It took us the rest of the day to recover. We had a lot to assimilate, both the menus and the interface that we always saw had changed.

We got new skills, but the price we paid was fair. We also lost all the items we had in my inventory or in Hunt’s Item box.

Night was about to fall when we decided to activate the Subdimension ability. We each summoned a door that led us to the same place. A large room 100 metres long by 100 metres wide and 50 metres high.

Immediately, a screen appeared in front of us with room settings such as temperature, brightness, pressure, climate and size. Hunt set to work and configured the room to have the same characteristics as the outside. Inside the room there was nothing but floors, walls and ceiling.

(We had a maximum size of 500,000 m^3)

We rested that night as best we could and in the morning, we found parts of bear claws in front of the gates. Hunt deduced, that a bear tried to break the doors or get in. But it couldn’t.

The next few days we discovered how our new abilities worked. With Sharing all the spells I knew or learned transferred to Hunt automatically and all the spells Hunt learned or knew transferred to me. Understanding magic from each other’s

point of view opened up many more avenues.

We also learned how dominance worked. Starting with the objects. Outside we invoked a screen, (we called it inventory), made of glass with a list of all the objects that were inside the subdimension.

My art of manipulating objects with fluidity did not disappear. Again with precision I did a few twists of the wrist, as if it were a card trick, and in one move I managed to make a stick appear in my hand. (Hunt didn’t know how to do it, so I had to teach him).

Inside the room we built a large warehouse made of steel. We set up the inventory screen to have a list of all the objects that could be inside the warehouse. From the outside we could take objects in and out of the warehouse. We divided it into 4 sections. Red, Green, Blue and Yellow. Each section was divided into cells (Type A1 B1... A2...).

With the [Super computer] skill we had the same problem as with Hunt’s [computer] skill, the files disappeared. Hunt had a great idea. If we could use the Share skill it would be very easy to link skills to objects inside the room.

Theoretically you could attach the [super computer] ability to an object. (The [super computer] ability also used parts of your body as peripherals).

Using earth magic I created a solid block of polished black rock. Inside this we place the [Super computer], fragmenting it we get many users or sessions. This monolith of rock, we place it inside a little cabin, just for decoration.

(We tried to bind it to small stones or boulders, but they broke when we finished sharing the skill).

Outside the subdimension we could invoke a session, with its characteristic two screens, one serving as a monitor and the other as a keyboard and mouse. Inside we linked several sessions to rectangular blocks of stone (it was cheaper to use rock instead of steel). We had about 10 computers spread throughout the subdimension, not counting those we could summon for our own use.

We also created a multi-purpose room made of steel. It was divided into 4 sections, manufacturing, laboratory, control room and toilets. In the workshop we had cupboards full of tools. Work tables, with their vises, a furnace, an anvil, a milling machine and a small lathe.

(Although metallurgy magic helped us with small shapes or when creating magical alloys, the more complicated parts, or those that could be machined, had to be made the old-fashioned way, otherwise it would be a great drain on our mana. But even though it was a big consumption, we always used magic to alloy steel bars. We had several types of steel depending on what we needed).

In the laboratory we kept the seeds of various crops (in a box with very low temperatures). We also set up an analyser table which was connected to a computer. The operation was simple but precise. On a highly polished rock we shared the ability to [ Advanced Analysis ], the analysis it performed was sent to a computer and generated a report, which we could retrieve at a later date.

In the control room we had multiple screens with all the data about the subspace, such as a log of the super computer console, a list of the objects in the warehouse, battery charge levels, litres of drinking water... but one big screen dominated the room. This screen had a map with all the parts of the forest we discovered. On the map our position was indicated and we could create key points or markers.

(My mapping skills were very interesting. It allowed me to draw a map from an aerial perspective. But it only worked if I viewed the area from very high up or if I walked the whole area. Hunt’s radar ability allowed him to see position vectors, using his perspective as the origin of coordinates, of the mutants we were near).

All the data from the control room could be seen in our field of vision. As if we were in a video game. It should be noted that in this Hub we still had the life and mana bars.

(Using our new abilities, the mutants could not surprise us).

We decided to create a house within the subspace or subdomain. Thanks to the fact that we had several computers we were able to create several plans of the house, simulate the structure, create furniture plans... We swap tasks every 2

days, one for the house and the other for the furniture.

But the white ground, which emitted light, looked very ugly to us. So we put several tons of soil inside to create a layer of earth.

The foundation of the house was very easy to make thanks to the magic of earth or solids. Where we had more problems was when it came to making the planks for the walls, floors and ceilings.

Using magic I created circular blades, using our steel, to cut the wood and make planks. The problem was moving the blades to cut the planks straight. With practice and patience I managed to master the straight cut.

With all the materials, building the house was relatively simple. We divided the hut into 4 rooms, two bedrooms, a common room and a bathroom.

While we were building our home inside that room, we used the supercomputer to analyse the bee wire and the Magiston. The bee wire is made up of super organic compounds. Where the presence of the Magiston was noticeable.

