"Good morning," Alarion mumbled sleepily as he emerged from his bedroom. He was rubbing at his eyes, a slight imprint of the bed's stitching still visible on his face as he stumbled greedily to the bar top counter where a veritable banquet awaited him.

"I see you slept well," Valentina said over a shoulder, perky as ever as she plucked piece after piece of sizzling bacon out of her pan.

"Ngh," Alarion grunted around a mouthful of pastry, his jaw slowly working up and down as though of its own volition.

He had not slept well, and he suspected she knew as much. He also suspected that her chipper attitude was a bit of petty revenge.

He'd woken to muscle cramps a half dozen times through the night. Each had been a panic-inducing experience, with Alarion's sleep-addled brain convinced that the aches and pains were only the precursor to more blinding pain.

The young man was no stranger to pain, but the worst he'd experienced had been during his endurance training within Elena's [Void Arena]. The memories of that agony had always faded quickly after Alarion left the arena, and in doing so had set a dangerous precedent that, so long as he survived the moment, there was nothing to worry about.

He wasn't used to lasting trauma, and he didn't much like it.

"That well, hmm?" Valentina set the last plate down amidst her masterpiece breakfast, then removed a rolled-up parchment and set it next to Alarion's plate. "I thought that might be the case. This should help."

Alarion set his utensils down and reached for the scroll, only for Valentina to swat him on the wrist with a fork. "After breakfast."

Valentina removed her apron and joined Alarion on the far side of the bar. She had a tremendous appetite for such a small woman, tearing through enough food to feed a small family while Alarion picked through the mountain of options in search of his favorites.

Half a year ago, he'd been living in a ruined basement, drinking fetid water and eating whatever vermin he could kill. Now he sat beside a god, picking and choosing the most scrumptious parts of a bounty. Life was strange, though it said something about Valentina's down-to-earth nature that the pile of food felt more incredible than the whole 'god' thing.

They spoke little as they ate. Alarion was too tired and too ravenous. Every so often, the woman vocalized her approval for a particular bite or chimed in with some minor fact about the meal, but none of her words broke through to an actual conversation. Eventually, she gave up, staring into space and humming an unfamiliar tune.

When the meal was finally over, and after Alarion had washed his hands, Valentina finally permitted him to open the scroll.

Valentina's Energetic Embrace [Rank I]

Requirements: Caster must not be a heretic of Lal Viren.

Affinity: Body/Mind

Type: Enchantment/Divine

Cost: 200 MP

Range: Self

Duration: Eight Hours

Effects: By invoking the power of Lal Viren through the teachings of her Incarnation, Valentina Lyons, this spell rejuvenates the weary mind and body of the caster to their peak readiness. Upon casting, this spell bestows the [Well Rested] condition for eight hours and restores all depleted stamina.

Note: This spell has a 24-hour cooldown. This spell has a minute experience cost.

"Before you ask, no, the spell is not a replacement for sleep. It will let you function longer without it, but the system will eventually impose a condition for not sleeping. I'm told staying up for more than four days without sleep is… an experience."

"That was not what I was going to ask," Alarion said, though the information was useful. "Did you just make this?"

The ink on the parchment was so fresh that it almost glistened under the candlelight.

"I did. The pain challenge is one I've used fairly often. Often enough to know that challengers need time to recover, even if the System says they are fine. Since we both know that you'll stubbornly insist that you're ready to proceed, it seemed prudent to find a workaround. For your sake."

Alarion listened to her words with a slow nod. "Is that not cheating? Giving a gift to help me?"

"Who said it was a gift? That is your reward for completing the last challenge. As much as Mother wishes it were not the case, rewards within tier are entirely up to my discretion." Valentina cast a sly smile upward, adding, "And she always told me I needed to spread my divine spells more often."

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Learning that the scroll was his reward instantly soured Alarion's opinion on the spell. He recognized the value of the [Well Rested] condition, but compared to his previous rewards, it felt… underwhelming.

"What is a divine spell?" He asked, trying not to let his disappointment show too blatantly as he reviewed the scroll again.

"Most magic within the System is 'arcane' in nature. All your spells are classified as arcane, for example. At the margin, however, there are several subtypes you may run into, with Ritual, Primal, and Divine being the most common." Valentina gestured at an invisible teaching aid as she spoke. She'd given the same lecture hundreds of times, to the point where her body went through pointless motions on instinct. "Divine magic draws on the power of a third party, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of the spell at the cost of XP sent back to the benefactor through sympathetic ties."

"So, it is stronger, but expensive?" The spell didn't seem strong to Alarion, which showed in his expression.

