As I sat there, reveling in my awesomeness and occasionally growling at the system's lack of logic or help, rain began to fall. Initially, it was just a drizzle that I ignored, but the intensity increased rapidly. I looked around, found elevated ground, and took out a tent. On second thought, I wanted to rearrange my coolers and needed a bigger space, so I stored it and took out a tent I hadn't used before. I asked for a big tent and was told this one was a "Glamping Tent" and the biggest available. It took me almost twenty minutes to figure out how to set it up and another thirty minutes to actually do it. It was HUGE. You could raise a family in it. It had a yurt-like design, with foldable partitions for the sleeping spaces and a generous "living room." It also had three canopies that you could open or leave hanging like curtains. Big windows, two entrances, and two-layer flooring. The first layer consisted of thick bamboo panels on short supports to elevate it from the ground, and the second was a thick, rubbery carpet. It wasn't a tent; it was a portable palace!

Stretch and I were soaked by the time I finished setting it up. My shirt clung to me, and water ran down my face, dripping from the tip of my nose. Stretch's fur was plastered flat against his ribs, and he gave me the same look he'd given me before, right before pelting me with dog water.

I grabbed a towel and held up a hand. "No shaking yourself inside. We want a dry tent. If you want to shake yourself to get rid of the water, go out, shake, and I'll dry you."

For a moment, he just stared at me, tail twitching. Then, to my shock, he actually listened.

He trotted back outside, paused just long enough to make sure I was watching, and exploded in a spray of water. Then he bounded back in, tail wagging.

Laughing, I rubbed him down with the towel. "You're the best and smartest dog in existence."

Stretch's tongue shot out, and he smeared a wet, sloppy kiss across my face. I jerked back, sputtering and wiping at my cheek. He wagged his tail faster.

"Thanks, buddy," I muttered, still grinning.

I peeled off my wet clothes, dried myself, and pulled on clean ones. Then I laid out Stretch's blankets, set up a table and chair for myself, and we shared lunch inside our not-so-humble tent. After eating, Stretch circled onto his blankets, gave a long sigh, and curled up for a nap, while I sat back, finally warm and dry, listening to the quiet patter of rain on the canvas overhead.

The following morning, I took out my meat coolers and organized them one by one. When I stored the meat on Earth, I packed it with ice, and was glad I did. With me constantly taking out and storing the coolers, the ice kept the meat fresh. It remained frozen entirely in the coolers I hadn't opened, but partially melted in the ones I opened and closed to retrieve food. I also had coolers with only ice that I hadn't touched yet. I moved a layer of meat from one cooler, covered it with ice, added another layer on top, covered it again, and continued like that until the cooler was full. This way, I re-packed and rearranged all the meat from Earth by categories: beef, lamb, chicken, and turkey. When I finished, I had nine empty coolers. I also took out the bison coolers, repacked them with the remaining half-melted ice from the others, and discarded the water from the melted ice outside.

By the time I was done with my project, it was getting dark. I threw my light ball up to the tent's ceiling, and it looked like an actual living room with a light bulb. We had a nice dinner—without beer—and went to sleep.

The next day, it was still raining, so I continued arranging my Storage. I set aside some frayed clothes in a basket. Since I had the Clean spell, I didn't need to do laundry and simply cast it every day on myself and my clothes. As a result, the continuous wear caused some of them to become ragged. I mended them one by one with the Mend spell and refolded them in my suitcase. Yes, I had suitcases. I knew it was silly with my Storage, but it felt wrong to throw clothes in there willy-nilly.

It was still raining.

I switched to arranging the rest of my food supplies. I freed another four coolers by moving the eggs from the coolers to trunks. Rearranged the fruits and vegetables in the baskets and freed some more storage space. Rearranged all the baked goods in the boxes and collected all the reusable takeaway containers in one place.

Despite the nonstop rain, the ground under the front canopy was dry, so I lit a fire and cooked dinner from the new bison meat. After we ate, I continued to cook it and filled almost all my takeaway containers.

