Taka quickly took in his surroundings. He was on Syla's left shoulder in the training hall in one of the sparring arenas, which he now realized weren't arenas as much as they were open cages, or rings. There were a few other lizard folk standing around idly watching, and an orc on the sidelines. He looked back at Rhoz: she was in a fighting stance, one foot forward, both hands on a large pole with an axehead-looking thing at he end, resembling a battleaxe but not exactly... the pole was longer and the metal part didn't protrude as much, but went a little further along the top of the weapon.

Before Taka knew it, Rhoz charged in, swinging the weapon down toward Syla's head. The elf half-slid, half-jumped to the left, sending Taka flying through the air. Out of instinct, he poured as much mana into his skin at once, making his body feel like it had lightning flowing around it right before he slammed against the top of a shield sitting on a weapons rack on the edge of the ring. Taka braced for impact and heard a loud BANG. But as he hit the shield, it was as if there was a barrier that cushioned his blow -- it still hurt, but not nearly as much as he'd expected. He landed toward the top, then pivoted around to see Rhoz and Syla staring at him, along with everyone else that had been watching their fight.

Taka felt vibrations that he recognized as speech and saw Syla's mouth moving as the elf ran toward him. He used his TELEPATHY skill and Syla's words came rushing into his brain.

"Sir Filo! Sir Filo!" Syla shouted. "Are you alright?"

Yes, he sent back, I am-- then felt a sharp pain twitch through him.

Syla stiffened and almost tripped at the same time, yelping in surprise.

Oh no, I'm sorry I-- Taka sent as Syla turned back to the orc.

"Bick, please heal Sir Filo," Syla said to the orc, the authoritative tone in the elf's voice, or maybe it was just in Syla's thought... surprising him.

Taka focused his mana and used TELEPATHY on the orc, establishing a new connection with the massive, intimidating creature.

"Yes," it said. "Bick help."

Syla scooped Taka up in the palm of their small hands while Bick approached, walking with a surprising amount of grace for a creature of its, no, Taka thought, he, his size.

The large orc, Bick, bent down to get eye level with Syla, then stuck out his hands right in front of Taka. Bick's face had too many scars to count, but the way his eyes looked at Taka was... gentle. He has kind eyes, Taka thought to himself.

Taka's connection to Bick was cut off as the orc's hands began to glow, and he could hear through Syla that Bick was muttering something unintelligible under his breath. That hadn't happened before; the way Taka's TELEPATHY cut off was alarming, and he felt unsettled by the energy Bick was gathering in his hands. Before he could react, Bick placed both his pointer fingers on Taka's body, and Taka felt warm as the energy passed from Bick into his skin. The pain he had felt was almost gone within a few seconds, and Bick lifted his hands, smiling at Syla. Taka recast TELEPATHY on the orc.

"Better now," Bick said, clearly proud of his work.

Thank you, Bick, Taka sent to the orc and Syla.

Bick staggered back, startled

"It's just Sir Filo, Bick, no need to worry," Syla explained.

Bick nodded in response, then walked back in the direction of the newly gathered group of lizardmen spectators. If psychic magic was as rare as the Demon Lord had implied during their initial encounter, it very well could have been Bick's first time communicating telepathically. A week ago, I would've reacted the same way, Taka thought to himself. No, I would've taken it a lot worse...

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Rhoz sauntered over to the trio, much less concerned about Taka's wellbeing than Syla had been. Taka closed his eyesm focusing his concentration and mana and used his TELEPATHY skill on Rhoz; the connection was established, but he suddenly felt uneasy, so he broke off the second spell, the connection with Bick.

Hello, Rhoz, Taka sent to Rhoz, suddenly feeling nervous. It's, it's nice to see you again.

Rhoz stopped in her tracks just a few feet away from Syla and Taka, but not a hint of surprise could be seen on her face. Taka did realize that she was now staring daggers at him, making him want to squirm.

