Over the next week, Arthur went with the others on hunting trips where they became more involved. He got used to working together with them to fight stronger beasts. Some of the beasts included more worgs, banshee monkeys, and a tribe of gnolls. Arthur found some of the fights harder than others. Kendra and the others in his group helped guide some of the encounters so he was pushed in new ways when fighting and got more comfortable fighting multiple enemies with his sword.

In between each of his hunting trips, Arthur returned to his sword trainer that started showing him new techniques and gave him an additional spell to use in his sword arsenal. It was [Shock Sword]. The spell coated his sword in lightning dealing extra damage to enemies. The spell also had the additional effect of having the lightning jump between nearby enemies causing additional damage.

In addition to that spell, Ethan started showing Arthur a few more spells he could use in battle while he waited to make those adjustments to his body. Arthur occasionally cast [Illuminate] and [Darken] using his new technique but did not move on to the other spells because he did not have a good use for them yet. For now, Arthur kept the book of spells Ethan had given to him in the cellar.

During the week Arthur learned other spells instead. ‘If I am not going to start learning the spells I need to kill the undead then I should learn other spells. Expanding my spell knowledge is a surefire way for me to increase my strength. I wish Zoe was here to help me. It isn’t the same now. Ethan and Andre have been nice, but she is one of my creators and met me first before most.’

Arthur spoke with Ethan and Andre, and they gave him some additional spells to work on learning in between his hunts while the others rested.

“We have come up with some spells that fit your fighting style that also doesn’t clash with the others. With these spells I also hope that your role within fights will become clearer to you,” said Ethan.

“And that this role will carry on when fighting against the undead. We don’t want these practices and training sessions to go to waste,” said Andre.

“This is a list of spells we feel that you should learn as soon as possible. There are ten here and you should pick five of them now to learn.”

Ethan handed over the list of spells written on a paper to Arthur. He took the paper from him and looked it over. The spells read:

‘1. Earthen Wall 2. Greater Shield 3. Sand Trap 4. Lesser Heal (To be taught once repairs are made). 5. Blizzard 6. Harden Shell 7. Bubble Barrier 8. Detect Magic 9. Multi Plasma Bolt 10. Multi Firebolt.’

“Ask us if any of those spells don’t make sense to you. Let us know. I would like to have Lesser Heal and eventually Greater Heal on that list as well, but things are what they are right now,” said Ethan.

Arthur looked over the list once more going over his options. When he was ready he read off the spells.

“Earthen Wall, Bubble Shield, Sand Trap, Lesser Heal, Multi Plasma Bolt.”

“Very Good. Andre will show you Bubble Shield and Multi Plasma Bolt and I will show you the other two,” said Ethan.

Andre stepped forward and began casting [Bubble Shield]. The spell activated and a pale blue bubble enveloped the three of them. The bubble stopped after a few seconds and fully solidified in a fifteen-foot radius around them.

“This spell is adaptable and can easily be changed based on the situation. This is the same for many other pure mana spells. This one is tinted blue because I have a slight water affinity in addition to my plant/nature one. This change can help the shield be more advantageous towards the affinity it is infused with. It is always a handy spell to have. You can also put more mana into it up to a point to increase its size.”

Andre went through the process of casting the spell again while the first was still up. He didn’t ever finish the spell so that Arthur could watch the process of the spell without disturbances. Arthur watched him cast it five times in total before he tried it himself.

As Arthur went through the process himself he realized that this spell was going to be much harder than the previous ones he had learned. It would best be described as trying to draw a perfect picture with both hands simultaneously as opposed to taking your time with one hand. He strained mental muscles he didn’t realize he had as he tried to cast it.

The first three times he was only able to get part of the way through casting the spell and had to let it fizzle out. Arthur watched and went through his past failures in his mind each time and tried to adjust each time. Some of the changes were simple while other times he noticed that he had gotten way off track.

Finally, on his fifth try through he successfully cast [Bubble Shield]. Andre’s spell had already dissipated a few minutes prior so Arthur refilled the open area with the new spell.

“Good job. How do you feel about that spell? Do you think you could cast it once more now?”

“It was very different when trying to cast the spell. I could feel the difficulty change for sure. I think I could cast it again, but it would not be as stable as this first one I just cast,” said Arthur to Andre.

“That is to be expected. It is still amazing that your memorization and understanding of the flows of magic can rival Grand Mages. I will give you another minute for both you and I to recover some more mana before I show you the next spell.”

“That would be good. Take your time. We don’t need to rush through this.”

Andre nodded and closed his eyes for a minute while absorbing more mana for his own use. After exactly a minute he opened his eyes and continued with Arthur.

“That is much better. Now Multi Plasma Bolt. As the name suggests this is a more powerful version of the same spell. It takes more mana to cast but has the added benefit of launching five bolts and they also have slight tracking ability. The tracking on the spell isn’t very strong but it can be useful depending on the situation. You will have to experiment more with the spell to determine its limitations.”

Andre and Arthur went through the same process as before to teach him the spell. Arthur found that this spell was easier than the last because he already knew the base spell. Arthur picked up on the spell quickly and soon was able to modify the original spell to summon five bolts instead of only one.

‘I can feel the difference between the spells and after casting them both side by side I can see how they compare in every detail. The new spell seems to create a wrapper around a larger plasma bolt spell that is then squeezed and morphed into five bolts instead. There are also the distinct parts of the spell that create the tracking portion. With this knowledge, I should be able to disassemble the spell and recreate it using my other basic elemental spells.’