I should have bought empty ones for cases like this. This time I didn't facepalm. Progress.

In the morning, it was still raining.

The dinner the night before with mana-rich meat gave me an idea. I re-summoned the coolers with meat one by one, channeled a little mana into the meat to feel what was happening inside it, and channeled mana into it to saturate it without exploding. Initially, I would stop when I felt some pieces were close to exploding. After a while, I experimented with excluding them from the channeling and continuing to saturate the rest. I had a few mishaps with some pieces that exploded, but I got the hang of it, and by the third cooler, nothing blew up.

Yay!

I had to stop twice to regenerate mana, but finally, all my meat and fish were mana-rich. I moved to the eggs and then to the fruits and vegetables, which were trickier for some reason. A few exploded, but again, I prevailed! Next, I treated all my baked goods. This entire process took me nine days.

It was still raining.

I engaged my active Luck and felt the same direction and the same sense of "no hurry."

Maybe somebody's writing a book about mana? I should give them a chance to finish it.

After nine days, I ran out of food supplies to arrange and saturate. The next two days, I spent reading, cooking us three meals a day, and preparing additional food reserves until I ran out of containers. I also played my guitar, learned new songs, and petted and scratched Stretch. He spent his days napping, being petted, or being very nosy about my actions.

Stolen novel; please report.

It was still raining.

I also noticed that the temperature dropped steadily by the day. It wasn't cold yet, but much colder than it had been before, and getting colder each passing day. Judging by all the flowers, I thought I crossed over to Shimoor in the early spring. I tried to estimate my time here, but I wasn't sure. Although I didn't keep track of the days, I believed it to be late autumn or early winter. I didn't think I was here longer.

Another rainy day.

Getting an idea, I took out all my empty packaging containers—trunks, baskets, cardboard boxes, etc. Luckily, I was smart enough to buy some folded cardboard boxes. So, I assembled them and began arranging goods I thought would sell here by price range: the cheapest, average, above average, and the hated "fancy." I didn't arrange everything. I didn't have enough containers and had too much stuff in my storage, but I managed to arrange enough. This took me another four days.

It was still raining.

Another two days of leisure. Remembering that I had a completed film with photos, I set up my darkroom tent and developed the film. I didn't print it—the sky was too dark, and I needed the sun to direct with mirrors into the enlarger. I didn't want black-and-white photos.

After another two days of relaxing and reading, my mana reached full without active regeneration, and I was getting restless. Initially, I had two free coolers, freed another thirteen by moving and rearranging stuff, and another empty one that used to be full of ice. So, I had sixteen coolers to fill. I decided to ignore the rain; I wouldn't melt, and went bison hunting.

Stretch stayed dry in the tent, no matter how much I called him.

Smart dog.

After shooting and draining the first bison, I again filled the carcass with mana, followed its path, arranged the mana as I wanted it, and pushed. Again, the bison collapsed on itself. I had no idea how long it took. When I was "examining" and infusing it, my senses were muted to the outside world.

I should have bought a watch.

There were mechanical watches that should have worked here, but I thought such a unique apparatus, with a different time display, might look suspicious, so I didn't buy any. I also wasn't sure if the worlds had 24-hour days like Earth. Judging by the sun, I was certain it took a while. Two? Three hours? Too long.

After cleaning, I checked my mana: 480/6900. I knew I couldn't do another one that day, and I'd need three days to recharge. Oh, well.

During the next three days, I leisurely breathed in mana. It was still raining.

Another bison. This time, after taking it down, I stuck a peg in the ground and marked the line of its shadow. The looting felt more straightforward and quicker. When I was done, I checked the peg. The line moved about 45 degrees, or at least I thought so. It was hard to tell with such an overcast sky. I had no idea how much time it represented, but I was sure it was a while. Mana: 710/6,900. At least I used less mana this time.

