We were working on the ATV when I had a thought. I turned to Mahya and asked, “By the way, what happened to my clothes?”

Mahya looked up, puzzled. “Your clothes?”

“Yes, I woke up naked.”

“Oh, that. They disintegrated from the lightning. Some burned fragments were on the porch, but the house absorbed them.”

“Huh.”

“Yes.” She didn’t seem pleased as she said this, her eyes narrowing into a cold, murderous glare.

I threw up my hands in exasperation. “I thought we resolved this.”

“Yeah, until you reminded me of what an idiot you are.”

I chuckled and went back to work.

It took us another three days to finish engraving and assembling the ATV. Once everything was ready, Mahya ran some tests and appeared satisfied. Then she pricked her finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto a rune I had never seen before. There was a brief glow, and the rune vanished.

Afterward, she instructed me, “Prick your finger and let a drop of blood fall on this rune,” pointing to an identical one nearby.

I followed her instructions and asked, “What does it do? I’ve never seen that rune before.”

“This rune is typically used for wood. But since you combined runes with magic scripts in magic circles, I decided to adapt that approach and use woodcraft runes with mechanics. This rune tunes the ATV specifically to you. Only you and I can start it right now. After Al adds a drop of blood, only the three of us will be able to start or drive it. It’s a safety measure.”

“Smart,” I nodded.

She pointed to a small crystal to the right of the steering wheel and said, “Pour some mana into this one—five units should be enough—and it will start the ATV.” She then pointed to another crystal beside it and added, “A little mana here turns off the ATV. Remember, the right crystal turns it on, and the left turns it off. Other than that, you drive it normally, including using the gas, brakes, and shifting gears.”

I took my place behind the wheel and started the ATV. The engine was completely silent, but I could sense it running. It was almost imperceptible, but I could feel a faint current flowing through the machine.

“Oh, I remembered something else,” Mahya said, pointing to two additional crystals under the windshield frame. “If you pour mana into the right crystal, a mana screen will form to protect you from the wind. Pour mana into the left crystal, and the screen will disappear.”

“I wondered why you chose an ATV without a windshield.”

“In worlds with mana levels of 30 and above, there are monsters and mana beasts. You might need to drive and shoot simultaneously. I preferred to omit the glass and use a mana screen instead. I wasn’t sure how I would manage it at first, but I was confident I would figure it out—and I did.”

“Did I mention you’re a genius? I’ll repeat it—you’re a genius.”

She laughed and replied, “Enjoy the new toy.”

I started driving and heard loud cheers from Mahya. Glancing in the rearview mirror, I saw Mahya jumping like a loon, raising her fists triumphantly and whooping. I pulled the ATV back towards her; her joy seemed excessive for the ATV.

“What happened?”

Instead of answering, she popped out a screen.

You have demonstrated exceptional talent in magical engineering under the guidance of a skilled Magitech Inventor and Engineer. Your impressive achievements in converting and modifying advanced machinery have unlocked a unique class opportunity:

New class unlocked: [Magicaneer]

Would you like to take the Magicaneer Class as your sub-class?

Note: Due to your notable accomplishments, you can take the Magicaneer Class without spending ability points, and its strength will be parallel to that of a main class.

Y/N

I jumped off the ATV, hugged her, picked her up, and spun her around, both of us laughing.

After we calmed down from the celebration, I took Mahya for a ride on the ATV.

During the ride, Mahya said enthusiastically, “I’m so much closer to my dream.”

“I thought your dream was to get this class, and you’ve achieved that now.”

Mahya shook her head, her hands animatedly gesturing as she spoke. “No. My actual dream is to travel and explore space. The first time I attempted it, I did it somewhat recklessly. Next time, I’ll be smarter.”

Curious, I asked, “What are you planning to do?”

“I know spaceship engineering, antimatter engines, and spaceship AIs. In that respect, I’m covered. But I don’t think all of space is full of mana. It’s not feasible right now—I don’t have enough knowledge. One day in the future, I want to build a spaceship that works on both antimatter and mana. I know it sounds impossible to have both simultaneously, but I learned a lot from the dead zone in your house. I plan to build something similar to protect the mechanical engine, and in another area, I’ll install a mana engine with a core or even multiple cores. Then, I can travel through space. I’ll use one or the other, depending on the circumstances.”

