Hunting monsters and bandits was much easier with Naia flying overhead, guiding me on their locations. The nymph was already earning her keep, even though I rarely let her do any fighting herself. She was young and naive, and all it would take was one lucky hit from an enemy to kill her.

  I think we may have been over-prepared for our trip into the void. Right now, I have about ten times the free green and Will experience I had when I created [Time Control]. We all had more than we needed, including supplies. Nemo was loaded with everything we could need.

  "Everyone ready?" I asked, looking toward my kin.

  Theresa rolled her eyes at me. "Uh, yeah. Stop being a worrywart and let’s go already."

  Once we were all inside the demon door, I positioned myself by a blue will line.

  "Doors sealed and ready for travel," Nemo announced.

  "Aye aye, captain! Let’s set sail!" I exclaimed, referring to the name I had given Nemo.

  Just as before, I focused on the blue line and willed time to move away from this space. Even with my enhanced Will pool, I still drained my energy quickly. However, I could tell we had moved much farther with this attempt than I had before. With my larger Will pool, I could probably get us there in three days instead of a week. I could take breaks in between, as the time difference would buy me some extra time.

  Since I had less time before our arrival, I needed to start training in light magic now. Taking a meditative stance, I focused inward into the dark expanse of my mind. There, I could see my clockwork spell world that represented my [Time Control]. A little way from it, I decided to form my next spell world. Gazing into the darkness, I envisioned a light and spoke the words I remembered from a book in my old world: "Let there be light." I did this not out of nostalgia or to pretend to be a god, but for the mental image it would provide. The image of the creation of light itself held great power, and those four words encapsulated it perfectly.

  At first, the light was faint, but it grew into a large, glowing white orb like a massive light bulb.

  Focusing on the giant white ball, I willed its exterior to crystallize into a protective layer. Light crystals are incredibly hard, and I chose this for several reasons. First, I could make the shell act as a lens to focus my light-based spells. Second, I could use it as a magical LED of sorts. An LED light is simply two substances bonded together, usually a metal and glass or crystal. Third, I could use it as a fiber-optic path to direct my spells, similar to the new lasers invented before I awoke in Albion.

  In the end, I created a jigsaw puzzle of spherical layers with many lenses, holes, and lines that allowed its function to change as I willed it. There were even a few fiber-optic paths that would let me move the light between layers or direct it to specific places as needed. The innermost layer acted like a ruby, allowing light in but not out unless I wanted it to using a lens. The second, outer layer served as the Will-based LED, which would infinitely replace the light within the orb. It would absorb Will energy and constantly feed and upgrade the light spell. Next was the fiber-optic layer that would significantly increase the absorption of Will and light energies. Each layer had numerous focal lenses that would normally be closed but could activate to enhance a function or spell.

  The light's color was pure white, representing all wavelengths of light. Other colors, like violet or red, would be limited to one spectrum and have only one function. Starting with white allowed me to change the majority of its color to cast specific spells without losing the ability to revert back. Had I chosen a different color initially, I might have been stuck with it forever. I won’t claim I was being super smart; I simply remembered that white light is made up of all wavelengths and frequencies. I could have easily made that mistake. The crystal world of light even hummed a beautiful sound that changed depending on what color I made it or what function I employed.

  There was a reason I chose to make a world of pure light rather than a star. A star is a combustion-based fusion reaction, representing the ultimate fire spell. Light is just a byproduct of stars, and what I created was a world made of light that produces and focuses it. It would best serve as a light-manipulating spell, offering versatility. That doesn't mean I don't want to create a star spell later; I just needed a pure light-based spell right now for various reasons. The void is one such reason, and teleportation is another.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Opening my eyes and standing up, I planned to grab a knife from my bag nearby, but a sudden rumble in my stomach stopped me.

  "How long was I making my spell?" I asked Theresa.

  "Two and a half days," she replied flatly.

  "Not bad, I guess," I said.

  Using what I knew of the healing spell from Scarlet's cultivation and teleportation techniques gleaned from examining her guild seal, I created what should be an enhanced version of light magic that could do everything. There was a method to my madness, after all, and I wasn’t foolish enough to use my only shot without pooling all my resources. If I could have trusted Archmage Maze, I would have reached out to him through Scarlet. But I knew he would only serve Jack out of fear.

