The Gate Traveler

Originally, I thought Rue and I would fly to our destination while invisible, but Rue wanted to ride the ATV. I didn’t want anyone to see him; his size was too unusual. After some thought, I found a solution. I changed my glamour to an old man with a white beard, switched my class to Wizard without mention of combat, and told Rue to turn invisible. His lack of visibility didn’t stop him from sticking his head out of the windshield and enjoying the wind.

We left the forested area in the afternoon and arrived at the plain. I thought about stopping at the inn for the night and sneaking Rue quietly into my room, but I ended up doing something else. We passed Redrock, and after twenty kilometers, we came to an open but empty area. We moved away from the main road. I was glad the ATV was suitable for all kinds of terrain conditions and not just the road.

I took out the poles that Mahya had made and placed them. Luckily, I did it early enough. I’m not sure I would have managed if it had been dark, even with my ball of light. It wasn’t enough to stick the poles into the ground; they had to be set at a certain distance from each other and at a specific angle. After an hour of work with a tape measure and an engineer’s ruler, the poles were in place and concealed us. I opened the house, pulled out some lunch boxes for the core to give to the prisoners, and Rue and I had dinner and watched a movie. This time we watched Shrek, and Rue decided he needed to find us a donkey as a sidekick.

The next day, I drove all day, and we almost reached our destination. We stopped again in an uninhabited area, and I placed the poles. This time, it only took forty minutes—practice makes perfect. We went to bed after dinner and the next Shrek movie in the series.

In the morning, instead of the ATV, Rue and I flew the last leg of this particular journey. His mana was just enough to reach the center of the not-cursed forest. After Rue landed, I spun in the air to ensure the crazy wizard wasn’t in the area. Despite that, I placed Mahya’s poles just in case. This time it only took half an hour.

Success!

It usually took Mahya about ten minutes—and I felt like I was breathing down her neck. Soon, I’ll be that fast, too.

After the poles were in place, I opened the house and placed five paintballs with a potion on the floor.

“Spread this potion in the prisoners’ room,” I instructed the house. I focused on what was happening in the prisoners’ room and felt them fall asleep. They collapsed sideways on the floor and didn’t move anymore.

I opened the door and, one by one, stripped them entirely—not just of equipment but of clothes, including underwear. Stripping a group of men felt strange, but it was part of my revenge.

You tried to kill me and steal from me?

Let’s see you make it to Crystalspire from a forest with an enchantment that freezes the veins with fear, and you’re entirely naked, with a crazy paranoid wizard on the way.

This forest was relatively large, and I left them in the center of it—far from the tower or the road that leads to Crystalspire. I was sure it would take them at least a week to get there on foot if they headed in the right direction.

I wasn’t a complete bastard—I left them a barrel of water they’d have to figure out how to take with them and two crates with food boxes. Beyond that, I left them nothing. I fed all their clothes to the house and stored the rest. This harvest gave me a net of four more small void bands—three from the mages and one from the guards, probably the commander or something. Inside were some clothes, food, money, and a few odds and ends. Nothing exciting, but adequate compensation for the grief they caused me.

The next leg of our journey took us two days. It was impossible to drive the ATV in the forest—there was a limit to the vehicle’s ability to navigate any terrain. Rue and I flew while invisible at a leisurely pace, considering Rue’s mana, with pauses so he could regenerate. After a day, we left the forest, flew over the bazaar, and skirted the city on the eastern side until we reached the forest halfway to the Gate to Earth.

In the forest, I again placed Mahya’s poles—it still took half an hour, unfortunately—and opened the house. I left Rue at home despite all his protests—and he had many protests—waited until nightfall and flew toward Crystalspire.

When I arrived at Lord Damerion’s spire, I saw over a hundred guards patrolling around the building. They looked alert, all with their weapons drawn, and two mages stood at observation posts on either side of the building. They must have had a way to pass messages.

I circled the building and saw a balcony with an open door on the top floor in the building’s cone.

The entire upper floor was an enormous bedroom with the biggest bed I had ever seen in my life, where Lord Damarion and his wife slept. I shot them with a sleeping potion, moved part of the carpet, stripped them completely—clothes and rings—and laid them on the floor. After that, I stored everything in the room. When I stored the pictures, I discovered a safe in the wall. When I touched it, lightning struck me, which, of course, did nothing to me—not even a tickle. I repeatedly touched the safe until I exhausted the strength of the defenses. I tried to open the safe without success, so in the end, I took out a thin sword, covered the blade with mana, and cut through the wall around the safe. Much simpler. Naturally, the safe disappeared into my Storage.

There were three doors from the bedroom: one led to a luxurious bathroom, which ended up in my Storage; the other two led to huge dressing rooms—one for the master and one for the lady. Their entire contents went to the same place.

The floor below was the family floor. There were three large living rooms of varying degrees of splendor, Lord Damerion’s office, which I visited, an office I guessed was the lady’s, two guest rooms, and a small kitchen. When I was done with the floor, the only things left were the walls and the floor. One wall in the office had a hole where another safe used to be.

On the next floor, there was a gallery. The walls had various pictures hanging on them, illuminated artistically by crystal lamps. The gallery had various statues scattered around, along with pedestals displaying all kinds of interesting weapons, adorned with runes and gems. I took everything, including the pedestals.

