the clothing department. He picked up 10 sets of sweatshirts, shorts, and jeans, as well as 30 different types of casual shirts and T-shirts. In addition, he picked up a couple of sets of tennis shoes. He’d have to pick up some boots from either a military outlet or the supply depot on a military installation.

Once he had finished picking up various clothing items, he made his way to the sporting goods department and picked up ten Swiss Army Knives, ten Survival kits, three more sleeping bags, four small tents, and six small pillows and pillowcases. The last thing on his list was some alcohol and snack food. For these items, he grabbed another shopping cart and went through the food aisles. He picked up a couple of bottles of wine, some Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. For now, he only picked up one bottle of each. Then, he picked various types of candy and cookies. When he was done, the second shopping cart was as full as the first.

Satisfied for now, Connor made his way to the front of the story and was lucky enough to get in line with only one person in front of him.

Just so you two know, I’m checking out now. I’ll meet you out front. Connor sent telepathically.

He received confirmation from Liza and Sam and then brought his attention back to the Cashier. Connor watched as the items were scanned, bagged, and put into a new cart at the end of the checkout counter. Luckily, this Walmart wasn’t strict about ID checks, and he was able to purchase the alcohol without issue. It might have also helped the cashier's decision to check his ID when he saw Connor add one more hundred than was necessary. When the cashier was done, Connor pulled out nine hundred-dollar bills and paid his bill.

The Cashier kept the extra hundred like he thought she would and handed him back his twenty-three dollars in change. Connor smiled and moved his carts toward the exit to wait. As he waited, he reviewed everything already in his Inventory. He had a lot of stuff and a lot of money. Subtracting the million dollars he’d given to Sam and Liza, he now had 2,064,480 dollars in his inventory. As he was going through the equipment, he thought he’d forgotten matches but found some within the survival kits. Though, creating fire might also be a good spell to look at adding to his spell list. Maybe a Firebolt spell or something. Well, a spell that shot Firebolts would be good, but perhaps something a little less combative that let him create flames and control them. That could be really useful.

Connor pulled up his Status Screen. He only had eight empty skill slots and 234 of 267 spell slots left. He’d have to make any fire control power a spell because he was saving his skill points to either boost a skill he already had or get something that would be really useful. He also needed to figure out why people were given fewer skill slots than spell slots. Were skill slots more powerful somehow?

Connor was pulled from his thoughts as Liza and Sam both rolled up to him with two carts each.

“Where to now?” Sam asked.

“Out to our car,” Connor said, which caused Sam and Liza to look at him strangely.

Connor led them out into the parking lot toward the back, where a Van and RV were parked a space apart. The vehicles had cameras on them, but there was a dead spot between them. Connor answered Sam with Telepathy. As we step into the dead zone, I’m going to put all of our carts into my Inventory. We’re each going to Stealth, and then I’ll bring back a bubble for you two to ride in. I want to head west toward California. Once we reach the mountains, we will stop and transfer to our resting area for the night.

Where is that exactly? Sam asked.

It’s a surprise that I think you’ll like. Connor said.

The three made it out to the edge of the parking lot. Connor monitored the area with Eyes of Eris to see if anyone was looking their way and then added each of the shopping carts to his Inventory. Once all six Carts were in his inventory, the three of them activated Stealth and stepped into a slightly opaque force bubble he created with Force Barrier. Connor made two seats for them and then buckled them in with a force harness that would keep them secure in their seats after they sat down. Once they were secure, the force bubble became transparent as Connor activated Flight. They smoothly lifted into the early morning skin with no issue. Once they were one thousand feet above the ground, he flew west.

Connor didn’t waste time as he accelerated to his maximum speed of 2,498 miles per hour. After only four minutes, the mountains were in view, and he detected a sign that read Deer Mountain. It was more of a high hill, really, but it had trees, and they could land and step into his Astral Pocket there.

Connor brought the Force Bubble in for a landing at the bottom of a small valley, where he came to a stop and dispelled the Force Bubble before he activated Astral Pocket. As the other two quickly stood from their seats as they evaporated, Connor pointed to the portal that had just opened, “That’s the surprise. Follow me in, and I’ll explain what it is,”

Once all three of them were inside the Astral Pocket, Connor closed the portal as the three of them floated next to a door, “All right, if you don’t have the ability to fly, all you need to do here is fixate on direct as down, and you’ll fall toward. For instance,” Connor said as he pointed in front of them, “that way is down.”

Immediately, Connor started to fall in that direction, and almost immediately afterward, the other two started falling in that direction as well.

“Why are we moving,” Liza asks.

“I would assume that, at some level, you both believed me, especially once you saw me float in that direction,” Connor states with a smile. “Now that we're here, let me get this all set up. Also, check your mana regeneration rates.”

