Rick awoke the next day with a groan.

Now that he was finally sleeping on a mattress instead of the hard ground his body felt the past weeks worth of aches and pains all at once. His limbs were leaden, his joints locked up, and everything in between was in pain. He flopped his head around to look for Sade but couldn’t find her anywhere. Did she go somewhere while I slept? He wondered.

It was shortly after he began his attempts to force his sore body into sitting up when the door to their room opened up and Sade walked in and unslung her pack. “Good, you finally woke up.” She said cheerfully. She started pulling out several items of food and laid them on a cloth she spread out on the floor. “Are you ready for lunch before we head out?”

“What about breakfast?” He asked with a yawn.

She playfully slapped his knee. “It is already midday! Those days of walking must have been really difficult so I let you sleep and recover a bit more.”

Rick thanked her for letting him rest and the two started on their meal with relish. “So what were you doing while I was out and what’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?” He asked after their meal was finished.

“Obviously I went to the market to get food.” She said then added. “I also went to an apothecary to talk about what we discussed last night.”

Rick could see that his lover was nervous so he scooted next to her and put a comforting arm over her shoulders. “And what did they say?”

She leaned into him and gave his side a slight squeeze. “Apparently the process I used to better regulate my cycle when I was younger acts as a common method of contraception. I am not pregnant but both the apothecary and I agree that I was extremely lucky. She highly advised me that I should be more careful in the future. So I bought some pills the two of us can take to help lower the risk further.” She held up a small pouch that must have contained the medicine for him to see.

“That’s good.” He said as he picked up the medicine to give it a better look. “I’m glad we can be a bit safer from now on. I’m sorry I wasn’t more careful.” He said sincerely. It took two to tango, so any problems that arrived because of their actions were just as much his fault as it was hers. He will have to ask how the pills worked later.

“You mentioned we have plans for the afternoon?”

Sade gave a nod and took the pouch back from him and put it back in her pack. “I think we have been unsafe in more ways than one. So I wish to take you somewhere quiet for us to train in using weapons to defend ourselves better. I also think teaching you a few household spells is a good idea.”

Rick was ecstatic to be learning magic. The thought of making fire shoot out of his hands in great flaming arcs appealed to his more nerdy side greatly. He then had a sudden thought and then asked. “Wouldn’t learning other magic interfere with my intimancy?”

Sade shook her head. “Magic is magic. Our talents and vocations tell us what type of spells are easiest for us to learn but that does not stop us from trying to learn other branches of magic.”

Rick was happy to know that he can learn other spells that were outside his mysterious vocation. “So I can study and use any spell I can find?”

“Well, yes and no.” Sade began explaining. “This is why attunement is such an important stat to improve. Our intelligence and wisdom show how difficult and complex the spells we can learn can be. And I believe those attributes have some control over how much mana we have to use spells. But attunement governs how many different spells we can wield simultaneously.”

Rick sat back and enjoyed the sight of Sade slipping into her teacher mode. She had the brightest expression on her face when she was passing her knowledge on to him. He suspected that she would be a great teacher in the future. “Now I have an attunement of twelve and you are at ten, correct?”

Rick nodded and she continued. “My value means that I roughly have the concentration and willpower to freely perform two spells I know. The higher the value, the more I can prepare simultaneously.” This was a mild review for Rick. She had explained all this before when he first learned how to look at his status back in the forest they met. But it never hurts to review and go over the basics.

He did have a question for her this time. “So if I level up and put a point in attunement I can use another spell?”

She shook her head. “Not quite. Ten points is the minimum one would need to wield a single spell. So right now that is all you can do. After ten, the amount of spells granted is every two levels in attunement. But eventually that number begins to increase exponentially. I am not sure if there is an upper limit but some great sages reported that at higher attunement it could take five or even seven levels just to use one more spell.”

“Got it! There’s diminishing returns. Still, it kinda sucks that a person has to devote so many levels just to increase this one stat.” Rick contemplated out loud.

“Not entirely true.” Sade rebutted. “Just like you can run to build endurance or study to increase intelligence, attunement can be trained.” She tossed some clothes his way. “We should go. Just remember that anyone can improve themselves if they put in the effort. Leveling up by killing monsters is just faster, as well as more dangerous.”

Rick quickly donned his clothes and followed her to the door. “No risk, no reward.” He mused.

