When I turned fifty-seven, Felix died. I had been expecting him to live a little longer, with our Market stats supporting us. However, the year he turned fifty-four, he started having organ problems. One after another, his organs tried to shut down. I healed them, of course - but the problems kept returning. I couldn't find any reason for his organs to shut down. After investigating, I began to suspect that this was due to his nature as an artificial baby. The technology that created Felix had been experimental. It wouldn't be odd if there was some sort of flaw with his body. It also explained why the same problems kept reappearing, no matter how many times I healed them. I could fix the symptoms, but I had no way to fix the core problem. When I told Felix about my guesses, he shrugged, and said it wasn't a big deal either way. It seemed more like a relief to him when he finally died.

  To my and Anise's amusement, Felix sounded relieved when we spoke to him next. He said that life was better, now that he wasn't constantly in pain. He did complain about being unable to do anything but chat and watch TV, but he said it was still an overall win, as long as he wasn’t stuck for too long.

  A year later, Vance died. Vance had never gotten married, so he didn’t have any children or family members to see him off. Anise and I buried him without another soul to see him off. We spent the rest of the day in silence, to commemorate our friend and wish him well on his journey back to the Ocean of Souls. Felix and Sallia managed to wake up and say their own goodbyes a few hours after we finished burying him. Sallia only had a little bit to say about the subject. She had never actually met Vance, after all. Felix sounded quite a bit more sad about Vance's death.

  I could tell that Sallia felt a weird mix of emotions, based on what she projected through the communication bracelets. Part of what she felt was sadness, especially after Felix died… but there was also a big part of her that seemed excited. Sallia knew that the end was coming for us, and while she seemed to feel bad about it, she was also excited. I didn’t blame her. Being stuck in the void and only waking up for an hour or two every day must have sucked. Especially after living that way for fifty years. It sounded bizarre for one of my friends to hope I would die, but I could understand where Sallia was coming from. That next day, I told her not to feel bad about whatever she felt. In any case, we would all be together again soon.

  Iselde and Maela were the next ones to go. Maela had never married, but Iselde had married one of the former customers of Felix’s alchemy shop. She died surrounded by grandchildren. Both of them died on the same day. I watched both of them return to the ocean of souls, and hoped that they would have a safe journey to their next lives.

  I wondered if there was anything I could do for the souls of the departed, but couldn’t think of anything I could do. I had no idea how to help souls move through the ocean of souls, or how to help people reincarnate. It was something I decided to look into it next time we were in the Market. With any luck, it might even give me inspiration for how to improve my own alteration abilities further. I had spent a lot of time this life researching how to enhance my shaping, but had run into a wall after we moved to Zanna. I suspected that the Market had ideas to help us improve - if we could find them. I also thought that helping my dead friends would be nice. Maybe in the future, I could ‘bless’ people I cared about, giving them better births in future worlds?

  It was something to think about, and I found it occupying my thoughts more and more as I grew older.

  When I turned sixty-one, I got the final Achievement rewards I had been expecting.

  That reward brought me from 20,119 Achievement to 23,119 Achievement. And along with that reward, I got one final, unexpected reward.

  This reward brought me from 23,119 Achievement to 23,332 Achievement. It was a surprise Achievement reward, so any amount was welcome.

  With those two rewards, I felt that I had exhausted my final bits of potential in this world. There was almost nothing left for me to do. I intended to wait for Dr. Trish and Markus to die, so that I could spend the last bits of time I could with them. However, my intentions started to wane as time passed. They were unusually healthy. Dr. Trish was a doctor, and had always taken excellent care of herself. Markus was a former soldier, and had an excellent level of physical health for his age. Everyone else I knew was already dead, and Felix and Sallia were waiting. I didn't want to say goodbye to them... but I also felt pressured to move on.

  A year later, Anise got a final reward for strengthening Zanna, putting her at about 16,000 Achievement.

  Finally, I made my decision. I had enjoyed every moment of time with Dr. Trish and Markus in this world. I had cared about all of my friends. But everyone else had passed on. There were only two people still tying me to this world. I felt lonely and tired. I was ready to move on. Anise and I decided to end our lives in this world and return to the Market.

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  Besides, Felix and Sallia weren’t the only ones who were getting impatient as time passed by. At sixty-two years old, I felt like my body was a cracked clay jar. It was full of holes and tiny fractures. Every single day, my body creaked and groaned in pain. Even with my healing magic, it was a miserable experience. I couldn't do half of the things I found fun anymore. Even singing, my only hobby, started to get difficult. My voice just couldn't keep up with my needs anymore. I couldn't play board games or get a drink with Felix or Sallia, because they were dead. I couldn't do anything I loved. Age had seeped into my life, taking away everything that made me happy. If I was being honest with myself... I was looking forward to being young again. When we returned to the Market, we would get bodies that matched our 'perceived' age... and I was ready to be in my early twenties, and have a strong, athletic body and voice. I was ready to move on.

  As one final blessing to the town that had sheltered us for decades, I healed every single person in the town over the course of a month. I had zero expectation that I would get a reward for this - either monetary or Achievement related. I just wanted to leave a final gift behind before I died. This town had sheltered us for years, and I felt a final 'thank-you' was in order.

  Then, Anise and I told Markus and Dr. Trish that I felt my time was coming. We spent a final day together, just the four of us. We had a little picnic in the park in the middle of town. We spent the day laughing, reminiscing, and talking about everything we had been through together. It was a lovely day. That evening, I bid them farewell. The two had been good to me, and I hoped that they would live happily for the rest of their lives. They had earned it. I double checked my will, where I had left Trish and Markus most of my things and donated the rest to charity.

  Then, I asked Anise if she was also ready to go. After getting her confirmation, I used Extinguish on both of us. We passed away that night.

  It was time to return to the Market.

  I’ll be honest, we’re missing about 1000 Achievement from what Miria’s total is supposed to be here. This was what I got when I rechecked all of my math for this world. I am… confused. I’ve written the next 21 chapters on Patreon as if this math is correct, but I’ll also admit, I’m not entirely sure where this math discrepancy comes from. T_T. Life is a struggle T_T.

  Don’t forget: I will be taking the last week of December and the First Week of January off as a vacation. The last chapter for 2024 will be on December 20th (my time), and I will return around January 5th… ish. I mean, that’ll be the day I start working on rough drafts for chapters for the week, which will take a few days to clean up, edit, and release. The first actual chapter of next year is probably going to be around January 7th for Markets and Multiverses, and around Jan 10th for Budding Scientist. (I say around because timezones can make this a bit wonky, and sometimes I upload really late in the… morning, honestly. But you get the general idea).

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  Shameless plug - you can read 21 chapters ahead on patreon!