“Let’s start with these, I believe you’ll find them useful,” Baelin announced.

A loud bang broke the silence as a neatly stacked tower of books dropped in the centre of a tabletop before the Chosen and Sage of Uldar. Two pairs of eyes travelled from the bottom of the pile, up to its full height of more than two feet. The Heroes paled.

“I…y’do’know I ain’t never read that many books in m’whole life, right?” Cedric sounded uneasy.

“Neither…neither have I…” the Sage’s eyes were sparkling with excitement, though her voice held a hint of apprehension.

“And I do not expect you to read all of them now,” the chancellor reassured the two Heroes, pacing the length of the room, passing through rays of early evening sunlight.

Several hours had passed since their debriefing in the ruins, and the companions were back in Greymoor, meeting in different areas of the Research Castle. After a satisfying noontime meal, Baelin had ushered Drestra and Cedric into one of the Castle’s more private studies.

Here—in this spacious chamber—dark-stained oak shelves covered every inch of wall space, brimming with texts both old and new. Most were largely useless for what Alex had named ‘Operation Grand High Ultimate Hero Transformation’—he was the only one calling the project that—being that most of the books here were on Thameish history, geography, various bestiaries and other reference books that would have been helpful to a survey team, but notso helpful to natives of Thameland.

And so, Baelin had transported massive volumes about wizardry and spells from Generasi’s library. “I have taken the liberty of bookmarking certain passages referencing magical theory—that would be immediately helpful to you—along with spells in several spell-guides that you would be well-advised to learn. Since I’ll be taking a hands-on approach in teaching you, I believe you will be able to pick up the concepts quite quickly since you are two very clever young people.”

“That’s a lot o’ faith you’re puttin’ in me,” Cedric said, standing up and carefully removing a book from the top of the pile. He began flipping through the pages. “Huh…might not be as bad as I was thinkin’…Seems I knows some o’ this stuff already.”

“Good. And that knowledge will serve as your foundation to build even further knowledge,” the ancient wizard said. “Do not be afraid, and besides, I shall assign you both your own tutor.”

He gestured to Isolde and Thundar seated at a table nearby.

The minotaur was peering intently at Baelin. “Okay, uh…I get why Isolde’s here,” he said self-consciously. “She’s all super brainy and everything, but uh…why me?”

“Because you have a gift for cleverly applying spells,” Baelin said. “I believe it will be a good experience for you, and you are already well-equipped in tutoring others: after all, you crafted an entirely new illusion spell for Alex and then taught it to him. Apply such ingenuity when educating the Sage, and I am sure you will both learn a lot.”

“Yeah, oka—Wait, I’m teaching the Sage?” A note of surprise was in the minotaur’s voice.

“I’m teaching Cedric?” Isolde whispered.

“I’m fine wit’ that,” Cedric said quickly.

“Indeed,” Baelin nodded. “Thundar, Drestra has a—relatively—better understanding of magical fundamentals than Cedric does, so she would benefit from your experience in wielding both spell and mace. You can teach her new perspectives on empowering allies and such. Isolde’s grasp of magical theory is undeniably well advanced, which will be most useful in catching up Cedric in that capacity.”

“O-okay, but uh,” Thundar said. “What about Alex? Wouldn’t he be more qualified to teach than me?”

Baelin glanced at the door of a private reading room a short distance away. “He is occupied, at the moment but, your underestimation of yourself will deny others your impressive skills, Thundar. I demand you stop it.”

“Yes, where is all of that ‘I should be the cabal-leader’ talk now, Thundar?” Isolde asked him. “I must say, I find this newfound humility of yours…far more fitting.”

“Now don’t you start making fun of me,” Thundar grumbled.

In the reading room, Alex closed his eyes, focusing on his mana as it gently passed through Hart’s lifeforce. “You feel any pain yet?” He asked quietly, both hands pressed to the Champion’s broad back.

“Meh, there’s some tickling still, but nothing hurts,” Hart grunted, glancing down at a Wizard’s Hand busily writing in one of Alex’s notebooks. “You getting everything you need?”

