The meat was rather tough, it took forever to chew a piece. Trillia held it in front of her and let scan do it's thing.

[Raptor Jerky] Flesh from a raptor that has been seasoned and dried as rations.

That made sense. Food scouts took when they left on missions was really hard and didn't taste very good. But it lasted a very long time. Trillia shrugged and followed close behind her mother, the two had gotten some fruit and this jerky as their lunch. Her mother had said something about talking to Uncle Mort and old man Lurog.

Once they got to the stone building the grand alchemist was using. Amara spoke loudly and tapped her fingers on the door leading inside.

"Mort. It's Chieftain Amara. May Trillia and I come in?"

Trillia had once asked her mother. Why she asked permission to go into places. She was the Chieftain and could sort of do whatever she wanted. That was when Amara explained that being polite often got you further than being rude and that you should never, ever abuse a position of power.

Most of the orcs in the tribe loved Amara dearly, both as an orc and as a Chieftain. So Trillia felt that any advice on leadership her mother gave her, was good advice. The door swung open, and the large crimson-furred minotaur poked his head out.

"Ah! Lady Amara. Yes, please come in. I've been trying to find a solution to our mana rift problems."

Amara followed him in, motioning for Trillia to follow. The inside of the building smelled like fire and a myriad of herbs. Amelia sat off to the side, reading one of her books and writing in it. Several herbs on the table near her. Her mother spoke as they both followed Mort to a large desk, covered in various glass bottles, with small flames and thousands of runes everywhere. It looked very complicated and difficult to set up. But Trillia couldn't help but be fascinated by all the runes.

"That's good. Even our best scouts have said it's unlikely they could make the four-month journey to Kincairne without significant backup. The monsters have just grown too strong and territorial since the cataclysm. We need to be able to send a full retinue of scouts across. But most can't make the jump, even when we try to launch them across."

Mort nodded as he pulled out a large book. It made a loud thump when he dropped it on the table and flipped through pages, tapping one and motioning to Amara, who stepped next to him and began reading. Trillia wandered over to Amelia to see what she was doing but tried to keep an ear on the adult's conversation. Her mother's voice rang clear through the tiny building, so it wasn't difficult.

"A potion to cure mana sickness? I didn't think that possible, since most of our potions utilize mana to be created, which just makes the problem worse."

Mort sat on a chair, reaching over to a water skin and taking a long drink.

"True, I'm trying to brew a potion with no mana in it. I know such things exist in the human lands, but trying to do so from scratch is problematic. Right now I'm trying to create a potion that takes mana, more like a poison than a potion really. But I need it to clear the mana sickness debuff as it does so."

Amara gave an affirmative grunt as she continued to read. Trillia climbed up on the bench Amelia sat on. Moving to stand next to her seated friend. Trying to make out what she was writing.

Amelia must have been lost in thought, as once Trillia got next to her, she jumped a bit.

"Goodness, Trillia! You can't sneak up on me like that."

Chuckling as she looked at her friend. Trillia motioned to Mort and her mother, who had begun discussing scouts, the mana rifts, and the kingdom of Kadessa, for what felt like the hundredth time to Trillia.

"Oh, I hadn't even noticed the two of you enter. Are you ready to start learning about alchemy and runes?"

Trillia grinned and nodded. That was why she had come after all. Amelia closed the book she was working on and pulled open a new one.

"I borrowed this from Elder Shaman Lurog. It's a book on enchanting, it's a bit complicated for us to learn, especially without an experienced enchanter to teach us. But it has thousands of runes in it, and what they mean. I think it will be a good source to learn runes for both of us."

Amelia set a few more large books down on the bench, which Trillia sat on. The two were now almost level. Amelia placed the book on enchanting between them. Trillia pulled out her own little notepad that Amelia had given her, and the two began to read.

Trillia was fascinated not only by the runes but also enchanting. The order in which you placed enchantments was important. And could alter the entire item. For instance, she learned that by using the runes for [Pierce] and [Arcane]. An item could be enchanted in many ways. Pierce, then arcane meant a weapon could pierce arcane defenses. Arcane, then pierce meant that the weapon did arcane damage, and some of it would pierce physical armor.

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Arcane on your armor meant the physical item had resistance to arcane damage. So on and so forth. In many cases, some creations had to be enchanted over several days or even weeks. So that the runes had time to take root, so you could enchant runes separately.

The girls sat there for hours before Mort's deep voice interrupted their lesson. Both girls jumped a bit, startled at the sudden intrusion.

"The sun has set. I'm very sorry girls, but I need to rest for tomorrow. I've exhausted my mana several times today. You can return tomorrow. The book you have on enchanting isn't a minotaur book, so I'm ok if you wish to take it with you. It's still valuable knowledge, however, and I ask that you treat it with the respect all knowledge deserves."

Trillia stretched her arms and carefully slid off the stack of books she was sitting on, taking each in turn and gently placing them back on the large table.

