As Acacia laid next to Scalpel, breathing heavily after they were done exploring each other's bodies, she had to admit, his mural was quite good.
It covered the entire wall. The middle was dominated by a giant half-reptile, half-feline, roaring into the sky with its crocodilian maw. Around it were various bug people, same species as Scalpel, laying dead on the ground. Most of the corpses had thorny flowers with blue petals growing out of them.
While on the surface it was quite a morbid piece, the beast in the foreground was portrayed more as a majestic giant than a calamitous monster.
"This creature, the modlish, wasn't the one to kill all those warriors." Scalpel explained. "It came in and devoured the parasitic plants our clan was fighting off. Without it, the growth would have overtaken all of our lands, and feasted on our bodies, living or dead. Thus, modlishes are considered sacred animals by my people. I figured I'd take a bit of home and recreate it here."
"You'd think you would be more apprehensive about fucking a plant person, then." Acacia teased.
Scalpel shrugged. "The infestation happened generations before I hatched. Besides, plants are just a part of the world. They provide food, or sometimes medicine. Maybe I would be more creeped out if you had blue flowers."
Acacia grinned in amusement. She stretched her arms, and stood up from the mattress.
"Alright. I have my mentor meeting coming up, so I guess I'll be going. Thanks for today. I'd love to 'admire your mural' more in the future."
"I'd love that, too. Say hi to Rusty for me."
She waved a goodbye and left his house.
The walk back to her own abode was uneventful, though she walked with a pep in her step characteristic of someone who had just broken their dry spell. She waved and greeted anyone she passed, which she was pretty sure was unlike her behaviour back when she was human. It seemed the damage to her mind made her less socially anxious.
The dryad arrived home and sat down on the sole chair. Only now she noticed the one room building had a skylight. If one was generous enough to call a hole in the roof above her table a skylight. She supposed that since the Barren didn't experience weather, and glass would be more than the bare minimum, this was thought an excellent solution to the lack of lighting in the house.
As she was tapping her wooden fingers on the table for the five hundred and eighty fifth time, she heard the distinct sound of Rusty's shuffle-walk, accompanied by more traditional footsteps. She opened the door to see who would be her new mentor.
It was a slime. A cone shaped blob of green, half-translucent matter, with some round object in the middle. The creature had probably a similar overall volume to her, but due to its shape it was at most two thirds as tall as her.
Blouro, they/them, freelancer mage living in sector 15-A.
Acacia shook her head rapidly. She still wasn't used to getting information beamed directly into her head.
"Hello, Rusty. And hello to you, Bluoro." Acacia greeted the two. "You must be my mentor?"
"Yesssss." Bluoro responded languidly.
"Due to your abilities regarding shapeshifting, we looked for a mage with a similar skillset, to make the learning process easier. Also, since you expressed an interest in becoming a scavenger, we made sure your assigned mentor is a capable combat mage." Rusty explained.
"Okay then. Are we going to be blowing stuff up here, or is there some sort of arena where we can beat each other up safely?" Acacia inquired.
"You won't be learning any spelllllllls just yet, I'm afraid." Bluoro shot her down.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Damn, she was actually really curious about how a fight with a spell-slinging slime would be like.
"So what will I be learning, then?"
"You will showwww me the spells you already posseeeess. We will train them until you earn a levellllll up. Then, you will increase you Presence, to avoid conceptual unravelllllling."
"I kind of assumed training Skills just gives you more level in the Skill, not your overall level."
"It doesn't usually, but the System often rewards 'firsts'. First enemy beaten, first Skill advanced, first new Skill acquired, that sort of thing. Beyond that, levels are awarded either by some persistent progress, or some great show of prowess." Rusty said.
"Great, let's do this, then."
In that case, I will leave you two to it."
Rusty turned her orb around to leave, but Acacia called out before she could start walking.
"Oh, I forgot, Scalpel says hi!"
Rusty froze.
"Does he now." The generated voice sounded unlike anytime Acacia heard the robot speak before: it sounded cold.
The mage-to-be decided it was best not to pry, and simply watched as Rusty resumed walking away after a moment.
"Well. Anyway. Come in, oh mentor. Are honorifics a thing here?"
"I don't carrrrrre." The mage replied, and slithered into her house.
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Acacia spent several hours casting [Growth Spurt] under the guidance of Bluoro. The mage could see the mana flowing through her body, so they were able to provide pointers on how to direct it better. Acacia struggled at first to put the advice into practice, as most of her experience with the Skill was instinctual, but slowly, she learned to sense the energy coursing through her body as she willed it to change. This allowed her to be more efficient with her mana, making the spell cost less, as long as she concentrated properly.
"Is it... hot in here? The weather is lukewarm, from what I've seen, and I've heard it never changes, so what is happening?" Acacia wondered after a while. If she still had human skin, she would be sweating profusely.
"Growwwwing new mass like this hastens your metabolllllllism. The process generates heat. Normally, your body disssssssssipates it on its own, but magic forces it to behave diffffffferently." The slime mage explained. "I resolve this problem by speciallllllllllllising in disciplines of ice and cold. Of course, you must choose an approach that works for youuuuuuuuuuu."
She nodded. "What if I just don't address the problem?"
"Rapid dehydratttttttrion, or even burns."
"Ah."
While she briefly considered just letting overheating-related injuries to happen, she immediately realised that fixing them would be like taking out a loan to pay off another loan. Eventually, there's no one else to lend from, and you're stuck with a massive debt. Or in this case, with a smoldering corpse for a body.
To let her cool off, the two took a break and went to the restaurant. Acacia was pretty sure she had drank half her body mass worth of water, and ate about half that in nutrient bars. Bluoro also partook, a nutrient bar visibly floating in their gel body afterwards.
Returning to the task, Acacia got more and more used to directing her mana. At some point, Bluoro instructed her to command the mana to bring nutrients along with it, so while it flowed from somewhere between her lungs (or where she would have lungs; she wasn't sure if they were still present), it gathered biomass and directed it into the spot where it was needed for new tissue.
As she finally made that work, she felt a change throughout her whole body, mind, and soul.
[Growth Spurt] has advanced to level 2-B!
You have advanced your first magical Skill. Level up!
+5 Attribute points.
Remembering the advice of both Rusty and Bluoro, she put all five points into Presence, bringing it up to 12.
"Alright, [Growth Spurt] advanced, level got, Presence stabilised. Can we move on to learning new spells now?" Acacia pleaded.
Bluoro's gel-like body bubbled as they considered for a second.
Then, the slime bobbed their form up and down, emulating a nod. "Time for yourrrrrrrr next lesson."
Acacia nodded enthusiastically. Finally, expanding her horizons! Yes, she could already do magic. She could shapeshift, an ability she would probably be willing to kill in her former life - the surgeries weren't cheap, and they still had limits. But the horizon was endless now - quite literally, considering where she was.
Just as she was about to ask for what the next lesson would be, she fell on her back.
Something slammed into her chest like a battering ram and threw her back. The chair she was sitting on landed next to her.
"What the fuck?"
"You can senssssssse your own mana now. But to trullllly understand magic, you must feel the mana outsiiiiiiiiiiiide you as well." Bluoro explained. "I will be hitting you with burstsssss of mana. Fill your arms with maaaaana and block my attacks."
Acacia stood up, and raised her guard. She didn't have any martial training, but she did her best to take on a defensive stance.