Sade laughed. “I believe you have rewarded me plenty these last few nights with hardly any risk.”

“I’m pretty sure that your medicine run this morning was proof enough that there was more than enough risk from our rewards.” Rick countered with a shit-eating grin.

Sade blushed fiercely. Her entire face all the way up to her ears darkening. “S-shut it!” She grumbled. It seemed she once again forgot about the consequences of unprotected sex. Rick chuckled and gave her a gentle elbow to the ribs before dropping the subject. He forgot too, after all.

They made their way to the village gates. The guards gave polite greetings and the two of them wandered around for a bit until they found a clearing that could afford them some privacy. They decided that practicing with weapons looted from the caravan guards for an hour or two should be done first.

Rick had a difficult time deciding what weapon he should pick. They had a decent variety but he eventually decided that a spear was probably the best for now. Axes and knives were great tools to have, but when used as weapons they required the wielder to be fairly close to their opponent and have more than a little skill in fighting to be much use, something Rick almost certainly did not have.

Swords were very versatile and could be used in many different ways. Rick however, felt that the sword required the most training to get the most use out of when compared to other weapons, so it was also scratched off the list.

The spear, however, was simple, easy to learn, and put the most distance between Rick and whatever wanted to kill him outside of a bow or magic. He just had to avoid small, enclosed spaces or else he would have to switch to something else. Not perfect, but certainly the best option available.

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It was hard not to feel foolish as Rick stabbed the air with his weapon over and over. His tired body gave protest with each movement. Like many things since Rick woke up in this new world, he quickly got used to the awkward feeling and just pushed forward. He could feel his muscles slowly begin to loosen with the light exercise, which helped.

Rick started to visualize the attack from the wild coyotes. His high luck score probably helped him in that fight more than anything else, so he focused on remembering how they moved during that fight in an effort to beat them with only his own strength and skill. He fought the mental phantoms over and over until he worked up quite a sweat.

After the time they allotted was up the two quit their practicing and sat down to discuss how they felt with their new weapons. Rick still felt foolish but Sade insisted that it was a necessary first step and that more practice like this will lead to results. Rick decided it was best not to argue with his friend and soon to be magic teacher. Especially if he wanted to have sex with her later that night.

Priorities.

“I could spend the rest of the day explaining theory and formulas for magic.” Sade began before her serious expression broke and a slight upturn of her lips could be seen. “But I feel that I would result in you taking a nap. So instead, I will simply guide you through all the steps to conjuring your first spell.”

Rick was excited. He was going to learn magic! He did his best to school his features as Sade walked behind him and placed her arms over his. He did not want to screw up this opportunity.

She twisted his wrist so that his palm was facing skyward then whispered into his ear. “The cantrip I am going to have you do is called ‘ember’. The first step is to gather your internal mana into your palm. I will use some of my own to help you feel your mana flow and help guide it. Here we go.”

Warmth flooded in from where her hand touched his. It raced along his veins and throughout his body, saturating him with its mild heat. He focused on the foreign mana. While it flowed through every part of his body he could feel that it did not flow to a central point like his circulatory system did with his heart. Instead he could sense several nodes that seemed to be where the mana pulsed to and from.

“You have inherent magic already. Even though we do not know how it works just yet, I can feel that all your sources are open. This will save us a lot of time.” Sade brought her free hand and placed it over his chest. “Feel the source in your lungs? Imagine your breath flowing from there, along your arm, and bursting out of your palm.”

Rick breathed in deeply and tried to do as she instructed. It took some time before the mana would budge. Rick could feel it start to move then fall back into the standard circuit before he took in another breath and tried again. Each time he nudged the magic it would flow further and further away from its source. Eventually his hold on the substance grew more firm and he was able to slowly drag it to his waiting palm.

When he brought the flow to his hand he faced another barrier. It seemed that the mana wanted to stay inside his body and not burst through his skin.

Once again Sade’s voice guided him along. “Let the mana burst forth. Have the breath you guided so far away from its source blow out from your palm.”

He imagined the mana being exhaled out from his hand. With a roar a gout of flame shot up and nearly singed his eyebrows. The magic disappeared as quickly as it came but Sade hugged him and shouted out with joy.

“Yes! You did it! You just performed your first spell.”

