Growth Hero 2

by Brent Tyman

  I looked over at her, worry flashing in her eyes, and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her into a side hug. “Don’t worry about me. We’ll win this tournament and then we’ll be together in the Clan,” I reassured her.

  Juliana smiled as she nestled into my side.

  We walked like this the rest of the way to the Academy in companionable silence. We got a few looks from the other students as we walked across the Academy’s large courtyard, but I didn’t pay them any mind.

  For once, I didn’t care one whit what gossip might spread as Juliana wrapped her arm around my side and we walked together, joined at the hip.

  This moment felt right as rain, and that’s all that mattered.

  16

  “Uhh, how much is this one?” I asked tentatively, not quite ready for the answer I was going to get.

  “Only nineteen gold coins,” the librarian chirped happily, as if that amount was chump change to her.

  “Right, right,” I replied, staring at the slim book I was holding.

  Of course it was.

  The library of the Academy, aptly called the Grand Library by this librarian, was a huge, sprawling room filled to the brim with books. Gold seemed to be the default metal they’d used for the decor, as most of the shelves were covered in gold.

  They must have run out of budget at some point, though, as only a few of the tables were made of solid gold and had been fused into the floor. All the rest were more cost-effective wooden tables.

  I honestly couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to have golden tables, but if their goal was to flaunt their wealth, they had succeeded quite spectacularly.

  Juliana had led me to this particular librarian, as she managed the spell books the Academy sold its students. She was a middle-aged woman with brown hair and glasses that looked remarkably similar to the ones worn by Karl, though hers looked to be even thicker, if that was possible.

  She wore a flashy white uniform that highlighted the Academy’s emblem on her breast and seemed extremely happy that Juliana was here. It seemed this librarian was originally from the Tasberg Sovereignty; she’d even bowed to Juliana when we first came up to her.

  Would she give us a discount, though? That was the real question.

  “Which one is that again, Alex?” Juliana asked as she looked my way. The Librarian had gotten us a few spells to check out at her desk.

  “Earth Rock,” I replied, reading the sticker on the cover of the book. It seemed someone had gone to the trouble of checking what each spell did and noting that down on a sticker. It got the job done at least but lacked the cryptic descriptions that the interface usually included.

  That probably wasn’t a bad thing, now that I thought about it.

  “Says it compels a small rock to form from the earth and smack into my target.”

  “That appears to be useful,” Juliana offered, but I shook my head.

  “If I wanted to throw rocks at monsters, it would probably do more damage if I picked them up off the cavern floor and threw them myself,” I said.

  I was sure this spell would be useful to have and would be decently effective at what it professed to do. But for nineteen gold coins? It was an easy pass for me.

  “What about this one?” Juliana asked as she held up a yellow and red framed book towards me that glowed softly in the light. In fact, all the books glowed, which probably signified that they still had the magic available to grant their spells to whoever opened them.

  “Heat Beam, turn a ray from the sun into deadly light that burns its designated target,” she said.

  My interest was piqued until she read the next line.

  “Requires direct access to sunlight to use, will not work at night, indoors or underground,” she read.

  “Yeah, probably not the best idea if I can’t use it in the Dungeon,” I said.

  “I agree. I did not realize there were such harsh stipulations until I read it,” Juliana replied as she placed the book in what I’d taken to calling the ‘nope’ pile.

  “Isn’t there any kind of a fireball spell? At this point, that seems far more appealing than any of these others.” I frowned at the large stack of book in the ‘nope’ pile.

  “Fire spells are extremely popular amongst the students and ones that provide a simple fireball sell out in moments,” the librarian explained before she looked to Juliana.

  “If my Lady Heir wills it, I could arrange for one to be set aside when they come in, but it might be a few weeks until we get another shipment.”

  Juliana shrugged at that before shaking her head. “That simply would not suit our timetable, but thank you, all the same. I’m sure there will be something here of interest to Alex.”

  If only I had as much confidence. Some of these spells were real duds—like the one that caused a brief spritz of water to form next to where I stood and another that made the ground tremble slightly.

  They were just as exciting as they sounded…

  If those had been my only two options, they would remain a tough sell for me. They might have been good, if I could figure out a way to use them effectively, but I’d really hoped for something flashy.

  Flashy and not too expensive was looking to be impossible in the Grand Library’s spell book store.

  The next book was unusually cold to the touch and featured some rather intricate rune-like patterns on its cover. Some droplets of condensation had formed on the sticker, and I had to squint to read what it said after wiping them away.

  “Icy Cloud - Generates a potent cloud of ice crystals that seek to latch onto objects that come into range. Note - Does not move from its initial summoned spot and doesn’t affect the user or their party.”

  “That one has been here for a while,” the librarian admitted. “It is quite potent, but its static nature means that its best used defensively. Not a lot of students seem to appreciate its defensive leanings, though.”

  I had a good think about it. At this point, I had to get something, and Juliana assured me any other shops that had cheaper spell books in them would have sold out by the time we got to them, thanks to the tournament being announced.

