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nClearing his mind and calming himself, Eldrian focused on creating the spell model for the Tier 0 nature spell.

nThe nature spell was called Anthos, the model being really simple. It was in the form of a leaf, with three nodes. One at the point of the leaf and two on the stem, one where the stem turns to a leaf and the other at the end of the stem. The nodes were connected with lines forming the form of a leaf. A total of four lines being used to connect the nodes.

nThe short description Eldrian had gotten along with the model was that this spell rejuvenated things. There wasn't much more so he had no idea how strong it would be, but from the fire spell Dave had shown him he felt it would be quite weak.

nEven so he didn't mind, as the spell had an easy model.

nTaking a few minutes to get a nice sturdy image created in his mind Eldrian finally said the word of power.

n

"Anthos

"

nAs soon as he said this he felt a tug on the image inside his mind. Remembering from last time that the pain had only come after he had lost the image of his spell model, Eldrian used all of his focus to try and keep this image sturdy.

nYet as the seconds passed the tug turned to a pull, then it changed from one dimensional to three dimensional. Soon he felt the image was being torn into shreds from all directions. In the struggle he managed to keep a few shreds of his spell model, yet this took all the focus he had.

nAs he looked at all the pieces he failed to keep Eldrian felt his strength leave him. Not having enough energy to spare he simply let his body do its thing. Soon finding himself on the ground, his legs having caved in.

nEven so he kept focusing on the pieces he had left, believing it would make the process better if he at least held onto something.

nThe pain then came, not in a rush, it came slowly. Starting at his heart, Eldrian felt like it was being torn to pieces. Yet soon after the pain came a feeling of relief, soothing his pain and making it go away soon after.

nThen came the pain again, moving further in his body. This time his lungs and heart being shredded, before also being soothed.

nGritting his teeth Eldrian held on, believing he would lose the soothing feeling if he let go of the last shreds he had in his mind. Yet the pull became stronger on these scraps as the pain moved through his body.

nWhen his entire body started feeling the pain, he lost another piece. Leaving him with only five shreds. Yet he smiled through the pain, realizing that he had managed to slow down the pain, as well as lessening it.

nOnly one more flash of pain followed, with a soothing feeling coming right after it. Eldrian was then left on the ground in peace. Fiding that keeping the shreds had indeed worked, having kept his attention on something other than the pain and allowing the spell to work very weakly.

nBreathing deeply he just rested. Finding the mental release to be a gift from the heavens. Feeling that being able to just not think was a great thing.

n'That still sucked, but it was better. At least I think the pain was much less, yet it still **ing hurt like hell!'

n

"Seems like this time was much better.

" Dave said after seeing that Eldrian's mana was static again, or rather that there was none left and no other energy was being taken anymore. The entire process had taken just 5 minutes, much faster than last time.

nEldrian didn't reply as he kept on enjoying the peaceful feeling of normalcy.

nA few minutes later he finally decided to complain,

"That was still really, **ing painful.

"

n

"I never said that it wouldn't be. Yet it seemed like this time was much better than last time.

"

n

"It was, but it is still far too much to be considered acceptable.

"

n

"I won't argue. Do you know why it was better?

"

n

"I think because I managed to keep a few scraps of the spell model inside my mind.

"

n

"Oh?

" Dave looked at Eldrian in wonder, finding the fact that he could already keep some of his spell model intact an amazing fact.

nA few more minutes passed in which both of them were silent. During this time Eldrian looked at his stats, seeing that his mana and stamina were both 0 again, not regening at all. He also saw that his health was only at 50 points.

n'Did I almost die?' Eldrian asked himself before remembering Total Fatigue, 'Oh yeah, my max HP is only 67 right now.'

nThinking of that Fatigue he also looked at his debuffs, seeing Mental Fatigue also there. At level 4.

n

"I don't think I will be able to do it again today.

" Eldrian said, feeling that he would be unable, suspecting he would become too tired during the next one.

n

"That is a shame, are you going to try again tomorrow?

" Dave asked, hope clear in his voice. He wanted to gather more data and see Eldrian's growth. Which was more important to him, was unclear.

n

"What type of spell is Anthos, really? Oh, can you also heal me?

