"You really don't need to do that," Candice said.

I frowned, "Would it make you uncomfortable? I mean, if you don't want me to then I won't. But I don't mind. Maybe I kind of want to join you?"

She gave me a funny look, then shrugged "It won't make me uncomfortable, I don't mind. I just didn't want you putting yourself out for me."

"Pfft," I rolled my eyes then pulled my dress off and tossed it onto her bed. "Considering the other people who've already seen me naked, it's not like I'm scared of stripping down with my best friend."

Next I slipped my panties down then put and with my dress, then added "Anyways it's only fair, since I get to see your beautiful body."

She blushed at the compliment while I just grinned at her.

We were back in Candi's room again, after spending about an hour in the school library. We managed to find a couple books that had some spells we were interested in, so we each borrowed one. Then on the way back to her room I stopped at my room and grabbed my notebook, now the two of us were going to spend some time studying and learning a few new spells.

And as soon as we were back in her room, my best friend unbuttoned her dress again then just tossed it onto her bed. And I figured it was only fair for me to join her. When in Rome or however that saying went. Except this world probably didn't have a Rome.

Candi took a moment to look me over, not that I minded. Evelynn had seen me nude countless times already, and Alice got that this morning. I was pretty sure I didn't have a nudist or exhibitionist streak in me, but I also wasn't especially shy or modest either. At least, not in this life. I had a feeling I was probably more hung up about casual nudity in my last life.

Apart from being small and cute, I wasn't sure my body was that much to look at. I liked to think my boobs were pretty decent. They weren't big, even if you scaled me up to human size they wouldn't be that big. They were a good handful for me, and I thought the shape was aesthetically pleasing. Each was tipped with a thick pink nipple that tended to stand out a little even when they were relaxed.

I didn't have any green hair between my legs, in fact there was no hair anywhere on my small body at all apart from my head. I worried I maybe looked too much like a child, except I had hips and a butt and a waist. Like I was definitely a young woman, just scaled down.

After looking me over for a second or two Candi had another little blush on her cheeks. She commented softly, "You're even cuter than I thought."

"Thanks," I grinned as I sat down next to her at the table and opened up my notebook.

It took another minute or two before we both focused on the books we'd borrowed from the library. Candi seemed a little funny about me studying naked next to her at first, but she eventually seemed to get used to it. Our plan was we'd each study and copy a couple spells from the books we borrowed, then we'd swap books.

The one she was studying at the moment was about detection spells, and it actually included a couple spells that sounded exactly like my Detect and Dispell abilities. It also contained another pair of spells that seemed to duplicate the functionality of her Truth ability. There was nothing in there that corresponded to my Scrutinize thing, but that was a 'special' ability. I figured if it was my cheat then it wouldn't be something just anyone could learn.

Meanwhile I'd found the book Alice learned Mirror from, and I was going to learn that spell then see if anything else in the book caught my eye.

As I read, I found Mirror was partnered with another spell called Barricade. They both protected the caster from enemy spells, but where Mirror bounced spells back on the attacker Barricade just made the attacks fail. Of the two, Mirror was more complicated to cast and wore off quicker, but I figured that made sense since it had more complicated effects.

One thing I was particularly curious about was how the level-two Alice and the level-one redhead both successfully mirrored my and Candi's spells back, when we each had a one-level advantage over our adversary. And in my case I had that plus-five bonus going for me too.

The book didn't say anything about levels of course, since non-system people could read this stuff. It did suggest that both Mirror and Barricade worked against enemies who were stronger, but not too much stronger.

In the end I passed on Barricade since I already had my detect/dispell/scrutinize combo. But I did copy Mirror into my notebook, and when I got the notification that I'd learned it I did the Info thing on the spell.

'Mirror (1): Passive spell (cost: 6 mana/use). While this spell is in effect, most spells cast at you will be reflected back against their source. Warning: ineffective against adversaries more than 4 levels above your own. Casting range: n/a. Maximum duration: 5min/level.'

So it cost Alice six mana points to cast it and gave her ten minutes of protection from me. And if I'd been level six or higher, Mirror wouldn't have helped her at all. That seemed pretty reasonable.

I continued reading through the book and found a spell that provided defence against physical attacks, so I copied that over to my notebook as well.

'Shield (1): Passive spell (cost: 4 mana/use). While this spell is in effect, an invisible impenetrable shield will protect you from danger. The shield is approximately human-sized and oval shaped, and will appear 1m from your body in the direction you choose. Casting range: n/a. Maximum duration: 2min/level.'

Eventually Candi and I swapped books, I told her which spells I'd copied out and mentioned that Barricade one incase she was interested. Then I started copying out the two I already knew I was interested in.

'Detect Truth (1): Passive spell (cost: 2 mana/use). While this spell is in effect, you can usually tell the difference between a truth, a half truth, and a lie in any statement spoken to you. Casting range: n/a. Maximum duration: 1hr/level.'

'Seek Truth (1): Active spell (cost: 2 mana/level). With this spell you may attempt to learn the truth when you have been lied to. Casting range: 1m. Maximum duration: n/a.'