“Why space? After all, the Gates lead to thousands of worlds. No matter how much we raise our vitality, we won’t live long enough to see them all.”

Mahya’s voice grew thoughtful. “I don’t know how to explain it, but space speaks to me. I want to travel through space and visit new worlds without any people. The world we reached didn’t have a Gate at first, but it soon did. I spent a lot of time in the Archive searching for answers. Two articles suggest that Gates appear when people arrive to a world. I want to explore worlds where there aren’t any people. If I get bored, I can always find an inhabited world. And since inhabited worlds have Gates, I can continue my travels from there.”

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That sounded interesting.

Once we returned, Rue hopped on the ATV, his tail wagging, and I took him for a ride. “Rue want wind on face! No screen!” He informed me empathically.

After we returned, I drove over to Mahya. “Rue insists on having the wind in his face. I prefer to avoid the bugs.”

Mahya thought for a moment before responding. “How about we split the screen? Your side can be protected, and Rue’s can be open.”

I nodded, relieved. “That sounds perfect. I get to stay bug-free, and Rue gets his wind.”

Rue’s excitement was palpable. “Rue thank you! Rue love Mahya!” he said, thumping my face with his tail until I grabbed and held it.

It took Mahya another day to figure out how to adjust the screen to accommodate our needs and ensure a comfortable ride.

The last item on our to-do list was the boat, which was still on the lake. I saw no reason to store it.

“I’m going to get the core, and then I’ll help you with what’s needed,” I said as I prepared to leave.

Mahya waved her hands dismissively. “No need.”

I frowned. “Don’t you need help adjusting the system to the core and everything else?”

She shook her head. “No. When I built the system, I designed it assuming we’d get a core. So it’s all set up already. The only thing I haven’t tackled is the water purification system, like the one in your house.”

She paused, her voice dropping an octave. “I have Lis’s book with the runes you gave me, but I haven’t studied it yet. I’m not planning to dive into that right now. The aluminum balls you created are enough. Given everything I had to learn to work on the balloon and the motorcycles, I don’t have the energy for more studies at the moment. I’ll deal with it later.”

We compared the core to Mahya’s fist, noting the difference was tiny—maybe just two or three millimeters.

We drew the magic circle on the back deck, Mahya connected to the core, and the core connected to the boat. It was a strange sensation. Even after performing the ritual to connect me to the second core, I still felt a constant connection to this one. Suddenly, it felt like something had been severed, leaving an empty space in my awareness where something had once been. It gave me a peculiar sense of emptiness, like I was missing something.

I shook my head several times, trying to rid myself of the feeling.

Mahya laughed, saying, “The empty feeling will go away in a day or less.”

“How did you know?”

Mahya grinned. “Lis was connected to this core before you while we worked on the house. After we did the ritual with you, he experienced the same sensation you’re feeling now. But by the next day, he said the feeling was gone.”

Good to know.

“Shall we try to feed it?” I asked.

Mahya hummed thoughtfully and tilted her head from side to side. “Yes, but let’s start with something small.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you have anything particular in mind?”

She shook her head. “No. What about you?”

“Nothing. I fed everything to the house.”

We stood on the deck, looking out over the valley.

“There are a lot of trees here ...” Mahya commented, her voice trailing off.

“Yes, but we also cut down a lot.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, her hand gesturing in an arc at the landscape. “This valley is completely enclosed. People don’t come here. In all the places Al picked mushrooms, new ones were already growing. The trees will take a little longer, but new ones will grow in their place.”

I frowned. “Trees take years to grow!”

“Not at the mana levels here. Two or three years are enough for a tree to mature with mana level thirty or above.”

“Seriously?” I asked, surprised.

She nodded.

How come I still didn’t know enough?

I cut down a relatively small tree, removing all the branches and cutting it into logs. Since there was no room for two people in the engine area, I handed the logs to Mahya one by one.

I heard her mutter as she received a log, “This is the first place we’ll expand.”

I lay on my belly and peered into the engine area. Mahya placed one log onto the magic circle, and the boat sucked it in.

Yes!

Mahya whooped, jumped, and banged her head on the ceiling. I started laughing, and she glared at me. I healed her head, still laughing.

We cut down a lot of trees. Once I learned they only needed two or three years to grow back, I no longer felt bad about cutting them down.

