It was a twisting in his stomach that awoke Mike. His head was throbbing with pain as his stomach roiled. He rolled to his back with a groan, forcing his eyes open. He was in bed, in the low light of his room. Haliard’s bed above him was obscured by what must have been dozens of status windows. It was impossible for him to see his health indicator, which he knew must have been deep red.

  He tried to focus on the first one, but it hurt his head too much. He closed his eyes, squeezing them tight. He reached up and rubbed them, pushing them in to try and relieve some of the pressure he felt in his head.

  “You’re finally awake.” Haliard’s voice fell on Mike’s head like a hammer.

  “Ugh,” Mike answered. He opened his eyes and twisted his head. Beyond the field of notification windows, he could see the older man sitting in a chair, leaning back. Haliard’s arms were crossed on his chest, and he glared at Mike beneath his bushy eyebrows.

  “I told the masters that you had a busy day and really threw yourself into training. They told me to make sure you get rest and are ready to go tomorrow. Is that what happened?”

  “When I cast Identify on Aaron’s book of spells, I learned some of them. A part of each of them. They even gave some insight into my existing spells.” The struggle to speak was too much for Mike and he rose from the bed, swaying. He stepped towards the toilet in the room but started to fall as dizziness drove through him. Haliard was there to steady him and guided him towards the alcove where the toilet and sink hid from the rest of the room.

  “Take care of yourself first. Then you can… explain.”

  Haliard left Mike in silence, though the noises his body made echoed against the stone walls. Mike sat there in agony as he started tackling the windows before him. Each one was a window informing him of a new spell being absorbed, with an Affinity Increase that filled the rest of the window to cover his vision.

  The amount he had learned of each spell was minuscule to start with, with one named Grand Summoning being less than a tenth of a percent when he opened its window. The simplicity that saw spells like Phantasmal Self and Sudden Step instantly moving him to a tenth of the way to learning the spell was not present in Eric’s work.

  After a minute of fighting his own stomach and reading the windows individually, Mike got tired of it and focused through the pain in his mind. He didn’t know what he was doing, not really, but he forced more willpower into the part of him that closed the window when he was done with it. As he did, most of the windows vanished, leaving three behind.

  Quest Complete

  Learn Spells 15/15

  New Skill Unlocked

  Enchant

  Mike wasn’t surprised that the Quest had finished. Though each spell only got him marginally to an innate understanding of itself, the Affinity bonuses must have added up. He closed that window and opened the next, seeing it was the window explaining his new Skill.

  Enchant

  The ability to inscribe spells into materials, storing them for later use or automating their effects. Ability increases as a factor of Intelligence and languages learned.

  The trays of food that summoned their meals came to Mike’s mind right away, but he couldn’t think too far ahead with the pain he was feeling. Having something that helped him aim his Force Dart would be a big benefit. If he could enchant it into his spear itself… He would have to sit down and think of ways to get creative with the few spells he knew.

  Even though I don’t know what spells I know now, Mike thought as he went on to the next screen available.

  Spell Upgrades Available!

  When a Spell reaches level increments of 10, you can upgrade them to better stylize them to fit your needs.

  Upgrades Available: Force Dart, Identify, Conjure Ally, Conjure Arrow

  “Are you about done?” Haliard called over before he could dig into the Spell menu and figure out how to upgrade those. He sighed and rose.

  “Yeah, just let me wash up.” Mike rose and splashed the cold, clear mountain spring water into his face. The cold helped sooth the pain in his head, but it didn’t do anything for his poor stomach. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back to relax.

  The things I do because of this damn interface…

  Mike came around to the open space beside the bed. Haliard was sitting on the top bunk with his legs dangling but jumped down when he saw Mike. He came toward the younger man, finger in his face.

  “What the hell are you up to?”

  Mike took a step back, and opened his mouth to ask for an explanation, but a noxious belch emerged from his mouth. He blushed at it, but it made Haliard pause. He waited a moment before a chuckle escaped his throat.

  “Are you actually doing better?” Haliard moved back and gestured for Mike to sit on the bed. The wrath the old man had held seemed to drain out of him as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

  “I’ve been better, but I’ll survive.” Mike hobbled over and sat. He stretched where he sat and groaned. “Why are you so angry?”

