When our group reached the cobblestone road, Kalistra spoke up. "Milord, I want to spend some time with the elves to discuss strategies to defend the hill," she said.

I turned back to the cat girl. "I'll be right inside. If you need me, just holler," I replied. I understood that she was really just making a polite excuse not to go near the magic barrier near the house. I was certainly sympathetic to her anger because the cemetery was nominally a public area where citizens and noncitizens should be allowed to visit. That included the house on the hill since it was paid for and maintained with taxes from the residents of Bristol. For the Church to create a barrier to prevent non-humans from entering, this reflected the disregard that this organization had towards the non-human races. Furthermore, by setting up this barrier, any non-human employees at the cemetery could no longer work there.

Kalistra, Bjoukin, and Bjoukia continued walking with us up the cobblestone road until we were three-quarters through. Kalistra then turned around and started surveying the area surrounding the road; the two elves followed her lead.

Soiretu paused for a moment when we reached his residence. The caretaker turned his head toward the west and checked the position of the sun. "We'll need to come back out before sunset to lock up the gate. If there are undead roaming the cemetery, we cannot allow them to leave," he said.

I nodded in agreement. I recognized that our first priority was to prevent any undead in the graveyard from leaving. In some role-playing games, zombies had the ability to pass a disease to the living similar to the way that were-creatures could turn normal humans into were-creatures via contact with open wounds and infections. "Can zombies turn living beings into zombies?" I wondered aloud.

"No," Soiretu shook his head. He was aghast at the idea of zombies creating more zombies! He had fought zombies on occasion and thankfully, nothing happened to him afterward. The caretaker pushed the silly notion from his mind and opened the wooden door for us to enter the house.

When we stepped inside, I saw a simple room with a bed on the northeast corner, a fur rug at the center, and a fireplace on the east end of the house with a cauldron positioned above the burned out logs. On the southwest corner was a variety of gardening tools, including a wheelbarrow, shovels, and watering cans. A table with a handful of stools was placed on the southeast corner. The door was on the western end of the house.

Soiretu lighted a fire in his lantern and placed it on the table. "I'm going to start making soup for our supper," he said and walked over to the fireplace to start a fire. He wanted to leave the house on a full stomach. Who knew when the group will return from its search for roaming undead? If a horde of undead arose from the graveyard, the caretaker will simply be too busy fighting to pause for some chow.

Rijana turned toward me. "Since we will continue our investigation at night, I strongly suggest that you copy Dark Vision into your spellbook," she said. "After that, we could consider other spells for you to copy."

"That's a good idea," I replied. I walked over to the rug and sat down. The fur on the rug was gray colored and quite soft. I opened my carrying case and pulled out my spellbook and writing equipment.

Soiretu turned from the cauldron and looked at me. His eyes bulged when he saw my spellbook. He was shocked to learn that I was also a mage! I was carrying a sword at my belt while wearing a truth stone over my church robe. Did this mean that I was a triple-classed Fighter/Mage/Priest? When I had cast the light spell earlier, Soiretu thought it was a priest spell since Light was a first-tier spell from the sphere of Order. Now, he discovered that I was a mage, too!

Although the caretaker was born and raised in Bristol, he had never met a triple-classed character before. But knowing what my mission was, perhaps Mayor Wilshire was wise to ask for my help. And it partially explained why the mayor had granted me an unlimited commission.

Oblivious to the discomfort of her host, my magic instructor sat next to me and pulled out her own spellbook. She turned the pages over until she opened the book to Dark Vision. Rijana cast the Light spell and a bright ball of light appeared above our heads.

When I looked up and compared her light to mine, I saw that hers was much brighter. In a way, this made sense because her skill in the General Sphere was probably much higher than mine.

"You should release your spell before you start copying from my spellbook," my teacher said. "You don't want to divide your concentration between copying the spell and maintaining the light."

"Okay," I nodded and mentally released the Light spell. The room immediately darkened but I was still able to see the pages in my spellbook clearly. I set down Rijana's spellbook on the ground in front of me and started copying the spell into my spellbook. A half-hour later, I received a pop-up notification which read, "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP. Spell of dark LEARNED: Dark Vision. +100 XP."

