I thought our stay at the lake would last a couple of weeks. In reality, it stretched into more than three months. I didn't know the exact length of time we were there, but that was my best guess. Without a calendar or anywhere to be, the days blurred together, and it was hard to keep track of time. The weather didn't help either. It rained every few days, and one week we had nonstop drizzle, but that was about it. I honestly had no idea if it was summer, spring, some strange version of winter, or whatever.

Mahya had 158 cores. She set aside three for the bikes and the ATV, gave Al his ten, and originally planned for me to merge the remaining 145. But after a short deliberation, she decided to merge a hundred and keep the rest as spares for future use. For her spaceship, of course.

Merging the first cores was relatively easy. Each one took between 3,000 and 4,000 mana, so with my regeneration rate, I could manage three merges a day. After about a week and around 17 or 18 cores, things became more challenging. As the cores grew, they required more mana to merge. And the results started making less and less sense.

I had merged over ten cores, most of which were around six centimeters in diameter, and expected the resulting core to be at least twelve centimeters, possibly even fourteen centimeters, in diameter. I didn't run the exact numbers, but thanks to a vivid memory of my old geometry classes due to my rising Intelligence, I was pretty sure that's what it should have been. But it wasn't. The core ended up just over eight centimeters in diameter.

That would have been weird enough, except two of the merged cores were already about seven centimeters in diameter. The math—or more precisely, the utter lack of mathematical logic—broke my brain. I huffed and puffed in exasperation, then shoved it to the back of my mind.

With each passing day, I was learning one thing for sure: magic didn't make any damn sense.

Between core merges, while waiting for my mana to regenerate, I worked with Mahya on the bikes and the ATV. It was supposed to be a quick job. We had already converted them to run on mana using crystals and prepped them to work with a core. But after seeing the incredible magic circle Malith had designed that filtered out the pollution within the mana and actually used it instead of discarding it, we ended up reworking everything. His design eliminated the need for extra filters to stop monster formation. I didn't even have to convince Mahya.

I leaned over the frame of the half-disassembled bike, grease smudged on my fingers. "Did you see Malith's circle?"

Mahya gave a quick nod.

"We should use the same—"

"Excellent idea," she said, cutting me off as she set her tool down with a click. "I was going to suggest it myself. We should do the same with all the toys, and your house."

"All of them?"

"Yeah, why not?" She gave a small shrug, already turning back to her work.

I blinked. "It'll take time."

She glanced up, one eyebrow arching as she met my eyes. "Are you in a hurry?"

I shrugged. "No, not really."

"Excellent," she said with a grin.

And that was that.

Al set up a big parasol outside the old house, arranged a table and an armchair beneath it, and settled in to study Lis's blueprints. Every so often, he called Mahya over to clarify something and used the opportunity to gripe that she'd had Lis's help with the house while he was stuck doing everything on his own.

By the fourth or fifth time he brought it up, Mahya threw up her hands. "Okay, okay, I'll help you with it. But you still need to learn all the runes and systems."

Al shot her a withering glare, then sighed and gave a reluctant nod.

It was the first time I saw Mahya process a tree from start to finish. I'd seen her craft wands, staves, even those obfuscation poles, but she always worked with pre-cut, treated wood. This time was different. I watched her turn an entire trimmed tree into raw material for her work, and it was fascinating.

She sat by the tree for over three hours, legs folded beneath her, palms resting against the bark. Her mana flowed slowly into it, soaking deep into the grain. Every now and then, she whispered a spell or traced a rune in the air, her fingers glowing faintly as she cast something. By the time she stood, her face was flushed, and a sheen of sweat covered her face and body. She lifted her hands and moved them in a fluid, almost hypnotic pattern, like a mix between sign language and dance. The magic built up around her, subtle at first, then thick like a translucent fog.

And then, the tree came apart. It separated cleanly into thick, even planks, each one uniform in width and length. The bark loosened and dropped away in large strips, exposing the raw wood underneath. The ground around her was soon covered with a neat stack of lumber and scattered bark.

I clapped.

She laughed, then swept into a theatrical bow, one hand across her chest, the other extended with a flourish.

"Why all the motions?" I asked while imitating the moves she made.

