As I slowly open my eyes I stretch out under the fluffy covers. I can’t get over how I can get such a good night’s sleep on what looks like a simple bed. I consider yesterday’s event and I got very lucky with that Jeweler’s quest and the rewards from it. Not to mention that Cal is my bestie for life, I think with a grin. Before getting out of bed I pull out the Lore books from yesterday and start reading them. They are a lot thicker than the Beginner’s Guide and it takes me two hours to speed read all five as they crumple to dust one by one. I look at my Lore now.
That should help my Inspect a bit. I head down to a late breakfast where John ribs me about sleeping in. I talk about the Lore books I had read, while I eat my sandwich. The food is simple with just eggs, bacon, and toast but tastes amazing. After I finish I ask for sandwiches to go for lunch and dinner. Then I go to the bathhouse to freshen up and get my clothes laundered.
Finally, I return to the barracks to grind some more. I greet the Captain on the way back. He nods to me without breaking the tongue lashing he is giving one of the guards. I stretch a bit, but I am just procrastinating. I guess for some reason I am not looking forward to more mana headaches. After casting Fire Dart so much yesterday I had a thought and want to try Fire Shaping again. I take a seat against the wall and hold my hands in front of my lap. I focus on trying to diffuse mana into the air between my hands. I see a faint cloud of mana form between my hands as I focus on the sensation of the Fire Dart flame within the cloud. After a few seconds of focusing it ignites with a boom cracking my head against the barrack wall and leaving me with a sharp burning pain on my hands and face. Looking at my combat log I see I took twenty points of damage. I cast Minor Heal, mostly for the pain. This time I try hold up one finger and try to diffuse a thin trail of mana from my finger and then ignite it. Thirty minutes and a few burnt fingers later I succeed in creating both a small steady flame and getting the notification I was hoping for.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
I have finally gotten fire, now I settle in to continue grinding and start with casting Shield. Basically, the same pattern as yesterday, with five casts of Shield before I pass out and twenty minutes to wake up. I want to get it up to Novice rank before switching to another spell. I cast sixty-six times before I hit Novice one, but I keep going to seventy before switching. That was almost five hours, so I take a break and eat a sandwich. Next, I start casting Ice Dart for another seventy casts. It’s now a little after 7PM, so I eat my other sandwich as my latest mana headache begins to fade.
