I was eliore into the boat’s body when Mahya approached me and asked, “Did you check the Archive today?”

  Pausing, I gnced up, notig her unhappy expression. “No, not yet,” I said, still focused oask.

  “You should,” she insisted, her tone hinting urgency.

  “A message from Lis?” I asked, straightening up, hoping for some news.

  She shook her head, her lips pressing into a thin line. “No.”

  I opehe Archive and saw the message she was referring to.

  Tr. RVF

  “Frozen-Tail”

  I need your help urgently. Someone captured me after I crossed the Gate to Dirt, and they are currently holding me in captivity. They drugged me and examined me. Don’t gh the same gate as I did; they will capture you, too. They have a force field that nullifies magid cuts off access to mana. I believe they verse in a nguage known as English, and ahquake occurred retly. Maybe it will help you locate me. Try to find the blue–

  Not good.

  I checked the news sites on my phone, and the words “6.3-magnitude earthquake in Nevada” gred back at me. My gut tightened with worry as I set the phone down.

  “I know what army base is holding that person,” I said, leaning forward, fiappilessly on the deck.

  “You want to go save them?” she asked.

  “We should,” I said, theated. “But it’s going to be problematic.”

  “Why?” Her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of my hesitation.

  “If they ullify magic,” I expined, rubbing the bay neck, “I have no idea how we get them out.”

  “Go in, fight our way through, ahem out,” she said, shrugging as if it were the most straightforward solution in the world.

  “No!” My hand shot up in protest.

  “Why not?” she asked, her fusion deepening, her eyes narrowing as she searched my face.

  “Those are good people who joihe army to protect their try,” I said, my voice firm. “If I see soldiers, I thank them for their serviot fight them. Rather than acg them, I uand they’re doing their job to protect their home from aliens. I don’t knoerson and don’t owe them anything. Yes, they are a Traveler, and we should get them out, but not for the price of killing a whole bunch of i soldiers who are only doing what they think is best.”

  “But they’re holding them captive!” She excimed. “They’re not that i!”

  “From what I know about the army, probably only the top brass or whatever they’re called know about it, not the regur rank and file. If I cate of the ahat know about it, I’ll stick a probe up their ass so far up it will e out of his o give them a taste of their own medie. But killing soldiers who don’t know anything about it feels wrong. Especially sihey’re holding them in an enormous base––we’re talking about thousands of soldiers with guns. We won’t get out alive.”

  Mahya looked like she waue, her lips parting as if to speak, but then she sighed, her shoulders slumping as she nodded iant agreement. “Yeah, I see your point,” she said, her voice soft.

  “Alfonsen!” I called.

  He exited the saloon and asked, “You called for me?”

  “Yes. Do you have the Mana Shield spell?”

  “Of course,” he answered, looking too proud of himself for the question asked.

  “What level is it, and how much it withstand?”

  He looked thoughtful for a moment and said. “The current level stands at five. While I have not ducted any direct testing, the historical knowledge within my family’s archives suggests it should withstand a minimum of three, if not four, crossbow bolts or two to three sword strikes.”

  I turo Mahya, “So two, maybe three bullets. My shield will take one bullet before shattering, and you don’t have a shield at all.”

  “We’ll be invisible,” she pointed out.

  I shook my head and ted on my fingers. “Ohose are soldiers that work around a Gate. I’m sure they have a way to overe the invisibility. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have captured them. I don’t know ... thermal imaging goggles, infrared goggles, or something simir. Two, the minute we’re in the mana suppression field, our invisibility will drop, and we’ll be shot or captured. We need a solution for the magical suppression. Without it, we don’t stand a a base with thousands of armed soldiers.”

  Alfonsen looked between us, crossed his arms, and asked, “Why do you look so unhappy?”

  “Check the Archive,” Mahya answered, her to.

  “Are we going there?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

  “John is not sure how we get that person out if they ullify mana, and he doesn’t want to hurt the soldiers,” she expined, her tone serious.

  “Use Rue,” Alfonsen suggested with a casual wave of his hand.

  My eyes widened in shock. “No way! They’ll shoot him!” I excimed.

  “Not for the rescue,” Alfonsen crified. “But to el mana. Should Rue remain outside while you eheir field will be uo ralize his mana. You el mana through him into yourself.”

  Trying to my head around the idea, I blinked in fusion. “I have no idea what you are talking about. I have a book about familiars, but there was ion of eling mana through one. How do you even know this?” I asked.

