This is a bonus for all you wonderful people who read my first two chapters right away. Please don't expect this pace to continue though. Seriously, I'm changing a lot of stuff from my first draft and the amount to change is building up as I go. My head's about to explode. I won't give up though! Not as long as people like it.

Day 3

{Endurance +2}

{Dexterity +3}

‘So I guess all that walking and fighting yesterday did improve my stats.’  I stretched and yawned as I looked around.

“Good morning.”  Selena was already dressed and double checking my dress.  “I assume your stats went up again?”

“Yeah.  It seems a bit fast.”

Selena just nodded knowingly.  “They will at first.  Early on, stats and skills gain levels fairly quickly. It gets increasingly tougher though.”

“Exponential?”

“I’m not sure what that means, but eventually it starts to even out. After a while it might take a year to improve one skill, but it can be repeated every year after that.”

Which means it’s an experience system that starts exponentially, but plateaus at higher levels. Still, I was annoyed that I couldn’t see the progress in between levels.

Selena and I soon had a decent breakfast in the common room before splitting up for the day.  Selena was going hunting again though she said so with a weird look, and I was going to the church to learn magic.

We parted ways outside the inn, and I was left alone for the first time since I tumbled down that hill.  Inside my dress was a small purse, which contained the silver coin I needed for the lessons.  The day promised to be a busy one, so I wasted no time in heading for the church.

As I should have expected, Chi was waiting just outside.  “Taishi.  Over here.  Ooh, you let your hair down today!  Come on, I can’t wait to get started!”

I had to stop her from dragging me in by the arm.  “I’m sorry Chi, but before that I need to do something.”

“Huh?  Aww, darn.  Okay, but what is it?”

“Well, I want to try praying.  Is that alright?”

“Okay, let me find you a good quiet spot.”  To her word, Chi found a perfect spot away from others.  “Here you go.  When you’re done, just go up the stairs past that door.  My room’s on the right.”  She reluctantly let go of my arm, but couldn’t leave before saying, “Don’t make me wait too long.” Chi then ran through the door she had pointed to.

Now let me state here I was never a religious person.  I just figured it wouldn’t hurt to try since I couldn’t get ahold of any GMs otherwise.  And what better place to call a ‘higher power’ than the church?

‘Alright, let’s give this a try.’  “God?  Or anyone?  I have no idea what’s going on and I need help.”

Immediately I felt a presence in front of me.  “Hello Taishi.  Good to see you again.”  The voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Hello?  Where… who are you?”

“Don’t try looking around, you can’t see me.  I’m Tanas, the one who brought you here.”

Finally I got someone who knew what was going on.  “Tanas, please tell me where this is.  I don’t remember any games being this good.”

“Haha, this is no game.  Maybe I should reintroduce myself.  I’m the god of this world.”

“God?  Really, is that what devs are calling themselves these days?”

“Funny.  No this world, Flora is a planet I found and populated after falling in love with the game worlds I discovered on Earth.”

“...  Great, I’m going nuts.”

“Oh please.  Did you really think this was a game?  With no menus or tutorials?  No no, this is a planet like any other.  I just added a few things to make it more fun.”

I’m sure you can understand how difficult this was to wrap my head around.  “So, I’m not going home am I?”

“Considering that you’ve been dead for thousands of years there, I don’t think so.”

*sigh*  ‘Wait, was that a happy sigh?’  Without realizing it, I had actually started enjoying myself here.  The news that I couldn’t go back only meant I could truly enjoy myself here.

“Good, I figured that wouldn’t upset you too much.  That’s one of the reason I picked you.  That and how much you enjoyed games.”

Then something dawned on me  “Wait.  You’re a guy aren’t you?”

“Well, I don’t think my race really has genders, but yes.  I’d be male in your eyes.”

“Great.  So this world of women is watched over by a perverted male god.”

“What?!  I did not make it this way for that reason!  I was simply disgusted by human males.”

“Then why me?  I’m a guy you know.”

“You were a guy.  Well, at least genetically.  Face it.  You’re more comfortable as a female.”