" Eldrian asked avoiding Dave's question completely. He had a few questions he wanted to ask Dave and he felt now was a good time for that, to both keep him from asking again and give himself more time to rest.

n

"Ah, why do you ask that I heal you?

" Dave asked, ignoring the first question for now.

n

"I believe I was hurt during the process.

"

n

"Mmmh, alright. Any place in particular you want healed?

"

n

"No, just general healing.

" Eldrian replied, feeling that the damage was more throughout his body, than it was concentrated.

n

"Alright.

" Dave then started concentrating, a few seconds later Eldrian felt a refreshing feeling washing over him.

n'Is this the same feeling? No, it is far stronger.' Eldrian observed as he felt even his energy slowly returning to him. 'This feels sooo good!'

nSighing as it ended Eldrian wanted to ask for another round of healing, but he found it inappropriate to just ask for more healing.

nTrying to be content he asked Dave his first question again,

"What is the spell Anthos?

"

n

"Ah, it is a nature rejuvenation spell. At lower tiers it can only return stamina to a person, but the higher the tier the stronger it becomes.

"

n

"So is it a healing spell?

" Eldrian asked.

n

"Not quite, classifying spells isn't really that easy.

"

n

"Why is that? Can you explain healing spells then?

"

n

"Again it is complicated, what do you want to know in specific?

"

n

"How does resurrection work? Why can we Chosen resurrect automatically inside a temple, yet native or normal people can't? Lastly, why is healing magic so limited?

"

n

"Let me start with you Chosen, as it is the easiest to answer. You can resurrection after a certain amount of time due to the blessing of the gods, mainly the goddess of life's blessing.

"

n

"What is her name?

" Eldrian asked, finding it weird that everyone just calls her the goddess of life, which was a long title.

n

"Her name is Asteria, she is also the goddess of fertility and plants. We always use her title since it is frowned upon to say a god or goddess's name, unless talking to them. Hence we always use their titles when talking about them.

"

n

"Oh, so that is the case.

" Eldrian felt a wave of understanding come over him, realizing that the reason for it was a religious one.

n

"Next I will answer your question about how resurrection works. It is quite simple, as the key factors required are to heal the person's body before their soul leaves them.

"

n

"I think this also ties in with why you Chosen can be revived much later, and even why you naturally revive inside temples. I believe your souls are different and are sent back to a temple after death, instead of going to the afterlife.

"

n'Or it can be because our real body is still safe?' Eldrian thought, finding this reason to be more plausible as it avoided religious reasoning.

n

"But to really answer your question I will need to also explain healing. As resurrections spells are really just more advanced healing spells. At least it is more advanced in that it requires working with souls, not just physical bodies.

"

n

"Remember that a spell's tier will influence how strong the magic is. The lowest resurrection spell is Tier 4, but there are also Tier 2 revival spells. The difference between the two is that revival spells have to be cast within a minute of a person's death, while resurrection can wait up to 5 minutes.

"

n

"I don't follow, why is there a difference?

" Eldrian asked, unsure how there are different revival methods.

n

"This is where I am going, revival is a healing spell more than it is a resurrection one. It heals the person's body and if within the time limit then the person will be revived. Since their soul would still be wandering and return with just a small nudge. The damage which can be healed is limited though due to how weak the Tier 2 spell is.

"

n

"A Tier 4 resurrection spell has the same damage limit, but the time after death is much more.

"

n

"Okay, I kind of understand the resurrection now. But what about healing? Why can it take time to heal after healing magic was used?

"

n

"Same reason, the energy provided by the spell was limited. Thus the spell either just nudged the person's body to heal itself quicker, or it used that little energy to heal something. Yet after the energy is depleted nothing more can be done.

"

n

"Why can't you just heal it again?

"

n

"You can, but it becomes complicated. You have to then use spells very delicately then, avoiding to clash with the healing which already had been done. This is only possible past Tier 5.

"

n

"In any case, I don't want to explain deeper. You won't be able to understand most of it until you actually cast spells yourself.

"

n

"Okay?

" Eldrian said disappointed. Yet he understood Dave's point, as he was indeed getting lost in all the things which connected with each other.

n