Over the course of the next few days, Midnight and I managed to repeat the process of opening the Gate, but it barely lasted a few seconds. Without more Rainbow Lotus, our improvements were slow. More like perfectly normal, but in comparison it felt glacial.

After we had shown our companions the portal, I couldn’t help but notice Izzy and Ceira watching occasionally. Perhaps they were eager to get back, though Ice Guy seemed patient about everything. Or maybe he just didn’t want to get his hopes up. I knew he had people he wanted to get back to.

I frowned as I looked at Midnight, “What do you think?”

“I’m certain we’ll get it eventually…” he said.

I sighed, “I was hoping to have a proper upgrade already. Our teamwork is quite stable now but… this requires more than just using Gate, it seems.”

“If we can manage a consistent time, we could have people run through?” Midnight said uncertainly.

“It would need to be more than just a couple seconds,” I shook my head. “Sure, people can physically move through faster than that, but trying to go through before it’s fully open is dangerous. It’s not really stable. It’s supposed to last somewhere around a minute if done properly.”

“That does sound pretty bad, then,” Midnight said. “So, what do we do?”

“While I might gain something if we stay around here and continue to hunt some of the crazy monsters in the wilderness… I think it’s better if we move on as quickly as possible for everyone else. I’ve already grown a lot here.”

Just taking a look at my status screen, I had a number of improvements and new abilities since we came to save Ceira. Plus a good amount of experience, which meant levels and points.

Turlough (No surname)

Level: 31

Experience: 2555/2640

Storage +5 (4|1)

Firebolt +4 (3|1)

Shocking Grasp +5 (3|2)

Grease +3 (2|1)

Force Armor +7 (6|1)

Mage's Reach +4 (2|2)

Translation +2 (1|1)

Alter Time Flow +5 (4|1)

Disguise

Familiar Bond +6 (4|2)

Enlarge +2

Energy Ward +3 (2|1)

Sonic Lance +4 (3|1)

Scrying +1 (1|2)

Shield +1

Stoneskin +3 (2|1)

Mana Crystal Deposition +4 (1|3)

Water Breathing

Variable Freedom +2

Basic Light Magic +2 (1|1)

Locate Object +2

Alter Portal +1 (0|1)

Gate

Arcane Sight +1 (0|1)

Sending +2 (0|2)

Chain Lightning +2 (1|1)

Clean +1 (0|1)

Shelter +1 (0|1)

Assistive Familiar Casting +1 (0|1)

Remaining Points: 42

“I saved just enough points last level to be able to get two upgrades to Gate,” I reminded Midnight. “I was hoping we could get a natural one first, since it seems like that might be easier.” I’d only gotten the last level when we were securing the Rainbow Lotus, and we’d had very efficient training after that. But apparently it wasn’t quite enough, or perhaps most of the effects went towards Assistive Familiar Casting. Which was also another upgrade target, but not knowing how it worked… it was better to not think about it too much. We could experiment later, if necessary.

“So two upgrades would be…?”

“Somewhere around twenty percent more power, plus another ten percent if we use the full 20 point mana cost as we’ve been doing with our 2:1 split.”

“Thirty percent… would that get us somewhere around 1 second?”

“That… I don’t know,” I admitted. “I would like to think it would be more. We’re still much below the base time, after all. Let’s call what we get 1/10 of the duration, which is already high. If we’re using the full power of the spell and only getting that, then the interference from this plane should be causing a reduction of 9/10 of the power, right?” It was awkward to put into words. “It’s supposed to be able to go between planes without upgrades at base. Upgrades are for mana efficiency or weak connections or… well, I don’t know for sure. But the point is, with more power I feel like we’ll get way more than a second out of it. We might get a full third of the duration? But~” I squished my lips against my tusks as I made a face, “We might only get that 1 second. In that case, we would really want a natural upgrade for an additional half second. We could at least get people through one at a time if it lasted longer, and even a half second greatly reduces the danger.”

“So you spend the points now and things either work or… we have to spend longer here to get the next upgrade. Whether it’s natural or from your next level.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I don’t know what to do…” I looked around, not seeing Ceira anywhere. “Ceira especially seems to be having a hard time. If we can get home without waiting longer, it seems like we should.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out, then,” Midnight said. “If waiting is a problem, wouldn’t people rather see progress?”

“I… suppose so?” I tilted my head. “So you think I should spend the points?”

“It might solve the situation right now,” Midnight shrugged. “And if not, we’re already spending an arbitrary amount of time training.”

I nodded. “Might as well do it then.” I spent the points, bringing us exactly to nothing. I didn’t regret spending so many at once, and this is what I had saved them for… but I really hoped it would be enough. “Alright, let’s take a couple minutes to get ready. I think we should try to continue as we’ve been doing.”

The split was 2:1, with myself doing 13 ⅓ of the 20 points required for the spell. That wasn’t perfect for our respective mana pools, but it was close enough. The proportions were easier to sense, and we sort of adjusted our levels based on each other. It was likely imperfect, but so was doing any amount of mana that wasn’t the maximum or automatically discounted amount used for a spell.

