Before I left the table, Kalistra threw something at me. "Here, catch!"

Purely on reflex, I stuck out my right hand and something bounced into my palm. Instinctively, I closed my hand before it fell off. When I opened my hand, I saw that it was the key to my guest room. "Thank you," I said. I had totally forgotten about the key. It would have been embarrassing for me to go upstairs only to remember that I didn't have the key to my room.

The cat girl's eyes glowed. While I was bringing a woman to my room, Kalistra was not worried that I would cheat on Amelica because the cat girl did not see any physical attraction between me and Rijana. Thus, Kalistra did not feel the need to play chaperone. She left a silver coin on the table, rose from her seat, navigated past the crowd of patrons in the common room and exited the inn.

"Hurry up, sis!" Bjoukin said and left our table.

Bjoukia took a big gulp from her mug and ran after her brother.

Rijana shook her head as she reached into her pouch; she left a few silver coins on the table and followed me to my room.

I lit the lantern with a Fire Bolt and earned a frown from my magic instructor.

She sat on my bed and took out her spellbook.

I took out my own spellbook from my special pouch, along with the quill and bottle of inkwell; I kept my book on my lap while the other items were left on the floor.

"What kind of spells do you wish to learn today?" Rijana asked me.

"First and foremost, I need a big offensive spell that is effective against undead," I answered immediately. "Can I learn Fireball as a Level 6 Mage?" I asked.

"Yes," she nodded. "However, that is a third-tier magic spell and it may be difficult for you to learn it. Thus, I would advise you to increase your Read Magic skill before you attempt to learn Fireball."

I quickly recalled how I learned my Swordsman skills. If I failed the attempt to learn the skill, I had to advance to the next level before I could attempt to learn the skill again. I wondered if the same principle applied to magic spells. "Let's say I fail to learn Fireball. Can I simply advance to the next level and try again?" I asked.

Rijana shook her head. "That's not how it works for mages. You get one attempt to learn each spell," she warned me. "If you fail your attempt, you will never be able to succeed if you try to copy the spell again. That's why it's important for you to increase your Read Magic skill before you attempt to learn Fireball."

I winced at the thought of being unable to add Fireball to my spellbook. The spell was a staple offensive spell for mages. Frankly, I couldn't think of myself as a real mage if Fireball was missing from my repertoire.

My instructor held up her hand. "Mages can get around this by casting Fireball from scrolls. In fact, Fireball scrolls are among the most popular items at the Mage Guild shop for this reason."

I shook my head. Think POSITIVE, Larry! I will NOT fail to learn Fireball! "What would you recommend that I learn first in order to increase my Read Magic skill?" I asked.

Rijana opened her spellbook and started flipping the pages. Finally, she set it down on the bed in front of me. "Since we'll probably fight undead tonight, I suggest that you learn the second-tier spell Protection from Undead. It's different from the first-tier spells that you had learned because Protection has both a verbal and a material component. We can get the material when we leave your room. But right now, I want you to try to copy the spell to your spellbook."

I opened my own spellbook, dipped the quill in the inkwell and started copying the spell. Before I knew it, a half hour flew by! However, I was rewarded with some pop-up notifications. The first one read, "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. Level 4, +50 XP." The second message read, "Spell of light LEARNED: Protection from Undead. +100 XP."

My magic instructor peered down at my writings and smiled. "Congratulations. Now read what you just wrote," she ordered.

I bent my head and read the page. Even though I recognized the handwriting as my own, the content of the page was unfamiliar to me. Nonetheless, I was able to understand the instructions. In order to cast the spell, I needed a flask of holy water. I would need to dip my finger in it and then draw a cross on the following locations: My forehead, the back of my hands, my chest, and my feet. Additionally, as I mark my body in this prescribed manner, I would need to chant continuously: "Asa le vi Gaea." "Why Gaea?" I wondered aloud.

"Gaea is the Greater Goddess of Life. The undead represents the opposite of life and She offers the greatest protection against the undead," Rijana explained.

