The book was still clearly not giving its secrets away freely. But at least there was so much more he could learn from it. The glossary of focuses would be helpful, sure, but surely it wasn’t the only new thing that was brought with the rest of the changes.

Going back towards the page that described Holy Light and trying to read onwards made George a bit dizzy. He was certain letters are harder to focus on, and there was a definite difference with the way his arm moved compared to what he could see.

He ran a palm across his face, the left side producing a small tinge of heat as he glossed over the tattoo, while the right side harboured a heavy gash across where his eye was. Or had been.

He ran his fingers over his eyelid and he could feel the softness of the skin and flesh compared to the more stringy feedback of an eyeball. He didn’t want to look for a mirror, but this was confirmation enough that his right eye was completely and utterly gone, replaced in part by what felt like soft flesh and a large scar that ran from his forehead across his entire cheek. There was a groove in the bone where his brow was. It was all a telltale sign of his pitiful combat performance.

He shook his head, trying to focus his eyes, or eye, as he should probably get used to using the singular, on the book ahead of him. It certainly could’ve gone worse, and this book had helped saved what he had left of his miserable face.

His eyesight still shaky and void of any real focus, he flipped onto the next page. Before everything, this was blank, but now a cacophony of red letters awaited him with what would supposedly be a first real prize for being chosen, or choosing a Deity.

Battle Rage

Enchantment/Divinity Spell, War Domain

Give the target Barbarian’s Rage. Increases damage resistance, viciousness, and reduces reason.

Initiated by eye contact with the target, or targets, and willing the Deity’s will to fight.

Lasts until manually cancelled.

War Domain: Doesn’t require concentration. Can affect multiple targets at once.

Well, that was indeed an interesting one. He didn’t actually need to fight himself all that much, which was a boon considering his newfound lack of proper vision.

Below the incredibly concise and not nearly explanatory text was a long-winded description on how exactly Barbarians approached combat and the revel that a fight against one was. Shrugging off wounds and arrows like flies was mentioned in a curt passage.

Where his previous skills were more utilitarian and supportive, this one certainly got the point across that he was meant to look for trouble, whether he liked it or not.

The description also clearly mentions that the afflicted would receive a red glow either in or around their eyes, as George couldn’t exactly translate the floweriness of the passages that he went through, and his impending headache from trying to focus so much on them certainly wasn’t helping.

While he slowly read through the page, he almost failed to notice Kr’thra sitting down next to him, only realising she did so once he felt leathery scales next to his arm.

He glanced up to see her at eye level with him, trying to read the book.

“Can you read it?” he asked slowly, unsure how exactly the spell she regularly performed on him in order to communicate actually worked on writing. He certainly couldn’t read other books, but they didn’t belong to the Grolari in the first place. He had yet to see them actually write something.

She shrugged and shook her head while mouthing what would be a negative. Well, there went reading comprehension towards the unrevealed script.

She stopped trying to interfere with his attempts to read the book, which George found odd. In fact, the entire scene, or the entire cave felt sombre in a way. Of course, with everything that happened so recently, it was understandable.

“It says a lot of things about Barbarians and battles and rage and whatnot-” he started without any prompt from her, guessing that she was as interested in the contents as he was.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I suppose that they gave me this to fight, and there’s no other way around it,” he sighed, not bothering to look away from the book and into her face. There seemed no need for that at the moment.

“You know, where I’m from, they speak of this only in tales and stories, and games,” he chuckled, imagining what kind of a game would have systems this shitty.

“Games?” she asked, almost incredulous.

“Yeah. It’s very different back there,” he gestured at the small group of people around them, all of them loitering about the cave aimlessly in respite. “Most of us don’t need to fight or fear for our lives on a daily basis.

“There’s also nothing like this,” he pointed at the book. “In no way could I do anything like this-” he pointed towards the ceiling and concentrated hard on lighting the cave up, even by little, and a bundle of stalactites were lit in a bright yellow glare.

The people in the cave turned to watch at the ceiling, then at George, with a slightly dazed look on their eyes.

He forgot that he didn’t know how to turn it off, so resigned himself to just waiting it out, even if it brought him ire from the other occupants in here. They could use some light.

Kr’thra mouthed something he didn’t hear and George continued, now looking away from the book.

“So, what do we do now?” he asked her, still not completely aware of his position in all of this. He gave them some of their secrets, and hopefully, in return, he would receive a few back. It would definitely not be of equal value on someone’s end, but he was sure there was no helping that particular situation.

Still, he was alive, mostly well, without an eye, in a cave. There wasn’t much more that could go wrong.

She stood up, seemingly embroiled in one thought or another, while George was still sitting down. Whatever the Grolari’s decisions were, he would be ready.

For now, though, it was back to the book.

It was contradictory. Everything that happened thus far was utterly terrifying. Things wanted to kill him, repeatedly, and he had to fight. He didn’t even know how to fight properly and was thrust against creatures and beings he clearly didn’t understand. The entire situation was slanted against him.

Yet there was that feeling of cheerfulness and discovery when he read onwards into the book. Magic was real and it was at his fingertips and the book was the way towards learning more of it. His excitement couldn’t be contained by a grim reminder that he could easily die. He already beat some odds, even if it required literal divine intervention to do so. He would just need to be better next time.

He flipped onto the next page

Divine Shield

Abjuration/Divinity Spell, No Domain

Summons a defensive shield around the caster or creature, shielding them from harm.

Alternatively, reinforces the defences of the caster.

Requires concentration.

War Domain: Affects up to two creatures, including the caster.

Well, this was late. Where was this spell when he needed it? Maybe he didn’t need to lose an eye then.

And what was this mention of concentration? To the glossary it was, then.

Concentration

Some spells require concentration. The caster must focus on keeping the spells active for the duration. Trying to cast another spell breaks concentration. Refer to the spells’ descriptions for ways to maintain concentration.

So, there was essentially a limit. More powerful or effective spells couldn’t be used together, or had greater requirements.

The Shield required him to stay focused on the appearance of the actual defenses or on the will to defend from harm. What that meant was beyond George’s current mental faculties, but he was certain it would come to light in no time once he actually had to use the skill.

Still, this gave him a defense. His spell selection, or rather, the spell ensemble he was given, was starting to look pretty balanced. If he were playing a game.

George sighed. It would explain so much, being in a game, and yet there was no way that this was actually one. It all felt too real already. Even people dying.

It was a strange thought. He could easily process people dying and creatures attacking him. Back home, a spider made his skin crawl, yet here he bashed several’s faces in with a book and then skewered a few more like it was no big deal.

Was all of it starting to get to him somehow? Did he lose something in that moment between him being in his room and the next where he was on the cave floor?

Did he miss home?

He wasn’t sure. Part of him still told him this was alright and that it will pass, maybe he needed to cling onto it more. Denial was a powerful tool.

He let his mind wander for too long thinking about things that didn’t really matter at the moment. The book in front of him lured him with more to learn.

He opened the next page, and glanced over the contents.

George gasped, like someone reading a great plot twist in a detective novel. Did this world have detective novels, was the thought that went or would go through his mind once.

For now, he was still not believing the things he read.

“No, that’s not… How-” he gasped like a fish out of water, blinking with his one good eye. “Where do I find a mana crystal… And why that specific size?”

He slowly traced over the page and flipped to the next page. The information would be stored for later and there was no way he would ever get to use it.

In a game, this would’ve been a game changer. In here, it might actually be heresy.