Arthur moved on to the other two spells with Ethan. Earthen Wall and Sand Trap were fairly simple spells that expanded on his knowledge of earth spells. They used the concepts from [Rock Blast] he had learned previously and used the new concepts to manipulate the earth in new ways. Earthen Wall was a defensive spell that brought earth from in front of Arthur to the forefront. The spell then solidified the dirt or rock and reinforced it further so that it could take several hits.

The sand trap spell was an area of effect spell. It worked very similarly to the spell that the goblin shamans had used. The spell had a base radius that could be expanded or shrunk based on how much mana he used to power the spell. The spell also could be made to have several variations such as a quicker sink time, slowing effects, and the summoning of a familiar creature that would aid in the effectiveness of the spell.

Arthur learned the base spell first before learning the main two variation spells. The different variations did not take much longer for Arthur to learn. By the time that they were done the ground around them had become thoroughly stirred up and disturbed. Now that they were done Andre used a spell to resolidify the ground and cover it up with a nice field of grasses and flowers.

“Good job on getting through those spells today,” said Ethan. “Make sure to incorporate all of them into your fights over the next week. I have some other things to attend to so I will dismiss myself now.”

“Thanks, Ethan for your assistance today.”

“No problem. It is my job after all.” Ethan turned around and left Arthur on his own.

‘Those spells are all very useful and will help my team out more effectively. I don’t want to keep just barely winning each time with dents and tears in my exterior every time I fight. When I fight the dragon my team will be relying upon me, and I need to be able to protect myself and them because I can take more blows.’

---

The next day.

Lucas walked through the main road of the outpost when he heard the sounds of people approaching the front fences of the outpost. He rushed over to see who had arrived. When he got to the fence line he saw many gnomes from the outpost already gathered. Beyond them were more gnomes and a few elves with carts.

Once the caravan entered they began unloading their goods and cataloging their items. They began separating them out by type of good and then began designating who it was for.

“Items for Zoe. Items for Zoe,” a young gnome lady shouted from one side of the carts.

“I will pick them up for her.”

“What is your name?” she asked.

“Lucas. I should be marked to pick good in her stead.”

“Yeah, that sounds familiar. Let me go check. I will be back. Wait here.”

The gnome lady went back into the cart and rummaged through it before taking out some paperwork.

“Here it is. Sign this please and then you can take the stuff in these two bags.”

Lucas took the papers and signed them before handing them back to her. Lucas picked up the two bags and stepped away. At this point, the area was getting a bit crowded, so he moved away before looking through the two bags.

He opened the heavier bag first. It was filled with magical materials in various containers. He could see through some of the bottles for some of them. He didn’t find them very interesting, so he put it down for now. He would have to have the researchers look through them later. Lucas opened the next bag and found what he was looking for.

Wrapped in a leather sheath was a sword almost as tall as he was at four feet tall. Lucas took a peek at the blade and gasped. It shined and was almost reflective. It was beautifully made with an elven design and the base of the blade was covered in runes. After admiring it for a minute he covered it back up and slung it on his back while carrying the other bag of materials.

Lucas first dropped off the bag of materials to the researcher before heading off to find Arthur. It took him a few minutes to find Arthur. He found him practicing in the cellar on some targets. The targets would flash, and he sent off his [Multi Plasma Bolt] with precision each time.

“Hey, Arthur.”

“Hi, Lucas. What is it that you need?”

“I actually have something for you,” said Lucas as he slid the sword off his back. “Remember Zoe saying that she would get you a proper sword soon. Well, here it is. It was custom made for your size and should fit you well.”

“So, this is the sword I will slat the dragon with.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Here take it out and I can show you some of the rune designed onto it.”

Arthur picked up the sword and unsheathed it leaving the scabbard with Lucas. Arthur found the weight much heavier than his practice sword. He knew he would get used to it though. Arthur swung a few practice swings before letting Lucas go over it.

“Now the first runes on here are sharpness runes. It is standard practice to have them on all weapons. With the runes as long as you put some mana into them the sword will never dull. The next runes on the sword are active runes. When you activate them they will activate the spell [Astral Blade] on command. It comes in handy when you need to focus your concentration on other things during battle. Finally, the sword comes with another active rune called Minor Weight Adjustment. It allows you to increase or decrease the weight of the sword by about fifteen percent so that you can swing faster when needed or come down with a powerful blow when needed.”

“Thank you for this. I wish Zoe were here to see it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“If you see her or can send her a message can you let her know?”

“I don’t know when I will speak with her again, but if I get the chance to send her a message I will let her know how you are feeling. Her departure was also a sudden change for me.”

“Thank you again. This sword is amazing. Do you want to practice with me for a bit? I need to get used to this sword and you are a great sparring partner.”

“Yeah, I can help you. Let me go grab my stuff and I will be back down here in a minute.”

Lucas returned with his sword in a few minutes, and they began sparring. Their session lasted for over an hour as Arthur got used to wielding his new blade and using its functions. He found that the sword requested of him a constant trickle of mana to keep the sharpness rune passively engaged.

When he tried the gravity rune he found it unwieldy at first and had to get used to the timing required for it to work effectively. Each time he activated one of the two active runes he found that they had a slight delay that he had to adjust to.

As their spar went on the two of them found a flow to fight in and each of them got better at dealing with each other’s moves. Throughout the duration of their sparring, they did not speak much and only focused on trying to one-up each other as they fought.