A check of his stats brought him a few surprises.  The first was that he hadn’t spent any of his attribute points since level five.  At level nine now, he had nine points to spend, including the one he had saved.  The second surprise was that his title – Giant Killer – showed up in crimson red lettering next to his name.  He’d have to do some research into what, if any, benefits came with the title.

After a few minutes’ thought, he assigned some attribute points.  He added three points to Constitution, because he still seemed to be getting bit a lot.  Two more points went into Will Power, and one into Intelligence, bringing both up to eight.   That left him three more points.  Because his low Charisma score of two mocked him, he added one point there, and one to Luck.  The last point he banked for emergencies.

Feeling more alert and refreshed, he made his way to the infirmary to find Amanda.  He wanted to plan a quiet evening for the two of them at his quarters.

She and her new apprentice were dealing with an emergency medical situation.  Or so they made it seem.  One of the children sat on the exam table, tears in her eyes as the two women fussed over a scrape on her knee.  Allistor rolled his eyes but played along.

“That’s some battle wound you got there.  Let me guess.  An octopoid?”

The girl, maybe seven years old, looked at him wide-eyed for a moment, then shook her head.  “Nope.  Bobby.  We were chasing Max and he tripped me.  Not on purpose, though.  Accident.”

Amanda made a series of flourishing movements with her hands and chanted: “Oh magic critters of UCP382, come to our aid.  Heal this child of her battle wounds!”  With the end of the chant, she cast a heal spell on the little girl, who watched wide-eyed as her skin healed in seconds.   Allistor golf clapped, earning him a dirty look from Amanda as she took a bow.  “There you go!  All better.  Next time, make sure you’re faster than Bobby so he can’t trip you!”

The little girl hopped off the table and waved, calling, “Thank you!” as she scurried out the door.

Allistor limped into the room, one hand over his right butt cheek.  “Oh, miss.  I have a boo-boo on my-”

“Don’t even think about saying that next word, or you’ll have one for real.” She cut him off.  Her new apprentice covered her mouth to try to hide her laughter.

Allistor stopped limping and changed tactics.  He bowed to her, waving his hand with a flourish much like she’d just done during her chant.  “Would milady do me the honor of joining me for a quiet evening of snuggling and plotting to take over the world?”