I stare at the corgi, and he stares back at me. He blinks a few times, and I do the same.

Okay.

Okay!

Maybe I'm just hearing things.

Let's try again.

I grab a piece of meat from Kevin and wave it in front of the dog.

(Food! Food!) I hear again, and the corgi starts wagging his tail.

"..."

I stare at him again, and he stares at me and the meat, unable to look only at me.

What the heck, Biscuit?!

Did you obtain a skill or something?

Also, is it a telepathic communication skill or something like that?

A strong suspicion fills my mind. Did you obtain this kind of skill only to be able to ask for more food?

That can't be, right?

(Food! Food!) I continue to hear it in my mind.

The corgi's eyes now stay glued to the piece of meat in my hand and follow it from side to side as I move it in front of him.

"..."

Biscuit...

Why do I even bother? I throw the meat at him, and the voice in my head disappears.

He gobbles it up and looks at me with what looks like cheeky smile.

You little twerp.

I will be mad if I get offered a tamer class or something like this in place of something much more awesome.

No one else seems to be surprised, so I guess I was the only one able to hear the corgi. It's either because he did talk to me only, or they just were unable to.

I would pay just to see their reactions.

I lean back and close my eyes while listening to the quiet conversation around the campfire and feeling the warmth of the bodies around me.

Dang telepathic dogs, what's next?

Slowly, I doze off and fall asleep.

Another day, another me!

Well, a big part of it is thanks to Lily, who kept healing me. This time, I did tell her to focus more on my arms, not my pinky, and that sped up my already awesome natural regeneration even more. I am sure she also got some nice practice out of it too.

The entire time she healed me, I continued to follow the flow of her mana inside my body and also learned a tiny bit. Nothing too impressive, but hey, I have to start somewhere.

Telepathic doggo is still talking only to me, and his vocabulary is, well, unimpressive.

It consists of the word "food" said in different tones.

As a question, as a request, and that's mostly it.

He once tried to say it in what probably had to sound like an order, but I quickly flicked his snout, and he hasn't tried it since.

Also, Sophie came back from the hunt, and her eyebrow went up when she saw the state my clothes were in and the lack of my shoes.

But that's it. I just get a short nod that acknowledges my existence, and she goes to rest, followed by her sister, Maya, and Leon.

Yup, that's the party she runs lately, and it looks like they are power-leveling her sister too. But, dang, I can't imagine what this all does to someone as young as Isabella, as I learned she is called.

I send some mana towards them, just thin threads of it, and try to feel their mana pool. No one notices anything as I peek at it.

Sophie's is the biggest one, but surprisingly, Isabella is the second, closely followed by Maya and Leon is the last.

Dang, I wonder how much under her influence these two are.

I turn back to breathless Kim, and he still doesn't seem ready to continue his training. In the time I wasn't here, he improved greatly, so I have him practicing his [Telekinesis], throwing stones as big as his head at me while I use my [Kinetic Redistribution] to absorb as much energy as I can from them.

Watching his skill also helps, as I observe the way his mana moves inside and outside of his body. His control is better now, and I can also follow the flow of his mana easier, so I get one or two ideas on how to improve the usage of my newest skill.

Another stone flies at me, and I extend my mana towards it while activating the skill. The stone slows down significantly, and in the end, it falls a bit in front of me. I manipulate and mold the absorbed kinetic energy and then shoot it back at the stone on the ground, pushing it a tiny bit.

Hmm, I am still not at the point where I want to be.

Another stone flies at me, and the same thing repeats. This time, I try to reduce the cone of absorbed kinetic energy I throw back at the stone, but I am unable to control it enough to do so, so instead, it's even worse than before.

My intention is to reduce the cone enough to change it into a piercing attack of kinetic energy, molded in a way that would allow me to shatter the stone or pierce the bodies.

That would be nice, yup.

Imagine hitting someone and then getting hit by the force of your own attack, just more focused. I really like the idea of that, but as of now, it still seems far away, so I guess I will mostly use it to absorb some energy from attacks to propel myself.

Once again, I thank Crimsonwolf for the idea.

Who knew one of the best users of the skills is animals?

Maybe the best mage will be from a zoo instead of one of us.

Damn, that's kinda depressing.

As I continue to mindlessly absorb Kim's attacks, I think over my new findings.

Using my improved [Mana Perception], I went through my body in hopes of finding out what Sophie did to me and what prevents me from even thinking about... it happens once again, and my train of thought stops right there.

Yup, about that.

So, I found some weird thing inside my skull. It seems to be feeding on my mana and growing stronger together with my growing mana.

That would explain why I wasn't able to remove it even after my level vastly outperformed hers.

My theory is that she used her [Manipulation] and [Mana Infusion] on me back then inside the bus when the first monster we met attacked.

At that point, her mana points were at 3, while mine were at 1, and she also said she started with [Manipulation] at level two.

So back then, she was stronger than me, and in desperation and probably not even knowing what she was doing, she pushed her mana inside me and created this... construct. And then the construct grew with me while sucking on my mana to not be washed away by my mana pool.

It's just guessing, but I am sure that I am close to it.

So I continue to watch the construct. My multiple attempts to remove it were unsuccessful. Even the full power of my mana wasn't enough; like a parasite, it pretends to be a part of me, and my body and even mana seems to be partly tricked by it.

I will continue to observe it, and I might be able to learn something from how it works. I also start covering it with my mana, so Sophie won't feel it by mistake while using her skill to detect enemies and doesn't recognize it somehow.

But damn, it pisses me off.

I gesture at Kim to stop and sit down, and he joins me breathlessly but with a satisfied smile on his face as he stares at the sky.

He has been like this since the start. Even after all he went through, he seems to be content with it and smiles happily every time he improves a bit.

Finally, I ask, unable to hide my curiosity and wanting to know the answer I thought over multiple times.

“Why are you so happy?”

At first, he seems surprised by my question, but then looks at me. His glasses are already gone as his improved constitution healed this defect, and his messy hair is longer than before.

“Everything feels meaningful now,” he starts carefully and then pauses. I just tilt my head slightly, waiting for him to continue.

“You know, back on Earth, all I did was study. My parents are super strict, and that's all I knew." he pauses once again, "The problem is every time I did something, it was not enough. Never good enough. I had to get better grades, study harder, behave better, and stop wasting my time.” He looks straight into my eyes.

"It probably sounds silly to you, but it was way too much for me," he is looking for the right words, "It felt like I couldn't breathe. That's the best way I can explain it."

He takes a deep, long breath.

“I tried to kill myself once,” he says out of nowhere with a gentle smile on his face. Then he turns away from me to look back at the sky.

“I just couldn't handle it. All this pressure and disappointment from my parents. My older siblings were able to get to the best schools and universities, they got great jobs, yet me… no matter how hard I tried, I could never compare to them.”

I see.

“But now,” once again, a smile flashes. “It doesn't matter anymore, and it won't matter even if I come back to Earth. No more studying, no more comparing to my siblings, no more controlling me.” He squeezes his fist.

So that's how it is.

“I try hard, and I get rewarded. I practice and improve my level and my skills. Finally, I am good at something.” Ten or so small stones fly up into the air and start orbiting his hand in difficult patterns. “Everything I do matters now. I hunt food we eat, I fight enemies so we can stay alive, and I train so hard it hurts sometimes.”

He laughs quietly.

“I know you understand, we are similar... somewhat.”

He can't be more than fifteen, still a child in my eyes. His eyes are big, and his smile is bright, while stones orbit around his hand faster and in more difficult patterns. He seems happy.

Yet, I can't shake the feeling that he is still somewhat wounded inside.