The Gate Traveler

As I sat and regenerated my mana, I was totally bored. I wanted to cook, but had no more takeaway containers. Then I almost, almost facepalmed, but stopped myself at the last moment. It was necessary to adopt a mindset based on my abilities and let go of Earth’s perspective. With pots in hand, I began cooking, and after it was ready, I stored the food as it was in the pot. I cooked and emptied a whole cooler before I ran out of kindling and wood. I hoped that I’d be able to fill up my supply of branches with all this rain.

After two days, my mana was full, and I was ready to go. I looked at the map for orientation and saw that we had traveled so far east that there was no point heading to the original town I had planned. I looked around and saw that if we headed further east, we would meet a road that went to a capital city, and from there, I could take a road heading in my direction. And there was even a big forest on the way, so I could stock up on kindling and branches.

It took me a long time to figure out how to break down the tent; it was more complicated than setting it up. I decided to use it more and learn to work with it. Initially, it took me twenty minutes to set up my regular tent, but now I did it in five.

It was still raining, so I took out my umbrella and began walking. After a few minutes, I felt strange walking through the wilderness with a black gentleman’s umbrella. It felt ridiculous, so I put on a raincoat and a wide-brimmed hat and felt more like an adventurer. Yes, now I was ready.

We walked most of the day in the rain, but by late afternoon, I was so fed up with being rained on that I set up camp early with a regular tent; I didn’t feel like fighting with the big one. We had dinner with a beer—both of us—and went to sleep early.

The next day, the rain stopped. Thank you, Jesus, God, Guiding Spirits, or my Luck stat—I didn’t care who, as long as the rain stopped. We set out in a much better mood and walked for three days until we reached the forest.

In the forest, I didn’t go in a straight line to the road; I roamed the forest for a while to fill my kindling and wood supply. It took me some time to find dry branches under fallen trees. After the third fallen tree, I got an idea, took out my hatchet, and began cutting it into logs. I returned to the other two and cut them up as well. I searched for more fallen trees and filled a year’s supply of logs. Cutting trees for logs was hard work. The sweat was pouring off me, making me look like the rain had never ceased. I also remembered seeing in movies that people split the logs before using them for firewood. My hope was it wouldn’t be too difficult.

After another two days in the forest, we reached the road. Stretch immediately stopped and looked at me.

“What?”

He jumped in place, did two turns around himself, and sat down with his head turned sideways like he sits in the bike trailer.

“Wow, buddy, you’re getting scary smart. I understood that easily.”

He jumped in place and gave a short bark.

“Yeah, I’m happy we understand each other too. Bicycle trailer coming up.”

I identified him again after such a display.

 

Stretch Adult Bushland Dog Progress to awakening 87%

 

After connecting the bike, he hopped in, and we continued on the road. The only road I had traveled on so far was hard-packed dirt, so I was afraid the roads would be muddy. This one was also hard-packed dirt, but it was okay. Some areas looked “softer,” but I avoided them and had no trouble traveling on it.

After twenty minutes, we saw a big cart full to the brim with something covered with a giant tarp. When we passed the cart, the driver looked at the bike with interest, and I waved to him; he waved back, and we continued. He didn’t look like he needed help or medical assistance, or maybe “healical assistance”? Despite finding them funny, I told myself to stop making silly jokes. I looked now like I was in my twenties; I should stop with the “dad jokes.”

Hmm, that got me thinking. The caravan leader could identify me, so other people could as well. My profile said that I was 38 now, but I looked like a teenager—it might be a problem. I remembered there was something about glamour and made a note to myself to check it when we stopped for lunch. When we stopped, I checked again the One of the Crowd Ability:

 

One of the Crowd – unique class ability This ability is everything a Traveler needs to hide their status as a Traveler. In worlds with low to high mana levels, many classes can view personal information or have runic or magic script artifacts to view the personal information of a being. To help hide your status as a Traveler, you can hide/edit parts of your Personal Information. You can change your name to match local conventions. You can display your profession or one of your sub-classes as your Class or a false class based on one of your Abilities. You can also hide any part of your Personal Information and display question marks instead. Note that displaying question marks might direct unwanted attention your way. Cost 1 ability point. No mana cost. In technological and some mana worlds, various means of proving identity exist, such as identification papers, badges, identity chips, and more. Use this ability to conjure the needed identifications to travel the world peacefully. A one-time cost of 100 mana to conjure identifications. If the identification means are more advanced, such as an identity chip connected to a central database, it costs 500 mana to conjure the chip and connect to the database. Depending on the need, more mana might be required to perform additional adaptations. If your race is unknown in the new world, you can also glamour yourself to look local. The glamour will remain constant and drop when you pass through a Gate to a new world. A one-time cost of 300 mana in each new world.

 

Turns out I didn’t need to glamor myself. I forgot about the ability to edit Personal Information. I changed my age to 20 and relaxed—now my “age” matched my face.

We continued on the road and occasionally passed people on carts, or sometimes walking and dragging a hand cart behind them. I always looked to see if they looked like they needed help, but so far, so good. I didn’t stop to ask, but I looked.

We reached a rest stop early in the evening, and I was surprised to see that it was bustling with people. It was probably because the road led to a capital. We stopped at the rest stop, and I saw somebody there cooking and selling food. A roadside restaurant—they were in every world, but here it was on an open fire, and the supplies came from a cart. It was some kind of meat on wooden skewers, wrapped in round, flat bread with grilled vegetables.

I approached the vendor, trying to catch his eye. “How much for a bread with meat?” I asked, a bit of curiosity in my voice.