“Yeah, I am.” Alex passed his mana through Hart’s muscle fibres. “These are the same combination of spells I’ll be using to empower your body, but for now, I’m just getting a feel for what your lifeforce is like. When Cedric’s free, that’swhen I’ll begin the process. So, look forward to it…probably.”

“...I was looking forward to it up until that suspicious sounding ‘probably’,” Hart said. “What’s with the probably?”

“Well, Mana to Life and Warp Flesh are a very effective combination…but they’re finicky. Real finicky,” Alex said, using Warp Flesh spell to continue examining Hart’s lifeforce, while avoiding actually warping his flesh. “I’ve used it on myself, but obviously I know my own lifeforce really well. Since I don’t know yours, using it on you will be a lot trickier. Sorta like fighting while you’re blindfolded.”

“Ah yeah, well that’s what Cedric’s healing’s for, right?” Hart chuckled. “And why you’re gonna be testing it on someone expendable and not on one of your friends.”

Alex froze. “You’re not expendable.”

“Yeah, but you’d be a lot less broken up if you accidentally screwed my head on backwards than you would if you messed up this magic stuff on your girlfriend, am I right?”

“Well, I—”

“None of those fancy words, now, just give it to me straight.”

“Yeah…you’re right.”

“Atta boy.” Hart shrugged. “I know what I’m getting myself into…well, mostly. So, what’s this magicy stuff gonna do to me again?”

“It’ll enhance all your senses, make you stronger, faster, tougher…” Alex explained, moving his mana into the Champion’s core. “You’ll heal faster and—with me there stimulating your muscles while you train—build strength really fast so that you reach new limits of your physical power.”

“I like the sound of all that good shit,” Hart chuckled darkly. “It’ll be just like when I got Marked: my strength, speed and stamina shot through the roof. Hah, having that happen again? Oh boy. That’ll be something. I’ll be cutting through demons and Ravener-spawn like a blur.”

“Yeah, well don’t blame me if Cedric has to put you back together a few…dozen times,” Alex muttered.

“I won’t, I won’t. Probably.” Hart grinned over his shoulder.

Alex snorted, taking his hands away from Hart’s back. “Alright, that’s enough for now: I think I’ve gotten enough of a feel for your lifeforce to begin making a plan. How much time do we have before you need to get back to Merzhin?”

“Well, that mission Merzhin’s on with your people is gonna take about four days. So…y’know. You got the rest of today and three more,” Hart said.

“Plenty of time, then,” Alex said, noting a time beside his notes. “I’ll go over these tonight and make a plan. After that, we can get together with Cedric at dawn and get started on making you into a new man. If we brute force it, we might be able to purge your body’s impurities tomorrow. After that? You’ll need to rest for a bit, then we can get to the training. Oh, right, does the Mark of the Champion let you heal faster?”

“Yep.” Hart rose from the chair, reaching for his shirt on the table.

“I thought so.” Alex took a quick look at his notes. “You have a very powerful lifeforce, so that doesn’t really surprise me. How much faster would you say?”

“Most bumps and bruises are gone after a nap.” The Champion buttoned his shirt. “Cuts take longer…never really timed it…but they heal faster than before I got Marked.”

“Hmmmm, it’d be better if I knew exactly how much faster, but I’ll take it.” Alex added another note. “Since you’ve got the Mark already empowering your body, I suspect this method will work even better on you than it did on me. So, with that in mind…”

He clapped Hart on the shoulder. “...kill some damn monsters for me when we’re finished, okay?”

“Hah!” the Champion clapped Alex on his arm. “That’s the plan, man. That’s the plan. Merzhin doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Alex paused, his smile fading. “Right…the Saint…what’s he like, anyway? What’s your impression of him?”

“Hm?” Hart stepped back, cinching the clasp on his cloak. “Whaddya mean?”

