I woke up on the boat, and we were moving. Lyari’s face was peering down at me.

“How do you feel?” She asked.

How did I feel? Beaten. Bruised. I am missing a leg.

“I … ah,” I shrugged.

She pursed her lips. “I fixed everything except the leg.”

I nodded.

“I can get the regrowth of the leg started, but I am only bronze rank. It will take time and energy, so it might pay to wait until you get to a proper healing centre. Even there, it will probably take a week, that will include rehabilitation,” she continued. “New limbs never feel quite the same even though it is based on your soul image. Rehab is required.”

I nodded again, “Help me up.”

She helped me to a sitting position. It felt strange sitting. I only had half my butt. Lyari put a cushion there to help.

I looked around. We were moving through shallow water towards an island. Val was sitting opposite me and staring at me. I gave her a nod, and she returned it with a small smile.

I felt funny. I kept trying to move my missing leg, but it wasn’t there. I looked further Zavis was looking at me as well. He seemed fine. I gave him a nod.

Haemir was resting at the front of the boat. He was missing an arm. The stump seemed to be getting longer as I watched. Of course, he can regrow his own limbs.

“What happened?” I asked as I reached into my Hunter's Pack and pulled out some fish to eat.

“It was a very high silver Octoskunk,” Val said.

“Out of our league,” Zavis added, “and a bad match-up for Perich. The Prof secured the boat and came to help, but it took a lot of time to kill.”

“Lyari fished you out and resuscitated you,” Val said.

I looked at Lyari, “Thank you.”

“No problem. It is my job,” she replied.

“What about Haemir?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about him. This is not the first time he has lost a limb. He will have it back and functioning in a day or so,” Lyari said.

I looked into my Reaping Magic Skill. The Magic had not totally dissipated due to the skill's bronze rank level. The options were Meat, Stinkink, and Skin. Then I had Jerky, Stink bulb, and leather. I could feel I would get more raw material than the already processed material. All of it was silver rank. I had to try the processed stuff, especially the stink bulb. I just set it going, and I will look at them later.

I had a long drink from my canteen. “So, what are the options again?”

Lyari outlined the options. “Option 1. We are heading to the next gate to set up the instruments,” Lyari said. “The Prof can go through the gate with you and portal you to the nearest city, and you can get the healing you need. Unfortunately, that will leave you stranded on the opposite side of the globe, and getting back to Vitesse will be a problem.

“Option 2. You stay with us, and we will be back in Vitesse in a week, and you can get healed then. You will be spending the week in hostile territory, crippled and not easily able to defend yourself.

“Option 3. I can start the healing process now and give you the energy to keep it going as I am able. In hostile territory, I need to keep a lot of reserves. You have a self-heal skill to help. This will take longer to heal than if you wait. You will still be in hostile territory and crippled, and I can up the healing rate once we get back.”

“Could another healer take over if you start the process?” I asked.

“A healer with the same skill, yes. It is from my Growth Essence, so that is only an uncommon essence; therefore, there is likely to be a healer with that. The main question is, do you want to exit now and get healed and make your way back to Vitesse or stay with us in danger and crippled?”

“With no leg to stand on,” yelled Haemir, who then laughed.

“Haemir!” admonished his sister.

“Don’t worry,” I told Lyari. “I know he only gives monsters a helping hand.” I looked at Lyari, “The temple will probably help get me home. What is the nearest city to this gate?”

“Kekie. It is the capital of the local kingdom, and they specialise in Leonids,” she replied.

I grimaced. “It is not a good idea for me to be in Kekie at this time.”

“Definitely not,” Val said.

Lyari looked a bit puzzled.

“The Leonid Prince that was assassinated,” Val reminded her.

“Oh yeah, I remember that. OK, so do you want me to start the healing now or wait? The overall time frame would be shorter if you waited for a silver- or gold-ranked healer, even with the week's delay.”

I thought about it. Either way, I was going to be useless here for the remainder of the trip. If she started healing, it would help her skills and my Hunters Feast. Time was not really a problem when we got back.

“You start it, and we will see how fast we can level our skills,” I said.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She grinned at me and spoke her spell trigger, and I felt the magic move through me and focus on my hip. She did that two more times and said, “We will do that morning and night.”

I nodded and pulled out a carrot to munch on. This was going to be a difficult few days. Then I thought about it. I was in a boat in a tropical island astral space, and all I could do was eat and drink while I watched others fight for my entertainment. I will probably still collect the loot. Maybe this was paradise? I chuckled. Is this what Val sees in the arena?

“Are you OK?” Val asked, moving over to be near me. I guess she was not expecting me to find anything funny.

“I will be fine,” I assured her.

I wonder if sleeping in my garden would speed my healing like it does my familiars. It might be worth a try. Finding a safe place for the gate is the hard part.

We arrived at the island with the gate, and I stayed on the boat. I used a shield and carved out a crutch to help me get around. My hip joint itched.

I grabbed my crutch and climbed out of the boat into the knee-deep water. I worked my way ashore. As I got to the top of the small hill, I saw Val finishing off a couple of Iron Rank Shabs. It was just as well that I came here; she might have been out of range for my Reaping Magic Skill, and I needed all the food I could reap, even if it was shab meat.

I sat on the hill, concentrating on watching for monsters and thinking about the last fight. My senses are good, basically up a level from usual, but I was blind with my smell assaulted and hearing confused.

The Professor looked at me, “Meditate, young Leonid. I will watch.”

