In the end, Aavspeyjh couldn’t resist the temptation to reproduce my work for his own benefit. In my opinion, it was the correct choice to make, given that what had been done so far was likely enough to draw the ire of any groups that wanted the technique suppressed. I spent another thirty minutes going over a number of alternate techniques that could be used to create “magic boosters” as Aavspeyjh had taken to calling them, then was dismissed from the office to allow him to work. Since I had nothing else to do, I went back to the laboratory and did some more experiments on my arm.

Peeling my skin off didn’t do much to change its color back to normal, when it grew back it looked just as white as it had before being removed. On the other hand, breaking my fingers with a hammer did help them to set themselves back into shape, and when I accidentally pulled off my thumbnail by getting it caught on the table the replacement looked much healthier than before. So it could be a combination of genetic degradation and compounding growth errors, I considered, I don’t know enough about the human body to know for sure, but I have enough functionality now that it doesn’t really matter.

“What I don’t get is, why didn’t you just make one of those prawsteh-” Koyl tried to ask, stuttering on his final word. I had met up with him in the dining room and, for the first time in a number of days, we were eating at the same table.

“A prosthetic,” I said, using the English word. The answer to Koyl’s question was multi-layered and complex, but it mostly boiled down to opportunity cost and luck. Had I never come across Magical Phenomena I likely would have ended up making such a limb, but once I found it the potential to advance my magic skill and regain my arm was worth far more than potentially wasting time engineering a limb out of inferior materials. “I suppose I didn’t think of it,” I shrugged.

“A bit stupid of you,” Koyl grunted, taking a bite out of a fresh fruit. He looks less tired today, I thought. “So I’m guessing my father is going to make you tell him what you did, right? You want any help dealing with him? I’m an expert in that particular field of study.”

“I already spoke to him this morning,” I replied. Koyl choked on his food, then swallowed and cleared his throat.

“And?” he asked. I raised an eyebrow, then made a gesture with my hands that Koyl often did when he had no idea what I was talking about. “How much did he give you?” Koyl clarified.

“How much money?” I asked.

“Of course how much money!” Koyl snapped. “Don’t tell me that you didn’t even ask for payment. Are you stupid or something? How many times have I even asked you that? Did you give him the full details already or can you still negotiate?”

“Why do you care?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you want your father to get the knowledge as cheaply as possible? Once I’m done transferring the knowledge to him, I’ll be asking to move on eastward again. I’m sure he knows that and is making preparations, he’s quite competent.” Koyl huffed out some disbelieving laughs, then took another bite of his fruit.

“Sometimes I really don’t understand how you think,” Koyl replied, shaking his head.

For the rest of the day, I worked on controlling my magic in the laboratory. I wanted to go outside and practice with my sword, but since I was supposed to be dead it was a risk I wasn’t able to take. Instead, I began trying to crack the problem of controlling the local concentrations of magic fuel in my body. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be since I had done it a few times when healing my arm, but still took a bit of finesse when the local concentrations weren’t high enough to be perceptible to my senses. A strange quirk of the technique also meant that holding the concentration at a constant value in an area without using it was very difficult because my body would detect that my blood’s magic saturation was low near my cores and release more power, leading to the local concentration rising as well.

The next day I found that two more fingernails had grown in on my index and ring fingers while I slept, and my middle fingernail had come off in my bed, leaving a small bloodstain. After eating breakfast, an older female servant met me as I left the dining room and led me to the laboratory, which had been cleaned of all the refuse and bloodstains that were in it when I had last seen it. Two wooden crates sat unopened on the table and I was instructed to wait until the arrival of the person I would be working with to unpack them. Curiosity got the better of me, however, and against the protestations of my escort I removed the lid of the crate on the left, finding a male human corpse inside with ligature marks on its neck.

As I pulled the body out and began to examine it, the laboratory door opened up again, letting in a young blonde woman in a leather smock. The escort hastily introduced her as Nahlao, then fled the room before either of us could ask her any further questions. Nahlao, apparently undisturbed by this reaction, helped me get the human body onto the table and unpack the second crate, which was filled with different lab equipment and some instructions. As she started putting everything away she explained that she was a force magic expert who I was to instruct in my methods for producing magic boosters.