"It helps me distribute the mana where I need it. It's possible to do it with only mental distribution, but it gives me a headache, so I use gestures to lessen the burden."

Al circled the stack of freshly cut planks, his hands clasped behind his back, inspecting the wood with a thoughtful expression. "That was highly impressive," he said.

Mahya let out a long breath and rolled her shoulders. "Yeah, but it also takes a lot of mana." She turned to me. "When are you going to figure out how to build the regeneration spirals in our orbs?"

I rubbed my neck, remembered Malith, and stopped. "I have no idea where to even start. So far, I haven't seen anything in the books, and Lis had no clue how his friend made it, either."

Al stepped closer, folding his arms. "But you stabilized the flow of our mana when that strange creature attacked us on the river. That was not a trivial feat."

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"It's not the same," I said, shaking my head.

"Why not?" Mahya asked, her tone sharper now.

"I didn't hold your mana or control it fully," I explained. "I just kept it from going haywire and guided it a little. It was mostly brute force and a few nudges. Building spirals needs precision. It's a delicate work and needs way more control than I have."

Al tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "Nevertheless, is that not a reasonable foundation? What you did may very well constitute the first step toward developing such control."

I considered it. "In a way, yeah. I guess you're right. But I'd need a much better grasp on handling someone else's mana before I even try creating spirals."

Mahya looked around the island and then raised her hands in a wide arc. "Well, I think this is the perfect place to start practicing."

I gave her a flat look. "Oh yeah? When exactly? Between merging cores and fixing the Jeeps with you?"

She shrugged, then clapped me on the back. "You'll figure it out. At the pace you're going with those cores, we'll finish the upgrades long before you're done merging them." She put on an innocent, wide-eyed expression. "So… work on it then?"

"Fine," I said.

There was no point arguing with her. If I didn't feel like doing it, I could always ignore her and not do it.

From that day, Mahya took apart a tree each morning while I merged a core, and then we continued with the other projects. As payment from Al for helping him with the house, she recruited him into the upgrade project. It was hilarious. The look on his face every time a small smudge of grease got on his hands or clothes was a thing of beauty. His nose would wrinkle, his lips would purse, and he'd hold his arm out like it was contaminated with something vile. He looked like we'd dunked him in sewage, at least from the expression. I think the longest he managed to go without casting Clean on himself was maybe five minutes.

All this time, Rue was having the time of his life. He split his days between zooming around on his jet ski and racing through the sky on his new Skyrush. Occasionally, he went off exploring the surroundings and terrorizing the herbivores along the lake shore. Not that he actively chased them—they just bolted in sheer panic whenever he got close and avoided the area for the rest of the day. He did report some beasts deeper in the mountains, but I was right. The lake was clear.

The bikes, Jeeps, and jet skis were done, and the next projects were the balloon and the boat. With all the experience we had gained from the previous projects, we decided to split the work. I worked on the balloon because it was a quick project and didn't require disassembly. Mahya and Al started on the boat, with the understanding that I would join them when I was done.

I finished engraving a rune on the circle and got a jolt from my Luck. Looking around, I didn't see anything, but when I looked up, I saw a flying ship. That was only the second time I had ever gotten a warning about them, and it worried me. We had seen plenty of flying ships during our cruise, but I never got a warning before.

I connected telepathically with Mahya and Al. They were on the boat out on the lake, too far for shouting. "Be on guard. This ship is trouble."

I sensed for Rue, but he was far away, off exploring somewhere across the mountains. Just in case, I flew toward our boat, cutting through the air as fast as I could. Above the water, the flying ship loomed larger now, casting a long shadow over the lake. Then, glowing orbs fell from it, raining down straight toward the boat.

I flew hard beneath them, heart pounding, and cast Protective Shield above me. Light flared around me as the barrier formed just in time. At the same moment, Mahya stored the boat, and both she and Al launched upward, riding their flying swords.

The first bomb struck my shield and exploded in a blinding flash. The force was immense. My shield held, but it drained so much mana that my vision blurred and my balance faltered. I wobbled in the air, trying to steady myself, but the blastwave slammed into me like a wall. The next thing I knew, I was spinning, the world tilted, and then cold water closed over my head as I hit the lake.