  The selection here was pretty lame, if I had to be honest. It looked like the other students had already cleaned out the library of all the good spell books. I looked over my shoulder and noticed that there was a line of students that stretched out behind us, seemingly waiting to attract the librarian’s attention.

  “Yes, yes, I believe most spell books will be sold by the end of today,” the librarian said when she noticed my gaze.

  “Jeez…”

  “Must we hurry with this?” Juliana asked, and the librarian’s eyes bulged as she wrung her hands and shook her head.

  “Of course not, my Lady Heir, please take all the time you need. I am sure the others won’t mind waiting.”

  Given that more than a few of the waiting students were from Hoganna or Yunissa, judging from their green and blue uniforms, I kind of doubted that.

  In the end, the only spell that I could think might be useful at all was a wind spell called Blast Currents. It allowed me to propel a powerful force of wind towards my foes.

  In all honesty, compared to throwing out fireballs or the lightning that Karl was able to do, this was… far less flashy than I had hoped.

  This was my only option that gave me a decent chance of actually affecting monsters with it, though. At higher levels, it might pack a wallop. Another bonus was that I could manipulate the air currents of the spell to form them into a particular shape, which was nice. I’d have to think about it some more to come up with a use for that feature.

  The major downside though, was its high cost.

  “Thirty gold coins?” I asked, trying not the balk at the price.

  “Of course,” the librarian chirped once again. “This is a popular wind spell that will surely be bought by one of the students behind you.”

  I wanted to facepalm, but it was no use. This would improve my survivability on thi
s world, and it would be foolish to get too worked up about the price.

  But did it really have to be so darn expensive?

  My hand lightly brushed along the spine of the Icy Cloud spell book, and I looked at my palm to see droplets of water dripping off. This was the only book that did such a thing, and I had a strange feeling about it.

  “How much for this one?” I asked, tapping the wet book.

  The librarian wrinkled her nose. “Hmm. That one I can do for ten gold. It’s always been hard to sell.”

  Ten gold for what the librarian thought was a trash spell…

  “What do you think, Juliana?” I asked the woman. She crossed her arms under her breasts, which made my eyes drift down to her wonderful cleavage.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I think any spell that has a valid use will suffice at this point, Alex. You will soon surpass these spells—extremely quickly if I know you,” she said.

  “Alright, I’ll give that one a shot too,” I said as I pulled out the bag of coin I had received at the Adventurer’s Guildhall.

  As I counted out forty gold coins, I couldn’t help but feel it was an exorbitant amount. At least I had two spells to show for it. Despite not getting the flashy spells I’d hoped for, having the opportunity to cast spells at all was exciting. It made the RPG gamer in me a tad giddy at the thought.

  Plus, I wouldn’t have to deal with the pain I had experienced casting that Dynamic Healing spell.

  The librarian kept her attention on Juliana, ready to answer any other questions she had. Juliana moved the other books off to the side and smiled at me.

  “Here’s the coin,” I said, placing most almost all the wealth I had earned from the Glower Serpent’s scale on the table.

  The librarian quickly scooped it all up and stashed it under her side of the desk. She offered us a small smile.

  “Thank you very much for your business. Please enjoy the rest of your studies.”

  I laughed at that. If guess she didn’t know I wasn’t even a student here.

  “Yeah, Juliana and I have lots of studying to do tonight. Right, Juliana?” I winked.

  “Oh yes,” she said, tucking herself into my side. “So much… studying.”

  Maybe Clarissa was starting to rub off onto both of us.

  The librarian tilted her head in confusion, but we had already turned to leave, my new spell books tucked under my arm. The crowd of students waiting simply watched us with curious eyes, but my focus was on my new spell books.

  “Let’s sit down and use these up,” I said.

  Juliana nodded as she led me over to one of the golden tables. She could just as easily have stopped at one of the wooden tables we passed, but it didn’t matter all that much to me.

  This part of the library was completely silent, as most students kept to themselves and had their noses buried in one book or another.

  Even gossip seemed to find it hard to get in here, which I very much appreciated.

  We sat down at an empty golden table, in matching golden chairs, and I placed the books down one after the other.

  “I remember when I opened up the Dynamic Healing book, I learned the spell immediately. The same thing should happen with these, right?” I asked.

  “That’s correct,” Juliana confirmed. “Simply open the book to learn the spell. This is much faster than having someone teach you a spell, though you don’t get a solid understanding of the magical theory behind it. That comes with practice.”

  Juliana pulled her chair right up against mine and her hand slowly drifted over my thigh to rest in my lap. I flashed the blushing beauty a quick smile before getting to work.

  The top book was the Blast Currents spell, which glowed ever so slightly to my eyes. I put my hand on its cover and flipped it open. A brief flash of light surprised me but winked out almost as soon as it appeared.

  My vision swirled for a moment and I rubbed my eyes instinctively, momentarily blinded. The blue window I knew all too well appeared as soon as my eyes were closed.

  Magic Spells

  Dynamic Healing - Heal a target for a range of ailments at significant magical cost.