It took just over an hour to go through my entire process, explaining all of what I was doing to Nahlao. Instead of using a low-oxygen chamber, Aavspeyjh’s note had requested that I try to simply use pre-sealed containers of blood like I had suggested while talking to him, but everything else was the same. Nahlao helped drain the corpse’s blood for later use, paid close attention as I extracted each core, and quietly observed when the cores in the sealed beaker of blood were broken apart and their contents dissolved. She was so quiet that I was concerned for her understanding, but she assured me she would leave the questions until the process was finished.

Using some glass tubes, a bit of creativity, and a large amount of blood, I managed to separate the raw serum into six vials, lowering its concentration considerably. I still had to burn some sticks in each vial to remove the oxygen before filling them, but aside from that hiccup the process was clean. Once each of them was fully sealed and I showed Nahlao how to perform an injection with force magic using a dummy vial, the stream of questions began. Another hour passed while I did my best to explain atmospheric gasses, osmosis, solutes and solvents, and other concepts. To her credit, even though Nahlao didn’t fully understand everything, she grasped the process well enough that I was confident she could reproduce it.

“You took less time than I expected,” Aavspeyjh said, looking at the vials on his desk. “It is only just past noon, I was expecting results nearer to dusk.”

“The person you sent to learn was very attentive,” I replied. “She didn’t even flinch when I split the… Do you have a word for corpses used in medical experiments and education?” Uwrish medicine is very strange, probably due to healing magic, I thought, they know a lot about drugs and poisons, but I’ve never even seen a bandage.

“Do you?” Aavspeyjh asked back, raising an eyebrow.

“Cadaver,” I replied. “Anyhow, she was very comfortable with the dissection of the cadaver and observed very carefully while I produced these, asking good questions afterward and doing her best to understand. I’m confident she could reproduce this process if required.”

“And you used no special chambers without aaksahjhahn this time?” Aavspeyjh asked, pronouncing the English word “oxygen” with only a hint of an accent.

“The vials needed to have a flame burned in them, but no large chambers were necessary” I confirmed.

“Well then, we will test these tomorrow,” Aavspeyjh said. I took a step to exit the room, then hesitated. “You have some questions?”

“I thought killing someone on your property was a legal issue,” I said.

“That man was not killed on my property, I simply acquired his corpse,” Aavspeyjh replied. “Had I known you only needed a corpse, we might have avoided that little issue you caused in the city. Still, it was fortunate in other ways. The woman you spoke to, Miss Svaaloyweyl, is quite an interesting one. I would never have had an opportunity to speak to her if not for your escapade.”

“You spoke to her?” I asked. “When?”

“Today, early in the morning,” Aavspeyjh said. “Your recommendation of her convinced me that I should reach out, since individuals like her are both useful and uncommon.”

“My recommendation?” I asked, trying to figure out what I had said that Aavspeyjh misinterpreted. The man in question simply smiled, as though pleased by my reaction.

“Determination is the most important quality of a warrior,” he explained. “Skill can be taught and strength can be trained, but determination is a result of character and disposition. Teaching determination to those who lack it is nigh-impossible. Thankfully, miss Svaaloyweyl is every bit as filled with those most important of qualities as I could have hoped for. She even told me to my face that she considered me an evil, detestable man, knowing full well if I were as she believed I would have her killed.”

“I see,” I muttered. That sounds like her, I thought.

“Do not worry,” Aavspeyjh chuckled. “I am more than used to people having misconceptions of me and my work. I will admit, however, that I did not expect the level of verbal creativity she used from someone of her background. Despite that, our encounter ended amicably, and we are to speak again tomorrow.”

“If there’s nothing else for now, I’ll get going,” I replied. “I’m hungry, and I’m sure Nahlao will have more questions for me.”

“Meet me outdoors in the courtyard at noon tomorrow,” Aavspeyjh said, picking up one of the vials and gesturing with it. “Then we will see about the efficacy of this invention of yours. Oh, and I have been looking into secure transport for you, I will tell you when I find it.”