The next floor was a ballroom. The hall was empty, so I only gathered three magnificent crystal chandeliers. On the ceiling was the same coating with crystals that looked like a night sky with stars, just like in the skyrest in the city. After a quarter of an hour of testing, I couldn’t take it.

The next floor was the service floor for the ballroom. There were rooms filled with chairs, tables, tablecloths, tableware, and serving utensils. Half of the floor was a kitchen that didn’t seem in regular use, only when there was a ball. When I left, the floor was a ghost town.

The next floor was the library. Three rooms stored books, and four additional rooms had shelves and ladders in preparation for books. I took all the shelves, too. Beyond that, there were five rooms with sitting and reading areas, a small kitchen, and an equipment room for the servants. Naturally, I took everything.

I made a mistake leaving the core with Rue. I had a lot of storage space, though. The house now took up less space, the boat was with Mahya, and I had sold a lot. But at this rate, I wasn’t sure I’d have enough room. If I’d brought the core, I could’ve fed it all the uninteresting junk.

The following seven floors belonged to different families, probably the lord’s children or cousins. Each floor had bedrooms, a living room, guest rooms, a kitchen, etc. I took everything, including rings, from their hands. The only rooms I didn’t touch were the children’s rooms.

The following five floors were storage floors, with all kinds of furniture, pictures, and wooden crates with unknown content covered in sheets. When I was done, I left only dust.

The following seven floors were the mages’ quarters. Each had a floor with all the rooms of an apartment, a private library, and a practice room. I splattered two, left three in the woods, and two guarded the building outside, so they were all accounted for.

The next floor was an enormous kitchen. There were cooking and baking areas and several sections. From their appearance, I assumed one was for the lord and family, and the other was for servants and guards. When I was done, I left only the ovens. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take them.

The next four floors were servant floors. I didn’t touch their private property, not even the money, but I took all the furniture.

One floor below was the servants’ equipment floor. There were rooms with bed linen, towels, much simpler kitchen utensils than on the family floors, cleaning equipment, tools, etc. I left a ghost town but had to enlarge my Storage again.

The following seven floors were guard floors. They had bedrooms and a dining room on each floor. Most of the rooms were empty; maybe twenty guards were sleeping. The rest were probably outside around the building. Again, I didn’t touch private property, but I took all the furniture and weapons.

The following two floors were also for the guards, but not for living. One floor had different training rooms with practice weapons, while the second floor housed the armory, rooms with various equipment for the guards, and two offices for the guard management. Here I took everything, including another safe from the wall.

The next four floors were office floors. All the rooms had desks, chairs, shelves, and papers. Some offices looked more luxurious, while others were more crowded, with desks almost on each other. I left them a lot of space on these floors.

During my entire descent through the building, I occasionally saw guards on the floors. I left them sleeping where they fell, but I took their weapons. On the way down, I also encountered some servants, including the butlers I had already met and others I hadn’t. I left them sleeping where they fell, but I took nothing.

When I got to the entrance floor, I activated my Luck’s active ability to ensure I had emptied the building. To my surprise, I felt a tug upwards. Following the feeling, I went up the stairs again and reached the servants’ equipment floor. My Luck led me to a wall at the end of a corridor. It looked like just a wall, but I could feel mana in that place with my mana sense. I touched the wall, and it didn’t feel like stone but like metal. I tried changing my vision, like when I wanted to see Rue’s glamour or someone else’s, but I saw nothing different. It looked like an ordinary stone wall, but it felt like metal.

I felt around with my hand until I reached the part that felt like an actual stone. I took out colored chalk, and with one hand, I felt where the stone wall began, and with the other, I drew on the wall. When I finished, in front of me was a drawing of a large door. Again, I covered the sword blade with mana and cut through the wall. It was much harder here than upstairs—the wall was much thicker. But little by little, I made progress. As I cut through certain places, lightning shot at me again. It took almost an hour to cut the door, and dawn was already near. I had to hurry. When I was done, I pushed with my hand and heard a loud boom, but a wall was still in front of me. I held out my hand, and it looked like my hand disappeared into the wall.

Cool!

I went through the illusion and jackpot! This was the main vault. There were shelves with various papers, three chests with spell scrolls, weapons with runes that looked much better than the ones in the gallery, a bowl with twelve storage rings, seven large chests of gold, a crystalline orb glowing faintly, an ornate box filled with gemstones that shimmered with enchantment, and an ancient sealed book protected by a lock of pure mana. This book also had lightning protection, and this time, I felt it—it wasn’t just lightning but contained other aspects. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t entirely pleasant.

After I finished emptying everything, I flew up the stairs until I found an open window. Outside, I first shot the mages, and when they fell asleep, I took their rings and wands. After that, I took care of the guards. I didn’t strip them, but I took all the weapons.

It was a very profitable night, and I had a lot of crates and paperwork to check. I wasn’t in a rush, so I left it for when I’d be bored.

After this visit, it was time to fly toward the Gate to Earth. While I wanted to keep traveling in Lumis, I didn’t want to keep looking over my shoulder or have Rue be invisible all the time. It would be much simpler to wait for Mahya and Al to finish their affairs on Earth, and then all of us go together to the dungeon world with the glorious pile of trash by the Gate. I just hoped Mahya wouldn’t beat me over the head for my indiscretion in the Archive. But I had to admit to myself that, even if she did, in this case, I deserved it.