"The pleasure is mine," Rhoz said flatly as Syla looked between them. "May I ask why you interrupted our training?"

My sincerest apologies, Taka sent to both Syla and Rhoz this time. His Majesty teleported me here, I had no control over the matter.

Taka was trying to match the tone everyone else was speaking in, but the formality felt unnatural. He figured that if this world were like any of the ones he had read about, sounding more dignified would help more than it hurt.

Rhoz knelt down next to Syla as the elf lifted their hands to their face and stared at Taka.

"I like your hat," the elf said.

Thank you, Taka sent back. He really did like the kid.

"So," Rhoz said, taking back the reins of the conversation, "when are you to begin training Syla?"

Syla grinned in excitement. It seemed like Rhoz was more in the know than Taka had realized. He had first seen the lizard woman with Zirko, who was supposedly one of the strongest warriors in the Demon Lord's army, so what did that make Rhoz, if they were partners of some kind like Taka assumed?

A week from today, Taka sent, not letting himself get carried away with the constant rabbit hole of his thoughts. I requested time to properly create a lesson plan.

Rhoz shifted their weight, "not bad," the lizard woman said. "Would you like to take you to the library, Sir Filo?"

Taka noticed the small group of lizardmen spectators gawking at Rhoz from behind. She looked over as well, though as he turned, they all scattered -- all, except for Bick and one older-looking lizard man, who watched quietly with amused looks plastered across their faces.

Rhoz let out a chortle and turned back toward Taka. Shall we? Rhoz sent, not saying the words aloud this time.

Taka heard the command loud and clear, Yes, thank you, he sent back to both Rhoz and Syla.

"I also need to go to the libra--" Syla began.

"Deon? Please pick up with Mistress Vonmish where I left out" Rhoz called to the older lizard man standing with Bick.

The man gave a grunt of affirmation and began making his way over to them as Rhoz reached over and grabbed Taka from Syla's hands.

"But I--"

"--Not today. Sir Filo needs time to work, and you still have combat training to get through," Rhoz admonished. "You'll have your lessons with Sir Filo in a week."

Before Syla was able to protest again, Rhoz stood up and walked out of the room. Taka was too nervous to say anything to the lizard woman, and she didn't say a word to Taka as she walked through the halls of the castle. After a few minutes of silence that Taka could swear felt like hours, they passed through an entryway to a large chamber stacked with bookshelves on every wall: the library. There had to be thousands of books, as the walls went up at least three stories, and three sides of the room were entirely covered. The only side not covered was made of glass, allowing the sun to fill the room with light. The design was different than Taka had imagined a large library in a fantasy world would be, but it still had books, so...

The room was empty, which seemed to relax Rhoz. She walked in and chose a table next to the window, placed Taka on one side of the table, then sat down at the chair on the other.

"Sir Filo," Rhoz began, "I'd like you to know that I don't hold you responsible for what happened to Zirko. He was... I'd like to help you get acquainted with the library. Our shared priority now is Mistress Vonmish's training."

Everyone seemed eager, almost obsessed when it came to Syla's training... Taka made a mental note to look into that. For now, he needed to focus on being ready to teach Syla by next week.

Yes, thank you, Taka sent, if it isn't too much trouble, could you bring me any books there are on psychic magic?

There might be a grimoire, let me check," Rhoz said as she stood to her feet.

She walked straight back toward the entrance and began up the stairs. This was a make or break moment for Taka: he didn't know if he'd be able to read in this world. If he couldn't read the language, learning from books would not be an option for a while, and after his experience with Zirko... Taka wanted to try to learn from books.

Rhoz came back, book in hand, and set it in front of Taka. He stretched up and looked at the cover: General Magia: Psychic, Volume One.

Taka could read it! He moved to flip the page but then realized... he couldn't flip pages. He had no arms, and the pages were far bigger than he was.

A new immediate question went to the top of the list:

- How does one read human-sized pages as a worm?