It’s been three days since the countess came by. Business had been good. I had just finished my afternoon appointment with the Baron Coset’s family, where I had cured his mother of arthritis and gout. I also healed his back problem and other minor ailments in his immediate family. I charge 50 gold for a visit, so I couldn’t really just Heaven’s Heal the matriarch. Besides, it didn’t take that much extra effort.

  It was still early afternoon when I arrived home. I checked with Fabia to ensure I didn’t have any more appointments, which I didn’t. There was also no movement on retaining guards, but she was still looking. I was going to practice my forms and then spend the rest of the day studying magic again. I changed into my exercise clothes, or fighting gear, whichever you prefer, then went out to the garden to practice my forms. During my practice, my mind kept wandering off to my Heaven’s Heal spell and deconstructing it. I tried to fight it, but then about halfway through my sword forms, I just went with it. I turned on my Partitioned Mind, and I let my sub-mind tackle the issue. My sub-mind worked on the problem, while I concentrated on my forms entering the meditation like state. It seemed that the combination of the two, using my sub-mind while I was meditating, gave an exponential increase in problem solving. By the time I finished with my practice, I had a defined plan on how to approach separating the Heal function from the Heaven’s Heal spell. I knew my current Heaven’s Heal spell was very complicated because I could direct the healing. I would be unable to produce schematics of it as a whole, but maybe individual sections, like I did with Close Wounds, would be possible.

  With my practice finished, I cast Cleanse on myself and my clothes and turned off Partitioned Mind. Gabriel met me on my way to my office with a small snack. The household was getting used to my idiosyncrasies, including the fact that I liked to snack after my workout. He followed me to my office and prepared tea, while I gathered my magic books, pens and paper. He placed the teapot on my desk, poured a cup of tea for me, and then withdrew from the room.

  Alone at last, I dived into the book on beginning magic, looking for a clue on how to simplify the process for turning a complex spell into a schematic. It was no help. Spell schematics weren’t even mentioned. While I didn’t expect there to be much, I was still disappointed. I skimmed through the remained of my magic tomes to see if any references to spell schematics but found nothing. It looked like easy answers were nowhere to be found. The hard way it was.

  I activated Magic Sight, then called up Heaven’s Heal. It was unchanged from the last time. I had identified the Close Wound and now concentrated on the other smaller section. I could feel that it had something to do with regenerating life energy, which would equate to hit points. As I considered it with this in mind, it became clearer that this section turned mana into life energy. It was limited in how much mana it could handle, but if combined with a Close Wound spell, it would be even more helpful for saving people’s lives.

  These revelations about the section were the catalyst I needed to turn it into a schematic. The schematic popped up in my vision. It was not a simple schematic, but clear in its purpose. I studied it carefully, then copied it onto the paper I had prepared.

  My next step had been carefully planned. I pricked my finger with a knife, then I studied the schematic until it was pictured perfectly in my mind. I cast Close Wound, and then I tried to cast the new spell on myself as I thought ‘Life Heal’. Success. I could feel the life energy enter into my finger. A notification popped up.

  Congratulations, you have learned the spell Minor Life Regeneration level 1.

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  Minor Life Regeneration returns 5 – 10 hit points + 2 hit points per spell skill level.

  It wasn’t a very powerful spell but could be lifesaving in an emergency. This could be used on adventurers during a fight or right after one. By itself, it could keep someone in a fight or prevent them from dying. Combine it with Close Wounds, and you actually have a minor healing spell.

  I did notice the system decided it didn’t like my name for the spell and came up with its own. I didn’t really mind and it didn’t stop me from celebrating. Of course, in the middle of my self-congratulations, Gabriel entered the room to let me know dinner was ready. I happily followed him to the dining room, where a veritable feast would be found.

  For the next few days, I would see clients in the morning in my office, then go to one or two noble houses in the afternoon, and research magic in the evening after dinner. With Fabia searching for a way to get guards, I could concentrate on the magic research.

  I read the books on elemental magics, reread the basic magic book. I spent many, many hours reviewing the constructs of all my spells, trying to find patterns and repeat constructs.

  The utility spells were definitely the easiest to deconstruct. Many were simply constructs and I understood them right away. I made copies of each of the schematics building up quite a library.

  Of course, Heaven’s Heal and Cure All had major constructs, and I was still nowhere near understanding them. I still couldn’t turn them into schematics. The combat spells were even more complex. I spent a lot of my time just trying to understand them. The complex weaving of the conduits seemed to have purpose, but I just couldn’t understand what it was. Sometimes it was on the tip of my brain and then would just disappear. Frustrating would be an understatement.

  I also spent a lot of time experimenting with Close Wounds and Minor Life Regeneration. I had decided in my mind that combining the two level 1 spells should be possible. If I can do that, then I would have a minor Heaven’s Heal spell, or something like that. I started by reviewing the connections between the sections in the Heaven’s Heal spell. The connections were fairly simple. There were only two between the modules, but there were also one each to the major sections.

  My first attempt was to bring up both schematics for the two spells. I then added two connections between them. Thanks to Magic Researcher, I intuitively knew that a connection allowed the flow of mana in one direction only. So, now I have a closed circuit and a complete picture. I dismissed the two spell schematics, leaving only the new schematic. I went out into the garden and tried to cast the spell.

  Now when you cast a spell and it doesn’t work, you get feedback. Normally, this is in the form of a headache, or extra mana drain. While I didn’t expect success on my first try, I also didn’t expect to be thrown back ten feet from an explosion, but that’s what happened.

  As I picked myself up, I realized that I did not provide a path for the mana to release. This created a feedback loop in a closed system. The mana kept building up and up, until the construct could no longer hold it in, and voilà, an explosion of mana tossing my body through the air.

  I called up the schematic again. I searched for a way to provide the release, or at least stop the mana build up. I brought up the Heaven’s Heal spell for comparison. There was another small section that was connected to the two sections I already turned into schematics. I pulled it out and turned it into a schematic, so I could understand it better. It was the answer to the feedback loop.

  After a fair bit of more experimentation, but no explosions, I was able remove the connections between the Close Wounds construct and Minor Regeneration construct and replaced them with connection to the third construct, which I called Control. After a few more failures and some tweaking, I was able to successfully cast Minor Heaven’s Healing.

  Congratulations, you have created the spell Minor Heal level 2.

  Minor Heal stops bleeding and returns 5 – 10 hit points + 2 hit points per spell skill level. User must be in physical contact with target.

  According to the System, I have created a new spell, Minor Heal. I believe this was a major achievement on my part, and if I can train others, it will go a long way to helping the people of Tellus.