"If I simply douse my body with holy water, wouldn't that repel the undead?" I asked.

"Yes and no," my teacher answered. "While the holy water would indeed serve as a repellent to the undead, the water would inevitably evaporate over time and thus, the protection would disappear. What the chant does is it creates a channel between Gaea and your body. Her essence is what keeps the undead at bay. There is an upkeep cost to keep the channel open after the first hour. But for most situations, an hour of protection is more than enough," she lectured. "What skill level is your Read Magic currently?" she asked suddenly.

"Level 4,"I responded. I recalled fighting slime monsters inside the Phla'en Ruins near Balmore Farms with Kalistra and the human form of Jasla, a monk. The monk used her body as a conduit between the void and the slime monster; the negative energy melted the slime's flesh on contact. Protection from Undead apparently acted on a similar principle.

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Rijana tilted her head for a moment. "Accounting for your intelligence modifier, I would say that you have a 50-50 chance of learning Fireball. It would take you an hour or longer to transcribe it successfully. So you have two choices. You could either try to learn another second-tier spell over the next half hour and hope that your Read Magic skill will increase. Or, you can try to learn Fireball now," she suggested.

"I would like to learn another second-tier spell," I replied. I wanted to increase my chance of learning Fireball as much as possible.

My teacher nodded. "Please look at your player status screen and tell me the elements that you don't have any magic spell in," she requested.

I pulled up my screen. A picture of my player avatar was on the left column and right above that read: “Title: Pursuer of the Crown, Title: Finalist in the Melee Tournament, Title: Were-Hunter, Title: Avenger of the Town Judge Wachtel; Title: Liege of the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship, Status: Member of the Mage Guild, Status: Adept of the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship, Status: Adept of the Church of Britannia, Status: Town Judge of Tregome, Status: Honorary member of the Tregome Bordermen, Status: True Friend of Burnhamm Village.”

The middle column read: "Name: Lawrence Eugene Mulligan, Race: Human, Alignment: Lawful-Neutral, Permanent Conditions: Marked by Bane, Marked by Musa, Marked by Luck, Marked by Gaea, Marked by Jasla; Profession: Mage/Swordsman, Level: 6, Experience: 8,753/15,000, Reputation: 10,402, Attack: 34, Damage: 6-8 (Unarmed), 8-12 (Dagger), 8-18 (Long Sword), Critical Attack: 7%, Critical Damage: 250%."

On the right side of the screen, my player attributes were listed: "Health: 66, Stamina: 46, Magic: 30, Strength: 20, Intelligence: 20, Wisdom: 12, Dexterity: 19, Constitution: 26, Charisma: 12. Abilities: Navigation-Sense (Level 5), Magic Sense (Level 4), Immunity to Electricity (Level 1), Negotiation (Level 3), Spirit Sense (Level 5), Reroll (Level X)."

At the bottom were four tabs. The first was marked "Skills." When I mentally clicked on the tab, I saw: "Professional Skills: Mage—Read Magic (Level 4); Swordsman—Charge (Level 4), Disarm (Level 3), First Strike (Level 2), Slide Step (Level 4), Duel Winner (Level 2)." The second tab was "Magic Spells: General (Level 1)—Detect Trap, Light; Fire (Level 2)—Fire Bolt; Water (Level 1); Earth (Level 1); Air (Level 1)—Magic Missile; Light (Level 1)—Protection from Undead; Dark (Level 1)." The third tab was: "Divine Spells: Order—Unveil (Level X), Chaos—Veil (Level X), Charm Opposite Sex (Level X); Life—Minor Heal (Level X)." The last tab was "Artifacts," and it revealed: "Truth-Stone of Order and Chaos—Truth-Telling (Level X)."

When I reviewed my screen, I noticed that my divine blessing from Lady Luck was gone! I sighed at the realization. Her blessing had lasted a week and cost me a platinum coin. But it helped me tremendously in surviving my trials the past week. But seeing how my status screen was filling out, I had very much outgrown the blessing. I quickly checked my spells and said, "I'm missing from Water, Earth, and Dark."

