The Gate Traveler

The following day, I sank my awareness into my mana channels and examined every millimeter. They looked fine, and I wanted faster mana regeneration, but I still hesitated to cast the Absorb Mana spell on myself again. My exploration into magic was starting. I didn’t want to cripple myself and end this fantastic journey.

I tried to create the spell around me, not by casting it, but by “coloring” the mana around my body with the “absorb” flavor. After half a day, I succeeded, but the result was that the surrounding mana became thicker and denser, and I could regenerate faster because of the density. Still, it was nowhere near the speed I regenerated when I cast the spell on myself.

Next, I tried to create the absorb aspect in one of the mana channels in my arm. My mana ticked up faster, but my channel itched almost immediately, so I stopped. I was glad I didn’t cast the spell, but only created the aspect. Judging by the speed at which my channel itched, five minutes would have been torture.

Finally, I bit the bullet, sank my awareness into my mana channels to monitor them, and cast a spell on myself again, hoping that the spread of it all over me wouldn’t overwhelm my channels. I could “see” my channels expanding, and the more they expanded, the more severe the itching became. I felt pins and needles, but the spell ended before I got apprehensive. Yesterday, I had about half a minute of worry before the spell ended; today, maybe twenty seconds.

Hmm, so it trains the channels to expand?

I was excited about the idea, but wanted more control. The spell had a fixed duration; I tried to control the duration. I approached this from a different angle. For the next three days, I learned how to control the amount of mana that gets the “absorb” flavor until I could control it perfectly up or down.

When I felt in perfect control of the amount, I colored a minute amount of the mana in my left hand with absorption and let it flow in. I slowly raised the amount until I felt a slight itching and kept it there.

After a while, the itching stopped, so I upped the amount but didn’t feel the mana go in. I couldn’t understand what was happening. My channel looked fine, the flavor was correct, and I had no idea why it stopped. It bugged me the whole day, so I only stared at the view. In the evening, after dinner, I facepalmed and checked my mana: 7200/7200.

Basically, I’m an idiot sometimes.

Ro approached me and said, “The two weeks you paid for ended. It will take another four or five days to reach the location you want. Pay me for four days, and I’ll tell you if you need to pay more.”

“No problem. How much?”

He gave a strange look and answered, “One gold and eight silver.”

I gave him two gold and said, “Don’t give me change. If it takes another day, this will cover it. If not, the excess is a thank-you gift for excellent service.”

He thanked me and left.

I concluded that the strange look was because I said, “No problem.” It’s probably an expression they are not familiar with.

Oh well, I’m John Rue, the exporter of Americanism.

The following day, I continued my barrel examination and experimentation. I learned the “release” part of the spell as a way to spend mana. It was much more complex than the “absorb” part and took me two full days to master. When I felt I had it 100%, I wet a towel and cast the spell on it—nothing happened. After a few minutes of being stumped, I concluded that the flavor doesn’t just involve a simple ‘absorb’ or ‘release,’ but rather ‘absorb mana’ and ‘release mana.’ Since it was the spell’s name, I felt like an idiot not thinking about it before. Now, I had no idea how to test the spell. I had no intention of casting it on myself. I liked my mana in me—thank you very much.

I attempted a second time to create a Purifying Aluminum Blob. Taking out my cast iron potjie pot, I put in the aluminum blob infused with the Purify spell, and melted it once again. When it melted, I cast the absorb and release mana on it repeatedly, with the occasional Purify, just in case, until it cooled. While doing this, the red light started blinking, but I ignored it.

When the metal solidified, I scooped another bucket from the river and put the blob inside while monitoring the water with my mana. In two to three minutes, the water was pure. I was so concentrated on the blob that I felt the mana being absorbed, taking on the flavor of purification, and released with the spell.

YES!!

I created my first autonomous magical item. This time, I didn’t stop myself. I went into the tent and danced Gangnam Style.

I checked the red light.

Progress is something I absolutely love!

I returned to the absorption experiment with my mana channels. As I colored the mana in my left arm, I could feel it getting absorbed. When the itching stopped, I added another minute amount with the colored mana, and again and again. My mana was full in under two days instead of three full days, and when I compared the channels in both arms, the one in my left arm was wider. The difference was a hair thin, but there was a difference.

Ro informed me we would reach our destination sometime tomorrow, so I relaxed, played with Stretch, and learned a new song for my guitar.

While looking through the songbook, I came across the song “The Boxer” by Simon & Garfunkel. The moment I heard this song as a teenager, I instantly fell in love with it. I still remembered all the lyrics, and with my guitar-playing level, it took me ten minutes to learn the chords.

As I began playing and singing it, Stretch joined me, and Jul and Rin moved closer.

“I am just a poor boy, though my story’s seldom told...”

When I reached the last part of the song, which was only “Lie-la-lie,” I sang at the top of my lungs and felt a pure serenity of existence and joy.

I was happy with my accomplishments, journey, progress, and most of all, about being alive. The weight of grief that had once clung to me had lifted, replaced by a newfound sense of freedom and joy. Each strum of my guitar and every word I sang felt like a release, a celebration of how far I had come. My past sorrows no longer defined me, and the possibilities of the future invigorated me. The feeling of being alive was no longer just a fact—it was a triumph, a testament to my resilience and growth.