Andrew listened as Quinn read a few names off her list, before interjecting. "How about Drew?" He offered. That was androgynous enough, right? It definitely erred on the more masculine side, but he didn't particularly care since he wanted to err more masculine anyway. Not that he had anything against being a girl, it was just… not what he was used to. Though unless he found a dude to kill sometime soon, he'd probably need to get used to it… this was going to fuck with his head in some weird ways, he just knew it.

"Drew?" Quinn muttered, frowning slightly. "That's… I mean, if that's the name you'd prefer… but why Drew?"

"Uh…" Andrew blinked. "I was just… drawn to it?"

Quinn's frown deepened, before she shrugged. "Well, I can't argue with that. If you like it, you like it." She wrote the name down on one of the forms that came with the orientation packet. "Now for your last name, you can either choose the name of the city which recovered you, or the location where you were found. So would you prefer to be Drew Nobilis, or Drew Great Forest?"

Andrew blinked. "Could I have been recovered by a different city?" He was under the impression Justin was the one who collected all uplifts…

"Well, since you came from the Great Forest, then no. Since it involves the truce with the monstrous races, Nobilis has to handle any uplifts born in the area. However, it isn't as if the Great Forest is the only place where uplifts can be born. There are beasts everywhere, and that means uplifts are everywhere too. Nobilis can't handle all of them, so every major city has a territory they monitor." Quinn explained. "Of course, since most of the uplifts in this area are monstrous, because… well, you know, most of the time it's an elimination mission rather than a retrieval."

Andrew frowned. "You just kill uplifts just because they're monstrous?"

Quinn gave him a weird look. "What else would we do? Take them in? Hand them over to their own kind? They're monstrous for a reason, Drew. If we don't eliminate them, they'll eliminate us."

Andrew paused, before letting out a sigh. He wished he could argue, but it was clearly how this world worked. The monstrous races all preyed on the noble races in some way in order to survive. Any one the noble races let get away would inevitably end up hurting one of them just to survive. He sighed. What a broken world. "Okay. I guess I'll just go with Nobilis then. Great Forest seems a little… goofy."

Quinn snickered. "Don't let the wood elves hear you say that. They love naming themselves after forests."

With Andrew's name decided, the two of them sat down for dinner. Andrew asked Quinn a few more questions about the city, mostly about the dungeons and how they worked, which was pretty easy since that was her job. Apparently the city was surrounded by several dungeons, starting at level five, which was the lowest any dungeon could be for some reason, then up to level hundred, after which they were considered too dangerous to just leave around, so they were destroyed.

Andrew frowned. "Are they making these dungeons somehow?"

Quinn nodded. "Duh. How else would we get so many?"

Andrew blinked. "Wait, they are?!? But… how?"

"Well, you see, when a creature is killed, it gives the person who killed it experience. And if two people contribute to the kill, then it splits the experience between them." Andrew was going to have to ask more about that topic, but he let Quinn continue. "However, if three or more people get involved, no experience. But the experience doesn't just disappear, right? That wouldn't make any sense. It exists, therefore it has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is dungeons. Once enough experience gathers together in one place, a dungeon is formed, so in order to make dungeons, you just have to kill a bunch of beasts in a way that ensures no one gets the experience, and voila!"

Andrew was certain the Shaman would kill for that kind of information. It was such a simple secret, yet it would mean everything to them. Maybe he should find a way to let him know? Though that brought up the question of whether it was a good idea to help the goblins grow more powerful… then again, it wasn't like they were the only monstrous race, and Andrew was sure there were others who knew how to make dungeons. Plus, if they had access to dungeons, maybe they could find a way to evolve into something less… horrible.

"Why does the experience only split when it's two people?" Andrew asked.

Quinn shrugged. "Beats me. It's just how it works. And it doesn't even work well for carrying, because if both people aren't giving it their all, it won't go to either of them."

"Giving it their all?" Andrew asked skeptically.

Quinn nodded. "Basically, it has to be a fight where both people were necessary, or at least significantly contributed, to win. The exact rules are a bit fuzzy, but basically, the system knows when you're trying to cheat it, and it won't allow it. The only way to get experience is through an honest fight."

Andrew frowned. "But what about when someone kills something that's already injured or weakened? They still get the experience."

