Joining the others at the fire, I walked over to the surly giant. The man had saved my life, but I didn’t know his name. I intended to change that fact.
The giant’s intimidating glower nearly made me change my mind.
Trying not to let my nervousness show, I introduced myself to the giant in the same way that I had to the other warriors. Rather than reply, the giant just grunted and slapped the back of his bald head. Even if I could speak to the man, I probably wouldn’t have pointed out that the bug he was trying to hit managed to dodge out of the way. As I watched the mosquito land on the giant’s head again, I tried to figure out how to get the man to tell me his name without annoying him further.
Fortunately, Salvador noticed my dilemma. Pointing at each member of the group, he listed their names one by one. I paid close attention, determined to remember everyone’s names.
Martin was the sandy haired leader who fought with the long knife. Salvador was the acrobatic spearman with the neatly trimmed beard. The slender man setting a few last runes around the camp was Liam. Mathew, who also went by Matt, was dressed in red and was good at carving. The cook who I didn't know the name of previously was called Robert or Rob for short. Finally, the surly giant was named Norbert.
I was surprisingly happy to finally know the names of all of my traveling companions. It made me feel less like an outsider in the company of complete strangers.
After Salvador finished listing everyone’s names, he stroked his beard and gave me a thoughtful look. For a moment, he stared off into space before calling up his interface.
Unlike Martin’s very simple interface, Salvador’s was a work of art. The base of the interface was a lovely gradient of purple and green with golden lines weaving elegantly in intricate patterns.
Displayed on the interface was something that held a different sort of beauty. Though complex beyond my understanding, the image was clearly a representation of a spell’s mana forms. Before I had a chance to puzzle out what the mana forms were designed to accomplish, Salvador closed his interface.
Taking his spear in his hands, Salvador rapidly and precisely wove together a complex spell around the weapon. As he thrust the weapon forwards, it was accompanied by a rush of invisible force. Putting his spear away, he once again opened his interface. The demonstration made it clear what the intricate mana forms on the interface would do.
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There wasn’t much I could do with a flattened image of such a complex spell. Unsure what the man expected of me, I tried searching for the complex spell in my codex. To my delight, I found it.
The spell was like nothing I had ever seen before. Rather than one consistent spell, the magical arrangement was broken into three parts. The first was almost entirely analytic. The purpose was to examine the length and shape of a spear. The second component would take the information from the first and reshape the final spell to fit the weapon. Finally, the last component would create a sharp bust of invisible force on the end of the weapon, simultaneously enhancing both the sharpness and force of the blow.
Every part of the spell was exciting to me. Even the most familiar component gave me new ideas to improve my spear’s capabilities in combat. The other two components were even more promising. I didn’t know that different bits of magic could interact in such a way.
I was eager to start experimenting, but I still didn’t know why Salavdor showed this to me. Was it a gift? Did he intend to make a trade? I didn’t exactly have much I could give him. Perhaps he was hoping I could improve it in some way?
Drawing my spear, I started to weave together the mana forms for the third part of the spell. It wouldn’t be quite as precise, but skipping the measurement and adjustment parts of the spell was easier and more efficient.
As I wove together the spell, I stood ready to strike forwards towards a nearby tree. I thought I was ready at least. As the spell took hold, my spear was pulled from my grasp and clattered off of the tree.
To my great embarrassment, several of the men started laughing. After so long on my own, the mocking sound felt almost crushing.
A sharp order from Martin swiftly put an end to the laughter. He stepped towards me and pulled up his interface.
The image on his display this time was a much younger looking Salvador. The young man struck forwards with his spear, only for the weapon to fly out of his grasp. The weapon left sight, but the embarrassed look on young Salvador’s face showed that it probably didn’t end up anywhere close to where he would have liked.
Closing his interface, Martin gave me an apologetic look. Perhaps the laughter wasn’t quite so mocking as it first seemed. After giving myself a moment to calm down, I could see the humor in unknowingly replicating another’s failure. It took much of the bite out of my shame, but I still had trouble looking any of the others in the eye for a bit.
Fortunately, the smell of roasting meat helped raise my spirits. A trio of plump birds that Norbert shot down earlier smelled absolutely wonderful as Robert sprinkled some dried spices on them.
I did wonder if the cook noticed that one of them was burning.