Holy Magic 102
My morning went well through breakfast. I told Auffrey that I took her advice and got an acceptably good price for my necklace, but was planning on waiting until I could see a reputable jeweler before I would sell any more of them. She approved, with a long suffering smile at her new, dreadfully naive friend. It was nice; I wanted to add her to my harem but she was also just good company.
Speaking of adding women to my harem, it was time to train with the light again. Anetta was wearing the same set of vestments, cleavage window intact, though she had added a sash for some reason.
She had all the same bubbly excitement she did last time. She didn’t seem to have changed her behavior, she was the same general dervish of excitement. She’d had a day and a half for the jewel to do its work, but I didn’t know exactly what I should be looking for. I decided to start small.
“You are looking particularly lovely today.” It seemed innocent enough for an opening salvo, but it definitely counted as praise.
“Why thank you Erich. I’m glad you think so. We will be blessing bandages again today. Do as many as you can this time, I’ll tell you if you’re showing signs of overexertion.” She seemed very receptive to the compliment, but it certainly didn’t derail her train of thought.
I did as she asked, but apparently being distracted made it harder to channel the light. I was so focused on trying to analyze every little thing she was doing that I was barely affecting the cloth. I built up pressure from trying, but any time my mind wandered I’d lose focus. Anetta was frowning, trying to reassure me more or less constantly that it was only a matter of time.“Are you troubled? Is there something distracting you?” As she asked she leaned towards me, the necklace that was binding her to me hanging tantalizingly between her breasts.
“Maybe. You’re just bit too beautiful; perhaps if you gave me a kiss and then left the room I might be better able to work in private? You’re a great teacher but a bit distracting.” She seemed taken aback, red appearing in her cheeks and her mouth hanging open just slightly. Importantly though, she didn’t seem upset.
“You. Well. Yes. No. I’ll leave you to your work then?” She didn’t quite flee the room, but she stepped out of the clinic into the hallway. It almost surprised me to find that my bullshit attempt to flirt with plausible deniability was correct. Once Annetta wasn’t distracting me just by being in the room, I could get the bandages clean in record time. I got through all ten of the strips of cloth she had handed me over about a minute before I started to feel woozy, and that passed quickly. The last two bandages still had a bluish tint to them, but on the whole I’d gotten way better. Soul talent was great. I’d gone through the whole basket and was ready to go looking for more instruction, and then I heard shouting from outside and ran to see what was going on.
One of the trainees, one I hadn’t bothered learning the name of, was being carried back to the abbey by two others. I vaguely remembered them being sent out to patrol near the mines to make sure the kobolds didn’t get too close to the abbey. From the looks of them, they’d ran into more than they could handle. All three of them were bleeding from multiple places, but the one being carried looked like he’d been knocked down and the crazy runts had just kept swinging.
Annette was in doctor mode, no flirtation or bubbly awkwardness here. The poor bastard’s injuries were already bandaged, but the cloth was soaked through with blood. Once he was laid out and she was sure that she wouldn’t heal any shards of metal into his body, she began chanting over him. Each spell seemed to focus on one injury at a time. My talent informed me this targeted “lesser” heal was more energy efficient than trying to heal the whole body at once, but for someone this mangled, something stronger and more generalized would probably be better if she could do it. Anetta was operating at near her limits.
I stepped up and did my best to copy her, focusing equally on her actions and the young man’s injuries. My healing was functional, but much weaker than her version. It wasn’t too much more intense than blessing bandages, so I kept trying on his smaller injuries, anywhere he was actively bleeding. Anetta shot me a look of surprise, but clearly didn’t think I was doing anything wrong enough to be worth correcting right now. It let her focus on his worst injuries even more.
It took us almost a full minute of frantic healing and we were both exhausted, but at the end of it he was stable. Anetta gave his companions, one slender man and a woman built like an ox, instructions to come back with him to the chapel when he woke up. Before they left, she gave each of them a lesser heal and seemed ready to pass out. I stepped in and supported her, walking her back to the chapel. She leaned against me, muttering her thanks.
She collapsed onto her stool when we arrived, and pulled out a flask. She sipped and passed it to me. Grape juice. We passed it back and forth for a few minutes before the mana fatigue passed.
Anetta turned to me with a thoughtful expression. “You are sure you haven’t received priestly instruction before? It’s ok if you have. Many leave the path of the light and then return when they are more ready.”
“Did I do something wrong?” I feigned worry. It was a dirty trick but even without the jewel she didn’t seem the type to be too verbally aggressive. It put her on her back foot.