  “In Mirbit, the master of the wizard tower maintains a bird as their trusted familiar,” Alfonsen expined. “Acc to my father, his personal mana reserves are retively low. However, he pensates by drawing oernal mana through his familiar, which makes him a formidable force. sequently, I have been advised to exercise caution around him.”

  “Do you know how he does it?” I asked, my mind rag with possibilities.

  “No,” Alfonsen admitted, shaking his head. “The ws of wizard magic are peculiar and diverge from ventional practices.”

  “I’ll look through my books and maybe find something,” I said.

  “Additionally, I have the ability to coct a potion that induces sleep,” Alfonsen offered, his toter-of-fact.

  “You have the pnts for it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yes. A substantial amount. During my expedition in the realm I crossed from to this world, I acquired numerous pnts that have proven to be excellent ingredients for crafting sleeping potions. I will need additional resources, which I am fident be sourced from Earth. In addition, I surveyed the pnt encyclopedia you provided and found several that show potential,” he said, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.

  “Well, a is known for its herbal remedies; we should chee herb shops,” I suggested, turning to Mahya. “You’re an engineer. If I mao el mana through Rue, do you think their nullification field will nullify it?”

  Mahya frowapping her thoughtfully. “I don’t know,” she admitted, her voice ced with uainty. “We’ll have to experiment.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” she said, shaking her head slowly. “Let me think about it.”

  “Do you want to ge our pns and go there immediately?” Alfonsen asked, his tone cautious.

  I paused, searg inwardly for that familiar feeling ency that had guided me twice before. But all was quiet, no sense ency or dire tugging at me. Mahya’s gaze bore into me, waiting. I closed my eyes and searched deeper, trying to find that thread of e to the source of the rebukes or the urgency I felt before—still nothing. I activated my Lud thought of the Traveler—still nothing—not even a tug of dire.

  I mentally asked, “Do we o rush to the rescue?” a something, but it was so fleeting I couldn’t dis it. I asked again, “Do we o rush to the rescue?” This time, it was a bit more crete—a feeling of disi or rality. Basically, it was telling me, “Do whatever you want.” Or that was how I interpreted it.

  “No,” I finally said, shaking my head. “My intuition is entirely silent. There is nency. Besides, if they captured the Traveler and holding them captive, I don’t think they’ll kill them out of the blue. If they wao kill them, they would have do immediately. And I still o find a book to figure out how to el through Rue and verify it won’t hurt him.”

  Rue sent me a strong feeling of trust, his presence warm and reassuring.

  “Thanks, buddy,” I murmured, reag down to scratch his ears, feeling a surge of affe.

  “Are you certain?” Alfonsen asked, sounding ed.

  “Yes,” Mahya answered before I could, her voice steady. “You trust John on this. I asked him once why he looked for me in Tír na nóg, aold me he knew somebody needed help. Also, when Lyura got hurt, he knew about it and k was urgent. Until we got to her, he was nervous and jumpy. If he says it’s nent, you trust him it’s not.”

  Alfoared at me, a mix of awe and fusion on his face. “The phenomenon of wizard magic is quite peculiar,” he muttered, shaking his head.

  When roached Tongling City in Anhui province, I rechecked my feelings to see if it was okay to stop and go sightseeing for a bit or if we should hurry, but everything was quiet. I didn’t eve a fleeting feeling this time after repeatedly asking.

  We moored iongling marina, and finally, my sailboat didn’t look out of pce. It retty and whole as the other yachts and boats. It e over 80,000 mana, but she erfect. This thought stopped me short. The st time I checked, my regeion was twelve mana units per minute, or 720 units per hour. It took me almost 13 hours tee to full. But in four days, I spent over 80,000 mana. The math didn’t add up.

  “We must check the mana level at the Gate. I think it went up,” I told both of them.

  “Not good,” Mahya muttered, her brow furrowing. “I know Lis said it’s safe to fly until the mana reaches level 8, but I’m unsure if I want to risk it with mana level 7.”

  Alfonsen nodded emphatically, his eyes wide, and said, “Is there no way for us to proceed with sailing to every location?”

  “No,” I replied firmly, crossing my arms.

  “Why not?” he asked, sounding whiny.

  “From a, we o go to Tibet, but it’s ndlocked, and no rivers go there,” I expined, my fiapping rhythmically oable.

  “What about a train?” asked Mahya, tilting her head.

  I checked on my phone and said, “There is a train, but it takes about 50 hours.”

  “Are we in a rush?” She asked, her eyes searg mine.

  I re-checked my feelings, closing my eyes to focus. After a few minutes orous searg and trying to get an answer from the system, I said, “No. There is no rush oraveler front. But we also o get to the US. I’m unsure we sail the Pacific O on such a small boat.”

