Blue magic swirled across Jake’s vision. The world shifted an inch down. His stomach lurched for an instant, and his feet hit the ground again.

Portals magic skill increased 0 → 1!

First teleport, successful. An inch into the air in the same spot, but at least he was in one piece.

Cara offered up her hand. “High… five?”

He chuckled and clapped his palm against hers. “A little premature, don’t you think?”

“You’re right. We don’t know if I’m getting my bow or not.”

Heat flared in his chest. Seriously?

She flashed a grin and giggled. She was kidding.

Mostly. Was having a top-quality bow really that bad just because someone else made it?

Her smile wavered. “Can you do it?”

“Maybe.”

Stability (0/5): Increases stability of Portals magic by 20% per level.

Power (0/5): Increases potency of Portals magic by 20% per level.

Quick Cast (0/5): Increases casting speed of Portals magic by 20% per level.

Accuracy (0/5): Increases accuracy of Portals magic by 20% per level.

Without a Trace (0/5): Increases difficulty of tracking your Portals magic by 50% per level.

Cast in Motion (0/5): Decreases the accuracy and movement speed penalty from casting Portals magic while moving by 20% per level.

Accuracy, or Stability? Portals was a tricky aspect to cast, but he had done it once and it would only get easier with more practice and better Spellcrafting. He wouldn’t be pushing Portals spells to the limit any time soon.

He’d already missed the courtyard door twice today. A Teleport wouldn’t be so forgiving. It had to be Accuracy. That left only one problem. “I can do it, but… I can’t teleport you.”

Her brow wrinkled. “I’m not staying here.”

“I toned down the one Jeremy taught me, but it’s a self-cast.”

She tilted her head and continued to stare. Did she think he was lying to protect her?

“I haven’t worked out how to craft it. Yet.”

A smirk spread across her face. “None of us are perfect. Good thing I’m fast. So, the door?”

“It isn’t held in place by magic. A well-placed blast should do the trick.”

“Blasting open the door? I like it!” She rubbed her hands together and gestured across the courtyard. “Target practice awaits.”

It was too far away to tell which way the door opened. Hopefully inward. The alternative would require striking beneath the door with a spherical blast and hoping it was enough to blow it open.

The Force, Projectile, and Blast aspects combined easily. He tugged at his mana and poured it into casting the new spell. Tension flickered in his arms. What if he’d missed a trap?

“Ronka!” A white bolt streaked forward. Bang! The blast exploded harmlessly against the wall left of the door. “A warm-up. Doesn’t count.”

“One!”

Glaring at her only provoked a bigger grin. He shook his head and refocused on the target. She couldn’t count misses if he hit. “Ronka!”

Bang! Higher pitched this time. Direct hit. The door swung open. His heart soared. The door swung back, thudding closed.

“Two!”

He gestured to the door and held up his hands. “I hit!”

“Door looks shut to me.”

“That it does.” Jake smiled. He wouldn’t be firing the next shot. “Let’s see how well you do.”

***

No matter how Jake turned the Weak Hold spell in his mind, it still didn’t make any sense. A vast array of threads, almost none of which made any sense. What did they do? Why were they there? Why did the spell barely hold together, despite being pitifully weak and costing an arm and a leg in mana?

Haphazard mana flows collided and canceled each other out. It wasn’t a feedback loop, at least, but, really, why? Was he missing something? He shook his head. No, probably not. No wonder Jeremy had called it useless. Hopefully, whoever had made this hadn’t given up their day job.

A knife twisted in his gut. If they hadn’t made it as a deliberate joke, the Spellcrafter had probably blown themselves up. A shiver ran down his spine, the pain still fresh in his mind. That wasn’t a pleasant way to go.

Maybe they had been a Hero too? A quiver fluttered in his chest. Any of the spells he’d learned might be older than human civilization.

Cara bounded back into view. “Are you ready yet?”

He held up his hand. She’d taken long enough learning the Blastbolt spell; she could wait a few minutes. He tossed aside the Weak Hold spell and started from scratch, making sure the new spell had the same projectile speed and a slightly longer cast time than Blastbolt.

There. Warmth radiated through him. A stronger spell, lower mana cost, more stability, and higher potency. He tugged at his bottom lip. Creating a spell better in every way shouldn’t have been that easy, not without training of any kind. Had he missed a rule?

