Mike was hard at study, the girls had just accepted what was happening and went with the flow. After Mike finished his book, he picked up one on Alchemy. Things were greatly different than he imagined. Formulas that he couldn't quite make sense of flooded his brain.
He did the best he could to focus on the recipes for things that showed up, one was for a bone meal that when applied to joints would increase their stability called the Bone Growing Powder. It called for the ground bones of a stronger skeleton than the intended patient to be ground up and drowned in certain herbs and mineral deposits. A few of the ingredients had names like 100yr old Lake Rot-Wood and Calcium. There were some similarities but it was still a far cry from what Mike would call reality.
Mike had eaten, but the pain in his arm was completely absent. When he pulled the wrapping away from the wound he had earlier, the wound was gone. Mike flexed his hand and sure enough he could feel the soreness, he definitely got hurt.
"Wait?!"
Thinking to himself about what was going on, he suddenly came to the realization that he was reading in a dream. That's suppose to be impossible according to Hollywood, and he was definitely feeling pain.
'I'm really not in Kansas anymore'
Mike then quickly looked at the architecture of the building and his eyes glossed over for a moment.
"Holy Shit.. I'm actually in another world." As soon as the word world came out of Mike's mouth every person in the room stared with death eyes.
Mike kept interrupting people who were concentrating, His outburst did garner some attention from the girls though.
Mona was about to speak when March took some initiative to inquire about Mike's background.
"I'm from Texas. I have no idea how I got here, but looks like I'm here for the moment." Lamenting a bit due to his increasing awareness of his situation, Mike hung his head back into his book and shut his eyes.
'How am I going to fix this fuckery, I can't really be in another world right?'
'What am I suppose to do.. I guess I can play it by ear, I should see ...'
Before Mike could finish his though, he saw something he was hoping for but wasn't going to assume was possible. The book he was reading was talking about Magic. There were all sorts of magic, operational, elemental, tools, and enchantments. Mike was starting to get excited at the possibilities, Magic was a mind blowing cheat to Science. If he could get his hands on Magic, or even learn how to do it himself then he could probably do anything.
Having grown up learning the mechanical function of almost all things Pre-Millenium he had gotten accustomed to be taking things apart. The moment he would get his hands on magic, it would definitely get torn down and rebuilt if such a thing was possible.
Mike couldn't contain himself, he got up and started searching the bookshelves until he found a section earmarked as magic scrolls and books. Mike didn't even stand on ceremony and just grabbed the first stack he could see from the shelves.
Returning to his seat with a very tall stack of books and a scroll in each pocket, Mike sat down and sank into his newest passionate rabbit hole. Whenever Mike wanted to learn something he dove in face first. In school he never got along with his teachers because he would finish the classwork before the teacher would finish explaining what to do for the day. By the end of the semester, they'd all stop caring if he even showed up.. sometimes he just didn't. It never hurt his testing scores, as a quick study from his area he was always considered a nerd. This new stint of cramming would be no different, Mike wasn't going to lose to anyone or anything that stood in the way of caring for himself and his mother.
'Mom...'
Mike thought about how his mother would hold up if he didn't find a way out of this world he'd landed in. If it wasn't a dream, he had to find a way back. That meant that he was gone back home. His truck would show up missing and reported stolen, He would be reported dead. His mother would have to grieve through a funeral and losing her son. It wasn't a good outlook for his social life either, Mike had plans to meet up with his current fling before he got sucked into his current mess.
Mike pulled out a bag of seeds and walked away from the table. The sooner he planted them, the sooner he could find out what the conditions that were the best.
The building was very large and it took a while for Mike to make his way outside. When he finally found a space that looked like it wouldn't get trampled or taken Mike planted a seed. He checked the base of the seed to look for a crater instead of a rounded edge or a ridge. Remembering that Female seeds had a tendency to detach further down the Hilum saved him a lot of time and money.
Mike planted it an inch in the ground and poured his drink on it. The tea he was drinking was rather weak in his opinion, might as well put the water in it to use.
Mike had at least planted a seed, He walked back inside to join the girls at the table. Troeg had put a lot of burden on him rather quickly, Mike wouldn't forget what happened. If things turned negative, that Prince was the first to go.
'Don't bet against an American'.
Mike doubled down and took a Dab before returning to his review of the magic books. He couldn't just start practicing in the study, It would be poor manners if anything were to be broken. Thinking nothing more of it he closed his eyes, placed his hand on the book, and started to concentrate.
'The elements and practices of magic are form, function, duration, range and level of refinement.'
'Rock Magic, for instance doesn't create rocks. It only recombines and transforms what is already present.'
'Fire Magic has backlash of heat, the more magic that's put into it, the more the fire will grow. It expends magic until stopped. Duration and intensity can be manipulated by users once they have grown accustomed to the exponential use of power.'
Mike was reading some of the notes while he played them out in his head. It was like following a teleprompter or watching YouTube with the Subtitles on. Sometimes things didn't quite add up to the pictures and descriptions didn't match the process.
As formulas soaked into his memories, Mike saw a few footnotes written in by a previous reader. There were some small annotations that were just what he was thinking.
'Magic, Spirit, and Force are all different names for the same outcome.'