Quinn shrugged. "As I said, the rules are fuzzy, but as long as no one intentionally weakened or injured the beast so someone else could kill it, then the system allows it. If you just got lucky, well… then you got lucky. The system doesn't penalize people for taking advantage of an opportunity."

Andrew frowned. "But how does this system know if something is intentional or not?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow at him. "How could it not? The system can read your intentions just as well as it can read your thoughts when you interact with it. It's a part of you. You can't lie to it any more than you can lie to yourself. Less than you can lie to yourself… even being delusional won't get around it."

"That's… vaguely disturbing." Andrew frowned. He didn't like the idea of something having so much… access to him. At least, not without his consent. Or not without being Cathryn… okay, maybe he just didn't like the idea of some mysterious force having that much access. Or maybe it had more to do with the fact that it was one sided? The system could see everything about him, but he knew nothing about the system. He and Cathryn were equals, but he had no idea what the system even was.

Quinn gave him another weird look. "It's… the system. How is that disturbing? Are you disturbed that you need air to breathe as well? Or that you need legs to walk?"

Andrew blinked at her, before shrugging. "I guess not." He wasn't about to get into an argument over it. He couldn't exactly explain that he was from a different world that didn't even have a system, now could he? How could he question something that was just reality to them?

After dinner, Quinn retreated to her room to work on her videos, since it was just her so she needed to do all the editing herself, while Andrew put on the TV and started watching what was apparently the local news. He caught the end of a story about an illegal dungeon hidden in some nearby mountains, along with a notice that the authorities would offer rewards for any leads on who had created it. It moved on to a story about an upcoming festival celebrating something called 'The Unification', during which people from all over would come to Nobilis to party and compete. The main event appeared to be the Grand Tournament, in which the strongest fighters would compete for fantastic prizes. There were also smaller competitions for specific categories, like magic, melee and ranged weapons, various types of crafting, races, team sports… It was like a mix between the Arena and the Olympics. Andrew was a bit interested in a few of the more fantastical events, so he told himself to remember to talk to Quinn about seeing if he could record them or something. There was no way he could get tickets to something like that, after all. Not starting at level one with only a few months till it began.

As the news turned to a special interest piece about some charity or whatever, Andrew turned the TV off and headed to his room. Tomorrow he was going to get signed up for some general education classes and start working on his skills. Then, once he hit his Class Advancement, he'd see if Quinn would mind taking him through a few dungeons to level up. He'd also need to find a job of his own at some point… and get himself a male body. Andrew sighed, shaking his head. The next month or so was going to be busy.

*

While Changeling Andrew threw himself into his education and leveling his skills, Beast Andrew focused on getting better at core manipulation. The biggest hurdle initially was figuring out exactly what each piece was supposed to do, and the main problem with that was that the pieces weren't exactly uniform, as in, there wasn't any exact way to pull apart a core. Just because he broke two cores down, didn't mean the pieces he got were the same between cores. For one, he might have separated the leg and foot into different pieces, while for another, the whole lower body could be the same piece. It was part of the reason he'd ended up with so many legs when he'd put his first core together.

At first, he just tried to break the cores down even further, figuring he could find some way to isolate discreet features, but the more he broke them down, the more they divided, until the pieces themselves dissipated into pure aura, which was an interesting discovery in and of itself. Unless he wanted to start building cores cell by cell, or maybe even atom by atom, more divisions wasn't the way to go. However, the aura discovery gave him an idea. What if instead of breaking cores into pieces to use, he just made his own pieces out of aura? Cathryn had laughed at him for thinking creating his own pieces was the easier option, but it turned out he was right.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"You aren't creating, you're just copying!" Cathryn protested.

"Same difference." Andrew waved her off dismissively.

Creating his own pieces from scratch was impossible. Well, not impossible, but… well, he'd need to be able to account for every single atom, possibly even smaller, if he wanted to make a unique core, and he was nowhere near the level of intelligence he'd need to be to do something like that. But creating an exact copy of a piece he already had? That was simplicity itself! It cost him a little aura, but he could replace that by simply breaking down useless pieces. Which is what led to him sitting in the dark, staring at his Human core in consternation.

"To break down, or not to break down. That is the question." He muttered to himself. The problem he was facing was that all the important information was inside the core, so in order to copy something, he'd need to break it down first. If he broke his Human core down, he could make as many as he wanted! He could give his Changeling self a male form without killing anyone! He could (probably) stick one in another body so that there were two of him and Cathryn and Li Jing didn't have to share anymore! It would solve so many problems!