  “Why not?” Mahya asked, frowning slightly.

  “It’s the rgest o in the world, with various sea ditions,” I said, holding up my phone for emphasis. “Freight shipping from a to the US takes twenty to thirty days. We’ll sail slower, so it might take us six weeks. Are we experienced enough for such a voyage?”

  “What’s your sailing level now?” Mahya asked.

  “Three.”

  “Mioo,” she said with a determined nod. “I think it will reach level five at least before we head to Tibet. It’s perfectly fine for an o crossing. Besides, we have magic, access to the Spells and Skills list, and a ton of Ability Points. We’ll be fine.”

  Alfonsen looked hopeful and gave me puppy-dog eyes that were eveer than Rue’s, his expression pleading silently.

  “You alark your house on the o for a day or two so we have more space,” Mahya suggested, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. “Maybe we even leave it out and ect it to the boat with a . You have the pontoons, after all.”

  “Yeah, but if I ‘park’ it on the o before the pontoons finish infting, the house will sink, or at least take in water,” I said, my tone practical.

  She looked puzzled, her brows knitting together, and said, “Ihem before you take it out. You’re the dungeon master.”

  Huh?!

  I was thhly fused. “How?! The Ste keeps everything in suspension.”

  “It’s yic, your Ste, and your core,” she said, her tone as if expining something obvious. She held her hands, palms up, like asking, ‘What’s not clear?’

  “I think I’m missing some data,” I said, scratg my head in fusion.

  “Only some?” Mahya teased, ughing as she nudged me pyfully.

  “Would you kindly eborate oerm ‘dungeon master’?” Alfonsen asked.

  “Oh, you don’t know,” Mahya said, gng around and looking very unfortable. She g me with an apologetic expression, and I gave her a slight nod.

  She looked Alfonsen in the eye and said, “Don’t tell anyone, but John’s house has a core, and we performed the Ritual of e. We are trusting you with a big secret. Don’t disappoint us.”

  “I vow that I will refrain from doing so,” Alfonsen said, his voice serious.

  “Let’s talk about it ter,” I interjected, sensing the o ge the subject. Mahya was still looking very guilty. “Right now, we o go buy some herbs—I even found a pce that sells them—do some sightseeing, and then tinue. We’ll have plenty of time to talk on the way.”

  First, we went to buy herbs, and Alfonsen got excited about some herb called Valerian. His eyes lit up as he said, “Using this, I am able to formute a potion that does not require oral ption. Merely throwing it at someone will suffice to induce sleep.”

  “I just got a great idea,” Mahya excimed, her eyes sparkling with inspiration.

  “Are you sure it’s great?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow in mock skepticism. I had to repay her for her ent about “only some.”

  She stuck her to at me and said, “It’s super great––you’ll see.” With a dismissive wave, as if shooing away an annoying fly, she tinued, “While shopping for paint arrows, I saaint guns. Let’s buy a few guns and a big supply of paintballs. We’ll make a hole in the paintballs, empty the paint, and cast . Then, we’ll fill them with the potion, and you’ll cast mend ohis way, we’ll have a sleeping potion gun to put people to sleep.” She demonstrated by shooting a finger gun at me.

  Unfortunately for me, it was a fantastic idea. I sighed deeply, admitti. “Yeah, okay, it’s a good idea,” I said, nodding appreciatively.

  From there, we went to a promi aluminum manufacturer. I was fused, but Mahya informed me that aluminum would be precious in mana worlds. She knew best, so I just shut up and bought a massive supply of aluminum sheets.

  We found a pce to buy the aforementioned guns and bought twenty, just in case, as well as 500,000 paintballs. The seller looked dazed when we left.

  From there, we went to visit the Tongling Grand yon. It was beautiful, but with the name, I was expeg something more signifit or impressive. Sure, an incredible underground river was weaving through the base, and the waterfalls were stunning, casg down the cliffs like something out of a postcard. The greenery was lush, ging to the rocky walls to add some life to the pce. But holy, while the visit was enjoyable for a few hours, the size was disappointing pared to the Grand yon in the US. The cliffs here were more modest, and the scale didn’t have that jaw-dropping effect I’d hoped for.

  Mahya and Alfonsen weren’t too keeher; they shared my underwhelmed vibe. Rue, oher hand, fell in love with the waterfall. He stood u, wagging his tail like it was the best shower of his life, and we practically had t him away.

  He was unhappy with us and showed his displeasure by repeatedly shouting, “Bad! Friend!” into our minds aing us with dog water.

  After two days in Tongling, we returo the boat and tinued sailing.