Waking up that m, I immediately regretted it. I had the worst hangover. My head throbbed like a drum beien from the inside, and every little noise felt like a hammer to my skull. My mouth was so dry it felt like I’d been chewing on sandpaper. Without even opening my eyes, I cast Healing Touch three times in a row until I felt human again, but I arched. After downing what felt like a gallon of water, I finally felt okay.

  I was in the middle of making breakfast when Lis and Mahya came downstairs, looking annoyingly fresh.

  “How e I woke up feeling like roadkill, and you both look as fresh as cucumbers? You drank as much as I did,” I grumbled.

  “Higher stitution,” Lis said with a shrug. “What’s for breakfast?”

  “This is so unfair. Srips and eggs,” I muttered.

  After breakfast, Mahya headed off to Zurich to get her money from the bank, and I dove into a book I’d been meaning to read: The Higher Echelon of Aspects—The Mark of a True Wizard.

  It wasn’t what I expected. The first chapter expihat before tinuing with the book, I o develop mana sight, and there was an exercise id out in several steps.

  First, I had to sit with my eyes closed, feel all the surrounding mana, and differentiate between the various aspects.

  , I was supposed to open my eyes and, using my senses, locate different pockets of mana, imagining them as having a visual representation.

  Finally, I had to develop the ability to see the mana by fog my iion and building on the first two steps.

  I couldn’t help but grumble, “Why ’t magic be simple? If I want something to happen, it should just happen!”

  Lis chuckled, “If it worked like that, it would be b. The effort you put into something makes the achievement so much more satisfying, don’t you think?”

  “Hush, Sensei! I don’t want logic right now; I want to pin.”

  He ughed a back to his engraving.

  I went outside, sat on the grass, closed my eyes, ahe surrounding mana. For some reason, it was always easiest for me to feel the mana in water and fire, trickier with earth and rocks, and air was the hardest. I made a mental o ask Lis about that ter and focused ba the mana.

  I sat there for hours, just feeling the mana. It was a surprisingly spiritual experience—I felt ected to the world and at peace.

  I sensed Mahya approag and opened my eyes, feeling refreshed, as if I’d had aire night’s sleep and a hearty meal.

  She handed me an envelope and said, “Thank you so much for everything.”

  For a sed, I worried it would be another situation like Lyura’s letter. My heart skipped a beat, but I quickly pushed that thought aside. Mahya would never do that. Taking a deep breath, I opehe envelope to find a cashier’s check for two huhousand euros.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What’s this?”

  “That’s what I owe you for the past two years,” she said calmly, her expression serious.

  “You don’t owe me anything!” I blurted out, shaking my head. “You built me a magical house! Why are you also giving me money?”

  “Lis and I built the house as a token of ratitude,” she expined, her tone sincere. “He for helping him get his css, and me for saving my life and fixing my mana system. This money is for the jewelry you gave me and everything you spent on me over the st two years.”

  I frowrying to recall the expenses. “I didn’t spend that much money.”

  “Yes, you did,” she insisted, folding her arms. “You paid for all the flights, hotels, aals, whether a car or a house. You gave me a credit card, which yurly topped up, along with a phone, meals, eai, workshops, and other expenses. It adds up. Don’t think I haven’t noticed Lis and Lyura slipping you gold s now and then. This check is the gold s I’m giving you to pay you back for everything you spent on me. Right now, I feel too ied to you,” she added, her voice softening, “and I want to ask you something, but I ’t until I feel we’re even.”

  I sighed, realizing she was determined. “Okay. I agree,” I said, taking the check from her hand.

  She immediately pulled me into a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “So, what did you want to ask me?” I asked, curious now.

  “inally, I wao go to Shimoor to recover from my experience, but I don’t feel that need anymore,” she began, stepping bad looking me in the eye. “I’m perfectly fine now. The pn was to go with Lyura, but you know… So I want to ask, how about a panion for your journey?”

  I couldn’t help the grin that spread ay face as I pulled her into an. “You have no idea hoy you’ve just made me. For the first few days while you and Lis worked on the house, I felt pletely lost. Even after that, being alone wasn’t fun; it’s much better with friends.”

  “Excellent,” she said, clearly relieved.

