“So, you know how to use a simple healing spell already?”

“Yes.”

“And how did you do that?”

“Well...” I'm not going to tell her how I did that. “Let's say you don't want to try out this method.”

“So, self inflicted injury?”

“Amongst other things.” Amelia sighs exasperatedly, just as usual.

“While it's one of the most effective ways to learn healing on practice, it is also the most dangerous one. Strip.”

“What?”

“I need to be sure you didn't just maim yourself and it healed wrongly. You know that if you don't heal properly, you might have lasting consequences. So, strip, and let me examine you.”

“I don't see why I should-” on the other hand, she's a bit more scarier than I might have given her credit. “Fine, fine. But I'm totally normal.”

“Aside from the disease which I can't treat.” Now, I'm naked. It's kinda chilly in here, now that I think about it. “You... don't have scars?”

“No. My regeneration is actually quite good... or was.” honestly, it feels weird. Oh, weird tingling sensation again.

“How are you actually feeling?”

“Honestly? Shitty. Constant nausea, headache and stiffness is annoying, but manageable. I'm contemplating on trying to kill myself occasionally, to see if my regeneration would kick in and restore my body to prime condition, but... I'm not one of those, and even if I am, I don't think that testing my mortality is a great idea right now.”

“Them?”

“You know, immortals.”

“You have immortals in your world?”

“Probably. They're not completely immortal, it's just that they are brought back to life almost immediately after killing them. They are still vulnerable to the poisons, sedatives and other stuff, as well as pain, but... I only know of one instance of such person, and he is... was my boss.”

“What was his name?”

“Big Boss. He was alive for more than a few centuries already. He is also the reason I joined his organization... nevermind.” she looks a bit apologetic, I think? Her race isn't that different from a human race, I guess.

“I understand. What did you do in that organization?”

“Killed people.” I smile at her. “There are no monsters in my world, and only a human race, well, there was only a human race, until a few months ago, when some of our idiots managed to open a portal to another dimension. And we made a race of human-like cats, finally. One of them was made only, but damn, she was cute. Terrible singer though.” Good times, really good times. “Anyway, where are we?”

“We should be close to northern border. Territory of monsters, but no one would look for us here.”

“Seriously? I would totally go for the heart of the kingdom, while hiding identity.”

“That... might work actually. For you at least.”

“I'll bite. Why?”

“Albion is the kingdom of humans. They don't tolerate other races in their borders, and think that other races must be either enslaved, or exterminated.”

“Regular policy in my world, until fifteenth century. What else?”

“You are a human.”

“Yes, so?”

“With a talent for magic.”

“Don't forget that I'm quite decent in close combat, and a gunslinger, though I doubt this world has guns. What of it though?”

“The kingdom spends a lot of money on their military, and if you go there, you might actually become quite influential, if you play your cards right.”

“Must disappoint you, I don't play politics. If I had Central with me, then sure, we could actually destroy the kingdom from within, hell, Central could do that by himself.”

“And what about you?”

“I have issues with authority. Also... boss said I'm socially inept, even if I had friends in certain... places.”

“I see. Then infiltration isn't your strong suit?” I nod, resulting in a nod from her as well. “Still, if it were up to me, I would ask you to infiltrate the Albion, considering that you're not the usual 'hero' from stories, but just an otherworlder.”

“Like the pacifist?”

“Something like that, yes.” Good thing I'm chaotic neutral, with some incline to evil. Or am I chaotic evil? Hm... to be chaotic evil, I need to massacre a few cities. Yep, that will do. “I don't like your smile.” I shrug. Not like she cares of what she has no clue.

Amelia left and I decided to continue practicing my general magic manipulation, which makes it easier to cast spells from grimoire. My favorite for now is Inferno, for just a thousand mana upfront you get a zone of fire, which can melt almost anything, and start forest fires.

“You already learned a couple of more sophisticated spells, I see.” Archibald arrived silently and asked me that, as per usual. Nosy old man.

“Yep. I also suppose that it's possible to learn necromancy, and I want to learn it.”

“Don't understand why would you want to do it. Did you lose someone dear to you? Were you ridiculed? Or... were you lonely?”

“Hm... latter, I guess? But I'm fine being alone, better than being in a company of greedy assholes that only worry about their standing.” I shrug. “Still, I don't understand why did you summon me to this world.”

“It was something I wondered about for decades. The other worlds. But if I am being honest, I just gambled on the ritual to summon something powerful.”

“Not you alone it seems. In my world there are countless fictional stories about other worlds. But most of the time, in those stories, the one who travel to another world is nothing more than a kid who has no idea what to do. Or just random stories about wars, politics and prophecies that were imagined on the spot. Well, I'm glad it was something as mundane as interest, or plain gambling.” I sigh and look at the sky. “Guess I learned all I could from you, or is there other reasons you decided to talk about?”

“Not all. Now that you finally know the basics of magic, I should show you how the more advanced magic works.” and of course he made a fucking glowing circle. “This is the magic circle. It makes it easier casting higher tier spells, but it isn't required.”

“Don't understand.”

“The mana is used to form a spell, yes? Then think of magic circle as something that helps us form more complex mana shapes than we already have. Yes, it's possible to do so without magic circle, but it takes a lot of practice and the power of the same spell will be lower, comparing to the one that was cast with a circle.”

“...”

“For example, I use the following circle to create a fire hound.” he shows me the circle, and soon a dog appears out of nowhere. Guess that's the summoning magic.

“Is it an elemental or something?” I look at the dog that was summoned, and don't actually understand how is it alive even. It's just a flame in form of a dog.

“Yes, it is a lesser elemental with the shape of a dog.”

“So... you can technically give any shape to the spell you want?”

“While it is possible theoretically, it is not possible on practice. It might give you a lot of-” I create a fire snake immediately, and see how I lose about 500 mana just making it, and then some on the upkeep. As I order it to attack a nearby tree, it explodes and no longer needs my mana for the upkeep. “Interesting.”

“I'm Esper, using magic is similar to the use of psychokinesis.”

“Yes, yes, I see. You can easily learn everything, am I right?”

“Not easily, but yes, I am a fast learner. Usually.”

“Now as for the teleportation magic.”

“Show me.” he teleports without the circle. Great, a blink.

“This is a short range teleportation. It might not look like much, but it is actually quite taxing on one's mana and mind.” I blink a couple of times.

“Yeah, I know how that works, duh. I'm more interested in long range teleportation.”

“It might take some time then. Let's do this tomorrow, as I will need to prepare the material to teach you.” I nod and walk off.

“See you teach.” And disappear in the shadows of the trees. What can I say, I like being a bit dramatic with my entrances and exits. Not to mention I want to hunt some game. Just not boars or deers, while latter ones are becoming a bit mundane of a food, the former just tastes horribly. Except for bacon. I love wild bacon.