Without saying a word, we, together with the professor, rushed towards them. While running, I took out my wand and sent several analyzing charms towards Alistair.
The professor also did not waste time. With a wave of his wand, he conjured something like a bed, on which Croco placed Al.
The werewolf looked unimportant. Several ragged holes in the chest, at least the heart was not affected, blood was oozing from the mouth. My whole face is covered in cold sweat. Something was also tormenting him, he still couldn't calm down and twitched on the "bed."
- What happened to him? - asked Croco while he was waiting for the results of the spell. Something is too long...
"They overestimated themselves too much, climbed deep into enemy territory, and paid for it." "We were ambushed," the dragonite began to calmly explain. - These lands are filled not only with draugr, there are also a lot of other undead here, so we ran into it.
I didn't listen any further. The spell finished its work and returned to me. Hell, his lung was literally cut in half, his spine was partially broken, and not to mention the condition of his intestines. A very serious condition, and besides, the werewolf's regeneration could not cope, something was preventing her. Looking with my magical vision at the edge of the wound, I noticed dark gray mana. Damn, looks like a nekros.
"Professor," I called Flitwick, who heard me and turned to me in anticipation. — Call Crystal here urgently. Alistair's wounds cannot heal due to the nekros, it needs to be removed. Susan will help with this.
"I understand," he nodded and headed towards our necromancer. As luck would have it, she was outside the camp, working in her profession, well at least not far away.
Having sent the professor, he began treatment of the spine. As if on purpose, Al kept twitching, which bothered me. And how does he manage to do it? The spine is broken.
Well, that's not what I'm thinking about. With a wave of his hand, he created shackles that firmly fixed all the werewolf's limbs, but he, the infection, still did not stop twitching.
- Croco, can you hold his shoulders? "We need to collect the spine, otherwise its regeneration has begun the healing process," I asked the dragonite for help. Nodding his head to me, he grabbed the patient's shoulders with his hands and pressed him into the bed. Okay, now we can get started.
I officially declare that treating those who have good regeneration is a complete hassle. It was necessary not only to assemble the spine piece by piece, but also to immobilize the patient's body. It's good that there was no nekros here, otherwise I wouldn't have known what to do.
I managed to assemble the "mosaic" just in time for the professor to arrive with the necromancer in tow. The bones are collected and fixed, regeneration will continue. She has already started her work.
"Miss Crystal," he nodded to her. "I noticed that the edges of the wound were not healing, nor were the internal organs. It is quite possible that this is Nekros.
Without even looking at me, at least she listened, she approached Allister. With the help of magical vision, I saw how she, using her mana, "caught" the enemy's energy, and then extracted it. This is control, I still strive and strive for it. Although it is possible that this was also influenced by the girl's natural affinity with the nekros.
"I'm done," Susan pulled away from the patient. It took her only a measly five minutes... I want that too. - You can continue treatment.
"Thank you," I responded and began treatment.
Well, here everything is according to the established pattern. Disinfection, removal of waste, blood from inappropriate places. Having removed everything, I began the treatment itself.
Fifteen minutes later I pulled away from the completely healthy patient. The only thing that bothered me was his behavior. He didn't stop twitching.
- Professor, who on our team is knowledgeable in curses? I don't like Alistair's behavior.
"I can help," Croco answered unexpectedly. At my questioning and slightly surprised look, he said: "I am an apprentice at this school." It may well do.
Next it was his turn. In magical vision, I watched as a piece of his aura invaded the patient's aura. At first I didn't understand why, but after a minute some kind of octopus began to crawl out of Alistair's aura. Black, covered in some kind of rot, he just stuck to a piece of Croco. As soon as he got out completely, the dragonite dispelled him with a wave of his hand.
Having finished with the octopus, Croco stared at the werewolf. He, in turn, no longer twitched his limbs like a madman, no, now he was just sleeping.
"Well," I finally spoke. - I think that's all. Now he needs to sleep, and his body will do the rest of the work for him.
"Yes," Croco nodded and, turning on the spot, went to his tent. Alistair also flew behind him on the bunk.
- Okay, I'm going to my tent. If anything, call me.
Silence was my answer. Shrugging his shoulders, he went to his room. Damn, I wasted a lot of mana because of the loss of control. How can I not like this. We need to figure this out quickly.
*****
Al came to his senses the next morning. Having examined his body and not noticing any abnormalities, regeneration works wonders, well, maybe I gave the poor guy a little bit to be devoured by Flitwick and Susan.
Judging by the latter's emotions, she is not completely indifferent to him, but rather the opposite, and judging by the werewolf, this is mutual between them.
When the necromancer calmed down, the professor also reached the master's body. With his arrival, a total interrogation with bias began.
According to the werewolf and the dragonite, only themselves are to blame for what happened. Apparently my story didn't impress them much, so they decided to explore twice as far as planned. Although Croco was against it, he couldn't resist the werewolf's ebullient nature. And he is the captain of this squad...
At the beginning, everything went as usual, ordinary reconnaissance, ordinary draugr. But as soon as they crossed a certain line, according to them it was a fifteen-kilometer border from the dome, the dead people trampled on them.
Their ranks included more than just the memorable draugr. Orcs, trolls (one of them hit the werewolf's back with a club), goblins, people, gnomes, and even hounds crawled out from under the snow. Of course, everyone was dead.