However… if he fucked up, his Human core would be gone. It wasn't some insect core he could pick up while walking down the street. It wasn't even a Beast core, which he could replace with some… questionable activities. It was literally the only core of its kind in existence! The only other like it was Long, and he'd been dead for millenia! Maybe in a few more millenia he'd get lucky and another one would pop up, but it wouldn't be his core, it'd just be a similar core.

Now, he was fairly confident he wouldn't fuck it up. He'd practiced with a number of Beast cores, and even with the addition of abilities, he could confidently take them apart and put them back together without any issues. It was just… if there was ever going to be any issues, Andrew just knew it would be with this core. It was too important. It would screw him over in just the right way. It was exactly the type of thing that would happen to him. Screwed over by his own hubris. If it didn't matter, he would do it in a second and there'd be no problems. But it did matter, so he just couldn't.

Andrew sat back with a sigh. "Maybe in a few hundred years, after I've had a few kids." He muttered to himself. "Get some use out of the core, then ruin it. Which, of course, will be long after I actually need the core." He grumbled.

He wasn't willing to risk Cathryn or Li Jing's cores any more than he was willing to risk his own, so he moved on to his next idea: giving them Beast cores of their own. He could handle multiple cores, right? Why couldn't they? Well it turns out, normal people could only handle one core. They just couldn't split their aura like he could. Even when he experimented with Beasts, which had more aura to work with, the aura was either all in one core, or all in the other. Andrew sighed in a mix of frustration and resignation at the roadblock, cursing his weirdness.

Still, while he couldn't just give Cathryn and Li Jing extra cores, he learned that switching cores had some… interesting effects. The first, and the one he expected, was that switching out cores switched out abilities as well, just like with his cores. However, it didn't immediately change their form. A Squirrel with a Deer form would still look like a Squirrel. However, it would start to act like a Deer, no longer skittering and climbing but trotting and leaping. It was honestly kind of hilarious. Eventually the Squirrel would start to change though, legs lengthening, tail shrinking, budding antlers poking out between its ears, until it fully transformed into a deer. At least, that's what Andrew assumed. He didn't have enough time to observe it until the end, so he killed it not long after it started growing antlers, which led to his next discovery: if he changed the core, he changed the ability crystal.

Honestly, it should have been obvious. The core changed the ability, and the ability crystal was based on the ability, so of course it would change! Andrew felt like an idiot for not realizing it earlier, but once it became clear, he knew exactly how to take advantage of it. You see, one of Li Jing's biggest problems was finding Beasts to hunt that she could actually gain something from, a problem Andrew avoided with his Human core. She spent more time searching than anything. However, if Andrew could switch out the cores of useless Beasts like Squirrels for cores that made crystals she could actually use… the Beasts were weak enough that he could even reuse the same core over and over, snatching it back after the kill like he did with the elf!

Li Jing glared at Andrew as he dropped yet another sack full of ability crystals that were perfect for her. "Andrew, I appreciate the help, but you have to stop ignoring your own needs for me." She pushed the sack back towards him. "I don't know where you're finding all these Beasts, but I'm comfortable with my rate of growth. You hunted these, you should absorb them." She'd happily accepted the extra crystals the first few times, but this was the fourth time Andrew had returned with a bag of crystals that were all for her. He was clearly neglecting himself to help her.

Andrew pushed the sack back. "I can use any crystal, you know that. Didn't we agree that it was best if we gave you all the crystals you could use while I took the rest?" He grabbed the much lighter sack of crystals she couldn't use from her hunting. "You aren't going to go back on our deal, are you?"

Li Jing narrowed her eyes at him, before smiling sweetly. "No, of course not." Andrew grinned, enjoying the win, until the next time he plopped down a heavy bag of crystals, only to receive an equally heavy bag in return. "Wouldn't you know, I didn't manage to find a single Beast with a compatible ability." Li Jing shook her head in mock disappointment. "According to our agreement, that means these are all yours, right?" She smiled sweetly.

Andrew blinked at the sack, before snorting and taking it. "I suppose it does."

