Akilo Local Time: 2:53 AM, Ukila Local Time: Almost, nearly, probably noon. (January 12, 1512)

It takes me less time to recover than Uthica, pushing myself out of the grass, the sun illuminating the entire valley. Smoulder is playing tag with Uthica, hopping between her hands, prompting further fits of giggles.

Etched on my face, my smile threatens to send me back into giggles as I consider my state. The extra mana flowing through me is bleeding out. And when I check my Status, I find my mana level is over 9000. Way over.

Giggling again, I shake my head and refocus on my mana with a forced frown.

Unfortunately, it’s ticking down fast. A loss since I can’t handle the excess. I’m unable to push it into my attributes after a certain point, receiving a warning that doing so could damage the foundations.

I’m not processing it properly. Expending Focus, my urge to giggle drops drastically. Still there but reduced.

Wishing I had access to Wyonna’s advanced analysis right now, I try directing the excess mana into my damaged storage. And that absorbs it. Not ideal, but it’s better than letting the mana go to waste.

The next half hour is spent trying to coax the excess mana into repairing my inventory. A lot of the mana is lost, flitting away into the ambient mana of Ukila. But I manage to work a fair amount into the repairs, and the personal attention even seems to reduce the amount of processing power it’ll take to repair.

Sadly, I don’t feel as though I’ve repaired it properly, so much as patched between cracks.

It’ll take more practice before I’m able to harness this method of mana regeneration fully, but the fact I can already make use of it is promising. Combined with my new System, I should be able to grow faster than ever. Not many people who’re going to be able to guide me though. Obviously, I’ll ask Uthica, but who else?

Maybe the natives of Ukila? They’ve found a way to exist alongside a world encompassed by my old System. Did they figure out how to run one of their own?

Glancing over at Uthica, who’s chasing Smoulder around the clearing, I contemplate whether I should investigate while we’re here. Unless I’m able to replicate the System’s interplanetary teleportation, it might be my only chance to… wait, did my pad with my notes on portals survive? Am I going to be able to access it?

Am I… still a Citizen?

I take a deep breath.

Even if I’m not, I’ll figure this out. I have Uthica, and my own notes on teleportation. And there’s no way I’ll give up on it. It’d be way too useful. Especially if I’m able to teleport to other planets, like Earth.

As Smoulder lands on my shoulder, I catch Uthica as she lunges for her. She sends me back a step, but she catches herself before she can completely bowl me over. “She’s so fluffy.”

“Yep. Listen, Uthica, you’re experiencing a mana-overflow or… something like that. Too much mana, anyway. You might be able to use Focus to concentrate,” I inform her, Smoulder scurrying across my back out of Uthica’s reach.

But Smoulder’s foiled by Uthica’s second pair of hands. If I couldn’t feel how much fun Smoulder was having, I might be worried.

Uthica has wrapped me in all four arms as she attempts to snag Smoulder when my words seem to penetrate. She snaps to a stop, then steps back, her ears flat. “Sorry… Thank you.”

“No problem. It affected me too; I just wasn’t hit as hard.”

Uthica nods, not able to meet my gaze. I tap her on the shoulder, then spread my arms for a hug. She laughs, though this time it’s dignified instead of uncontrollable giggles. She accepts, giving me a brief hug.

Then she releases me, and we step apart.

“I need to see if I can address these… giggles,” Uthica states, her lips twitching upward as she takes a seat next to the stream.

I nod, walking to where we were eating before our giggle fit. I’m still hungry. Turning meat into mana didn’t leave me satiated at all.

Most of Uthica’s portion was eaten before we figured out the absorption spell, and the remainder was sent flying over the edge. My own spilled about, but a quick application of earth, water then fire and they’re serviceable again. Definitely not tasty like they were before, but Smoulder still wants to steal them, and if they’re good enough for her…

Actually, that’s probably not a minimum standard I want to use.

I keep a couple pieces of meat wrapped in a steel pouch on my waist, in case I need to use them to restore my Mana later. I’d have saved more, but even now I’m still hungry. Silly body needing food.