At the beginning they somehow fought back, but after a couple of minutes even more enemies arrived at them. Silently deciding to retreat, they rushed back. However, they were in enemy territory. The dead were able to surround them, so a couple of "heroes" had to fight their way through the dense formation of enemies. During this, our commander suffered.
Well, as one person said, the situation is getting stranger and stranger. It would be nice if there were more enemies, you can still change with that, but their variety...
What we have? A large city of elves, full of these same intelligent ones, overnight became a necropolis. All living things either died or, like trees, became ice. The territory of the city (or forest?) is full of other intelligent ones. There are no traces of the battle, or we haven't gotten to the bottom of them yet (in the literal sense, the snow was well covered). Oh yes, don't forget about the rift above the castle. Where does it lead, why? It's not clear... But it would be desirable for us to at least understand this to a minimum.
Anyway. This is the work of the next few days, and I have evening training on the horizon. At this rate, ice magic will reach the rank of master faster than others...
*****
The next week flew by in an instant. We've been sitting here for half a month now, and we've gotten nothing out of our word. It's good that no one else came to my table.
Taught by Alistair's bitter experience, for which he, like Croco, was especially zealous, Flitwick was especially zealous together with Crystal, the rest of the sensible ones were much more prudent and also careful. And in fact, after the fifteen kilometer mark, some kind of bacchanalia begins to happen. Even I had to fly over the lands of the elves several times, but alas, I could not see anything from the sky. The bastards disguise themselves...
I spent all my free time on my training. My soul, and along with it my body, began to rapidly recover. Over these two weeks, they recovered by sixty percent, which is why training becomes much more difficult. It's a pity that I also can't say about control; it grew at the same speed, that is, very slowly. At this rate, I will only be able to restore it by the beginning of the school year.
And no, this is quite a lot, considering how much effort I spend on it. Modern magicians rarely train with such dedication. Even in our company, it's just me and Kroko and Crystal training so hard. The rest - alas, no.
Training... So much meaning in one word. During them, I discovered one problem, a solution to which I will have to find soon. Prana, or rather its total amount. Due to my rapid development, it is also developing, but my body cannot keep up with it. Roughly speaking, my "energy" capacity is not as great as I would like. Because of this, I might feel like a bloated balloon that is about to burst, but metamorphism will save me, as well as daily training. While it saves...
To transform into a larger creature, Changelings need material from which to create it. The question is, where do they get it? In order to become a master, it is necessary to attach a spatial pocket to the soul, into which matter will be stored, from which bodies will later be composed. During the transformation, I do not use "flesh", but prana. Due to its concentration, it can be used for this, at least for me. But for some things globally, alas, no. I need more of it, as well as density.
So we hit the first problem, we can't increase the reserve, we need a stronger body. The body cannot be strengthened either - for my age this is the limit. There will only be a spatial pocket left, which will still have to be changed for prana.
I have already decided what to do with the density. As I become stronger, I will introduce parts of the dragon, as well as the unicorn, into my body. So they will help me.
Eh, but I still have Alistair's blood. No, so what? I asked his permission so that everything would be ok. The werewolf's abilities are quite interesting. I really want to study them, but the situation is not right now, and there is no time.
He got up from his seat and headed outside. The professor wanted to talk to me in the evening; I shouldn't keep him waiting.
Stepping onto the snow, which probably doesn't melt here, she began to look for the semi-goblin. He was found outside the camp, doing something.
Approaching him, he stopped next to him. It's better for him to finish with the charms first, and then we'll talk, and I'll look after him with magical vision. It's really interesting.
And in the hands of the master, real Magic happened. It was as if an artist was painting his picture with a stick instead of a brush. She left a trace in space, every swing of it, and I can see a new detail that was not visible at all from the word before. Is he really a master?
Each turn, block, and also circle was placed in its designated place. The spell that the professor created was not two-dimensional, but three-dimensional, forming a kind of cylinder. Inside it, the entire space was painted and shimmered with different colors.
After a couple of minutes the wand stopped. From its tip a soft light was born that enveloped the entire structure and then compressed it. After a flash of light, I could see the Chinese dragon entwined with the wand, and with it the professor's hand. True, it was somehow unfinished or something, mana was still oozing out of it. Having said something to the dragon, the professor released him with a wave of his hand.
A long, serpentine body soared high into the sky and disappeared there. What amazing charms.
"Oh, you're already here," the professor seemed surprised. But this was not so, he noticed me a long time ago. - This is good.
"You wanted to talk," I shrugged. - Professor, what kind of charm was that?
"Specialized reconnaissance charms that require incredible amounts of energy," and indeed, the professor's aura somehow went out. However, I am sure that soon she will be filled with energy again. — It was possible to somehow recognize them in China. It was a good time.
— Did you want to discuss something with me?
"Yes," he nodded and extended his clenched fist to me. - Try it on.
Reaching out my hand, I grabbed the thing the professor was handing me. It turned out to be a copper ring covered with runes.
Having examined it from all sides, he looked at the professor in surprise.
- What is this?
— A communication ring that can change its size. Valid within a kilometer.
- Anything planned for tomorrow?
"Yes," another nod. - Starting tomorrow we will begin clearing the territory.
That's how it is, right?