I lay back on my cot and called up the notification concerning the rank up for Analyze. I read over the three options eagerly. I was a little disappointed to see that two of them were the same choices from the first time it had ranked up. I could increase the range from 10 meters to 20 meters, or I could remove the mana cost completely by turning it into a touch-based ability.

The new option was interesting. It said the ability would leave a seed of my mana behind on the target that would last for ten minutes. If the target moved outside of the ability’s range like the koala had, the connection would still be cut but it wouldn’t be severed completely. If the target came back into range, the seed would automatically be consumed to re-establish the connection, allowing me to view their health and details again without needing to recast the ability.

I mulled over the choices for a few minutes, then selected the range increase. The new option was tempting, but in most of my experiences so far, the things attacking me hadn’t even thought of retreating. I’d rather be able to use the ability from further away so I wouldn’t have to get in close like I’d needed to do with the Void koala. It seemed like the choices repeated themselves, so if I found myself facing smarter enemies that did move out of range and come back, I could always choose it at the next rank.

“Possibly not,” Cax let me know. “As you grow and learn new spells and abilities, other options will become available. At times, some choices never repeat.”

I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. “I already made my choice! Why didn’t you say something sooner?!”

“Your logic was sound. There was no need,” he stated calmly. “A greater range on the ability is most useful at the moment. It also negates the need for the other option to some extent, as your target would need to move further away now to break the connection.”

Huh. He was right. I hadn’t considered that last part. I sensed a little smugness from him, and the corner of my mouth twitched up. Everyone liked to hear they were right.

“If I think you’re making a mistake, I will definitely speak up,” he added. “Otherwise, trust yourself more. You’re fairly intelligent…for a human.”

How do I respond to that?! “Right back at you,” I said, unable to think of a good comeback. The feeling of confusion from Cax made me feel a little better about my lack of creativity.

I stared up at the ceiling and let my mind wander as I continued adding mana to the new room, almost on autopilot. Sometime later, a polite cough got my attention and broke me out of my daydreaming. Startled, I turned my head and looked at the girl standing in the entrance from where I was lying down. I’d been so spaced out, I hadn’t heard anyone coming down. If I’d had my new Domain spell active, I probably would have sensed her coming. I hadn’t cast it even once yet, though, because I hadn’t wanted to slow the construction down any further. With the effect only lasting fifteen minutes, I’d have to use the spell too often to make it practical. A familiar sense of frustration welled up inside me. I couldn’t wait until this room was finally finished just so I would be able to use my magic freely.

The delicious smells coming from the plate and bag she was carrying pushed all thoughts out of my mind. Unfortunately, now that I was focused on the good smells, the bad ones I’d become accustomed to intruded back into my senses. I stunk! I couldn’t help screwing my face up in disgust as the odor registered again. After fighting the Void puppets and being around their bodies for so long, my clothes and body were in desperate need of cleaning. The blood stains I’d gotten from healing the officers earlier definitely didn’t help improve the look.

The young girl was doing her best not to react to the smell coming off me, but her nose was scrunched up a little and it was clear she didn’t want to get any closer.

“Breakfast time already?” I asked awkwardly, trying to redirect her focus.

“That’s right,” she said as cheerfully as she could manage. “It’s 7:30. Here’s an omelette, and there’s coffee in the bag.” She held them out for me to take. I did so quickly and then retreated to the cot to give her some distance from my odor. “There’s milk and sugar in there if you need it.” Her eyes kept getting drawn to the skeleton in the corner, so I had it wave at her.

She took a step back. “Woah! That’s freaky. What’s its name?” She leaned back in slightly to get a better look.

I shrugged. “Doesn’t have one. Probably won’t be around long enough to need one, either.” Seeing that she looked more interested than scared, I saw a way to redeem myself. She was cute, so I wanted to make a good impression. I didn’t want her only image of me to be as a stinky basement dweller. “How do you feel about snakes?” She shrugged noncommittally, which I took to mean she wasn’t terrified of them, so I had the two snake defenders slither out from under the bed and move around the small room. She watched in amazement as I moved my finger around as though directing them, going for a bit of showmanship before returning them to their hiding place.

