Beautiful girls approached the craft as soon as it touched down. There was also a small crowd of onlookers who seemed to be checking out the flying ship with some curiosity.
The First Prince was the first one to step on foreign ground along with his two grand knight bodyguards. The smiling girls hurried in to strip the heavy jacket from the youth's shoulders, replacing it with a thinner and much gaudier red coat, on which the emblems of Anth-Komi had been embroidered in gold.
"Welcome to the Principality!" one of the girls chirped at Will when he passed them by.
Will nodded back at her politely while sneaking a brief glance at her plump and milky-white thighs. A rare sight, given how most women in this world wore long skirts, while these few were clad in short ones. It was clearly their job to look sexy.
After that curt courtesy, the girls ignored him completely. It didn't seem like there was any kind of welcoming present prepared for him or even the High Mage, but such was life.
Further ahead, the First Prince had stopped to shake hands with some local official and exchange boring words.
Will utilized the lull by casting a 3rd-level spell from scratch.
Action log:
Detect Hostility (III) has been cast.
The spell was ready after a few minutes, and as expected, his vision lit up in various shades of red. Apparently, nobody was one hundred percent chill, but from the mostly light hues and their blank faces, Will surmised that the locals didn't have strong feelings for their southern neighbors.
There were a couple of bright red auras among their official reception. A woman who looked totally pissed as well as a man who was all smiles at the First Prince.
They were definitely not dressed for moving around freely. Will assumed their hostility was purely political and decided to ignore them for now. He couldn't even tell who was the target of their ire.
The spell wasn't all that good. It was reliable when pointing out agitated beasts, but humans were often more complicated. Sure, if someone was planning to assault someone right the next moment, they would probably register clearly, but that was about it.
"A beautiful day, isn't it?" The old mage stepped next to Will and made a vacuous comment.
Will glanced his way but didn't feel like opening his mouth to respond.
"Don't be like that! This is a land of possibilities. There are such special ingredients available; you wouldn't even believe me..."
Will knew basically zilch about alchemy or magical research, so he didn't really find the topic interesting. Much less so with this particular old fucker.
"I should secure the perimeter," he fibbed and walked away.
He walked ahead of the progression of a few slow-moving carriages that had just set off for a nearby palace, transporting the prince and the rest of the important guests.
It wasn't the biggest palace in the city, but it was already of a similar size to the royal castle in Anth. Will joined with the progression to get through the guarded gates.
"This place should be safe. Even if the locals allow an assassin near me, it won't be here. You should rest," their charge instructed his security retinue in a cheerful tone when they were presented with some nice quarters.
Will took his advice and retreated to his own bedroom and promptly threw himself on the proper bed for the first time in a few days.
He woke up to a small creaking sound in the middle of the night. The old-fashioned buildings of this backward world were always kind of noisy. Will simply closed his eyes again.
There was another creak, and his eyes opened once more.
He got up to take a look at the door and saw a tall, looming figure.
Will immediately tried to secure his physical well-being and started to briefly gesture with his hands and utter a very short string of necessary syllables.
Minor Physical Immunity (IV) has failed to trigger! Your spellcasting has been interrupted, and the spell is lost!
It wouldn't have taken long, but the intruder was too quick to act, and the spell wouldn't have helped Will against this particular attacker, anyway. There was a flash of light, and he felt terrible pain in his left hand.
While he was reeling from the pain, he heard a short chant and soon felt himself being pushed against his bed by a nearly crushing force. It was almost impossible to even breathe.
"Stupid boy! Look at what you made me do," a familiar voice spoke.
A small flame appeared on top of an open palm, illuminating Will's bedroom.
Will briefly noted the annoying, familiar face, but then his eyes went where his greatest pain was, and he saw a bleeding stump terminating at his left wrist. His hand simply wasn't there.
"No... This is..." he whispered quietly.
Will had promptly gone into some kind of mental shock trying to process and accept what he was seeing.
The pain was bad but not that bad. How could he possibly have lost his hand so simply? Was he under an illusion attack?
"See? Your body is damaged now. What a waste!"
At that moment, whatever spell Will was under ended abruptly, and he could breathe easily again. Yet, it took him a second longer to register the change.