His parched throat demanded relief. He sipped at his canteen. Cool water flowed down his throat, soothing the discomfort for only a moment.

Most Spellcrafters would have been done the first time they blew themselves up. Those that didn’t would have to work far harder to gain the same skill levels he had. Even if no one had trained him, the wood elven book had gotten him started. And that was before thinking about transferable skills; it wasn’t so different from learning a new programming language.

Still bouncing, Cara leaned forward, clapped her hands together, and grinned. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” He paused and checked over the spell one last time. “Ready. We should stand on opposite sides.”

She nodded and positioned herself as far away as she could. She’d seen what could go wrong.

He buffed them both with a longer duration Absorb, giving her plenty of time to zero in on the target. “Start casting on three?”

Another nod. She planted her feet wide and locked her gaze on the target. Her lips pressed together and her jaw clenched. “One. Two. Three.”

The casting flowed smoothly, motion and mana working together as one. A beautiful cast, a shame it would be wasted. Cara would need a few shots to get to grips with Blastbolt. He focused on the door.

“Ronka!” Cara’s Blastbolt hissed through the air.

“Firka!” A shimmering white projectile flew from Jake’s hand.

A high-pitched bang. The door swung open.

Clink! His shimmering white bolt dissipated against the stone, a foot wide.

“Three!” Her grin was back, wider than ever.

He gave her the look, as ineffective as ever. Did she have any sense of decorum? “Alright, what’s the trick?”

“You’re focusing on a spot, right?”

“Yeah, the middle of the door.”

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “Pick an exact spot. You see that grain, the big one, right in the middle?”

“You expect me to pick out individual grains, from here?”

Her mouth opened and shut again. “Sorry. Your Dexterity will be part of it, too. That plays into accuracy. Again?”

He nodded. No way he was missing again. “One. Two. Three.”

“Ronka!”

“Firka!”

Bang! The door swung open.

Clonk! White shimmered across the door and it froze.

A shiver ran through him. No celebrations yet. The door was open, but traps still lined the courtyard. Traps that Cara would have to run past. He swallowed. “Ready?”

She blinked, pasted on a smile, and crouched just shy of the first trap danger zone. “Ready.”

“As soon as I finish casting, run.” His chest closed in around him. If he’d worked out how to craft Teleport spells, she wouldn’t be stuck doing this. If. He sighed and cast a short, high potency Absorb spell upon her. “Go!”

Her coiled legs exploded. She shot forward. A fireball hissed behind her, missing by a foot. A second, third, fourth, fifth fireball, each missing by less and less.

Ice filled his chest. He clenched up, his breath held. She wasn’t going to make it. He wouldn’t look away.

She passed a trap and stopped on a dime. Jake’s heart skipped a beat. Fire rushed behind her.

She stepped back. A fireball flew an inch in front of her. Could she make it?

Bait, evade, advance. His heart pounded, threatening to explode with her every step.

The Absorb shimmered and died. She was taking too long. A single slip, a single mistake—

He gulped. She’d make it.

Three to go. Two. He clenched his eyes shut. One.

“Your turn!”

He peeked out. There she was, grinning and waving as if nothing had happened. A cascade of muscles loosened their grip and the air in his lungs rushed for freedom. “I’ll be right behind you.”

What was a single spell compared to what she just did? He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He could do this. Reopening his eyes, he focused on the room beyond the door. Cara darted to the side, clearing the path.

The traps didn’t matter, only the spell, and focusing on the destination. Reddish-brown panels lined the back wall. The floor was polished, some kind of marble, perhaps. He held himself apart from both in his mind. The target destination was above the floor, not into it.

Above the floor. Between the walls. Center of the room. He beckoned his mana and wove it into the spell, non-Euclidian goto jumps and all.

Above the floor. Between the walls. Center of the room. The spell sealed. “Raka-fa!”

Blue streaks flashed by. Everything lurched and span. Vision blurred. His stomach heaved. He doubled over and gagged, barely holding it down.

He blinked, and the world drifted back into focus. Wooden panels flanking a doorway leading out to a gatehouse. A faintly shimmering wooden door. He chuckled and shook. The right place. He pulled his hand to his stomach. How the hell had Jeremy gone straight into battle after that?

“Err…” Cara held her finger up, paused, and brought her hand back to her chin. She nibbled on her fingertip and avoided his gaze. “I might have just remembered… something?”