“If the trees grow so fast, why are they relatively short?” I asked.

“I think it’s the breed, not their growth potential.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I agreed.

As we worked, we passed by some mushrooms. Beside one of them, Mahya suggested, “Maybe we should also collect some mushrooms for the boat?”

“Al will kill us.”

“We don’t have to tell him,” she replied with a grin.

We exchanged a look and shook our heads in unison.

“Bad idea,” she said.

I nodded in agreement.

After filling our storage—mine more than hers, since the house and boat were outside, and I had plenty of room—we were ready to return to the boat. Cutting down all the trees took us five days, including breaks. We had to remove the branches and cut the trees into logs; the boat wasn’t big enough. But finally, our storage was packed, and we returned to the boat.

We tried using the same method as my house: placing the materials on the deck and telling the boat to absorb them. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. The core was too small.

For two days, we fed the core with logs and branches one by one, as that was the only way it worked. After two days, nothing happened when Mahya tried to feed the core with another piece of wood. The core was full. We compared it to Mahya’s fist, and it seemed to have grown another millimeter.

Nice!

I focused my attention on the boat to sense what was happening inside. Although I was no longer connected to the core, the boat was still full of my mana from the Restore, allowing me to get an x-ray-like view of the interior.

Mahya gave it a command, and I felt things shifting. The boat’s hull moved, but I couldn’t grasp what was happening. I pulled back my attention and looked at the boat. I couldn’t see anything, probably because the changes were internal.

“What did you tell it to do?” I asked.

“Strengthen the hull and adjust the bottom to improve stability, and enlarge the engine area,” Mahya explained. “I don’t think we need anything else. We have enough room.”

“Yes, that’s enough. If we need more space in the future, the core will grow by then, and we can instruct it to expand as needed,” I agreed. “We still have a lot of wood. Let’s go feed it to my core.”

“We should also cut some more trees. Let’s see its limit.”

We cut down dozens of trees daily and fed them to my house for a week. We didn’t need to remove branches or cut the trees into logs this time. I instructed the house to open the deck, placed the trees on it, and told the house to absorb them. After a week of feeding it dozens of trees daily, plus whatever remained from the boat, my core showed no signs of being full, and the valley looked stripped. I felt uneasy about the ecological damage. Eventually, even Mahya agreed that maybe we had cut down enough.

One unexpected benefit of all the cutting was that tracking down the cats for crystal harvesting became much easier.

“You have a lot of crystals, don’t you?” Mahya asked.

“Yes. I didn’t count, but I’m sure there are more than a hundred.” I handed her a fist full of crystals. “Here.”

“You have to teach me that spell.”

“Let’s do it now,” I suggested.

“Sometime soon. I want to try something first,” Mahya said, holding up a crystal and inspecting it.

“What?”

“The crystals are compressed mana. So, I thought I’d try feeding the core with crystals. Maybe it will grow,” Mahya explained, waggling her eyebrows with a mischievous grin.

“Hm, I hadn’t thought of that. Good idea. We don’t currently have a defined use for the crystals, so let’s give it a shot,” I agreed, gesturing toward the boat.

We placed a single crystal on the magic circle, watching intently as the core absorbed it seamlessly. Next, we stacked five crystals together and fed them to the core. It absorbed those effortlessly as well. We tried twenty crystals at once, and once again, the core absorbed them without issue.

Turns out compressed mana isn’t wood.

We fed it all the crystals. It was unbelievable. I had over three hundred—I didn’t recall killing that many cats. The core had grown almost half a centimeter. Mahya and I shared a triumphant high-five before moving on to teaching her the spell.

I mana darted a cat and took control of Mahya’s mana, trying to direct it into the spell’s pattern. Immediately, it was apparent it would be impossible.

“It’s not going to work,” I said, my frustration clear. “The pattern is too complex. It’s almost like the magic circle with the magic script and runes. It’s impossible to direct someone’s mana into it.”

Mahya’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “So, what now?”

“I’m not going to try again,” I replied. “There’s no way it will work.”

Mahya sighed. “Well, that’s a bummer.”

“I’ll look for a different solution,” I promised.

That evening, I made a big, fancy meal to celebrate completing all our tasks. We were ready to leave the valley, and I couldn’t wait. Al wasn’t back yet, but we intended to track him down on Earth and drag him back to Lumis to continue our journey.