I was puzzled about something Kiri said. The Astral affinity has included the stars and the sun and the void, but what about the moons? Atarau was the larger moon and Mahina the smaller. What about them? I have no idea. Yet.

"Don't move your head!" growled the voice.

The healer the Duke sent us to was a really old human. She had both my eyelids open, examined the empty socket, and compared it with the one with a working eyeball.

"Keep your eye still! Look at the dot on the roof. Young'ns these days lose attention too fast. Stay still!"

I didn't think I had moved.

"Hummph."

After what seemed like an hour of being told off, the healer said, "Ok, you can relax now."

I sit up, "What's the verdict?"

"The cable between your eye and the brain seems fine. There is some scarring in the eye socket that will need to be cleaned out, but after that, a new eye should grow fine."

"Should?" I asked.

"Should. I haven't treated many beast-kin. So what will it be? We can clone your own eye, or I have the eye of an eagle here if you want enhanced farsight, I have the eye of a bat that will let you see heat."

"You can do that?" I asked.

"I can."

I felt something was off. "What are the downsides to that?"

"Your existing sight skills will only work on your current eye or a direct clone. Other eyes will mean you will have to relearn skills, but you will have the attributes, right?"

I had Nightsight at master level and Clearsight, which I would lose to the new eye. "A direct clone, please." I was not going to risk it.

"Hummmpht, boring. I will clean the eye out now, get ready and take a sample to grow the implant. Come back in a week, and we will insert the embryonic eye. Then, we will have bi-weekly visits for three weeks to energise the implant to grow."

I nodded, "Let's do this."

It took almost two hours for me to lie still while the healer cleaned and cut samples to grow the eye. I felt her spiritual energy the whole time and tried to work out what it was doing. I don't think my sensitivity was enough.

Once she was done, the Healer looked at me, "So did you sense what I was doing?"

I shook my head, "Not really."

"That is because Spiritual Sensing is too crude. I am supposed to teach you some Healing skills, but I can't do that if you can't sense what I am doing. If you want to be a healer, you need to be Spiritually Sensitive. Your Spiritual Perception needs to be over 25, but I doubt you will have much chance of learning it without it being over 30, and that is with Spiritual Sensing in Journeyman levels."

Then she walked me through the exercises to sense more and more detail in my eye socket and the nerve that connected it to the brain.

My Spiritual perception was at 28. I did have two free attribute points. Did I use them to boost it or try without? I looked up the skill, and it was not required for First Aid, but it was for all the other healer classes. I am committing to this, so I used the points. I am starting with First Aid, but that is only my stepping stone.

My cosmic aura helped reduce the cost of the skill, but it wasn't enough just to have it running. I had to concentrate and look deeper.

We travelled to look at two mines and speak to the foremen. One mine was a seam of spiritual ore in a very weak part of the mine that they wanted to melt. Normal mining would collapse the area, and explosives would weaken other sections. They wanted to create a channel and have the ore flow to a large cavern.

This mine was going to be tricky, as I did not know how powerful Solar Flare was. How much of the mine was I going to melt?

The second mine was easier. They just wanted to open the side of the mountain and free up the ore and access to it.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

My problem in both cases was safety—my safety and Felix's safety. How would I ensure I didn't melt us as well?

I brought Yoboc along on the trip as my adviser, as he has seen the skill in action the most.

"The radius of the Fireant Pit is marked out on the side of the mountain for you," the dwarf in charge said. "Just remember that was dirt, not rock."

We used that as the maximum area of effect, as the rock should reduce it. Yoboc ordered thick shields with the highest melting point possible. We found a Deepiron alloy we could use, and the mine's blacksmiths started making thick plates.

These two mines were our experimental ones, and hopefully, the others should be easier. I scheduled the two mines to happen before I have the embryonic eye implanted. I don't want to ruin it.

I mixed up the intervening days. I paid a Mercenary Guild member to train me in knife throwing. This was a specialist part of my Throw Weapons Skill, and it took finesse and a specialist trainer to get me the skill, especially since Throw Weapons was not at Journeyman Level. One of the bonuses with Knife Throw was that it synergised with my Small Blades Skill.

