Maybe I should tell Janice not to worry about the ingredients for alchemical fire. I might not need them if I can use this spell. He’d have to bring it up when he saw her later.
With that decision made he turned to the third spell he needed to learn, the iron-body transformation. He had only glanced at it the day before, but it was as he remembered, hideously complex. It was also an old spell, and not officially rated for its difficulty, but he guessed it was at least eighth-order, or possibly even ninth. This one could take weeks, assuming I’m even able to manage it. He had only just succeeded with his first eighth-order spell that morning.
Will took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. It was easy to let things overwhelm him, but he’d learned to manage by breaking problems down into small pieces. Ethelgren’s Illumination was doable, so he would work until he had succeeded once, then prepare it for later. After that he would memorize the bonfire spell. It was simple enough he would be able to recreate it when needed. Once those two things were done, he would spend half an hour on the new iron-body transformation.
The trick with complex spell constructs was to approach them slowly and methodically. With Selene’s Solution he had done the same thing, familiarized himself, then spent a short period of time each day attempting to construct it. It was simply a matter of patience and perseverance. While most second-year students were still fussing over third- and fourth-order spells, he had just succeeded with an eighth-order spell.
Ethelgren’s Illumination took him a little longer than he had anticipated, but the bonfire spell took less. After his self-imposed hour of familiarization with the iron-body spell, he used his remaining time to run through his daily practice of forming and dismissing each spell he had learned up to that point, everything from the source-link to the sleep spell. Now that included Selene’s Solution as well. The point of the exercise was to ensure that he retained all the skills he had previously acquired.
Arrogan had told him that such a routine would eventually result in him being able to reflex cast almost anything he had learned, though it might take years, or even decades for the more complex spells. At the moment the only thing he could reflex cast was the point-defense shield, and that had proved enormously useful, having saved his life at least a dozen times already.
He even finished that routine with some time to spare, so he went outside and practiced the force-lance as he had been doing for months. Repetition was the key to speed, and he was sure that soon it would become the second spell he could use with just a thought.
The sun was getting low in the sky when he finally decided to stop and rest. Sitting down on an old stump that frequently served him as a chair at such times, he summoned the limnthal and sought Arrogan’s advice.
“How long as it been since you asked me about the vampire storage thing?”
“That was last night. It’s almost evening again, so I’ll be going out again soon.”
“Idiot! That means you don’t have time to do anything.”
Will sighed. “Before you get your tail bent, let me bring you up to date.” He detailed the afternoon’s events, from Janice’s visit and news, to his study and practice choices. It took almost ten minutes, but the ring waited patiently until he was done.
“All right, maybe you didn’t do too badly,” admitted the ring. “Your priorities line up pretty well with what I would have advised. Now shut up and listen. There are some things you need to be made aware of. Where are you now?”
“Outside, behind the house Selene bought.”
“Move farther away, maybe a hundred yards or so, then put a force-dome around yourself.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Not until you do as I say, jackass!” swore Arrogan.
“All right, fine! Calm the hell down,” Will snapped, already beginning to move. After a few minutes he had found a secluded area out of sight of the house. The force-dome took him five or six seconds, and then he told the ring he was ready.
“Now, look around yourself. Make certain the area inside the force-dome is empty.”
That seemed silly. “It is. I’d know if someone was next to me.”
“Do it! Look carefully. You aren’t looking for someone physical. You’re looking for astral presences.”
“Excuse me? Did you say astral presences?”
“Sorry, I should have said asshole presences, since obviously we have one here already. Yes, you lackwit, astral.”
“I have no idea what that is, much less what it would look like.”
“Pretend you’re looking for ghosts.”
“I thought ghosts weren’t real.”
A low growl issued from the ring. “I used to think that too, until I realized your brain died of stupidity ages ago and that I’ve since been listening to your ghost talk out of your ass. Just humor me.”
Will did his best. “I don’t see anything, but the question is, would I?”
“Probably, yes,” said Arrogan. “You’ve demonstrated astral abilities on two occasions that I know of. The corollary of that is that if you’ve developed that ability to any degree you should also be able to sense others proximal to you on the astral plane.”
It took Will a second to process that sentence. His vocabulary had expanded dramatically in the years since he had started studying with his grandfather, but it didn’t mean he was used to using all those new words in actual conversation.
“Proximal means close or nearby,” explained the ring condescendingly.
“I knew that,” said Will in exasperation. “It just took me a second to sort it all out. You’re talking about when I left my body after the snake bit me, right?”
“And again, when Aislinn and I were talking.”
“There was a third time,” offered Will. “When I was being whipped. I left my body and the goddess talked to me.”
“That one sounds more like a delusion, but either way, you’ve definitely developed some astral ability.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Mostly, yes. Over time, a large portion of practitioners in my day would eventually develop such abilities. It was rather random to be honest. Periods of extreme stress, like nearly dying, or being whipped half to death, are excellent experiences to initiate such events, but if you live long enough, it’s almost guaranteed to happen eventually. The important thing for you to know is that some people can and do use those abilities to spy, just as you did the other day.”
“That was an accident,” argued Will.
“Whatever. The point here is this: force effects extend across both the physical realm and the astral and ethereal realms, so if you ever want to be certain of your privacy, a force-dome like this is a must.”