The first thing that caught Leo’s eye, astonished him, in fact, was that the pale light that streamed down into the dungeon actually came from two moons on opposite sides of the sky. Massive moons at that, taking up much more of the sky than Leo was used to. Looking up at them, feeling the cool wind blow his hair and rustle the leaves of the trees in the lightly forested area they’d walked up into from the ruins, he could finally get the sense that this was all real. That all of this wasn’t some elaborate hoax or an insane dream. Off in the distance, he could see the lights of a settlement as well. A town that had an aesthetic oddly reminiscent of Victorian England, at least from a distance.

“Oh, I didn’t think we were that close.” Axilya said as she walked up. “That’s Normouth. The town I’ve been working out of when I got the quest. I didn’t know a dungeon like that was anywhere near here.” She gave what she probably thought was a light pat on the back, but it caused Leo to stumble forward. “Let’s go. The Mixer I know is here, too. I know an inn you can sleep at, and we can go see him in the morning.”

They walked to Normouth without much of an issue, and once they reached the town, Leo and Axilya split with Koren and Mada. They were actually from Heom, and although they weren’t in their original homes, they’d be able to get by well enough by themselves. Leo wished them well and hoped he’d see them around, if anything for people that he had the shared experience of going through the tutorial with.

“Hey, Axilya, I won’t blame you if this completely goes over your head, but is there some kind of friend list I can access?” He was aware that his interface seemed unique to him, and everyone else seemed to see the labors differently. He didn’t know what the general technology level of Heom was, but it didn’t seem to be quite as high as Earth’s, just from what he could see in Normouth. The main streets had streetlamps that kept the area lit, but in lieu of lightbulbs, they seemed to be maintained by torches. Magic torches, perhaps, since they had no visible fuel source and were still covered by glass, but torches all the same

Axilya tilted her head at his question, taking a few seconds to answer. “You will have to rank up before you can get it, but I believe there is a skill that will let you contact people you have met before.” She answered. “As well as magic that does the same thing, whether it be sending letters to people from far away, or putting your thoughts directly into theirs.”

He briefly recalled Koren’s telepathy, but another thing she said caught his attention. “Oh, you got that? I thought I’d have to explain.”

“The blessing of the Labors will translate, I suspect it’s how we’ve been speaking the entire time. It does well with intent, too. As long as you’re trying to be understood, it tries its best as long as it's a concept that’s not entirely foreign to who you’re talking to.”

“So as long as I don’t try to explain something like long division to you, we’re fine?”

“Long…division?”

“Got it.” He decided not to go any further on that topic, letting her lead him to the inn she mentioned while he took in the sights. They walked through cobblestone streets, in a thin crowd of people that shared the road with carts and wagons pulled by horses and other large animals. He spotted plenty of humans, but also people who decidedly weren’t human. Ranging from the animal ears and tail that Axilya had to people with bizarre appendages and skin colors. He thought he spotted someone with wings walking by at one point. Axilya seemed content to let him look around, only occasionally looking back to make sure she hadn’t lost him until they got to the inn, a cozy building made of mostly wood and painted striking white, named the Fixed Pearl.

He got himself a room for three days, with it being ten credits a room. He wondered how he was supposed to transfer them, but they materialized in the form of a single coin in his hand, which he could pass along. Axilya left to her own lodging, promising to meet him there in the morning to take him to the other Mixer, and letting him go up to his room. He’d have to get used to having an entire house for himself to only having a single room again, but he’d manage. His mind raced, thoughts and questions flooded it and he had no real outlets other than the parts of the interface he’d brought up before. He thought it’d keep him up all night, but the events of the dungeon caught up to him all at once, and he was out like a light almost as soon as he managed to settle into bed.

Unsurprisingly, having multiple near-death experiences in a short time tired him out. When Leo’s eyes opened the next morning, he had to take a moment to wonder why he wasn’t in his normal bed, and he stared up at the ceiling as the memories from the previous day streamed in. He got dressed. In the same clothes he ran through the dungeon with, which caused him to realize he’d probably need some new clothes. He wasn’t exactly fashion minded, but the idea of being able to keep everything in his Storage did make him excited. He just needed to be wary of how much he spent. Axilya said he’d last for a while with what he got from the dungeon, but he didn’t have much of an idea of how much ‘a while’ was.

He went down and had some breakfast, free of charge with his room. Freshly baked bread with some wonderfully salted butter and porridge, with some kind of milk to drink. He almost wanted to savor it, but he scarfed it down from a combination of not wanting to keep Axilya waiting and the realization that he hadn’t had anything to eat in a day or so.

He was right to eat quickly, since Axilya entered the inn and came to find him shortly after he finished eating. Soon enough, they’d left the inn and started heading to the Mixer’s shop. In the day, Normouth had a much heavier crowd. They were shoulder to shoulder against the people going about their daily lives. Axilya warned him to be wary of thieves, but Leo didn’t have much on him that he couldn’t put in his storage. His phone certainly wouldn’t be worth anything here until he could find a way to charge it.

The shop Axilya took him to was a relatively small building nestled between what looked like a general store and a restaurant. The sign ‘Zumra’s Mixes’ hung neatly above the door, and Axilya wasted no time heading inside. A small bell chimed when she opened the door, gaining the shopkeeper’s attention and causing him to give a warm smile as an apparently familiar face came in. “It’s been a while, Miss Krisgol. You’re looking hardy as ever. As for you, I don’t believe we’ve met.” The man who spoke had long, blond hair, striking blue eyes, and most immediately prominent to Leo, long pointed ears.

“His name is Leonell.” Axilya said. “He’s also a Mixer and he asked me to introduce him to you.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Ah, wonderful. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Leonell. My name is Panlisar Zumra, I’m the owner of this humble shop.”