Another three days of rain and regeneration. Another bison. I still stuck the peg in the ground for comparison, but actively tried to make it faster this time. The shadow moved only 38-40 degrees, but I was lightheaded. Mana: 50/6,900.

Hmm, speed is more expensive?

Another three days of regenerating, reading, and endless rain. I worried the valley would flood, but after checking some areas, everything looked fine.

Another bison. I stuck the peg in the ground for comparison, and this time, I actively tried to make it faster and use less mana. The shadow still looked like it moved 38-40 degrees, but my mana was 1,250/6,900.

Progress!

I spent another three days regenerating, reading, and experiencing endless rain. For variety, I also played my guitar. The gloomy weather also affected Stretch; he didn't howl-sing while I played.

Bison number five reminded me of the song "Mambo Number Five" by Lou Bega and I resolved to look for it in my songbooks.

Intention: less mana and faster. Result: 30-35 degrees shadow angle, 1,580/6,900 mana.

Yay!

Three days to regenerate and endless rain. At least I found the song and had fun learning and singing it. This time, Stretch joined me, but maybe only because I gave him a beer beforehand.

Bison number six: angle 25 degrees, mana 3,350/6,900.

Bigger yay!

The herd looked smaller, and I felt like the villain in the story. I had another five meat coolers. Maybe it was time to pack up.

I checked my profile and wondered why I hadn't received any levels in my wizard class, despite all the experiments. The wizard class section differed from other classes. I finally understood the "Learned" part of skill acquisition, but the rest was a BIG surprise.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name: John Rue Age: 37

Hidden Class: Gate Traveler Level 3 Gates to the next level: 2/8 Class Abilities:

• Conversion

• Travelers' Archive

• Identify

• Storage x4 (4,096m³)

• Local Adaptation

⁃ Spoken Language

• One of the Crowd

• Traveler's Map

Display Class: Healer Level 10 Healer Spells:

• Heal Muscles (17)

• Diagnose (6)

• Stop Bleeding (3)

• Heal Bone (7)

• Control Blood (7)

• Healing Touch (20)

• Clean (5)

• Neutralize Poison (1)

• Purify (6)

• Anesthesia (6)

• Regrow Flesh (3)

• Fortify Life Force (4)

• Cleanse (1)

 

2nd Sub-Class: Wizard Level 2 Wizard Abilities:

• Mind Split x3

• Mana Sensing [Apprentice]

• Mana Saturation [Apprentice]

• Harvest Mana Crystal [In Progress]

• Harvest Game [In Progress]

Profession: Merchant Level 5 Merchant Skills:

• Bargain (3)

• Sense Honesty (2)

• Appraisal (4)

• A Nose for Business (5)

General Spells:

• Mana Dart

• Mana Shield

• Spellbinding (2)

• Invisibility (1)

• Mend (2)

• Adaptable Light Ball (6)

General Skills:

• Staff Fighting (11)

• Krav Maga (10)

• Archery (12)

• Pencil Sketching (1)

• Making Beer (1)

• Minor Spell Adaptation (1)

• Mana Sense (2)

• Mana Meditation (3)

• Photography (4)

• Develop Negative (2)

• Print Photograph (2)

• Guitar Playing (5)

• Skinning (1)

• Butchering (1)

• Mining (6)

Health: 3,650/3,650 Mana: 6,900/6,900

Strength: 27 Agility: 27 Constitution: 29 Vitality: 44 Intelligence: 49 Wisdom: 56 Perception: 33 Luck: 29

Trait points: 0 Ability points: 43

I looked at the [In Progress] and felt judged. I took out the crystal and identified it again.

Earth Mana Crystal

Medium quality

Medium quality is not bad, is it?

I didn't get an answer.

I Checked Stretch's progress as well.

Stretch

Adult Bushland Dog

Progress to awakening 82%

Soon!!

I decided to spend another day or two to regenerate my mana fully, pack up camp, and leave. I could travel in the rain. It wasn't cold, and if this rainy season lasted for months, I'd go crazy.

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