The shape definitely looked different.

  The trees were a bit more scattered as well. A first since coming to this place, so far everything was pretty much covered with the canopy.

  It was still outside of my range, though.

  -Let’s move.

  I changed the direction of our flight a little bit, aiming right at the anomaly.

  -Faster! Let’s go!

  I didn’t reply, only sighed, annoyed with his impatience.

  His new character was slowly getting on my nerves.

  But, it’s not like I couldn’t ignore that. I mean, I can cut him some slack, he is undergoing assimilation, at least partially, so I understand his haste.

  -And? What is it?

  We got in range of my senses, and that didn’t escape his notice.

  -Already on it. And you were right. This definitely is something.

  That “something” was a building.

  Or rather a ruin. Barely standing between the trees, but still there. Faintly emitting mana signature, meaning that a long time ago it was enhanced with some kind of spell.

  Maybe that’s why it was still standing.

  But…

  -No people. Just a ruin - I simply said.

  -”Just”? It’s still a progress! Let’s move!

  -I am flying, calm down.

  -Not fly, teleport!

  -Oh come on, it’s a waste to do that. A singular…

  I got interrupted by a sudden headache and a mana signature appearing right next to me.

  I immediately shook myself out of the trance and jumped back to defend myself. I fully expected to see a group from the MIRE right next to me jumping out of the portal once more, because the sudden mana was indubitably from a forming portal.

  But that was pointless.

  It was just him.

  -The fuck are you doing! - I barked, annoyed. - I told you, that’s a waste!

  -It is not. We are moving.

  While I was preoccupied with flying and scouting, he already took the piece of wood that was supposed to serve us as an anchor in the future and formed a portal to our “drone”. That is also why I felt a headache: the wooden exterior of the flying pyramid had been linked with his portal and was being destroyed while I was using it, leading to the unpleasant feeling.

  -I swear, you stopped thinking clearly… - I muttered to myself.

  But it’s not like I could stop him. Or rather that there was no point in trying to.

  -You’re coming or not? I am not waiting.

  The portal was already opened, right there on the floor and he was about to step through.

  -Of course I am… - I replied, stepping through, pushing him in front of me.

  -It’s…

  A moment of distortion later, I felt something wrong.

  It’s been a hot second since I used a portal that had its gateways not in the same position, so the gravity shift was more sudden than I anticipated.

  -AAH!

  It was even worse.

  What I thought was the gates being just not aligned with each other was instead the exit being literally spinning through the air and falling down.

  -The fuck did you do?! - I managed to squeeze out before I crashed through the canopy, landing hard on the ground.

  I barely was even able to avoid crashing into him, or rather just straight up flattening him.

  -Ow… - I groaned, reflexively, slowly picking myself up from the ground.

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  Sure, I didn’t take any damage. My body was not that weak to get damaged from a small fall.

  Okay, maybe not that small, but still.

  I guess that made sense. He did connect to a flying object. And not only that, the object in question was by itself not stable to even consider a valid target for a portal making. To even attempt that was a pure insanity.

  Wondering where it actually went, I quickly scanned my surroundings before realizing that it actually was right next to me. Or at least the core was.

  Unsurprisingly, the exterior was destroyed by the spell. And even if not for the spell, I am sure that the landing would break the spells written onto it either way, it’s not like I build that thing for durability.

  I didn’t expect for some insane man to use it like that…

  Right. Speaking of insane men…

  -Mike! You alive?

  During my quick scan of the surroundings I picked up his signature somewhere above me.

  It seemed like he did manage to avoid landing in the same hole in the canopy that I made and got stuck somewhere in the middle of the branches.

  -Somewhat… - I heard from above me, followed by a loud groan. - Can you help me down…?

  -And why exactly would I do that?

  I went to where I heard the voice from and could easily pinpoint his mana signature in the middle of the canopy. Below, there was a bunch of fallen branches among some pinecones, leaves and something that looked like a destroyed nest, including a bunch of broken eggs.