“Oh no, no not at all. You might be the only reason Gundar is still alive right now.” I noticed she took her own contribution for granted there. “You just cast a spell that normally takes a few weeks of training, at least. If you were just remembering old training it would make more sense. If you really just improvised that, you’re learning faster than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Maybe I just have talent, and an amazing teacher. You’ve really been helping to motivate me.” As I praised her, the worry and suspicion seemed to fade from her eyes. She didn’t want to be suspicious, she wanted to believe she was doing a great job teaching a genius. She was back to being all smiles. I wondered how far I could push this, and just to see I lowered my eyes to her chest. She didn’t seem to mind, in fact she leaned forward just a bit, and her smile grew more playful. “Oh, I hope you aren’t feeling motivated in the wrong direction.”
“I’ve always found beautiful women very motivating. But don’t worry, I’m serious about becoming a proper priest, and I’m sure you’ll keep me focused.”
“Well then, flatterer, if you are so good at using the light to heal, then maybe there is more we can do in the training grounds.” She turned and walked out the door, and I noticed the sash tightly wrapped around her waist made her robe cling to her ass very nicely.
She brought me outside to a small field full of targets. Most of them were in bad shape, at least one appeared to have recently burnt down. “Sadly it isn’t always enough to be able to heal. I saw that you don’t have your heart in the martial arts. I understand; it is hard to harm someone else. But there are times you must. For that, the light has granted us the power to smite our foes. This can be used to kill or subdue, and it will try to act as you wish it to, though you should never trust too fully in the light’s mercy when you use it as a weapon. Since you are so good at learning from observation, I’ll do it a few times and you can try.” She said it teasingly; I don’t think she actually expected instant results.
She reached out her hand, focused on the target, and a small explosion of light appeared right in front of the target, marking the surface. My talent filled me in on what was happening. The priest focused on the necessity of a target’s destruction and then released a wave of holy energy. It was actually almost identical to the basic cleaning and healing spells I’d learned already; all were just bursts of energy with a vague intent behind them.
The hard part was making myself focus entirely on the vital necessity of this target being blasted. I tried, staring at it with my hand outstretched. I squinted. I channeled light into my hands, which ended up bleaching the sleeves of my shirt. The light didn’t seem to want to blast an inanimate object. Anetta took me by the arm after several minutes and started whispering. “I understand it seems silly to use the light for something like this, but you need to know how. You’ll never be safe as a chaplain or as an auxiliary if you can’t defend yourself. Focus on that. On the good you want to do. Right now, that target is stopping you.”
The mental gymnastics required to use the light to hurt something that was no threat to me aside, it seemed logical enough. I focused on my plan to liberate Stormwind. My hopes to prepare Azeroth for the frankly insane things to come, and maybe prevent some of it. For that I needed more training, and the only way to get it was-
My smite was not very impressive, but it still went off like a firecracker. There was a mark on the solid wood, like someone had hit it with a hammer. I focused and did it again; another blast, which made no noise but a faintly musical tone. It took me a few seconds to do each time, but as long as I focused on what was behind the target, metaphorically, I could smite.
I smiled as I looked at the target, riddled with craters and splinters. I’m pretty sure I laughed. I doubt that it was a laugh that would reassure people, but I was too excited to care at the moment.
Annette was grinning ear to ear; apparently she was coming to accept that I was some kind of genius. “Amazing. You’re ready to start learning words of power already!”
It was funny. I now probably barely qualified as a level one priest by the rules of the game, but I felt like a badass anyway. I had magic. I could shoot energy blasts. I could heal people on the cusp of death and put them on the road to recovery, and that was the basics. I could get stronger; I hadn’t even gotten into shadow magic, or bubbles, or mind manipulation. The fun parts of being a Warcraft priest. The best part, however, was that this was a side thing, something easier to access in the moment. My real source of power was burning a whole in my pocket.
Anetta, naturally, was too busy being excited for me to ask any questions. I had worn myself out today by casting until I couldn’t anymore, and neither of us would be fully recovered until we’d had a few hours of rest. She contented herself with explaining the importance of meditation and fluids to recovery. “The more you exhaust yourself, the longer it will take to replenish your inner reserves. Drinking helps, and there are certain tools and enchantments that can help speed recovery. Casting to exhaustion can help exercise your internal wellspring and builds muscle memory, but outside of training in a controlled environment, try to avoid getting to this point.”
It was an instructive lesson, but I had floors to mop. Once she got through the theory, we parted ways and I went on a stroll into the woods. I had an important call to make before I started my chores.