Orrin got straight to the point. “I want to talk with a [Mind Walker]. I met someone who might need their help.”

Leanthun tilted his head “Who would need such healing before battle? A [Mind Walker] works for months after fighting to calm our minds. For anyone else, I would answer no but I’ll hear you out. Your actions made our people stronger and all of Asmea may yet survive because of you and Daniel. Talk and I will listen.”

Orrin recounted a quick and dirty version of his last few weeks, including his idea to use spell glass orbs to enhance the armies of Asmea. He told Leanthun about Nina and his desire to help her in some way.

“If they don’t want to spend time or mana curing her, I’d settle for talking for a few minutes. I have a lot of healing spells and maybe I could do—”

“Listen carefully, Orrin. Do not attempt to pry into or heal anyone’s mind. [Mind Walkers] are rare for a reason. Training takes decades and no member of our Hospital would give you the tools that you seek. I will relay your request but promise me that you won’t try anything. You didn’t do anything yet, did you?” Leanthun looked worried at the prospect.

“No. The most I could have done was [Calm Mind] but she needs more than a temporary fix.”

Leanthun let out a sigh of relief. “That is a good spell for clearing your thoughts but has little effect on the horrors of the mind. I’m glad you didn’t… it doesn’t matter. Is there anything else that I can help you with?”

Orrin still wanted to talk with a [Mind Walker] but figured it could wait. He’d had interesting conversations with Anabella about healing the body and was convinced that something as simple as his high school anatomy class would have improved any regular healing by leaps and bounds. Maybe he could give a few pointers on psychology that could help cure Nina.

Leanthun wasn’t going to change his mind though and Orrin had other things to do. Leanthun was also busy and Orrin didn’t want to waste any more of his time.

“I’m sorry if I wasted your time, Leanthun. I don’t trust the human Hospital. If you do hear back, she owns a small shop near the…” he gave directions, which Leanthun wrote down in a small notepad.

“My door is always open for you, Orrin. I can’t speak for a member of our Hospital but rest assured our [Healers] are good people. I’m sure someone will look in on your friend.” Leanthun assured Orrin, ignoring the old elf who kept poking him. “Yes, Draenadal. You can call everyone back in. I’m sorry, Orrin. There is much to organize. You humans are willing to learn our archery but slow to improve. I must go.”

Orrin and Brandt said their goodbyes, with the knight taking an arm of letters to deliver to Silas. They made their way back to the Catanzano house, silence beating down on them like the sun above.

Brandt spoke first. “If you’d like, I can have Lord Catazano arrange for someone from our Hospital to look in on Nina. It’s kind of you to care for her but she’s gotten by for this long. She’ll be fine until after we win this fight.”

Orrin knew everyone in the Hospital wasn’t rotten but his only encounters with them had soured his view. He wasn’t sure they’d forgotten about the invisible healing angel that stole half their work and saved a dozen lives. He hadn’t forgotten the dejection on Amir’s face for being demoted for doing his job.

“Thank you, Brandt. Maybe. I’ll let you know. I’m going to go upstairs and start making spell orbs. What should I even call them? Strength spheres? Increase stat orbs?”

“Buff balls?” Brandt offered with a straight face.

Orrin wiped tears from his eyes when he finally stopped laughing.

Orrin pulled out the remaining eight spell glass orbs.

“You better be worth it,” he threatened.

Before committing to spending his ability points, Orrin experimented. He knew a low level [Increase Strength] worked but what about the other three stats?

“Please work.”

Unfortunately, Orrin had to use the orbs to make sure the spells triggered. He used three of the costly glasses to confirm all his buff spells worked. When he used a level three [Increase Will], the ball exploded in his hand.

Damn it. That’s not the end of the world though. Even a few extra points in a stat can make all the difference. Orrin rationalized. Let’s see how much this is going to cost me.

Orrin couldn’t find [Spell Orb] in his Store, confirming his theory that some spells and abilities wouldn’t show up unless he found the hidden combination that unlocked it. He did find [Storage] and [Mana Shield].

[Storage] – create a magical barrier around a selected container that keeps items fresh. 2 MP. 4 AP

[Mana Shield] – create a shield of pure mana to reflect a physical attack. 2 MP. 5 AP.

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“That’s a lot of points.” Orrin considered his options.

He had over a hundred ability points. One hundred and five, he checked to make sure. If these unlock [Spell Orb] and it costs a hundred points, I’m going to be pissed. It shouldn’t cost that much. I should have checked Nina’s level. That would have given me a clue.

If he spent the points and decided [Spell Orb] was too expensive, it wasn’t the end of the world. More spells would give him more options in [Merge] and Orrin had already thought of a few ways to use [Mana Shield]. Whether reflect meant simple protection from a physical strike or turning the damage back on the attacker, the spell was low cost and high reward either way. If he could use [Split Spell] with the [Mana Shield], he could create another low cost barrier like [Ward] to protect people. From the description, it would only work once but Orrin had seen one strong attack take down strong fighters and mages.

[Storage] was probably the kind of thing that people used to keep produce fresh during the journey to the markets. Amir might know how it was used from his coffee shop experience but Orrin doubted there was a fighting application he could exploit.

“I hope I don’t regret this,” Orrin said as he clicked the ‘yes’ and bought both spells. “If [Spell Orb] isn’t available, I’m going to be pis… There it is.”

A new option appeared in the Store under his search.

