It took Rue a few hours, but he eventually mastered the art of water walking. After darting back and forth across the lake a few times, he strolled over to me and declared, “Water magic boring,” before wandering off toward the charred side of the lake.
Al pulled out his E-foil and said, “I am heading to my lab. Thank you for the boat and the company.”
With enough fish to last us a week—not to mention the absurd amount we collected during the occurrence—I called it a day. I lay back, floating gently on the water, swaying with the soft ripples, and gazed up at the sky.
Mahya swam over. “Can you control the water so I can sit on it?”
I directed the water to solidify into a sturdy platform and settled onto it myself. With a quick brace of her arms, Mahya hoisted herself up and joined me, the platform barely swayed under her weight as she landed gracefully beside me.
I turned to her, curiosity piqued. “Did you finish melting all the metal?”
She shook her head, water droplets flying from her braids. “No, it’ll take days. I’ve only done about five percent so far.”
“How come you brought back metal in the first place?”
She gave me a look like I’d just asked why the sky was blue. “Because it was there, and it’s metal?”
“I mean, how could you bring metal out of a dungeon? Monsters dissipate.”
“Oh,” she said, her expression shifting to understanding. “The metal wasn’t part of the monsters. The monsters were these big, shapeless gelatinous blobs—like giant, slimy jelly amoebas. The metal was stuck to them, even inside them. They were tough bastards to take down. At least they were slow.”
I winced. “Sounds messy.”
“You have no idea. They were covered in a sticky, protective film—nothing worked at first. Swords just slid off, spells fizzled out, and bullets stuck like they’d hit glue. It took us forever to figure out a solution.”
She paused and made a yanking motion with her hand. “We started yanking the metal off them. If the metal came off clean, it didn’t help. But if part of the blob came off with the metal, it tore chunks out of them, exposing their insides. Turns out, they’re flammable on the inside. Once we figured that out, it was game over for them. We burned through the rest pretty quick. Sadly, no crystals from this run.”
“How was the reward?”
She shrugged. “Gold. Enough to make it worth the trouble.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Well, you do like gold. Still, sounds like a nightmare to deal with.”
“Yeah,” she admitted, her tone shifting to something more thoughtful. “But I’m hoping the metal will be worth it. It’s heavily saturated with mana. If I can refine it properly, it might be something special.”
The platform swayed gently beneath us, the water lapping softly against its edges. The sun dipped lower in the sky, painting the lake in hues of amber and gold, its reflection shimmering like liquid fire.
Mahya leaned back, her arms stretched out behind her, and let out a contented sigh. “Days like this almost make this shitty world worth it.”
“Almost,” I agreed, tilting my head to watch the rays of sunlight dance across the water. “But then you remember the blobs.”
She laughed, the sound light and carefree. “Yeah, the blobs. Can’t forget those.”
“How long do you think it’ll take you to finish all the dungeons?”
“Are you in a hurry?”
“No,” I said, shrugging. “Just asking.”
She leaned back, her fingers trailing in the water. “If we keep going at the same pace, maybe three weeks. But if you want to move earlier, you could join us. We’d split into two teams and cut the time in half.”
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I considered it for a moment. “Nah, I don’t feel like fighting right now. And I’m in no hurry—I’ve got my own projects to work on.”
She nodded. “Fair enough.”
We lapsed back into a comfortable silence, the platform gently rocking beneath us. For a while, the only sounds were the soft lapping of water and the occasional call of a distant bird.
Rue trotted over, his paws gliding effortlessly across the water as if it were solid ground. He was completely covered in soot, his fur now a matte black, making him look like a shadow wolf. He stopped in front of us, his tail wagging lazily, and announced, “John cook dinner. Rue hungry.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure, buddy. But first, release the water magic. You need a dip.”
Without hesitation, Rue let go of the magic holding him up. He dropped into the lake with a loud splash, sending a wave of water crashing over the platform and drenching both Mahya and me. He popped back up, standing on the surface again, and shook himself vigorously. Water, soot, and who-knows-what-else flew in every direction, pelting us with a mix of wet dog and charred grime.
“Ugh!” Mahya growled, wiping a streak of soot from her face. “Stop that!”
