Nano Mage 2, page 15
Suddenly, I felt a buzzing in my head, as if there were tons of bees suddenly going wild and crazy, but then I felt a pulse of magic around me as well as a notification that appeared in front of my eyes.
You have used a new spell: Circle of Protection. (12:00:00)
You have used 400 points of Mana.
Mana : 1700/2200 (100 locked for Soulbound item)
Hit Points : 300/300
Holy crap! It used almost quadruple what my other spells used! But it freaking worked! I created a new spell using Earth magic. And it was for 12 hours? Jesus Christ, that was awesome. I wouldn’t need to keep casting it over and over, and it even told me the time limit. Sweet.
And the name made sense. Sort of. It didn’t really protect me since I would need to protect myself, but it would warn me. With a grin, I looked around to tell someone but saw all the sleeping forms. That was fine. I’d tell them in the morning.
Even though the spell was there, I didn’t know if it really worked. Not until something large came across and broke the line of energy. So, I guessed that I still needed to be alert until I knew more about how this spell worked.
23
“Time to wake up,” I said loud enough for Fiona, Mika, and Lita to have heard me but not loud enough to attract the attention of anything in the woods.
Fiona peeked from under the blankets. “Already?”
“Yes. Already,” I said with a smile. “I have breakfast ready.”
“Oh!” she said, throwing the blanket off. “What’s breakfast?”
Mika was rubbing her eyes and looked around, a bit dazed. She could fall asleep fast, but waking up, not so much.
Lita was instantly awake and trotted over. Sniffing at what I was cooking.
“Is that what I think it is?” she asked, incredulously.
“Sure is. I mean, I had the ingredients. And since the supplies included a frying pan, I figured why not try it. Though, there are some things missing.”
“What is it?” Fiona asked, sniffing the air. “It smells amazing!”
“It’s what we call French toast. Though, why it would be named after a language my race speaks, I have no clue.”
“French toast?” Mika asked, skeptical.
I nodded her way. “It’s bread, but in a mixture of milk and eggs. Normally, we would also use something called vanilla, but I doubt you have that here. Or cinnamon. Then, you dip sliced bread into it, and then put it in a pan with butter. You fry it until it’s golden brown, and normally you pour maple syrup over it.”
“Maple, as in the tree?” Fiona asked, questioning and pointing to a tree.
“What? That’s a maple tree?” I blurted out in surprise.
Not that I knew foliage. I couldn’t tell you a maple tree from spruce. I just knew the names. Wait, if they had maple trees here, how come there wasn’t any maple syrup? Many worlds in my realm had it. Maple syrup was expensive, however, since it was so pure and tasted amazing. I had once been on a tour of how it was made. I could see why. The amount you got from maple tree sap to make even a cup of maple syrup was nuts!
“Wait, you have maple trees,” I asked. “But no such thing as maple syrup?”
Lita was the one who spoke up. “Just because it seems they have the same things we do in our realm doesn’t mean they came across the process to make something. So, it might be with that.”
I had to give her that. “True.”
“So, how do you make this maple syrup?” Mika asked.
“Hmm. You take the tree sap and boil it down until it’s thick, and well, that’s it. I think.”
Both Fiona and Mika looked at me as if I was telling them that they needed to eat dirt and that it tasted great.
Laughed at their reaction. “Just trust me. Anyhow. Here let me get you some of this to try.”
I grabbed a couple of plates that I had already brought out from my spatial bag and gave them each a plate with four pieces of French toast it on.
The girls each grabbed the plate with zeal, and both tucked into it. The sounds coming from them sounded erotic, and I couldn’t help but smile at their loving it.
“Zach! This is amazing! My mom would make a fortune making this at the inn!” Fiona said excitedly, her mouth full with another bite.
“You think?” I said, taking up my own plate, before hearing a growl.
I looked over, and Lita was staring at me.
“Right,” I said with a chuckle and reached into my bag and brought out a hunch of meat, with a large bone on it. I threw it at her. “Sorry.”
“S’aright,” she said around the meat, and she walked over and dug into her own food.
I turned back to Fiona. “Well. If you want, I can show you how to make them another morning, and you can show your mom.”
“Deal!”
“Lita,” I said, with a mouthful myself. “So I came up with a new spell last night.”
She looked up at me quickly. “Oh? What did you make?”
“Well. I wanted a way to create a warning circle around us so that it would let me know if someone, or something, was coming near us. So I created a new spell called Circle of Protection that uses Earth magic. It’s 100 feet around the fire, and it will warn me if something steps across the line. However, it uses a shitload of mana. But it lasts 12 hours.”
“Nice! How much mana? Never mind, I just looked at your status window. 400?” she whistled, which coming from a wolf, was bizarre. “That’s a lot of mana.”
“Yeah, I think it’s the 12-hour duration,” I nodded.
She nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. The longer duration means it uses more power. Did it work?”
At that, I reddened. “I’m not sure. I wanted it to have it give me an alarm in my head, but nothing big enough has gotten past the line of demarcation.”