We searched for all the bees in the area to collect the precious cable (this cable is very useful, in the connections between the computers and the super computer, or between the computers and the scanning tables...) In the search for the bees we also found giant ants using the magic cable. We also encountered a family of spiders and several other mutants.

Using the supercomputer with our engineering knowledge and a bit of magic, we developed new spells or as Hunt calls them, super optimised magic programs. To cast them or conjure them, we just had to press a button on the computer. These programs were super optimised, so the mana consumption was very small.

Using the full power of the supercomputer also we managed to model the structure of the Magiston, which is a very complex mixture of metallic, non-metallic elements and alloys coated by compact ether. The internal structure of such a crystal did not seem possible.

Remember that the height of the crystal was that it absorbed energy from the sun. Phlogiston, which subsequently converted it into manna.

We went back to the mine and collected all the crystals from storage. We also went into the mine and using superconjurors or super optimised magic programs allowed us to mine 98% of the [ Magiston ] from the [ Magore ] rock.

Using pressurised water we cut the rock like cheese. (Hunt took so long to develop the mining software that I was able to make a garden with flowers, paths, fruit trees...).

On one of our deeper forays into the mine, someone was throwing at us. We thought it was some kind of monster, attacking us. But what we discovered blew us away. We found carved [Magiston] crystals.

In the depths of the mine, we found a group of miners, deceased, inside a room. They were filing Magiston crystals. Using diamonds, (Magiston had a hardness of 9.5/10 Mohs.), to cut symbols and numbers.

A large cut crystal produced water that escaped through an opening. We discovered a large underground lake. On the other side we found a large hole through which the water came out, causing the waterfall, which could be seen from the forest. Near this hole we found the remains of 5 dead men.

One of them had some loose sheets of paper, poorly written, indicating how to carve the crystals and the meaning of each “rune”, or symbol. Both Hunt and I were delighted to find this treasure.

We immediately took pictures, using our eyes as cameras. To send them to the supercomputer. Hunt spent months analysing and testing the runes.

While he was analysing the runes, I was trying to copy the Magiston crystals. A lot of wrong trials and small successes. They gave me the clues to create a magic crystal. It was able to store mana, but not generate it from phlogiston.

Hunt’s research was dragging on, in the meantime I created the phlogistic solar panels, these panels looked a lot like photovoltaic panels, but in comparison they generated mana. And by means of a magic cable I managed to pass the mana from the panels to the mana batteries.

We were involved in a lot of projects at the same time and it was when I finished roofing the house that Hunt called me. (Inside Subdimension it didn’t rain unless we wanted it to, so a roof was useless, but the house looked ugly without one). He had mastered the art of runes. He created a dictionary on the supercomputer. As was his custom, he explained to me for 3 hours how the runes worked. To tell the truth, I fell asleep a couple of times.

I more or less understood how they worked, but I was more interested in how they were carved and how I could generate fireballs with those stones. But Hunt had better ideas than me. Creating magical devices.

The next months technological leap was based on 4 elements, the runes, the Magiston crystals, the mana batteries and the magic wires.

The functionality, I think the most important, was that we could generate water with the use of mana. Water magic is based on having water in a tank, being near a river... or generating water from the elements in the air. This last option was the one explained in the book.

For example, using a mana battery connected to an artificial Magiston plate carved with the runes of, absorb, then we placed the atomic number of hydrogen and oxygen, then a rune of reaction or fusion and the proportion of each element. Connected in turn with another magic wire to another artificial Magiston crystal: (Battery - instruction board - actuator). We managed to create a water generator, which worked as long as it had mana.

Using this technology we created: air barriers or shields, water taps, cookers, lights or ventilation systems among others. We were also able to design control elements with mini elastic batteries (a great challenge that Hunt proposed to me) that worked like the buttons on taps that stop by themselves after a while. I was also able to make potentiometers and switches (basically they functioned as water stopcocks.

We placed a large mana battery behind the house. With magic cables we connect several smaller batteries. And with all the control elements, switches and magic generators. It looked like the hut was an electrified house with water and internet.

One of the problems to deal with was the waste from showers, sinks or toilets. With several mana batteries, and with carved runes we managed to make water cycles. Where much of the water went back to the tap while the dirty water

drops went to a tank, behind the house, where the water was separated into hydrogen and oxygen. Leaving the dirt and debris in a small steel box. We used the phlogiston solar panels to recharge the house battery. So that the mutants

wouldn’t break the panels, we put air shields on them. By the way, the water created by the generators is not suitable for drinking, so next to the warehouse we placed a large tank of drinking water.

Our life after these last two years did not stop moving forward. During these years we also tried to be able to cast or conjure spells, in tiny times. But the forest offered us no more challenges.

We decided, it was time to leave that forest.

With Hunt’s new super-optimised magic programme, we managed to get out of that forest without running into the Noin mutants.