[Spell Orb] – create a storage device that can contain one spell with variable mana capacity. 1 MP cost minimum. Variable MP cost. 25 AP.

Twenty-five points was more than he’d wanted but less than he’d feared. The low and variable mana cost raised a few questions about the quality of the orbs he had remaining but Orrin was in a unique situation. With [Mediation], he already recovered his mana naturally throughout the day. His [Mana Pool] ability gave him an extra hundred points of mana to spend and if he buffed his stats before getting to work, Orrin’s daily mana expenditure could rival a small town.

He told himself this would save lives again and spent the ability points. Holding his hand out, he activated the spell with the minimum mana cost. A fragile ball of light blue glass formed in his palm.

Orrin carefully cast a level one [Increase Will] into the glass with a building sense of excitement. This is going to—

The glass exploded.

“Fuck.”

It took ten minutes of testing and resting before Orrin worked out the mechanics and kinks in his new ability. Spell orbs could be made with one mana point but they couldn’t hold any of his spells. They could hold a single [Ice Sword] but what’s the point in that.

If Orrin wanted a level one [Increase Will] spell orb, the initial casting needed to be five MP or the same cost of the buff. The mana cost wasn’t actually five points given his intelligence and the way the magic costs and stats interacted. Orrin let out a joyful cheer when he made a level three [Increase Will]. He set the stat orbs into different piles.

If intelligence reduces the price of the initial item creation and I buff my will to maximum, I should be able to make… Orrin reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the notebooks from school. He scratched the math down.

If I have both intelligence and will at a hundred, I’ll have eleven hundred points of mana. A single casting of level one buff costs five MP. That means five MP for the spell orb as well. With maxed stats, that should come out to ninety percent of the full cast or one MP to make the orb and one MP to fill it. I can make five hundred and fifty stat increase balls. My will would be maxed as well, so the original plus one stat increase should increase to ten. A ten-point buff for two points of mana? That can’t be right.

Orrin tested his theory. He raised his will and intelligence to one hundred. He created the spell orb. He cast the [Increase Strength] at level one.

“Daniel is going to freak out,” Orrin said with a smile. He grabbed the orbs from his bed and rushed out of his room. “Guys, it worked!”

Brandt, Madi, Daniel, and Silas sat and stood around the table as Orrin explained his new ability. Silas held one of the spheres of glass in his hand.

“You can make hundreds of these?” the Lord of Dey asked. When Orrin nodded, he crushed the one he held. “Remarkable. Brandt, bring me everyone. Leanthun, the other Lords and Lady Timpe, anyone from the Hospital that can be spared, the merchants, the Guild. I want resources pulled from everyone.”

Brandt smiled and left immediately.

“Resources for what? I’m not sure anyone else can make as many of these as I can or even unlock all the spells. I guess I could enchant more spell orbs but I don’t think it would be worth the mana cost to make them,” Orrin asked, confusion apparent on his face.

Daniel walked over and threw his arm over Orrin’s shoulder. “You know all those ideas you had about creating chokepoints throughout the Pass and building extra fortifications to retreat and regroup at? Madi, Silas, and I have spent a lot of time in meetings with… basically everyone trying to come up with mana efficient ways to pull it off. Everyone said the same thing. It would take too long. We don’t have enough people. We can’t risk mana exhaustion before a Horde attacks. You beautiful idiot, you solved all their complaints.”

Orrin chuckled nervously as Daniel and Silas began talking about various people to get involved. Madi sighed and dragged her chair closer to Orrin.

“Before the entire town descends on you, how do you feel about becoming a production line of these things for the next few weeks?” Madi asked quietly.

Orrin shrugged. “If it helps us prepare for the Horde and saves even one life, I’ll do it.”

Madi shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I know and Daniel knows that you’ll put your head down and do what needs to be done. You should set limits though. Don’t tell anyone, even my father, that you can make more than five hundred a day.”

“How do you know I can—”

“Stop,” Madi interrupted Orrin, putting her hand on his arm. “You have an infuriating way of breaking down everything I thought I knew about magic. You also put everyone else above your own needs. We both know you are going to be by Daniel’s side when we fight the [Demon Lord]. Negotiate with leadership. Demand that you are allowed to visit the Pass and create teleport points for fast travel time. Make sure you don’t get locked into a room making tools for others.”

Orrin was touched that Madi felt the need to look out for him. She made good points. He hadn’t thought about the possibility of being forced into sitting there making the orbs day and night. He probably could do it, though. If he used a penidrop mana regeneration potion, he could increase his mana output even more. A mana regen potion would give him one MP back every second. That meant an extra three thousand, six hundred points of mana a day. I could make eighteen hundred spell orbs in an hour.

“You’re doing the thing,” Madi complained, knocking on his skull. “Are you in there? Tell me that you can hear me?”

Orrin laughed and brushed her hand away. “You’re right. Thanks, Madi. I’ll make sure to set limits for myself. You are a good friend.”

Madi rolled her eyes. “Obviously. Now tell me what you want to get out of this and I’ll make sure my father helps.”

She pulled out a stack of paper and found a pen. “How many orbs do you want to make a day? Keep in mind this shouldn’t be the maximum amount but something you can do in an hour or two.”

Orrin glanced at Silas and Daniel still going over a map and talking animatedly. He leaned in close and whispered to Madi.

She froze and the pen fell from her fingers. “You told my father five hundred for a full mana pool. How? What did you do?”

Orrin smirked. “I broke the rules again.”