The next day, at noon, I walked out into the courtyard, squinting from the effect of the sun on my eyes. Aavspeyjh and his wife, Tahpeyvael, were waiting outside along with Nahlao and another man who I didn’t recognize. He looks a bit scruffy, I thought as I walked up, noticing that his clothing was more unkempt than the rest of us. Behind him, there were around twenty granite rocks, all roughly spherical in shape and about thirty centimeters in diameter.

“Now that our final observer has arrived, we should begin,” Aavspeyjh announced. “Ehzmeyl, if you would, please begin breaking the provided rocks with magic.” The scruffy man, who was apparently named Ehzmeyl, looked between all of us for a moment, then turned around and grabbed one of the rocks. Placing it in front of him where we could see it, he put his hand just above its surface and began chanting under his breath. He’s heating it, I realized as I saw the air under his hand begin to ripple. After about a minute of chanting, the rock let out a large cracking noise and broke in half. I get that this is just a way to spend magic, but why rocks? I wondered.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to use water for this?” I asked the group quietly while Ehzmeyl was fetching another rock.

“Heating water is trickier for those without training,” Tahpeyvael explained, and Nahlao nodded in agreement with her. “This substance is supposed to work on a person regardless of their skill, correct? Ehzmeyl is a laborer of sorts. He is not trained in magic, thus he is performing the most magically exhausting task that he is able to do consistently.” I don’t know why heating water would be more difficult, I thought.

Two boulders later, I could see Ehzmeyl beginning to tire. By the time the fifth boulder had split, the process was taking almost five minutes, and the man doing it was covered in sweat.

“Sorry sir,” he huffed, rubbing his head, “I can’t do another one yet. Need to wait a little bit.”

“How long?” Aavspeyjh asked. Ehzmeyl looked fearful for a moment, but then calmed himself.

“Half an hour if I want to do one more,” he replied. “It would be better if I waited an hour or two though, these are tougher than normal rocks.” That seems slow, I thought, then again, if he’s relying on sensation alone, he may not know his own speed of recovery.

“We will now remedy that,” Aavspeyjh said. “Please remain still as Nahlao administers a drug to you. Yuwniht, observe and ensure she performs the procedure correctly.” Nahlao approached with a magic booster vial, and I stood just behind to watch. I was going to tell her that the neck was the best spot to inject something into because of the abundance of blood vessels, but she slipped the snake tooth of the booster into Ehzmeyl’s arm in under ten seconds, then looked at me for assurances.

“Yes, that should be good,” I replied, seeing that she had found a vein. The contents of the vial began to move, the interior wax cap removing itself and the blood flowing out into Ehzmeyl at a speed that I was surprised with. I told her to be quick, but that speed would almost risk an air embolism, I thought, At least in this case, because the tube was all blood and sealed, the only risk is a seal rupture. Nahlao removed the vial once it was empty, and Ehzmeyl shuddered.

“You are done?” Aavspeyjh asked.

“I am,” Nahlao replied.

“Her performance?” Aavepyjh prompted, turning to me.

“Near-perfect,” I answered. “My only advice would be to ensure that the seal remains intact while injecting, as negative air pressure from forcing the blood out could rupture it.”

“Excellent,” Aavspeyjh smiled, gesturing for us to step back. “Ehzmeyl, how do you feel?”

“It’s hard to describe bos- I mean sir,” Ehzmeyl stuttered. “At first it felt like a bunch of bugs crawling in my veins, but now it’s settled down a bit. If I had to compare it to something, it would be like rubbing sand all over my body all at once, really hard.”

“No pain?” Aavspeyjh asked.

“Not exactly,” Ehzmeyl grunted. “Wouldn’t call it comfortable though.”

“What was the concentration?” Aavspeyjh asked, turning to me.

“One-sixth what I used in the first test,” I said. “One half of one human core.”

“Good,” Aavspeyjh nodded, “Ehzmeyl, please continue breaking rocks.”

“It’s only been a few minutes,” Ehzmeyl said. “I probably-”

“Try,” Aavspeyjh ordered, his tone leaving no room for protest. Ehzmeyl opened his mouth, then closed it and walked over to the rock pile and picked out another sphere. Putting his hand over it, he closed his eyes again and began chanting, then they snapped open and a confused expression appeared in place of concentration. “Is there a problem?” Aavspeyjh asked.

