Orrin sighed in defeat and fell back on the bed. The last few hours had been terrible. Anabella hadn’t needed him to give her his stats. She already knew them. She had a version of the upgraded [Identify] like he did. Of course, she hadn’t told him that until after he’d been humiliated.

Orrin groaned again and rubbed his eyes in frustration, remembering their conversations.

“Don’t lie to me.” Her voice took the cold tone of teachers from his past when he’d forgotten homework. Orrin’s neck hairs tingled.

“My will is twenty,” Orrin tried to lie. “I’m telling the truth.”

He found himself floating upside down in the middle of the room. Anabella held a knife in her hand and advanced on him.

“If you won’t be honest, I’ll study the effects of your healing with actions.” She pressed the cold blade against his abdomen. “It is your choice.”

After he’d told her his will, intelligence, strength, dexterity, and constitution, she’d tilted her head. “Why [Mana Pool]?”

“I needed the extra MP to heal… how do you know I have [Mana Pool]?”

The vulpine smile that spread on her face reminded Orrin that this was the mother of Lord Sanerris and the former ruler of Odrana. “Now that we have an understanding, I’ll ask again. What are your theories on the different branches of healing and how they relate to…”

Orrin took a deep breath and steadied his mind with [Meditation]. He’d been able to glean some interesting facts regarding his own magic from her inquiries. [Mind Bastion] had played against him for the first ten minutes before he realized his need for a logical solution was making him argue with her on the finer points of [Heal Small Wounds].

He’d also let slip the equation he’d worked out for his first-level increase-stat spells. The will-to-stat increase math that he’d worked so hard to figure out and Anabella waved her hand in annoyance.

“Everybody knows that,” Orrin mocked in a poor imitation of her voice.

He turned over the few bits he’d been able to steal back from her. He’d had to turn [Mind Bastion] on and off, which felt like jumping from a cold pool into a sauna every few minutes. However, he’d begun to piece together a few interesting ideas.

First was something that Arandir had already hinted at. Even if Orrin increased a person’s strength to the maximum value of one hundred, they couldn’t use that newly attained strength to its full extent. Anabella had mentioned constitution playing a part in how quickly a person could acclimate to their increased skill, using the example of a [Berserker] again. She must have talked with one extensively in the past.

Orrin could see how that made sense. He’d already had a theory that Daniel’s skill [Summoned Hero], which gave him double the stat power for his strength, dexterity, and constitution, had something to do with why he didn’t suffer from over-stat use. It conflicted with his own case, as Orrin also had some sort of immunity to over-increasing his stats. The Dragoon team’s ability to not pass out after being buffed also supported the argument that a higher level and constitution could negate the aftereffects.

Second, Anabella knew her healing. This was where Orrin was scared that he might have screwed up. He’d slipped back into [Mind Bastion] for the calming effect and better recall it gave while arguing with her about the way [Heal Small Wounds] worked. Orrin hadn’t worked with other healers to a great extent but what Anabella was telling him was wrong.

“You can’t focus the healing on a specific part of the body. You must let it spread so the person’s own magic can direct it where it is most needed.” Anabella had pulled out books on healing and was able to find direct quotes without using a reference guide. “This study proved that generalized healing worked better than trying to apply personal knowledge of a wound’s nature.”

“That looks flawed to me. There’s no mention of anatomy education or knowledge from these healers. This passage says one of them tried rubbing mud on every wound before to help his nature magic work better. Wounds should be clean and knowing how the layers of skin would react to something like that would be—”

“Layers of skin?”

Orrin had tried to backpedal but once Anabella had her sights set on something, she eventually got what she wanted. He’d explained the various layers of the human body in the broadest terms he could. Three layers. The first that kept things from entering your body, unless it was cut. A second layer under that contained fine sensation nerve endings and small blood vessels. The third held the fat layers, more nerves, and the bigger blood vessels.

“How do you know these things? Have you cut the skin to see yourself?”

“My mother taught me,” Orrin had repeated. It was the easiest way to get out of further questioning.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

They’d talked more and Orrin learned a few more topics about healing that he hadn’t been able to find in books. Some of the things she told him contradicted what he’d discussed with Amir his healer friend, or Lyra, the Elder of Healing for the elves.

“You’re sure that [Diagnosis] isn’t required? I was told it is—”

“A requirement for multiple fields of healing. Yes, I’ve heard that before.” Anabella had the annoying habit of finishing Orrin’s sentences before he could finish. It was like she was impatient to continue the conversation. “One of the things that I was trying to reform was our Hospital and general healing knowledge. I upset a great number of old men. One reason on a list as long as my arm of reasons my son was able to snatch my power away.”

“You seem pretty strong still,” Orrin had said, rubbing his stomach.

A rare warm smile flashed across her lips. “My powers remain mine. I meant my rule. I tried to be too involved in projects I was interested in and lost sight of the greater scheme.”

