Learning to circulate mana hadn’t been too bad, Heidie thought. She was unaware that generally waking an individual's mana reserves from dormancy was the difficult bit, and Lome’Matar had already accomplished this in the process of healing her. As for the process of cultivation, the demon had simply detailed a process for circulation of mana that seemed too easy to be true and requested Hiedie sit down, holding his head by the horns to start. The mud-covered student sat on a departed classmate’s backpack and closed her eyes in introspection.

Her reserves were hard to miss. The bubbly well of energy felt good at first; A comforting warmth in the center of her chest. Lome’Matar’s instructions were for Heidie to will the energy to move and to circulate throughout her entire body, imagining a series of channels leading to and from every limb. “Organs too, if you can do it”, Lome’Matar had said. Surprising Heidie, the energy moved easily, bending to her will. Immediately after accomplishing movement the bubbly energy stopped feeling nice. More like a hot energy drink or two was bubbling inside her solar plexus under high pressure, radiating throughout her body and vibrating with uncomfortable hyperactivity. Frankly, it was starting to feel vaguely like she was being electrocuted.

Holding Lome’Matar’s remains, she was doing her best to circulate mana to her palms, then to the severed head. Lome’Matar assured Heidie he could do the rest after she got the mana there. Heidie focused on her task and the energy moved where she needed it to, but then it started to run rampant. It was moving faster and faster! Defying her control and causing searing pain throughout her entire body. Trying not to panic Heidie thought about her demonic teacher’s words: “Just don’t hold back and it will be fine.” Oh, you absolute shitter, Heidie thought. She was paralyzed, unable to speak, so she settled with glaring at the demon in her lap.

Lome’Matar was really pushing things a bit. Trying to charge a real magical artifact in this way would undoubtedly destroy it and possibly lead to injury via explosive artifact shrapnel and physical trauma. Even so, Lome’Matar’s head was no ordinary artifact. He was confident he could charge his reserves up to their rather low capacity and disperse the rest of the mana into more intricate spells before any damage was done. He couldn’t quite guarantee Heidie would remain completely unscathed, but it would work out.

In the interests of time he had neglected to lead her through a few critical steps no sane teacher would overlook before making their student circulate. Namely tutelage on general matters relating to controlling circulation, what mana channels were and why their development prior to circulation was important, and how to stop. What she was attempting would undoubtedly lead to serious injury if unattended. Possibly death, but certainly serious injury. This kind of circulation would not end until the entity the mana was circulating through was unconscious. The main hangup here was that circulation in this manner would be extremely painful and the nature of the process made it quite difficult to fall completely unconscious.

She’ll be fine, Lome’Matar thought.

Some ordeals were unavoidable. Immediate safety from the denizens of the woods was a greater concern. They wouldn’t shy away from his attempts to frighten them with mana probes forever, not the dangerous ones, anyway.

Lome’Matar was sure Heidie would pull through with his help. He had a plan, after all. He’d allow things to get just a little out of hand, then use the excess mana she was uncontrollably pumping into him to set the strongest ongoing regeneration spell he could manage on her. Incomparably stronger to the mediocre spell he'd used last night. Lome’Matar had vivisected and experimented upon countless thousands of humans and humanoids over his very long life. Healing wounds of all kinds was something he could manage; the knowledge a byproduct of an obsession to use the same materials for as long as possible. He was pretty sure that in this case permanent damage could be avoided.

After ensuring Heidie’s survival he would set up a temporary barrier around the clearing for protection. Blocking the way in or out for a few days. A secondary barrier would prevent the smell of the soon to be rotting bodies in the clearing from leaking to any flesh hungry monsters on the outside, deceive any eyes trying to peer into the clearing, and prevent anyone from sensing the ridiculous amount of mana which was about to start leaking into the air. Then Lome’Matar would play it by ear. There should be enough time to get everything done before risking death or irreversible brain damage. Maybe, just maybe after the critical things were out of the way, the demon would even have enough time to power through the roaring white noise of Heidie’s circulation and write a few new memories to get himself a devoted servant. If not then it wasn’t too big a deal. He would take her on as a student for a century or two. Either way; It mattered little to Lome’Matar. However the dice rolled he would get what he wanted.

Ah Lome’Matar let out a cry as he felt the ecstasy of mana entering his head, charging his reserves to full nearly instantaneously. He began work on the spell to ensure Heidie survived her first attempt at circulation.

The aroma of burning human flesh entered Lome’Matar’s nostrils, originating from a paralyzed, violently shaking Heidie. She looked to be having a seizure. The demon hurried and finished imbuing the girl with a continuous regeneration spell. None too soon, either. Blood and the sound of grinding teeth were coming from Heidie’s mouth and she was convulsing wildly as mana tore up her internals as fast as the regeneration spell could fix them. Lome’Matar’s eyes glowed and arcane sigils sprang to life, hanging in the air between Heidie and Lome’Matar’s severed head. He was pushing mana out into the symbols as quickly as it came in. Soon, the barriers would have enough power.

Lome’Matar watched rather alarming amounts of blood dripping from Heidie’s face. He was becoming concerned he shouldn’t push things too much farther. She’d definitely bitten her tongue. Hopefully she didn’t breathe too much blood in. The sigils in the air glowed and the barriers completed. Lome’Matar put his soon-to-be student to sleep, ending her convulsions. Lome’Matar’s head fell from her grip and bounced a few times before sticking upside down by his horns. Heidie’s body collapsed from her seat and into the drying mud, totally unconscious. She was still steaming a bit though, what strands of hair she had that weren’t caked with dried mud were standing on end. It was of no consequence. The regeneration spell would last a while yet. She’ll be fine, Lome’Matar told himself for a second time, Now, to prepare a crash course in basic sorcery. Lome'Matar thought. The barrier should last a few days so she'll be safe, and more importantly, not going anywhere. Lome’Matar smiled widely. Burning emerald eyes stared out at nothing in particular. Why hadn’t he ever taken a student before? This was going to be fun.