“No,” Ehzmeyl replied, sounding a bit shocked. Returning to his chant, the boulder split in under thirty seconds, after which he fetched two more before stopping again, breaking both in under a minute each. “Sorry, I need to take a break again,” he finally said, rubbing his left eye. “My head feels like someone’s stomping on it, and my chest is getting sore.”

“What about your belly?” I asked. Ehzmeyl’s hand went to his stomach, and then his eyes widened.

“Yeah, I thought that might’ve just been something I ate, but it does hurt,” he nodded.

“His cores,” I explained, turning to Aavspeyjh. “His body is probably trying to pull magic from his blood, it shouldn’t be harmful. It might even be beneficial once he recovers.”

“Ehzmeyl, please go rest, we will talk later,” Aavspeyjh commanded, dismissing the man. “Tell the kitchens to get you anything you need, and feel free to borrow a room for the night if you need it.”

“Sure thing boss. I mean, sir. Thank you.” Ehzmeyl stammered. Tahpeyvael sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose while Ehzmeyl scurried off and Aavspeyjh held a forced smile.

That night, three more cadavers were brought to the lab, two males and a female. Under my supervision, Nahlao excised the cores from them and made fourteen more magic booster vials. Twelve of them were made with the same concentration used on Ehzmeyl, one was made with double concentration, and one more with quadruple concentration. The concentrated vials were intended for oral consumption tests according to Nahlao, though she didn’t tell me exactly when or where such tests would be done.

The next two days passed much the same. Forty-eight total vials were made, and Nahlao brought in an assistant who could not use external force magic to help with organ extraction, blood extraction, vial preparation, and lab cleanup. Nahlao took an interest in trying to extract magic fuel from blood and solidify it, but even with my assistance, we couldn’t quite pull it off. I tried to explain that some chemical reactions were nearly impossible to reverse without going through intermediary steps, but at some point I realized that even I wasn’t sure if what I was talking about applied to magic fuel.

On the night of the third day after the tests, Aavspeyjh asked to see me in his office. When I arrived, I was surprised to see a backpack of sorts on his desk, along with a wallet filled with money.

“I was hoping we would have more time, but it appears that you should be going as soon as possible,” he said, beckoning me to approach and handing me the wallet. “That wallet contains three-hundred ngoywngeyt and a letter of introduction to a caravan that will bring you to Towrkah. The backpack has a new gambeson for you, along with your axes and throwing knives. I have also included three maximum-strength magic boosters, just in case.”

“Did something happen?” I asked. “This is a bit sudden.”

“On the day after you regenerated your arm, two people attempted to break into this mansion,” Aavspeyjh explained. “The day after that, five more did the same. Last night there were three separate attempts at invading this property, with a total of twenty people involved.” Reaching into his desk, Aavspeyjh removed a piece of paper and slid it across the desk so I could read it. On the paper was a drawing of a face, along with a reward, and after a moment I realized it was my face.

“Reward upon capture and delivery to Owsahlk city guard?” I read, raising an eyebrow. “Suspect in multiple murders.” Another paper slid across the desk, this one with Vaozey’s name and face, along with a list of her many, many crimes. So she’s worth four times as much as I am, I thought, two thousand ngoywngeyt, maybe I should have turned her in.

“The people trying to break into my home are after you, so the secret is out,” Aavspeyjh said. “The attackers are mostly mercenaries at this point, not specialists, but given the current rulership of Owsahlk, it is not hard to imagine that this has powerful backers capable of far worse. Miss Svaaloyweyl will be leaving with you, though in her case it is as a favor to the temple and the Duke. Please, take these and leave with all due haste.”

“Understood,” I replied, grabbing the backpack and throwing it on.

“Go to the lobby and meet up with-” Aavspeyjh began, but he stopped when we both heard the sound of shattering glass in the hallway outside. My sword was in my hand immediately, and Aavspeyjh appeared to manifest two daggers from his sleeves as we both spun to face the direction the noise came from. I gestured for Aavspeyjh to duck behind the desk, then a moment later the door was struck so hard it flew off its hinges and a series of small objects whizzed through the air, embedding themselves into the wall behind me.