Rick felt like he just won the world cup. He did it, he actually was able to cast fire in his hand! He gave Sade the biggest grin he could muster. “Thank you! I don’t think I could ever have gotten this far without you.” She just snuggled him lightly before getting back into position.

“Try once more.”

Rick tried to perform the spell a few more times at Sade’s insistence. Each conjuring was easier than the last and Sade then had him try to control the size and shape of the flames the spell produced. It felt like exercising a muscle he didn’t even know he had. After another hour he felt drained and oddly chilled.

“It seems that we have found your limit.” Sade commented while gathering their things. “That should be enough magic for today. I will teach you a few more things while we walk back.”

Despite her saying that she would refrain from discussing magic theory and formulas, that was exactly what Sade did as she guided Rick back to town. In essence a magic formula was the gathering of magic from one or more sources and the path of the mana flow throughout his body.

“Easier spells like Ember only have one source and a simple path, but more complex spells can require you to pull from multiple sources, have it pool in another source, then flow out to be used.” It seemed that being a mage was not the easiest thing to be in this world. Probably why some people choose to live as farmers or warriors despite anyone being able to cast. Plus those occupations were necessary for civilization to thrive.

“So how does this all tie into attunement slots?” Rick asked when Sade hit a good stopping point. He still couldn't quite grasp how he would be limited in how many spells he could cast now that he knew how to do so.

“An excellent question!” Sade beamed. “Have your mana flow from the source to its exit point again. But this time don’t let it out, just hold it there.” Rick did so and she continued her lecture.

“Some spell formulas require a lot of time and concentration to set up. But once they are, they can be held indefinitely until the caster wants to use it.” Rick nodded in understanding and she continued. “Now imagine holding a formula at the ready and then trying to make another one.”

Now it was beginning to all make sense. “And attunement is a representation of a casters ability to form and hold multiple formulas at the ready.” He said.

Sade grinned. “Exactly! Cantrips like ‘ember’ are easy to form so mages don’t really hold them in place and just form them when needed. But reforming a cantrip while holding a more complex spell still requires enough attunement to store two spells.”

Rick nodded along. He was beginning to understand just how complex this world and its magic really was. It was a far cry from running on video game logic like he expected. A thought occurred to him then. “So If I can store more than one spell, would it be useful to have at least one slot free so I could cast any cantrip I want?”

“Yep! That is actually a common practice for many mages since it allows them to be more versatile for when things take an odd turn.”

Rick couldn’t wait to learn more spells and try them out. They continued to chat as the sun made its way to the horizon. They greeted the guards and got something to eat before retiring to their room. The innkeeper once again gave them funny looks as they entered but otherwise left them alone. Once they were inside their room Rick threw his pack to the side and fell back on the bed.

He was exhausted to the point that his eyes began to drift closed. He shook himself awake and made to get ready for bed when he noticed Sade had not joined him. He looked up and saw her eyes were once again sporting their predatory gleam as he met her gaze.

“It seems I gained another point of coital energy. I think you should check and see if you received the same.”

Rick obeyed and opened his status to find a mild surprise waiting for him. “I have two.”

Her eyes hardened and she stalked her way to the bed to sit next to him. “I honestly wish Valmic had a library. If they did I would head down there this very instant and find every reference I could for ‘coital energy’ until the sun came up.” She muttered with exasperation.

Rick gave a chuckle at her zeal. She really was the most studious person he had ever met. “I bet that would be awkward when talking to the librarian.”

She cocked her head in confusion. “How so?” She asked with genuine curiosity.

“Well it may seem like you are trying to look up how to be better at ‘coitus’ since the two words are simi-…” His voice trailed off and they stared at each other, blinking.

“No way.”

“It does seem to make sense.”

“Could it really?”

Rick clutched his head. Were they really that stupid? It seemed like the answer was staring them in the face all this time and neither of them had the cognitive power to put two and two together.

“It can’t be that simple.” He moaned.

Sade gave him a slight peck on the cheek then stood up. Like every night previous, she began to strip herself bare. “Only one way to find out.” She said grinning. “And since there is no way for me to research this conundrum with dusty old tomes, I will just have to experiment to find my answers instead.”

Rick eyed his lover as she stood in a pile of her discarded clothing. This was certainly a style of research he could wholeheartedly get behind.