I just didn't expect how boring it would be. I tried the skill menu thing, called a bunch of phrases, made some gestures, took 30 minutes at most. Then it was just sitting there and imagining time go by. Carch had instructed me not to go outside. I could still go if I wanted to, but he didn't lock the door and I didn't have a key, so I would be leaving the house vulnurable if I went outside. That didn't sit right with me. And besides that, where would I go? I didn't see anything resembling electricity, so I highly doubt thet would have computers around here. What did I do for fun before? I don't have friends to fall back on here, where would I make friends? What do people around here do for fun? Weave a basket? Or some magic stuff that I don't know how to do yet?

I went to the roof. Of all places in the house to be, the roof was the most interesting. My room had a window and if you stood on it with your body outside, you could grab on to some stone that was sticking out. If you then pulled yourself up a bit and managed to get your feet on top of the window, it was easy to just walk on the roof. The roof went up a bit if you walked to the back and was connected to the houses next to it, but even though most of the houses on this side of the street were connected, it was common that there was some height difference compared to the houses next to it, making the roofs seem irregular. I laid down on the roof with my feet down, facing the sun.

It was fine for a bit until some children saw me. They started looking and pointing, saying I wasnt supposed to be up there. One of them even went as far as throwing pebbles. Thats when I went back inside. I didn't need to give children a wrong example and I certainly didn't need to be the object of ridicule. I spent the rest of the day chanting embarrassing spells (which never worked) and launching myself from one wall to the other, sliding across the floor.

I noticed there were quite a few objects in this house that could not be explained without magic. Lights without electricity, or some sort of food storage where you could move the items around through some sort of touchscreen. Except there were no wires.

Carch came back early, like promised, even though it felt like an eternity. He sat down with me and started the conversation.

"If you dont remember what city you lived in, I think it would be good to continue your apprenticeship here."

Apprenticeship? I guess thats one of the ways things are different over here. Best not to let him know I had no idea what he was talking about. I nodded.

He continued. "What did you do before coming here?"

I had not expected this question at all. I probably should have, it was not that weird of a question, but I guess I had been avoiding thinking about the past. Any memories from before I came here were all so foggy and partial.

"Something with plants I think..."

I said those words before I had thought about them. Plants? I guess it feels familiar, but I really can't remember anything specific about it. And surely I made a mistake by not being specific, not remembering enough. I looked at Carch, expecting him to suspect me from the most horrible things, but he looked at me with pity.

"Its alright, we can look around and see what fits you most."

He continued to speak about common plant related professions, like herbalist, where you collect and store plants. Or gardner, where you farm common vegetables and herbs. The one that appealed to me the most was alchemist. Alchemists worked closely together with herbalists, especially during apprenticeship. They would go out and collect rare plants in the forest and brew potions with them. Those potions had magical or medicinal effects. During times of need they would also be recruited by doctors to tend to patients. Though I liked the idea of being outside, this was my chance to participate in the magical side of this world, without putting my life in danger by fighting monsters.

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The alchemists weren't particularly impressed. Though they were willing to take me in as an apprentice, I would have to start from scratch, not taking any experience I might have into account. Fine by me. Its not like I knew how to alchemist anyways. Apparently there were a lot of people aiming to become alchemist, but requirements were strict and tied to ability instead of years of experience, so a large part of alchemist apprentices opt to become herbalist if they are not accepted as alchemist after a few years. There was no maximum amount of time you could take for an apprenticeship, but fulltime herbalist got better money and respect than a failed alchemist apprentice.

Two days I was supposed to join herbalists looking for plants in the forest. Three days I would stay with them in the city and watch them sort the plants, helping wherever I can. Then one day I was free and didnt have to show up. This world didn't seem to have the concept of a weekend, instead people had a day off every 4-6 days, so not everyone was free the same days. We looked around a bit and spent time until the herbalists came back. I was introduced to the team I was supposed to join tomorrow.

The leader of the team was Terron. He was a cheerful guy. He had short, dark hair that went up at the front. He was muscular and wore short sleeves and high boots. Technically he wasn't a herbalist, but he was responsible for the group. Make sure no one stays behind, keep to the safer areas, etc. Nicchy was the most experienced herbalist. She had chosen to be a herbalist straight from apprenticeship and has never lost her enthousiasm. Her closest colleague was Thomias, a herbalist that just finished his apprenticeship last year. He was a short, scrawny man. Lacked the obvious enthousiasm of Nicchy, but his eyes lit up whenever he heard something of interest. Or when Nicchy was talking.

Apart from me there were two apprentices, who both had been in this group for quite a while. Sallo was a herbalist apprentice. He looked quite young, but it was clear he knew his stuff. He had one extra day off compared to the adults, so he would be gone once every two weeks on the days that I was there. Roodon was the only one who seemed to lack enthousiasm for the outside. He was an alchemist apprentice like me, but he clearly had places he would rather be.

As an apprentice I was supposed to show up early. Terron would leave with or without apprentices and by no means was an apprentice allowed in the forest alone. Wether I could pass to the next phase was largely dependent on Nicchy's opinion, and bad attendence would certainly not help.

We went straight home after that. It was getting darker and you could see people stopping their activities to get inside. We didn't need to hurry, but with everyone trying to get off the street there was little we could do anymore. When home Carch prepared the same vegetable as yesterday, but today he cut it in large, thin strings and baked it until it was crispy and then salted it. We didn't really have dinner but instead ate the snackified vegetable with a game Carch taught me.

It was a board game where the board was a map divided in different areas. Each player had a token that could either move areas or do an action in the current area. The goal was to cleanse the map of all the monsters. Monsters would multiply automatically and could overwhelm the players with numbers. We played a few rounds until I got the hang of it, then we went to bed. I noticed Carch could manipulate the lights by just touching a seemingly disconnected pad. It must be magic. Would it be ok to ask, or was manipulating magic common knowledge here? It probably was, if even the lights needed magic.