Athletics
Intermediate 3
86%
Blood Magic
Beginner 5
16%
Bluff
Intermediate 2
72%
Compulsion Magic
Beginner 1
50%
Dark Magic
Beginner 3
7%
Deception
Intermediate 1
3%
Diplomacy
Intermediate 4
47%
Dodge
Beginner 4
60%
Earth Magic
Beginner 9
28%
Eating
Beginner 10
3%
Fire Magic
Beginner 6
5%
Glasscraft
Beginner 3
53%
Haggle
Beginner 10
90%
Healing Magic
Beginner 10
98%
Heat Resistance
Beginner 2
60%
Herbology
Beginner 2
45%
Illusion Magic
Beginner 4
10%
Information Gathering
Intermediate 7
23%
Insight
Intermediate 3
38%
Intimidate
Beginner 9
26%
Life Magic
Beginner 8
23%
Light Armor
Beginner 2
50%
Light Magic
Intermediate 5
43%
Lightning Magic
Beginner 5
6%
Mathematics
Beginner 6
80%
Mental Fortitude
Intermediate 2
54%
Metal Magic
Beginner 4
65%
Modeling
Beginner 6
3%
Nature Magic
Beginner 4
48%
Navigation
Beginner 9
40%
Perception
Intermediate 4
51%
Perseverance
Intermediate 2
28%
Persuasion
Intermediate 3
56%
Running
Beginner 4
5%
Sense Motive
Intermediate 1
79%
Singing
Beginner 3
33%
Sleight of Hand
Beginner 10
79%
Small Blades
Beginner 6
3%
Speed Reading
Intermediate 6
57%
Stealth
Beginner 4
50%
Tailoring
Beginner 4
93%
Unarmed Combat
Beginner 3
90%
Walking
Intermediate 5
63%
Water Magic
Intermediate 3
7%
Wind Magic
Beginner 6
48%
Oh. No wonder she was in pain. Appraisal, deception, diplomacy, persuasion, sense motive, and water magic had all passed the barrier into intermediate. That wasn’t mentioning the fact that she’d learned seven new magics, six of which were at levels 4-9 that she’d siphoned, as well as three new craft skills.
It all made sense; everything on that list was stuff she’d siphoned from people who were really good at it, except for deception, but she figured she’d been deceiving everyone about her ability and why she touched them so often that it was going up naturally on its own.
No, the one that stuck out to her like a sore thumb was her only beginner 1 skill, compulsion magic. As far as she knew, she’d never compelled anyone to do anything with magic. Persuaded them, sure. She’d done lots of that, as evidenced by how high that skill was getting. But she hadn’t siphoned it from anyone, and she didn’t know when she used it. Puzzled, she started paying attention to the quiet conversation Mike and Kaylee were having.
“She’s lucky you found her when you did. Much longer and she might not have made it.”
Kaylee’s response was almost too quiet for her to hear. “It wasn’t luck. I heard her call me.”
“Call you?” Mike’s voice was curious.
“She was screaming for help. It was brief, but I swear I heard it.”
Jade spluttered on her juice a little bit, then quickly calmed down when they came over asking if she was okay.
“I’m good, thanks.” Her voice was slowly recovering, and they switched her over from juice to some beef flavored broth thing, intermixed with some sort of creamy oatmeal. Jessica was still feeding her, considering she still couldn’t lift her arms.
Silently, she came to the conclusion, maybe I did compel her after all… Of all the magics she’d read about, there had been uncommonly little information on blood, compulsion, special, spiritual, and summoning. She had finally figured out why. Not only was it rare, but it could also be very, very dangerous.
Wordlessly, she added compulsion magic to her list of things she wasn’t planning to tell anyone she could do. It was an ever-growing list…
No wonder her deception and bluff kept going up like crazy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Accounting
It was almost an hour later before she finally felt well enough to get up. She’d started feeding herself about half an hour after help had arrived, and the aching pain had gradually diminished. She’d had Jessica bring in a bucket of water, though she hadn’t told her what it was for. When she eventually felt full and stopped eating, Mike sent the girls out of the room. He sat down beside her, regarding her sternly. “Do you realize how close you came to dying?”
Jade stared at her hands, silently wringing them before she finally peeked up, meeting his eyes as she nodded. “I do. It won’t happen again. I’m aware of what went wrong, and I’ll take precautions against it in the future. Thank you for your help though. I don’t think I’d have made it if you hadn’t come so quickly.”
He sighed, realizing she wasn’t really deterred, just more cautious. “You’re welcome. Just be careful. I know you want to get stronger quickly, but you have time. You have your whole life in front of you here.”
She stared at him blankly for a moment. Now she was doing it too! Still, she had to think about it. Yesterday had been awesome, but it had made her wary. She should probably slow down. What she’d done the previous two nights had ended without a problem, so she’d just scale back to that again. She’d just been too excited after meeting all those professors. Finally, she nodded. “I really will be more careful. I’m not a huge fan of almost-dying.” Even though technically, she’d been living in that state for most of her life. Which, she supposed, made her an authority on not liking it.
Seeming appeased, Mike patted her on the shoulder and ordered, “Very good. Take care of yourself, you hear? And you should probably go downstairs soon. Several fairly important people were arriving when I did, and they’ve been waiting very patiently downstairs for you.” She nodded and he left, instructing Jessica to wait outside in case she needed help.