Mastery

Wiggling my fingers they seem just a little off, that and the dull ache in my hand leads me to believe that even though I can't really feel it I think my hand is broken.

What are the chances there's some kind of healing spell for beginners?

As it turned out healing was the the next spell in the book. Is the book responding to my desires? Could it rearrange the spells to some degree based on what I need?

Regardless I'm definitely going to learn this healing spell. The spell claimed to heal physical injuries at a speed depending on the amount of blood changed into the spell. So that would be the case for every spell with the - symbol. The more blood used in the spell the more effective it would be.

The description of the spell said to focus on an injury and make my blood flow over it, fixing whatever was wrong. The chant went 'Through my careless actions, or planned sacrifice I have sustained injury I do not desire' is the book critiquing my actions?

Putting the thought aside I spent the next half hour chanting that phrase while pushing the blood from my pool to my arm and hand imagining them healing. So slow this spell is. I spent just as much blood on the anti pain spell and that one seemed to do much more.

Having already used a twelve gallons of blood on two spells arouse a question. Was it better to have many weak spells for high versatility? Or to have mastery over a few useful spells?

Deciding on mastery of the few I read through a few pages of the Tome, to pick which ones I should learn. One spell increased the blood cell production rate. It seemed that his healing spell would mend his wounds but recover any lost blood inside his own body. That would go well with not feeling pain and healing. That way he could harvest his own blood faster.

The next spell used half a cup of blood to create a shard of blood that could be shot at an enemy. His first attack spell. Though the cost was relatively small I know that I'll need to practice before I want to use this in real combat, so I'll put this to the side for now.

The next spell described a method of using his own blood to drain another being. Though his blood had to be fresh and could not be from his pool. I'd definitely like to master this spell but I can't exactly practice anytime soon. Bookmarking the page I turned the page.

The next spell described a way to increase the size of his circulatory system so that it could hold more blood. It fit almost too perfectly into his plan.

I've already put twelve gallons into not feeling pain and healing. I'll split my remaining twelve gallons evenly between increasing the production of my blood and the amount of blood I have.

The sun is close to setting so I'll memorize both spells, use all my blood, and then sleep for the night.

To increase my blood production I'll need to make my pool of blood flow into my bones because that's where blood is made, then I'll have to imagine more blood being made. The Tome of coarse had described this process. It took only fifteen minutes to use half his remaining blood supply. And though the effects are small even compared to the healing, I'd like to put more into this one.

Reluctantly I switched to increase the volume of blood in my body. Surprisingly this spell took a long time to use my remaining blood, 45 minutes to use the same amount as before, how peculiar.

Now that I'm not focusing so hard I'm actually exhausted even though all I've done today is cast spells.

When the sun woke me I ate more bread and dried meat before leaving the house. The docks would be a much more relaxing place for my next ritual. The docks were a little smellier then I'd thought but it was a fishing town.

Walking along the docks until it didn't smell so bad I took the Tome and dagger out from my bag. I'd memorized my four spells but it was comforting to have near.

I spent the whole day harvesting my own blood and dividing it evenly between my four spells. I realized that I was only able to do this because of my lack of pain and blood production which kept me from fainting. I only took breaks to eat and piss. At the end of the day I packed up my book and dagger and stripped off my ragged clothes. It was time for a bath. I had red lines all over my body which were fading slowly. I'd pump more blood into healing once I couldn't feel pain.

Jumping into the river I scrubbed myself cleaner then I had been in months and swam until I only had an hour before sundown. Not bothering to pick up my clothes I grabbed my bag and walked back to town naked.

No one was there and I needed new clothes so why not? I thought to myself.

I went through six houses before I found one that had clothes roughly my size. They were much nicer then what I'd been wearing, though still only fisherman's clothes.

A week past and I spent my days harvesting myself by the river, swimming, and exploring the village. On the morning of my seventh day I'd never had so much energy. Each day I felt like I had more and more.

Still in bed I grabbed my dagger and stabbed it hilt deep through my thigh without a flinch. I could tell something was going through my leg but it wasn't painful in the slightest.

Removing the dagger I watched the hole heal, absorbing any leaking blood. In roughly five minutes there was only a white line marking the spot. My body was covered in white lines. I knew they would fade to nothing eventually so I wasn't worried about it, but I made new ones every day.

At that point I was harvesting a half a gallon of blood every day just from my own body. I spent three weeks strengthening my three spells I was still working on. At the end of those three weeks when I sliced my arm I would have to concentrate on keeping the would open to harvest the running blood, as soon as I stopped keeping it open it would close near instantly. Even the scar would fade after five to ten minutes.