“I don’t know about that, but I guess I’m not complaining either.”

“See?  I did you a favor.”

“So, am I allowed to tell anyone who I am?”

“Why not?  Just keep the male thing a secret.  Oh, and keep the science to a minimum.  I want my people to grow on their own.”  I couldn’t argue with that.  “Now I have to go.  There’s something I just have to see and I can only be in a few places at once.  Say hello to your cleric friend for me.”

“Wait.  What the hell am I supposed to do here?”

“I told you in the note didn’t I?  Enjoy yourself, that’s all.”  Just like that his presence vanished.

‘He doesn’t seem that bad.’  After getting adjusted to the facts, I realized it wasn’t so bad.  This god, Tanas, was simply a perv who liked watching things.  It was a bit worrying, but wasn’t that bad.  I mean, how often does a prayer get answered on Earth?

‘Doesn’t like to stick around long though, does he?’  Oh well.  I finally had some weight lifted from my shoulders so I wasn’t upset.  ‘Now, to learn magic!’

I got up and walked towards where Chi said her room was.  Upstairs was a simple hallway with a dormitory feel to it.  On the doors were little placards with names written in what seemed to be slightly warped english.  I soon found Chi’s room and knocked.

“Come on in.”  Opening the door, I saw Chi sitting on the floor of a small bedroom.  With only a bookshelf next to the bed and a tiny table on the floor, the room could only be called sparse.  Then I realized her bed had room under it.  I’d bet anything her idea of cleaning was to throw everything under there.

“Feel better now after praying?”

I sat down across the table from her, knowing full well what I was about to say.  “Yes.  I got some questions answered that had me worried.”

“Answered?”

“Yeah.  Tanas, or maybe I should start calling him Tanas-sama.  He’s quite easy to get along with.”

Poor Chi.  The moment I said his name her eyes went wide and face paled.  “T-T… How do you know that name?!”

“Oh, right.  Tanas also says hello.”

“!!”  I swear she nearly fainted there.  “Wha… How…”

‘So cute.’  Maybe I was teasing a bit too hard though.

“You, you’re lying.  You have to be.  Why would God talk to someone like you?  Or me even?”

“If you could calm down a bit I’ll tell you.”

“You’d better!  Or no lessons for you.”

So I told her how I was plucked from another world by her god and was dropped outside of town with nothing but my dress.

“Nothing?"  she asked drooling.

“Almost, and no I won’t show you.”

She pouted a bit but I carried on about meeting Selena and how she helped me.

“So, you’re from another world.  Family?”  I shook my head.  “Why do you want to learn magic?  Do you want to go back?”

“Because we don’t have magic in that world.”

“What?!  No way!"  Wow.  This hit Chi harder than me being from Earth.  “How did people live?”

“We didn’t have monsters like Flora does.  But for other tasks we used things to do work for us.”

“So backwards… But no monsters must have been nice huh?”

I’m sorry, but I had to crush this little glimmer.  “No, but instead there were wars.  Almost all the time.  And hunger because there were too many of us.  Not fun, so I’m glad Tanas-sama brought me here.”

“Ah.  Hey wait!  Why do you add -sama to God’s name?”

“Just a custom from my father’s home.  It shows respect of a superior.  Seems appropriate.”

“Oh, I guess that’s not bad then.  But please don’t say His name around people anymore.  Even clerics are taught not to say it except when talking directly to Him.  Now!  Let’s start!  You have the fee right?”

I handed over the silver coin and Chi went into serious mode.  “Alright. Have you ever used your mana before?”

“Only since I got here.  That symbol at the gate, and for the well.  Things like that.”

“Okay.  Do you remember how it felt?”

“A little, like losing blood through my fingers but it didn’t hurt.”

“Yeah.  That’s a normal feeling when using symbols.  Okay, first thing.  Magic can be used two different ways.  The easiest way is with symbols.  These are just circles with designs in them that draw mana from the user.  The design is like a language that tells the circle what to do with the mana.”

This was pretty basic stuff.  “So easy to use, but hard to learn for yourself?”