Rijana peered down at my spellbook and smiled. "Congratulations. Now please read what you just copied," she ordered.

I bent my head and started reading the instructions to cast Dark Vision. I needed to smear soot on my eyebrows and then say the words of power: "Qi xar de vi." The spell will last an hour per level in the Dark Sphere. I turned my head toward Rijana. "You knew I was going to stay in the cemetery after dark," I noted my suspicion aloud.

"The undead are creatures of the night. It was elementary to assume that we will need to stay in the cemetery after sunset, Lord Mulligan," the mage chuckled.

"Milord, I notice that you carry a long sword. Do you also happen to have proficiency with blunt weapons?" Soiretu asked.

I turned my attention over to the fireplace, where the caretaker was standing to tend to the cauldron. I shook my head. "I only learned swordsmanship. I understand that edged blades are not very effective against skeletons. I am prepared to fight with my sword sheathed," I pointed out.

Of course, fighting with the sword sheathed will reduce my sword damage by half. I had fought enough duels with my sword sheathed to know this by now. However, I learned a handful of skills from the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship; I was anxious to use them again because I haven't had the opportunity to do so after becoming an official dual-classed Fighter/Mage.

In theory, the magic I used could and should supplement my melee fighting skills. But in practice, how would you cast a spell while holding a blade in your hand? Particularly if a spell required gestures from both hands to cast. I hadn't learned any spells yet with such a requirement. But surely there will come a time when I do learn such a spell.

Additionally, I could do a reverse and rely on spellcasting for ranged and area-of-effect damage, while my melee skills would be used defensively when enemies finally reach me. In other words, it would be similar to the role played by a Ranger class character except Mana was used instead of Stamina.

Considering that I had Kalistra as my traveling companion, she could offer all the melee support that my party needed. What we lacked was ranged damage. Thus, my magic, which included Magic Missile, Fire Bolt, and Fireball, was very complimentary to her skill set. However, the cat girl will not be traveling with me during the entire length (hopefully short) of my stay in this gaming world because she had responsibilities as the Heir to her dojo. Therefore, it would be prudent for me to prepare for the day when we went our separate ways.

Frankly, I really should take some time thinking about this because it would influence the kinds of spells I will add to my spellbook. After all, the number of spells that I could learn was limited to my Intelligence attribute, which was 20 at the moment. The spells in my spellbook currently were: Detect Trap, Light, Fire Bolt, Fireball, Magic Missile, Web, Dark Vision, and Protection from Undead. That was 8 spells in total, meaning that I could learn another 12 spells. And I needed to save a slot for Dispel Magic.

The caretaker waved his hand to get my attention. He noticed that my eyes had a distant look as if my mind was elsewhere. "Would you have any interest in learning to use a mace?" Soiretu offered.

My eyes dropped to the mace looped around Soiretu's belt. It was a steel ball, slightly bigger than a baseball, attached to a long metal rod. Theoretically, I should be able to swing it at my enemies. However, it was the skills attached to the weapon which dramatically increased the damage output of the mace. Thus, I would need to learn a skill specifically for this weapon if I wanted to use it effectively in a fight against the undead.

I quickly remembered that the number of weapon skills I was allowed was limited to the level of my profession. I already had Charge, Disarm, Slide Step, First Strike, and Duel Winner. That counted as five skills when I was limited to six currently as a Level 6 Fighter/Mage. I had one slot left open. Thus, I couldn't afford to spend a precious slot on an alternate weapon. I shook my head. "I can't afford to spend a slot to learn to use another weapon," I replied.

"Okay," Soiretu shrugged to hide his disappointment. "In that case, I hope you will learn spells that can deal with the undead," he added.

I grinned at this remark. There was something I carried which was EXTREMELY effective on the undead. I removed a vial of holy water from my potions bag and held it up for the caretaker to see.

The man whistled in appreciation. In the past, he had asked for some holy water from the Church but his request was ignored. Apparently, the cemetery was very low on the distribution list for the valuable holy water.

"I can give you three of them," I offered.

