Oz pulled the fake book. The round panel, embossed with a black begonia blooming from an open book, lifted out of the floor and spun open to reveal a boy, about the same ten as the other children, struggling on the top steps. He paused in rubbing the spider silk against the rough edge of the stair and stared at them, frozen in place.

“Hey there. You wanna tell us who sent you?” Oz grinned.

The boy made a strange motion with his jaw.

Linnea’s eyes widened. She lunged. “Stop him!”

Fast as fire, Aisling caught his jaw. Sliding her fingers just under the joint, she forced his mouth open. Frothy white foam spilled out of his mouth. He grinned for a moment. Then his eyes rolled back, and he went limp.

“We’re too late. He swallowed poison rather than reveal his employer. Typical assassin,” Linnea said, shaking her head.

“Are we? Aisling, force him to spit up everything in his stomach,” Oz ordered shortly, running back to where she’d dropped the bag and snatching it up. I had her bring all the detoxifying herbs in the market. Right now, I’m the best person to keep him from dying from that poison!

“Why? He’ll just try to kill himself again,” Linnea said, confused.

“How many poison pills do you think he keeps on him? I’m willing to bet he doesn’t have a backup suicide pill, and if he does, we can take it before he wakes up.

“If we let him die, we lose all the information he has. I’m not about to lose one of my best leads without trying,” Oz declared.

“Leads on what? He was sent by Professor Keane. End of story.”

I’m not going to explain that. Linnea doesn’t need to know about my conspiracy about arriving here, if only because I don’t want her to know what I really am yet. I trust her, but not that much. Plus, who knows? Maybe transmigrators get ganked on sight in this world. It can happen. He hurried by, hoisting the bag over his shoulder as he ran for the pill room. “Aisling, quickly!”

Aisling hauled back her fist and punched him in the stomach. The boy pitched over, vomiting out everything he’d eaten, and a good portion of thick foam, too. She waited, watching while he spat it all up, then picked him up and chased after Oz.

Linnea shrugged and followed, crossing her arms. “I guess.”

“Do you recognize this poison?” Oz asked her. I don’t have a lot of books on poison. Seriously, is there a hidden or dark section of the library I haven’t found yet? There’s no way Madame Saoirse left dark magic out of her collection. She doesn’t strike me as the upright and righteous type. Not if she’s rumored to have stolen half the techniques she owns. So where are those dark magic manuals? 

She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of a foaming poison.”

“Is there any way to slow the spread of the poison?” Oz asked, simultaneously consulting the books in his head. The covers flashed by his mind’s eye, barely more than a glimpse at each title.

Aisling shrugged. “If you knew his pressure points, maybe.”

Pressure points? Interesting. I think I saw something… yes, there!

In his mind, a tome with the title Human Body Medicine appeared, a sitting figure with points illuminated on their body illustrated below the title. Pressing his hands together, he laid them out flat, opening the book in his head at the same time. 

His eyes darting across the book as he read it in his head, he quickly took in the book’s contents.

…pressure points can also be used to stop the flow of poison through the body, especially if the poison uses one’s veins or qi passages…

Oz pursed his lips. “Could’ve used that knowledge a few minutes ago.” It’s great that I can scan books and put them in my head, but I also need to be able to absorb and index their contents way faster than my current reading speed. Even reading constantly on the back burner, I can only read five or so books a day. It’ll be forever before I read this whole library at that rate, and with the rate at which attacks have come at me since I’ve arrived, I can’t wait another day, let alone weeks, months, or years.

But how can I do that? Most of the magic I’ve encountered so far won’t do much to help. Do I need to create a new spell? Is that even possible?

Oz’s eyes lit up. He grinned. I think I’m about to find out. Right after I save this kid’s life!

He ran to the pill room, reading the manual on pressure points the whole way. Aisling laid the boy on one of the countertops, then stood back, waiting.

“Can you light the fuel for me?” Oz requested, setting down the bag and rolling up his sleeves. Last time, that took almost all my qi. I don’t have time to run around recovering qi this time, so skipping that step would be great.

