More blood forced its way up Luke's throat as he collapsed into a heap on a hard surface. Cold winds buffeted him from all sides, and he curled up under the robe, trying to remain still while the healing mana in his meta-heart got to work bringing him back from the brink of death.

  "Now you start healing me?" Luke whispered his complaint, but he breathed a little easier. Once he was no longer touching that powerful thread of the system, his body and skills worked again, though you could argue that his limbs weren't quite up to the task of moving.

  Once the trembling stopped and he managed to open his eyes, followed by vigorous eye rubbing to get the blood out, got a good look at the surrounding landscape. Luke was on a mountain. That explained the cold winds. Not some small mountain either, but high enough that he saw a whole mountain range, and forested landscapes far, far below, so small they seemed not real. Gentle flecks of snow drifted down from above, adding to the chill.

  All in all, the test had been a success, as in so much that Luke had moved from one place to another, and far by the looks of things, but the execution was a little lacking. For one thing, he'd freeze to death if he stayed in place. Also, that brief touch had almost cost him his life, and he hadn't even left the system. That last part, he'd known about even before using Weavestep. The thread he'd chosen at random belonged to this system, as had all other threads he'd seen. How that particular thread had dropped him on top of a mountain, though, he couldn't say. At least he didn't end up in an active volcano, but he couldn't stay in place for long. First things first, meditation. Without topping up his healing mana, another jump would be outright deadly.

  Meditation took considerable effort in that climate. Being covered in freezing blood didn't help, either. As soon as he'd directed healing mana to his meta-heart, Luke allowed his mind to drift toward emptiness, shedding his worries. It didn't take long for his physical body to stop trembling from the cold. Once he found his center, the threads of the system appeared before his inner eye after a mere two hours, far quicker than during the previous attempt. Improvement? Luke would take it.

  This time, he didn't hold on long. Extending a thread of mana, Luke used Manipulate Thread and then Weavestep right after without hesitation. No need to torture yourself for longer than necessary, after all. It was still not a pleasant experience, but this time it came with far less blood. Instead, he crashed into the trunk of a tree, breaking his hip in several places and bruising several organs.

  Panting on all fours as his body knitted itself back together, Luke spat, trying to get dirt out of his mouth.

  "At least it isn't cold," he said as he got his feet under him to stand and straighten his back. It popped and crunched in what he had to admit was a satisfying way as he moved about a little to get the stiffness out. Just like with the office building and the mountain, this place was covered in a gray haze that muted all color and made it all seem dead, even if the vegetation thrived, with some exotic forest spreading out around him. Luke wondered just what had happened to this world, but perhaps he didn't want to know. Better to leave before whatever killed everything returned to do the same to him.

  After a bit of a wait to collect himself, Luke repeated the process, jumping again, then again. Each time, it grew easier. Timing was everything. Holding on to the thread he picked at random for more than a millisecond made blood spurt from places it had no business coming out of. For anyone not a healer, damaging themselves in the way Luke was doing would be impossible, because they'd be dead long before the third attempt. Each jump was different, taking him to what appeared to be a random spot on this strange copy of Earth. No matter how much he tried, there was just no way to discern where each thread would take him, and the weave held an infinite number of threads.

  The problem, then, was just how the hell was he supposed to get home to his own system when he couldn't even choose where he'd end up in this one? After another few jumps, one dropping him straight into a vast lake, less than pleasant, that one, Luke sat down to consider his options. Even after becoming proficient in seeing the weave without being low on mana, there was nothing there that brought him any closer to home. This meant that a change in tactics would be necessary.

  After topping himself off with healing mana, he expended almost everything else, leaving him on the verge of losing consciousness. Luke's head throbbed. His fingers trembled, and it felt as if his meta-heart had slowed, no longer able to pump mana around the mana channels. If it were his physical heart, most doctors would agree he was on the brink of dying. The weave appeared after considerable time and effort on Luke's part. This time, it was the weave of The Greater System, not this off-putting alternative Earth's variant.

  Each thread glowed golden with power, distinct in its individuality despite the intricate nature of the infinite weave. The void being did not appear this time. Neither did Smudge. Luke hoped the companion still lived, whatever 'live' meant inside the void. Reaching for a thread at random, Luke hesitated. If these threads made up the entirety of The Greater System, did that mean that using Weavestep to move through them could take him anywhere? It was an exciting and horrifying thought, because it meant he would be able to see and experience things no human ever had before, but it also meant the chance of finding the right one to take him back to Earth was almost non-existent. Needle in a haystack didn't even begin to describe it. This merited a moment of thought.

  In the end, it wasn't much of a choice. Guide told Luke he had all the tools he needed to return to Earth. This was it. It had to be. Luke reached out with a thread of mana, readied Weavestep, and touched a greater system thread at random using Manipulate Thread.

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  The last thing he saw was his arm, the one he'd reached through with Threads of Mana, exploding into a fine mist of blood and gore. When he woke, it was lying in a puddle of blood, his own blood, right in the same spot he'd been in before, not having left the alternate, haze-filled, copy of Earth.