Somehow, despite his shock and denial, his mind went into overdrive on its own as he recognized the opportunity to flee.
The remaining right hand went through two very short gestures in record time, and his mouth spat out three short syllables for one of the fastest triggers he had.
Wind Blast (II) triggered.
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A big shockwave of air blasted 360 degrees around him. It immediately sent the sheets and pillow flying, and a tenth of a second later it also lifted off an old man, throwing him against a wall.
"Oof," the old man huffed as air escaped his lungs due to the impact, but a small, glittering object had appeared in his hand, and he managed to hold on to it.
Will used the time he had bought to cast another spell.
Major Spell Immunity (VI) triggered.
His protective spell choice was most likely overkill, but he didn't feel like taking chances.
The spellstone crumbled, and a grey chain appeared in High Mage Alfonso's hands. It shot forth like a charmed snake, seeking to encircle Will.
When it was about to come in contact with his body, the chain simply evaporated in a shower of sparks.
"What?!" The old man roared in disbelief.
Now that Will finally felt pretty secure, it was time to exact punishment.
Mental Shackles, Minor (III) triggered.
The old man froze, but not completely. His eyes were still darting around, and the hands that had been going through casting motions were still moving slowly, albeit erratically.
Fearing that Alfonso might be able to fight the spell off quickly, Will didn't waste a second. He summoned his quarterstaff and drove a crushing blow into the other man's temple.
Alfonso's eyes rolled in different directions when his skull was deformed under the blow. He slumped onto the floor, either already dead or in the process of rapidly reaching that final state.
Will turned his disbelieving eyes back to his stump. He tried to open and close the fingers of the missing hand he still seemed to be feeling to some extent, but nothing happened.
"Shit... Shit!"
He pulled a red healing potion from his inventory and uncorked it clumsily. After pouring it in his mouth, the bleeding of his wrist stopped and the wound scabbed all over, but the hand didn't grow back.
Will went down on the floor, feeling around until his healthy hand grabbed something bony.
The severed hand was a mangled mess. Whatever spell had removed it hadn't delivered a single, clean cut.
With a shaking hand, Will poured another potion on the severed appendage.
Nothing happened.
"FUCK!" he roared.
After that, someone finally rushed into his room, as if none of the previous struggle had been heard by anyone. Then again, maybe that was precisely the case.
"What's going on here?"
It was one of the grand knights serving the First Prince.
Will raised the severed hand in the knight's direction and gave him a desperate look.
"Help me! It was the high mage!"
Naturally, Will didn't sleep for a second longer that night.
Hours later, he stood on the rooftop of a tower, watching the sunrise. One hand was rubbing at the stump while he went over his options.
Will had calmed down while he'd been interrogated. Nobody was nice to him even though he was the victim, but since they weren't making any violent moves and only threatened him with a legal punishment, Will simply wasn't afraid.
He still had his powers. They were impressive. More impressive than any high mages.
One hand was enough to cast spells, even if the loss of one slowed him down a little bit.
Will had his spells ready. Should anything untoward happen again, he'd simply be gone in a whiff. Nobody would be able to hurt him or lock him anywhere.
Deep, calm breaths.
A beautiful sunrise.
A ghost limb that ached terribly.
There was the spell Prosthetic Limb at the 8th level. Perhaps it was a good spell, but there was no way to find out. As a level-14 wizard, Will could only cast up to the 7th spell level.
He'd have to reach level 15 first. That would not be easy. He would most likely have to take big risks to find and kill truly strong creatures. While missing one hand.
Even then, there was no telling if leveling up was even possible in this world.
"Fuck it! I don't want to live like this! Feat list!" he shouted.
A list appeared in front of him, and Will scrolled down until he looked at one particular entry.
Obtain Restricted Spell (Minor Restoration (IV))
Restore some of what has been lost.
Gain access to the divine spell "Minor Restoration" (V).
It would be a risk. That much was obvious.
In the game, you would sometimes receive permanent injuries you could only remove with a Restoration spell. Thus, what he was looking at was probably the closest thing to what he needed.
However, the description his system gave him for the feat was definitely not the original spell description. First, the spell level in the feat description was higher compared to the name of the feat. That shouldn't be too bad.
