"Thanks, Sister Margaret," I said as she finished bandaging my puncture wounds. I drank a weak health potion.

"No problem, Ivan, you do it enough for others. Has that Healer taught you Blood Clot or Close wound yet?"

"No. She insisted that my First Aid be at Journeyman level first. It is now. I am seeing her tomorrow."

"That seems a pointless requirement to me," Margaret said. "You will still need to level the skills."

I shrugged. Margaret had the First Aid Skill, but she was more of a cook with some herbalist skills than a healer.

The next day, I was greeted with, "Took you long enough." Healer Sue sounded a lot like Goldie. "This is Trainer Taji. He has the skill book with Blood Clot and Close Wound. Don't look at me like that. I am not teaching you such useless skills. A healer might learn Blood Clot, but Close Wound is useless. Use a bandage," She pointed to my bandages. "Heal Flesh is what you should be learning, but you can't even see the spiritual enough to know what is going on. Learn from a simple skill book," and she marched out and slammed the door.

"She is not very happy with you," Trainer Taji observed.

"No. She has been told to train me and thinks Field Medic is beneath her. I am Ivan, by the way."

"Call me Taji. All training has value. But then that is my whole profession, so I could be biased." He grinned. He was a short, thin human with skin as dark as mine, which was unusual in this area. He had a beard with a grey streak, a bald patch on top of his head, and a nose that seemed too large for him. Humans come with quite varied looks once you get used to them.

"I have heard of skill books, but never learned from one," I said. "How does this work?"

"I have been paid for two skills, Bloodclot and Close Wound. I have those two spell books with me, and I channel the energy through the book into you. You understand a skill is not just a learned set of movements or knowledge? It is also the Spiritual Energy that turns it into a Status Skill."

I sort of knew that. I nodded anyway. "What other Skills do you have?" I asked.

Taji perked up, sensing some more sales were a possibility. "I have a lot of common skills. Those books are back in my classroom. People are reluctant to sell me the more unusual skills, as they need to be at journeyman level to transcribe into a spell book, and they lose a level every time."

"They must take a while to relevel the skill," I said.

Taji nodded, "That is essentially what I pay them for."

I translated that to skill books being expensive.

Taji continued, "I have some regular donors, whose job levels the skills, like Cooking, Mining, Logging, etc. I have a lot of Lore Skills, as Lore works differently, where one level will give two skill book uses, and it is not like the knowledge goes away, so they were easier to regain."

"Can I use a skill book to level a skill?" I asked.

"You can, as long as the skill is at a lower level than the one transcribed in the book, but it is not usually worth it. I have very few uncommon skills, so I am mostly supplementing the skills of the rich to get them started in a new skill, which is always the hard part."

"Can I look at what options you have?" I asked.

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"Sure, but two skill books a day is the usual limit I apply as your Spiritual energy needs time to settle after absorbing the skill. Come and see me tomorrow." He paused, "I can make a deal if you have some skills to donate that I want."

"I will come and visit. You wouldn't happen to have Spiritual Sensitivity, would you?"

He laughed, "No, and it wouldn't help. Some skills can only be learned the hard way, and it also depends on how compatible you are with the skill. I recommend sitting down for this. It is not uncommon to pass out," Taji said.

I sat on the couch in the room, and he sat opposite me and put the first skill book on the table in front of us. "These are not large skills like some of the Lore ones, but I suggest a break between books. You must remain in physical contact with the book while it is active. These skills should only take a minute or so, then we will see how your body assimilates it." He nodded at me, "When you are ready, open the book and keep holding it."

I reached down. The book's cover featured what appeared to be a round ball of blood. It was a thin book, but its spiritual energy was bright. I felt there was some link between the book and Taji, but I couldn't quite sense it.

I opened the book.

A strange Spiritual energy started to flow into me, and it felt like blood flowing sluggishly. Some knowledge from my various healing Lores came to the front, around blood and its properties, and it was like the energy connected with that and then congealed inside of me. It was a really weird feeling and not very pleasant.

The energy stopped flowing, and I let go of the book and waited for things to settle. I knew Taji was watching me closely and probably using some skills on me.

Felix looked up at me and whined a question. I patted his head reassuringly, but continued to wait.

It took about fifteen minutes before I felt things had settled. I looked at my status, and there was Blood Clot at level 1. I felt what it could do. At the novice levels, it just used the blood's properties to speed up clotting. When it hit apprentice levels, it was like I could force a clot to form in an area that grew with the skill level. The cost has also been reduced.

At the journeyman level, it started to be effective on Monster blood. That puzzled me for a bit, until I realised this was not just a healing skill. I could use it to clot blood in enemies as well. This was a weapon. It was only touch-based, but my fighting style was also 'touch-based'.

Taji made me wait and have something to eat before we did the second Skill book. "You recovered well," he said, "You must be spiritually tough."

It then clicked that I had a skill called Spiritually Tough at an early apprentice level. I felt I hadn't used it since leaving the Arctic, but maybe it is helping passively everywhere. Then I thought, maybe that is why I struggle to get the Spiritually Sensitive skill. Could the Spiritually Tough skill hinder it? It is certainly something I can look into.

Taji put the Close Wound book on the table. It was even thinner than the Blood Clot book. "This should be even easier," Taji said, "especially as you have First Aid at Journeyman. There is a lot of crossover."

I reached down and opened the book. Energy, like the stitching of a wound, flowed into me. It wasn't pleasant, but it was quick. I felt the synergies with First Aid.

The Close Wound skill was like rough stitching at the novice level. At the apprentice level, it was finer, and there would be less scarring; at the journeyman level, there would be no scarring. It could also close, bigger and more wounds and trickier, jagged wounds as it levels. From apprentice level, it would work on flesh that had skills hardening it, like my Tough Hide. From Journeyman Level I could stitch internal organs together to help hold everything in place. Ripped intestines were often a big problem, as were stab wounds to kidneys, lungs, etc.

It literally held the flesh together. It didn't stop the bleeding or heal anything. It was the spiritual stitching of flesh. I could see it was a simple skill that meant I could stitch wounds closed without a needle and thread.

As we let the spiritual energy settle, Taji kept an eye on me. This didn't take long.

I felt my energy surge again. The two skills were all I needed, and I accepted the Field Medic class into my status. Field Medic was a basic class with only three attribute points per level, one in each Agility, Physical, Mental, and Spiritual.

Taji nodded, like he was expecting that. "Good," he said. "People look down at the basic three-point classes," he said, "Yes, it takes longer to level and upgrade, but what they miss is that once you have a class in an area, like Healing, other related skills will be easier to learn." He stood up, "My job is done. I'll see you tomorrow if you are interested in some other skills."

What I realised was that the Healer's job for the Duke was also done, and all she had done was fork out some coin to the trainer. I bet it was less coin than she was paid as well.

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