Sheira rose to her feet calmly and stood over him, arms crossed as though studying an interesting creature on a casual Sunday stroll. Pain blazed up through Gunnar’s leg in agonizing waves as he stared at the blade jutting out midway between his knee and hip.

“What the hell?”

Sheira shrugged. “Let’s start with the Word of Healing spell. Gotta have something to heal.”

“Couldn’t have been a paper cut or something?”

The elf woman reached for the blade, but Gunnar waved her off.

“Leave it. It’s pretty close to an artery, and the last thing I need is to die from your little tough trainer shtick here.”

Sheira chuckled. “Whoops. But hey, this is the sort of situation you’ll encounter in battle. Imagine if you’d had a spell like this when that Cabin Boy stuck you.”

“Thanks for the reminder about that.” A steady stream of blood trickled down his inner thigh. He’d lost 15 Health, but there was no notification about a Mortal Bleeding effect, so at least there was that.

“Better hope that trader didn’t screw you over,” Sheira added unhelpfully.

Gunnar sighed and broke the seal on the Word of Healing spell and unrolled the scroll. The inside was embossed with glowing golden runes that looked nothing like any human language he had ever seen, though his experience was pretty much limited to English and two years of high school Spanish.

The runes seemed to leap off the page, almost three dimensional, and then, faded.

A new understanding came over him, presumably transferred from the scrolls. He concentrated on the wound and warmth coursed through his body as his Mana traveled from his Soul to his leg.

The wound began to glow in a soft yellow light, and the pain eased.

Unlocked Spell: Basic Word of Healing

Spell Type: Corporeal

Alignment: Light

Linked Attribute: Constitution (+60% Development)

Affinity Level: 9

Requirements: Sufficient Mana

Cost: 2 Mana per second

Effect: Restores up to 1 Health per second

Description: Use Word of Healing to restore the Health of yourself or other corporeal beings. Nothing like pausing for 30 seconds mid-battle to do something a basic potion could do in an instant, right? But hey, you can do it all by yourself, cuz you’re a Big Boy!

“Might wanna deal with the dagger,” Sheira said.

Gunnar ignored her, concentrating his attention on his leg. If he removed the blade too quickly and triggered a Mortal Bleeding effect, he might be in trouble at the rate this spell worked.

First, he healed all the damaged tissue around the blade. It amazed him how he could sense the difference while casting. He understood the human body pretty well from pre-med, and he wondered if that impacted his affinity for the spell at all. But as he worked, he confirmed that Sheira had come damn close to his femoral artery. He could sense the vessels in his leg, and he had an idea.

With a pulse of magic, a clot formed just above the wound. Satisfied he’d done enough, he pulled slowly on the blade, focusing his magic on the exact spot the blade was being removed from. He paused, let that heal, and then, pulled a little more. After about ten seconds, the blade was out. A few more seconds and his Health was back to 100%. The clot vanished, and his blood flowed as normal.

The spell left him panting, and his Mana was down to about half, likely because he’d been so careful.

But he was very satisfied with the result. Might be impractically slow while he was engaged in close combat, but Word of Healing would find plenty of uses, he had no doubt.

“Not bad,” Sheira said.

“I can use this on others too?” Gunnar asked.

“Don’t even think about sticking me.”

Gunnar shrugged. “Oh, I’ll have my revenge. But I won’t announce it first.”

“Okay, Mr. Tough Assassin.”

“C’mon, don’t hurt my pride here.”

“God, I forget just how sensitive your ego is.”

Gunnar produced the other scroll, then handed Sheira a pair of his throwing blades.

“I know you’re not into tossing weapons, but I gotta try out this shield spell.”

Sheira nodded, took the blades, and backed up about ten yards away while Gunnar broke the seal on the scroll.

Unlocked Spell: Lesser Shield

Spell Type: Corporeal

Alignment: Light

Linked Attribute: Constitution (+60% Development)

Affinity Level: 9

Requirements: Sufficient Mana

Cost: 2 Mana per second

Effect: Increases Resistance to Damage by 15% for the duration it is cast

Description: Lesser Shield functions somewhat like armor, decreasing the amount of damage you sustain while it is active. The only thing better than getting stuck by a blade, is getting stuck by 15% less of it.

Gunnar had imagined this as a sort of magical shield wall, but this sounded much less exciting. Gunnar’s body filled with warmth as the spell engaged, but just as he’d feared, no magic shield formed in front of him.

