Over the last few days, I have managed to accustom myself reasonably well to the dwarven outpost. Most of the dwarfs treated me fairly but superficially. Others outright ignored me. They were a distrustful bunch and the few days I spent among them weren’t enough to make up their minds about the fresh addition of the Bronze Company.

No doubt the fact that I appeared out of thin air, and now was earning four times the money they get, didn’t help my case either.

Commander Balgrun had announced my new position among them as an earthshaper apprentice, which caused quite the uproar. Revitalizing the gossip machine of the outpost at least threefold.

Along with my new position, I also received my own room. A welcome addition. Since the dwarfs tended to snore quite liberally and when I wasn’t dead tired like the first day of my arrival, it proved to be a true challenge to fall asleep, one that was threatening to drive me mad.

Aside from that, I liked the atmosphere of the barracks. The dwarfs were courteous enough, in their own blunt way, and it was always lively. Much livelier than the small solitary room I have now. Still, I could sleep through the night, and the wake hours of the days I spent outside of my room. All in all, I was happy with the new setup.

Seeing the generally awkward way the dwarfs handled me. Emrum couldn’t help but intervene.

He introduced me to one of his close friends. His name was Tymur, the same dwarf who opened the gate for us when we got to the outpost. He, just like the majority of the dwarfs, had a brown beard, brown eyes and a brown hair combination.

The dwarfs who didn’t share these most common characteristics had some variety of black or red and I think I even saw a few blond ones, but those were very rare.

Tymur was practically the same age as me, seventy-five years old, to be exact. He had an honest personality and wasn’t half as superstitious as most of the dwarfs. I wasn’t sure if that was thanks to Emrum talking to him beforehand, but I definitely appreciated his presence.

I even joined him at the gates occasionally, just to spend the time with lighthearted conversation.

I had quite a lot of time on my hands as the outpost gave little means for entertainment. I was getting around though, since having a lot of free time wasn’t exactly new to me. Back in the hospital, it was the same, even worse, since I couldn’t just stand up and walk around the building.

My usual afternoon routine here was actually quite exciting. Practicing some of my spells in the specifically assigned chamber got my blood pumping every single time. In fact, I was just about to head over for today’s session.

I began my walk over the corridors, my staff tightly grasped in my right hand.

The outpost was built into a tight, circular rock formation. There were two entrances to it, one was the main entrance, and there was another hidden from prying eyes serving as an evacuation route.

The inside of the outpost contained a plethora of corridors connecting three large main halls. One was the dining-room, another the sparring room and at last the barrack. Aside from those already mentioned, there were a lot of smaller rooms.

These usually functioned as small storerooms for the daily necessities of the soldiers, and a few armories close to the barracks. There was also the headquarters room, where I made the deal with the commander, my new room, which was most likely a repurposed stock room. A number of toilets, a washing room, the freshly washed clothes of the occupants were hung on metal lines across the upper half of the corridors oh and there was a kitchen too next to the dining-room.

I didn’t even mention the well built into the middle of the entire complex.

The outpost was nothing short of a small fortress; it was supplied with all the necessities to stand a few weeks long siege.

This was basically what the dwarfs considered an ideal place for an outpost. According to our orders, we need to find and accommodate two more similar locations in strategic positions that have a stable source of water. That was a mission much more complicated in this hostile and unknown environment than one would initially anticipate.

I stepped into the sparring hall, immediately noticing a few curious glances turn in my direction, just to look away with the same momentum.

I sighed and walked towards the archery field that was put along the longest wall of the chamber and was separated by two layers of metal fishing nets of sorts. The net’s purpose was to catch any stray arrows shot at the wrong angle. Since the outpost had little space to spare, even with the ingenious measures for using as much of the space at hand as they could.

I walked along the shooting field. There were already two soldiers practicing their aim. They gave me a curt nod, which I reciprocated with a smile and a nod of my own. I took one spot, careful to leave a few empty ones between me and the archers, in case one of my spells got out of control. Not that it happened before, but I wasn’t willing to endanger anybody from my lack of caution.

I put my left leg slightly forward while placing my right one behind it, feet turned in an outward angle. Both of my hands grasped around the staff in a stiff hold. I figured this to be the most stable way to stand for casting destruction magic. It had quite a recoil. I was forced to figure that out yesterday when I came to the practice field for the first time. I was lucky that I already knew healing magic and could heal my injuries this morning. Otherwise, I imagined that my wrist would still hurt from the strain. At least I had the idea of using my healing magic to heal the annoying bruises on my stomach, too.

At the second attempt, I was much more comfortable with the healing touch spell. I also realized that if I actually touch the injuries, instead of hovering my hand over them, the healing effects multiply. Jokes on me, the spell name is not for show after all. Turns out I wasted most of my magic for nothing last time. Healing with that spell without taking off the armor of the patient is out of the question.

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I blinked and focused on the distant target. It was a large piece of rock, brought specifically for my spell-casting. Since I completely blew away the straw dummy with one spell yesterday… They told me that I won’t get anymore straw dummies since it was ridiculously complicated to replace them here. I guess not much grass grows at this depth underground.

I looked to the side, realizing the unusual silence that engulfed the training fields. It was usually filled with a variety of noises, grunts and even the occasional shout from newly received sparring injuries.