  Luke had failed. Drawing in a ragged breath, he downed a mana potion and used Weaver's Renewal to restore the obliterated limb. That fixed the worst of the pain, but he still needed to grit his teeth just to sit back up. Spitting out more blood, Luke hunched forward, putting his forehead on his knees.

  "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay."

  Prodding with gentle fingers, he found his skull intact and breathed a sigh of relief. Even with Weaver's Perception telling him it was fine even before he touched it, Luke hadn't dared trust it. That feeling. It was like his brain burned out of his head in an instant. That, much more so than losing his arm, had made Luke fear for his life.

  "You're fine. All good. Super-duper," he breathed, rocking a little back and forth. "Holy shit."

  Touching a live wire in some power plant would have been a more pleasant time, but at least he'd lived through it. It had been a near thing, but he'd lived. That little experience pretty much put an end to the idea of going to another system to escape this one.

  "Not doing that again," he muttered.

  After a good while, Luke attempted to stand, but decided against it when his knees threatened to buckle under his weight. A little food and water settled his stomach, but it still felt like his body could fall to pieces at any moment.

  Luke: "Dot?"

  Outgoing messages are not possible at this time.

  "I'm beginning to hate these damn things," Luke said, taking the gem out to look at it, rolling the small, glittering stone between his thumb and forefinger. Not for the first time, he considered throwing it away to be done with it. Like last time, he decided against it. Once Alan was dead, their usefulness would return. Luke hoped it was Alan's doing, and not some item responsible, or other Integrated in the guild. Putting it away, Luke took another shot at standing and found himself able, if with some unsteadiness to his stride. Still, it felt good to leave the puddle of blood behind. He'd seen enough of his own blood to last a lifetime, but knew there would be more of it on the ground soon enough. The problem hadn't changed, nor had the solution. Luke would have to touch one of those threads again, and he'd need to do so soon. His friends needed him, Dot needed an explanation, and, more than anything, Alan needed to pay.

  Meditation. So much meditation that he wanted to throw his hands into the air and curse the world itself for forcing him to sit still to try and clear his head for hours on end. Also, that feeling did little to help. It wasn't something you could brute-force, either. There was no way trick yourself into being calm. You had to do the work. At least that was how it was for Luke. Perhaps he should ask around for more tips. Knowing that he was calming himself down just so he could touch something that might kill him didn't help. All in all, the conditions weren't favourable. This time, it took him no less than three attempts and a combined total of six hours to reach the state necessary to see the weave of The Geater System.

  To Luke's credit, he did it without being almost empty of mana. The danger was just too great, and he'd come a little too close to dying on his most recent attempt. There was just no way around it. He needed mana in the aftermath, no matter the outcome. Seeing the current system's weave was a quick and easy thing at that point, but looking deeper into the very thing that made up the sum total of existence wasn't. Not at all. Even with so much time, he'd still needed to be at twenty percent mana, where the low mana twinges turned into an ache, before he caught the first glimpse of the threads he was after. Still a marked improvement over the usual three percent

  So, there he was, lying down this time, eyes staring up into the gray haze that seemed to go on forever, when the threads he needed made their entrance, materializing out of nowhere. They'd been there all along, of course. He just needed the right mindset to see them.

  "There you are," Luke whispered.

  All of a sudden, a shiver ran up his spine, and his hands felt cold. Was this the way forward? Touching the thread almost killed him the last time. Hesitation made Luke's concentration waver, but he clawed it back, holding on with an iron grip. Time had to be running out at this point, he'd been at this for so long. Then again, doing the same thing as before would just lead down the same road, perhaps ending up with more than a brain on fire and exploding limbs. There was something more to this, something he was missing. But what?

  Another shudder ran through him. This time, it was not due to cold climate or fear. No, it was a revelation. A smile crept into the corners of his mouth, and Luke let out the breath he'd been holding. He'd felt it. A twinge. Actually, it was more like a whisper coming from beyond the horizon. Silent beyond silence, but it was there. Not a discovery perhaps, but an echo of one. Then another. As he leaned into the sensation, letting go of all anxieties, stresses, and fears, his mind touched upon something. Touched upon someone. Many someones.

  "Dot," he whispered. "Ray. Curtis. Hannah."

  All of them. Every single Integrated he'd healed. One by one, they floated into his perception, no more than a tickle on his senses, but one he grasped for. They were far off in a literal sense, perhaps, but in his mind, Luke was not reduced to grasping for things inside the reach of Threads of Mana. Within himself, he ruled supreme. Focusing on those motes of feeling, he honed in. Goosebumps broke out all over his body. Concentration wavering, Luke extended his reach to pluck at an echo, coming away with the faintest of threads.

  Holding on to his connection to Earth, Luke extended a thread of mana and used Manipulate Thread. This one he could hold. Following along the thread of the person he'd picked, he found himself approaching one of the threads that made up the weave of The Greater System. Just like he had figured, the echo thread acted as a guide, showing him the way. Using Weavestep right away on the brittle little strand of an echo he'd found would result in nothing more than its disintegration.

  Luke touched the greater system thread with Manipulate Thread and used Weavestep, while still holding on to the echo thread for all he was worth. He would not let that go, no matter what. It was time to go back home.