I shook off the shock from what I had just witnessed, along with some of the brains and gore too. We were in another world (at least I was) and rules were different here. If I wanted to get back to Lynn, I needed to be stronger.

The elk might not have done anything wrong to me, but damn did it help with my progress. A broken snort reminded us of our prone team member. Pongo lay on the riverbank, her breaths now ragged and labored. We rushed to her side, and I hurried to examine her wounds. The electricity had done quite a bit of internal damage to her organs, her brown coat of fur burnt black in some areas.

I quickly repeated what the mage had taught me; three hastily formed mana wurms began wriggling slowly through her body, consuming the offending spell's mana. Almost immediately, Pongo's breath eased and her chest resumed their normal compressions. Her wounds still required much better treatment than I could provide however, but there was someone who might be able to solve that.

I rushed to the mage, my urgent demeanor causing him to throw out a minor sigil in defense. Before the spell could completely leave his body however, I had already sent a mana wurm latching to the structure, the spell fizzling the moment it was released. I didn't have time to cater to his shock however.

I gripped his sweat covered forehead in my hand, his face revealing none of the fear he truly bellied. A stoic expression was all he returned to me. With nothing else to lose, I activated magi-sense, the same way I did with Ash’Kar and Pongo. A moment later, a mental connection was received and I forced my thoughts into his head.

Can you understand me, mage?

His eyes widened considerably then. I had decided to go with as menacing a tone as possible, since this man had tried to kill me before. True, he had saved my life, but that was simply mutual salvation. If we had died, there was no way he would have been able to survive the elk.

As though perfectly timed, Gro’Bur lumbered up to us and snarled viciously at the man. I received a nod to my question then.

Healing. Do you know it?

Another nod.

Show me.

He stared at me, probably more than a little torn at being treated like a show animal. But eventually he dropped his eyes and began gathering the mana from within his body. I watched it with all six of my senses as it slowly swirled round and round. Far from the structures and shapes I had grown accustomed to, the mage’s mana swirled into a large vortex that seemed to have nowhere to escape to, and it didn’t seem like he was intent on pushing it out like a spell.

Instead, I saw him lead the magical whirlpool into his left arm. A particularly nasty puncture wound adorned the man’s meaty bicep. As the whirlpool of mana neared the orifice, I noticed a curious development.

Bits of the whirlpool were lost at every rotation, the mana trailing towards the wound like ash to the wind. Gradually, the wound closed up, no different than a sped up video. But just as I expected to see newborn skin, it stopped, the wound only partially regenerated.

The whirlpool continued it’s revelations, but no more mana particles left the vortex, and eventually the man allowed the mana to dissipate. The puncture still existed, but was now no larger than a pencil in diameter.

He slumped back down, the exhaustion in his eyes clear; it was obvious he couldn't repeat the spell just yet. I took the chance to replicate what I had just observed on myself before I dared to do the same on Pongo. Her burns were severe, the hide blackened and charred by the electricity. If the spell was to backfire, I'd survive it better than her. As expected though, a complete copy of the spell was impossible for me, at least right now. The spell vortex was simply too detailed for me to eyeball it without practice, multiple strains of mana escaping my control at every turn. But if the previous fight was anything to go by, even the smallest bit of success could turn the tide, especially when in large numbers.

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Drawing a portion of my mana into a ball, I mentally pictured a small whirlpool forming. In return, instead of the vortex conjured by the mage, I received one the size of stirred coffee. Which was a heck smaller than intended. Nonetheless, the spell found its way twirling to the small bruise on my chest. I watched in fascination as the wound drained the energy from the mini vortex, the speed of the revolutions slowing down till the spell itself disintegrated entirely. The blackish discoloration on my skin lessened significantly, though not entirely.

It would have to do, at least for now. I drank a gulp of water from the river to replenish my mana before beginning the risky procedure. It was during this process that I noted the limitations I currently held; I could only conjure two healing vortexes at the same time. Any more would erode the control I held over the other two, which seeing as the mana had nowhere to go, could result in a catastrophic end.

With one hand on Pongo, I guided the two slowly revolving spells to the wounds I judged to be the most grievous. There wasn't any blood since most had been burnt up on impact, so I couldn't really tell if it was working. I'd have to trust that it did; perhaps even scrape off the dead and burnt flesh to see the results. Something I'd rather not start while out in the wild undefended.

With the urgent matter out of the way, I turned to the mage to dig more magical knowledge out from the man, but a stinging flash of light caught me completely off guard.

A scream of anger echoed from my father, and I immediately threw out several of the small magical cages into the air, while rapidly blinking away the burning flare from my eyes. None found their target it seemed, since footsteps continued to shuffle away from us till they disappeared completely.

By the time we could finally see, the man was nowhere to be seen. All that remained was a familiar looking rock, nestled beneath the murky waters.

[https://i.ibb.co/9NqMSN8/goblin.png]

After what felt like an eternity, the three of us finally were finally back at our campsite. On our return, I witnessed two small monsters scampering away from the fire pit. Weed Rats from the looks of it, the wretched things had ransacked our neglected home, tearing apart the vine curtains and thrashing my neat pile of monster materials. Gro'bur chased them off with a roar, before resettling what few vines we had left.

He carefully lay a sleeping Pongo on a few drying furs, while I dumped the elk's carcass near the pit. Blood dripped from the near headless corpse, trailing into the pit. Throughout the entire journey back, I continually channeled tiny healing vortexes into Pongo.

It took a couple of hours(?) before she showed signs of consciousness. The loyal boar grunted softly before struggling to return to her feet. The two of us mothered over her like hens, feeding her thin slabs of roasted elk to regain her strength. She consumed the food like a machine, swallowing increasingly large amounts of the smoking meat. Soon enough, she was back on the ground, sleeping like an overgrown baby. Her blackened hide was still crusted over, but we had attempted to remove bits of it on the way back.

New skin could be seen growing beneath, signs that the spells had done their job. I sent several more of the vortexes into her skin, before realizing that they wouldn't have much more effect. The mana simply refused to fuse into the flesh any longer. She would have to heal naturally the rest of the way.

Once my two roommates began snoring, I turned my attention to my latest toy; a slightly warped rock with miniscule blue minerals slightly reflective in the light. It was the reason why the mage, who I had confirmed to be devoid of mana, could still cast a flare so bright it blinded us for precious few seconds.

Holding it in my hand, I sensed residual mana within the stone, the quality of the mana far purer than that of the river. The thing was a battery for magic, fueling the element's like a couple of energizers. I'd even wager it could act as an amplifier of sorts.

But it wasn't this fact that drew my interest the most, for deep within it's center lay a tiny core made from the same blue mineral. The core stretched out into an intricate network of glowing roots, only noticeable because of my focused magi-sense. With an almost child-like glee, I studied the tendrils intensely.

My magi-sense constantly enveloped the rock as I palmed it, the magical resolution infuriatingly blur. Every burst of mana improved the mental image, by just a bit for a split second before returning to the same fuzzy echo.

It was only when the sun began creeping over the hills that I finally discovered what lay within the natural network.