While I’m pondering whether it would be better to hunt down a big predator or a bunch of smaller herd animals to restore my larder, Uthica jogs up next to me. “Okay, as much as I want to stay here and experiment, now that you have your mana back, I think we should get going.”

“Right. Where to?” I ask, letting her lead the way.

“I’d like to get a lay of the land first. I… was wrong about needing to get back to Akilo. This is a unique opportunity. And as useful as your teleportation is, I’d rather explore.”

I frown, but she’s right. Shame. Dying really put into perspective how much I’d been needlessly worrying about teleportation. In truth, it’s put a lot of things in perspective.

“Hmm. It’s a shame the Eldinsworn kept us from bringing dragons. It’d be nice to explore on dragon-back. I wonder if they have any.“

“I mean, they’ve got K’tharn here, so dragons are possible,” I say, peering out over the edge with her. “Might need your help. My wind manipulation is weak at the moment.”

“As was mine up until an hour ago,” Uthica smiles, handing me a ring. “Just link to it and…”

I pat her shoulder, taking the ring. My System responds, but instead of automatically connecting, it provides a set of possible linking methods.

Choosing the ‘recommended’ option, I Pause, watching as it creates a simple bridge to the ring using the basic structure I’d use to power a shield spell. It sinks into place and I feel a new presence on the edge of my soul-scape. It’s weak, little more than a fraction of a fraction the size of my soul-scape.

But I’m able to glean the basics of its function by Focusing on it.

Flight. That’s the basics.

The execution is more sophisticated, using a combination of reducing my effective mass while creating an aerodynamic envelope to propel me through the air, responding to mental prompts which are enabled by the link to my soul-scape.

The intricate construction is the most clearly I’ve ever understood regular enchanting. For the first time, I feel like I’m able to discern more than the basics of something that has… damnit, it’s cause it’s related to movement, and overcoming air resistance, isn’t it?

Yep, I totally know how to design something similar for a fighter-craft.

A second after exiting my soul-scape, I’m floating a meter above the valley floor. Smoulder expresses her dissatisfaction at us flying by burrowing into one of the pockets in my borrowed cloak. Uthica considers my floating form for a second before disappearing, then grabbing my hand.

Now that I know I can regenerate mana, I almost stop her. But she’s using items, so the mana cost should be an order of magnitude better than what I can do. Besides, I haven’t taken the time to re-engineer my invisibility spell.

We soar out of the valley like a pair of dragons, ready to hunt for prey to sate our great appetites.

The Bittelers from Uthica’s quest turn out to be a type of bug that scurries between trees, its hard carapace making it annoying to attack with solid objects such as stone or metal. But it burns real easy. We spend more time searching down Uthica’s targets than killing them. Surprisingly, her System counts all of mine and Smoulder’s kills as progress for Uthica’s quest as long as she’s in line of sight. She doesn’t even have to be looking at us.

Is there some sort of hand-shaking going on?

Crouching over one of our latest kills, I crack open its shell, pulling out some of the smoking flesh. It’s only a fraction of the size of the meat bites at my waist, but it should be enough to restore my Mana use for the fight.

The mana flows into my soul-scape, seeping directly into my Mana-pool. It doesn’t completely refill my mana, but it’s close enough.

Taking another several chunks of meat, I attempt to infuse them with Twilight-mana, to mark them as ‘mine’. Hopefully this time it works. I’ve already failed to mark them a dozen times, despite copying how Uthica’s System does it. I can get my System to poof them easy enough, but it’s having trouble with the whole ‘mine but not destroyed’ thing.

I’ll know if my latest attempt works in an hour.

“Ready?” Uthica asks as I stand.

“Yeah. How many more of these do you need?” I ask, retrieving Smoulder from where she’s finished marking her dominance over the defeated Bittelers.

“Hmm. Three-hundred and twelve. I think-” She cuts out, firing a tightly packed ball of fire from a gun shaped wand, before continuing, “Make that three-ten. As I was going to say, I think we should investigate this Pandregen. This has been far too easy for a Silver-rank quest.”

“Yeah. But there’s nothing saying that this is the last step,” I observe, taking her hand as we disappear from everyone except each other’s view once more.

