The next morning, Lee awoke to a near-empty camp. Regina had been insistent about starting her preparations in the village, so she at least had a reason not to be around.

Jeremy and Kendri didn’t get along. That wasn’t a surprise, but usually, that meant that one was at camp while the other went to do… whatever they did. Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t actually sure what they were usually up to during their free time.

Em usually followed him around. Initially, Lee was glad that she did so, as he was afraid she would either get attacked by a random party of adventurers for being an Arachne or just generally cause trouble due to her adventurous nature.

So, waking up alone was quite a surprise. It wasn’t unwelcome by any means, just unexpected.

While he had some time alone, Lee decided that it was a good time to look for his next Arcane Synthesis target. Lately, he had been surrounded and hadn’t had much time to practice magic as much as he’d liked. If Em came along, which she usually did, he didn’t mind. But lately, Jeremy had begun sticking his nose into his magical affairs, and he didn’t want his magical abilities to leak any more than they already had.

When he created death mana, he had told Jeremy that he had been close to discovering the affinity for himself. While that was extremely unlikely for a random mage to do, it did occasionally happen, and it was much more believable when it came from a guy with two titles who created his own branch of magic.

Lee wasn’t sure if he could pass off yet another affinity being gained after such a short amount of time. So now, he was planning to synthesize a spell.

Discovering that Regina could fly brought up some of his earlier magical whims. From times past when he was still relatively new to Pallesia. There were a few classic spells that he desperately wanted. The first was flying.

Being able to soar above the towering treetops of the Shadowgrove and gaze upon the world from high in the sky was such a childlike dream back on Earth, but here, it was achievable. Not only achievable but within his grasp. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to be able to fly?

The second spell he really wanted was to be able to drop deadly meteors from the sky. Some cataclysmic catastrophe spell wrought from the heavens to fall upon his foes. While he wouldn’t ever use the spell, he still wanted to play with it. If he was going to be living for more than a hundred years, he damn well wanted to have some fun. Not everything would be so world-shaking, like teaching a whole country healing magic. Not if he could help it.

The third and final spell was the classic fireball. He didn’t need to use Arcane Synthesis for that, but he did need the fire catalyst Nitis had previously mentioned. Some items could grant someone an affinity, and he only needed one that could grant fire to complete his collection of basics. Lee assumed that fire would be needed for the meteor spell as well, as dropping a big rock was pretty lame. A flaming rock would be perfect.

As flight was now the easiest of the three spells for him to learn, he was going to save his Arcane Synthesis from combining the flight spell with another. Maybe he could fly and leave snow or, more likely, hail in his wake? Or could he shine like a beacon in the night sky by combining it with Orb of Light? He didn’t know, but he wanted to find out.

Lee brushed his teeth with the help of Conjure Water, his most used spell, then made his way into Lopus to get some breakfast—quickly finding a nearby stall vendor and getting some skewers of meat.

Looking around as he ate, Lee spotted four knights traveling in a formation down the main cobblestone street. They had arrived the day before with their lady—Lady Briarbreak. They wore armor similar to that of Knight Captain Hemsworth, each varying in their design by twists and curves of the edges of the armor itself.

Within the square formation, Lee caught a glimpse of dark purple cloth within. As they grew closer, Lee could hear whoever was in the center of the formation, Lady Briarbreak, he assumed, muttering to her knights.

In a very high-pitched, child-like voice.

“Can we go back yet? My feet hurt.”

The knight to her left calmly responded, obviously used to hearing such remarks. “Soon my Lady. You’re doing a great deed showing your the kingdom’s subjects your presence. You’re giving them hope, showing them that help has arrived.”

“But my feet…” Was the last thing Lee heard as they passed by him, heading off toward the adventurer camps—Likely going there to show the adventurers that the Lady of the land was here to help.

Lee finished off his skewer as he thought.

Hmm. She’s young.

And that was that. It wasn’t his business, and he didn’t want it to be his business. He had enough on his plate already, and didn’t want to add dessert. Hopefully, Lady Briarbreak and her knights could solve the issue with the statues, kill whatever dog thing was down in the depths, and everybody could continue on with their lives. All while not needing him to help along the way.

Lee traveled through the streets of Lopus and arrived at the village hall. Once inside, he found his way to the main meeting room and found Regina and Jeremy having a back and forth conversation with Tabitha Rein, the archeologist from the Thexian Reclamation. Lee had only ever talked with her on his first day in Lopus when she informed everyone about the current state of affairs.

Almost as soon as he had entered, the conversation came to a close. Tabitha picked up her things, said a few final parting words, and then sped by Lee, leaving just the three of them in the room.

“I’ve informed the adventurers about the life affinity and many of the mages are working toward learning it as we speak. Fatalina made it clear that mages should be sent, but not many of them have both light and earth.” Regina said as she walked up to his side.

“I let Meriah and Kooco know that more adventurers will be headed to Felispar. Those with both light and earth. We weren’t sure if you’d be okay with letting everyone know about the life affinity yet. So, we held off on that.” Jeremy said as he joined Regina by his side.

“Go ahead and let them know. The more the merrier. Just, make sure that it’s kept underwraps. The more people who discover what we’re doing, the higher the chance the Healer’s Sanctum finds out. If I were them, I’d throw everything I had into getting rid of me, or capturing me.” Lee sighed as he sat down on a nearby chair. He ran his hands through his now standard head of hair and felt at his stubble.

“Regina. You’re here to help and to keep me safe right?” Lee asked as he stared toward the ceiling, already tired with the day.

She nodded. “That is correct.”

“I think I would be much safer in the sky.” Lee closed his eyes but couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face.

Regina wasn’t amused, but she didn’t say no to his unasked question. “Tell me Lee, what is your intelligence stat?”

“Don’t answer that.” Jeremy said with uncharacteristic heat in his tone.

“I wasn’t going too, but why do you want to know?” Lee asked.

Regina sat down next the Lee and patted down her pleated skirt. “You need a certain amount of intelligence to have enough power to lift and propel yourself. As well as enough dexterity to allow you to orient and control yourself during flight. I also wouldn’t suggest flying with low constitution, incase of accidents.”

“Couldn’t you just tell me the benchmarks? I’m sure you’ve figured them out.” Lee asked.

Regina gave the tiniest of shrugs, almost as if she wasn’t used to the action. “It was worth a try.”

It took Lee a few seconds to realize that she was fishing for information. He scoffed but didn’t mind it. He was doing the same afterall.

“Sixty to Seventy-five intelligence, depending on if you have any class bonuses. Thirty dexterity and constitution—I know you can heal, which might make you think the constitution isn’t required, but falling from the sky onto solid ground won’t give you time to heal. It’s instant death.”

Lee brought up his status to do some mental math.

He would need another twenty levels to reach the required attributes for flight. With three stats per level—He sank into his seat, realizing how far off his ‘close’ goal actually was.

“I need twenty more levels for the points.” Lee mumbled, dejected at the news.

Jeremy tried to cheer him up. “Maybe in a few years? It’s better than never.”

No. It wouldn’t be a few years. Not if he could help it. With his new skill enhancement, thanks to Arcani, he might be able to propel himself forward. He just needed to teach more people healing—something he was already planning to do.

Lee thought back to this morning. To when his hopes were high about flying, saving his Arcane Synthesis cooldown in preparations, and the giddiness about it all. He would need to find a different spell to create.

And he didn’t know what he wanted.