It almost felt like cheating, purchasing all these spells and the ability to reproduce them.  As he considered how much of a cheat it would be in a game, he realized two things.  First, this was real life.  And if he had to cheat to survive and keep his people alive, he’d damn well cheat.  And second, the amounts he was paying for these spells would normally be well beyond the means of a low-level player.  The broken aspect of this system was actually the ability to sell rare items for massive moolah, and being among the first to discover and exploit it.

Completing his transactions, he retrieved the dozens of scrolls from the kiosk window and began making his rounds, passing them out.  Ramon actually hugged him when he dumped the pile of scrolls on a workbench in front of him.  Michael chuckled like an evil overlord gloating over his plan for world domination.

Amanda chose a more active form of thanks.  When she read the description of the Internal Analysis spell, she instantly opened and learned it.  Sitting patiently on her exam table, Allistor watched her zone out and noticed a faint flash in her eyes.  He also detected a sort of wavy distortion field around her that resembled the heat waves you might see in a desert.   He reached out to touch it, but it faded before he came in contact.

She turned to him, saying, “Thank you, lover.  Now strip!”

Allistor chuckled as he started to pull his shirt off.  “I wonder if Nancy and Lilly are gonna thank me this way…”  She smacked the back of his head.

“You wish.  I’m gonna test out this new spell.  You’re my guinea pig.”

Pausing in the act of undoing his belt, he stopped disrobing.  She could look through his chest.  No reason to put his bare butt on the cold table for no good reason.   “Fine.  Go for it.”

Amanda mumbled something, then her eyes began to glow again.  She stared directly into his chest for a minute or so.  Then she took his hand and raised it, examining the hand, wrist, arm, and then shoulder.   “Interesting,” she mumbled as she moved upward to stare into his head.  Allistor felt a little creeped out.

“What’s interesting in my head?” He was actually a little nervous she’d found a tumor or something.