"A purely arcane version of that spell starts as Rank II magic, with severe restrictions or backlash. To cast it as is would be Rank III and a few thousand MP, at a minimum. That spell uses oppositional affinities, which would be no simple task without a hand to guide you."

"Oh. And the cost?"

"I wouldn't use it every day, but calling it expensive is a stretch. XP costs and gains are always hard to count, but slaying a single ECL equivalent fiend would be enough to feed dozens of casts."

That… sounded better.

With a final firm nod, Alarion set about adding the spell to his repertoire. The spell's formula, which was written within the scroll, had been pre-tailored to accommodate Alarion's flaw, which made it child's play to transfer onto his mace with his existing inscription tools.

The hard part came once he finished the work. He had five known spells, and only four slots to prepare them.

Aware of his new conundrum, Valentina offered her services. "Do you want my recommendation?"

"No," The boy's messy bedhead bounced as he shook his head vigorously. "But a second opinion. I'm thinking Quicken."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Alarion took a moment to organize his thoughts before he answered. "Void Crush is my only ranged weapon, beyond throwing my mace. I have no healing to speak of, so Mend Body must remain. That leaves Quicken and Solar Burst."

"And you settled on Quicken because…"

"I'm still not sure how much a slight bonus to agility is, but if I had to guess, it feels like less than 25%. Well rested gives me eight hours with my total stats boosted by 5%, a 35% total bonus if you add them up all seven attributes, though probably more in practice, since agility isn't my highest stat. Losing Quicken is at worst a side grade, while losing Solar Burst strips me of my ability to do damage in an area. And blow elementals up from inside."

"It sounds like you have it in hand," Valentina said with a smile. It was the obvious choice, but she was glad he came to it from the right direction. "Slight is roughly 10%, so you're better off than you assumed. If you have more potions, switching out Mend Body would not be amiss, and if you juggle them correctly, you could technically use all five every odd day."

"Huh?" Alarion tilted his head in confusion. "How?"

"Preparing spells is a daily occurrence, tracked by a timer within your Status. If you have Valentina's Energetic Embrace-"

"That is an awful name," Alarion interjected. "Void Crush, Quicken, Mend body. They all tell you what they do. But Energetic Embrace?"

The once god gave the boy a stern look but continued as if he'd not interrupted her. "- prepared, then you can cast it and then swap out to another spell. The day after, you can swap back and cast it. It is an exploit that works for any spell with a long duration, especially those already on a daily timer."

That was a damn good exploit. The idea was simple and elegant, but Alarion wasn't sure if he'd have figured it out alone. He'd thought that the act of changing his spells would have disrupted the magic somehow, but apparently not.

Alarion mentally selected the new spell, adding it to his active repertoire. The sensation was uncanny, not unpleasant, but certainly unfamiliar. One moment, he knew how to cast [Quicken], the next, he did not. [Valentina's Energetic Embrace] filled that empty spot in his knowledge, but it was unfamiliar in a wholly different way.

A tentative hand reached out, two digits stroking through the air as if painting. The air glowed behind them, a soft silver gleam of magic left with each decisive stroke of his fingers.

Unfamiliar words fell from his mouth, their unnatural syllables dancing on his tongue as he chanted. Alarion had the words, but he didn't know them. He didn't understand them. But he also didn't need to. Valentina's magic was more than content with rote recitation.

His fingers underlined the glowing sentence with a squiggle of movement just as the magic took hold. A cold squall passed over and through him, as though from some terrible northern wind in the depths of winter. Prickles of warmth came next as his nerves came awake, every inch of his body tingling as renewal ran through him.

He felt great.

Better than great, actually. Better than he had in weeks. Even the fears lingering deep within his mind, of failure and pain, had lessened after the casting. He felt like a new man. Or a new boy, at the very least.

A pair of notifications flashed for his attention, and Alarion triggered them with a thought.

[Well Rested] – 5% bonus to all attributes for two hours. 5% Bonus to Maximum Stamina and MP for eight hours.

Skill level increased. Unbound Spellcraft is now Level 5. INT +2. PER +2. WIL +2.

"Thank you," Alarion said after a momentary pause. It wasn't easy for him to admit he was wrong, but the reward was incredible. Perhaps more than he deserved, given how he had cheated the test. "Should I get started?"

"Your challenges await."

The combat challenge was back, taunting him with its three gems of difficulty. Next to it was an Endurance test of the same difficulty, with a one-gem magic challenge rounding out his options.

It wasn't really a choice. Endurance tests were time-consuming, unless he cheated. Combat tests could easily prove deadly.

Which left him to ponder.

What dangers would a magic test pose?

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