From what she said, those two spells seemed to match her Ability. Except her 'Detect Truth' was always on and didn't run down her mana. Though at two mana for four hours of the spell, I could almost afford to keep it running non-stop too.

After I had those two I glossed through the rest of the book, but nothing else jumped out at me as anything I really wanted.

Eventually Candi finished looking through the other book. She looked over at me and grinned, "You got what you wanted?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "How about you?"

She nodded as well, "I got your detect/dispell pair, and I got Mirror and Barricade as well. Maybe a bit redundant, but after today I figured it's good having a bunch of defensive options."

"Good point," I grimaced. "Next thing I want to do is learn how to tell someone else is using Mirror. It feels like the sort of thing you can get away with once, then the secret's out."

"Huh, I hadn't thought of that." Candi frowned. After a few moments she suggested "Magical sight? Maybe we can learn what it looks like when someone has Mirror or Barricade running?"

My eyes lit up, "You're a genius!"

Candi giggled, "Hardly. But I have been paying attention in class, maybe a little more than some lime-haired cuties I know."

"Hey!" I pouted. "I've been listening. I just haven't been here as long as you."

So far we hadn't actually been learning any spells in class. It was all basic foundation work. Magical Languages would help us to understand strange or arcane spells. Magical Formulae would teach us how magical paradigms and formulas worked, when we were at the stage where we started using them to understand existing spells or perhaps even learn to create our own.

Foundations of Sorcery was teaching us basics that were specific to sorcery, including learning to use and understand our magical sight. And Alchemy was all about the basic equipment, terminology, and best practices for brewing potions and elixirs.

The curriculum would have us starting to learn spells in the second semester, but of course almost everyone was learning stuff on their spare time since casting spells was the funnest part of being at magic school.

My friend just grinned at me then looked back at her notebook again, and she got that distant look on her face so I knew she was doing system stuff.

That made me think of a question, but I waited till she was finished before asking.

"Hey Candi? So when I learn a spell like this it's in my notebook and I get a notification that I learned it. And I can cast it and stuff obviously. But what if I want to assign a spell point to it?"

She shrugged, "Just drop the point on it, same as you do for abilities and stats."

I frowned, "But I mean it's not on my screen. It's in my notebook."

"Oh," she grinned. "You have to import it. So after you've learned it, you can focus on it in your notebook then the command is just Import. That adds it to your status screen."

"Thanks Candi!" I grinned. "So you have to do that every time you learn a spell?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "I wouldn't. For one thing you'll clutter up the screen, and for another thing you only have so many slots. I only keep the important ones on my screen, like spells I'm going to use all the time."

"Oh," I frowned. "Is there a way of finding out how many slots are available? And is there a way of removing spells from the screen without actually forgetting them or losing them or whatever?"

Candice frowned as well, "You should know how many slots you have, that should have been part of the information you got right at the start. I don't know how else to find that information. And you can remove a spell from the screen easily, just focus on it and use the command Remove. You won't lose the spell or forget it, it just stops taking up space on the screen."

"Thanks Candi," I smiled again. "You're amazing."

With my newfound information I gave it a try, and imported a couple spells from my notebook that I thought I might want to have handy. There was a success notification for each one, then I had a look at my Stats screen.

"Cool, it worked!" I announced with a grin. "And now I have another question. You know how spells have their own grade or rank thing, and we can upgrade them as we use them? And each upgrade makes them better, like longer range or duration? Is there a limit to how high that goes or does it go on forever?"

She shook her head, "Most spells will max out at five. Once a spell hits grade five that's as good as it's going to get."

I thought about that a moment, "Huh. I mean that's still pretty good, but it feels low. Like spells that seem amazing to us right now will probably feel limited or whatever when we hit level twenty."

"They will be limited," she replied. "But that's why you learn more spells. Like Thought Skim? Say that maxes out at grade five and it's neat but not great. Maybe there's another similar spell that's more powerful, we learn that next year. So as you keep going up in level, you'll stop using the stuff you learned in first-year because you'll have newer and stronger spells at your fingertips."

After a moment she gave me a funny look and added, "Considering you've only been at this for three and a half weeks that shouldn't be a problem for you yet."

I glanced at Thought Skim then Mind Read on my screen and blushed, "Not a problem, not yet. I was just curious."

She watched me a few more moments, then sighed "I wish there was a way to fix your interface. I can't believe how messed up it is."

"Tell me about it," I frowned. "At least it works. I mean, the stuff that's there works. And from what you've described it's only missing some basic functions, like Help and Archives and stuff."

Candi made a face, "Basic but vital functions."

I shrugged, "It's ok. I can always ask you, right?"

She rolled her eyes, then asked "What do you want to do now?"

After a few seconds to think it over I suggested, "It's probably getting near dinner time, and I'm getting hungry. We could take these books back to the library then visit the dining hall? Of course, that does mean we'll have to get dressed again."

I was smirking as I said the last bit, but before she could respond I frowned, "Or do we? What's the school policy on public nudity, do you know?"

Candi rolled her eyes again as she got to her feet, "Just put your clothes on, goof. Let's go get something to eat."

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