“That was incredible!” She graced me with a big smile that was much more genuine than the one she greeted me with. Success! Smiling back, I peeled the foil off the plate to get a look at the food. She suddenly remembered what she was supposed to be doing and clapped her hands together. “Oh! I’ll be right back with the second one. Couldn’t carry it all in one trip.”

Before she left, I swallowed my pride and asked for some towels or some kind of cleaning wipes. Face burning a little, I said, “I haven’t been able to leave here long enough to get cleaned up. There’s a small chance I might not smell the best at the moment.” She laughed and promised to find me something.

I sat down in the middle of the room and started eating. The coffee tasted especially good after being up practically the whole night. When she came back with another plate and coffee, I added the milk and sugar then absorbed both the food and drink from the second serving. She watched intently, seeming fascinated by the magical display.

When they disappeared, she sighed wistfully. “Must be nice to be able to do things like that.”

With a mouth full of cheesy omelette, I mumbled, “It definitely has its moments.” She left a few packs of citrus-scented body wipes before heading back up, for which I thanked her profusely. After I finished eating, I made sure to absorb the knife and fork. Being able to make my own cutlery might come in handy, but I did it mainly to help rank up the ability. And it was helping. Absorb was so close to reaching Rank 3. I used the ability on one of the packs of body wipes and then on the dirty plate and empty coffee cup. That was enough to rank it up again.

I decided to get cleaned up while I went over the available options. For that, I wanted some privacy. Testing my theory from when I first created the doorway, I stared at the opening and concentrated hard. The dungeon responded to my will, stone flowing like liquid from the adjoining walls to fill in the doorway. When it was done, there was a faint outline showing where the entrance used to be, but otherwise the room was sealed up tight.

Beautiful! Stripping off my dirty clothes, I got to work wiping myself down while I read over the notification. Again, two of them were repeats, so I focused on the new option.

3) By focusing on the original state of an item when activating this ability, the item's pattern will be stored in its original state.

May be used to remove damage or other imperfections.

Cannot be used to alter or improve the base characteristics of an item.

I chose it without hesitation. It was like the universe was throwing me a bone. Or maybe the World Spirit, I thought, looking around hesitantly as I covered my private parts with my hands. I knew the Spirit had better things to do than watch me, but still. Having viewed its memories, I knew how easy it was for it to see everything that was happening on the planet. Don’t be stupid, I scolded myself, forcing my hands to resume their cleaning. Even if the Spirit is watching, it doesn’t care if I’m naked.

Surprisingly, another screen appeared in the corner of my vision once I confirmed my choice and Absorb reached Rank 3. It was blinking for my attention. I opened it and as I read over the contents, my hands stopped moving and my face fell. Oh, come on!

[Absorb] has gained all the insights it is capable of obtaining from non-magical items.

Absorbing mundane items will no longer count towards ranking up this ability.

No more fast progress, I thought disappointedly. I didn’t bother accusing Cax of withholding information on this one. This was a unique ability that had come about by us joining together. I knew it was unfamiliar territory for him.

I carried on and got myself as clean as I could. I left the dirty wipes on the ground off to the side for now. I looked at my dirty, smelly clothes and smiled. I’d been provided with the perfect solution thanks to the latest evolution. I put the green, magical shirt into my inventory and retrieved the bloodstained white shirt I’d stored in there. Without the relevant profession, I wouldn’t be able to use Create to make a copy of the magical shirt. I’d have to wash it the old fashioned way later.

I held the image of my regular, white shirt in a clean and odorless state in my mind, and I also pictured it being a little bigger to better accommodate my more muscular body. Activating Absorb, I got a message telling me I wasn’t allowed to alter an item’s base form. Worth a shot, I thought with a shrug. I removed the size alteration from the mental image I was holding and tried again. This time it worked, and my dirty shirt shimmered away. Using Create, I made another one and did a little jig when a pristine white T-shirt appeared in my hands, free of any offensive odors. It was like it had just come off the rack in a shop.

