Unfortunately, her plans did not pan out. After she laid down, the healer promptly put her to sleep. She didn’t even get a warning, and she had no idea how he did it. When she woke up her constant companion in this new world, pain, was gone. While getting over her initial surprise, she realized she could hear some familiar voices whispering fervently off to the side. Looking over, she saw her aunt and two familiar figures she recognized from when she first woke up. She took this chance to look them over, and noticed that they looked similar to the two troublemakers in her memories. The shorter woman had the same animal ears and feline-like tail of the boy she remembered, while the taller woman had long blond hair and the signature long elf ears. The elf woman had her back to her, so she couldn’t see her eyes, but they were probably similar to the elf boy’s.

As she laid there listening, she got the basic gist of discussion. It was the same as last time, her aunt was demanding more compensation, while the two women were disagreeing. Apparently, they had brought the healer straight here and paid him on the spot as compensation, while her aunt was angry because the women had agreed to pay her and let her handle the treatment. Obviously, they didn’t believe her aunt would actually find a healer for her, as the shorter feline woman was accusing her aunt of being uncaring again. The taller woman was much more subdued, but her thoughts seemed to be similar as she responded to her aunt's demands with questions on what she needed the money for, now that Emrys had been healed. From what she had gathered so far, the women were probably right. Her aunt probably would’ve gotten her the most basic treatment just like before. She doubted the women actually cared though, they seemed more concerned that this incident would continue to bring them trouble.

After listening for a while and failing to extract any useful information, Emrys closed her eyes and gently twitched her arm. Then, turning her head she let out a small sigh and slowly opened her eyes before looking around slightly dazed. The women had stopped talking after she sighed, and the two visitors turned to leave when they saw her opening her eyes. Her aunt glanced at her lightly before turning to leave as well. She obviously wasn’t planning to give up.

Emrys watched them go, shaking her head. Her aunt probably wouldn’t be successful. With how unyielding the women were being, she probably wasn’t asking for a small amount. The healer had even said he needed to add 10 silver to her treatment fee, which she remembered the Bearman saying could support a family of five for a year. Her injuries were extensive, so it makes sense that treating them would cost a lot. She turned her attention towards her body, expecting to see some new bandages. Instead, she was shocked to discover her arms were bare and unmarred. She sat up in shock and started running her hands over her arms, feeling how smooth and unblemished the skin was. She got out of bed and almost ran to the bathroom, closing the door tightly before she walked up to the full body mirror. The gash on her hairline had disappeared, leaving only a bit of dried blood in its place. Her previously melted lump of an ear had been miraculously healed, and the warped flesh on her scalp had smoothened out. She could even see small pores on her scalp where her hair would regrow.

She felt her lips lift uncontrollably, and she let out a small giggle. “It can’t be. It can’t.” she murmured, turning around and heading towards the tub. She ran herself a bath before undressing and rinsing off all the newly accumulated dried blood. As she washed herself and felt her uninjured skin, she kept accidentally letting out little giggles. “It must be. It has to be!” She whisper-yelled, “It’s magic! This place has magic!”

The healer had come completely empty-handed, so it was unlikely that this was the result of advanced medical technology. On the other hand, she had seen various weird races since coming to this world, making it feel like she was in a fantasy world. Now, she realized that she actually might be in a real fantasy world. She couldn’t stop grinning. As an actor, she played in various films and brought some strange imagined worlds to life, so she had always wondered what it would be like to actually live in those worlds and use real magic. That wondering had slowly transformed into yearning as her everyday issues wore on her and she secretly craved an escape. As she thought of the possibilities of flinging around the elements and performing impossible feats, she felt so giddy she started to feel lightheaded. If there was real magic here, she was going to have it. She threw away any thoughts on building a good life for herself and her thoughts zeroed in on how she could learn magic. If she couldn’t learn it then she’d rather not live. She needed it, more than she ever needed anything in her life. She had to have it.

She finished rinsing herself clean and got out of the tub, hastily dressing in her blood stained hand-me-downs. She contemplated washing them in the tub but she didn’t have a change of clothes and had no desire to dress in soaked clothes. She gave up the thought and turned her attention to her aunt. As a native of this world, her aunt should know about magic. She exited the bathroom and wandered over to the kitchen, where she found her aunt as expected. Her aunt stood in front of a wood-burning stove and stirred a large pot of mystery soup. Her face was blank, but she was stirring rather forcefully, and occasionally there was the sound of the wooden spoon roughly scraping against the side of the pot.

Emrys hesitated briefly, but her desire for knowledge was hard to ignore, so she called out, “Auntie?”

Delvira didn’t bother turning around as she answered “What is it, dear?”

Emrys thought it was weird that she always called her with a term of endearment, but maybe that was normal here. “Auntie, all the burns are gone. How did the healer do that?” she asked curiously. She wanted to ask if it was related to magic, but realized she didn’t know the word for magic in this world’s language.

Delvira sighed before speaking, “He used a skill.”

“What’s a skill?” Emrys asked immediately, her eyes shining.

