The Gate Traveler

The lawyer contacted me to let me know they have released the life insurance funds and will transfer them to my account. He also informed me that my in-laws filed a lawsuit to take control of my wife’s trust fund.

What else is new?

Instead of supporting Sophie during her last days, they prioritized their financial gain by pressuring her to change the life insurance beneficiary and leave them the trust fund in her will. I’ll never forget her tears after every one of their visits.

They made me so angry that my hands shook. Not because they wanted the money, I couldn’t care less about it, but because of everything they put Sophie through over the money. They made her cry so much because of their treatment of her. I think what most broke her was the fact that she was dying, and they didn’t care. All they talked about was the money, not how she was dealing with the cancer. I told her again and again to sign the trust fund and life insurance over to them so they would stop hurting her so much, but it didn’t work. Sometimes, Sophie got something into her head, and nothing could change her mind. No pleading, cajoling, or asking could help. She dug her heels in, and that was that. As far as she was concerned, they were not getting anything.

After cooling down from my anger, I continued with my preparations for my future journey. It took a while for me to decide about the training weapons. I used articles and LitRPG books as instruction manuals, not just fiction, to find ideas and suggestions. Swords and knives, although traditional, didn’t strike a chord with me. And if I had to be truthful with myself, they scared me. I was okay with a scalpel, but not fighting with it. The staff appeared to have potential. The bow and arrows, a traditional option, also had their benefits. After thinking it through, I found instructors for both and enrolled in training.

After my first session with the staff, my whole body was in pain, and it was difficult for me to walk. The next day, it was much worse. The last time I worked out or went running was in college, and now I was paying the price for my neglect and lazy ways. Muscles I didn’t know I had felt like lines of lava all over my body. I almost cried on my way to the bathroom. I opted to skip the archery class and spent the rest of the day feeling terrible.

I wanted to buy the Minor Heal spell then and there, but after all the waffling and indecision, it felt like giving up too soon. After another hour of self-pity, inspiration struck. I “looked” inside my body the same way I looked at my mana system. It didn’t work at first, but I didn’t give up. I knew I could do it; I just had to figure out how. After a while, I imagined the body’s musculature and followed the same lines inside me, intending to see my muscles. It didn’t work at first, but I persisted. I focused on muscles more and more and traced the lines of pain until I could sense them. Even if not visually, I scrutinized them and “saw” the micro-tears in them.

Hmm, now what?

I tried to soothe them with my mind, but it didn’t work.

I tried to “intend” for the micro-tears to heal. It also didn’t work.

I remembered that healing in the books used mana, so I tried to direct the mana from the closest channel to the muscle. I almost screamed from the pain.

Okay, I’m never doing that again!

Still, I was unwilling to give up. I have mana and medical knowledge, goddammit! I will heal myself, even if it kills me! Well, maybe not kill me. That would be bad and counter-productive.

Next, I tried channeling mana into my hands, placing them on my head, and “flowing” mana into my body, hoping to heal it. Figuring out how to release the mana from my hands was tricky, but I finally got it. Sadly, it was all for nothing. The muscle pain stuck around, even though I could feel the mana leaving my hands and entering my body.

I experimented again, but this time, I concentrated on the micro-tears and imagined them healing and closing. With precise instructions, I “willed” the mana to do what I visualized and nudged it in the intended direction.

It worked! I felt much better.

YES!!!

I healed myself a few more times until I felt fine. I regretted canceling the Archery, but didn’t want to call back and seem weird. Instead, I started looking for a good hand-to-hand discipline. After checking out different options and watching a bunch of YouTube videos, I decided on Krav Maga. It just made the most sense since it focused on practical, real-world defense. The techniques were straightforward and designed to be used in actual self-defense situations, making it perfect for someone who wanted to get effective results without spending years training. I called and signed up for classes.

That’s how I spent my next three months: Krav Maga training in the morning in one dojo, a healing spell or two, staff training, healing spell, another Krav Maga session in a different dojo, a healing spell or two, archery training, and another staff training in a different dojo. I got the three skills pretty fast and made quick progress. All my trainers kept telling me I’m a natural and have talent. I knew, of course, that I was getting help from my skills.

My Staff Fighting reached level 5, my Krav Maga reached level 5, and my Archery reached level 3. I moved to a different city and trained in various centers as an advanced student. I didn’t want to raise suspicion.

My healing spell reached level 12. After level 10, I felt a big difference; it was faster to cast, used less mana (8 instead of 10), and healed me more. I concluded that level 10 was a milestone and wanted to bring all my skills to this level. After another two months of training, Krav Maga and the staff reached level 10. Archery was still lagging. I quit the other two and concentrated on Archery at three different centers. But whatever I did, I couldn’t raise it above level 7.

I went back to the books. I discovered three distinct LitRPG novels featuring characters who specialize in archery, and I conducted research by immersing myself in these entertaining books. After getting some ideas, I tried to find a center that trained Archery in motion. While I didn’t find what I was searching for, I stumbled upon a YouTube video featuring a man who alternated between walking and shooting arrows and running and shooting arrows.

That might work.

I bought a large batch of arrows, some camping gear, food, and water, and went hiking in the mountains. I trained in this method for three weeks, and it worked. My Archery reached level 10. In addition, I received a pleasant surprise—my agility increased by one after all the running and jumping over rocks and logs.

I remembered I had bought two spells, which I had forgotten entirely. I resolve to train them as well. Despite casting the shield spell on me again and again, there was no change. Despite casting it over 30 times, there has been no discernible change. A feeling of emptiness washed over me, prompting me to check my mana:750/3000.

Wow!

After casting it again, my mana dropped by another 50. That wasn’t good. I’ve noticed that my mana regenerates about ten units daily. I understood the complaint about the low mana level and slow regeneration. The solution was to go to a Gate and regenerate. Since I was closer to Frankfurt than my Gate in the Black Forest, I decided to check Frankfurt first and then my Gate.