They woke up leisurely in the morning. After getting some of his food stores out for breakfast, they resumed their conversation from the night before.

"So about those mind mages?"

"Ugh, your eager in the morning aren't you?" She yawned before continuing. "Mind mages are people who unlock primarily psychic skills. People unlock skills by synchronizing with their titles. I'm sure you already have some clue seeing as how you've unlocked skills. But or example the more meat a butcher butchers, the more likely they are to unlock a skill related to however he's butchering. Whether it be a tool skills from working with knifes and cleavers, or maybe they get a nature based skill from perpetuating the cycle of life. It really depends more on the person as far as what skills get unlocked. I got my translation skill from repeatedly trying to talk without translation to locals throughout my travels. My title provided me with the skill best suited to my needs."

Alvrin thought back to his first skill. He unlocked it by being contradictory like his title suggests, increasing his synchronization rate. The skill he got did seem like exactly what he needed at the time in order to survive.

"Skills come in five tiers of power ranging from low, mid, high, advanced, national, and ancient."

He nodded his head.

"The rarity of you title effects what tier your skill is originally unlocked at. Skills that are of equal or one step above the rank of your title are usually what get unlocked. For example commons can get low to mid, uncommon can get mid to high, rare can get high to advanced".

He wasn't sure what the ranks of titles were, "um, what exactly are the ranks".

"Titles go from common, like mother or butcher, to uncommon, like blacksmith or any other specialist trade. Then they go to unique titles like ours. The possibly of unlocking a more powerful skill compared to the title get smaller with the rarity of the title. Unique titles can technically unlock up to a national tier skill, but that's very rare to see without upgrading first."

"So if common titles would unlock low to mid, uncommon mid to high, and unique high to advanced"? He asked.

"You can unlock skills lower than your title rank too. Remember it's all about what will be most helpful at the time. You can upgrade your skills and sometimes people will unlock an ancient tier skill that way. The skill needs to be practiced for decades to upgrade to such a high tier though so it's highly unusual."

Alvrin took in the information in is head. He thought of himself unlocking an advanced skill on the first try greedily. Then he thought about gaining a skill even better than that.

"Who can unlock an ancient skill if not unique titles?

"Unique skills are gained by chance. Remember when I said titles give the skill the user is most in need of? That's usually the case when an ancient skill is unlocked. Which means they can be unlocked at any rarity of title. I will mention that people born with evil titles can unlock skills up to two tiers higher than their title rarity, all the way up to national. Meaning they are able to gain greater strength faster compared to their normal titled counterparts."

"Evil titles?" Alvrin wondered if his village had thought his title sounded evil. Could that be the reason he was banished?

"In general, all titles first get separated into two groups, good and evil. In my opinion, this should be irrelevant. Some people are born with titles like murderer, or criminal, but unless they synchronize with their titles, they are of no threat” she explained. She had a sad look on her face before continuing.

“Even before they have a chance to live an honest life, they are ostracized and condemned for actions they have no memories of. Many children born with these titles get abandoned and orphanages refuse to accept them. They are thrown away without being shown any sympathy, hundreds of newborn lives squashed before they even begin. It doesn’t even matter that these evil titles can still produce skills that can be used for good. There's a dozen types of skills, and people aren’t even willing to look at which ones the evil titled children possess, assuming they had done something evil to unlock them. ”

Alvrin could tell that talking about this was affecting Lina, her face taunt with a look of disgust.

“It’s no wonder they grow up to synchronize with their titles. People discriminate so harshly against them, it's commonly accepted that those with evil titles are no better than monsters from birth. Youths are encouraged to attack and kill those with evil titles in order to advance their own “good” titles. These so-called evil children have no choice but to steal and kill to defend their own lives.”

She cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable at how emotional she was getting. “Sorry, I have seen some horrible things during my travels. With the continent recently being taken over by the demons, people are tense and uneasy, for good reason too. I just wish they didn’t take out their stress on innocent children.”

Alvrin reached up to pat the older woman on the shoulder. He didn't know how to console her. Rather he was much more curious about the mention of demons. They were only folk lore in his old world. He decided to keep the condolences short and simple.

“It’s okay, I can’t even imagine the injustices that you’ve seen. I know I saw some pretty terrible stuff happen based on titles in my own little tribe. It must be worse when the communities are already in crisis. Did you say demons had taken over the continent?”

Lina let out a short laugh, “You must be the only one living a truly peaceful life huh? I guess they say ignorance is bliss for a reason.”

Alvrin gave her a sad smile, “Peaceful yes, fulfilling? No. I always wanted a family, but due to my interest in titles, I was avoided in my tribe. My own parents tried to keep their distance” it wasn’t a lie per se, it just wasn’t the full truth.

She looked slightly guilty, but continued with her lesson anyway. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Well yes, the former demon lord was not a tyrant. Demons are intrinsically narcissistic, sure, but they have a good sense of business under all of their pride and greed. He ruled his kingdom like a well oiled machine, friendly to his neighboring kingdoms due to the potential of future business deals with them.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Alvrin interrupted at that, “I don’t know anything about demons, living alone in the forest nearly my whole life and all, but why would a guy with such good business sense take over the continent? Doesn’t he know that kingdoms can only grow so large under one ruler without collapsing eventually?”

This got him a suspicious look from Lina. “How would you know the lifespan of the average kingdom Mr. lived alone in a forest his whole life?” Her tone was light, contrasting the suspiciousness on her face still. He opened his mouth to respond but it was her turn to cut him off now, “Actually, don't answer, I don’t want to waste time listening to you lie. We’ll come back to that later.”

