For the first few weeks of my stay in the city I did three things. First and foremost I rested, spending quite a bit of time just sitting in a chair outside and letting the sun lull me to sleep. Second was I began to learn the local language.

It wasn’t easy, but when that was the primary form of communication then it became much easier than if I had tried to do so back in the tribe. We started off with simple things like he, me, you, food, water, and other objects like chair and door.

Lastly I explored the city. I usually did this when I couldn’t cat nap any longer and Gero was too busy doing herbalist things to help me with the language.

He did make sure to point out a few places that I should stay away from. Namely any place too high or too low in the tiers. The high places had the powerful and influential people. Which I guessed were like the Elders of the city, like the Duchess lady.

The low part of the city was a bit more confusing to understand at first, but apparently they were untrustworthy and dangerous. Which didn’t make sense as to why they were allowed to live in the city if they were not trusted.

The FallingBird tribe had a few tribes that we were less than friendly with, so we made sure to steer clear of one another and not let them encroach on our territory.

So instead I would travel the mid area of the cities, making sure to stick to more busy streets. The fact that so many people would willingly choose to live in a place where they couldn’t trust one another was mind boggling, but then again it was probably safer than the Labyrinth and all the deadly monsters there.

Another thing that changed was my clothing. Gone were the torn rags and over sized clothing from before and here were the newish clothes. I had a second-hand pair of boots that had extra space for me to grow into. A few pairs of pants and shirts and even some skirts.

Despite what Gero and Jaharv had initially thought, skirts and dresses were a thing in the tribe. We had many holidays where we danced in decorative clothing and played games with each other.

I had to hold myself back from just wandering the city as I pleased, and instead started memorizing the area around the house first and foremost, using both close and far away buildings as landmarks to triangulate my location.

Jaharv said something about me being boring by not just going out on an adventure, but six months in the Labyrinth alone was long enough for me to try and get security before curiosity.

At the end of my resting period I decided to begin “working” as it were. There was a chance I could go and get an apprenticeship somewhere, but in reality the best thing that could increase my own value was to both have a full Hand of five and to Evolve my Cards as much as possible.

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It turned out that not everybody in the city had Cards, even some adults. The reason for that being most people almost never killed things while living in the Safe Zones. So merchants, hunters, and knights were the ones bringing in a lot of the Cards.

One would think that after so many years that people would have a huge surplus of Cards, but for one thing monsters loved to eat Cards because it would increase their own powers, and there were apparently magic devices that the rich people used that required Cards as fuel. When Gero had explained this to me I had asked if it was possible for a wall to be made using a device. He had looked at me with confusion, but agreed.

Based on that I assumed that the odd stone wall that the Prince had used to separate himself from his party while sleeping was one such device. If so, then they were truly wasteful, that Card could have done someone good in their city. Then again they had gathered children and butchered them so they must not think a lot of the good of the people.

Gero and Jaharv had asked a bit about where I had come from and if I had any family, I didn’t see any need to hide that I had come from across the world or that I was an orphan, but I did make sure not to speak of how my sister died or the Meta Card at all, perhaps that was more common knowledge in the Safe Zones.

So my plan not only to increase the power of my Cards but also to get money so I can actually buy things was to become a hunter. Quite simple, but not only would I be filling up my Lotto Box and Meta Gauge I would also get free food, sell the body parts, and even make maps of the surrounding area that thanks to the Shuffling was still not completely known.

Normally such a thing wouldn’t be the best long term as it is difficult for most people to gain Cards that are better than Common or Uncommon. Someone could roll a hundred times and still never see a Rare, but thanks to the Meta Gauge I could have a continued increase in my effectiveness.

It would mean that eventually I would have to leave the city though. I had already noted that they had registered the ranking of my Cards and should my Cards have a constant increase in power then people might get suspicious.

The real question was if I should join another hunting group or just go solo. Being in a group had safety, which is of course a priority, but it had the detriment of me being a young girl and would most likely be a porter for them for quite a while, and porters didn’t kill things.

It was how things went back in my tribe. A newbie to the hunting party would act as a helper and a shadow for the more experienced hunters, they would learn how to track, set up camp, and carry a lot of the gear.

Not to say that the veterans abused them, but it was supposed to be a slow induction into their ranks.

I didn’t want to waste time with that. If I could get a Rare Card that had some combat capability then I wouldn’t need to do anything like an apprenticeship.

With the money I made from the monster parts and mapping then hopefully I would be able to buy a Card as well. The huge benefit to that is I could buy a Card that synergized with my Hand without having to hope on the luck of the Lotto Box.

So on my fourth week of being let into the city, I once again left through one of the many gates to the outside. However this time, I had a place to return to.

“Let’s go!” Gero said happily, a familiar large pack on his back.

I looked over to the side. Jaharv in his infinite wisdom had told Gero to come with me. He would apparently be continuing to scout the area for new plants that he could take back to the city for them to cultivate or just to note down.

“Okay,” I agreed, the new language sounding odd on my tongue.