The following morning, Frank flagged down Enelise a few hours after breakfast for a talk. Out of all the craftsmen, she was the one he felt that he had the best relationship with, and she just felt like a respectable and trustworthy person in general. The reason was him feeling like at least someone needed to know a bit more about him, as he had realized the previous day that they still judged their preconceptions about his abilities based on regular people, and even he knew that could lead to some major misunderstandings down the line if nothing was done in advance.
Thus, while he intended to keep secret about him originating from another world, he would share his skills and titles. This way he would also be able to formulate more of a plan with her on how he should act when he eventually entered a town. TL; DR: there’s a lot he didn’t know about this world, so having at least one confidant who could help him would be amazing.
“Something’s up?” Enelise asked as she approached after placing down what she had in her hands. “Nothing really major, but I would appreciate it if you had some time to chat one on one for a bit. If you don’t have right now, then we can just do it later.” He could see her think about it for a bit, before answering with a soft smile. “Sure! I’m just moving a couple things around right now and a small break would be nice. I used a decent amount of mana to make the forge’s flame, so it should last for most of the day before it’ll begin to slowly die down; with the large increase in materials, it’s beneficial for Philip to not be dependent on me controlling the fire.”
Making a mental note to later ask about making long lasting fires, Frank responded. “Great, let’s go then.” Unbeknownst to them, there was someone who had overheard everything Frank said, and they were shortly followed by the curious perpetrator.
Once they were a decent bit out of the way of everyone else, Enelise asked: “So? What did you want to talk about?” “Before I begin, I’d greatly appreciate if you could keep what I’m about to say a secret, at least until I say otherwise.” He could see a mix of intrigue and slight confusion on her face, but she responded, “I don’t mind doing that, though depending on what it is, I may end up sharing it if there’s a crisis and I feel that the circumstances demand it.”
“That’s fine. I expect you to judge appropriately if the situation demands it. Let’s begin with the core issues; I don’t really know anything specific about thi“ -he realized that he was about to say ‘this world’, which could easily be understood as him knowing of other worlds, so he changed it- “the world, and you guys don’t really know anything about me and what I can do.”
Despite noticing the little slip-up, Enelise just shrugged and pretended to have noticed nothing. “What about it? You were the one who told us that we wouldn’t get an answer, so none of us asked. Though that’s not to say that we haven’t been curious, and we have in fact come up with a couple ideas as to your existence, as the more we’ve learned about you, the less sense your existence has made to us.”
When he pulled Enelise over, Frank hadn’t expected her to mention that they had been questioning his existence, but now that he heard it, he wanted to slap his older self for not realizing that this would happen. However, since what’s done is done, it was too late for him to do anything about it, so with a smile at his own mistake, he asked her to go on.
“Well, if we temporarily exclude your ability to change form and even job so freely and just look at your level and you being in the forest, then we run into one of the large reasons for our idea. As you’ve said yourself, you just woke up here at one point, which quite weird. Then there’s the fact that the residue fire mana of the bear indicated that it had a fire affinity and your obvious inexperience with fire magic compared to what else you’ve shown us led us to conclude that it originates from a worldly achievement. This would then imply that the bear was a lot stronger than you when you killed, but your reaction to the orc camp made it clear that the bear had been quite a bit weaker, landing us at an estimate of level 40-60 for it. So, if we lowball and assume it was level 40 and you were half its level at 20, then we get a pretty average civilian level for one your age.”
After quickly confirming that he was still listening, she continued, “If we then look at how you haven’t really expressed issues with recalling information, but more a complete lack thereof, we also assumed that you weren’t amnesiac, meaning that either someone somehow tampered with your memory before throwing you out here or have been raised in some environment where you somehow avoided learning common knowledge of the world. In addition to that weirdness, there’s also the fact that you generally seem like you’ve only used magic for a short while and in a self-taught way at that, which is something even kids are taught, at least how to manipulate mana.”
From the confused look on his face, Enelise could tell that he wasn’t exactly following what she was trying to prove. “Anyhow, it seemed incredibly unlikely for you to have existed in this world already. Thus, when combined with your ability to shapeshift and hold multiple classes, we decided that the most likely scenario was that one or more gods came together to create you for some sort of experiment, and after giving you some knowledge on how to survive in the wild along with random bits of knowledge about the world, dropped you off in this forest. This would explain your abilities in addition to your low level and skills.”
