"Good Morning," Breknir greeted us when we arrived at the clinic.
"Good Morning," I waved.
"Good Morning," Vel said with a yawn.
"A few things," he chuckled, "I have the ranger class guide for Liscura," he handed me a book, "and you are needed at the school today. Roshia caught something and I need someone to cover for her shift."
Even with the existence of healing magic, most diseases were treated in a more traditional manner. Letting the patient fight the illness naturally allowed the body to develop immunity. Of course, for the more severe afflictions spells were used to help the process along.
I nodded, it was fine by me. School shifts were usually fairly quiet and gave plenty of time to study, which was why it was exclusively staffed by apprentices. Injuries happened but they were usually minor enough for them to deal with on their own. For any grave injury, the healer on site was responsible for keeping the patient stable long enough for someone with magic to arrive.
"Alea also told me the trial is planned for next week."
"Thanks for the info," Vel said.
"I should get going," I kissed her, "see you at lunch."
I gave Vel one last hug and jogged towards the school area. It took only a minute or two to backtrack from the clinic and I arrived just in time for class to start. I waved to the head teacher, Meriel, and went for the small infirmary. I checked that everything was stocked properly, potions were refilled and medical supplies were ready. The room had two beds with a privacy curtain between them, a small desk for the healer, and cabinets filled with supplies.
I pulled out my notebook and the ranger guide.
> The Ranger class, and its evolutions, are considered martial-magical hybrid classes. They will never be as strong as a focused Warrior, Archer, or Druid but the ability to blend all three classes into one allows for high flexibility. The addition of stealth skills make rangers one of the prime classes for reconnaissance.
>
> ⨠ Ranger Class Guide, Introduction
The guide was broadly useful and did give some good pointers but it seemed that the class had no skill like Magic Combat or Magic Strike which changed the tactical approach quite a bit. Overall, it was a bit disappointing. It looked like I was on my own.
I put away the guide and pulled the treatise on arcane magic out. It was time to figure out what kind of spells I wanted from that.
The first on my list was a dedicated barrier spell, something that arcane seemed to be good for, a long range, damage focused attack spell, a short range focused attack spell to use with Magic Strike, and a trap-type spell for battlefield control.
I started on the barrier first. The book had some studies and I took inspiration from them. I added my own flair to the spell as well. Most of the examples create one big shield per use of the spell. I opted to make my barriers more modular, a large shield would be composed of several smaller hexagonal panes that could be refreshed independently. This effectively created a form of ablative armor. It also allowed the creation of multiple distinct barriers without too many modifications.
I creatively named it Beehive Barrier.
Fully realized, it took a major spell slot. Some testing in the small infirmary showed that hexagons with a diagonal of roughly thirty centimeters were the best in terms of cost to strength ratio.
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By the time lunch arrived, I had a good hang of the spell. I could create three different shields and move them around but I wasn't yet at the level where I could create a single pane in the path of an incoming arrow.
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"Hello love," I kissed Vel as I sat down for lunch, "how's your day so far?"
"Intense," she said, "Aelrie is training me and she's so enthusiastic about it but it's … rough. I used so much mana this morning."
I gave her a side hug and she nuzzled into my side.
"And you, figured out the mysteries of the arcane?"
"Made a barrier spell," I manifested a shimmering blue hexagon in front of us, "it's pretty neat."
"It's pretty," she pushed against it, "and very solid."
"I think that's the point of a shield," I chuckled.
After a hearty lunch and stealthy make out session with Vel, I returned to the office and continued my research. With one spell under my belt, I tackled the next one.
Continuing my trend of modular spells, I created a dual mode attack spell. It could either fire a continuous beam of pure arcane energy or several bolts that could be guided into a target. I couldn't test either in the infirmary but the theory was sound, I planned to test it against the training dummies once my shift was over.
With its simpler structure, I managed to fit Arcane Artillery into a minor slot. I wanted to reserve the remaining major slots for the strike and trap spells.
But before I could start on them, Lusha burst into the infirmary crying
"Big sis Lis, Len got hurt!"
I grabbed the medical bag and picked up the blubbering Lusha. She was around four, part of the lowest grade where it was more akin to a daycare than formalized teaching. Lensha was her twin sister and the pair insisted on calling most of the older girls 'big sis' no matter their familial relation.
"Where is she? Where is she hurt?" I asked.
"She fell … from the bars … hurt her head," Lusha said between sobs.
I made way for the playground at a quick pace. It was located at the center of the community area, with good access to all the other places. The cries of pain from Lensha were audible from fairly far away.
When I reached the area, I put Lusha down.
"I'm going to heal your sister, don't worry," I said.
Alenia, the teacher, was desperately trying to calm everyone down. I could see the relief on her face when I stepped next to Lensha and unfurled the medical bag.
"Everyone, move away," she said, "let big sister Liscura do her job. She will help Len."
I pulled the crying Lensha closer.
"It's alright," I soothed her.
I gently ran my hand along her scalp to find where the wound was inside her blood soaked hair. The small girl fidgeted slightly under my ministrations but calmed down significantly. Head wounds tended, in most cases, to look much worse than they were. I parted the hair and found a long thin cut. From what my medical skill told me there was no fracture.
"It's nothing," I said, "just a small scratch. You'll be fine in no time."
I was fairly confident in my medical spells but I didn't want to use them before first checking with Breknir. Instead, I did it the old fashioned way, no magic needed.
I took out a roll of bandages and some disinfectant. I patted the blood away to get a better look. There was a small amount of dirt in the wound and I used a small pair of tweezers to get the worst out. Next I dabbed a cloth soaked in disinfectant on the wound, much to Lensha's displeasure, and applied a topical cream with a gauze. The cream was a very weak mix of healing potion and antibiotics, it would help the wound heal faster and keep it clean. I finally wrapped a bandage around her head to keep everything in place.
"And all done," I said. "Now, for being such a good patient, you deserve something," I pulled out the last, and most important item, from the medical bag.
A small treat.
I handed it to Lensha who quietly took it and started to munch on it.
"And your sister too," I handed another treat to Lusha, "for being brave when her sister was hurt."
"Thank you big sis!" The small girl hugged my arm with a big smile.
"I'll keep her in the infirmary for a while and get a proper healer to look her over," I said to Alenia.
The teacher nodded and started to corral her class. I picked Lensha up and went back, on the way I flagged someone to fetch Breknir. Once in the infirmary, I settled the tired girl in one of the beds and kept an eye on her.
A few minutes later, Breknir appeared. He looked Lensha over with his own healing spell and cleansed the wound to remove any possibility of infection.
"It was a good job, Liscura," he said, "I will check your spells tomorrow morning. Did you memorize the ones from the book?"
"Yes, Rejuvenation and Cleanse at fourth level."
"You have Nature Magic at the second rank already?" He asked, surprised.
"I made good use of my essence," I said.
"As expected," he ruffled my hair, "my impatient apprentice."