After our return to London, Lis continued tinkering with his transistor, and I set off toward the next Gate. It was near Boleigh, and just as I was about to cross it, I felt a strong warning. I decided to give up on this Gate and check it later. It was curious that when I first touched the Gate near Land’s End, I didn’t feel any warning. But When I touched this Gate, my Luck or Perception screamed, “Don’t go there.”
The next Gate was in a stone circle known as Boscawen-un. I arrived late in the evening, and once it was dark, I approached the Gate. When I touched it, I sensed a faint warning, as if gently reminded to tread carefully.
I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield just in case, then crossed the Gate. On the other side was an open plain with grass, flowers, and trees in the distance. I saw figures moving far away, but I couldn’t tell if they were humans, elves, or other creatures. Not wanting to linger, I went straight back to Earth.
The following day, I asked Lis, “You said you feel a warning whenever you touch a Gate to a high-mana world. But when I touched the first Gate, I felt nothing; the second, a strong warning, and the third, a mild ‘be careful.’ Do you have any idea why?”
“Yes, of course. It has to do with intention,” he explained, pointing a finger for emphasis. “Do you intend to travel to that world? If you do, you’ll receive a warning every time, as worlds with very high mana levels are hazardous. If you only intend to pop in and out, you’ll feel a warning only if danger is close to the Gate.”
“Oh, makes sense,” I said, nodding in agreement as I finally understood.
The next Gate was near a place called St Just. As I approached, a feeling of warning and urgency washed over me. I needed to be careful on the other side, but there was also something important I had to do. It was a mix of feelings; the warning came from either my Luck or Perception, while the urgency seemed to come from another source. I was pretty sure it was the same source that rebuked me whenever I criticized the system too harshly. My judgmental text box was urging me to do something.
I cast Invisibility and Mana Shield and crossed the Gate. The area on the other side was flat, with grass, boulders, and a small grove nearby. I looked back and saw the Gate formed by two large boulders. As soon as I crossed, I sensed a Traveler. The warning from my attributes grew stronger, as well as the feeling that urged me to act—like it was telling me, “Hurry, you don’t have much time.” The Traveler felt close but weak, fading in and out, like a radio station losing and regaining reception.
I began sneaking quietly from boulder to boulder, following the feeling. After about a hundred meters, I saw a human lying on the grass; their limbs were at unnatural angles, and there was a lot of blood around.
I approached carefully and up close saw it was a black girl with long hair in African braids. I touched her and cast Diagnosis. Her internal organs suffered damage, with some ruptured and most of her bones shattered. There was something else inside her that the Diagnosis couldn’t decipher, but it was harmful. I examined her with my mana sense and felt a harmful mana eating her from the inside.
I cast two Healing Touch spells on her to keep her alive but decided not to linger; the warning feeling was getting stronger. I picked her up, re-cast Invisibility to hide us both, and started sneaking back to the Gate, casting Healing Touch repeatedly. Thirty meters from the Gate, my Mana Shield shattered, and I felt an intense pain in my head from the backlash and a searing pain in my shoulder. I almost fell, but stayed on my feet by sheer will. Fifteen meters from the Gate, intense pain hit my right leg, causing me to collapse.
I extended my hands while falling to avoid landing on the girl. I tried to get up but couldn’t; my leg was useless. I put the girl on my back and crawled to the Gate using my arms and one good leg.
Two arrows flew over my head but missed. I concluded they could sense the disturbance in the mana, like I did at the first Gate, but couldn’t see through my Invisibility. A meter from the Gate, a blob of harmful mana passed close, but didn’t hit me. I could almost taste the foulness—it was full of nasty aspects. I crawled through the Gate and emerged on the other side. It seemed near sunrise, so I had to find a hidden corner, but first, I had to take care of my leg. I touched my shoulder and felt an arrow stuck in it. I ripped it out, almost screaming from the pain, but held back and healed the wound.
I inspected my leg, which was in terrible shape. A noxious mana that tasted like rot, decay, and putrefaction and had a devouring aspect was climbing up my leg. No matter what I did to heal, it didn’t work. I tried to stop or block the progression with my mana, but that didn’t work either. The noxious mana devoured my mana. Desperate, I cast Exude Mana on the spell, stopping it from climbing but not removing it. After repeatedly casting Exude Mana, it slowly leaked out, but took an enormous chunk of my mana with it. To break it down faster, I sent a tendril of mana down my leg and started to de-aspect the mana, like I did to a crystal. It was harder when applied to myself in a panicked and painful situation, especially with mana that had a devouring aspect that kept “eating” my mana.
Finally, my leg was fine, and I could get up. I picked up the girl, cast Healing Touch, and felt lightheaded. My mana was down to 110/8800. The regeneration on Earth was terrible, but I needed mana to heal her. I ran to my car, cast Clean on her to remove the visible blood, almost fainted, covered her with a blanket like she was sleeping, and ran back to the Gate.