Rue immediately froze, his ears flattening and his head drooping low. “Sorry, mini-boss!” he said, his tone guilty.
I couldn’t help but chuckle, even as I, too, wiped soot from my face. “It’s fine, buddy. Just maybe warn us next time before you decide to redecorate us with lake water and dirt.”
Mahya shot me a glare. “You’re too soft on him.”
“Maybe,” I said, shrugging. “But look at that face. How can you stay mad?”
Rue perked up slightly, his tail giving a tentative wag. “Dinner now?”
I laughed and released the water magic to rinse off the wet dog and soot.
“Hey!” Mahya yelped, as she fell into the water. “Warn a girl before you do that!”
I winced, holding up my hands in apology. “Sorry!”
She shook her head. “You two are made for each other. A pair of chaotic messes.”
Rue barked happily, clearly taking it as a compliment, and I grinned. “Guilty as charged.”
Rue trotted ahead, his tail wagging furiously, clearly already over the drama and focused on one thing: dinner. Mahya and I exchanged a look, shaking our heads in unison.
“Chaotic messes,” she repeated, but this time, she was laughing.
----------------------------------------
They kept clearing dungeons while I kept battling the elements. Fire was cooperating more and more, but Earth, not so much. It was as stubborn as a rock.
At some point, I’d had enough and switched to lightning. I still had a long way to go, considering my mastery level was only [Medior], and the first issue I wanted to tackle was the mana cost. Whenever I cast lightning, it forked into countless streams, scattering everywhere. In contrast, Mahya and Al’s Lightning spell shot a single, concentrated bolt — much more efficient. Their version cost them 100 mana per cast. Mine didn’t have a fixed cost, but it never burned less than 400 mana and often drained a lot more.
After three days of training, I cut down the number of arcs my lightning split into, which brought the cost down a bit. But no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get it to focus into a single bolt. It felt like I was fighting its very nature — like trying to force a river to flow in a straight line. It just wouldn’t obey.
I tried everything I could think of. Casting from different stances, changing how I channeled mana, even visualizing it as a spear instead of a storm. Nothing worked. The moment I released it, the energy scattered, branching out in every direction like it had a mind of its own.
Next, I tried adjusting the mana flow—slower, faster, in controlled bursts, or all at once. That only made things worse. With the slower casts, the lightning fizzled out before it even left my hand, and the faster ones shot off like fireworks, frying everything in their path, including a tree that wasn’t even in my line of sight.
It wasn’t until I stopped trying to force it into submission that I made some progress. Instead of fighting the wild energy, I tried guiding it. I focused on directing the arcs, keeping them from scattering too far, and letting the spell do what it naturally wanted—spread out, but with a controlled burst.
The result wasn’t perfect, but it was an improvement. Instead of a chaotic explosion with numerous arcs, I produced a more controlled burst with fewer branches and a lower mana cost. It still required 250 mana, and I suspected that in the heat of battle, without careful control, the lightning might spiral out of control again. The fact the mastery level hadn’t changed was a strong indication I was right.
Still, it was progress. Sort of. I think.
After weeks of dedicated training and working with the elements, I had reached a stopping point. I understood that further progress would only come if I pushed myself to work with the elements in diverse scenarios, overcoming various challenges and obstacles. The strides I’d made over the past few weeks were remarkable, but they were built on the foundation of a long period of experimentation and effort. At the time, it might have seemed like I wasn’t making much progress, but in reality, everything I had done before had culminated in the incredible breakthroughs I’d achieved recently. With that in mind, I called it good for now and set it aside.
The gang still cleared dungeons, but I didn’t feel like fighting. So I read, swam, experimented with new dishes, and took it easy. Finally, after another two weeks, they were done.
Rue got another level—now level 18—and walked with his nose in the air for the entire evening. Even Mahya gained another level. I grumbled a bit about not leveling up after completing the set, but the increase in mana was a nice consolation. Al didn’t specify if he gained any levels but felt stronger, as if he’d grown more than just one level’s worth.
We were ready to move on. As the balloon rose, I snapped a couple of pictures of the city for my scrapbook, and we flew away. The next gate was roughly two weeks away, and I couldn’t help but hope it would lead to a good world.