In a nest atop the tallest tree in his space, Hawk was working frantically to improve his skills. He was almost stronger than Rae, he could feel it. He just needed to push himself a bit harder to get his body to accept more mana, and he would be there.
Rae watched with smug amusement as the Dragonhawk pushed himself to the limits, trying to overcome the racial disparity between the two of them.
At Royal Rank, her combat power had skyrocketed, while his primary ability [Flaming Body] had already been at Royal Rank, and it was just his body that underwent a minor transformation toward becoming a Vermilion Bird.
He was almost there, or perhaps he was a very juvenile Vermilion Bird, but Rae’s racial memory said that they should be five times the size of his current five-metre wingspan.
Until he started packing on the kilograms, there was no way that his body was going to support a power level higher than what she could show. Even her stones were on par with his flames.
Thor thought it was all quite amusing as he floated in his pond, napping the afternoon away as he soaked up Holy Power, but Remi was doing her best to try to catch up to her senior siblings.
They had the head start, and she was just a small snake.
Well, not so small anymore at Commander Rank, but not nearly as big as Thor or sister Rae.
Remi sung happily to herself as she worked. She had been generously donated a whole new book of spells from the library last night, and she was eager to learn what all these new magics were.
Of course, the Library didn’t know yet that they had loaned any books to Remi, but she was confident that they would understand, since she didn’t have hands to hold a pen and sign them out.
[Introduction to Shamanistic Magic] sat open in front of her, turned to the first page.
[Natural Phenomenon are the domain of the shaman, from blinding rain and crashing lightning, to the howling winds of a snowstorm. From the fiery lava of a volcanic eruption to the crushing waves of the ocean depths, all are within the domain of a Shaman.]
That sounded pretty awesome. She only had basic water control, which couldn’t really do much. But being able to control huge waves sounded fun.
Big brother Hawk would freak out and it would be hilarious.
But it was the next paragraph that really caught her attention.
[Shamans are far more than a force of destruction. While the might of a lightning bolt can burn an enemy to cinders, a smaller jolt can restart a stopped heart. Under massive pressure, the normally gentle water can cut through solid steel, but water can also be a revitalizing force, refreshing the body and carrying healing magic through the veins.
The druids and nature clerics might be the masters of the living beings, but the Shaman is the master of the living world, and their healing skills should never be underestimated.]
Brother Thor wanted to be a healer, healing was a noble profession. But Remi thought that he was more suited to protecting and regenerating. That was the way of the Cerro. You could hurt them, but the wounds just closed.
But she might be able to do more than just her simple healing splash.
With her nose, Remi flipped the pages, looking for the healing spells.
There was a whole chapter in this book dedicated to Shaman Healing, and she wanted to see what it said.
However, she only made it halfway through, past the ice and lightning and fire attacks, when she found something even cooler than a healing spell.
[Chapter 7: Totems]
[Defensive Totem]
[Mana Totem]
[Healing Totem]
There was a healing totem? Why did nobody ever tell her that was a thing?
But what was a mana totem? You used mana to make totems, but what did it do?
Remi flipped the page with her snout and stared at the diagram in front of her.
[Healing Totem] Provides a constant stream of healing to all targets in range.
That sounded a lot like what Sister Lotus could do, and that spell was one of her favourites, so it had to be good. Remi looked at what the totem needed, and began to build one out of the bits and pieces that were in her space.
When she sent out totems, she didn’t send the real ones, just a projection of the ones that she had made in here. So, they were never really smashed, and they could just be summoned over and over.
The book talked about making them and transferring them to your mental space, but that was for common humans. She was a Spirit Snake, and she had a space of her very own to work in.
This sure was easier when she had a textbook.
The last book had been all ancient mumbo jumbo, but this one was just gibberish letters for her to ignore, and then very detailed diagrams with step-by-step instructions.
Remi couldn’t read the common language very well. She was much better with the ancient Runic Language that was used for spells, so she had no idea that the complex words were actually more instructions.
Step by step, she made her new totem while Rae watched Hawk struggle to catch up to her.
The bloodbath spider wasn’t actually slacking, she was working on improving her silk as she sat in her web. It was better already now that she was at Royal Rank, but the new advancement had opened up new possibilities.
Like Fire Retardant silk.
So, none of them noticed that Remi was actually the one making real progress that day, or that she nearly had a healing totem functional by the time that Karl returned to the fort that night.
By the next morning, she was reasonably certain that she had a working prototype.
Her happy singing woke Thor, who actually lifted his head out of his pond so that he could see into her space more easily.
[What are you making, little snake?] He asked curiously.
[I made a healing totem, from the information in this book. It’s pretty cool, or it will be if it works like I think it will. According to the book, it’s supposed to send out pulses of healing energy every second.
So, your magic protects them and makes them regenerate, and then the waves of healing will patch up the parts that are left over.] Remi declared proudly.
[Oh, you thought it all out. So, you will do the extra healing while I do the extra protecting?] Thor asked, intrigued by her logic.
[Well, you are much bigger, I’m just a small snake.] Remi replied confidently.
[But when you reach Royal Rank, you evolve, right?] Thor asked.
[Yeah, but I don’t know what it will be yet. Probably a Shaman, maybe? Do snake shamans look different? Or will I be an actual Naga Shaman next? I don’t feel like I’m growing arms, but perhaps.]
Thor shrugged, splashing water about.
[I don’t know how snakes work. I’m not even certain I know how birds work anymore. I thought that they stayed the same colour, but Hawk doesn’t.
But I think that if you want to be a Naga and have arms to hold your own totems, you could be one.
Or you could stay a small and cute snake and just put the totems on the ground.
They work well on the ground, and silly monsters like to chase them.]