“Yup!  Those who know the language of symbols can charge a lot for them.  Now, the other way is much simpler to learn but harder to use.  Mentally casting magic.”

“That’s the one I want to learn.”

“Of course.  Using magic this way is more about concentration and feeling the mana, but almost anything is possible with enough mana.”

Okay, that sounded like an exaggeration to me.  “Anything?”

“Yes.  We’re taught that it’s the power of God, but because our mana is limited we can only do so much.”

‘She’s serious?  This could be more fun that I thought.’

“Okay, first you need to simulate the feel of casting magic.  That’s what this table is for.  This has a symbol that will suck out your mana so you can feel it, but gives most of it back when you let go.  Go ahead and try it.”

Laying my hand on the table, I felt it right away.  The best I can describe it is like water flowing down my arm, but just under the skin.  I let go and the flow reversed back up my arm.  The whole ordeal cost one mana.

“What you felt is your mana moving through you.  As long as you have mana, outside magic doesn’t work on you.  Except for healing, which is more like using the target’s mana to heal, and replenishing with your own.”

‘So no reaching out and stopping hearts.’  “Question.  How would I increase my mana?”

“Like any other stat.  By using it.  Because I heal almost every day, I have 324 mana.  You?”

“Only 58.”

“Ah don’t worry about it.  At low amounts like that it grows pretty fast.  Oh, I forgot.  There is another way to increase your mana pool.  Some symbols let you store mana inside gems like rubies and diamonds.  It doesn’t help your mana recover any faster, but they’re great for emergencies.  Also they can’t be swapped.  It’s still your mana.  No one else can use it.”

“There’s an awful lot to this.”

“That’s why we charge for it.  Now’s the fun part.  Hehe.  Close your eyes and try to mimic that feeling when you touched the symbol before.”

I did so, but it wasn’t long before I felt something move.

!!  “What?!  Hey no touching!”  That kid was trying to lift my dress!

“Aww, come on.  I wanted to see if you were telling the truth earlier!”

“Truth about what?”  I quickly rearranged myself to guard against any more roaming hands.

“About only having the dress…”

“Please Chi, don’t do things like that.  You’re still a kid.”

“But I’m 15 now.  That’s fine right?”  Selena was right to warn me.  This girl was dangerous.

“You should at least wait a couple years for stuff like that.”

Chi lost her grin at this, but only for a second.  “Okay!  It’s a deal then.  You and me two years from now.”

“Wait what?!”

“Yippee!  Don’t you grow a bit Taishi.”  Yelling this Chi hugged me tight before sitting back in her spot.

‘What the hell did I just get myself into?’  “That’s not what I meant Chi.”

“I don’t care.  There’s no way I’m letting you get away.”

‘Oh god.’  “Can we please get back to my lesson Chi?”

“Yeah!  Anything for you now!  Where were we?  Ah, try to make your mana flow.  No need to close your eyes, and you can use the tool again if you need to.  This step can take a while so don’t rush it.”

She was right.  It did take a while.  It didn’t help that she kept playing with my tail, but eventually I got to the point I could control where my mana moved.  It’s the weirdest feeling, moving mana around.  Like you’re changing your blood flow.

“Alright!  We can move on to the really fun part now.  Using that mana.”

Because it could get dangerous we left the church and went up to on the town walls.  The path on top was about 3 meters wide, so the guards had no problems with people going up in small numbers.

“Okay!  Fireball is typically what we teach hunters first, so always try to aim it away from town, alright?  Now before this there’s one more rule you need to know.  Anything you do requires mana based on the effort required.  Say, pushing something.  It takes more mana to push bigger things.  The biggest pitfall people have is trying to create things.  It takes massive amounts of mana to make something from nothing.”

“Energy conservation.  Okay, that makes sense.  I assume it’s the same trying to destroy something?”

“Yeah.  It’s next to impossible to make something not exist anymore.  The most efficient way to destroy something is to simply damage it.  Now face towards the desert and feel your mana again.  To use that mana you have to know how the mana will be used.  A simple fireball is just heat propelled forwards.  So you make a ball of heat and push.”