  -You…

  -What? - I shrugged. - You are the one who teleported us. Blame yourself if you want.

  -Blame this, blame that… I will after I get down from here…

  -It’s not like you can’t cast magic. You can talk, you’re more than fine.

  -Ygh…

  From the mana signature I could tell he was fine enough, which made me wonder. He’s a lot less “crystallized” than me, so how did he exactly survive this fall? He had to be pretty lucky to still be in good shape.

  -Fine, fine…

  I heard some branches cracking and the unfortunate tree that was hosting an unforeseen guest moved.

  Branches parted and one of the thicker ones emerged, with Mike hanging from it in a very precarious position.

  -Fuck… - he moaned as he rolled off it, falling to the ground.

  His body was full of cuts and bruises, but no limbs were in unusual positions, so I guess his bones were intact. At least mostly, from what I could tell.

  -See? You don’t need me. Also, I wanted to warn you, and yet you were the one who went with this.

  -I know, I know, just… AH.

  He attempted to stand up, but his leg gave up under his weight.

  So much for his bones being intact.

  -Still preferring the fleshy body? - I asked, grinning.

  -Fuck off. I need a moment…

  I could feel him gather some mana from the air and the visible pain on his face subsided.

  He didn’t fix his scraps, though.

  -Come on, you made your bones crystal and still are scared of changing a bit of your skin? Pfeh.

  -I only fixed ones that were broken. And some bruises don’t matter.

  -Aha. And how many did you break, by the way?

  -I’d rather not say.

  -Ha. That means “a lot”. Well, sucks to be you.

  -Gh. Doesn’t matter. Now, where’s that building?

  -Hm? I assume pretty far off, still.

  -Far?! We were just there!?

  -Were. And then we got spit out of a spinning portal in some random direction that is most likely away from your building, I am afraid.

  -What.

  -I swear, with you… It’s that way… - I said, pointing towards the building's aura.

  Between the fall and him fixing himself I already took a quick scan of the local area.

  We weren’t exactly far away from the building in question, but definitely didn’t land closer.

  Thanks, man.

  -I can’t see shit…

  -But you can feel it.

  -Not really…

  -Eh… I guess I still have more range than you… - I sighed. - If we were flying, we’d be there in a minute or two. Walking? I can’t be too sure, this forest is not really a paved road, you know.

  Without a word, he started making his way through the thicket.

  For a second, I wondered if I should say anything, but decided against it and followed in his footsteps.

  Besides his obvious changes in behaviour, something was bothering me.

  And that was his magic.

  He’s been trying to lean on me recently. Before, he’d happily use his own mana and wouldn’t even bother asking me, and now it was quite the opposite. Even now, he was just walking through the forest, not doing anything. If he was so pressured to find that building, wouldn’t he try to speed himself up? If not the “haste”, so to speak, the time distorting ability, then just a simple spell to clear the way from the bushes, branches or whatnot? Right now he was just slowly and painfully moving through the woods without any help of his magic.

  Why?

  It’s not like he had problems with mana. One look was enough to tell me that he was still more than fine in that department.

  Sure, he wasn’t as full as he was before, but fixing your own bones would do that to you, that is a pretty exhausting procedure. And he did it fairly quickly. Hell, at least he was not overcharged…

  Wait, what about me?

  I haven’t really bothered looking at myself recently, and not like it mattered to me. Sure, it was important to know how others were seeing me, but… what “others”?

  It’s not like I cared how the remnants of the MIRE were seeing me. And Mike? He was more focused on himself. And it’s not like his focus was actually well placed, either…

  I thought that I have used most of my mana that I absorbed from the leylines before. Between the creation of a drone, flight and everything else, I didn’t really focus on regaining my reserves.

  And yet, I was full. Here comes me underestimating the power of passive mana absorption, I guess…

  -How much further is this… Oh.

  As he was about to complain, we finally reached our destination.