I did the same thing for all of my clothes. Soon, I was fully dressed again in brand-new, clean copies of everything and feeling much better. Looking at my cot, I saw the pillow and blanket were looking pretty dirty too. I absorbed it all and created a new set. Looking around, I was happy to see a nice clean space again. Apart from the dirty wipes on the floor, of course. I had plans for them, though, and would take care of them in a minute.

For now, I moved the stone blocking the entrance back into the walls, restoring access to the room, as I read over another notification that had appeared. Create ranked up too!? I may be stuck down here, but I’m still getting things done! I thought with more than a little bit of satisfaction.

Unfortunately, there was no option to further reduce the cost of non-affinity materials. I was left debating between evolving the ability so I could manifest my creations anywhere within 10 meters of me, and creating things 50% faster. I finally decided to go with the speed upgrade. That would let me make a regular item in just about 30 seconds, helping me save a bit of time. I hesitated before confirming my selection. After what happened when Absorb reached Rank 3, I was a little apprehensive. Don’t be stupid, I scolded myself. Delaying it won’t change the outcome. Making my choice, I cursed when a new screen appeared with the bad news. Create would no longer rank up from making regular items.

Possibly in an attempt to cheer me up, Cax said, “It’s not such a big issue for this ability. You have professions that will let you make magical items. They will help you rank it up fairly quickly still. Absorb will be difficult,” he admitted, “but the forest needs to be cleaned out. The loot you get from the infected animals and Void puppets will provide opportunities to receive magical items.”

“I know,” I told him with a sigh. “I’ll get over it. It’s just a shock losing such an easy way to improve my abilities.”

To get my mind off it, I turned my attention to the pile of dirty body wipes. There wasn’t really a point in restoring them with my improved Absorb ability since I had a full pack stored in my core. I could get a little extra xp if I absorbed them as is and had Cax ‘lose’ the pattern for them, but there was something else I wanted to try out. Cax had mentioned before that the dungeon could dispose of waste. “Does that include something like this?” I asked him.

“Of course. The dungeon can break down anything you designate as unwanted. It will be lost forever, so be careful,” he warned me. “Anything you want to store in your core, you need to absorb directly.”

I focused on the pile of dirty wipes and mentally commanded the dungeon to get rid of them. As I watched, they seemed to melt into the floor, and after several seconds, there was no trace of them remaining. I was happy to see how smoothly the process worked. I figured that once I had several dungeons set up in various places, the ability to automate the cleaning process would be of great use.

I kept at the construction, and as the day progressed, several people came down to talk with me. I latched onto them, eager to escape my boredom. The most notable were a couple of scientists asking if I had any insights on how to shield technology from the effects of mana. Apparently, they’d been testing various devices within the dead zone outside my tent. However, they hadn’t been able to find out what was stopping everything from working. “The problem is that our instruments won’t function inside the magical field, and we’re not detecting anything when testing from outside the affected zone. We don’t have any readings to go off.” Rather than seeming frustrated at the difficulties they were having, he sounded like he was enjoying the challenge. “The fact that our technology isn’t damaged by the field is promising, though. Since the interference is temporary, we believe it’s some kind of dampening effect. We’re hopeful some shielding will do the trick. If you can tell us what materials block the field’s effect, that will give us a clue as to what’s causing it. Then it should be a simple matter to work out a permanent solution.”

“If you say so,” I said, not quite following. I tried to convince myself that it was because I was still tired, but deep down I knew it was because I simply wasn’t technically minded. I asked them to wait while I checked with Cax.

“I don’t have any solutions,” he told me. “It was never a consideration on my world. If they can’t come up with anything by the time your Research ability is available, though, you can always use that to try and develop something.”

I passed on what he said about using my ability later, and they promised to keep working on the problem. “It’s still early days!” one of the men said cheerfully. “We were hoping you could save us some time, but trial and error it is. We’ll work out some experiments we can run given the limitations. I’m sure we’ll come up with something.”

