That evening, I cooked us dinner in my new kitchen, and couldn’t help but get excited about every little thing. The water pressure was fantastic! I had perfect control over the temperature! The drinks and veggies for the salad came out cold from the fridge! Even the toasted bread from the pizza oven was just right! It was simply amazing, and I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot. This place—my place—was everything I’d hoped for, and more.

Rue, being Rue, was dead set on bringing “his” beanbag to the living room, refusing to settle for anything else. He kept shouting in my mind, “Mine! Bed! Mine!” Every time he yelled, Lis and Mahya’s faces twitched.

Ha! They twitched after five minutes—I lived with it for five weeks!

After dinner, Lis led me over to the stone pillar with the fireplace and said, “Tell it to open.” The pillar opened up, revealing a chamber filled with intricate runes and mana crystals. Lis explained, “Whenever you come across a spare crystal, just press it against a rune, and it’ll stick. This is the house’s mana reservoir. Even if you need to recharge a crystal, place it here, and it’ll fill up. At some point, the dungeon core will get too big to disguise as a lamp, so put it here and use a neutral aspect crystal in the light fixture. It’ll work just fine. If you find a wild dungeon and take the core, hold it against the core you have, flow mana through both, and they’ll fuse. That way, your core can grow faster without relying on ambient mana. The more mana it has, the more it can do. Eventually, you’ll be able to move walls, add floors, expand the house, and maybe even sail with it. Dungeon cores are highly valued for a reason. But not yet; the house isn’t there yet.”

I tried to find the words to express what I felt, but this time, the English language failed me. There were simply no words adequate enough to convey my appreciation and amazement. So, I just hugged him and said, “Thank you.” over and over.

He laughed and clapped me on the back. It seemed he didn’t have the words either.

I slept in my NEW BEDROOM that night, even if it was on the crappy feather mattress I got in Shimoor. But I DIDN’T CARE—it was in MY NEW BEDROOM! I showered in MY NEW SHOWER the next morning, and it was PERFECT!

Lis and Mahya thought my enthusiasm was ‘cute.’ Mahya even pinched my cheeks until I had to push her away.

Storing the house caused a slight strain, but it was manageable—much easier than the mental effort it took to pick up a snake and turn it into steaks.

We drove to Toulouse, where I first insisted on buying a huge double bed with an excellent mattress, two nightstands, a wardrobe, and a chest of drawers. I also grabbed two regular double beds, two small nightstands, and two chests of drawers for the guest rooms. Then I bought eight different sets of porch furniture—three for the balconies on the second floor and five for the porch around the house.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t just store everything in the shop, so we had to rent an apartment for three days and wait for the deliveries. Mahya and Lis teased me non-stop during the whole time, but I didn’t care. My new home was perfect, and I was making it even better.

We booked a flight to Naples and tried to call Lyura, but she didn’t pick up. On the flight, Rue sat on me again, and once more, I melted the entire flight. I threatened to shave him, but he didn’t seem worried. He probably knew I was all talk.

We arrived in Naples and tried calling Lyura again with no luck. I felt a surge of urgency—a force pushing me to act. It came from the same source that sometimes rebuked me, the same source that had guided me to find Mahya.

“My gut’s telling me something happened to her. We need to get to Sicily,” I told them, my concern growing.

Mahya glanced at me, her tone uncertain as she suggested, “Maybe she just left her phone in Storage.”

I shook my head, the urgency from that mysterious source intensifying. “No, something’s wrong. I can feel it. We need to get to Sicily, fast.”

We booked a flight from Naples to Catania, but as soon as we got to the airport, I started feeling really stressed. It wasn’t just my own nerves—something deeper was pushing this feeling, the same source that had guided me before. While we waited and flew, I felt this constant, unstoppable push, like an invisible hand urging me forward. When we finally landed in Catania, I was freaking out, feeling like we were running out of time. We rented a car and drove straight to Mount Etna, feeling the urgency build up with every kilometer. The smoking crater was right there, but we couldn’t get to the top—the guided tours were only to some slopes, not the main crater. It made the urgency stronger, almost too much to handle. We hid behind some jeeps, cast Invisibility, and started climbing toward the crater.