Kiri trounced me at Unarmed Combat, even though it was at Journeyman Level. My Journeyman Level Shields and Apprentice Spear could hold off her dual-wielding sword to a stalemate most of the time. Her Dual-wielding was only at the Apprentice level, while her swords were at the Journeyman level. She was much faster than I, so she got past the shield spear combo several times.

Kiri showed me some exercises to learn the Skill Swift Hands, which should synergise with many of my other skills. These synergies will give me an edge in a fight, and they can partly make up for a lack of Attributes. I already had Quick Claws and more than the minimum in Physical Agility, so I should learn it quickly. She hadn't been using it when we sparred.

The Field Medic Skills, First Aid, Blood Clot, and Close Wound don't actually heal anything. They just stop a patient from getting worse. Potions do more than that, as they temporarily boost the body's natural healing. I am looking for a skill that would do the same.

Kevin was the real hero. He came one evening with a book. I looked at him curiously.

"It's for you," he said, "Lady Kiri said you were looking for a fighting technique suited for beast-kin. It is not a skill book; it is a training manual, so you have to learn the skills, and they combine into a technique."

"That is amazing," I said, looking at the cover. "The Savage Wildfang Technique." I looked at Kevin, Shouldn't this be in the Lore Society?" I asked.

Kevin looked a bit guilty. "It was."

"And they let you take it out?" I asked with disbelief.

"Ah, no, they didn't, so don't spread it around." I noticed he glanced at Kiri when he said that.

She winked at him, "Yes, you passed. You are hired," she told him.

For stealing a book from the Lore Society? I looked closer. The book was a restricted book, and the enchantment had been tampered with. I looked at the two. I guess that is enough for Kiri to take him on and start his training. He looked pleased.

I looked at the book. The Savage Wildfang had five separate techniques to learn.

The Lunging Maul was a pouncing strike that uses momentum to drive claws deep into the enemy's guard, followed by a savage bite to destabilise and disorient.

The Crushing Embrace was a grapple-based move where you grab your foe in a bone-grinding hug, sinking claws into flesh or armour joints while delivering gnashing bites to exposed areas. It is used to immobilise and terrify.

Tooth of the Mountain is a counter technique. When struck, the beast-kin surges forward into the blow, catching the enemy off guard with a brutal bite aimed at shoulder, neck, or weapon hand.

Rake and Roar is a flurry of claw strikes aimed at limbs and tendons, followed by an ear-splitting roar that stuns or terrifies foes. This, in particular, synergises well with Quick Claws and Dread.

Fang Reversal was used when grappled or cornered. The fighter twists into their foe, locking jaws onto exposed flesh or armour joints to force a break and counter.

It was all close quarters and savage. Diagrams showed the moves and footwork of the techniques in both beast and humanoid forms. The diagram showed a wolf-kin, but it would be more effective in my larger form. The whole thing was designed with four limbs with claws and sharp teeth. It is going to be very hard to learn on my own, but it was what I was looking for.

Fang Reversal and Crushing Embrace use parts of my Unarmed Combat, and Lunging Maul will benefit from Sprint. All of them will use Crushing Bite. Actually, as I looked at them, I saw that they all used aspects of Unarmed Combat.

This is exactly what I needed. There is nothing stealthy about me or my skills, so I need to get in close and get bloody, and this does that.

Getting in close and getting bloody will involve taking some hits. Tooth of the Mountain is specifically for taking hits and striking back. My Damage Mitigation will help, but I can sense it won't be enough.

I looked up to thank Kevin, but he had left already. "Where did Kevin go?" I asked Kiri.

"You were kind of engrossed in the book," she said. "He did say goodbye."

"Thank him for me," I said. "I assume you are going to train him now?"

Kiri nodded, "He did well over the last few days. He has a sharp mind and will pick up what he needs quickly. I was going to teach him Roleplay, but he has found somewhere to learn the full Acting and Vocal Modulation Skills. He will be better than I at that soon. He is learning disguises. The hardest thing for him will be to learn the Bow. If he is going to impersonate me, he needs Apprentice-level knowledge, and he is not suited for the bow."

"Isn't that dangerous, teaching someone to impersonate you?" I asked.

"Not that dangerous. To really pull it off, he needs Pānihi beside him. She will keep him in check, and it is an easy way for others to check."

Yes, I could see Pānihi keeping Kevin on a tight leash.

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