Aria and Arthur stayed up through the night waiting for updates on Ethan’s condition. Arthur wasn’t sure what to do to help the situation, so he returned to his inner thoughts as usual. Lucas contacted them again later in the night about changes occurring in the gnome capital. Arthur didn’t pay much attention to it because the messages were more for Aria and Ethan.

In the morning a nurse came to visit where they were staying and brought them over to the clinic to see Ethan. He lay in a small bed and was conscious. Bandages wrapped his stomach and a tray of leftover breakfast sat next to the table.

“It is nice of you to come and visit,” said Ethan.

“I am glad you made it through the attack,” said Aria.

“I am as well,” said Arthur.

“It will take a bit more to kill me, but that knife really did suck.”

“How was the other guard that was attacked?” asked Aria.

“He will be ok. He did lose two fingers to the poison though. It is better than dying I guess. So, when are we leaving?”

“Are you sure you want to head back to the outpost so soon? You just got up.”

“I’ll be fine as long as I can sit in a cart during the journey. It will delay us a bit, but it won’t be as bad as if we wait for all of my symptoms to disappear. At this point in time, I am more tired than anything else. I had to stay up most of the night as the medical staff worked their magic to pump the poison out of me and stop its effects. That reminds me that we should also pay that merchant a good bonus next time we see him. If it weren’t for his help I am not sure if I would have made it to this clinic.”

“I will see if I can do that for you and I will find you a small cart so we can get on our way. If you want to be so insistent then any pain you feel as we travel back will be your fault.”

“And I will accept the blame. I’ll be waiting here till then. It is not like I can get anywhere else.”

Aria and Arthur left the clinic center and found their way to the merchant’s shop. Once there they paid for a cart that could be pulled by the one horse they had in conjunction with her summoned horse. They also thanked the merchants for their help and cooperation in the unfortunate situation. The merchants later investigated and found that the body of their old guard had been murdered and dumped shortly after they left the outpost for outpost 14.

The merchants helped attach the cart while Arthur left to get Ethan. He helped Ethan walk to The cart’s destination and carried him part of the way. They also bought some additional food and medicine for the trip before setting off. Aria relayed another update to Lucas before they left. Their trip back took the entire day and went into the night before they returned. Ethan only complained a little but made do with traveling in the cart.

When they returned Ethan rested a bit more and was helped by one of the researchers who knew healing magic. After another two days, he was walking around like normal but was told repeatedly to not go crazy with magical or physical activity. It was also after these two days that another delivery came. This time by a sole runner who came from the capital.

The runner brought the material that Ethan had requested. The vine rope that was needed to make repairs and adjustments to Arthur’s golem body. Ethan inspected the rope before sending the runner off. The rope had already been finely woven and stood at about his own height. The entire rope was wrapped in another material that he found insulated the rope from external magical energies.

‘Perfect. It is just what we need. Now I just need to go through the painful process of installing it,’ thought Ethan.

Ethan called Arthur over to the cellar to operate. As usual, he had Arthur lay down and not move or perform magic which could disrupt the installation. Ethan broke the rope into two pieces. The first would go directly from the metal core near a mana output rune to his side with the new runes that had recently been installed. The next piece would then go from his side to his palm.

This new pathway made with the mana rope and wires would then create a new pathway that Arthur could channel dark and light mana spells specifically. It would just require him to focus on moving the creation of the spells into the new pathways. The longer pathways would increase the casting time required for the spells but being able to cast them was more important than how long they took.

It took some time to feed each of the pieces into Arthur. It required Ethan to have Arthur disconnect his lower half from his upper body. He used a tool and Arthur’s help to make the cut. Due to Arthur’s changing abilities, he still felt the connection to the rest of his body despite the separation. Ethan had to move the legs out of the way as he reached into Arthur’s body to make the changes.

“I’ve almost got the first part in. Sorry for the wait. Does anything feel off?” asked Ethan as he was working.

“You don’t need to worry. Nothing seems off yet, but I have not tried feeling everything within me quite yet.”

“Then we will just have to wait for you to try using some magic. There I got it.” He brought his head out. “The first part is stuck in and sealed. How does it feel for now?”

Arthur brought his senses back to the inside of his body where he felt for the new changes. He could feel them immediately because it had not fully integrated into his ‘body system’ and was slightly different than the usual ropes and wires within himself.

“I can feel it in there. Give me a moment to adjust to it.”

Arthur tested passing mana through it, and it felt fine despite the mana having nowhere to go after reaching the end of the new path. When he passed his mana through it he felt his body acknowledging it and integrating it into himself.

“It is done. You can continue.”

“Ok. This one will take a bit longer.”

Ethan returned to Arthur’s side and began feeding the rope inside him after securing the rope at the interior of his side. Once he finally reached Arthur’s shoulder it was much easier as there was a new access point to bring the wiring through and the size of the rope could be changed to fit the smaller body parts. With almost twice as much time required compared to the first part, he finished the installation. Next, the lower half was brought back, and Arthur reattached himself to his missing half.

He found it an interesting experience at least. As Ethan worked he tested the missing half secretly and found that he could still sense everything from his lower half and could move his legs if he wanted to. It was much more compared to when he got separated from his finger. Once Arthur had fully reintegrated himself with the rest of his metal body he stood up once more.

“How does it feel? If you are ready can you try casting [Illuminate] for me?”

“Sure.” Arthur felt around in his body and performed the same adjustments to the second part as he had the first before casting the spell.

He focused on pushing the mana and his creation of the spell through the new pathways instead of his usual ways. His spell came out about two seconds slower than usual, but it was a success. He felt no pain or strange occurrences as the ball of light left his palm and lit up the room.

“Good. Good. Now would you like to try a new spell?”

“Yeah. What one would you suggest?”

“Well, I was hoping that you could learn [Lesser Heal]. It wouldn’t help with wounds like the one I had but it is useful in other ways. It seals smaller wounds and cleanses them and numbs larger wounds. Why don’t you try using it on me? It is on the third page of the book.”

“Are you sure I can use it on you?”

“Of course. Once you are confident that the spell won’t dissolve after casting you can use it on me. It won’t work otherwise. You won’t know if it worked otherwise.”

“Ok then.”

Arthur grabbed the book from the shelf and looked over the first page. He began memorizing it in his mind and started going over the suggestions on the side as he prepared the spell in his mind. He had to stop at several points and start over until he got it right. After a time, he knew it was ready and cast it using his new pathways.

The spell created a white golden glow over Ethan’s body. Ethan sighed in relief as the spell worked to heal some of his minor injuries and numb his lingering pains.

“Congratulations. You learned your first healing spell."