  “But I have one ,” I added, pulling baeet her gaze. “You’re stronger and more experiehan me. Won’t you feel you’re babysitting me?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m stro fighting, but you’re not ied in fighting, nor am I. If we find wild dungeons, we should clear them, but other than that, I also want to travel and study, not fight. You’re much more experienced oh thaher of us, so you’re uide. If we go to a world I’ve been to before, I’ll guide you. And if we go to a new world, we’ll discover it together.”

  “Would you mind if the world I want to travel to is in the lower thirties?” I asked, hopeful.

  “No. Every world has something to offer,” she replied with a smile. “I’ve traveled to high-mana worlds with Travelers strohan me, and I was terrified every minute. Medium mana sounds perfect.”

  I hugged her again, feeling a wave of relief and happiness wash over me. “I don’t have words to express hoy I am right now. Wele aboard.”

  She patted my back, smiling warmly.

  “By the way, what did you sell for two million euros?”

  “Crystalline Memory Ste,” she replied, a hint of pride in her voice.

  My curiosity piqued. “How does it work?”

  “You store fifty terabytes of memory on aernal drive the size of a matchbox. I didn’t know how to expin the additional advantage, but the iion will preserve and not destroy all the stored information. But they’ll need a Magitech device to access it.”

  I looked at her in amazement. “You build a ste device that mana won’t destroy?”

  She nodded fidently.

  “How much would it cost to build one?” I asked, already thinking about the possibilities.

  “I’m way ahead of you,” she said with a grin. “The drive I built as a proof of cept hold two huerabytes, and it’s yours, along with two more like it. I also know how to upload all your information onto them. Lis and I are w on a Magitech device to access the information, but it still needs work.”

  I couldn’t tain my excitement, so I hugged her yet again. “Most of the information is audio and video. Do you have any ideas for how we could see ahe tent with Magitech?”

  “No,” she admitted, shaking her head slightly. “And Lis thinks he won’t be able to make one before we run out of time oh. He says you’ll have to figure that out yourself.”

  “Boooo!” I said—loudly. But I couldn’t help but ugh as she joined in and hugged me.

  When we went baside, I turo Lis. “I was outside feeling the mana and noticed it was easiest to feel water. Learning the aspects of fire and lightning was fairly easy; the earth was harder, and the air was tough. Do you know why?”

  “Yes,” he replied, setting down his tools and looking thoughtful. “It’s easier to feel aspects when the corresponding power ters are more developed. Your mind’s power ter is probably the least developed.”

  I nodded, unsurprised. “Yeah, it is. How I develop it better?”

  “Studies, studies, studies,” he said with a chuckle. “One day, everything will click, and your ter will progress. And by the way, the E-foils are ready, and Mahya’s doh her deal, so let’s head to Frand find a sea to try them out.”

  “There’s a Gate near Marseille; we try it out there,” I suggested, already excited.

  “Excellent. Let’s store the house,” he said, getting up.

  “You know,” I said, smiling, “after everything, that senteill sounds strao me.”

  We flew to Lyon and took a brief tour of the city. During our visit, we explored Parc de Tête d’Or, Notre-Dame de Fourvière Basilica, and the ema and Miniature Museum. We didn’t lioo long; instead, we rented a car and drove to the Gate. The Gate led to Murinab, just like the one in Min.

  From Lyon, we flew to Marseille and immediately hit the beach without even cheg into a hotel. Lis ughed at our impatience, but Mahya and I didn’t care; we wao see how the E-foils turned out.

  Whe to the beach, Lis slipped behind the ging rooms and pulled out the E-foils with no one seeing. I ied mine and noticed that runes covered the eop.

  “It’s not a Magitech device,” Lis expined. “It has no power source. You have to feed it mana through your feet. As long as you’ve got mana, it’ll work.”

  The E-foils were incredible. They were way faster than they had been before Lis modified them, and I quickly learhat I could trol the speed. If I fed it a little mana, it moved slower; if I fed it more, it moved so fast I felt like I was flying.

  Rue also wanted a turn, and we had to expin that the E-foil was too small for him to stand on. He was not happy.

  I asked him, “How e you want to ride the E-foil, but you’re afraid of the boat?”

  He raised his raightened his tail up like a cat—this time, I felt the telekinesis he was cheating with—and walked away with an air of superiority.

  This dog was hirious.