Lee sat in the back of their shaking wagon, nibbling on cheese and bread. After the poisoning, Regina had Jeremy and Kendri grab the wagon, and they left immediately. They were, hopefully, escaping the person who had tried to poison him.
“You know—You can have the rest of my breakfast. I’m not very hungry after…” Annalise clenched her eyes shut and took a calming breath. She remembered the after-effects of his cleansing—the vile, black glob with traces of blood mixed in. Such a stench was unforgettable.
Lee shook his head and tried to shoot a little further away from where she sat next to him in the wagon. If he was going to die anytime soon, it wouldn’t be from poison. It would be from embarrassment.
Regina had Annalise join them on their trip. To Lee, this was a fine idea. Strength in numbers is a genuine thing in this world, and he wouldn’t mind spending a little time with Annalise. What he didn’t expect was for her to ride in their wagon.
Lee peeked out the back flap, spotting Clarence the Ranger, Rogger the Cleric, and Clyde the Warrior, the rest of Home’s Hommage, leaning against their open-air wagon. Clarence narrowed an eye toward Annalise, seemingly able to pierce all boundaries with her venomous gaze, as she spewed her breakfast onto the ground.
Lee looked at Annalise, remembered their first meeting, and politely declined her food. In response, she tried again. She scooted toward him, causing him to press himself up against the wooden wagon exit. “I think you’d like this food. It’s very healthy.”
“I will finish my own… Thanks for the offer…” Lee managed to hear Em’s snickering from outside, so he grabbed one of the stale pieces of bread and chucked it at her head. She flicked a hand and effortlessly cut his thrown weapon in two with a singular metallic web. The two new pieces split and zoomed past her scurrying form, leaving her untouched.
“Miss Synder, I believe it best to leave Lee to his meal. He needs rest after his ordeal.” Regina said from the other end of the wagon as she wrote notes into a notebook. She had borrowed Jeremy’s never-ending quill and had been using it for all it was worth.
Annalise looked forlorn at his refusal and Regina’s chastisement, but he had already been poisoned once. He wasn’t looking forward to being poisoned again so soon.
Lee grabbed his breakfast and began nibbling on it once more, determined to at least finish his portion as he watched Jeremy and Kendri play cards to the best of their ability in the shaking wagon.
After a few minutes, Lee looked around the quiet wagon.
Wow, this is boring.
Regina had said there would be only short stops until they arrived at Felispar. Mainly to rest and gather supplies. She reasoned that Fatalina should have sent some of her soldiers on their way to Felispar already, and they would offer him the protection he needed. It sounded like a solid plan, and he had already been bogged down for way too long, so he agreed without any issues.
It would take nearly two months to reach Felispar and during that time, he was planning on working on both his enchanting and spells. Two months was at least seven instances of his Arcane Synthesis, so he had more than enough to focus on during their trip.
He had already been slacking in his spells, having one or two for each element. This was going to change.
But, before that, he had stat points to assign.
Name: Lee Barnes
HP: 250/250
MP: 475/475
Level: 26
XP 378/10000
Titles:
Genesis of Healing*
Miracle Worker*
Class: Miracle Worker.
Profession: Otherworldly Academic
In Magic's Favor.
STATS:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 20
Wisdom: 30
Intelligence: 35
Luck: 10
Unused Points: 15
Skills:
Spells:
Abilities:
Skills:
Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth, Mana Manipulation, Speed Reading, Mana Dispersion, Medical Attention, Miraculous Return, Healer’s Beacon, Hidden Miracle, Alter Status, Dauntless Will, Antithesis of Healing, Life’s Guidance, Mana Infusion, Teaching.
Spells:
Basic: Earthen Strike, Gale burst, Wall of Winds, Orb of Light, Darken, Conjure Water, Blind, Swiftness, Water Wave Wall, Wall of Earth*, Aquavista, Musical Melodious Memory, Words of the Wind,
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Advanced: Mend Wounds, Icicle Spear, Touch of Remission, Purifying Light, Void Sphere, Bulwark of Ice, Death bolt, End of the Unwanted, Anesthesilosurge
Expert: Glacial Cascade, Spear of Eternity.
Master:
Synthesized:
Abilities:
Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache, Arcane Synthesis.
According to Regina’s requirements for flight, he needed around sixty to seventy-five intelligence, thirty dexterity, and constitution. With such clear goals, using his stat points was easier than ever. He quickly added nine points into his dexterity to round it to a nice and even twenty, and the other six into constitution, bringing it to twenty-six.
With twenty dexterity, he should be able to use Swiftness on himself without too much trouble. Before, he was asking to faceplant into the ground, but hopefully, he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of Annalise any more than he already had.
HP: 310/310
With a higher HP total, he felt safer as well. Lee smiled at the new changes as he thought of what his weaknesses were when it came to spells.
He needed different, cheap attacking spells, for sure. Spamming Earthen Strike and Icicle Spear could only allow him so many options when it comes to a violent confrontation. He had enough wall spells for now, and they did their jobs well enough. Quality of life spells would be nice to have for… well, quality of life.
Lee searched through his Hidden Cache for some paper but quickly gave up due to the unsorted mess of their camp belongings.
“Does anyone have some spare paper? I’d like to write some notes down.” Lee asked, and Jeremy dug into his chest pocket without taking his eyes off Kendri and tossed him a small notepad. “Tear some pages out the back.” was the only thing he said before continuing his card game showdown with his nemesis.