More importantly, the description had become more open-ended and generalized. It could be a good thing, or it could mean that permanent injuries were no longer within the spell's purview. After all, the word 'some' clearly conveyed that there were limitations.
But risks were part of life.
Proceeding to select a feat... Confirmation required: Are you sure?
"Yes!"
New feat gained: Obtain Restricted Spell (Minor Restoration (IV))
New spell gained: Arcane Restoration, Minor (V)
Information rushed into his brain. The name of the spell had changed, but he paid it no heed. Without wasting any time, he began casting according to the new knowledge he had gained.
Arcane Restoration, Minor (V) stored in a spell slot.
The spell wasn't too complex, but it was very different from anything else he had used so far. He worked slowly by necessity, and even then he needed an extra attempt to get it right. Finally, Will had a budding headache as a price for his impatience.
Deep breaths.
The headache wasn't painful enough to be relevant. He just needed to be alert and ready to control whatever happened next.
Arcane Restoration, Minor (V) triggered.
Vitality that reminded Will of what he had stolen with Vampiric Drain rushed into the fingertips of his casting hand. The tingles it caused felt considerably nicer, though.
He touched the stump with his remaining fingers and willed the energy to transmit.
First, there was some pain, but it felt a little distant and dull.
Next, the violently terminated bones in the middle of his stump grew a little longer, penetrating the scabs that had formed around them. The wound started to bleed again.
The bones grew until they protruded an inch from the stub. Blood vessels started to push up from the flesh and creep up alongside the newly grown bone. When the energy of the spell started to run out, the vessels closed up instead of spilling more than a few drops of blood on the floor.
"YES!" Will roared in triumph and relief.
"FUCK! YES!"
The stump terminating at his wrist was still a stump, but what had been previously lost had clearly been restored by a little.
---
The trial that followed when Will got back home hadn't been too difficult.
Although Will was a newcomer and thus much less influential than the late High Mage Alfonso, the fact that Alfonso had died in Will's bedroom in the middle of the night was a pretty strong point in Will's favor.
"What do you plan to do now?" the King asked when the courtroom was mostly empty again, ten minutes after declaring Will not guilty.
"Nothing much," Will shrugged. "I'll go back to observe some classes at the Academy."
"Fine. I hope you'll grow up to be a sufficient replacement for Alfonso. The man was strange, but he was also competent."
Also, a murderous psycho, Will added quietly in his mind.
His wounded hand still didn't have any fingers, but his palm had started to grow back already. He kept it wrapped in bandages, so nobody was the wiser.
He'd asked around, and apparently magical limb restoration was a thing. However, it was not available in Anth-Komi, and nobody knew how expensive it would be.
Still, the fact that it was possible stung a little. Perhaps he could have chosen a better feat and lived with one hand for a while?
But what was done was done.
Before the spring arrived, Will disappeared for a few weeks to study independently and attend his golem workshop.
When he made a new appearance at the border, he was whole again. In reality, his hand had grown fully back in three weeks, but he'd still kept it wrapped in bandages for several more.
"Huh? Didn't you lose your hand?" High Mage Holmstr?m came to interrogate him the moment he laid his eyes on Will.
"I did, but I had it grown back," Will said with a shrug.
"What? How... Where..." the man stalled for a while. "Just who are you? That couldn't have been cheap!"
"It wasn't. I had to give up a unique opportunity in exchange."
"So, who paid for it? Who did the healing?"
"Sensitive secrets, I'm afraid."
"Hmph! People have been tortured for less useful information! If I ever lose a limb, I will expect you to give me more details."
"If that happens, I might be able to help you," Will promised easily. Too easily, he realized.
"But only if it's you," he added quickly. "I won't be referring multiple people to my hand-growing clinic!"
Holmstr?m snorted coldly. "You can be sure that there will be a line of crippled veterans behind your door within a fortnight."
"Uhh... That would be a problem."
"Your problem."
The conversation was over, and Will proceeded to nail a parchment to his door explaining that anyone who couldn't afford several spellstones should simply forget about restoring missing limbs.
He then proceeded to rent a new bedroom under a fake name to avoid unwanted guests.