To my horror, the moment I turned towards the other side of the hall, my face paled even more than it usually was. Believe me, even on better days, my skin tone looked like I was raised in a refrigerator. White as a damn sheet. Some dwarfs even asked me if I was feeling alright.

However, back to the present, seeing that most of the men stopped doing their thing and were currently watching me prepare to cast the same spell as I did yesterday…

I gulped, the sudden sense of stage fright getting the better of me momentarily.

I shook my head, looking back at the rock, focusing my mind on the process of spell casting. It shouldn’t matter if they were looking at me. I am a witch. I will have to cast magic in front of others all the time… If I become distracted from something so simple as people staring at me, then I will be completely useless.

That said, I could still feel the sweat starting to dribble down my forehead.

I took a deep breath and released it slowly while calling forth my ingrained impression of the spell called lightning blast. This time, I was prepared.

Yesterday, after accidentally exhausting myself once again. I was forced to spend most of the afternoon laying in my bed so I had time to think over my memories of mana manipulation in detail. That’s why now I was aware that I had to manually separate an amount of magic power which I intended to consume in the process of spell casting.

I also needed to separate it before I cast the spell. The reason for that is simple. There was no maximum amount of mana you could channel into a single spell. There was only a minimum amount for it to work. If you don’t separate your mana into a smaller portion, the spell will automatically use up all of your magic. At least if it’s a single cast spell and not something like the healing spell I used, which drains your power continuously and you can easily cut it off whenever you feel like it.

All spells that are single cast spells could be overpowered with excess mana, making them more potent.

However, it was not the time to reminisce on the past. I cleared out my excess thoughts, concentrating on the rock surface that was serving as my impromptu target practice.

I envisioned the arc of the destructive lighting energies, the way they would snake through the air, biting into the unsuspecting rock on the other end of the hall, and began my chant.

“Ancient storms of the ethereal planes, I Selora servant of creation, summon thy power to eradicate my foe!”

The moment the words began to leave my throat, I felt as if the separated mana inside my body began to turn into a volatile energy threatening to lurch out at any given moment.

Just as I did yesterday, I had to make an effort to contain said energies. This time, it was much easier since I used only one fifth of my mana.

When the last word responsible for unleashing the magic slipped off my tongue, I felt the volatile energy snake up my arm into the staff. All of that happened in a fraction of a second. Then the recoil came, and I saw the yellow lighting dart out of the tip of my staff and bolt across my line of sight, followed by the earsplitting sound of thunder and the now somewhat familiar smell of burnt ozone lingering in the air. The violently coiling lightning bit into the rock, sizzling out almost immediately. Leaving behind a charred black spot in the middle of the rock, as small broken off pieces scattered across the field like shrapnel.

There were surprised yelps and exciting gasps coming from my audience, and I couldn’t help it as a satisfied smile spread across my face. I grinned like a fool, looking at the destruction I unleashed. Feeling the lingering adrenalin pumping through my veins. This was the power of magic. It was beautiful. And I knew many similar spells. However, today I came here with the intention of mastering this one.

I could cast it four more times, but since I don’t enjoy being bound to a bed, it brings back quite the turmoil of emotions, so to speak. I decided to only do three more before taking a break.

Before I could start another chant, I heard an annoying voice from the side.

“Oh, my… it seems our resident elf-witch managed to not knock herself out this time. And here I was getting ready to bring the stretcher.” — I turned my head towards the annoying man. My previously joyful expression turned into an embarrassed frown.

“Regmir, I thank you for bringing me back to my room yesterday… and as I already said it, I am sorry for bothering you with such menial task…” — The man was really annoying about it, but the fact that he carried me back to my room yesterday couldn’t be denied. He was also the guy who got reprimanded by the commander when I arrived at the outpost. Saying that he was more delicate than an elf maid or something. I heard a few times that the others teased him with it, and it clearly got to the point when he was annoyed with me.

The brown-haired man glared at me, as if he was waiting for some sort of insult, and only when he realized there was not going to be any did he nod.

“Huh, you can keep your gratitude.” — He said in a gruff tone. — “You owe me one for that witch-girl. You better not forget it.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, but thinking over the whole situation, it should be evident that Regmir wouldn’t help me out of the good of his heart. I won’t say that he is a bad dwarf overall, but he is definitely biased towards elfs, and maybe women in general? I don’t know enough of him to know that, of course, but the occasional sneers I get from him is probably a good indicator. Maybe I am simply overthinking it. After all, my presence caused him daily frustration.

Thanks to the general boredom of this place, the occupants turn to ceaseless gossip, teasing and even occasional pranks. All just to attempt to break everyday routine. The outpost had been lying low since the last conflict with hobgoblins. Without the sense of duty coming from the half day long patrols, the people were getting restless. It showed in the number of dwarfs flooding into the training hall. Well, I might also have something to do with that…

I looked at the dwarf and nodded.

“Fine… if your request is reasonable, what do you want?” — I asked, and he waved off my question.

“Right now? Nothing, but you will know it when I figure something out. Try to not knock yourself out this time than I won’t have to haul your arse again.” — He said and walked away, going back to sparring or whatever he did before coming here.

I could only blink, flabbergasted by the situation. And I used to think women were hard to deal with…

I sighed. I would have rather gotten over his request, but it was not to be. Anyway, I turned back to the charred rock and was ready to repeat the process of spell-casting.

It was impossible to figure that dwarf out anyway…