The Accidental Archmage by Edmund Batara (read out loud books .TXT) 📕

his cold nose against Tyler’s face.

Another first, thought Tyler, a wake-up call by a bear.

The trek continued for several more hours, with the two following the same routine.

Though Tyler made sure he was awake before Brovi woke him up. One wakeup call

with Brovi’s cold nose was enough for him.

By late afternoon, they reached the camping site. Brovi stopped and again, went under

the shade of a tree. It was a small clearing, with a small stream flowing by. With no

shelter in place, Tyler picked out the largest tree he could find at the edge of the

clearing and sat down against its massive trunk.

I should have brought my pack, he thought to himself, the tent and other gear would

have been very convenient. I should be able to take care of myself for basic things like

shelter and starting a campfire. But who would have thought the jotnar and the

dokkalfr would be such inhospitable neighbors.

Tired, Tyler took a fitful nap.

He woke up to Eira’s voice waking him up. She was standing in front of him. Looking

beyond her, he saw that the campsite was already prepared. The bear was still lying

down where he last saw him.

“Hi Eira,” greeted Tyler as he stood up.

“Good evening, Tyler. I trust the journey was uneventful?”

“Thankfully, yes. Work done?”

“The cave is hidden already. I have started fixing the damage from last night’s battle.

But I have to prepare more defenses for tonight. Fossegrim has to be ready. I just

dropped by to check on you.”

“Oh, you won’t be staying for dinner?”

“Unfortunately, no. Rush, rush, rush. That’s me. Goodbye Tyler. Food is ready. Brovi will also be staying for a while. I think he likes you.”

“Uuuhhh, bye.” Eira again disappeared.

Somehow, Tyler felt disappointed. He looked at the bear. Eira left some food for it and

the bear was attacking it. Ugh. Have to remind myself not to look at a bear during his

meal.

Dinner was a lonely affair. After all the meals with Eira, it wasn’t the same without her.

“Shit. People are after my neck. I’m a noob at defending myself, a lucky noob, but a

still a noob. I am still lost on another world. Heck, I don’t even know my way around

this forest. I have a bear in camp with me. Their gods pop up to screw with me.

Creepy-crawlies hunt me. And here I am, acting like a lovesick puppy. Got to get my

head in the game!”

Tyler looked at the night sky. The three moons were up and the strange stars of a

different universe gazed back. He guessed it must be around early evening. Time to

practice. The non-offensive ones tonight, he thought, concerned about hitting

something innocent in the dark. Or the bear. More than a hundred pounds of angry

fangs and claws would not be good. Nope, not good at all. He’d rather face one of

those misty monsters.

He stayed near the circle of light thrown by the lamp left on the stone table. For now,

he decided to focus on improving the speed of casting and the strength of his shield

defense. He started with the basic frontal barrier. After several casts, he found that if

he had preset shield parameters in his mind, he could cast it faster. Then he could

strengthen it after materialization. He decided to stick with the frontal barrier as the

template for a basic SHIELD! cast. Moving it around when formed was easy.

Experimenting with other barrier forms, he did the prow shaped shield, a rectangular

box-type shield covering the top, front and sides of the body, a full body shield as well

as the tested boxing barrier used on the monsters. But casting other types of barriers

proved to be difficult, except for the prow shield. Creating a four or even three-sided

shield around him demanded more concentration. It delayed formation of the needed

barriers. It was faster to create a frontal shield and then bend or form it to the required shape. If he did it that way, then he would be afforded some degree of protection while

shaping it.

When he finished barrier practice, he realized a few hours had passed. It was close to

midnight by his reckoning. Even the bear was asleep, though the animal was watching

him when he started. He could see that Brovi was mystified by the sight of the human

strangely waving his hands in the air and dancing around all by himself. Satisfied by his progress with the basic spell, Tyler went to bed.

Morning found him alone with his breakfast. The meal was set up but Eira was still not

around. Brovi was walking around the clearing but he was hesitant to be friendly with

the bear. His mind couldn’t get over the fangs and claws issue. In his opinion, fangs

and claws always trumps any intentional display of friendliness.

He decided to focus on the BLADES! spell. Though in a limited format. He decided

against practicing with the FIREBALL! spell due to possible damage issues. There was

no way he could predict the splash area of effect of the spell even in a restricted form.

A single magical ember catching on a tree will be disastrous as he didn’t even know

how to put out the effects of the spell.

For the BLADES! spell, he decided on the ideal of three blades, with the ground as his

target. Speed of casting and increased force will be his goals for the day. His speed did

increase after a score or so of spells. The amplified strength of the spell was obvious

from the deep gouges and eruptions of soil whenever his blades hit the ground. He had

to stop when he finally noticed how cratered was the area in front of him. Small deep

craters. It looked like a colony of large hyperactive mutant groundhogs invaded the

field.

Better not forget to apologize to the lady, thought Tyler to himself, surveying his

destructive handiwork.

Then an idea struck him. If he can infuse a form with light, can he infuse it with fire?

Motivated, he created one blade, a bit bigger than usual, and then created fire within it.

He was watching the blade carefully, keeping it a good six feet away. The shape held

the dangerous energy. He then threw it to the ground, around