The two of us worked together to perform the spell as we had done many times over the past week, spread out throughout the day in multiple attempts. There was something awkward about it this time. Like I was trying to push past a barrier that didn’t exist, stumbling forward through an open doorway… and then running into something.

But we managed to open a portal. It stood open for… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.. 6 whole seconds? I breathed a sigh of relief. “I think we did it.”

“Good job,” the words came not from Midnight, but from Izzy, approaching from nearby. “I actually got a good look this time. The destination looked quite familiar.”

I nodded. “It’s good to have somewhere with memories.”

“A random field?” Midnight asked.

“We used to spend time together there,” I said. A good amount of friendly combat… and then there had been one real fight that involved practically no punching at all.

“I guess we’ve never been back there together,” Izzy said. “I’m… looking forward to it. I should get out of your way, though.” With that, she strode away.

Well then.

Midnight and I had enough mana to make several consecutive attempts, though a short break of a minute or so between attempts seemed to help. Our second attempt involve a little less stumbling- I thought I maybe counted another second in there, but it was difficult to do while holding onto a spell. The third attempt got us somewhere close to 10 seconds.

I look at Midnight with a grin. “At this rate, we can go back tomorrow. As long as we can keep this consistent.”

“Very good news indeed.”

We continued our practice throughout the day. By evening, I was fairly certain what the sticking point was for the awkwardness with casting Gate. There was a limit to what we could do with Assistive Familiar casting, much like regular Familiar Bond. In short, the second upgrade in Gate might not be fully accessible. We experimented with some cheaper spells, especially those with more upgrades. Observing direct effects was more difficult, but the natural point at which the spell was complete did not consider most of the upgrades. Force Armor was a whole .4 mana different when one considered its 7 upgrades to 1 rank of Assistive Familiar Casting. But even so, a single upgrade in Gate and using the full mana cost should make it at least 15 percent better. We didn’t get that much time, but I didn’t necessarily expect every bit we pushed past to give us an exact proportion of Gate’s duration back.

So I might have wasted 21 points. Or at least, spent them unnecessarily early. Though another upgrade wouldn’t hurt. If I got another level, and was somewhere ‘normal’, the second upgrade might even let me cast Gate alone. Though I didn’t really need to scrounge for upsides. I learned something, and while points were limited to some extent, being able to upgrade via training made an unbelievable difference.

-----

“So,” Midnight and I addressed the rest of our group. “Due to recent improvements, we should actually be able to use Gate. The plan is to return to Earth in two steps tomorrow. First, we have to get through to the material plane of this world. We’ll go through in groups, since the duration of the spell is so low. Izzy and Senan first. Then Ceira after them. Then Midnight and I.” My eyes rested on the elf with us. “I suppose you’ll be heading home after that?”

Ailen nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, thank you for bringing us here, and watching over us,” I nodded. Everyone else offered thanks in their own way.

“So we can be home tomorrow?” Ceira asked.

“Yes but… it might take all day. Mana regeneration here,” I gestured around us, “Is much quicker. Midnight and I will practically exhaust ourselves just getting us through. We’ll need to wait somewhere around two hours to cast another Gate. The first one should be just a test. It might… take a bit more to return to Earth.”

Senan had something to add to that. “Unlike this plane, New Bay and a few places around Earth are nearly the opposite. Which is to say, it’s easier for portals and the like to connect to them. I have high confidence it will work.”

“I hope you’re right,” I agreed. “Anyway, we’ll have to wait. So while we do that I want to check on Master Uvithar nearby. Getting us back to Earth will probably be an all day thing anyway.”

-----

I was having trouble sleeping because of the nervousness. Not mine. I wasn’t the type to get stressed out about anything. Part of it was the general atmosphere among us. The rest was Midnight specifically.

I snuck out of the room and he naturally followed me, knowing I was awake.

“Hey buddy,” I said, sitting down in the dirt next to him. “What’s wrong?”

“... What if we mess up? Someone could get hurt!”

“It’s alright,” I stroked his head. “That’s why we’re doing it in parts. You know how consistent we were at the end. We could probably sustain one Gate long enough for all of us to step through if we had to. But if we’re safe about it, it’s not a problem at all.”

“Teleportation is dangerous, though,” Midnight said.

“Sure, but it’s just a portal. We’ve been through portals before. Two, three times each. Actually, four for me and you came to Earth from- ah.” That’s right. A teleportation accident. “We’ll keep getting better, you know. Until you can go home.”

“It’s just… I didn’t have time to think about any of the rest of the trips. We had to go save Jerome, and then with Ceira we had to run. Now I have time to anticipate it.”

I scratched Midnight behind the ears, trying to project… nothing, really. I had emotions, of course, but the important one was my lack of nervousness about Gate. “We’ve got it. Don’t worry.” Of course, telling someone not to worry didn’t usually accomplish anything. But just like Midnight and I would occasionally resonate when we felt the same strong emotions, amping each other up… so too could we damp each other’s feelings a bit.