Delvira paused and took a deep breath. She obviously didn’t want to, but she answered anyway, “you’ll find out when you turn five.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Emrys initially wanted to continue questioning her under the cover of childish innocence, but with how irritated she looked it would probably backfire. She probably failed in her attempts to extort the two women from earlier. After thinking for a bit, she asked “Then, when will I turn five? What happens when I’m five?”

Delvira resumed her stirring, “When you turn five, you will gain access to the Guide.” she said. “You will turn five next week, and you can ask a guidance counselor about skills then.”

Emrys nodded, “Okay,” before returning to the bedroom and sitting on her bed. She tried to guess at what this ‘Guide’ was. She remembered it being mentioned quite a few times in the original Emrys’ memories, most notably when Delvira and the Bearman discussed her guardianship. However, there was never an explanation on what the Guide was, just the general impression that it was a good thing. If she was gaining access to this Guide next week, then wouldn’t that mean Delvira would no longer have to care for her? So she would be homeless in a few days, but whatever the Guide was would make that acceptable? She kept thinking over what little information she had but failed to connect the dots. Giving up, she laid in bed and decided to nap until dinner time. She had nothing better to do anyway.

----------------------------------------

The next few days passed quickly, with nothing of note really happening. She had tried her luck with both Orla and Cinar, but Orla had ignored her questions on the Guide while Cinar had simply answered that he didn’t know. The twins and Orist both acted like they couldn’t even see her most of the time, so she didn’t bother asking them. Just as she was starting to get antsy, she finally got an answer. When she opened her eyes this morning, she saw a weird transparent screen floating in front of her eyes.

Name:

Emrys Duscellis

Cultivation Stage:

N/A

Class:

None (options available)

Active Skills:

Passive Skills:

None

None

Skill Store

Cultivation Store

She instinctively knew that the display in front of her was the Guide, and that she could use it to cultivate and increase her general strength. She also knew that once she advanced her cultivation level she would gain skill points, which would allow her to gain skills from the skill store. In order to do that, she would need to start cultivating of course, but to gain a cultivation manual from the cultivation store she would need to first choose a class, after which the cultivation store would unlock.

The whole thing seemed simple. Too simple. She decided to hold off on touching anything. She was honestly afraid of messing something up and being stuck with the result. Her aunt had said that the healer used a skill to heal her, which meant he must have successfully cultivated and bought the skill. However, she had been with this family for over a week now and she had never seen any of them use a skill. If everyone gained access to the Guide at the age of five but a whole family was seemingly without skills, or had skills that they did not use often, then there was obviously a catch. Even the twins, who were quiet but playful, had not displayed any feats these last few days or in her memories of the last year and a half the original Emrys spent here. There was the possibility that they did and she simply didn’t recognize them, but without concrete evidence she decided not to jump to conclusions.

Instead, she rose from her bed and made her way down the hall while using her fingers to comb through her tangled hair. Her bald side had started to grow a light stubble, but the other side still resembled a rat's nest no matter how she tried to fix it. She gave up by the time she reached the kitchen, where she found her aunt chopping up a slab of meat from some unknown animal. She was surprised to find Cinar standing next to her aunt, watching her closely while she worked. The rest of the family had already left for the day. Cinar would usually leave shortly after them and aside from returning briefly for lunch, he would spend the entire day out playing.

Emrys stopped at the threshold like usual and called out, “Auntie.”

Delvira glanced over at her before sitting her knife to the side and wiping her hands, “You should’ve gotten your guide today, right?” she asked, looking at her closely.

Emrys nodded, surprised. She hadn’t expected her aunt's full focus. Before she could ask the questions she had been holding back these few days her aunt swiftly exited the kitchen, brushing by her and entering the room across from the bathroom. She had already found out that the door led to her aunt and uncle's bedroom, while the door across from the bedroom Orla and herself shared led to the room Cinar and the twins shared. She and Cinar shared a glance before he looked away, turning his attention back to the meat on the counter. She had noticed that he seemed to feel a bit awkward towards her, and he didn’t talk to her as much as he did in the past. She imagined it might be due to what happened in the shack, but she wasn’t quite sure because he didn’t seem to feel guilty for his role in her accident.

She didn’t dwell on it, and soon Delvira returned and handed her a coin. She looked at it a bit before looking up at her in confusion.

Delvira gave a polite smile, “This isn’t much, but a bronze should be able to get you a new set of clothes and a few days worth of food. You can head over to the Guidance Center and speak with a counselor, they should be able to help you find placement.” she said before stepping back and gesturing towards the door.

The three of them stood in silence as Emrys processed what she just said. She glanced at her aunt, bewildered, before looking over at Cinar. He had also moved to the side and was looking at her with a bit of pity, which looked odd on his childish face. She shifted her weight and looked back at her aunt, “then… thank you, Auntie.” she said before heading towards the exit. Although she had known she had to leave soon, she hadn’t been expecting to be put out without another word. She didn’t really understand why this family had such strange attitudes towards her.

She mentally sighed as she made up her mind. She would overlook her awkward existence in this household and focus on her future. She walked towards the door and opened it, stepping out without any hesitation.