The Bookstore Mage

His bracelet still had one Tajajiht spell and one Usem. He didn't want to use Usem unless he was one hundred percent sure it wouldn't miss.

It was the strongest spell in his arsenal, after all. And so glaring at the monster, Lucien pretended to fall to his knees and clutched his side with a twisted expression as a groan escaped his lips.

The monster hesitated for a second and studied him with its remaining eye. It waited for a few seconds until Lucien began to cast Tadawsa on his wound. That was when the monster hesitated no more and rushed towards him.

Its speed was too fast for him to follow. Still, Lucien stopped trying to heal himself and raised his hand in front of his face, and cried out:

"Stop!"

The monster froze mere inches away from his face. Its open mouth threatened to tear at his face. Imer worked wonders it seemed. It had once stopped a vampire, so why wouldn't it stop an ugly bastard?

Lucien carefully stood up and stepped away, as he felt the monster struggle. A frown made its way across his face. It looked like if he delayed this any longer, then it might break free.

He didn't know if the monster was too strong, or if he was too weak, but Lucien did not want to take any chances. He chanted the incantation followed by the appropriate hand gestures causing a large fireball to fly and hit the monster square in the face once more.

It whimpered and growled in pain, as its struggles against Imer died down. Lucien didn't dare dally any longer, he once again summoned another fireball, and then another, and another, before finally, the monster stopped moving.

Its face was completely blown off by the constant barrage of fireballs. Lucien's breath picked up as he struggled to stay on his feet. The blood loss was slowly getting to him.

Still, he was sure that he was close to the plateau-shaped peak. And so, he powered through, while forcing himself to drag the large corpse behind him using Imer.

After a few seconds, he finally left the fog. The distance to the peak was still a bit far, but Lucien didn't care. He slumped to the ground and hurriedly cast Tadawsa on his wound.

At first, the spell didn't do much, but he kept casting it non-stop. Slowly, but surely, the bleeding stopped and the wound closed leaving behind a scar on his side.

"I survived... Hah, f*ck," Lucien cursed as he glared at the dead monster behind him.

"I hope this bastard is useful at least."

After taking a couple of minutes to steady his breathing, Lucien forced himself to stand up and dragged the monster behind him as he climbed to the peak.

By the time he made it, sweat was dripping down his face. Although the wound was closed, it still stung every time he moved, making him grit his teeth as he forced himself to continue.

Once he reached the peak, Lucien didn't stop to rest. He didn't want to stay here for a second more. He quickly reached out to the bond in his hand. Almost as if sensing his intention, a bright light shot from it as the vague outline of a black and white door appeared.

Lucien sighed in relief as he watched the door materialize before he used Imer and dragged the monster behind him. Bright light, followed by complete darkness and disorientation.

Another groan escaped his mouth as he forced his eyes to open. Tamellalt's face was staring at him from the top with a concerned expression.

"Welcome back, my lord."

"Oh, I'm back. That was fast eh? Heh," a chuckle escaped his lips as he pushed himself to stand up. The sudden sharp pain from his side made him sigh. His clothes were ruined by the sudden attack.

"Oh, yeah! The monster?" He asked to which Tamellalt motioned with her head toward the entrance.

The large corpse completely blocked off the narrow walkway. A few books fell to the ground following its sudden appearance. Thankfully nothing seemed to be broken at least.

"Uh, yeah. That. Do you think it'll be useful?" Lucien asked.

Tamellalt frowned and approached the monster, and observed it for a few seconds before she nodded.

"The body parts are not very useful for you, my lord but you can sell them to the other mages. The remnant soul, however, is very useful."

"Remnant soul? I thought the only place to find that is in the dream world?"

The fairy quickly shook her head and replied:

"The dream world is the easiest place to come across one since it's connected to the underworld, but not the only place."

"I see, can you extract the remnant soul, then?"

Tamellalt nodded and extended her palm towards the carcass. Lucien watched in curiosity as a strange aura descended on the surroundings, following which a pale blue floating orb extracted itself from the body.

It was hazy at first, but once it landed on Tamellalt's palm, the sphere turned corporal. She nodded in satisfaction and handed it to Lucien who was still in deep thoughts. He didn't see the mana particles move when Tam did whatever it is that she had done.

There was no steer in the mana whatsoever, almost as if the power she had used was a completely different one.

"Thank you, but it'd be best if you hold on to it for now. I'll ask for it once I need it."

The fairy didn't argue and instead nodded in understanding.

Lucien glanced at the large corpse blocking the way and asked:

"Uh, can you do something about that, too?"

Tamellalt hesitated before ultimately nodding:

"I'll keep it safe until you need It, my lord."

"Thank you."

Saying that Lucien turned and made his way upstairs.

"There's a spell I want to try, so please bring me the candles," he said while clutching his side.

The wound had healed, but the scar and pain remained. This was the extent of Tadawsa. It was a minor healing spell after all. Lucien considered himself lucky it even helped him this far.

Once upstairs he stripped his clothes and threw them aside before making his way to the living room where he had more space. Moon was nowhere to be seen, so he assumed she was still sleeping in his room.

A second later, Tamellalt reappeared with the already lit candles. It seemed like she was already aware of what he was trying to do. She carefully placed them around him forming a circle with him in the middle before she retreated.

Lucien gave her a quick thank you ad closed his eyes. The spell he was about to try was not very complicated, it was almost the same as Tadawsa. The only difference was that the scale was larger.

He first began his chant, causing the mana particles to surge towards him. He continued with it for a while until he had significant mana surrounding him. After which, Lucien followed with the hand gesture and appropriate incantation.

The mana particles flooded towards his body, rejuvenating him in the process. They flowed uninterrupted until they reached his wound. Lucien's expression twisted in pain yet he forced himself to endure as he continued with the incantation and hand gestures.

This was the downside of this healing spell. It immobilized him, making it impossible to do anything else. After a few minutes, Lucien exhaled and opened his eyes.

The candles were snuffed out, but he didn't mind. He glanced at his side where the scar should have been, in its place, however, was nothing but smooth skin.

"Well at least that was easy," he grinned.