Author's note: Sorry for not making any visible progress over the last days. Editing is still going on, but I'm doing so in Word (autocorrect ftw) and I want to update everything, including Chapter 1, in one go. Then there is also RealLife stuff. I wrote this (slightly shorter than usual) chapter in between. Next chapter will include a character sheet of Paul again, after a long time.

Chapter 18: Studying the Books

Kana, who apparently had not gone back to sleep after Paul had accidentally woken her up, sat up again and was watching the flying light curiously.

“Master, is that magic? I thought it was very hard and complicated” she had a slightly puzzled expression, but didn’t let the light out of her sight for even a tiny moment.

“Yeah, that’s magic. It looks like I have some kind of cheat skill and can learn it more easily than others."

“Very impressive. Master must be a genius” Kana closed her eyes and lowered her head towards Paul.

“Would be great if it was true, but I have to admit it was not that hard” while saying so, Paul opened the [Menu] to take a look at his newly acquired spell.

When he opened the “Spells” tab, a message popped up.

[You have memorized your first spell. Spells can be renamed and sorted. Default naming is original spell-meaning and default order is by seniority of acquisition.]

Paul closed the info box and looked at the spell description.

[Flying Star-Light. Creates a small light made of condensed mana that floats above the caster and illuminates the surroundings. Spell cost: 30 MP]

30 mana points were two fifths of Paul’s current mana pool, so casting it twice in a row means getting a headache. Paul was not very impressed by his own capabilities. He had to focus on improving his casting capabilities from now on. Having this impressing learning ability and not being able to cast spells properly would be a waste.

While wondering whether to spend more points into intelligence or rather improve wisdom as well, Paul remembered the jewellery he took from the dead witch. He took them out of his bag and examined them closely.

[Gemmed Silver-Necklace

Necklace

Base material is silver. The pendant has a small blue gemstone in its centre. Seems to radiate a small amount of magic.]

[Complex Silver-Ring

Ring

Made of several thin silver strings, intricately woven into each other. Shows traces of magic.]

When Paul put on the ring, his intelligence stat rose by one. Not that much, but compared to his base value, it was 7.5%, or 5 MP. Still slightly underwhelming.

For the necklace, discerning its effect was less easy. His stats did not change while wearing it. Paul thought about the book dealing with enchanted items, but using it would cost a lot of time. He could do that later, so Paul took off the necklace for now.

First, he would check the contents of the other books, hoping they were filled to the brim with magic spells.

He had two books left to check. One was very thick, the other one was quite the opposite and clad in leather.

He opened the thick book. After reading the introduction, he was disappointed. It seemed to be a work on court manners and etiquette, aimed at young noble women, high-class servants and teachers. Skimming through it, it seemed to cover every topic, like dress-codes, table manners, popular dances and what should be considered an appropriate gift for different types of occasions and recipients.

Not a single shred of valuable information. If Paul had to impersonate a noble or if he ever got a title, he might give it a read, but reading it now would be a waste of time.

While skimming over the pages, the light above his head dissolved. It had been there for about 15 minutes, which was also roughly the time it took Paul to regenerate his mana. A useful spell, at least to a certain extent. Using it with other people around would draw too much attention, especially in a hostile environment.

Paul tossed the etiquette book aside and opened the last one. The pages were thick and made of a sturdy material, the ink was of a very dark, violet colour.

The first few pages contained information and lore regarding one of the gods, Kohmjir. His appearance was not clear, as he seemed to be changing it often, but he appeared to be a male god.

He liked playing tricks on people and gods alike, sometimes those were rather cruel, but sometimes they were just amusing. Kohmjir’s motives were never clear though and he was called the Trickster God. He had some popularity among shadier people like fraudsters and spies, but also among young people because of the comedic value of the tales associated to him and the powerful love blessings he and his priests sometimes used.

After a couple of pages Paul finally found what he was looking for, a spell written in the gods’ language. The spell consisted of five letters, which meant “Fall in love with me like crazy”. The description on the opposite page said that the spell (called “Lover’s Charm”) had an immediate effect on the target, evoking very strong romantic feelings and trust towards the caster. It kept full effect only for a few hours and vanished after a day, but would strengthen lingering, natural romantic feelings. It could be overwritten by other types of spells manipulating emotions, by spells neutralizing magic effects or by openly hostile acts of the caster against the target. The death of the caster would also cancel the charming effect prematurely. The description also mentioned that the target could be any type of creature, but that strong beings, humans and creatures alike, were less likely to fall under the effect, or would snap out of it quickly.

It was obvious that this was the spell the witch used on Paul. It was a powerful spell, and Paul was once again thankful for the lucky hit he delivered at that critical moment.

Paul thought about the possibility to use it on Kana to test it out, but decided to try something else first. It would become a problem if he had to actually cast spells first to learn them, especially for things like fire bolts or other destructive magic.

Paul focused on the complex letters, like he had done before and read them out in his mind. He felt a short but intense headache, but nothing else happened. The pain vanished as quickly as it came.

He apologized to Kana in his mind, but he was sure she wouldn’t mind much. He also swore to himself that he would not take advantage of the situation, at least not for a day. If she would still have feelings for him afterwards, he might… Paul stopped himself from fantasizing and extended his hand towards Kana, then read the spell out loud.

“●●● ●●”

The headache came and went again, this time more intense than before. Paul checked his mana, but he had not lost any. He noticed a message in his log.

