Krenocia says "To be honest, I am not sure. When my energy runs out you might be able to survive just using normal lifeforce. Or you could burn through it in minutes and die anyway. I have no way to tell what will happen?"

"Wait, some of your energy was destroyed, will I still make it to the three years?"

Krenocia says "You wouldn't have, but thanks to you getting me Origin Energy I was able to replace what was destroyed. So, yes you will."

"Oh, that's a relief! I was worried I had really screwed things up!"

Krenocia laughs and says "You did! But you also fixed it!"

Since I can't think of a response I let the conversation end and return to the main shaft. Only after I carefully check for undead and traps do I fly down looking for another lava tube. However, when I find one I also detect a dozen death knights hiding inside it.

It looks like the maker has a new plan, so I fly past that lava tube and look for another. Again, when I reach the next lava tube, I detect death knights hidden within. While I could probably deal with the death knights, I doubt that is all there is to the maker's plan.

However, I don't want to just run away and give up on the rest of the gems. Now that I know about the unique gems that can be found here I just can't walk away. I kind of feel like a dragon wanting to collect a horde of gems to sleep on.

Who knows, maybe my new body is similar enough to a dragon that sleeping on them might have an effect? It might be worth trying, although sleeping on uncut gems doesn't sound comfortable at all. Right now the problem is how to collect more gems without getting trapped.

In the lava tubes shouldn't be too dangerous, the bigger undead can't fit. The problem will be if the maker moves those bigger undead to the exits and traps me inside. I am not stupid, I know that I am not invincible, even the normal undead could wear me down eventually.

If I end up getting trapped, the odds of me dying are fairly high unless I gate out. However, that is exactly what the maker wants me to do, so I need to think of another way. Since I need to think I fly back to the lava tube I came from and land inside it.

I wasn't flying around for long so the undead shouldn't have had a chance to get into it and set a trap. More importantly, I noticed that one of the other lava tubes is directly below this one. It is about a half-mile further down, but that distance isn't too horrible.

I am thinking that I can either tunnel down to the other tube or gate down. A short distance gate shouldn't be enough to help the maker in any way. Then again, she might learn from it so that will be a last resort if I can't think of anything else.

So, I walk up the lava tube while extending my senses down towards the other tube. About a quarter of the way along the tub I sense the other tube only a few hundred yards away. This seems to be the point where the two tubes are the closest, so I stop here and sit down.

A few hundred yards is still a lot of rock to dig through, it would take a long time. The maker would have plenty of time to set a new trap for me before I could get to the other tube. So I sit there for a few minutes thinking through all my options.

The two best options I can think of are to shapeshift into something that can move through rock or use mana to phase through. However, after thinking for a while I can't come up with anything that could go through rock easily. So, I am left with trying to use mana to make my body phase through the rock.

In the end, after sitting there for over an hour experimenting, I fail to phase through. I may somewhat understand the theory of phasing out of sync with the rock, but that isn't enough. The underlying rules of magic are not something I can figure out through blind luck.

For me to be able to use mana to mimic high level spells I am going to have to learn a lot more. What I really need to do is spend a few months in the tower reading all the books on magic. Unfortunately, when I had that option in the past I was convinced I would never recover my magic.

"Seronia, Krenocia, do either of you know anything about teleporting?"

Seronia says "No. We don't teleport so much as send an image or an avatar somewhere. For us we just think of a place and we are there."

"I tried doing it that way, but instead of teleporting I created a gate."

Krenocia says "When doing magic without a spell to structure it everything is determined by how you think. If you think of it as traveling to a place then that is what you will do. You would have to think of it as 'I am there' to move instantly."

Seronia says "Ash, what are you doing back on the island?"

"What? Krenocia didn't fill you in?"

Krenocia says "I have been too busy keeping an eye on you!"

As the sisters start arguing I ignore them and focus my attention on the lava tube below me. Then I do as Krenocia said and think 'I am there!' as I throw mana at the thought. With a flash I am standing in the lower mana tube, but my entire body erupts in pain.

"Oww! Why did it hurt so much?!"

Krenocia says "I have no idea! It doesn't hurt when we do it, but we aren't using mana!"

"It really hurt! I am going to have to learn more before I try that again!"

Seronia says "You shouldn't even be there! It is far too dangerous!"

Having detected more gem rocks I rush over to them, completely ignoring Seronia's lecturing. This is definitely going to make her angrier, but right now the gems are more important. I will create a soulscape later, once I am off this island and let her lecture me.

Or maybe not, being in a soulscape with her is probably a bad idea considering how the last one went. Instead of worrying about it I turn my full attention to crushing rocks and grabbing gems. I get a bunch of normal gems and a couple of mana stones, but nothing that triggers my instincts.

It looks like I have already used up all of my luck, so it might be best to leave now. Once I am sure I haven't missed a single gem rock I make my way to the lava tube's exit. Despite carefully scanning the area outside with my mana I can't find any enemies.

Since the coast seems clear I run outside and take off as fast as I possibly can. As soon as I am flying I climb straight up until I reach the clouds and hide inside them. At this point I am hoping that I am out of the maker's reach and turn to fly to another island.