"Thank you, Lord Mulligan!" the caretaker exclaimed excitedly and immediately walked over to take the three glass vials from me.

"If I have any holy water remaining after our mission is completed, I will give them to you," I promised.

Soiretu bowed deeply in appreciation.

I turned my attention back to Rijana. "What other spells should I learn?" I asked.

My magic teacher tilted her head for a moment. "I would like you to learn Armor because you don't have any protection spells aside from the Protection from Undead," she replied. "I also suggest learning Acid Arrow. The problem is that we're in a wooded area and the use of a Fireball could cause a spark and start a fire in the cemetery," she explained. "Also, Acid Arrow is a second-tier spell and the chance of you failing to learn this spell is much lower than attempting to learn another third-tier spell," she added.

"Okay," I nodded in agreement.

Rijana flipped her spellbook over to Armor and laid her book in front of me.

I immediately went into a trance as I started copying the spell into my spellbook. Roughly ten minutes later, I received a notification which read, "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP. Spell of earth LEARNED: Armor. Level 2, +100 XP." I took a moment to read the instructions for this spell. I needed to hold a piece of metal and say the words, "Las yu poe vu." My skin will then harden as if I was wearing a suit of armor. This spell was perfect to use as a Fighter/Mage because it conferred the benefit of wearing armor without actually doing so! Additionally, merely holding my sword or touching a coin would be adequate as the spell component for this spell.

My teacher smiled as she took back her spellbook. She turned the pages over until she found Acid Arrow. She placed it on the ground in front of me.

I dipped my quill into the inkwell and started copying the spell into my spellbook. A half-hour later, I was finally finished with this task. "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. Level 6, +25 XP. Spell of water LEARNED: Acid Arrow. +100 XP." I gave a slight fist pump when I saw that I had increased my Read Magic skill. I read the instructions for Acid Arrow. It had a material, verbal, and physical components. I needed to wet my finger and direct the arrow at my target while chanting, "Xoo fuu jgo." I tilted my head trying to figure out the gesture in my head.

"Let me show you," Rijana said with a knowing smile. She LICKED her finger and then pointed it at me! "Just say the chant and Acid Arrow will be cast," she said.

"I can cast this spell while sword fighting," I observed with wonderment at the notion. I could see myself doing the lick and then make a gun gesture pointed some dastardly villain! According to the instructions, I could cast an additional arrow for every additional two levels in the Water Sphere. In other words, I could cast two arrows at Level 3, three arrows at Level 5 and so forth. I could see how useful this spell will become as my skill in the Water Sphere increased. However, the only flaw with Acid Arrow was that I could only designate one single target for all the arrows. Nonetheless, I had a feeling that Acid Arrow will be cast frequently in the near future. Muahahaha!

"If you hold your sword with one hand, yes," she smiled again. Rijana turned toward Soiretu. "How much time do we have before we need to head out?" she asked.

The caretaker looked out the window and saw the sunlight starting to turn pink. "Maybe an hour," he replied.

My teacher turned to me. "Do you want to attempt to learn Dispel Magic?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied without hesitation. I just raised my Read Magic skill to level 6. I was as ready as I will ever be.

Rijana set down her spellbook in front of me.

I started copying Dispel Magic and my mind went into a trance. After a half-hour had passed, dice suddenly rolled inside my head. "Intelligence check SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." I smiled to myself and continued on to the second page. When the hour was finally up, I received a pop-up notification which read, "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. Level 7, +25 XP. General spell LEARNED: Dispel Magic. Level 2, +100 XP." When I finally looked up from my spellbook, I saw that my teacher was eating soup at the table.

"There's a bowl for you," Soiretu said; he had already finished his soup. "We'll leave right after we finish this meal. Your companions already ate."

In other words, everyone was waiting for me! I hurriedly rose to my feet and walked over to the table. I sat down on a stool and started eating the bowl of soup in front of me. I didn't realize I was famished; I devoured the soup in three minutes flat. It was a simple vegetable soup with a bit of barley, carrots, and potatoes with some light herbs and garlic for seasoning. When I finished my dinner, I got up from my seat and said, "Let's go!"