[Failed to cast spell. Insufficient mana.]

Paul checked the spells tab and the charming spell had not been added. This was bad. If Paul couldn’t learn the spells he could not use right away, there was no point in hurrying to get his hands on tomes he could not keep indefinitely.

He continued reading the small book. Apart from the love magic, there was a second spell. It meant, “I am friendly and mean no harm” and consisted of five symbols, like the love spell.

According to the description it was a spell with a comparable effect to the Lover’s Charm spell, but was considerably weaker in effect. If used on an enemy, the target would ignore the caster most of the time, or might even be helpful to a certain extent, for example by giving directions. It could also be used on reluctant servants to temporarily raise loyalty and obedience, or on already friendly soldiers to make them carry out commands which would be considered dangerous.

It was quite unsuspicious to use and in many cases the target would not even notice that it had been under the effect, making it popular amongst spies. The drawback was a short effect, ranging from 30 minutes to a few hours at best and it would be cancelled if the caster behaved highly suspicious, like committing illegal acts. Its weak effect made it less strenuous on the caster. It could be cast several times in a row by experienced magicians.

Paul tried to memorize the spell without casting it again.

[Spell: I am Friendly and mean no Harm has been registered]

Good. Paul checked the spell description.

[I am Friendly and mean no Harm. Makes the caster appear friendly in the targets eyes. Trust and loyalty of allies will be raised. Spell cost: 50 MP]

Kana was sitting on her bed and had pulled out her sword, polishing the metal. His new spell seemed harmless enough, so Paul decided to try it on her.

When he activated the spell from the [Menu], the letters showed up in his vision. He extended his arm towards the wolf girl and chanted the spell.

“● ●●● ●” his mana was reduced by a large amount.

Kana looked up towards Paul, with an expectant look.

“Kana, do you feel strange or anything?”

“No, I’m feeling well. It looked like Master wanted to say something to me, but then he didn’t”

The effect of her binding spell were already very strong, so a slight raise in loyalty should not make any difference. Paul felt bad for using his unsuspecting servant as a guinea pig.

“Good. Don’t mind me, just continue what you were doing. I also have a whetstone for sharpening your sword, feel free to use it if you like.”

“Yes, Master.” Kana bowed her head, then went back to maintaining her blade.

After confirming that there were no more spells in the small spell book, Paul put it aside. He considered bringing the necklace to the merchant dealing with magic items, but was worried to appear too suspicious. He had visited him looking like a beggar before, and the necklace was taken from a criminal.

Paul took a closer look at the necklace again. There were small runes engraved on the back of the pendant, and the stone looked like it was glowing whenever a bit of light shone upon it. He took out the book dealing with item enchantments and started reading, looking for clues to identify the effect by himself.

The book was lengthy and moderately interesting, so time passed quickly. Paul decided to take Kana out for lunch and perhaps visit the temple again for another treatment. He had Kana switch into a more comfortable outfit, including the tight leather pants, and made her wear a cloak with hood, so she didn’t stand out too much.

After letting the wolf girl eat as much skewered meat as she wanted, while getting strange looks from the stall owner because he ordered them as raw as possible, they headed towards the temple.

The priest was there, but he refused to do another healing session right away. He had been called by the lord to treat a noble, so he was exhausted and still had to take care of other visitors of the temple. Paul thought that he was probably called to treat the young noblewoman Charlotte, but considering the cause of her injuries he didn’t ask how it went.

Paul and Kana went back to the inn. He gave Kana some simple tasks involving cleaning and maintaining the loot he had brought back to the inn. Paul wanted to help her raise her self-esteem, and there wasn’t much she could do wrong with those tasks. While Kana was busy, he went back to reading the book on magic items and their production.

He had already figured out the meaning of most of the runes, and was trying to identify the exact nature of the stone. The spell that had been cast on the necklace did not leave a specific mark, but the combination of runes, materials and the design limited the available enchantments to only a handful.

It had already gotten dark outside, and the Flying Star-Light spell came in handy. Finally, Paul figured out that the specific makeup of the necklace and combination of runes limited the spells to simple magic regeneration spells. As it didn’t raise his wisdom stat directly, Paul deduced that it probably enhanced the effect of his base stats, like mana regeneration +20%.

While coming to this conclusion, Paul unlocked a skill, [Enchantment Understanding]. It looked useful, so Paul invested one of his three remaining stat points.

The book on enchantments had also a section explaining more dangerous forms of items. There were some which were cursed, for example robbing the wearer of their ability to recover from injuries and fatigue or driving them into madness over time. Some transformed physical strength into mental capabilities or vice versa. Luckily, most curses could be perceived rather easily if one paid attention. The book described it as a negative or even dreadful aura coming from the item. Paul would thoroughly check everything he found from now on and not carelessly trying everything on to check for status changes.

After spending a skill point on [Enchantment Understanding], the item descriptions changed slightly.

[Gemmed Silver-Necklace

Necklace

Base material is silver. The pendant has a small blue gemstone in its centre. The enchantment slightly supports the wearer’s ability to regenerate mana.]

[Complex Silver-Ring

Ring

Made of several thin silver strings, intricately woven into each other. Magically enhances the wearer’s intelligence by a very small amount.]

Paul had a minor headache, not from mana depletion, but from staying up all night reading and concentrating, so he quickly fell asleep after figuring out the enchantment.