The vendor glanced up, his eyes crinkling with a friendly smile. “Three coppers. I also have cheap leftovers for the dog,” he offered, nodding towards a small pile of scraps.

I chuckled, shaking my head. “It’s okay. He has his own food.”

I took a bite of the bread, savoring the flavors. It was delicious—so good that I decided to stock up. “Give me another ten,” I said, grinning.

He raised an eyebrow, giving me a funny look. “Three silvers and it will take a few minutes.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “No problem. What animal does the meat come from?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Mukar,” he replied. The name tickled a memory, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“What does a mukar look like?”

He leaned forward, gesturing with his hands. “It’s about your height, with wide shoulders and a narrower backside. It has brown fur and two big horns on the sides of its head, curving upwards. It’s very common in the wilderness; hunters bring them all the time.”

Huh, that sounded like “my” bison. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out one pelt. “Is this from a mukar?” I asked, holding it up.

His eyes widened slightly. “Yes… why did you ask what it looks like?”

I chuckled, scratching my head. “We call them differently from where I come from. Only after your description did I make the connection.”

His curiosity piqued, he asked, “What do you call them, and where are you from?”

“We call them bison, and I come from the islands in the south,” I explained.

He shook his head, a look of amazement on his face. “Never heard of them.”

He handed me the meat I ordered, and I took out a square baking dish, placing the meat inside carefully.

“You a merchant?” he asked, watching me closely.

I nodded, a small smile on my lips. “Yes. I have the Inventory Blessing,” I added, using the local jargon confidently.

His interest deepened. “What are you selling?”

I spread my hands. “A wide variety of things. Tell me what interests you, and I’ll show you.”

He thought for a moment, then said, “Things to prepare and cook food and something to bring home to the missus.”

I set up my operating table and arranged an assortment of items: knives, a modern 3-stage knife sharpener, two wooden cutting boards, pots, bowls, square metal baking pans, a big square barbeque with a grate and a griddle, and a big package of metal skewers.

His eyes widened, practically drooling over everything. He pointed at the sharpener. “What is that?”

“Give me your knife,” I instructed.

He handed it over, and I showed him how to sharpen it in stages. His eyes lit up as he tested the blade’s sharpness. “This is amazing! Where did you get it?”

“From my family’s store. We sell them,” I replied.

“How much?” he asked eagerly.

I hesitated, then remembered my Appraisal Skill and checked the sharpener. “Five gold,” I said confidently.

He pointed to the grill next. “What is that?”

I explained how to use the grill, describing the process in detail. “How much?” he asked again.

“Twenty gold,” I stated.

He continued asking about the prices of everything. The cheapest item was the cutting boards, which cost 3 silver each. Finally, he decided, and I pointed at each item, repeating the price.

“Sharpener – 5 gold. Two smaller knives – 2 gold each, 4 gold in total. Big knife – 3 gold, five silver. Big bowl – 2 gold. Three pots – 8 gold in total. Two square pans – 3 gold in total. Grill with equipment – 20 gold. Your total so far is 45 gold and 5 silver. You also wanted something for your wife?”

He paused, thinking for a second. “Yes, but not expensive. You almost took all my money,” he said with a laugh.

I pulled out some silver jewelry with semi-precious stones and showed him. He was impressed and finally chose a chain with a lapis lazuli pendant.

“It’s worth 6 gold, but since you are such a good customer, I’ll give it to you for 4 gold, 5 silver,” I offered.

He thanked me, handing over 50 gold. I looked around, noticing a crowd had gathered. “I’ll move my table so I won’t hurt your business,” I suggested.

He chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t think they are waiting for me, lad. I am sure they are waiting for you.”

I shifted my table a few meters to the left. He was wrong; a few people waited for him, but most waited for me. Before serving anybody, I gave Stretch food and water and told him to explore when he was done. It looked like I had a long evening.

I did a brisk business, and my greed was having a minor tantrum. Based on the prices I got when I appraised things, the people in town got it for a steal. I didn’t mind the price I told Domenica and Aurustine. I connected with them through Sophia, and the innkeeper was really nice and took good care of me. But the annoying merchant in town definitely should have paid the full price, and their royal guard also should have paid more.

“John, remember to use your Skills—they are magical and awesome!” I told myself and hoped it would stick this time.

A lady approached my stall, examining the plates on display. She selected four plates, but as she reached for her coin pouch, I noticed a cut on her arm.

“I’m also a healer. Would you like me to heal it for you?” I asked, pointing gently at the cut.

She glanced at her arm, then back at me, a hint of skepticism in her eyes. “How much?” she asked, her voice cautious.

I remembered the usual rate for such treatments in town. “Three copper,” I said with a reassuring smile.

Her expression softened, and she nodded. “Yes, please.”

Five minutes after I healed her, I had a second line for healing. Nothing looked urgent—cuts, burns, and one rotten tooth.

As a merchant, I would finish with one customer, collect the money, ask the next one what interests them, arrange a small display, and, while they deliberated, heal one or two people. Rinse and repeat until I served both lines. I was glad people stopped coming because it was the middle of the night. Still, it was worth it; I made 187 gold, 8 silver, and 3 copper as a merchant and 3 gold, 2 silver, and 2 copper as a healer. Not bad for a few hours of work. The only problem was that most of them paid me in copper, and now I had a lot of copper.

I didn’t want to fight with the local tent I bought, so I laid Stretch’s blanket for him, took out a yoga mattress, pillow, and duvet for myself, called Stretch over, and went to sleep.