He looked up, realizing he’d made a terrible mistake.

“Hey, hold on—”

But Sheira was already winding up, a dark grin on her face.

The throwing blade struck him in the shoulder with a rush of pain, and he dropped to the ground. The blade lodged up to its small hilt, but it was nowhere dangerous, so he wrenched it out, and cast another Word of Healing, the skin quickly closing over.

The pain subsided, and he glowered at Sheira, who remained where she was, smirking.

“Another?” she asked.

“You knew I misunderstood the spell.”

“And now, you do too.”

Gunnar shook his head. “You’re a damn sadist.”

Sheira laughed. “How you think I ended up in this place?”

Gunnar did not want to know what crime had landed her in the realms of Pantheon. He rose to his feet. “Give me my blades back.”

The elf shrugged and strode over. “Best to know how to cast your spells under some minor distress. Most times, it’ll be worse than that.”

“You’re a terrible teacher.” Gunnar wondered what kind of combat training she was going to offer the Cryptids.

“Oh, I’ll take it a little easier on your little Crypties. I actually like them.”

Gunnar shook his head.

Sheira chuckled. “I like you too. That’s why I enjoy getting under your skin so much. Besides, I knew you could take it.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. So is our lesson done, then?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“I’m not pining for another wound.”

“Fair enough,” Sheira said. “How about I make it up to you with another spell?”

“You’ve got scrolls?”

“Spells can be learned a couple of ways. The scrolls are a common one for basic spells, but for more advanced sorcery, you generally learn from a master who’s a few steps ahead of you. Technically, I’ve heard some grand masters can create spells from scratch, but I’ve never met someone who can, so that could just be a legend.”

“I could learn everything you know?”

Sheira shook her head. “There’s a catch.”

“Naturally.”

“When you teach someone else a spell, you can no longer cast it yourself.”

“Sounds incentivizing,” Gunnar said sarcastically.

“Makes masters picky about their apprentices. Which is why most apprentices are essentially servants, trying to appease their masters. But once you learn more advanced spells, you usually have a few you don’t use any longer. Though it does limit things. There’s no magic academies here for that reason.”

Gunnar found Sheira agitating at times, but he had to admit that she had given him quite a bit of useful knowledge this morning.

“I’ve got a few spells lying around this old head,” Sheira said. “I’ll give you one more for the road.” The elf sat on the ground again in the lotus position and patted the spot beside her. “Come on.”

Gunnar assumed the same position, and immediately, Sheira scooted closer to him, so they were nearly touching.

“Before you get into any jokes about an old lady coming on to you, just shut up and pay attention. The ability to share knowledge is a Celestial spell, but you’ve got to be ready to receive it, or the knowledge will be lost to us both. Now, close your eyes and focus on your Soul.”

He obeyed, focusing his awareness on the orb of power inside his chest. It was still incredible to him how he’d not noticed before. Now, it seemed obvious that there was an inner source for his Mana. Though, he supposed it was like other organs too. Most people went their entire lives unaware of the marvels going on inside them. The human body was something he’d grown more fascinated by during school. At least, he was getting a little use out of that knowledge now.

His Soul pulsed softly, sending very small radiations of magic through his entire body with each beat.

“Now, I want you to concentrate some of your Mana into your right palm.”

Gunnar was not entirely sure how to do that, but he tried to focus on both his Soul and his palm, and willed his Mana to travel. With Spiritual Sight, he could see a slight increase in flow emanating toward his right hand with each pulse of his Soul.

“That’s good,” Sheira said. “You’ve got some natural affinity for this.”

The elf clasped his hand, and a surge of sudden warmth filled his palm, and began shooting up his arm.

“Don’t resist it,” Sheira said. “Trust is key to the sharing of magic.”

Gunnar focused his breath and remained calm.

“Receive the knowledge.”

A pulse of magic traveled through his body and entered his Soul with a soft flash he could only see with his Spiritual Sight.

Unlocked Spell: Dragon’s Breath (Hatchling)

Spell Type: Elemental

Alignment: Light

Linked Attribute: Intelligence (+80% Development)

Affinity Level: 11

Requirements: Sufficient Mana

Cost: 4 Mana per second

Effect: Allows the caster to manipulate minor flames

Description: This is one of the most basic elemental spells, allowing you to channel the natural force of fire. You won’t burn down any buildings or cause much physical harm, but every dragon must first emerge from its shell before it can bring doom and gloom.