“Is your blood sufficiently replenished?” Mercy sat down and slid Cael a plate and a cup of water. It was a weird way to phrase the question, but comforting in its own way.

“I think so? Everything seems to be working right.” He downed the glass and inspected the food before him. Two purple-yolked eggs stared back at him. The comforting smell of ‘breakfast’ was present in the room. It reminded him of his past life, but he mentally waved away the feeling before he could get hit with the nostalgia. Now wasn’t really the time.

Mercy scraped a sausage onto his plate, below the eggs, completing the effigy of a frowning face.

She quickly reached out and turned the sausage so that the face was smiling instead.

Cael grinned at the angel. “I owe you one. I totally thought I’d lost my arm permanently.” He’d also thought his death was certain, but that was probably better left unsaid.

“What are you two doing? Eat up before it's all gone.” Trista sat beside Mercy and began immediately chowing down. She’d brought with her a plate piled high with bread slices, and a large bowl of cut fruits.

Altogether, it added up to around twenty sausages, another dozen eggs, and half a loaf of bread. He wasn’t even sure what fruits were in the bowl, but an entire watermelon could have fit more comfortably than the sheer volume present within. There was honestly way too much food for the three of them. Cael looked around, but it really did seem they were the only ones present. There was no chance of the food being finished before he'd had his fill.

He just hoped the food wouldn’t be wasted.

“I actually wanted to ask your opinions about a skill I gained yesterday.”

The pair looked at him incredulously. Was that not something people did here? Whoops, at least he knew for next time. Besides, he really did need a second opinion on this one.

“System, can you show them the description for the skill [Spirit of Shadow]?” Cael knew he didn’t need to actually say it, but he liked doing it. It felt polite.

Cael was happy to know that the System really could share screens with others. It would have been embarrassing for him if it couldn’t. He’d actually phrased it as a question instead of a request because of that, but he could tell they were both reading the skill’s description. After all, he could literally see the boxes in front of their faces.

“This is so unfair.” Trista was a bit unhappy with the whole situation. “I mean, congratulations Cael, but I’ve always wanted a familiar. They're awesome!”

“It did not come without cost.” Somehow Mercy knew that already. “The skill is level eight. I am sure Cael hasn’t had the time since waking up to level the skill to this point. I would have detected the mana fluctuations required for such rapid progress.

“In addition, no general skill exists that evolves before level ten. Cael, please correct me if I am wrong, but it would seem that one of your existing skills was consumed in the formation of [Spirit of Shadow].” Maybe telling Mercy things was a bad idea. She was alarmingly competent, or at the very least, alarmingly perceptive.

“Yes. That’s right,” Cael said after a moment, “It was [Pain Tolerance].”

“[Pain Tolerance] at level eight.” It wasn’t a question. She knew. “Most, if not all of those levels, would come as a result of the shadow elemental’s attempts at consumption. You appeared three days ago with a [Spellbinding Collar], notorious for its capacity to cause pain. Either you were graciously informed of the collar’s restrictions, which I doubt, or you were created less than four days ago. Five, at the absolute maximum.”

And she was spot-on. This was some real Sherlock Holmes stuff on her part and demonstrated just how little knowledge he had compared to someone who'd lived in this universe for all their lives. Cael almost regrets telling them anything at all.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Anyways, I was actually wondering if the skill was safe to use. It seems a bit dangerous to summon a shadow elemental. Couldn’t it hurt people?”

Trista answered, a bit more subdued than usual. “It’s a familiar. It can’t hurt you without explicit instructions to do so, and can easily be commanded not to hurt others, though I would personally suggest leaving it the option of defending you against threats.”

Trista sighed. “You really are a level one mage, aren’t you? I thought you were hiding your level with a skill or something when I first saw you.”

“I thought you had swapped your [Class] recently.” Mercy offered.

“I thought you were hiding from your past as a serial murderer by taking the identity of one of your victims.”

Cael jumped. “Oh, hey Macera.” For a woman seven times his size, she was surprisingly sneaky. He eyed her warily. Especially considering she was wearing her full armor again.

“Hey kid, I never doubted you for a moment.” And there was Enken.

“Gaah! Where are you people coming from?”

“They like to enter through the balcony.” Macera pointed down the hall.

Trista waved a hand, and another two plates and sets of silverware floated onto the table.

They sat down, and Cael was reminded of his interview at the Constabulary office. Macera to the right, Enken to the left, and Mercy and Trista straight across the table. Thankfully, it was off to a much less stressful start. The amount of food seemed suddenly practical. As Enken shoveled half a dozen sausages onto his plate, Cael realized that there might actually be too little.

“I feel the need to inform you that Enken just lied. He did indeed doubt you.” Mercy sold him out handily.

“You aren’t supposed to tell him that!” Enken protested, pausing in his process of scarfing down an egg.

“No lie is justified in the eyes of Vera.” Trista and Mercy responded in sync.

Macera just snickered.

“I get it. Anyway, Cael you wanna swing by the orphanage with me in a bit?”

“Sure. Are we going to go check in with the baixan?”

“Do you not know his name?”

“Well, I never really got the chance to ask.” Somehow, Enken had succeeded in making Cael feel guilty again.

Trista chimed in, “Cael made the good decision to convince Flint that taking shelter was the best thing to do.” Apparently, the hedgehog’s name was Flint.

“He should have just grabbed the kid.” Macera pointed out.

“I believe Cael made the best decisions he could have.” At least Mercy was on his side, and since she apparently couldn’t lie, it just meant that much more.

“Based on what information?”

“Nobody ever told Cael where the shelters were, in addition, we have established that he is level one. If it had come down to it, Cael isn’t strong enough to move Flint. Nor durable enough to grab him safely.”

It was nice to have his inadequacies set so neatly on display for him as they debated the validity of Cael’s actions.

“Yeah, and I already agreed to see Flint anyway.” Cael chugged his cup of water, which had been refilled at some point when he wasn’t looking.

“Indeed. Enken, what do you intend to have Cael do at the orphanage?” Mercy pointed at Cael’s cup and he watched as it refilled with water before his eyes.

“Well, I wanted him to apologize to Flint for overreacting and scaring him, but since you think he did his best... Currently, the plan is to just let Flint know he’s alright so that the kid can stop worrying.”

Cael gave a thumbs-up and downed the glass again. How did they keep filling it so quickly? Magic? “Sounds good. I just need to give the familiar a set of orders and then I’m good to go.”

Trista stood up. “I can help you with that. Let’s go down to the practice room so nothing gets broken.”

Cael nodded and got up too. He leaned against the chair for a moment before he felt confident he could stand on his own.

“Thanks, everyone, for saving my life. That was pretty cool.” In the moment he'd looked away, the glass had been filled again. He leaned down and grabbed his cup to finish off one last glass of water, then turned to follow Trista toward the stairs. Instead of heading up toward the bedrooms, Trista took the stairs down.

Before he followed her, he took one last glance around. The news station playing on the screen was displaying a wide shot of the plaza where he had almost died. Cael thought he might have even spotted a few black stains of his own blood.

He shivered and rushed to follow Trista.