“Not yet, but there will be soon,” she replied darkly, disappearing for a long count of five. She finally reappeared, dragging the weasel. “When we were trying to get out of the way of their throwing darts, you got kicked out into the open, right?” she asked, and I nodded. “This is who did it.” I switched my gaze to the little bastard and saw confirmation in his eyes as he tried to squirm free of Lydia’s grasp. “Explain,” she snapped, shaking him by the scruff of his neck, and he mumbled a few words before she backhanded him casually. He tried to defend himself, but she hoisted him over the side and dangled him, making him kick out in panic, despite only being a dozen feet above the ground.
“I can’t… hold you long… better speak…” Lydia grunted as she deliberately shook him, and he started babbling.
“’E’s got armor! I didn’t! ‘E shoulda made room fer me!” he cried, frantically scrabbling at the wood as he tried to get a handhold. Lydia looked to me, and I nodded, my face black with renewed anger as I unconsciously reached up to touch the back of my neck to feel at the bloody gash. I could see notifications pulsing away in my peripheral vision, but I was too angry to look at them immediately.
Lydia released him with one hand and punched him in the face, dropping the weasel to the ground with a cry and a thud.
His friends were all standing close together, obviously scared, but none of them made a move to help him, either, and that spoke volumes, both about them and him.
I shook my head in disgust at the scumbag, and mentally told Bob what I wanted. I needed to speak with this strange creature, and I couldn’t get distracted by the little weasel. Bob surged forward, throwing my naginata to me. One massive hand reached down and closed over the man’s head, yanking upward, then to the side, hard. He shook the asshole like a rag doll as he moved, the sound of snapping bone reverberating around the shore as he stomped out of sight.
I closed my eyes and cursed under my breath, shaking my head slightly from side to side as I berated myself. I’d told Bob to take him aside to where he couldn’t be seen, and then kill him, quickly and with minimum noise. I hadn’t wanted the creature to think we were evil, but hey!
I opened my eyes and considered the little thing that stood before me.
It had retreated a dozen steps until its back was pressed tight against the ship’s hull, surrounded in a semi-circle by me and my men, and Lydia was above it. Hell, even Oracle hovered nearby, and she fairly crackled with energy.
The creature was having to lean against the ship for support. It had a steady stream of oily blood dripping from its mouth, and it shook as it tried to watch everywhere at once. Its lower arms were both wrapped around its chest as best it could manage.
I shook my head again and lifted my right hand, palm upward, and began to cast, building the spell layer by layer until it was ready. I launched it at my target, seeing the little creature flinch and try to dodge. It was far too slow.
The Focused Heal-All spell was weak, I knew. It had been cobbled together from dozens of bits of knowledge that Oracle and I had between us, including half-remembered details of medical training I’d gained over the years, and spells Oracle had seen and been involved in. All these aspects came together to create the original spell, and we had adopted a ‘brute force’ method to its casting. We essentially just kept the connection going, pouring more and more mana into it, until we couldn’t find anything left to heal.
This time, as the spell finished, I got a new burst of notifications, and I let out a sigh of relief as the little creature dropped to its knees when the weaves released it. It held up its hands in shock, clutching at its chest, its head, and then roamed over its body as though it couldn’t believe it.
Congratulations!
You have raised the level of your ‘Focused Heal-All’ spell to level 10! You may now choose your first evolution of this spell.
Congratulations! You have raised your spell ‘Focused Heal-All’ to its first evolution. You must now pick a path to follow. Will you lock this spell to a set form, and choose to SPECIALIZE, or will you follow the path of GENERALIST? Choose carefully, as this choice cannot be undone.
Specialist:
You have grown familiar enough with this spell that you’ve noticed areas that are more effective than others. You can choose to specialize in those areas: BONE, MUSCLE, or FLESH. Specializing this spell to focus on one of these areas will result in a mana cost reduction of 50% and an increase of 5% per level of healing as this spell grows.
Generalist:
Choosing the path of the Generalist will remove the option to focus on one aspect of healing, but it will instead increase the healing effect by 2 points per second, per caster’s level of skill with this spell.
I tried to dismiss the prompts, only to find that they stubbornly remained, pulsing an angry red as I tried to get rid of them. I didn’t have the time to consider it properly, and it wouldn’t go away, so I thought for a second, then chose.
You have chosen ‘Generalist’ for your first evolution. Your spell, ‘Focused Heal-All’, has evolved into ‘Battlefield Triage’. For a cost of 25 mana per second, you will heal twenty-two points of damage across the entire target creature, starting with the most grievous wounds first. This spell will improve all aspects of a creature towards its ideal physiological status. Continue to use this spell and build upon your understanding to unlock further evolutions…
My selection satisfied the notifications, and I dismissed them to focus in on the creature