Aisling nodded. She waved her hand, and a few sticks of fresh fuel flew out of the bag. Hurrying to a new pot, she set them in the tray beneath it and lit them with the tap of a finger.

Oz narrowed his eyes, a little jealous. She lights it that easily? She does seem to be fire-aligned, but still! I had to work so hard!

In the back of his head, he reached an image drawing out the pressure points. He turned back to the kid.

…this diagram shows the basics of pressure points. However, every individual has unique pressure points, slightly offset from where they appear in this diagram. To ensure the best treatment, inspect the individual with your qi before inserting the needles…

He paused, looking at the kid. Froth streamed from the corner of his mouth. His chest rose and fell so subtly it almost didn’t move. I don’t have time! But, shit, if I don’t, and I don’t hit his pressure points, I’ve done nothing…

Dammit. Here goes nothing!

Oz pressed his hand down on the kid’s solar plexus and swept his qi through him, scanning him like a book. His expression turned grimmer with each moment. His heartbeat is slow, veins rupturing, qi passages dissolving… I need to move, fast.

Pressure points. What do pressure points look like?

Bright, thick energy lit up in his mind’s eye. First one, then another, then another. Eight large spots down the boy’s spine, four of them lit up, and a network of smaller ones spread throughout the body. Where the small dots lit up, qi passages intersected, twined with major veins, or entered major organs.

Oz’s eyes widened. The big ones are his meridians, and the small ones must be pressure points! He lifted his hand. Pressing his qi into a dense, short needle, he jabbed at the pressure points, one after another. Each one he pressed darkened, and the qi in the passages around the points stopped moving. The energy collected at the points remained, but in an inert state. The flow of the boy’s blood slowed, and his body processes drew to a near halt.

As the qi passages stopped moving and his body slowed, the poison, too, stopped spreading. Oz sighed out. “I’ve bought us some time. Aisling, can you draw out all the herbs with detoxicant properties?”

Aisling nodded. She hurried over to the bag and dug in it, returning with packet upon packet of herbs.

“Why not give him the antidote Professor Keane gave you?” Linnea asked, leaning against the door in her human form.

“One, he isn’t suffering from Creeping Darkness. Unlike the general-purpose detoxicant I hacked together, a true antidote should be specific, not general. Chances are, it won’t do anything for him, and I’ll lose it and gain nothing. Second, if I use it on him, I lose a lot of information. I can’t pull apart the pill to find out if Professor Keane is trying to poison me with a secondary poison, or if it is a true antidote for Creeping Darkness, in which case, I can be almost a hundred percent sure that Professor Keane is the one who sent the assassin. Third…” Oz paused for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, that’s it. Two points. But hey, they’re good points.”

She frowned. “You think too much.”

“Thanks, I like to think it’s a strength of mine.”

“I bet you do.”

Ignoring Linnea, he hurried over to the pot and scanned the herbs Aisling had brought. What I need are herbs that nullify strong poison. On top of that, I need to heal his veins and qi passages, and there’s something with his heartbeat slowing, too.

I’m no medical student, but I can read the herb books here any time I like. Which means it’s time for… the glossary! Quickly, scan through all the books’ glossaries. Heart. Veins. Qi passages. Quick-acting. Nullify. I’ve got to rely on these key words and do my best, if I’m going to save this kid. I don’t have the time to spare!

After this, though, I’m settling in to read all the pill books I can get my hands on. Cultivation takes a lot of time and even more qi. Right now, as long as I can memorize the herbs, I can immediately attack and defend with pills. Obviously, in the interest of preserving my life, the first thing I need to do is obtain a viable method of attack and defense. Up until now, I thought the best way to do that was to focus on growing magically stronger. Now, though… well, when you find a shortcut, why not take it?

Across from him, the kid coughed, spitting up another glob of foam.

Oz slapped his cheeks. Focus. “Alright, kid. I’m not letting you die yet!”