Orrin had kept quiet and her small smile turned predatory again. “Of course, now I have the time to delve deeper into what interests me. Back to what you said about nerve structure…”

The third and final thing he’d learned from Anabella was how little he knew about magic. She’d been asking him what spells he had to use against enemies. He’d tried to be cagey until she shook her head in disappointment. She spent a long minute staring at him, which made him distinctly uncomfortable.

“You have too many spells in different areas. Why did you buy [Tilth]? I’m not sure anybody has used that in centuries.”

Orrin had pulled back in shock. “How do you—”

“I used [Identify]. Anyone of sufficient power gets it eventually and I see you already have it. I’d recommend you not use it on me if I open your collar up more in the future. What is the reason you have such a wide array of magic? These wards you have seem to… I see. Do you have a growing class?”

Orrin had to slip back into [Mind Bastion] to keep up with her thoughts. “When I get a new spell type, I sometimes get a new ward option… if that is what you’re asking. What’s a growing class?”

“A growing class versus a static class. Some classes give access to every skill or spell from the first level. It makes the class common, easy to record, and safe. A [Farmer] will know every ability he can use and it is only a matter of time before he charts his path to the most profitable outcome. A [Fire Mage] is a growing class. It has a set of base spells but can add more depending on what is chosen or if other actions are taken.”

“I guess I’m that kind then.”

“Wonderful. If you have a spell of each type of magic, along with a ward for each type as well, you’ll eventually be able to see the changes of magic for each one. I’d recommend you not purchase any other types of useless spells. You don’t have a metal spell or any wood magic. I’m going to open up your [Tilth] spell. I’ll have them send some dirt to your room. Try using the spell and see if you can watch the magic leave your body.”

“Huh?”

Anabella took a pitcher of water off the counter and poured some into a glass. “Watch.”

Orrin watched as she moved the water with a spell. It lifted out of the glass and spun in the air, creating a circle. She twitched her fingers and the water froze. It fell to the ground and shattered, sending small chips of ice against his legs.

“Did you see?”

“You froze the water? I don’t have a spell to do that.”

Anabella had dismissed him after that, telling him she wouldn’t teach imbeciles.

Someone had brought a bucket of shitty soil into his room. Actual soil with what smelled like horse manure mixed into it. Orrin tried to use [Tilth]. He felt the mana draining but to his untrained eye, he had no idea what to look for.

Orrin’s dad had taken care of the garden in their backyard. He’d had green plants around the house that he watered and sang to. Once he’d gone, Orrin’s mom tried to keep them alive but she was busy trying to get the police to look for him or working to keep the house. As such, the plants had fallen to the wayside. Orrin had tried to pick up the slack and keep them watered at least. He’d even brought the hose around the back of the house to spray the small vegetable garden his dad was so proud of. It only grew carrots and small tomatoes.

Everything had died within a week of Orrin taking over.

He kept at it mostly because he had nothing else to do. He could only spend so long pacing or running different spells through [Merge]. He was hesitant to create anything new now that Anabella had seen his spells. If she looked again and something new popped up, he’d have to explain why he bought it.

Orrin still had ability points and administrator points as well but what could he possibly use them on in his current predicament. He’d need to find something in the Store that was internal magic only and would help him escape.

Every cast of [Tilth] made the soil blend for lack of a better word. He mixed the soil over and over, feeling the mana move away from his body. Anabella had also left [Heal Small Wounds] unlocked and he had quickly brought himself back to full strength. He was slightly angry to find himself counting the casts and mana used versus how much better he felt after each cast. It wasn’t something he was going to tell her. He did it for his own knowledge… right?

He didn’t go back in to train with Styx. Anabella had sent him back to his prison early but he knew dinner was right around the corner. Maybe after he ate and everyone was asleep, he’d try to increase [Way of the Water] to the—

What was that?

Orrin cast [Tilth] again.

It must have been my imagination.

He cast three more times before it happened again.

As Orrin cast the spell, he focused on his hand. He’d long gotten used to shooting his spells with finger guns but it wasn’t necessary. He knew that in theory, he could cast from any part of his body but most castors used their fingers or palms.

As [Tilth] ate his mana, Orrin felt the magic. It was similar to when he’d redirected the healer’s magic to his broken bones but instead of touching the magic, he just observed.

The mana within him was a calm sea of power. As he activated the spell, it was pulled to where he had visualized. A small drop of his mana raced down his arm and to his fingers. It spread and drifted out of his skin, laying itself over the soil.

Except as it left his hand, his mana sparked… or maybe grew was more accurate. It changed from potential into something hearty and musky. The flowing blue power within him morphed into a sludgy brown energy that spread into the dirt below.

Orrin cast again. He watched. He tried it with [Mind Bastion] and without. After twenty minutes, his mana was getting low but he succeeded nine times out of ten now in watching the magic move and change. He wasn’t sure what good it would do, but he smirked.

“Who’s the imbecile now?”