World Sphere - 20 - The Second Spell

Chapter 20: The Second Spell

I was happy to just be hungry when I woke, with no lingering pain other than the burn of my growing aether core. I quickly made use of the diagnostic spell and I was happy at what little I found wrong. Gareth was still asleep, which didn’t surprise me as he had studied really late into the night. I was quiet as I made my way down my ladder. I had my cleanliness spell book in hand and started reviewing the spell forms. It was just thirty minutes later when I heard Callem yell for breakfast.

I calmly walked out as Gareth was scrambling to get up and dressed, and he yelled after me, “Damn it, Stormy, you could have awakened me! Callem is going to work me over in practice today if I’m late for breakfast again.” I was out the door. My fiendish plan was just to get the choicest morsels at breakfast. Gareth was a fast and relentless eater, after all.

Breakfast was potato pancakes with butter and a side of boiled oats with fruit. No juice, unfortunately, this morning. Both items were plentiful, though. Gareth barged in just a minute after I had sat down. I had already loaded my plate. Gareth sat and piled the pancakes on his plate. I snagged two more before he got them all. Callem immediately said we would not talk about dungeons at breakfast. This news had Gareth deflating. He had probably come up with a hundred questions.

Getting close to finishing breakfast, Callem spoke, “We will stretch together, then Gareth and I will work on harvesting the tobacco. Storme, you can work on dinner after stretching, then study your spells till lunch.”

“I already learned the mend flesh spell,” I said between mouthfuls and noticed everyone staring at me. “Yeah, it sort of locked in while I lay there dying in the alley. If I hadn’t imprinted it, I would be dead.” Wynna looked concerned, Gareth shocked and Callem thoughtful.

Callem spoke first, “I thought you might have. The mend flesh spell…how many times can you cast it, and what are your evolutions?” Light suddenly dawned on Gareth’s face, and it went panicky. He was shaking his head, trying to get my attention. As teens, it was not advisable for us to take potions, but aetheric healing wouldn’t affect our growth, just require us to eat more.

“My spell is just second level, and I just have a self-assessment and can mend organs, tendons, and ligaments.” Callem was thinking, and Gareth looked resigned to painful lessons, already knowing the outcome of Callem's deliberations.

“Well, it would be best for you to practice that spell as much as possible. We should increase the intensity of our training to help you level it. Spells don’t adversely affect growth like potions, so there are no limits on your casting.” Oh shit. Gareth would be beaten down for two days, but then I would join him. I gulped, knowing I would be joining Gareth in his pain eventually.

We went outside and did the stretches at a quicker pace after Callem noticed I was moving ok. He probably figured I had cast the healing spell on myself and I would need to get better at acting. After stretching, I was off preparing dinner. I decided on blood orange chicken with pork fried rice. I would add some broccoli florets to the rice for fiber. I would just get everything ready to cook. Before dinner, I could quickly make the meal. Wynna was there watching me from a couch with a book in her hand. She tried to start a dialogue, “I may have retired, but if you or Gareth need another reading, all you have to do is ask.”

“That is very kind of you. If you don’t mind me asking, what are your intentions with Callem?” I had put on my adult face. I was more trying to deflect her attention from me, but I was also curious.

Wynna didn’t look upset at the question, putting down her book, and more thoughtful than anything else. “Callem and I are both at the tail end of our lives—yes, he has lived a lot more than I have.” She chuckled, “We both didn’t think we would find much joy in our remaining time. Callem found something to invest in you two and had enough left over to share with me.”

She paused, and I nodded in understanding. “We enjoy each other's company and still have some intimacy left in our bodies.” She winked at me, and that was enough for me. I then steered the conversation to the carnival. She told me about her impressions of the play. She was very insightful regarding the implications and lessons within the simple plot. She reminded me of an English teacher reaching for layered meanings in Shakespeare. I enjoyed talking with her as she treated me as an adult, and I found myself liking the older woman.

Back in my loft, I delved into the cleanliness spell. Now that I had one spell imprinted, the next shouldn’t be as hard.

Yes, it was still hard. My best analogy was memorizing and writing a 30-page short story from memory without any errors. I made some progress before lunch. Wynna made a hearty vegetable soup and some tasty warm crusty bread with a choice of a butter spread or olive tapenade spread. It was the first time I had seen olives in Skyholme, and she even had some olive oil from the capital’s markets.