I nodded thanks and turned my focus inward to my magic flows. My mind was still on my senses. I guided the magic in my body and thought about how I could not have my senses muffled. Yes, it was silver rank, so I was very limited in what I could do. Usually, my combination of the three senses was more than enough.

I felt the magic settle into my senses, and they moved to bronze. I held myself very still as my hearing became very clear, as if I had been listening underwater before. I had amazing hearing before, but now it was a whole step better. It was richer, and every sound was fuller, from the gentle waves on the sand to Haemir's footsteps.

What wasn’t so pleasant was Haemir’s smell. I need to move upwind. My smell had also vastly improved, and I was able to parse out various smells. The body odour of a troll was heavy and thick, but I could smell a lot of the blood that is part of his essence and that makes up a troll.

Wait, there is more than blood. He is regenerating an arm. I can smell the magic at work there with his renewal and troll essences. Wait a minute… I can SMELL the magic. I still haven’t opened my eyes, but I can smell the magic around me, not just from the stinky troll.

I can smell the professor, and magic is strong around her. Somehow, I could discern that her Magic and Mystic essences overrode the others. I knew she had Knowledge and Balance, so I could pick the smells, but I guess she was using Magic and Mystic in her work with the monitoring equipment.

Perich was quiet and barely detectable. I guess he was not using his magic at this point. Haemir was shining with Blood and Renewal. Lyari, Zavis and Val were quiet.

I could smell the magic around us as well. Water and sand, the lingering of the shabs that Val had just killed. This was going to take a lot of getting used to. The smell of magic did not shift with the wind, and it seemed to grow stronger as it was used or as I got near it.

I smelled the magic of Lyari coming closer to me as I heard the grains of sand under her feet. I didn’t dare open my eyes yet.

“Everything alright, Theo?” she asked.

I nodded, “Skill level.”

“Ah. To bronze?”

I nodded again.

“Shall we boost the regrowth?”

I nodded, and the smell of her Regrowth Skill flooded out all other magic for a minute. It smelled green and fresh, and there were no words to describe it. The magic sunk into my hip, although I smelled some deviate to my missing claws. They were almost regrown now.

“Thanks,” I said.

“No prob,” she said as I tracked her footsteps away.

I spent some more time just concentrating on the two senses that were active. I tracked the sounds all around me. I let a couple of Kais out to scout, and I could feel they were glad they didn’t have to swim. I tracked their movements as they ran across the sand, hunting and exploring.

Ardisia appeared next to me, and I could hear her roots digging into the sand. I can also smell their magic. Ardisia’s roots were using magic to dig. Kai wasn’t using magic yet as that was focused around eating. Ardisia’s magic was focused on movement, including her roots and vines. I expect I will get a strong sense of blood from her as well when she goes into action.

This was interesting, and it was almost an hour and the death of three Shabs later that I felt ready to open my eyes. Kai’s magic was engaged as he knawed at the shabs.

I opened my eyes, and everything had changed, like my hearing. There wasn’t anything extra to my sight like there was to my smell, but everything was clear and crisper. I could see further and better. Movement in my peripheral vision stood out to me more; in fact, I might have a wider area of vision.

I sat there for a good fifteen minutes, just getting used to the sight. Then Zavis, Lyari and a one-handed Haemir fought a bronze-rank tidal troll. I watched as Zavis’s movements were not too fast for me to see anymore.

There was a lot of blood and water magic in the air from the troll. They were trying to get it out of the water because the regeneration in the water was too high. Zavis’s swords flashed, and then Val joined the fight, slashing the wounds where Zavis had to slow the regeneration.

I levered myself up on my crutch. They needed poison to eat into the regeneration, and we didn’t have an affliction specialist with us. Haemir was trading wounds with the troll, but the troll was healing faster and had two hands to his one. This was offset by the others causing their damage.

I hobbled closer. Haemir was backing up on the sand, drawing it out of the water. The Kais darted in and, using their claws, climbed up the troll's back leg and then up to the back of his shoulder blades, and all three started chewing at where its spine was. They were clinging to the troll's back with claws and as far out of its reach as possible.

Zavis and Val were trying to hamstring it, and Harmir was keeping it focused on him and out of the water.

Lyari was entangling it with her roots. I know she had an Excise Rot Skill, and she was conjuring javelins. She was behind Haemir, and then I smelled some magic I hadn’t smelled before. It made Lyari very attractive, and I held myself back. Haemir was backing up faster now, and Lyari was with him, and the troll was intent on getting to Lyari.

The troll was fully on land now, and signs of damage were increasing as its healing slowed down. Lyari’s magic changed again as she stopped whatever skill that was. Actually, I remember the name of the skill now; it was Dryads Allure.

I had some javelins in my Hunter Pack. Iron Rank Poison was not going to do much. I was useless in melee without a leg. I let Ardisia go, and she moved underground under the troll and started ripping the troll's legs with her thorns.

It was just a matter of time before the troll was fully out of the water, and they wouldn’t let it back in. Haemir was being boosted in his healing by Lyari. I could tell when Kai started chewing through the nerves in the spine as they became a focus of the trolls' mad swiping of his arms. Two Kais went flying, and one was damaged.

The troll finally fell, and Haemir sat down for a feast with Ardisia and the Kais before it turned into Rainbow smoke.

I was offered troll blood and blood and water quintessence. Troll hide, Troll Leather, and Troll bone knives were added. I was lamenting that I didn’t do Medicinal Alchemy last Semester, as a lot of healing potions use Troll blood, and I am sure I would have had some options there if I had completed the course. I grabbed Troll's blood and the leather, but I could not miss out on a knife or two. I sold one to Haemir and kept the other for when I got to bronze.