“Well, let me know how it goes. I’m curious if your nanobots are smart enough to figure that out. Then again,” she said with a scowl I could hear in her voice. “I’m sure they are. One thing your ancestors did well was create those nanobots.”
Even though Lita was made of nanobots, her core was made of ones from a race that while technically advanced, compared to my old ancestors from Earth, they were subpar. According to her. While she had a body now, either in her wolf form or in her ball form, it was my nanobots that did it. Inside of her was her core and her own nanobots that she said would not even be able to do even ten percent of what mine did.
Which made me wonder just how smart my ancestors were? Not that I would ever get to know, since one, my world had been destroyed. Earth, I meant. And second, my race was no longer the smartest around in my realm. We were a race of space-born nomads. Thanks to Lita, I now knew that my ancestors used the same nanobots I had to create magic, and that was why our world was destroyed and our people almost decimated. Lita’s people made sure that it would never happen again. Too late for us humans.
“That reminds me,” I said, turning to Lita again. “I got skills now too. Weapon skills for Long Sword. I never got a notification for it. Does that mean that I can gain abilities at every level? Something like, I don’t know, Slash or something, like in my online games?”
Lita lifted her head again from her meal and cocked her head sideways at me.
“Hmm. That wasn’t there before. I doubt that Algron would be so nice as to give you unique skills like in a game. But, knowing him, I would not put it past him.”
I shrugged. “I guess the only thing I can do is keep an eye on it,” I said, taking another bite of my breakfast.
I had to admit, even without the proper ingredients, it was still damn tasty. I looked over at the maple tree that Fiona had pointed out. Maybe if things settled down, I could figure out a way to make my own maple syrup. But that wasn’t for here or now.
“What’s the plan for today,” Mika asked with a mouthful. “Training as we go, and see if we can make Lidmore today?”
I nodded at her. “Yes. But that begs the question, do we want to get there before dark or take an extra day and go inside in the morning?”
“I would say go into the village in the morning,” Fiona offered.
“Oh?” I asked.
“Less suspicion, and also, that way, you don’t need to pay for a night at the inn and waste your money,” she pointed out.
“Good point,” I agreed. “I would rather sleep outdoors and save money for the times we will need it when it’s colder out.”
“All right, so let’s clean up, and we can head out in about an hour,” Mika nodded.
She looked over at the pan and her plate. “Any chance there’s more?”
I laughed at her but looked over at Fiona, who was doing the exact same thing, which caused me to laugh even harder, but I said to them both, “Fine. Let me make another batch. In fact, I should make extra and simply place it inside my bag.”
“Yes!” both girls cried, their eyes greedy.
So, that was what I did. I ended up making two extra helpings each. That way, in the morning, I would not need to cook before we headed into the village of Lidmore. Once the pan was cleaned, thanks to Mika, we packed up our gear, I canceled the spell Circle of Protection, which didn’t give me back mana even though it was for 12 hours and I still had tons of time left on it, and we headed out.
The goal was to get as close to Lidmore as possible and camp out again outside its walls. I did the same thing as yesterday and took out my longsword and practiced with it. I noticed that it was easier this time around as if my body already knew the moves. And somehow, the blade felt lighter in my hands.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was still freaking heavy. I would have said by the time we stopped for camp last night, the blade weighed in at 100 pounds with how my arms felt! But now, it felt like the blade was lighter. Hard to explain. Mika said that my body was getting used to it and that, eventually, I wouldn’t even notice its weight. Unless I was swinging or thrusting in a fight for an hour or two.
Even Fiona was practicing using her dagger. She had tried with two, but she said it was awkward as shit. I had offered her the shield, but she shook her head and said she wanted to gain experience with just one dagger for now. Mika was a good teacher. She pointed out flaws in our stances, even walking, and corrected them.
Lita, in her wolf form, scouted ahead, making sure things were good and that we didn’t run into anything. Too bad my Circle of Protection could not move with me. Now that would be freaking awesome. Like an early warning system on feet!
24
Suddenly ahead of us, Lita came back, but she was running. She stopped in front of us.
“Something wrong?” I asked, concerned.
She nodded her head. “Yes. There’s a man in the bushes.”
“Shit. An ambush?” Mika asked worriedly.
“No, it looks like he might have been attacked by a bear or something,” she said quickly.
“All right, lead the way,” I said, taking my sword out of my scabbard. I had put it away to take a break.
After a good ten minutes of running, Lita slowed down and sniffed the ground before heading deeper into the bushes. We all followed her, wary of something jumping out at us.
We came across the figure lying on the ground. At first, I thought it was just a pile of discarded clothing, but as I got closer, I realized it was a person.
As we approached, I saw that the person was a man, and he was an Ethilian. His skin was a deep shade of blue, the same as Fiona’s and Mika’s, and his ears were tapered like an Elf’s, as everyone in this world was, except for me.
The man was lying on the ground, motionless and clearly injured. His clothes were torn and bloodied, and there were deep gashes and scratches on his body. It was clear that he had been attacked by some kind of beast.