  Blast Currents - Summon forth a powerful blast of wind towards a target. Air currents can be altered to a desired shape.

  Nice! I’d learned my second magic spell in this fantasy world.

  The description didn’t seem as cryptic for this one, but it didn’t tell me how to alter the air current to whatever shape I wanted. I supposed, like all the things in this world, I would have to figure that bit out myself.

  This was a great step to getting stronger. I couldn’t have been more excited if I tried.

  “Great! I can cast attack magic now,” I said, grinning.

  “I’m thrilled at your growth, Alex. I can’t wait for you to try it out in the Dungeon,” Juliana replied, returning my grin with one of her own.

  “What do I do with the book after using it?” I asked. I glanced down at the page it had opened to and saw strange symbols I couldn’t begin to understand. It looked like someone had just scribbled arcane looking symbols across the page; some of the symbols even lined up diagonally.

  “You could keep it, I suppose, but it has served its purpose and will not be of any use to anyone not studying magical theory,” Juliana replied.

  “Wait, what? I should just get rid of it now?” I questioned, and she nodded.

  “It will not bestow a spell to another, not a second time.”

  “What about all these symbols in it?”

  “The spell book is written in Malkassan Script, the ancient ones who lived in these lands before us. All magic books are from their time. Scholarly mages transcribe their text onto enchanted pages to create new spell books,” Juliana explained. “There is an entire branch of magic devoted to such enchantments and the magical process behind it, but I’m not sure how it works.”

  “Feels kind of weird, since I just spent thirty gold coins on it, but I guess it can’t be helped,” I said, setting the book aside.

  The gorgeous brunette frowned. “Enchanters have tried to imbue the same magic into used spell books, but to no avail.”

  The fact that they made new spell books by transcribing these symbols into a blank book almost sounded interesting. I hadn’t learned much about the history of this fantasy world, but it seemed there were plenty of other things I still didn’t know about it.

  The next book was the Icy Cloud one and in the short time that I had placed it onto the golden table, condensation had created numerous little water droplets that collected together on the cover before dripping over its edge.

  “Water spells are known to be frigid, but never this cold,” Juliana mused as she ran a finger along its cover. Her touch left a perfect streak across the top of the book where the droplets had parted.

  “I think it’s pretty cool—pun intended,” I chuckled.

  Juliana just rolled her eyes.

  “I just need to find a decent method of incorporating these spells into my attacks,” I said.

  After spending a good ten gold on it, I had better make sure it was worth every coin. I laid a hand on its blue cover, appreciating the faint glow for a moment before opening it up.

  This time, the flash was an intense blue light that blanketed my vision and lasted for much longer than the spell before it. I had to turn my head to the side and close my eyes almost immediately.

  “Jeez!” I snapped, rubbing at my eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Alex?” Juliana asked, concerned etched into her voice.

  “Didn’t you see? That flash lasted way too long,” I complained.

  “Oh, no. Only the user sees the flash of magic that bestows the spell onto them. I hope you feel better now.”

  My vision still had a halo aftereffect from the bright blue light, giving everything I saw a harsh tinge of blue. It made the golden tables look a sickly green. Luckily, Juliana still looked as beautiful as ever as she fussed over me. Her hand stroked my cheek as I blinked furiously
for a solid minute before returning to my lap.

  “I’m fine now,” I said, smiling at my woman.

  The prompt for the new spell took a few moments longer than I expected to appear, but after a few seconds, when my vision finally cleared, the blue interface appeared as expected.

  There didn’t seem to be a window that said, ‘New Magic Spell!’ or anything like that. It simply displayed the list of spells I had access to. I focused on the new one.

  Icy Cloud of Larothenia - Order the crystallized ice of old to do your bidding. Its grasp cold and hollow.

  Oh jeez… not again.

  “Sometimes I really don’t get this interface,” I grumbled, letting out a deep breath.

  “What’s wrong?” Juliana asked.

  “This spell’s description is really cryptic. Something about ‘Larothenia’ and a cold and hollow grasp, without really telling me what the heck it does. I guess whoever made the sticker for it was mostly just guessing after trying out a similar spell.”

  “Larothenia… I believe that is the name of one of the old cities, from long ago,” Juliana mused, her eyes becoming distant.

  “Yes. I think the capital of my homeland is built on its ruins. My tutor mentioned it once to me in passing. I don’t remember what happened to it, but I remember the name,” she said. Her eyes turned curious as she pulled her hand out of my lap.

  For some reason, I missed its warm presence there already.

  “I have heard of spells referencing one of the ancient cities before, but it is fairly rare,” she said.

  “Does it mean anything special?” I asked.

  “Usually, the spell is more powerful than normal, but it is impossible to know with any certainty until you cast it.”

  More powerful? That was certainly something I could get behind. With my paltry magic stats, I needed all the help I could get.

  “There they are!” A familiar voice cried out.

  We both looked to the right side of the library to see Clarissa grinning back at us. She had Aurielle and Anny in tow as well. I could feel the glare coming from a number of the other students who just wanted peace and quiet in this section of the library.