"Sorry, Uncle Mort. That book is really fun though. I think we both just lost track of time."

Amelia closed the book. Grabbing it as well as the notebooks each girl had. Standing herself and bowing.

"She's right, sorry Grand Alchemist. If we ever intrude like this again, please let us know. So that we do not disturb your important work."

Mort offered a deep chuckle and waved them off.

"Don't apologize for learning. It is a pursuit I wish all of our people took more seriously. If your parents are ok with it and you both wish to learn. I can show you some basic enchanting once you have a firm grasp on the runes. It certainly won't be anytime soon, maybe in a couple of years I can begin teaching you."

Both Trilla and Amelia's faces lit up at that. They both nodded, bowing once more before scampering off, probably to some fire to eat and read even more. Mort wore a content smile on his face, happy that Amelia was coming to terms with her grief and had found a friend.

The girls had run off to a small stone building near the outskirts of the now village. Amelia had identified it as the house her father and she were staying in. The inside of the house had a small pile of furs, a table, and a bench for Amelia. It seemed as if either her father didn't sleep, or had no belongings. Trillia gave the place a confused look, even her parents had a place to sleep. Even if they had seemingly no belongings of their own.

Amelia saw the confused look, speaking up to perhaps help the issue.

"From the conversations, I had with both father and mother. Beings of their level don't really need to sleep or eat. They do so for the enjoyment, and because it can still give buffs or speed up recovery. But it's not required like it is for us. Father also mastered a class that gave him what he calls a pocket dimension. I guess it's sort of like....a bag that's always with him, that can hold a bunch of stuff."

Trillia listened to her friend, sitting down on the bench next to her, nodding the whole time.

"Maybe mom and dad have something like that. Cause they don't seem to own much either. But mom has lots and lots of weapons. I've seen dad's tools before, the ones he uses to enchant stuff."

Amelia placed their notebooks back down. Grabbing some furs for Trillia to sit on for height before she opened the enchanting book back up.

"I've heard there are items you can create or find. Items that give you storage are like that as well. Our city had a dungeon below that young minotaurs would train in. Usually, we didn't get to start training there until our species was level forty though, it was very dangerous. Like most dungeons, this one could sense who was in it, and would target weak creatures."

"I've never seen a dungeon. I've never left our camp actually. I'm supposed to have my first fight soon. They force most young orcs to fight a creature that's a much higher level. Father says we do it because it gives us better class options. It also helps us reach level ten much, much sooner. But, it's going to be difficult for me. Since I won't get boosted experience, and my brawn is low."

Her voice sank a little as she spoke. Her [Runt] status reminded her yet again of her shortcomings, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before she unlocked her mana. Trillia knew she could be useful now, just in a different way than other orcs.

Amelia wrapped an arm around her friend, giving her a little squeeze and a half hug.

"I'm sure you will do fine. Maybe we can ask father if he will let me join you. A lot of my levels came from running away from home. Having to buff and heal people as we fled, and the subsequent battles after. It would be nice to learn how to fight for real though. I'd love to learn with you."

Trillia's frown vanished, replaced with a smile.

"I'd like that a lot. Maybe it won't be so scary if I have a friend with me. Wait."

Trillia now thinking about what Amelia had just said.

"Dungeons can think?"

"I think so? From what I've been taught, dungeons are centered around a core. That core seems to have some understanding of what is happening. My people believe that dungeons are the souls of the fallen. Which is why some dungeons actively try to help raise strong warriors, and others try to kill everyone who enters."

Trillia sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about that. She wondered if there were any orc dungeons, of great warriors of chieftains in the past. She silently reminded herself to ask her parents about it.

"Oh! Amelia, why did the level-up message change? The system leveled me one way, and than later I got another general skill level, but the way it told me was different. Did I mess something up?"

"No. The system is a little different for everyone. For instance, when a general skill levels for me it's something like. Cooking has advanced from the third level of experience to the fourth level of experience. Grand Alchemist Mort's system goes into even further details, and father's doesn't even tell him when general skills level up anymore unless it's for an evolution or it has reached its maximum level."

Amelia looked to Trillia, letting her soak up some information before she continued.

"You can sort of direct how it changes. If you don't like the message you get, you can sort of impress upon the system the changes you want. I think, in father's case he has so many general skills he just doesn't want to be bothered with them all the time. In the Grand Alchemist's case, he wants to be exact in every little thing he does. Scans work in a similar way. Most people use Greater Scan when speaking out loud, but almost everyone has another skill they use to get the information they specifically want."

Trillia nodded once more.

"Thank you for helping me understand all of this. I don't wanna bother mom and dad, 'cause they seem to be really worried about the things they call mana rifts."

Amelia smiled and gave her another little hug before the two turned their attention back to the book in front of them. Another few hours passed before both girls had their heads on the table, snoring away and leaning on each other.