Leo had already used Appraise as he was talking. He also took an opportunity to glance around the room before he joined the conversation. Several shelves stood with glass vials and bottles of various things marked. He also saw several other things; bars of soap, jars of something green, small bottles of spices. Things either made with things that Zumra had mixed, or made directly by his Combine skill.

[Warning! The difference in rank is too high! Some information is restricted.]

Name:

Panlisar Zumra

Title

Grand Merchant

Class

Mixer

Element

Wood

Total Rank

C

“Likewise.” Leo replied as he made his way into the shop proper, heading up to the counter with Axilya. “And please, call me Leo if you don’t mind.”

“Very well. If I might ask, what is the purpose of your introduction? It has been some time since I’ve gotten to converse with another Mixer, so I do find myself curious.”

“Er, that’s the thing.” Leo replied. “I’m from a world that isn’t governed by the Labors. A lot of things are new to me, and I have no idea how the gods want me to stab skeletons that throw fireballs at you and waterlogged zombies that can snap me in half like a twig when I can only use Combine about four times at most before I run out of mana. I probably wouldn’t have even made it out of the tutorial dungeon if Axilya hadn’t been there to carry me. Basically, I need advice. Any that you’d be willing to give.”

“I’d be happy to.” Zumra answered, then turned to Axilya. “Miss Axilya, would you mind staying a while. I might require your own expertise to answer some of the more combat oriented questions.”

“Sure. I’ve been wanting to hear about how you operate as a Mixer anyway. Besides, I was already answering what I could during the tutorial.”

And so, with the agreement that they’d pause the conversation to help any customers that came in, Zumra agreed to answer Leo’s questions and concerns. “To answer what I assume must be the most pressing topic on your mind, you do not have to constantly fight against the outsiders and their forces in physical confrontations. I myself haven’t sought any quests that required combat in over a decade, but there are others listed that will facilitate the accumulation of Karma. As long as you are earning Karma, you are following the will of the gods and the resistance to the outsiders.” He answered with a shrug. “At least, that’s what I’ve been told. The non-combat possibilities vary between classes. I’m sure Miss Axilya here could find a number of things to do with her strength and peculiar magic, but Mixers have a unique opportunity for production and mercantile quests.”

He gestured to the shop, and all of the various items on its shelves. “The sale of items created by the Combine skill, either locally, or across the myriad worlds through the aid of the Labours, will earn you Karma. The amount you have to sell typically grows, but there will also be quests that call you to make and sell a certain item required with urgency. Those types of quests are how I’ve earned most, if not all of my Karma, but there are drawbacks to this.” With that, he looked to Axilya.

“It’s much slower than quests that might require you to fight. Or rather, it’s more restrictive.” Axilya said. “Compared to doing really any quest you can get your hands on, at least.” Leaning against the counter, she pointed to Zumra. “He’s been at this for nearly 10 years and he’s C rank. I’ve only been seriously running under the Labors for three.”

“I-” Leo wasn’t sure how to respond to that at first. He basically had the choice between playing it safe and basically building a store, and doing more of what he ran into in the tutorial. The Mixer class seemed to heavily incentivize the latter, given it gave him no combat skills, and a limited ability to make things in the middle of a fight.

But his mind went back to the dazzling sight of his sword moving with the very air blazing behind it from the Ashblood Oil, and the wonder of seeing Heom’s two moons. Could he feel those again if all he did was run a store?

Zumra seemed to sense his hesitation, and spoke up. “I will say, you aren’t locked into one or the other by any means. I certainly did both in the beginning, but after a while I grew tired of the struggle. I can certainly say that the ones who save worlds and prevent their destruction are the ones who act, rather than the ones who supply. Both are needed, certainly, but if this world happens to fall from its current Disfavored status and go down to On the Brink, I simply wouldn’t be able to do much to stop it. I’d simply have to pack my things and leave this world for one that isn’t nearing destruction, rather than be able to help stop it.”

“What happens when a world is On the Brink?” Leo asked. He remembered when he first arrived, the screen that showed that he was going to Heom said it was ‘Disfavored’.

“It’s the last stage before a world is lost fully to the Outsiders.” Zumra answered. “Once that happens, the world is technically still inhabitable, but I wouldn’t describe those worlds as anything less than a nightmare, and impossible to be recovered.”

“Once a world gets to On the Brink, or Exalted, which is the counterpart where the gods are approaching dominion over a world, the rank tends to rise rapidly.” Axilya added. “Higher rank agents from both the gods and the outsiders come to try to stop the world from falling to the other side or accelerate it. If you’re below B-Rank, you typically want to stick to worlds that are Favored, Disfavored, or Neutral which are in between.”

“To go back to the original topic, though. If you wish to fight, it’s certainly possible. Plenty of people who aren’t even under the Labors can contend with and even exceed those who are. You can take skills that help you in combat as you rise in rank, though I’ll recommend you take your class exclusive skills first. You may be able to find someone to train you in whatever form of weaponry or magic you desire, many who could train you will take credits in exchange, which you can of course earn through selling your creations. Along with that I believe you may even have a potential party member in Miss Axilya.”

“Not any time soon, at least.” Axilya said. “The gap between our ranks is too high. I think the fact that we struggled so much against a C rank boss in the tutorial dungeon was enough to show that. I’d consider it whenever you get to D rank, though. If I’m still C or C+.”

Leo nodded in agreement. If they tried to do anything together now, he’d only slow Axilya down. “That sounds like a plan. I’ll have to work out getting someone to teach me the other stuff, but what else can you tell me about being a Mixer?”