At the end of her explanation, Frank was nodding along to show that he understood. “I see. Well, I can say that you’re not entirely on the wrong track, as I was brought here by a god, but I wasn’t created by one. Instead, I was raised someplace completely void of both mana and the system, but somehow, I was able to evolve mana naturally. Whenever the mana came in contact with anything, it would begin to destroy it for some reason. In less than an hour from that point, a god from here swiped me from a random street and brought me to this forest. He granted me his blessing and the ability to a single other form, though it was my innate ability that evolved it into what it is now. As for my knowledge about random stuff, that stems from fantastical stories from my home. As they didn’t regard this place in particular, there’s a lot of specifics I don’t know and some of what I know is likely false, but at least I’m not completely in the dark about what things are in this place.”
As he talked, he could Enelise mouth gape more and more as she did her best to comprehend what she was hearing. Once he finished, she placed a hand at both temples and remained silent for a bit. “That… that certainly isn’t something you hear every day. However, it does explain a lot of things. So, why are you telling me all this? What if tell it to other people, then your secret’s out of the bag.”
As he had already considered that option, he shrugged his shoulders as if it didn’t matter. “Who’d believe you? There are only 6 people who know I can shift my form. And even if I did tell you, what’s to stop me from changing into a form you haven’t seen? You can’t be sure that I’ve shown you all my forms, or even how it really works in detail.” Upon hearing that answer, it once again clicked for her how absurd this situation actually was, but before she could say more, he continued. “As for your first question; it’s simply because I need someone who can properly inform me of stuff in this world, especially behavior when in contact with other people. If I were to one-sidedly demand that, then some resent could eventually grow, so therefor I shared the biggest secret I have. Though, to be honest, it’s just because I trust you. That’s all.” At those last words, Enelise could feel the sincerity in them, despite the tone barely changing. It was thanks to her experience as a merchant, selling her own crafts, that she acquired the ability to detect those nuances, even if the other person wasn’t aware of them.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
For the first time since they had met, she lost all her composure and began to laugh from the bottom of her heart. Discounting the sheer absurdity of the situation, the last remark was what broke it for her. To think that after a lot of logical explanations, the actual reason was as simple and straightforward as that. Had she been from Earth, she may very well have looked around and asked where the hidden cameras were; that was how absurd she felt the situation to be.
Barely keeping her laughter in, she replied: “First of all, thanks for the laugh. I had long grown used to most people having some secret reason for everything they do, so even if they seem nice, it’s best to keep cautious around everyone. You, however, just said a lot of things most people would never dare to utter, followed by expressing a lot of faith in me as a person, not for my blacksmithing abilities or in a professional setting, but a purely personal one. That was incredibly refreshing.” The soft smile on Frank told her that her explanation was appreciated.
“Second, I’ll gladly help you. Not only have you already saved my life once, but you’ve even chosen to put that much trust in me; how could I choose not to repay it. Besides, I have a gut feeling that staying by your side will allow me to greatly expand my horizons, both in terms of abilities and knowledge of the world.” With a broad smile and relaxed expression, she asked, “Anything else you want to say while we’re out here alone?”
“Just a little, so you have a better idea on how to judge what’s reasonable for me to take on. My mana increases by one extra point each level, my mana stat is doubled, including items I equip, my mana pool is further multiplied by 2.1, and my mana quality is greater than the average person.” Despite having prepared herself for something absurd, this was way crazier than she could’ve even imagined. So, as she stood with her mouth agape, Frank chuckled and said. “Also, my mana stat seems to always take two of my stat points when leveling up, totaling 382 mana as of now. With that said, let’s head back before the others get worried.” With Enelise still trying to comprehend the sheer potential in such an ability, they made their way back.
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As the following week passed, everything seemed to look up for the small group. Enelise and Corrin made different tools along with simple weapons for everyone in case of an emergency. Frank successfully got his masonry skill from level 23 up to 39 with great guidance from Corrin and thus advanced to an intermediate mason apprentice. With Adam efficiently making a good number of wooden spears, Sylvia was able to springboard her |Spearhead Explosion| all the way to level 40; the spears not being constructed through magic seemed to help the progress a lot. In addition to that, by shifting between sparring with everyone, though especially Korrak, Adam, and Philip, she had pushed her skill to level 45. With Calysta, she had successfully brought the basic tracking up to level 20, but it certainly wasn’t easy. However, while this was all well and good, her focus on improving her basics and strengthening her foundational skills, she had found little time to really practice her magic.