That pissed me off. Big time.

I shot out of the water, fury pounding in my chest, and lifted my fist toward the ship. A pillar of water surged upward at my command, rising from the lake in a roaring column. The ship was at least five hundred meters above us, but fueled by my anger, the pillar reached it in seconds. It slammed into the underside of the hull with a heavy crack, rocking the ship hard enough to make it tilt. Two people tumbled over the railing and plummeted toward the lake.

Sadly, it didn't punch through.

"Turn invisible," Mahya shouted into my mind, her tone urgent.

I vanished mid-flight and shot upward, angling toward the flying ship. Mahya and Al were somewhere above it, already engaged. I could hear muffled booms from the top deck, followed by flashes of light and plumes of smoke. Explosions rocked the back of the ship—Earth-made ones, by the smell of it. The tang of metal and sulfur filled the air, sharp and unmistakable.

Then another scent hit me, harsh and chemical, like ammonia. A green mist started rising from the front deck. People on the ship shouted in panic, scrambling for cover. Some jumped straight over the railing into the open air and fell into the lake below.

"What was that?" I asked mentally.

"Acid," Al said. His mental voice was furious.

People were manning the cannons, and others stood beside them, pointing. One indicated my exact position with a sharp gesture. I darted sideways, just in time to avoid the shot. The pointer, spotter, or whatever his job was, kept tracking me, arm outstretched, forcing me into constant aerial acrobatics to dodge the incoming bombs.

The cannon fired in bursts, almost at the speed of a submachine gun. One bomb whizzed past, missing me by a centimeter. I had no time to evade. Acting on instinct, I stored it mid-air. Flying upward, I held my breath and crossed my fingers, hoping it wouldn't explode and ruin everything in my Storage. I glanced inside quickly. It was just sitting there, suspended in the holding space, inactive.

Phew!

Now, about two hundred meters above the ship, I had just enough maneuverability to stay ahead of the rest of the shots. I twisted, rolled, and dodged until I found a clear path. Then I retaliated.

Red lightning crackled from my hand in one long, focused stream. Yes, it gave away my location, but very quickly, that didn't matter. Flames broke out across the ship. Fire spread across the deck, crawling over crates and rigging. People ran in every direction, shouting over one another in a chaotic frenzy. Two mages responded with wind spells, and the ship surged forward, racing away from the fight.

Below, bodies floated in the lake, motionless. One person was still swimming.

I dove down, grabbed him by the back of his body armor, and accelerated hard. With a burst of speed, I climbed above the fleeing ship and let go. He dropped on the deck.

Good riddance.

I flew back feeling for the rest of the team. Mahya broke the surface of the water, dragging Al with her. He looked bad. Really bad. He was completely naked, and burns covered most of his body. Angry red patches stretched across his skin like peeling paint. His face was swollen, and his hair was singed down to the scalp in places. I flew over without a word, grabbed him from her arms, and carried him straight to the shore, casting Healing Touch nonstop as I flew.

On the island, I dropped to my knees beside him and split my mind. One hand cast a diagnostic spell while the other continued the healing. His insides were a mess from the bomb—his lungs were scorched, parts of his intestines had ruptured, and there was internal bleeding everywhere. Several organs were barely functioning or collapsed altogether, and his rib cage was cracked on both sides.

I had to stay within my regeneration rate because my mana was almost gone. Twice, his heart stopped. Twice, it started again the moment I poured healing into him. When my mana finally ran dry, I kept going. The spell pulled energy from somewhere deeper. I felt it drain from my life force, not just my reserves. It was a sharp, raw pull, like something being scraped off the inside of my being. My breath came short, and I could feel myself dimming, but I didn't stop.

Gradually, his condition stabilized. First, I healed the damage in his brain—no use fixing anything else if he wasn't going to wake up. Then I worked through his internal organs, sealing ruptures and stopping the bleeding.

I didn't touch the broken bones or burned skin. It wasn't life-threatening, and I was too dry. By the time it was done, my entire body was shaking. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and I had to fight not to throw up right there on the sand. Everything hurt. Every part of me buzzed and throbbed from the drain.

At last, Al opened his eyes, coughed once, and mumbled something I couldn't catch.

I blacked out.

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