My heart raced as I activated my Luck, and just like before, that unseen force steered me in a specific direction. “She’s that way,” I said, my voice tense with the urgency that wasn’t entirely my own.

We moved a few more meters, and I sensed her. We found her buried under a pile of stones and ash. I used binoculars to make sure no one could see us. When I was sure, we started moving the stones and ash with telekinesis, finding her buried under two meters of rubble and ash.

I diagnosed her, and she was in terrible shape—many broken bones, lungs full of ash, barely breathing. She had internal bleeding in several places and a severe concussion. I started healing her on the spot, focusing on the lungs, internal bleeding, and concussion first. I drained my mana to almost zero, but she finally opened her eyes and coughed.

Mahya hugged her tightly. “What happened?” she asked gently.

Lyura’s voice trembled with self-reproach. “I’m stupid.”

Mahya pulled back slightly, searching her eyes. “What did you do?”

Lyura looked down, her shoulders slumping. “I was sitting here absorbing the element and started thinking about my mother. My anger grew and grew. I’m so stupid—I forgot her warning that our element increases anger. My magic burst out of me, causing an avalanche. I don’t know what happened after that.” Her voice cracked as she finished.

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We came down the mountain while invisible. Lyura changed clothes, and we became visible in a hidden spot. We drove back to Catania and checked into a hotel. She was still not one hundred percent—bruises all over and several broken bones—but she handled the pain bravely.

At the hotel, I sat to regenerate, and every time my mana went above 500, I healed her a little more until she was okay. All the while, Lis seemed deep in thought, his gaze distant as he mulled something over. When I finally assured him that she was fine, he nodded, then turned to her with a serious expression.

“Where’s the Gate you came through?” he asked, his tone firm but not unkind.

“France, near Lyon,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Lis leaned forward slightly, his eyes locking onto hers. “I think you should stop traveling with us and go home to deal with your issues with your mother. You can’t keep going like this.”

Lyura’s eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly stammered, “I’m sorry. It was a one-time thing, I promise. I can control–”

Lis raised a hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. “I’m not angry, and it’s not a punishment. I’m not your parent, and I have no right to tell you what to do. But hear me out.” He leaned back, softening his tone, though his eyes remained serious. “You’re a new Traveler, and every new Traveler I’ve met has had a lot of questions. John here bombarded me with questions for a whole day, and after four years together, he’s still asking me things. Mahya keeps asking for stories about interesting worlds I’ve visited or people I’ve met. But you—” he paused, shaking his head slightly, “you’ve been with us for almost a year and haven’t asked me a single question.”

He let his words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. “When we go sightseeing, sure, you interact with us. But when we’re sitting at home or the hotel, talking and laughing, you’re glued to the TV or watching YouTube videos on your computer. John, who’s newer to this than you are, already has three sub-classes. You don’t have any at all. We’re all constantly learning and progressing, but you—” he sighed, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice, “you aren’t doing anything.”

Lis’s expression softened as he spoke again, his tone now tinged with concern. “You also always look angry and lost in your thoughts, like you’re carrying a weight that’s only getting heavier with each passing day. It’s like you’re here with us physically, but your mind is somewhere else entirely. You’re not really traveling, not in the way that matters. To be a Traveler is so much more than just moving from one place to another. It’s about immersing yourself in the experience, soaking in every new sight, sound, and sensation. It’s about discovering new things, those moments that make your heart race and your mind race even faster with possibilities. It’s about standing in awe of the beauty of the worlds, finding wonder in places you never imagined.