As the week drew to a close, they encountered the issue of lacking materials, with the blacksmiths out of metal and Sally still lacking any sort of cloth to work with. At dinner that day, Frank voiced out what most of them were thinking. “So, it would appear that we’re running quite low on metal and cloth. Therefore, I think it’d be a good idea if some of us were to look for a village or city of some sort, and I do have an idea of where one may be.”
Having just been about to mention that they are here because they don’t know of a city, Corrin instead kept quiet for a couple seconds before asking: “Then what are we sitting around for? Shouldn’t we already be out looking for it?” “Not so fast. While I intend to look for a city, I have absolutely no intention of moving to one; I don’t exactly think that my shapeshifting would be a good fit amongst a constant mass of people. Thus, I want to ask if any of you would prefer moving to whatever city I may find, or if you’d rather stay here with me? I would personally be really happy if you stayed, as you’re all appreciated, both in what you bring practically but also socially.” Before the conversation could focus too much on finding the city, Frank quickly interjected with an issue he had been thinking off for some days.
“I can’t say anything for the others, but I’m definitely staying here. I’ve already made up my mind with regard to sticking with you.” Unsurprisingly, Enelise was the first to voice her opinion. Surprisingly, however, she was shortly followed by Corrin, who had otherwise seemed the most interested in leaving. “If Enelise stays, then count me in as well. Just like how she wants to see how far you can go, I want to see how far she can reach, considering the blessing she has managed to get.” Compared to his tone from a week ago, it was almost as if another person had taken his seat. Instead of annoyance and envy, his tone was full of intrigue and curiosity. In the back of his mind, Frank made a note to ask Enelise what had caused the change, though not that he minded.
As the others thought, Korrak decided to speak his mind. “I’m staying. I refuse to run from my past forever, so I will continue to build the fortress to the point where no orc will ever get inside.” While it could be argued that building a fortress was similar to running away, the main difference was that he was actually doing something about it with his own hands, instead of just relying on others to protect him.
“I’m also staying. The atmosphere here is so nice and the amount of sensory stress is far lower than in a city environment.” A smile broke out on Sally’s face, “Besides, if I didn’t stay and cook for you guys, you would totally forget to have meals prepared on time; I’m also getting close to advanced chef apprentice, so I want to experiment with that path on the side.” Her initial reason felt like the most obvious out of everything said so far, but the latter had Frank confused.
‘Wasn’t she a tailor? How come she’s suddenly a chef apprentice? She must have changed class somehow. Can you even change class?’ Her last reason started a chain reaction of questions and answers in Frank’s mind, which culminated in him remembering the LOCKED class and making a mental note to ask either Sally or Enelise in the future.
“… around, you can see a lot of different trees, so I’m totally down for staying here.” Frank realized that he had zoned out while thinking and missed that Adam had begun. “Between creating supports and decorations for some castle and making a every wooden thing here, I’m definitely going to experience a lot more here. Besides, if I want to create support stuff, I can just help our pal over here with his little project.” The gesture towards Korrak and friendly glint in his green eyes prompted a small smile from the dragonborn.
“I suppose that just leaves me.” With everyone else deciding to stay, Philip realized that he had become the center of attention and spoke out. “If possible, I’d prefer to go back home to my family before bringing them here. That could take a while though, and you guys have begun to grow quite a bit on me, even though we’ve only been together for a month. Besides, this place is actually quite wonderful and relaxing, given you look past the danger.” The others approved of his stance on it, but Frank was also quite shocked at the reveal. ‘I really need to talk with them all some more. I didn’t even know he had a family.’
“Alrighty then. It would appear that we’ve all come to an agreement that satisfies us all. I’ll take Philip with me, and I’d prefer to also bring Enelise; I feel that if we travel in a group of three humans, we will look less suspicious. Besides, the three of you have Earth magic, so you will be able to hide the cave well and stay safe that way. As for food, the amount of smoked meat we have should be enough, but I’ll gladly catch some more before we head out.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. But don’t we first need to find a village or town before we go that far?” Corrin inquired. “Great. And yes, we do need that. But we do have a clue.” At the mention of the word clue, both Philip and Enelise understood and finished Frank’s statement together. “”The goblins.”” They had looked at enough goblin equipment over the week to instantly recall the description talking about people making the gear.
“Since the goblins had to get that amount of gear from somewhere in such a short time, it means that they had to be close enough to civilization for adventurers to encounter them.” As it dawned on everyone, looks of understanding spread between the remaining three members. “To get it over with as soon as possible, I plan to head out now, so see you guys later.” With those words, Frank got up from the table, and Sylvia left the cave to the wishes of good luck from those remaining.