Chapter 71: Filling the Giant Mana Battery

Emily took the marble from his hand before he could say anything.

She held it between two fingers and turned it slowly under the moonlight. Her expression changed from relief to focus in about half a second and Eren recognized that look. It was the same face she made when she tried to hide her worries.

“This isn’t a normal mana stone like we found as a reward. They could hold maybe 100 mana and they couldn’t be used too many times. But this..” She pressed her thumb into the surface and closed her eyes.

“The density of the material is insane. This is definitely a intentional artifact. Not a normal thing. My mother mentioned things like this once. Ancient war relics that stored enough mana to fuel siege or big war skills.” She was also thinking other small details but she couldn’t remember anything else.

Emily stopped turning it when she realized how absurd this thing could be. “A thousand mana is too much!”

“Yeah. A thousand mana. In a small marble. I can’t believe it was inside a real dungeon crystal.”

She looked at him and then at the marble and then back at him. Her lips moved slightly like she was doing the math before she even spoke. “Door Master drains your full pool. That’s five hundred and fifty right now.”

“Give or take.” He was sure he could hold it open for around five-six seconds.

“So you’d go with your own mana and come back using this.” She held the marble up between them. The surface caught a faint green light that hadn’t been there when he first found it. “Eren. You can go your home.”

Three weeks ago I couldn’t even leave the village perimeter without Emily babysitting me. Now I’m planning a trip to another universe.

He was officially a mage. A teleporter or something.

If someone told old Eren he’d become a better teleporter than any mage in a video game he would’ve laughed and gone back to filling boxes at the warehouse.

Emily’s mouth curved and she started smiling with Eren’s intense gaze all over her body. “Stop looking at me like that silly.”

“I would like you to come with me but I will try to bear loneleness for one day. Sad…” He tried to look like sad but she wasn’t buying it.

She turned away but he could see the tip of her ear had gone pink. Emily knew she was an important part of his life now and they were together almost everyday.

Behind them Mel was walking with her eyes mostly closed and Fury nudging her shoulder every few steps to keep her on the road. She’d been half asleep since they left the dungeon.

“I’m not sleeping!” Mel muttered when Fury pushed her again. “I’m resting my eyes while walking.”

Her foot caught a root and she went down face first.

“…Can I rest my everything on your soft fur for a minute?”

“You can rest when we get to your house.” Eren pulled her up with one hand. She weighed almost nothing to him now which was still a weird thing to think about.

They dropped Mel off at her place. Nimbo was waiting at the door with that protective older-brother energy he always had around his sister even though they were twins. He spotted the crystal fragments poking out of Mel’s bag. “What are those?”

“Our retirement plan maybe.” Mel face-planted onto her bed without taking off her boots.

The wolves split off next. Fury went quiet and settled into his usual patrol spot near the eastern tree line. Rury still had three crystal pieces in her mouth and refused to put them down.

[If I die, bury me with these.] She was completely serious.

[You won’t die in your sleep or something and stop licking dangerous rocks!!] Fury’s voice lost usuaş patient tone. [You’ll die from eating something you shouldn’t.]

[This is really tasty. Just try once..]

[No!] Fury ran away to escape from his sister’s antics.

..

Their house was dark and cool. Emily checked his body the way she always did after he came back from anything.

She traced the shallow cuts on his forearms where thornwalker branches had gotten through and pressed along his ribs checking for cracks or swelling. Her fingers were warm and precise and she lingered a little too long on his chest.

“No serious damage mister.” She sounded almost disappointed, like she’d been looking forward to nursing him or punishing him in a very different way.

Even Eren was sad that he wasn’t wounded. He was curious what she was preparing for their night.

Maybe next time..

Eren lay back on the bed and put the marble on his chest. He could feel the slow pull as his mana drained into it and refilled from the ambient forest energy around him. Like breathing. Out into the marble and in from the air.

[Dungeon Heart Fragment: 143 / 1000]

Emily lay down next to him and she wasn’t going to sleep yet. They made love for at least three hours before Emily demanded some rest.

Eren didn’t stop for another half an hour then they hugged and started talking about their plans.

“How long will you stay there?” she asked.

“As short as possible. Half a day maybe one day at most.” He wasn’t sure what to do now that he could go to Earth. It wouldn’t be this weird if he could use this portal ability in early days but after almost a month….it became weird.

“Your pool refills from nature here but there’s no mana on Earth.” She was staring at the ceiling. “So it’s one trip out and one trip back. No mistakes alright!”

“I’m not going to a war planted place. It’s one of the safest place you can imagine. I already old you how how would go in Earth.”

Emily reached over and took a flat piece of dark paper from the shelf next to the bed. She always kept those for sketching or notes. A small piece of charcoal came next and she started writing in the dim light.

“Salt. As much as you can carry. Winter is close and we need to preserve the meat.”

“Salt. Got it.”

“Knives. Real ones. The kind you described. Steel.”

“Okay.” He didn’t know if there were combat related knives or similar gadgets around his city but he could always call them or check if they are close. He could rent a car and go to places himself.

“Rope, nails and thick metal connectors like you described. We can use them for the barricades.” She kept going. “Those fire starters you told me about. Lighters?”

“Yeah. I’ll get a bunch of them to test our magic stone theory.”

“And something for cleaning wounds.” She paused here. “Warriors don’t die from the blade or claws. They die from what comes after like that poor boy died. If Earth has something that prevents wounds from rotting…”

She basically just described antiseptics and antibiotics and other bunch of medicine.

Eren added his own items mentally. Painkillers. Bandages. Batteries. A basic birth kit from a pharmacy. Phone and other tech stuff which he already had but didn’t know to carry this side. His smart phone was going to create so much ripples in the village.

A usb radio! He could save bunch of songs and use it in the Selena’s place.

Emily’s hand drifted to her stomach the way it did sometimes. Not because she could feel anything yet. It was just a reflex. A thought turning into a touch.

Emily’s voice got a little quieter. “My mother told me birth was the hardest thing she ever experienced. If Earth medicine can make that even slightly better…”

She didn’t finish and didn’t need to actually.

“I’ll find the best stuff I can but don’t worry about that actually. I will take you to Earth after this visit. You should see the hospitals hahaha. You will blown away from shock!”

Emily wasn’t that impressed yet. She didn’t how how different life could be in Earth yet just from hearing it.

Emily fell asleep with her arm across his chest and her face buried in his neck. Eren stayed awake.

[Dungeon Heart Fragment: 312 / 1000]

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