He turned, and a groan rumbled from his belly. Whatever it was, it could wait.

“Whenever Jeremy teleported, he always ended up facing the same way.” Her head tilted up and away. “I think so, anyway.”

Another round of groans forced themselves out. Something to do with angular momentum, maybe? “I’ll try that next time.”

That was more than enough feeling sorry for himself. He pulled himself upright. Other than them, the room was empty. The wooden panels—mahogany, perhaps—continued around the entire room. No doors besides the one they’d come through. No furniture, no library, no nothing.

One way in, one way out. He frowned and shook his head. “What are we missing?”

Cara bounced around the room, touching and feeling the walls in random places. “What’s there to miss?” She paused, looked around, headed to a corner of the room. “Maybe it’s invisible.”

She started walking along the edge of the room. A search pattern. Jake started at the opposite end of the room and worked in. If there was anything invisible, they’d find it.

They came face to face in the middle of the room. Nothing. He patted her on the shoulder. “It was a good idea.”

“Didn’t work.” She frowned and her gaze darted around the room. “There has to be something!”

The walls were, as expected, heavily enchanted to protect them. Beyond that, Discern Magic came up empty. Archaeologist’s Sight continued prodding at his awareness, proudly informing him that it was rather strange to have an empty room like this.

Tell me something I don’t know.

No response. The prodding stopped, at least. Why would they protect an empty room? What did the Battlemages want? Combat? Spells? Gold?

A challenge.

Hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. How did he know that? It wasn’t an unreasonable conclusion, but he knew it to be true. Cultured Explorer? He stiffened up. It had to be.

At least that was more useful than informing him an empty room was weird. They wanted a challenge—what if he gave them one? “Ready yourself. I have a really bad idea.”

She notched an arrow and grinned. “I love bad ideas.”

“Why does that make me even more worried?” He stood in the center of the room, facing away from the door. Flutters filled his stomach. Would it be worse if it failed, or if it worked? “Order of the Battlemage, I come as a challenger. Test me.”

Silence. Was there even anyone left to hear it? Were they already plotting how to strike?

Words lit up on the back wall. English words, bright as the midday sun yet soothing to look at, without even a glimmer of magic.

The Order of the Battlemage welcomes you, challenger.

Battlemages must master many disciplines.

Tactics

Insight

Evasion

Farsight

Prowess

Excellence is life. Descend, and prove your worth.

Prove his worth, and then what? A tingling jitter spread across his chest. What rewards could a Battlemage temple bestow? Whatever it might be, he wasn’t there yet. “It’s in English.”

Cara raised an eyebrow. “Wood Elvish for me.”

An illusion—Discern Magic couldn’t see it on the wall because it wasn’t there. Where was it? There, a small ball of magic, right on Cara’s forehead. Tiny, barely any mana to it. All too easy to miss.

She tilted her head and waved her hand in front of his face. “Hello?”

Shit. Stop staring! He jolted and dropped his gaze. “Sorry, there’s a…” He pointed to his own forehead. What to call it? “The illusion spell, I guess. Anyway, five disciplines, five tests?”

“That last one? Definitely evasion.”

Jake slowly nodded. How many more ways were there for this world to mess with his mind? “Tactics could have been getting into the keep. Insight, finding the way through the portcullis.”

“Right!” She paused and tilted her head. “Prowess has to be combat. What’s farsight?”

The instructions said to descend. Smooth marble covered the floor. No trap doors, no markings, no enchantments beyond the usual. His heart sank. “I have to teleport.”

Cara tilted her head. “Where?”

He pointed down.

“You’d be on your own. And you can’t see! What if it’s solid rock?”

“Farsight. That’s what the test is. Sight beyond sight.”

“You can do that?”

He smiled. “Not yet.” He pointed out the door. “The traps have a detection aspect.”

“And? That’s an enchantment, not a spell.”

“I’ve seen enough comparisons to convert them.” Probably.

Her eyebrows pulled together, and she tugged at her top lip. “You’re sure?”

The black hole in his gut said no. He put on a wide smile. “What’s the worst that could happen?” Death wouldn’t be the end, but what would his bargain be?

Her head tilted from side to side, and she shrugged. “Leave your pack, at least.”

“First, I need a nice, long look at one of those traps—up close and personal.”