Traveling should be a journey of learning and growth—learning not just about the worlds you visit, but about yourself. It’s about embracing the challenges and changes, allowing them to shape you, to make you stronger, wiser, more creative. It’s about creating, not just physically, but in the sense of building a life and a path that’s uniquely yours. It’s about progressing, not just in terms of abilities and skills, but as a person, growing into someone who’s more connected, more aware, more alive. And it’s about interacting with people, sharing stories, learning from them, and allowing those connections to enrich your journey. Most of all, it’s about enjoying life, finding joy in the small things, the big things, and everything in between. That’s what it means to truly travel. And that’s what you’re missing out on.

Otherwise, what’s the point of traveling? Go find a corner to watch TV for a few years until the integration starts, and then move to another tech world. But if you keep this up, your anger will flare up again, and you might hurt yourself—or worse, one of us. Rue is fifty percent fur; he’ll catch fire in a second, and most places we stay have a lot of fabric and wood. It’s dangerous.”

He leaned in closer, his eyes locking onto hers with a mix of empathy and determination. “If you want to be a real Traveler, you have to handle this anger, or it’ll eat you up inside. I think what your mother did was wrong; I’m not blaming you. But you have to deal with it before you can be a real Traveler. And if you’re quick about it, even if we’ve already left Earth, you can contact us through the Archive, get a Gate chain, and join whoever you want. Earth is an amazing opportunity—not just because of the easy acquisition of ability points and classes, but also because of the abundance of Gates. We can pick and choose instead of being limited to five, eight, ten Gates on the entire planet, with no fast travel or dangerous sea crossings to reach some of them. But you need to hurry; soon, planes will be too dangerous.”

Lis’s words hung in the air, his expression a mix of resolve and genuine concern for her well-being.

Lyura just sat there and cried.

Mahya hugged her and said, “You’re my friend, and I’ll always be happy to travel with you as much as you want and wherever you want. But Lis is right; you have to deal with the situation. You can’t keep going like this.”

Rue walked up to her, put his head on her lap, and shouted, “Friend!” Unfortunately, he shouted in my mind, too.

Seeking to provide support, I put my hand on her shoulder. I could understand her—I also left Earth in a terrible state of mind. Although I healed and found closure elsewhere, I wished I didn’t have to. She had a chance to confront her problem, and Lis was right; she needed to do it.

When she finally stopped crying, I gently guided her to her room, needing to recheck her and make sure she was really okay. As I Diagnosed her, I could also see the weight of everything she’d been carrying—both physically and emotionally. I sat down beside her, taking a moment before I spoke.

“I left Earth in a bad mental state, too,” I began in a soft voice. “When I first started traveling, I wasn’t much different from you. I wandered aimlessly through the wilderness, trying to escape my pain, thinking I could outrun it. But the truth is, I was just lost, both inside and out. It took me a long time to heal emotionally, or at least to start the process. For months, I was a shell of myself, just moving from place to place without any real direction.”

I paused, remembering those lonely days and nights. “It wasn’t until I met Lis that things started to change. He was the first real friend I ever had—a brother, you might say. He taught me the true value of human connections, something I never really understood before. Up until then, the only close relationship I’d ever had was with my wife, and that was a different kind of bond altogether. But friendship—real, deep friendship—that was something new to me.”

I looked at her, making sure she was hearing me. “You’re already in a much better place than I was back then. You’ve got three people here and one loud dog who considers you a friend—a dear friend. That’s something incredibly valuable, something to hold onto. But to really take advantage of that, to fully join us on this journey, you need to deal with your issues. You have to leave the mental baggage behind, let go of the pain and anger that’s weighing you down.”

I leaned in closer, my voice filled with earnest encouragement. “Once you do that, you’ll be free—free to truly embrace this adventure, to explore new worlds with us, to create amazing memories together. We want you with us, but we need the real you. So take the time you need, heal, and when you’re ready, join one of us for an incredible journey. I promise you, it’ll be worth it.”

She nodded, hugged me, and said, “Thank you. Mahya told me your intuition led to my rescue, and she also told me how you rescued her. If you’re not careful, you’ll get offered the Knight in Shining Armor class.”

We laughed, and I knew she would be okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but she would be.