Lee did just that, then used Darken to write out some spell ideas.
Basic spell ideas -
Wind blade? A slice of wind for attacking.
Water bullet? Self explanatory.
Laser beam with light… name later.
Night vision spell
Flying.
Sunglasses spell. Would be nice to have.
Earthen armor? Coat myself in stone? Could be useful.
Flight.
Some type of golem? Probably not possible unless Synthesized.
Make it rain. Self explanatory again. (Not money)
Get fire stone for fireballs.
Magic missile? Figure out element later.
Soaring through the skies.
Making paper would be nice, but probably not possible with basics…
Highly pressurised water beam? Power washer.
Advanced spell ideas -
Figure out how to steal Em’s spell. - Weave of Reflection
Manual breathing. Offensive life magic. EVIL!
Ice block? Coat myself in ice - Vaugly familiar.
Create ice cube.
AC spell, I miss AC.
Wither? Death damage over time?
Skeletons? Necromancy? Probably not acceptable.
Manual blinking. EVIL! Definitely not acceptable
Find a way to cure curses. Kill the magic itself with death?
A heal over time spell. Would be nice to have.
Sword of ice for close combat? Hope is never needed.
Figure out if Neia’s ice path spell was ice or glacial.
Void is hard to use. Ask for help later.
Fog to cover an area with cold?
Expert -
Super AC.
Slow debuff? Make people not able to move?
A castle of glacial ice? A fort for defense?
Figure out what life and de-~-`-~_
“What’s a laser?”
Lee jerked and slid his finger across his notes in his surprise. He looked up to find Em’s dark red eyes peeking through the wagon’s canvas flap. He had no clue how she managed to read what he was writing upside down, but he’d seen weirder things.
“It’s like a beam.” Lee said as he leaned over his notes to hide them from her prying eyes. Em gently flicked her hand and then gently lowered it midair, and Lee was wretched upwards like a marionette from metallic strings attached to his orange collared shirt, uncovering his notes.
Lee closed his eyes, let loose a long held-in breath, and tried to be as ominous sounding as possible. “Em, don’t make me create evil. You don’t know the horrors of some of what’s written there.”
Em waved him off as she attached a string to his papers and began slowly pulling them toward her. Frankly, he was surprised he couldn’t ever see the metallic strands being attached. Not once since they met had he seen them appear.
“Just remember… You brought this on yourself.”
He simply raised a single finger coated in Life mana and tapped it on his knee. A tiny, nearly invisible bolt of silver Life mana shot forward in the blink of an eye and shot deep into her neck, leaving no visible wound.
A second later, the papers being slowly brought into Em’s waiting embrace stopped, and her dark red eyes widened in genuine fear, and unpleasantness took root. Lee let loose an evil chuckle as Em took awkward, gasping breaths.
Spell Created!
Spell Name: Manual Breathing.
Spell Description: Disable the autonomous nature of breathing within a living target by targeting the medulla oblongata. Only one person may be under the influence of this spell at any given time. It can be willingly dispelled to cast again at a new target.
Cost: 8 MP
Duration: One minute. Variable.
Lee sat smugly as he watched Em grow extremely annoyed with having to breathe manually. It didn’t seem to be all that effective. At most, it appeared to be like when he thought about blinking or breathing and realized that he was now actively doing it. He dispelled the spell, and Em shot him a look of utter disgust.
“I don’t want to steal that spell. Even I would not stoop so low. How long does it last?” She asked warily and ever so slowly began to drag his papers toward her once again. He noticed and gently raised his finger again, causing her to pause.
“A long, long time if I want it to. Why don’t you release these threads so we can act civil with all these prying eyes around us?” He said as he narrowed his eyes.
A silence fell upon the wagon. After a few seconds, some awkward shifting could be heard, but Lee locked his eyes on Em. She had hers on him, and he could feel the tension building in the air—also on the strings. A few more seconds passed, and Lee could feel a bead of sweat roll down his forehead. Lee was about to let loose his new creation when the wagon oozed palpable disappointment.
“Really?” Both Lee and Em slid their eyes toward Regina, who had put down her notebook and quill. She had crossed her arms and sneered at them before turning away, returning her focus to the critical matters at hand—writing her notes.
“Truce? You can help me come up with some new spells. I’d allow you to steal some of them.” Lee offered.
Em squinted, then suddenly gave a yank on her webs, launching Lee into the air and smacking him into the roof. Before he could even do anything in response, she nodded. “Truce. We have witnesses.”
The webs ensnaring him suddenly let him go, and he noticed that Em didn’t seem to make any motion to have them return to her. It was like they had never existed at all, fading away into nothingness.
“Damn, that’s petty.” Kendri muttered as he played a card from his hand, causing Jeremy to frown and mutter.
Lee went to grab his paper from the wagon’s floor, but another hand grabbed it first. Annalise rose, handed it to him, and looked him up and down in concern. Lee might have suffered some damage from smacking into the wagon roof, but it would have healed before he had even landed back into his seat.
Even so, he was embarrassed she had to see that.
“Thanks…” He said as he smoothed out the semi-crumpled paper. “C’mon Em, let’s brainstorm and practise.”
The wagon began sinking as Em tried to wedge herself into it, and suddenly, everyone was screaming and trying to get her to stop. All games, writing, and nonchalance faded away or stopped.
Lee blocked his ears as the voices raged, and then he raised his voice in return. “Oh?! Now you care what she does in the wagon?! Traitors!”