“I’m curious about him, and—right now—he’s off on a mission with one of my friends,” he said, feeling a little strange calling Carey his friend. “So, I’d kinda like to know what sort of man he is.”

The Champion’s large eyes squinted at the shorter man and he leaned against a wall. “Tell you what. You tell me about that hot redhead, Tyris, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know about our Saint friend.”

“Tyris, eh?” Alex leaned back in a chair, kicking his feet up. “You’ve got good taste.”

“Hah, has anyone ever told you that you’ve got a type?” The Champion smirked. “And don’t let your girlfriend hear you talking about another woman like that.”

Now it was Alex’s turn to smirk. “She knows that I have eyes, but I’m loyal, and not stupid.”

“Hah! Fair enough. Alright, then, I’ll go first…so Merzhin.” Hart took a deep breath. “Honestly, I don’t give him much thought outside of whether or not he’s got my back in a fight, and he always does. He’s zealous to the extreme, but he doesn't really mean any harm by it, at least I don’t think he does.”

He gave Alex an appraising look. “He’d still drag your ass to the priests if he could, so I don’t think you’d really like him too much, but I’m sure that’d go both ways.”

“Sounds like he gets along with others, though?” Alex asked. “If he’s got your back, I mean: doesn’t sound like he’s a bad guy.”

“Well, I don’t think he is, but I don’t think he’s got too many friends either.” Hart shrugged. “Drestra doesn’t like him, and he doesn’t get along with her…but even with all that aside, I don’t see him talking or joking with too many people.”

“Oh?” Alex frowned.

“Yeah, he’ll minister to the knights and rangers that follow us, but he won’t drink with ‘em,” Hart said. “He might break bread with you after a sermon, but he’ll mostly eat alone. Takes water instead of wine, doesn’t really talk much outside of praising Uldar.” The Champion shrugged. “That kinda thing. It ain’t bad, to be honest: we had a few guys join up with the Ash Ravens that were like that. But, that kinda thing don’t really help you make friends, unless they’re as into Uldar as you are. Otherwise, it’s just a wall between people, y’know?”

“Yeah…” Alex said, remembering Carey’s overwhelming passion for Uldar. “But that’d let him make friends among the priests, right?”

“Dunno,” Hart shrugged. “I’ve seen them talk to him a lot, sure, but they treat him more like a…kinda like a boss, or their leader?” He snapped his fingers. “They treat him like they treat the really, big fancy priests in the capitol! You can’t really call that friendship…or maybe you can, I dunno. I’m not ‘King of Friends’.”

“Right…” Alex said, thinking hard. “That sounds a bit sad, to be honest. But, I guess, Carey and the others will be in good hands.”

“Probably.” Hart shrugged. “Now, enough boring shit. Tell me about Tyris!”

Alex gave Hart a look. “Do you like lava?”

“Huh? Well, I’ve seen it up north. It’s cool.”

“And do you like turtles?”

“Yeah, cute little guys.”

“Well, you’re already off to a good start.”

Alex—the Fool of Uldar—woke long before sunrise the next morning, prying himself off the makeshift pillow he’d made using a folded up towel on his desk. Stretching his back, then cracking his neck, he rotated his arms, letting his gaze settle on the vast sea of notes lying around.

Crumpled balls of parchment, numbering dozens, littered the back of the desk alongside discarded notes, and bits of scrap paper.

Partially-completed diagrams overflowed a trash can near his feet.

Shredded strips of paper were scattered over the stone floor.

But—among this disastrous ruin of ink and discarded paper—sat a completed notebook.

The cover simply read: ‘The Great Hart Champion Amplification Plan. Version 3.’

He’d finally completed his plan for enhancing the Champion’s body.

“I hope this works,” he muttered, standing and stretching his arms behind his back. “If it does…well, I could have a paper on my method in Baelin’s hands in less than two weeks. …it could even start a blood magic revolution.” He inhaled deeply and exhaled a few times.

“All in all, it was a night well spent.”

Cracking his knuckles, Alex grabbed the book and prepared for the day.