We fly North, using the mountain where we first camped as our primary landmark.

“Ever wonder what it’d be like to live like this? Completely separate from others. Just hunting and experimenting with magic,” Uthica muses, a small ball of fire floating over her hand. It’s so small I wouldn’t be able to see it if I wasn’t so close.

I offer her a wry smile, thinking back to my first days on Akilo. “It’s a lot of fun. But I don’t think I’ll ever be the type of person to forgo the company of others.”

“True. Besides, father would never allow me to cut myself off from my friends.” Uthica veers to the side, skirting around a tree that has vines on it that reach in our direction despite our invisibility.

Creepy.

“My mom didn’t even notice when I stopped spending time with kids from school,” I note, a bittersweet feeling in my mouth. Knowing that mom used to be better when I was younger… It makes me wonder if I can ever get that mother back.

“Mother… I don’t think about her often. I didn’t know her that well. We lost her not long after the System arrived, and even before that… she was less important than father.” Uthica slows, descending toward a rocky promontory that overlooks where the forest we’ve been flying above ends.

Ahead, the land is scarred, great black rents that stretch for hundreds of meters breaking apart the otherwise barren rock.

“Pandregen’s territory,” Uthica informs me, her voice barely audible over the sound of the forest around us.

Nodding, I scan the terrain ahead of us, but it appears to be empty rocks and gravel. Still, Uthica doesn’t move, so I continue watching.

We remain there for nearly fifteen minutes before one of the ridges in the distance crumbles, a scaled lizard rising from the broken rock. Its head is shaped like a hammer, its sides armoured in dark grey plates that taper off near its narrow tail.

Looking to Uthica, she nods, settling down.

Right, she prefers to study creatures. And my advanced analysis might speed things up but it could also give away our position just as easily.

I tap Uthica on the shoulder then gesture closing my eyes. Well, eye. Took me a while to realize it hadn’t been restored either.

She nods, returning her attention to the Pandregen.

Meanwhile, I turn my attention inward, shifting to where my Facet is stored. Like the rest of my soul-scape, my Facet’s storage is now associated with a place from my memories. Though in its case, I’m unsure I’d have chosen the ugly tree to be its storage component.

Too late to change it now.

Walking around the gnarled tree, I place my hand on it, feeling the way its roots twist and wind through my soul-scape. There’s a flow, very slow, but there. Following it, I discover I’m spending Facet even now. Tracing it, there’s a slow leak that just… disappears. While the leak is annoying, the flow of Facet lets me confirm I’m regenerating an incredible amount of Facet naturally.

Thanks to my channelling, it’s being used nearly as fast as it regenerates.

Unable to trace the leak further, I work backward.

My Facet originates in the ugly tree. But it doesn’t come from nothing. The tree is linked to the rest of my soul-scape. Including my other resource pools. It’s drawing small amounts off each of my other resource pools, then combining them into Facet.

The conversion rate is… well, insane.

With only a slight amount of effort, I’m able to prod the tree to increase the conversion rate further. The tree surges, drawing the needed resources at a rate that shocks me out of my mental space as I hack up blood, my System pinging me softly in the background.

Uthica turns to me, her eyes narrowed, an unspoken question on her face.

I shake my head, clamping down on the coughing.

She nods, turning her attention back to the Pandregen as I assess my condition, reading the notification.

“Administrator Customization detected: Resource Overdraw implemented. Current conversion channels insufficient, safety activated. Feedback mitigated. Use Administrator permissions to override safety?”

Dismissing the message, I inspect myself. I’ve managed to consume some of my Health, and done so in a way that comes with side effects. Don’t want to know how much worse it would’ve been without the safety.

Leaning away from Uthica, I create a small ball of stone, spiting out the blood then encasing it. Disposing of the entire disgusting package, my self-assessment continues. The conversion took nearly a tenth of my health, but my Facet is… at roughly ten times its normal maximum.

Given the issues I’ve been having with healing, this could be a problem.

Well, no problem, right. Just don’t hurt myself.

As I consider my new, near infinite supply of Facet, I groan.

That’s going to be… well, I’d say that travelling five-hundred years into the past would be easier.