Despite how it came about, their new way of hunting worked out rather well. Since she didn't have to worry about hunting down specific types of Beasts, Li Jing was bringing in more crystals than ever. Meanwhile, Andrew's efficiency dropped slightly since switching out cores took more time than just killing something, but he had an easier time finding Beasts in the first place, so it evened out, letting both of them advance at roughly the same speed.

Meanwhile, in the system world, Andrew was growing slowly. Most of his time was spent in the general education classes with the other uplifts, learning the basics of the system, along with how to read and write, perform basic mathematics, and some general historical info. According to his teacher, something about the Evolution process gave the uplifts a boost in learning speed for the first few months, so the classes were relatively fast paced, the teacher practically sprinting through the material as the uplifts absorbed it all. The system info was nothing new, and their mathematical system was the same as Earth's, so Andrew focused on learning this world's history and how to read and write.

The reading and writing just took practice, but the history was actually rather interesting. Apparently, until just a few centuries ago, the world wasn't divided between noble and monstrous races like it was today. Well, it was, but not physically. Both races still existed and they fought constantly. The noble races did their best to exterminate the monstrous races while the monstrous races raided and enslaved the noble races. It was a world in a constant state of war that left no one untouched. That is, until a calamity arose.

While rare, there are beasts that manage to grow to a high level without ever encountering a sapient race. Even rarer are the ones who manage to get lucky and receive monstrous stat gains in the process. Rarest of all were the beasts who managed to accomplish all this, while still maintaining the kind of viciousness that would allow them to go on a rampage through civilized lands. The calamity that threatened that war-torn world was such a beast. No one knew where it came from, but its power was undeniable and it was at a high enough level that even the sacrifice of the Saintess didn't cause the beast's uplifting.

As the beast rampaged through the land, killing thousands, army after army falling under the beast's power, the two sides realized that the only way for them to survive was to work together. An army of the strongest warriors on both sides was formed and a deal was struck. Until the death of the beast, there would be peace. In a battle that carved a swath of destruction across the continent, the army pursued and slaughtered the beast, but not without casualties. Of the four hundred strong army that set out, barely a quarter returned, the majority crippled by the injuries they'd gained in the process.

The beast was gone, but damage remained. Entire nations were crippled, armies devastated, the strongest warriors of both sides dead or crippled, with another threat on the horizon. With the beast's death, and no one capable of claiming the experience, a dungeon was formed. Thankfully the dungeon wasn't at the same level as the beast, but it was still more powerful than the crippled nations could handle. Something needed to be done, and soon, or the world would face yet another crisis as the dungeon broke and high level beasts were spawned to wreak havoc once again.

Again both sides came together, struggling to find a solution to this crisis. Dungeons were created and people sacrificed to push a single team to a high enough level to clear and destroy the dungeon in a frantic scramble that debatably caused more death than the dungeon break itself would have. At the end of it all, both sides came to a conclusion: the constant war between their peoples had left them weak. They constantly wore each other down, leaving them no room to grow. And so, a solution was found. The world would be divided, and after level hundred, neither side would be allowed to cross. The monstrous races obviously wouldn't allow for a complete embargo, but no one truly strong would be allowed to mess with the other side, keeping the danger minimal. And of course, the high levels on either side were free to squash anyone they caught making problems. This turned their conflict from an all out war that devastated both sides to minor raids that caused damage, but didn't cripple.

Free from the crush of war, the noble races began to flourish. Innovators rose, discovering the wonders of technology. Widespread social reforms ensued, and the various nations were brought closer together, before eventually unifying under a single government. The nations remained sovereign in their territory, but they recognized every member of the noble races as equal citizens, along with various other basic rights. It sort of reminded Andrew of the EU, or at least, what he thought the EU was… he'd never been much for world politics.

The monstrous races, on the other hand, grew powerful in their own way. Since they couldn't raid the noble races for what they needed anymore, at least not on the scale necessary for all their people, the monstrous races turned to… well, crime. Or more accurately lawlessness. They became a haven for those who wished to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, attracting the worst of society. Assassins, smugglers, slavers, thieves, whatever crime you wished to commit, the monstrous races would support you, in exchange for whatever they needed to survive and thrive. It wasn't pretty, but… it was better. Both sides were stronger than they'd ever been, and continued to grow stronger still as dungeons grew and people gained higher and higher levels. Whenever the next calamity arrived… they'd be ready for it.