  Filling my belly, drinking much-needed water, and taking a bathroom break in a secluded corner of this space, I was ready to continue. Thankfully, this place could break down and recycle waste much like how it does water. My initial threat to Nemo about using him as a toilet only worked because this effect only took place inside.

  Taking a knife, I cut my hand slightly and asked my mother to heal it. Remembering the sound, I rearranged the glowing spell world until it finally produced that same sound. Cutting my hand again, I focused the spell and my intent to heal the cut. The wound did heal, but it was a bit slow and required more Will energy than it should have. Making adjustments and trying again, I was able to improve it significantly, but it still wasn’t as effective as my mother’s healing spell. Either it would take me a long time to learn to use it to the same level as the basic healing spell, or I would have to sacrifice focusing on one function for versatility and many branching spell functions. I still felt the trade was worth it.

  The next day, after moving us closer to the void again, I practiced some of my new spell functions. Switching spell worlds quickly proved challenging, as I suspected. Using a spell world requires taking control of it with your will by immersing and saturating it with focus. This takes time to learn to do efficiently. Otherwise, it continues to operate on its basic programming to maintain itself and grow more powerful by absorbing available energy. I suspected mine might be better at this than others, but I couldn’t know for sure.

  Creating a laser was one of the easiest functions of the spell. It was essentially just a magic flashlight that became stronger until it could burn or cut. Even with magic, though, I couldn’t figure out how to create a lightsaber... yet. Someday, Master Obi-Wan, I shall be a Jedi!

  It took an insane amount of Will energy and focus, but I managed to create a light crystal. The one I produced after an hour, using my fully filled Will pool, was about the size of a grain of sand. The upside was that it didn’t disappear, no matter how much time passed. It was a permanent grain of sand made from light-based Will magic. Yay!

  Invisibility proved to be the most efficient and useful function so far. I could bend the light around me and sustain it almost indefinitely, as my regeneration was nearly as fast as the drain. I couldn’t use any other spells while invisible, and covering Nemo with it later would require me to use potions regularly, but I suspected that already and had come prepared. For some reason, Naia could still see me when I turned invisible, but not the objects I made invisible. The only reason I could think of for this was our familiar bond. We could share thoughts and always know where each other was.

  Teleportation, although the coolest and potentially most useful, would have to wait. There was so much that could go wrong with it. I could end up as a corpse fused to a stone wall or lost who knows where. It was the most unpredictable and dangerous spell to learn and use. So even though I knew the frequency to use it, I wouldn’t.

  Microwaves would require more research. I knew that light is an electromagnetic wave and that regular electromagnetic waves can be used to create microwaves. Microwaves are a frequency that makes water vibrate, causing it to heat up. In theory, I could boil water and heat things. The problem was that microwaves are dangerous and, without a method to contain them, they can bounce around unpredictably. When a microwave cooks in a kitchen, the inside is layered with metal that reflects microwaves. So if I accidentally hit something metallic, like an enemy's armor or weapon during combat, it could bounce back at me. I would then be cooked by my own spell. Worse yet, I could harm someone important to me while trying to protect them. So, with great power comes great responsibility.

  Naia flew down next to me, and I could feel through our link that she was contemplating something. She spent most of her time flying overhead to entertain herself while we trained. Sometimes she even participated in training, like when my dad did his boot camp-style exercises. She would throw things at him from many different directions for him to block or dodge. This seemed to greatly amuse her, especially when Brom failed.

  Scarlet and Brom had their own space with a tent on the other side of the river. In the game, that area was inaccessible due to the two-inch-deep stream, but in real life, it was easy to get to. It made sense that a husband and wife needed their own space, bed, or tent. I hadn’t thought too much about it until Naia asked the bombshell question that made Theresa and me sick to our stomachs—a reminder that Theresa was unable to foresee what would occur here due to its outward relation to time.

  “Do humans often take off their clothes and roll on the ground together?”

  Someday, master Obi-Wan, I shall be a Jedi!

  Yay!

  So with great power comes great responsibility.