“By the way,” the other man added, moving on, “we tested that void blocker you gave us on the infected patch at the edge of the forest, and it…”

“Wait!” I said, surprised. “What infected patch?”

He looked at his colleague before replying. “Nobody told you? Around where the Void animals and that unfortunate boy came out of the forest, the area is showing evidence of infection. The black substance you described in the meeting is growing on the grass and on the trees. We’re assuming it was caused either by their presence or by the blood or whatever they had running through them leaking out of the wounds they sustained.” His voice took on a frustrated tone. “We are unable to confirm which since we were forbidden from going in to check if there is a trail of infection or if it is isolated to the area where the fight took place. Ms. Anders assured us that once your room was finished, the surrounding area would be cleared out and then we could go in to check. Also, you should know that there are no traces of infection closer towards this tent. It just stops abruptly, as though a line were drawn on the ground.”

I focused on that bit of good news to help deal with the anxiety the other information caused in me. The fact the Void energy hadn’t taken root closer to the tent must be because the dungeon’s influence wouldn’t allow it. Having proof that that part of our plan was viable was a huge weight off my shoulders. Finding out that the Void puppets could so easily spread the infection put that stress right back on and left me feeling like we couldn’t catch a break.

If the infection could so easily spread via the Void energy that manifested around their bodies, that meant anywhere they went in the forest would be contaminated. I wasn’t sure how the World Spirit would react to that. If it needed to expand the containment field it was maintaining, the draw on its energy would increase.

“Like I was saying,” the scientist continued encouragingly, probably noticing the despair on my face, “it’s not all doom and gloom. We placed the void blocker at the infected area. The tests we’ve run on the stone haven’t been fruitful, but it is clearly doing something. The infection is diminishing in size and color intensity. Based on your description of how the blockers work, we believe that the Void energy is unable to withstand the pressure being exerted on it. We’re monitoring the area to determine how long it takes the device to completely eradicate the contamination.”

That’s good news too, I convinced myself, holding on tightly to that bit of positive information. I pulled the six void blockers I still had in my inventory out and handed them over to the surprised scientists. “Can you do me a favor and give these to Ms. Anders? I was meaning to take care of it myself, but I don’t think we can afford to wait. I’ll leave it up to her, but I think these should be placed along the inside of the fence that runs along the road or to block off the suburbs on the other side of the forest. If any of the Void animals venture out, these should at least stop the infection from spreading easily.”

I made sure to remind them of the range so they could be placed at appropriate distances to get maximum coverage. “If someone works out exactly how many we need to block off those areas, I can make more when I get done with this room.” Once they agreed, I also pulled out the two empty health potion vials and took off my bone ring. I told them what they were as I handed them over. “You might be able to find something out from studying these.” Their eyes lit up as they thanked me, and they almost ran up the stairs in their haste to begin examining the magical items.

“Don’t forget to give Ms. Anders the blockers!” I shouted at their retreating backs, afraid they’d forget in their excitement.

The only other visitor of note came in the late morning. I was surprised to see my tired-looking Mum standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking at me in confusion. Anita must have caught her when she got home from work and had a talk with her immediately to get her here this quickly.

I went over to her and led her into the dungeon by her hand. “What is this place?” she asked, looking at my simple bed. “Some kind of bunker?”

I was about to correct her when I stopped, considering. “Actually, kind of. That’s not a bad way to look at it.” She jumped back and cursed when she finally noticed the skeleton in the room. “What the hell is going on?! What have you got yourself mixed up in?!” she asked me almost angrily, swatting at my arm.

The skeleton immediately lunged at her, following its orders to the letter. “Stop!” I yelled, and it froze with its hands right in front of her face. My heart was beating fast. I was really regretting not making a new one after ranking up Defenders. Maybe the improved version would have understood that she wasn’t attacking me. I sent it back to its corner.

I guided my screaming mum to the cot and had her sit down. It took a while to calm her down. When she finally got herself under control, I asked her, “How much do you already know?”