I knelt down beside the man and examined him more closely. I saw that he was wearing armor that was battered and had seen better days. It was clear that it had been through many battles and had protected him well, but it couldn’t save him from this attack.
I didn’t know what to do at first. I didn’t have any healing magic. But I knew we couldn’t just leave him there to die.
I turned to the girls. “We need to do something, or he will die.”
“We’re still at least half a day from Lidmore,” Fiona said, concerned, not at our time, but for this man.
I nodded. “Then, let’s head back to the small river that was twenty minutes back, and we can care for him there and figure out what happened. Lita, cover us. Make sure nothing jumps us.”
“Got it,” she said, moving back the way we came.
I gathered him up in my arms and carried him while running at a trot. It was easier than I expected, with my strength thanks to this new body. Thank gods.
Once I got him back to the river, after making sure to bind his wounds, I placed him carefully on a spot that looked soft, not wanting to injure him even more. He was still bleeding heavily, and his breathing was labored.
“Can you do anything?” Mika asked me anxiously.
“I’m not sure,” I said, looking over the man. There was blood all over him. “I wish I could access Aether magic so that I could heal him,” I growled.
“Wouldn’t now be a good time to try?” Lita added quickly, just as a red beam of light played over the man. I looked up quickly, and Lita was in her silvery ball form. “It’s all about intent, and this man is dying. He has broken ribs and a punctured lung with lots of blood inside his left lung. He also has a smashed spleen and many more fractures than I can readily count.”
“You’re saying he won’t live long,” I sighed deeply.
I looked down at the man again and thought, why not. If magic is all about intent, and I now have access to all magic elements, this is the only one I’m missing. So, why not try?
I placed my hands back down on the man, with one hand on his chest and the other on his head. I honestly had no clue what I was doing here! But intent. Intent. So, my intention was to heal this man and not let him die. I closed my eyes and focused on what needed to be done.
I wanted his injuries to heal. Now, I didn’t know how much mana it would take, but I also didn’t want to bottom out. Run myself dry.
“Lita,” I asked without opening my eyes. “What would be the worse injuries to him to keep him stable and not die?”
“I would say his punctured lung and his spleen. The rest are painful, I’m sure, but they aren’t the ones that will kill him. Why?”
“I don’t want to use up all my mana and pass out from running out.”
“Good idea. Then, I would focus on those and his head as he also has a concussion.”
“Ok, let me work on those,” I said, my eyes still closed.
And so, I refocused my efforts not on completely healing him but on those three spots. If this even worked, I could focus on the other wounds once I’d rested up and regained my mana. Slowly, I could feel the pull of mana from inside me, but it felt like I had something blocking its release. Was that the Aether? How the fuck did I know. This was all new to me. Fuck! I wished Algron had given me a freaking manual for this.
So, I pushed my thoughts away and instead refocused on pushing the mana through whatever barrier was there. It felt like pushing a ball against a wall and feeling it squish instead. All right. So that wouldn’t work. I’d try smashing the ball through this barrier.
Imaging what felt physical for a mental thing, I eased back the ball, or in this case, the mana, and with a powerful thought, I punched through whatever was stopping it. Then, I tangibly felt something tear inside me, and suddenly the mana was through as if a dam had burst.
I heard gasps of wonder, but I didn’t open my eyes for a second. I instead focused on what I wanted healed from inside this man. I could feel sweat on my forehead, and it wasn’t from the sun, as it was a cool day.
Then, with my eyes closed, I saw a notification.
You have used a new spell: Healing.
You have healed your target’s damaged lung.
You have healed your target’s broken ribs.
You have healed your target’s spleen.
You have healed your target’s concussion.
You have used 1000 points of Mana.
Mana : 965/2200 (100 locked for Soulbound item)
Hit Points : 300/300
I slowly opened my eyes and blinked. Not just at the notification, but at the man himself. He looked much better. He didn’t look like he was at death’s door. His breathing wasn’t labored anymore. He was breathing like he was asleep. Thankfully.
I looked up at the girls, and they were looking at me with awe.
“I think it worked,” I told them with a smile. “But wow, it took a lot of mana. I used up a thousand points of mana on just healing him for all that. It said,” and I looked at the notification again. “That I healed his damaged lungs, his broken ribs, which is probably what caused his damaged lung. His spleen and his concussion.”
“So, roughly 250 mana per item to heal?” Lita said. “Good thing you didn’t try to heal everything. You would have run yourself dry for him.”
Her beam of red light suddenly scanned over him again, and she added. “But he’s stable. What is he doing out here like that? I didn’t smell anyone other scent but his, and something, whatever, attacked him.”
“You think it’s still around?” I asked nervously.
“You should cast Circle of Protection if you feel you can use up the mana,” she said slowly.
“Yeah, I would rather be safe than us being attacked.”
With a thought, I cast the spell, with the center being the spot I was on.
You have cast: Circle of Protection. (12:00:00)
You have used 400 points of Mana.
Mana : 565/2200 (100 locked for Soulbound item)
Hit Points : 300/300
“Done,” I said, suddenly feeling fatigued. I almost fell backward, but Fiona was there to catch me.