'When supporting motion or action is considered, then it should be used as the name pictures. Magic creates, Spirit changes, and Force alters. They might have an individual quality to them, but all can perform each others job with effort and thus they are the same.' Mike read some critical parts a few times over and over.
It was really confusing that so many different energy sources existed for materialized effects, but It was the same back home. Some people have Solar, some had Generators but most of them used city power grids. Mike knew he wasn't smart enough to remember how to make electrical current, so he put the idea away quickly. When Mike looked at the book titles remaining he got a lot more excited.
The very next book was about a Spirit Death Bomb, followed by a light magic speed boost. The books were in great condition, It was unlikely that anyone had to open them to read them in the Clan. It was far more likely that most of these books were never opened by anyone other than whoever scribbled in the book.
"I've gotta try some of this stuff later on."
Mike looked outside and saw the sky turning a shade darker, signaling the end of the workday.
"Ah, fuck me.. when am I going to be able to go home." Mike felt drained while he spoke.
He wouldn't mind reading at home after he got some rest; but, where was home even at.
"Mona, you spoke first. So, you're the senior. I need someone to go find Elder Po, Its time I got to my accommodations." Mike had Mona pick who would go look for him. Jodi was sent, she had already finished her book and was waiting around to read the next one.
Another Hour passed and Jodi hadn't returned. Elder Po was late. Mike went to his truck and laid down with his feet out the window. The truck was inside, so he left the doors open to air it out. He thought about it some more and then quickly closed the doors and rolled the windows up. He was going to hotbox the Truck, In another world.
Looking at the clock in the corner of his console, Mike called out the time "7:10", clicked the torch and took a dab.
Then, he took another 10.
When Mike started to cough, only then did people notice the fumes pouring out of the holes in the floor pans. The rich Limonene aroma once again made the people surrounding the incoming fog breath in heavily. Some were quickly reacting to their first encounter with the potent essential oil extract, quickly forcing themselves to sit down.
"Lightweights" Mike joked a bit.
It was a little silly to see the reactions of people who had no idea what was going on, Mike felt guilty again. It wasn't nice to get these people high but it was probably good for them to relax. Most of the people surrounding the Truck had been sedated to some degree. Noticing that the Cannabis had such a quick and potent effect, Mike couldn't help but assume that it was reacting to something here and affecting them more than usual.
'Maybe they don't have anything like narcotics or stimulants here' Mike flipped through one of the books he brought with him into the truck.
"Medicines here are so weird!" 'Toad eyes?, Graphine, Pigs Brain, and Crystallized Insect husks' The shocks just wouldn't stop, Mike finally had to put the book down. Just remembering what things were actually ingredients, was a massive amount of information to memorize. The Spirit reading of books didn't just give you the information. If you wanted to memorize things, you had to do it the hard way. Sometimes, you had to absorb it piece by desperate piece.
Mike found a piece of parchment and something to write with from his glove box. He listed a bunch of materials to procure, among them were a list of professional jobs.
"Why do you need a clock maker, pig farmer, and 'a person who knows everything about rocks'?" Mona took the lead again and asked.
"I need parts, and fertilizer. I also want to know what minerals are in the ground near here. It would be best if the person you bring back has a mining background." Sending the girls into a downward spiral of workload stress, Mike puffed out his chest when Po Finally arrived.
"Elder Po, So nice of you to join me. Please, have a seat."
Mike gently patted the seat and helped open the passenger door. While they sat in the Truck, Mike took another Dab and blew it over to Elder Po.
"Your eyes are red, did you test the Medicinal efficacy of the Extract, on yourself?" Mike really wanted to laugh, but he was already tired and wanted to lay down and rest, a Shower would be great if they existed.
"Ah, yes, I consumed about 1/2 of the extract you had passed over to Prince Troeg." Elder Po was having a hard time keeping still, and was even tipsy looking at first glance.
"You ate 2 Grams of Dabs for your first time testing the medicine?"
Mike was originally feeling sorry for the guy, but now he couldn't hold it in and he fell on the floor while holding his belly. Rolling on the floor laughing his ass off, Mike laughed to his hearts content and spoke directly to Elder Po.
"You should have had less than 1/64th of that if it was your first experience with it. What you ate, would have supported my sleep for more than a week. Can you show me to my house already?" Mike was being polite and helping Elder Po out without embarrassment.
Elder Po was really, really high.
"Lets go, I'll rubber stamp your choice. But, you gotta give me a seed; This stuff is amazing." Elder Po wanted to grow some Cannabis of his own.
Mike would normally do everything in his power to give someone seeds, but they were his lifeline in this world for now. Therefore, he couldn't possibly dream of giving away seeds. "I cannot, Its a special technique that you'll need to make sure you don't waste it. Allow me to grow a plant for the Elder Council."
Arriving at a large square looking building with no windows. The inside of the building opened up to a courtyard that had many rooms and wooden mechanism laying around. There were even materials stacked in corners, adding to the lack of elegance.
Mike saw a spot that would probably be safe to start his garden. He grabbed the soil and noticed it had a high clay content, it would be bad if his plants couldn't grow down into the groundwater. Thinking about a solution would have to wait. Mike found a softer section of the soil and filled a small container with soil before he planted another three seeds in the planter.
"Here's to Execution." Mike watered the seed and quickly found his bed.
Tomorrow would probably come faster than he wanted.