“Nothing!” she basically yelled at me. “There was a lady waiting outside the house when I got home from work. She said she works for the government and that you were doing some consulting for them or something. I tried calling you, but it wouldn’t go through. She made me sign a bunch of documents before she’d agree to take me to you. The only reason I did it instead of calling the police is because she said you needed my help. Something about a familiar face. I knew it might have been a ploy, but what mother could take that chance?!” I held back my smile. I guess Anita was more worried about my mental state than she let on. I didn’t agree to a counsellor when she suggested it, so she decided family would do. I focused back on Mum as she continued her rant. “And now here you are underground with a dead body that moves!” She took a deep breath. “Should I call a lawyer?” she asked earnestly, switching from anger to concern in a heartbeat.

I laughed. “No, I’m not in any trouble. Well, not the legal kind anyway.” Having learnt my lesson, I started with a demonstration. The skeleton didn’t exactly count. I put my hands on hers and cast Heal. She tried to jerk away when she saw the golden glow, eyes wide, but I held her firmly. She stopped struggling as the magic took hold, and instead she slumped over a little, letting out a little sob. As soon as the spell finished, I lifted her head up, concerned. There were tears running down her face.

“Mum, what’s wrong?!” I asked worriedly. She just shook her head, unable to speak. I quickly cast the spell again, hoping it would fix whatever problem the first one had caused. By the time the second round of healing was done, she was crying even more. Probably noticing my rising panic, she patted my leg reassuringly until she managed to regain her composure.

“There’s nothing wrong, honey. It’s just…” she choked back another sob. “The pain… it’s almost completely gone! My arthritis has been bothering me for so long, I almost forgot what it felt like to not be in agony all the time. What did you do?” I relaxed, glad she hadn’t been having some kind of allergic reaction to the magic. I wasn’t sure that was even a thing, but based on her response, it had been a logical assumption.

“Magic!” I smiled at her and wiggled my eyebrows the best I could.

“Put those eyebrows away, mister, and tell me the truth!” she scolded me.

“I am! Look at me,” I told her, touching my face and running my hands through my thick, unruly hair. I wonder if Anita can find someone to tidy it up for me? I thought idly. “I love that you believed medicine could make me look like this, but come on. Do you really think that’s possible?”

“Compared to magic? Yes, I do!”

I laughed again. “You know, you’re so lucky. I was going to mix up a truly awful concoction and tell you it was the medicine I took. I’m talking tabasco, lemon juice, strawberry milk. Anything we had in the fridge, basically. Then I was going to make you drink it while I healed you. But now my secret is out, I don’t have to hide.” I looked around at where we were. “Well, you know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t! I don’t have any idea what you are talking about!” She was getting a bit worked up.

I patted her back several times. “Calm down, and I’ll tell you.” I filled her in on everything, from finding Cax to how the government had gotten involved. I made sure to gloss over the worst parts. I didn’t want her worrying too much. While she tried to wrap her head around it all, I asked her a question. “You said your pain was almost gone? Does it still hurt?”

“Hmm?” she said absently, still lost in thought. “Oh, yeah. It’s so much better, but there’s still some pain. Compared to what I’ve been putting up with, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, honey.”

I frowned. I’d healed her twice. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with her. I sent a querying thought to Cax.

“It’s likely that since it’s a deep-seated condition that has persisted for an extended period of time, multiple healings will be required to completely fix the damage. I expect it’s only working on her at all due to the most recent evolution you chose for the spell. The spell is mainly intended to fix injuries. Try again.”

I healed her a third time, not even caring about the heavy use of mana in such a short time. Family first. Always. A fourth use of Heal was required before she said the pain was completely gone and that she felt amazing, leaving me almost out of mana. I ignored the blinking notification that appeared. With all the healing I’d done recently, it was undoubtedly about the spell reaching Rank 3. I’d take care of it later when I was alone.

Looking at Mum’s face, I noticed she looked healthy. Really healthy! Many of her wrinkles were smoothed out, and she had a more youthful appearance. I was stunned! Can I reverse aging?! Forget regrowing hair for rich men. I could make a fortune off this!

