Taka floated behind a tree next to Deon, his flower pot bobbing in the air. A few feet beyond the tree, a goblin that stood about a meter tall sat on the ground fiddling with a club.

  "You said you have a fear skill, right?" Deon whispered.

  Taka nodded his head.

  "Use that," Deon said. "Then, use earth magic to hit him with projectiles."

  Taka nodded again. He had told Deon about all of his skills and his earth, psychic, and raw magic experience thus far, but refrained from mentioning the type with the strange symbols he couldn't make out. Deon was surprised to learn that Taka possessed 5 different skills, as having more than a single Divine Art was considered extremely rare. Deon didn't reveal how many he had, but Taka didn't press him for an answer. The lizard man was still holding his cards close to his chest, but even showing Taka his portal skill and his raw magic was more than enough for Taka to trust him, for now.

  Taka used his FEAR skill on the goblin and heard it drop its club. He flew his flower pot out from behind the tree and conjured a chunk of rock the size of a baseball directly in the face, knocking it on its back. The Lily Minion danced around Taka in celebration.

  "Not bad, Filo," Deon said. "But your conjuration precision is lousy."

  Deon held up his hand and a spike of ice only slightly longer than Taka's rock chunk materialized from Deon's mana. He flicked his hand down and the ice spike shot down and pierced through the top of the goblin's head, all the way through his chin and into the ground. Goblins weren't intelligent creatures, but Taka's heart still panged as the being died. Deon walked over to the corpse, knelt down, and cut off its left ear with a dagger.

  "You're at a considerable disadvantage when it comes to conjuration," Deon explained. "Mana manipulation requires the caster to sense and mold energy like you did with the tree whilst defending against Zirko."

  Taka flinched at the mention of the battle mage. He hadn't heard a word about him since the lizard man's rampage, and Taka felt somewhat responsible for what happened.

  "On the other hand," Deon continued, "conjuration requires the caster to shape and refine energy into a physical form. Most Magia wielders use their hands, or paws, or claws -- whatever appendage they have, to more accurately refine the form of their conjurations."

  Taka looked down at himself. He had no hands, nor paws or claws; he had no appendages at all, just his scriggly body. Every time Taka began to think that he was getting used to living as a worm, there was a new obstacle. Taka had been trying to see past the constant hardships that was his everyday reality of living in the body of a worm, but it was difficult, especially in moments like these. Taka noticed Deon staring at him and looked away, embarrassed.

  "All that means is you'll have to work harder," Deon said, a pinch of comfort shining through his gruff voice. It's not impossible."

  Right, Taka sent, grateful for the man's guidance.

  The next goblin fight went down the same way. Taka hit it with his FEAR skill, then pelted it with a rock chunk and Deon finished it off. As he was making the third rock chunk, Taka focused his eyes on the mana he was shaping, trying to see its shape before it appeared. It felt reminiscent of molding Play-Doh in his childhood, or sculpting with clay, though he was never an artist. Taka understood why it'd be useful to have hands to more accurately shape mana as he had to rely on sensing and seeing the mana rather than feeling it with his (non-existent) hands, but was still able to make the conjuration into a more conical shape. The impact of the blow hit the goblin harder than before, the rounded tip of the rock leaving an indent on the goblin's head. Deon finished the goblin off with an ice spike again, then looked back at Taka.

  "You've never conjured earth magic before today?" The lizard man asked.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  No, Taka replied, slightly confused -- he had already told Deon that.

  Deon chuckled, which morphed into a more hearty laugh. Taka couldn't help but to think about how menacing the older lizard man's smile looked, the face of a predator.

  What's so funny?

  "Most casters take at least a few days before they're able to feel a conjuration in their hands. And you managed to start shaping a conjuration -- an earth conjuration, with just your head." Deon shook his head and sighed, "you really must be a variant." He looked back to Taka and winced, "sorry, a High Worm."

  The sound of goblin cackling in the distance caught Deon's attention, and therefore Taka's. When he was linked to someone telepathically, he could communicate through thought, and Deon explained that if they were a well-practiced mage, they were able to send him information from their senses as it processed through their brain. It was jarring at first, but gave Taka a better sense of normalcy compared to hearing sound after it was processed through a person's thoughts as he had done so far. Taka still didn't fully understand the extent of his TELEPATHY skill, but he was grateful for a means to communicate.

  "This time," Deon whispered, "Try charming the goblins, then see how they react to you."

  Taka nodded. He had wanted to try his charm skill for ages but hadn't had the opportunity until now.

  10-4, Taka sent back.

  Deon turned to the worm, bemusement plastered across his face.

  It's a phrase from my homeland, Taka quickly clarified, it means 'message received.'

  Deon nodded, looking unconvinced, but turned back toward the sound of the goblins. Taka floated to the source of the noise, using Deon's sharp hearing as his own and spotted two goblins eating a small animal, a sword, and a club by their feet. Taka lowered himself in a bush. The Lily Minion jumped up and down, Taka feeling the excitement emanating off of the creature.

  Taka opened his status window.

  Taka's eyes lingered on the e?????????v??????????i?????????????l??????????? magic for a moment as if something was drawing his focused, then activated his CHARM skill, targeting the closer of the two goblins. He felt a connection established between himself and the goblin, but different than the telepathic links he had become accustomed to. This felt more like a paging system, he instinctively knew that he was only able to send messages to the target. Taka activated his CHARM skill again and targeted the other goblin, another connection opening up. He could feel his mana being consumed like it was for his TELEPATHY skill, but CHARM was using it up at a faster rate. Taka's practice for the past week had increased his mana capacity, but he couldn't keep all 3 links going at once for more than a half hour, he estimated.

  Taka floated over to the goblins and they both turned toward him, staring with empty eyes. Their gazes were uncanny, which made Taka squirm. Deon started to walk over, and the goblins tensed up and started to reach for their weapons.

  Pay him no mind, Taka said to the goblins through his CHARM skill.

  Both goblins froze, then returned to staring at Taka. Deon came up next to Taka and whistled.

  "Well I'll be damned," the lizard man said through a grin. "That's awfully powerful, even for a Divine Art."

  Deon examined the goblins closely, getting inches away from their faces as they continued to stare at Taka.

  "Interesting," Deon said. "You should test the limits of your Divine Art. See how much control you're able to exert."

  Okay, Taka sent warily.

  Taka spent the next few minutes testing his CHARM skill and discovered that he could tell the goblins to move around, jump, run, and eat.

  "Now make them fight," Deon said as the goblins ate the rest of the animal they were munching on when Taka first used his skill on them.

  Taka frowned. Goblins weren't intelligent creatures, but they were still sentient beings. Making them fight made something inside of Taka feel uneasy.

  "It's kill or be killed, Filo," Deon said without a hint of remorse.

  Taka focused and used his CHARM to tell the goblins fight each other, but they continued to eat.

  It didn't work, Taka sent to Deon.

  "Was hoping it'd work, no need to worry," Deon said as he lifted his hand. "Your Divine Art is a charm, not mind control. Limits are to be expected."

  The lizard man conjured two ice spikes and killed the goblins as they ate. Taka's skin crawled at how easily the man was able to take a life.

  "Now," Deon said as he cut the left ears from the corpses, "time to find a creature that'll put up a fight."