Once again, I cast Invisibility, laid down on my belly, and crawled through the Gate. I created the Absorb aspect in all my channels and increased the amount until I got the pins and needles sensation. Willing to suffer a bit but not harm myself, I watched my mana tick up by 43 every second.
I lay there, regenerating as fast as possible. An arrow flew above my head; they sensed me. My mana was at 2,780. I took a chance and stayed a few seconds longer. Another arrow flew, and a nasty mana blob hit one of the Gate stones. I remembered the dangerous feeling from the ruined gate in South America, and not wanting to risk the Gate’s destruction, I quickly crawled back to Earth, trying to regenerate until the last second. My mana was at 3,806.
On Earth, I packed my channels with the Absorb aspect and checked; my mana ticked up by one every six seconds.
Hmm, maybe there’s more mana near the Gate?
I returned to the car and started working on the girl. First, I had to address the malevolent mana in her system, as it consumed a portion of the Healing Touch’s mana. I sent a tendril of mana into her and tried to de-aspect the mana, but most of my mana got devoured. I didn’t have a choice but to cast Exude Mana on her. Her condition worsened, but the nasty mana diminished a little. Repeatedly casting it, the noxious mana was diminishing, but I started losing her “reception” again. I stopped and tried to de-aspect the mana again. It was more manageable this time, and I could break it down slowly. Finally, her body was free of it, and I exhaled with relief.
I switched to healing her internal organs; bones could wait. I healed her heart and lungs first, but then felt lightheaded again. She was out of danger now, but I was empty. My mana was at 80/8800.
Take a second chance?
It was mid-morning already, and there were tourists near the Gate. I touched it and received a warning, but not a “shouted” warning. I risked it. Again, I lay on my belly and crawled in. Packing my channels with Absorb, I lay there regenerating. After a couple of minutes, I saw two elves running out of the grove. I immediately crawled back out. My mana was at 6,064/8800. The regeneration in Tír na nÓg was off the charts. I wished I had such regeneration on Earth, but without the danger.
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I stayed by the Gate for over four hours, repeatedly casting Invisibility on myself. The regeneration near the Gate was better.
When I was full, I returned to the girl and continued healing her. I finished with the internal organs and switched to the bones. In the middle of healing her, the red light started blinking. I checked it:
Level up
+3 intelligence, +3 wisdom, +2 vitality, +3 free points
Class: Healer Level 11
Stat points: 3
Based on my previous injuries, I added the free points to Constitution. I facepalmed; I forgot to ask Lis about stats distribution.
The red light was still blinking, so I checked it.
The spell Healing Touch has reached its maximum level [25]
You can choose a new spell to level:
Healing Dart
Healing Sphere
Neutralize Curse
I was sure that the nasty mana I drained was a curse, and it irritated me I got it after the fact. Still, I checked the other two.
Healing Dart
Send a dart of healing
The name was pretty self-explanatory. I felt like the system was actually saying, “What’s not to get, dumbass? It’s what it says.”
Healing Sphere
Create a sphere of healing energy around you.
The sphere starts at a one-meter radius and grows by a meter every five levels.
This one also sounded good, and it could have helped me heal myself and the girl at the same time today.
The Neutralizing Curse was also self-explanatory. I didn’t read the explanation; I was sure it would say ‘to neutralize a curse’ or something similar. There was no reason to encourage the system to think I was an idiot.
Because of my previous experience and because it was the most specialized, I chose Neutralize Curse. I could get by without the other spells, but I needed this one for the future.
I continued to heal the girl until I was almost empty again. While invisible, I returned to the Gate and touched it. I felt a strong sense of danger; the fuckers were probably waiting on the other side to catch me.
To regenerate, I stayed right next to the Gate, and it took me almost eight hours to be full again. I returned to the car and finished healing the girl. After diagnosing her, I determined she was dehydrated, emaciated, and had suffered severe blood loss, but her injuries were mostly healed, even though she remained unconscious.
It was better to drive home and take care of her there. When I tried to start the car, there was no response. I tried repeatedly, and the car wouldn’t start—it was dead. Frustrated, I called Lis.
When he answered, I said, “Lis, I need your help.”
He immediately sounded worried and asked, “What happened?”
“In one of the Gates, I found a Traveler. While I managed to rescue and heal her, the car refuses to start, and she is still unconscious. I need you to get here and keep an eye on her. I’ll get another car, get her home, and see what else I can do.”
“Did you heal her in the car?”
“Yes…” I said, confused.
“How much mana did you use?”
“Maybe twenty thousand?”
He let out a low whistle. “Your car is dead and gone, my friend. May it rest in peace. The magic fried it.”