“Slow down,” Cax advised, dampening my excitement. “You cannot reverse aging. Not even the most powerful healers on my world were capable of that. What you can do is repair some of the damage it causes, and even slow it down a little. But there is a limit to how much your magic can accomplish. All living things must die,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Balance and rules are an important part of the universe, remember? However, with the energy coursing through you, helping you naturally heal and enhancing your body, you should know that you yourself will live for many centuries. Longer if you are able to reach a sufficient level.”

That floored me. Centuries?! I though incredulously. Before I could get carried away thinking about everything I could accomplish with such a long life, I mentally slapped myself. I’ve got to survive everything that’s going on first, I told myself firmly, trying to stay grounded. If we can’t contain the Void, we’ll all be unlikely to live even one more year. Not to mention the threat from the Colvoen shards. With any luck, though, another one won’t turn up any time soon. Still, I couldn’t completely suppress the amazement and elation Cax’s words stirred in me, and wore a big smile as I told Mum about the positive changes.

She wasn’t as excited as I thought she’d be. She was definitely happy, but seemed preoccupied. “What’s wrong?”

She frowned a little and moved her jaw around strangely. “My mouth feels weird.”

“Let me see,” I told her, peering inside her mouth while she kept it open. What I saw made me laugh. I couldn’t believe it!

“What? What is it?!” she asked me, her worry starting to change to irritation as I kept on laughing.

For as long as I could remember, Mum had always had a missing tooth. The gap left behind had been the butt of some good-natured teasing over the years, and I’d never understood why she didn’t do something about it. Well, something had been done now!

“You know your gap? I’m going to have to get my fill of jokes in before it disappears. The magic is regrowing your tooth." When I’d evolved my Heal spell to be able to regrow limbs and undo permanent damage, I’d had lofty goals. And yeah, some less than noble ones of how to make money off it. But in everything I’d imagined, not once had the thought of regrowing Mum’s tooth entered my mind.

As she felt at the area and found the half-grown tooth, she looked at a loss for words. “It looks like I’ll need to heal you a few more times before it’s fully completed,” I let her know. “But it will have to wait. I really need to use the energy for something else at the moment.” Freeing her from years of pain was a worthy use of my mana. A bit of cosmetic work wasn’t.

She simply nodded mutely, letting her hand drop as she tried to ignore the odd feeling of her tooth growing back. She suddenly looked sad. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “I was just thinking of your father. If you’d been able to do this before…” She squeezed my leg and sighed. “Life can be cruel.”

I gave her a big hug. I’d had the same thought, but I didn’t want to dwell on what could have been. We talked for a little longer, and then I took her up top and walked her out of the tent. I left her in the care of one of Anita’s staff. They promised they’d make sure she got home safely. I assured Mum I’d be careful and that I’d see her soon, and then I went back down to the dungeon.

I looked at my options to evolve Heal. I could reduce the mana cost, turn it into a ranged spell, or add the function to cure poisons. Since my plan was to get to Tier II in Life magic as soon as I could focus on ranking up my new spell, that would take care of the cost. I still hadn’t come across a need to use the spell from a distance. That left the poison cure.

“It won’t add any extra cost to the spell, right?” I clarified with Cax.

“No. You’re applying your insights to add the extra capability, not merging two spells together like you did with Cure Disease.”

That’s all I needed to hear. I chose the option to cure poison, making my Heal spell a very effective cure all. I was extremely happy with it. Circumstances meant I hadn’t been able to choose a dedicated healing class like I’d been tempted to do when I saw the option for it, but I was still making progress with the spell and able to fix people up.

Alright. No more distractions. Let’s get this done, I thought resolutely, focusing back on the task at hand. Over the next several hours, I put every drop of mana I regenerated into the construction, resisting all temptations to use it on other things. Around 4pm, the process was finally almost done. Another 100mp was all that was needed. I went up top and passed on the message that the room was about to be finished.