After clearing out the sixth bough, I had among my possessions, the book of portals spellbook. Since I was not quite to level eleven (when Level 5 spells in your most proficient realms become available), I held onto it for a while. Upon leveling up, I took another spell and then used the book. Unfortunatley, the book only taught my mage the "set portal" spell (not too useful without it's counterpart). I beleive that if you pick the spell upon levelling up, you learn both. While this is an inconvenience (I still have to use a level-up spell choice to get the full spell), it's not been enough to entice me to use the reload spell. Has anyone else encountered this little arcane sleight of hand?

V

Yes, it has been talked about before. I think it is somewhat bizzare. Save the books for your secondary casters later. You will find books of return later. Having a portal at teh T'rang teleporter (which you can actually get without an alliance) is really valuable.