“Shit, I didn’t think of it,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead in frustration.
“Happens. Tell me where you are exactly.”
I gave him directions and waited. I checked the girl occasionally and saw her condition deteriorate every half an hour, but when I healed her, it got better again.
While waiting, I located a car rental in Cornwall and made arrangements to have it driven to St Just. It took Lis over eight hours to get to me. I left him with the girl and rushed to get the rental car. Thankfully, it was still dark when I got back with the car. Lis transferred the girl into the new car, and I drove us home.
On the way, I remembered my earlier question, and turned to him, “I forgot to ask you when we met: What is the best stats distribution? I’m always unsure what to do with the free stat points.”
“Most Travelers save the free Trait numbers to convert to ability points, I’m really glad I don’t have to do it anymore. Anyway, in our case, I’d say everything is important.” He gestured with his hand as he explained, “To learn and advance as a Wizard, you require Intelligence and Wisdom. Strength and Agility are necessary for self-defense, Constitution for survival, Perception to avoid surprises, and Vitality to have a long journey.” He paused, considering his next words. “When I will level up next, I will increase my lowest Trait and work from there.”
“Yeah… makes sense,” I nodded, absorbing the information.
When we got home, I put the girl in my bedroom and continued to check on her.
“I have no idea what’s wrong,” I told Lis, frustrated. “She’s doing better now that I healed her, but she’s still not responding and doesn’t have enough resources. I tried everything, but nothing works.”
Lis walked over to her, lifting one of her eyelids. “You won’t be able to wake her up; she is completely mana-depleted. You need to get her to regenerate.”
“How do you know that? What does it mean?” I asked, frowning.
“You didn’t read about it yet?” Lis glanced at me with a hint of disbelief.
“No.”
“Look at her eyes,” Lis said, pointing. “They are completely black. She has no mana in her system, so you won’t be able to wake her up. Healing spells will help a little, but she needs mana urgently. When a body suffers such severe mana depletion, it shuts down.”
“But I emptied my mana almost to zero many times and never lost consciousness,” I argued, puzzled.
“You emptied your power orbs; you didn’t deplete your body. If you empty your orbs to zero, you will suffer from mana burn and a severe headache. If you continue to cast after that, you will start to empty your body’s mana stores, and when they’re empty, you will go into a coma until you regenerate.”
“She is not regenerating,” I said, shaking my head in frustration.
“No, she is not,” Lis confirmed, her expression serious. “That’s what you have to examine and solve.”
I sank my awareness into her and looked for her mana system, but couldn’t find it. Her body was devoid of gold. Finally, I found a black orb in her head. As I followed the usual path of the channels, I discovered thin black lines, suggesting that her channels had been fried. I followed the channel down her right arm until it reached its end in her palm. Attempting to insert a mana tendril into the channel, I found it burned shut.
My attempt to cast Healing Touch on the channels was unsuccessful. Fortify Life Force didn’t work either.
Trying a different approach, I forced my way into the channel with mana. It opened up a bit at the beginning, but not enough. That gave me hope. I created a thin tendril of mana and tried to push it into the channel. The progress was less than a millimeter, and the effort mentally exhausted me.
Shit, this is not going to work.
I remembered one of the mana exercises I did back in Shimoor, when I was training for the ritual. I had to create a ball of mana in my palm and spin it clockwise and counterclockwise. That gave me an idea: I extended a tendril of mana and spun it like a drill clockwise. Inserting the tendril into her channel, I could progress better. It was still slow and took an ungodly amount of concentration, but I progressed millimeter by millimeter.
There were places in her channels so severely burned that I couldn’t open them and had to create a bypass. The problem with the bypass was that it wasn’t a channel but a furrow I dug, so the mana dissipated into her body. I leaned on what I learned from harvesting crystals and created an envelope or wrapper from mana around the inside of the new channel to keep the mana in. I was lightheaded again, had a headache, and was only halfway done.
I knew I couldn’t leave it and rest; her condition kept deteriorating, and I had to apply Healing Touch occasionally to keep her stable. I divided my mind into three parts. With one part, I packed my channels with Absorb to get as much mana as possible. With the second, I kept monitoring her and casting healing whenever needed. And with the third, I recreated the drill and continued as my mana allowed.
Lis brought me food and water, so I took a quick break and continued. After over twelve hours, the first channel was open. Monitoring it with my mana sense, I felt mana slowly entering her body.
Thank you, God or Guiding Spirits!
I was utterly and completely done for. With a splitting headache, unable to stand, and distorted vision, everything seemed to swim before my eyes.
“Lis!” I called.
He came running and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Please help me get up and go to bed to rest. I opened one of her channels, and she is taking mana. At the moment, I can’t do anything else; I’m too depleted.”
He helped me up and led me to his bed. I just fell on it and was out in less than a second.