Connor pulled the 15 x 8-foot shed from his inventory and placed it in the middle of the Astral Pocket. As soon as he did that, a notification appeared.

A Structure has been added to your Astral Pocket.

Please note that physical structures do not need to be brought into your Astral Pocket.

While the majority of the Astral Plane does not conform to any specific environment or structure? There are regions where beings of significant will can alter the Astral Plane with a thought.

The Skill Astral Pocket creates a region where the owner of this skill may do so automatically.

Huh? A minor application of his will? He had a 100-foot-diameter sphere that he could shape internally as he desired. Connor put the shed back in his Inventory and floated over to Sam and Liza, who were still looking at their Notifications and Status. “Hey, you two. I just received a notification. Let me guide you back toward the entrance while I try something.”

Without shifting her focus, Liza muttered, “Sure,” which was quickly followed by Sam doing the same.

Connor guided both of them back to the center of the Astral Pocket and floated there while he created a structure in his mind. The lowest floor would take advantage of the bowled shape of the sphere and allow them to step down into a pool of water surrounded by a ledge that had a stairway on it to the next level, which would serve as the basement level. Another stairway would lead up to the main level, which contained the entranceway from the portal door. This main level would have communal areas and a place to store food and drinks. The fourth level, or the first level above the main level, would hold four equally sized rooms with frames for a bed, desk, and chair. Each room would also have a sink and shower. The fourth level was open to the top of the sphere and held an area to hang out and eat, as well as an outdoor kitchen complete with shelves and a place for food and supplies. He also added cold boxes and freezers to store food items, just in case.

Once he had a general idea of what he wanted, a prompt appeared.

Would you like to alter your Astra Pocket to meet the specifications you have supplied? Yes or No?

Connor chose “Yes” and watched as the swirling clouds of energy from the edge of the pocket streamed into the sphere and began taking the shapes he desired. A slight adjustment in position put the three of them in the main entryway where the door to the portal was. The gaseous substance thickened and then changed to resemble marble stone. The process was quick and finished in about five minutes.

A side effect of the structure's creation was that they all came to settle on the floor as everyone believed one direction was down now. Connor walked over to the stairway and looked down to where the bottom of the Astral Pocket was filling with water. It also appeared that the kitchen on its current level had a sink complete with a faucet. He walked over to it, and sure enough, when he turned it on, water came out of the tap. Next, he went upstairs to one of the rooms and checked the sinks, toilets, and bathtubs in one of the rooms; they all worked.

Connor was pulled from his thoughts as Liza came into the room he was in, “How did you do this?”

“I have a skill, and before you ask, I do not have the ability to make Skill Crystals yet. Also, it’s a rare-ranked skill.”

“Oh, okay. Why don’t you two take a look around while I unload some of the stuff I picked up from Sam’s Club.”

“What do you have?” Sam asked.

“You know what? Just follow me around.”

Connor led Sam and Liza around as he deposited most of the items he’d picked up from Sam’s Club in the basement. He even chose a room almost directly off the entrance to store all the personal items and clothes he recovered from the dead bodies that he’d tossed into his Mana Composter. When he’d removed as much as he thought he needed to, only 763 of his 100,000 inventory slots were in use. He still had the Dark Silver Honda Accord and the shed in his inventory, which individuals took up the most slots. Also, either could be used as an immediate shelter in a pinch. Finally, He kept most of the weapons, rations, water skins, and a few one-gallon containers of water, just in case.

When he was done, Sam looked at him wonderingly, “You took all of that from Sam’s club?”

“Most of it, Yes.”

“Pallets of soda, water, beef jerky, and granola bars?” Liza asked.

“Of course, I didn’t know what we’d be able to create with the Spell Create Food. I wanted to be sure we had other things to drink and eat, just in case. You all saw all the snacks and Alcohol, didn’t’ you?”

“We did,” Sam said before he asked, “What now?”

“Now, you grab a pillow and a sleeping bag, pick a room and go rest. Also, you might want to use your spell crystals. Oh yeah, if you used your Mana Battery, you might want to recharge it before you go to sleep.”

“What are you going to do?” Liza asked.

“I’m going to try to find out why this Astral Pocket has a duration of 10 hours and see if there’s a way to increase it. Does that mean everything in here disappears in 10 hours? Do people in here become trapped, or is it just referencing the door in the real world? Does the location lock for the door disappear after 10 hours? I probably need to figure that out or invest more skill points into the skill to make it permanent. It’s nothing either of you two have to figure out, so don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, Just let us know if we need to get out quickly

“Will do,” Connor said as he turned and headed toward his room. He had a lot to consider, which included the memories of Diego and Juan Perez.