Before I start fixing the noer, I leave our camp and find a place where I can be alone, then I begin. I spend the next few hours fixing and modifying the noer. Finally, I complete it. Once I am done, I begin to look around until I find two sufficiently heavy pieces of rock. I place the rocks far away from each other and place the noer on both of them. I take a step back and activate the noer.

Almost immediately the two rocks fly towards and slam into each other, sticking together after that. Smiling at my success, I walk towards the rocks which are glued to each other and pick them up. I then try to pry them apart and smile even wider when I fail. I activate the strengthening noer and try again. The rocks still stay together, though their edges begin to crumble. Satisfied, I stop. Releasing the noer holding them together. The stones immediately fall apart.

I let one of the stones fall to the ground, holding on to the other to try one more thing. I throw the second stone as hard as I can forward, using a little bit of telekinesis to propel it forward and prevent it from falling. After it has traveled quite a distance from me, I release my telekinetic hold on it, choosing instead to activate the attractive noer on my hand. The stone accelerates sharply towards my open palm. It hits it a second later and immediately I feel a sharp stinging pain in my palm.

“Shit!” I exclaimed, dropping the stone as I cradle my stinging palm. I should have realized that something moving that quickly hitting my palm would hurt. I make a small note in my mind not to try something like that again without first activating the strengthening noer.

“I should probably name it,” I say to myself. I can’t keep referring to it in my mind as the attractive noer. After some seconds of coming up with nothing, I decided to name it something related to magnets. due to its attractive property. But calling it 'magnet' doesn’t seem good enough. “Lode,” I say after some time, naming it after a lodestone, but without the stone. It isn’t too good, but it is the best I can think of right now.

I don’t leave immediately after naming lode, deciding instead to do a little bit of practice before heading back to camp. I first start by focusing my Uua. I have made obvious improvements in focusing since I first started, but according to Drew I am not anywhere close to being done. I am forced to stop around an hour later when I am in danger of running out of Uua. I get up and stretch a little bit before heading back to camp.

As I walk, I look up, noticing how low the sun is in the sky. It is almost night. I take a deep breath, feeling the cool evening air in my lungs. For a moment, I almost can’t believe that I will soon leave this place. It feels like I’ve spent an eternity here, though I know that in the real world I have only been gone for a few hours. Soon, I can see our camp. Everyone is lazing around on mats while Drew is at a corner, cooking as usual. For a brief moment, I can’t help but feel bad for Drew. Since our first day here, no one has agreed to cook, choosing instead to push it to Drew.

I flop down on a mat beside Lathia, letting out a deep sigh once again.

“What are you sighing about?” Lathia asks.

Before I can answer, Drew interrupts. “We’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow.”

The news shocks me for a brief moment, but not for long. After all, I was expecting something like this. “What time will we leave?” I ask.

“In the morning,” he answers. “I’m beginning to miss civilization.”

“Me too.” agrees Lathia. “You never realize how precious technology is until you’ve gone a week or two without it.”

I shrug a bit. “I wouldn’t mind staying here a bit longer.”

Lathia gives me a strange look like I am some never before seen specimen of insect. “Are you serious?”

I nod. “Yeah. I mean, apart from missing my phone a bit… and the bathrooms… and the internet… and-”

“I think you’re really missing civilization.” she interrupts.

“No, really. Apart from those things, I really don’t miss it.”

“Right?” she says disbelievingly. I shake my head and say nothing more. In truth, I really do wish I could spend more time training here, and maybe leave when I’m a Guardian or something. Maybe I’ll just ask Drew to show me how to come here on my own.

We all stay silent after that, it almost seems as if we all made a silent pact to keep quiet. But, I don’t really mind it. Somehow, the silence seems to fit into the mood of the evening.

After some time, Drew’s voice breaks the silence. “Food’s ready.”