Fortunately, there was plenty of soup and bread for three hungry men. Callem had me heal Gareth. When I explored where my spell was healing, I found just some minor bumps and bruises. I couldn’t assess him like I could myself, but the spell naturally sought his injuries, and I could feel where it was being directed. At first, I was a little hesitant, as I didn’t want to cut into my coin creation at night, but the amount of aether was actually minimal.

After lunch, I returned to my studies, and Gareth and Callem started practicing outside. The clang of weapons was a bit distracting, but I learned how to tune things out while growing up in a small house.

Before I knew I had to make dinner. Callem brought out some of his fruit juice stash and a bottle of wine for him and Wynna. Everyone said the dinner was excellent, but Wynna said she would need to get her wine collection transferred from the capital after sampling Callem's offering. When dinner was finished, we again took up positions on the couches. First, I cast my healing on Gareth. He had a few good bruises and one small laceration on his thigh. Callem was already increasing the intensity in sparring, and Gareth was loving it by his mannerisms even with the increased injuries.

As we began lessons, Gareth had finished the last three chapters last night, so I was behind. I said I could read and tune everyone else out as Gareth asked all his burning questions. It was something I was getting really good at: tuning out distractions.

I started the reading. Chapter 4 was about reward chests from dungeon challenge bosses. The chests were generally well-made and contained coins and items of value. Sometimes artwork, sometimes minor enchanted items, sometimes well-crafted weapons, sometimes aether crystals, and much rarer were dungeon essences that could bestow abilities. The items were usually much more valuable than the coins also contained within. The chests themselves were also valuable, so some delvers hauled them out as well.

The 5th Chapter was mostly a chapter warning of dangers in dungeons. Traps, staying too long, underestimating beasts and monsters, environmental dangers, and warnings not to eat or drink anything not confirmed safe by the Adventurer's Guild.

The final Chapter in the book gave examples of how to prepare for certain environments and challenges. I tuned into the conversation but didn’t ask any questions. Gareth was mostly interested in ways to fight beasts and monsters with his abilities, and it was a back-and-forth between Gareth and Callem.

I was glad when the session ended. I wasn’t interested in risking my life in a dungeon. I already had all the wealth I would ever need at my fingertips. I hoped Gareth would grow out of his interest in delving into dungeons. If we traveled the Sphere, exploring safe cities and keeping him in luxury should be enough, right?

That night, I made two more platinum coins, did my aether core exercises, and studied the cleanliness spell.

The next day, Callem decided I was recovered enough to rejoin training. He had reworked my schedule. My new daily schedule became breakfast, stretching, preparing dinner, conditioning training, an hour to work on and study spells, lunch, observation training, weapons training, dinner, book discussion with Wynna, and then a few hours of study on my own. The book discussion was to be limited to just two hours in the evening to give me time to study spells before bed. Gareth spent his free time with his nose buried in the dungeon books.

Callem wasn’t just going to teach us to fight. He also wanted us to be observant. The observation training involved Callem teaching us how to recognize changes in the environment and be more vigilant. Callem kept changing things in the practice yard, his kitchen, and dining room during the night. We had to identify the changes the next day. It wasn’t fun at first, but at least it was something that I was better at than Gareth. I caught maybe 70% of the changes, while Gareth was around 50%. The training was working as I started noticing things quicker and puzzling things out. I felt like I was being trained as a detective.

I dreaded resuming weapons practice, but Callem was surprisingly gentle. Gareth, not so much. He was having difficulty switching his intensity from crossing blades with Callem to me. After a few weeks, I started to hold my own, but maybe it was Gareth tempering his strikes as we practiced the sword forms against each other.

My mend flesh was leveling rapidly. When it reached level three, I evolved the spell to be able to remove scars. I had a number of small scars from my youth and a large one on my chest from the shadow eagle a month ago. It was a vanity choice on my part, but unlike other mages, I would be able to level and evolve my spell much faster.

The days started to blend together, and before I knew it, ten days had passed, and I hadn't realized we hadn’t had a single day off. Gareth didn't seem to mind, but I did. When I brought this up, Callem said I had two days off coming up in a week. Freya would also be visiting. I was excited to see my younger sister, it felt like it had been ages. I refocused my efforts, and two days before Freya was to visit, my cleanliness spell was finally imprinted!