  “You lied to me.”

  “What? I didn’t lie to you.”

  “You told me you didn’t have magic in your world, that you didn’t know about it.” Haliard stood up straight as he spoke, a bit of the heat coming back into his voice. “Then you go and tell the masters that you were an apprentice. Why did you hide that from me?”

  “I didn’t?” Mike lay back, trying to find a position where his stomach hurt less. “I lied to the slaver wizards who ripped me out of my world into this one.”

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  “You can’t,” Mike replied, shaking his head. “That is why I worded my explanation to them the way I did. The arcane brands they put on us prevent us from lying.”

  He lifted his shirt and turned, showing off a tattoo the size of Mike’s hand. It was the sunburst of the Blurington family, right in the center of Haliard’s back. Mike sat up for a better look.

  “Do I have one of those?”

  “Yes, you do,” Haliard said, dropping his shirt and turning back to Mike. “It is part of the ritual work they did to pull you into here. We all have them, except Sum. He is bound in some other, different way.”

  Mike took his shirt off and tried to twist to see his own tattoo, but his stomach rebelled at the action. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

  “I don’t think…” Mike started but paused. He hesitated, studying Haliard for a moment. “Can I cast my spell on you really quick?”

  “Again? Why?” Haliard asked, but he extended his hand towards Mike. He pulled up his mental spellbook, seeing that it had far more pages now, but his favorite three were sitting right at the front, with a red exclamation mark in their corner. There were more spell symbols he didn’t know, with most of them having a large red X over them. He focused on one and brought up its window.

  Arcane Inferno Level 1

  Spell, Massive Mana Cost, 6 Hour Cooldown.

  An area equal to your Wisdom X 3 square yards becomes engulfed in flames for Intelligence seconds. You have minimal control over the shape of the area.

  WARNING! Insufficient Mana to cast!

  Mike rifled through the other spells with the X and saw they all had the same warning in them. He resolved to focus on growing his mana so he could fully explore his new repertoire.

  Who would have guessed the head of the ancient wizard family would know more magic than a man who fell through reality two days ago?

  Mike focused instead on Identify, hoping to examine it, but two windows appeared at the same time.

  Greater Identify Level 10

  Spell, Minor Mana, Variable duration.

  Learn information about an object or person you touch. More information is revealed at higher levels. Duration is lengthened depending on the amount of information revealed to reduce the pain of absorption.

  Potent Identify Level 10

  Spell, Minor Mana, Variable duration.

  Learn information about an object or person you touch. More information is revealed at higher levels. Duration is shortened by a factor of your Intelligence, which may result in more pain as information is absorbed at a faster rate.

  “Are you going to cast it?” Haliard was waving his hand behind Mike’s screens. He gave a sheepish laugh as he realized he had been examining things for almost a minute after asking to cast it on Haliard.

  “Sorry, new stuff has popped up. Give me a moment.”

  “You shouldn’t let that thing distract you. It has already gotten you in trouble.”

  “It might one day be the only thing keeping me out of trouble,” Mike sighed as he studied the two options. “But I am being rude, and I need to focus on what is happening, not what might happen. I’m paying for overestimating myself.”

  Mike’s stomach rumbled and he belched again. “Twice over.”

  “Is that leaf why you passed out? It hit you that fast?”

  “No, it was…” Mike recalled how his Identify earlier had told him Haliard could be trusted. He needed friends here, allies. Someone who cares. He decided to be completely open and honest with him. Before he could answer, though, he had a question of his own. “Haliard, if you could choose between more knowledge and less pain, which would you pick?”

  “More knowledge,” the older man answered without hesitation. “Pain heals, but learning is forever.”

  “That is what I did.” Mike made his decision, focusing on Potent Identify. The other screen faded away as Mike felt something shift in his mind. “Earlier, when I cast my spell on Aaron’s spell book, it gave me partial knowledge of each spell within it. Each one also gave me slightly more of each spell related to it. It hurt enough to put me on my butt.”

  “But when you saw Master Eric’s spell book in front of you…”

  “I chose knowledge over pain.”

