Vel had disappeared back into the greenhouses with Aelrie, I had desk duty for the rest of the afternoon, and Breknir was out for some home visits.

  The first thing I did was check out all the new skills I had.

  A very interesting spread. The Knight skills were a little useless for my day to day life as a healer but it looked like they allowed for the Witch class to be a viable combat caster at low level, something that was usually not possible. They would surely come in useful in the upcoming trial.

  The Witch class was a bit more standard as far as casters went except it dipped into two unrelated fields of magic, something that was usually reserved for high levels or required two distinct classes.

  I checked the list of available skills to purchase for both, there were a few skills that caught my eyes but I didn't linger for the moment. I wanted to be a bit more informed before I made any decisions.

  With nobody in sight, I started on the books I had just been gifted. They were bound to have some wisdom.

  

  Druids is a versatile class. Access to Nature magic gives it many options in terms of magic including both powerful healing and elemental spells. The large number of supporting skills such as metamagic, auras, familiars, and transformations open many paths. This guide will provide examples of several different ones that can be tread as well as what to watch out for when choosing skills.

  ? Druid Class Guide, Introduction

  The Nature school of magic is focused primarily on elemental manipulation. At first level, it grants access to the four base elements, earth, water, fire, air, as well as the two balance elements, light and void. The manipulation of an element does not necessarily mean directly manipulating its form, it can also involve channeling its properties. Earth spells, for example, can strengthen defenses. Fire spells can enhance strength and air speed.

  Spells of the Light element are often associated with healing due to its alignment being creation but the element is also a key component of some elemental spells as it allows them to create the desired element before manipulating it.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Void is the opposite of Light, destruction. Some of its applications include disease cleansing and defensive barriers. Used offensively, void is potent but the effects can sometimes be unpredictable.

  ? Druid Class Guide, Nature Magic Theory

  I put the book down as someone entered the clinic. It was Nuovis, a plant mage from the berry orchard. She had her young son in tow, a very shy boy by the name of Haldir.

  "Hello Nuovis," I greeted her, "how can I help you."

  "I'm here to pick up more cough potions for Haldir," she said, "it still hasn't gone away."

  I flipped through the book for his file. A small case of bronchitis, nothing too dangerous. I checked the pharmacy and pulled a few tubes of potions from the reserves. They were pre-portioned to make it easier to use.

  Nuovis handed me a case of empty phials back and I swapped out the contents. The empty tubes would be washed and re-used for a future batch of potions.

  "Here you go," I handed the wooden case back to her, "have a good day."

  "Have a good day Liscura," she smiled, "and congratulations on your class. Already hard at work studying I see."

  "Always," I winked.

  

  The general skill has proven to be an invaluable resource to move my spell research forward. The enhancements it provides synergize with the innate knowledge granted by , I have made several breakthroughs since acquiring the skill.

  After a search for more mental enhancement skills, I have discovered and . I have started to copy parts of my spell research inside of the skill. The ability to cross-reference my notes much more easily is welcome. However, I have noticed that prolonged use of mental acceleration has affected my thinking. I have reduced its use for now.

  ? Breknir's Notes, Mental Skills

  An interesting discovery, it was worth a deeper look. I looked through my available general skills.

  All three were available and there was even an additional skill, Mental Partition. The warning on mental side-effects likely applied there too. Since they were general skills, it wasn't a problem to get all four.

  

  Purchased Skill Mental Mastery for 6 ES

  Purchased Skill Mental Library for 6 ES

  Purchased Skill Mental Acceleration for 6 ES

  Purchased Skill Mental Partition for 6 ES

  Skills that consumed focus did not start active by default. Focus in the system was a measure of how much load the mind could handle, it was a limitation to prevent frying your brain with too many skills at once. Going over the threshold knocked you out and disabled all skills. Not something I ever wanted to experience for myself if I could.

  I cautiously enabled them one by one.

  Mental Mastery didn’t have any immediate effect but I hadn't expected one, the same went for Mental Library.

  After that was Mental Acceleration, when it was enabled the world seemed to move slower. Without a matching body skill, the skill didn’t really improve my ability to react to most things however. Mystic Enhancement would probably pair well with this one.

  Finally, Mental Partition. Having two partitions was a strange feeling. I could process two streams of thoughts at once without effort. It was not quite as if I had two instances of myself running at once, the partitions were independent but I could tell that there was a primary partition that was coordinating everything. I could also regulate the speed of thought for both independently, I wrote down that discovery in my notebook.

  

  Arcane magic is one of the three school forms of magic, alongside nature and psychic. Most other magic skills are a subset of one of the three or, in rare cases, a combination of two. There is no known skill that combines all three.

  The nature of arcane magic is hard to precisely define, unlike nature magic which focuses on the elements and whose spells are often broad and flexible, arcane much more orderly. Spells of this school have precisely defined effects that can only be altered by metamagic. This immutability makes arcane spells more powerful at the cost of flexibility.

  Most mages build flexibility back into spells with multiple modes or variability. This always comes at the cost of raw power but the increased options often more than make up for it.

  ? Treatise on Arcane Magic, Introduction

  There was a lot of magic theory to go through. Thankfully, the druid guide was written in relatively simple and easy to digest language unlike the book on arcane magic. Even with Mental Mastery, the text was a slog to get through. But it was worth it as it netted me some levels in the relevant skills.

  By the end of the day, I had managed level five in both skills alongside some progress with the mental ones.

  

  Skill Nature Magic has reached rank 1, level 5

  Skill Arcane Magic has reached rank 1, level 5

  Skill Mental Mastery has reached rank 1, level 8

  Skill Mental Library has reached rank 1, level 6

  Skill Mental Acceleration has reached rank 1, level 3

  Skill Mental Partition has reached rank 1, level 4

  "Hello love," Vel hugged me from behind.

  "Hello lovely," I hummed, "had a good day?"

  I turned around and gave her a deep kiss before she could answer.

  "Great," she whispered in my ear, "and you?"

  "Very informative," I said.

  "Really? Plenty of things to show me then?"

  "Show me yours and I'll show you mine," I said with a grin.