"Second-tier Dark spells I can offer you are Darkness and Dark Vision. Second tier Earth spell I can offer are Spider Climb and Web. I don't know any second-tier Water spells, unfortunately," Rijana replied.

"Can you explain them a little bit?" I requested.

"Certainly," my teacher nodded. "Darkness is an area of effect spell which creates darkness within a designated circle near the spellcaster. The nice part is that it only requires the drawing of a rune, meaning that the spell could be cast quickly. Dark Vision allows the user to see in the dark. Spider Climb allows you to climb walls and ceilings like a spider. Web is another area of effect spell that creates some web to entangle a target. It works best in a confined space," Rijana explained.

"I'll take Web," I decided. With Kalistra as my travel companion, I didn't want to waste a precious slot on Dark Vision since the cat girl could see in the dark already. Spider Climb didn't make sense to me either because I wasn't interested in taking a hybrid mage/thief role. Thus, my choices had narrowed down to Darkness and Web. Of the two, I recognized that Web could help me on my quest at the cemetery and that was why I chose to learn this spell. However, I did plan to learn Darkness eventually because I recognized its effectiveness on the battlefield.

When my teacher turned her spellbook to the page for Web, I started the process of copying the spell to my own spellbook. After a half-hour, I managed to copy the spell. "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. Level 5, +50 XP." "Spell of earth LEARNED: Web. +100 XP." I quickly read the page to learn more details about Web. For this spell, I would need a bit of spider web and chant the words: "Buu fa ces ro."

Rijana took back her spellbook and slowly flipped the pages over to Fireball. She set it down on the bed and said, "Good luck."

I took a deep breath and started copying the spell. As I reached the middle of the page, my eyes became blurry and my mind lost focus. Dice started rolling inside my head. "Intelligence check FAILED. Reroll SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP." When the dice stopped rolling, my mind regained its clarity and I was able to resume copying the spell. After an hour, I was finished. "Read magic SUCCESSFUL. Level 6, +100 XP." "Spell of fire LEARNED: Fireball. Level 3, +200 XP."

I collapsed onto my bed. I was mentally exhausted and I could barely keep my eyes open. Thank you, Lady Luck. It was only because of the special Reroll ability that I was able to learn Fireball.

In response, I felt a warm sensation from Her divine mark on my forearm. The feeling spread throughout my body and it made me fall asleep.

Rijana took my spellbook from my hands and read what I wrote. She confirmed that my transfer of the Fireball spell was successful. "Well done," she smiled and placed the book on the floor.

*Knock-knock*

The mage opened the door and saw Kalistra and the twin elves standing in front of her.

Kalistra jumped up to see over the human's shoulder. "Why is Lawrence sleeping?" the cat girl asked when she landed on the floor.

"Shhh!" Rijana put a finger to her lips. "Your lord just spent all his mental focus and concentration to copy the Fireball spell. He'll need approximately a half hour to recover," she explained.

Bjoukin whistled. "Lord Mulligan became a Mage yesterday and just one day later, he's ready to toss fireballs? Yikes." Normally, it took months if not years of study before a student in magic was ready to learn Fireball. However, the elf was no longer surprised by my amazing accomplishments because it seemed to a frequent occurrence for me.

The cat girl quickly made a decision. "Rijana, please keep the door open for a moment. I don't have the key to this room. I will open the door to my room and the three of you can stay until Lawrence awakens," she said. Kalistra did NOT want to leave me alone in my room again. Not after I was kidnapped the night before.

The twins looked at each other and nodded. "That's fine with us," Bjoukin replied. He could spend some time restringing his bow, while his sister could use a whetstone to sharpen her blade.

The cat girl quickly unlocked the door to her room and switched places with the mage. Kalistra quietly closed the door to my room. She sat down on the floor, leaned her back against the wall next to the door, and started meditating.