  They both lapsed into silence for several seconds before Haliard shook himself.

  “That doesn’t explain why you lied to me.”

  “I didn’t, I really didn’t.” He flicked through his HUD, checking out the Skill menu. The first one stood out to him.

  Lesser Magical Resistance

  Your ability to throw off magical influences and manipulation is increased by a very minor amount.

  “I think when they cast it on me, I managed to defeat it somehow. Like when I first threw Sum out of my mind. It gave me a Skill to resist psychic attacks. I have one that lets me throw off magical influences, but I don’t know where I got it.”

  “Hmm.” Haliard was mulling it over. While the man though, Mike had a bright idea.

  “Haliard, let me see your tattoo.” He rose, a little steadier than before, and headed over. The room wasn’t large, thankfully, as he didn’t think he could have made it much further without falling over.

  Haliard pulled his shirt over his head and turned his back. Despite the grey in his hair, the man’s back was taut with muscle as he leaned over to give Mike a clearer view. There wasn’t a single scar across it, which surprised Mike. The sunburst was simple black ink, clear with no fading. Mike touched his fingertip to it and felt the buzzing of a spell.

  With a thought, he devoured it.

  The window that popped up didn’t obscure Haliard turning, far faster than he should be able to. He grabbed Mike’s biceps tight and shook him.

  “What did you do?”

  “I ate the spell in the tattoo, just like I did with the image carried by the drone Aric sent down!” Mike flicked the window out of the way so he could look into Haliard’s panicking eyes, not sure what to say. “I’m sorry, I thought you would want me to!”

  Haliard stopped shaking him and froze. It took a few seconds for Mike to see that the man was trembling. Mike stepped back, out of his now slack grip, and waited. After a few seconds, Mike realized the tremors were suppressed laughter. Mike gave a wane smile as the laughs emerged. Haliard was quiet, but the laughter was genuine.

  “I wanted that thing gone for… too damn long,” Haliard said after he got himself under control. He wiped tears from his eyes. “To think, all their vaunted power, and you just… sip it up.”

  “I’m as surprised as you are.”

  Some of the mirth faded from Haliard as he stepped back, giving Mike more space. He pulled his shirt back on as he thought.

  “You are the most potent weapon against this city they have ever faced,” he said. There was still some joy in his voice, but it was leavened with heavy tones. “You absolutely cannot tell them what you can and can’t do. At all.”

  “I didn’t think of it until right now.”

  “And I’m glad you did. Escape isn’t a dream anymore.” He mulled something over as Mike started to think through what escape would entail. Haliard dashed those dreams with his next statement. “Not yet though.”

  “We could make it. Right?”

  “Not yet,” Haliard repeated. “This is a good place for you to get trained. You need experience. Learn some magic, get in shape, learn how to fight. Slide is not always kind to the unprepared.”

  Mike flicked up the window that had opened when he absorbed the spell in Haliard’s tattoo as Haliard planned.

  Spell Absorbed!

  Bind Person Discovered! (4/1000)

  Mike closed it before seeing what Affinity Increases it granted him. The spell was not something he was interested in learning, and he didn’t want it to become a part of his spell book. Even benefiting from something like that disturbed him a little.

  I’ve been a slave long enough to know I’ll never do it to someone else, Mike vowed to himself silently. I might have to fight someone, even kill them, but they’ll die safe in their own mind.

  “No, we stay here until you are ready. Then, we get the rest of the guys, and we make a break for it.”

  “I’ll trust you to let me know when that is.” Mike statement of trust reminded him that he wanted to try out Potent Identify on Haliard. “Can I cast that spell now?”

  Haliard extended his hand and Mike gripped it, casting his new spell. There was a spike of pain that almost instantly settled down to the background head pain he was suffering from the spell book, but no cool down icon appeared. The information was absorbed much quicker.

  Mike was disappointed that the hidden information on Haliard’s Identify screen wasn’t revealed. He was still marked as Trustworthy by the spell, but his Species, Classes, and Levels were still mysterious.

  What Mike was excited to see was the blinking icon at the bottom of the Identify screen.

  Haliard Morgenstern

  Trustworthy

  Human/??

  Class: ??/?? Level: ??/??

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