Fear crept into his stomach, dreading the future.

“Don’t look at me like that. I promise I won’t tell your secrets, I have a lot of my own too ya know?” She looked at him playfully, a twinkle now in her eyes. “Anyway, back to demon lore. Demons are naturally narcissistic, like I said. They also have very long lifespans, some even reaching past the two thousand year mark with the help of magic. Due to the natural check and balances between races, they have much longer lasting pregnancies, during which fetuses severely weaken their mother leaving them vulnerable. This leads to lower birth rates and lower population rates in turn.”

“How do the checks and balances work?” Alvrin asked before she switched topics again.

“Every race has things that make them both superior and inferior compared to the others. Demons for example are born with very high amounts of natural magic, not needing a title to provide spells or magical skills for them, as well as longer lifespans. In return they have lower birth and population rates. Goblins like us are born with sturdy bodies, as well as the capabilities to produce offspring, including hybrids, quickly. However, we pay for those abilities with our overall intelligence, the average goblin being below simple minded. Then there are the elves, born with dominion over organic matter. They mostly focus on plant and livestock manipulation, but some can even excel in mind magic, overriding the organic connections in the brains of their enemies. They have difficulties with adaptability though. Their bodies succumb to environmental instability easily due to their below average strength. If taken out of the fertile lands, they quickly run out of energy, limiting the tactical abilities of the tribe as a whole.”

Alvrin understood, on his home planet there were many species with unique traits like this. He was hearing the term checks and balances for the first time though, he would need to focus on the vocabulary while he traveled with Lina. Well, really he would need to learn the common language first, then worry about specific vocabulary.

“How did the demons take over the continent if their population is low?” he asked, prompting her to continue her lesson on the wider world around them.

“If you would stop interrupting me maybe I could tell you,” she said in mock annoyance, a small smile playing on her lips.

“So anyway, the former demon lord was a businessman before anything else. When he heard a child had been born into his kingdom who held tremendous magical power, he adopted him into the royal family immediately. However, due to the demon lord's attendants, the young demon did not follow his father’s businessman path. Instead he lived a life of luxury, never knowing what discipline was. By the time the former demon lord understood the mistake he had made letting the dangerous prince roam free, it was too late. After tramping around in the neighboring kingdoms without permission, the prince had made enemies of the royal families of other territories. When finally attempting to discipline the prince, his attendants stopped him. They convinced the prince that his life of ignorance was the prize he received for being so powerful, and because he had so much power, his right by birth was to become the demon lord himself.”

Alvrin interrupted again, “how old is this child? How could he possibly have so much power?” He didn’t understand how a kid could overthrow an experienced ruler.

“He is just over one hundred years old now. Demons don’t fully mature until they reach three hundred though, so you could compare him to a normal child around the age of seven or so. Nobody really knows how he got such powerful magical abilities, his birth parents were people of no importance within the kingdom, so he didn’t have any genetic advantages.”

Alvrin was interested in this kid, training the youth in his home world was one of the few delicacies he was afforded in his last life. Being able to mentor the next generation is something he took pride in. Although, it also broke his heart sending those same children out into active battle zones, knowing full well not all of them would survive. That's why he was in charge of the training regime, to give them the best chance available.

“I see, so he usurped the throne and took power for himself? I can see how that could be troublesome for the citizens.” He premised. He usually killed all inheritors to the throne, so he couldn't imagine a 7 year old king.

“It wasn’t really him who took the throne though in reality. He's still living an ignorant life of leisure even now after taking the throne. Instead the former lord’s attendants took control of the political structure. Split into two factions, the two most powerful attendants fight for full authority of the kingdom, each taking half of the continent to rule away from the other. The child still doesn’t understand what it even means to become a king, and has never undergone any formal training for the position. He simply stands as a figurehead looming over the other races as a threat capable of destroying their entire territories if they rebelled.”

Alvrin was saddened by the little king's situation.

“It’s said that one of his attendants may even be a retainer since he rules with a carrot rather than a stick.” The term retainer was another vocabulary word Alvrin hadn’t learned yet.

“What are retainers? Is it a nobility thing?” he guessed.

“You're lucky you're asking me. Asking this question could get you killed in some territories.” She smiled wide, confidence radiating from her.

“Why would that be?” He presumed she knew of them from her travels. He wondered how dangerous her life was, wandering from place to place by herself. Was she in danger of being murdered often?

“That’s because they threaten the current power structure of all royal families in the world. Retainers are born with the memories of their past lives, as I'm sure you're aware.” She said with a wink, “ These people threaten to make advancements of science and magic with their knowledge. There are lands across the sea that aren’t going through conquest, and even there retainers are hunted. Many kingdoms who have managed to last under the same family, have been started by retainers actually, although it's not common knowledge. That's how they attained an edge compared to their counterparts of the same time period. Persecuting new retainers keeps new kingdoms with better advancements from cropping up.”

Alvrin didn’t know whether to feel relieved or terrified that she knew his origins, especially knowing that he could be hunted down for them now. His anxiousness must have shown on his face because Lina continued on the topic.

“Don’t worry, I won't tell anyone, can’t have the party’s cook get killed now can I?” She reassured.

“Who said that I would be the cook?” he demanded playfully, his nerves easing a little.

“Who knows, maybe you'll unlock a new skill by doing it. The ominous lone goblin using his high tier skill to make fancy dishes seems pretty contradictory to me.” She laughed as he gently shoved her arm.

“Cooking for a pretty lady doesn’t seem so bad actually.”

After spending the rest of the day talking about the world and the things he should expect outside the forest, they rested for the night before starting the first day of their adventure together in the morning.