“But that wouldn’t reach very far would it?”

“Right.  Just pushing heat is easy to understand, but the range will be very short.”

“So I would need to give it a fuel source, or maintain its heat the whole way.  So the more you know about how the world works, the better you can be at using magic.”

“You got it!  Yes!  I knew you’d get it quick!  Are you sure we have to wait two… Okay, yes.  You’re still too young, I can wait.  But try it.  Let me see what kind of fireball you make.”

Not wanting to let this excited little girl down I thought about what kind of fireball I could use.  I couldn’t make a fuel from nothing, but there’s lots of flammable gasses in the air to pull from.  So I used my mana to collect the ones I knew about from the open air in front of me and pushed it all into a little ball.

‘This is easier than I thought.’  It felt like second nature now that I knew how to move my mana.  With the ball of liquid floating in the air, I set it on fire and threw.  It worked like a charm as the little ball flew out into the rocky desert below, dripping fire as it went.

When it hit the ground the fireball exploded like a molotov cocktail, only bigger.  Of course no one was hurt since we chose a spot no one walked to, but that could have been dangerous in town.  All in all it took nearly fifty mana.

{Skill Unlocked - Kinetic Magic}

{Skill Unlocked - Fire Magic}

“Good job!  You collected air right?  So you knew about air being many different types then.  Now, watch how I do it.”

As I watched she formed a hollow ball of what looks like glass, set the inside red hot, then launched it next to where my fireball was puttering out.  When it hit, the shell shattered and the heat exploded with enough force to make a shockwave in the air.  The ground where it hit wasn’t on fire, but looked like glass.

“Now that’s impressive.  A fireball that attacks with force rather than fire.  How did you keep the heat inside?”

“I make a shield that protects against temperature changes, but breaks on contact.  Then the hotter I make the inside, the bigger the bang at the other end.”

Like a grenade vs napalm.  Concussive vs burn.

“Wait.  What if you also collected debris around the shield?  Wouldn’t that shrapnel be enough to decimate a tight group?”

“What a good idea!  Ooh, but I can’t just teach that to new students.  It’s not quite a fireball anymore is it?”

I don’t know why, but just then I remembered something I saw in an anime once.  ‘I wonder how much mana it takes to convert mass into energy.’

“Hey Chi.  What happens if you try something and you don’t have enough mana?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Oh, if that happens your mana will bounce back into you.  Kinda feels like getting a bruise all over.”

“Well then, no point trying now.  I’m really low already.”

“Oh, don’t worry too much.  When you’re hunting monsters you can absorb some of their mana when they die.  That should help.  Oh!  I almost forgot.  Casting magic at a distance uses more mana than normal.  That’s why most mages ‘throw’ their magic.”

“Is that it then?  I don’t want to be rude but…”

“Oh, you have other plans then?  Yeah, we’re all done.  Congratulations on learning magic in one day.  I’m going back to healing duty, but if you have time stop by the church.  You could even spend the night.”

‘Uh uh.  Nope.  Not falling for that trap.’  It didn’t matter that she was older than I thought.  There was no way I was doing anything that might get me in trouble.  Or her.  “Sorry Chi.  I need to talk with Selena tonight.  She still doesn’t know about me.  And please don’t tell anyone else.  Even your Granny.  Okay?”

“Aw, but it’s such juicy gossip.  Okay.  I promise I won’t talk about it with anyone.  See you around Taishi!  And don’t disappear anywhere without me all right!"  she yelled that as she ran down the stairs to the walls.

Finally alone I took a look at my two new skills.

{Kinetic Magic} - Consume mana to apply force to an object.

{Fire Magic} - Consume mana to create high temperatures.

Very basic descriptions.  I suppose they have to be since magic has almost no limits.

It was only late morning so I started the rest of my day with a shopping trip.  Well, that’s overstating things a bit.  I just needed more than one piece of underwear.  After the improvements Selena made I had decided I would keep my current dress as a sort of uniform.  I was so comfortable wearing it already and until it got damaged somehow, I didn’t see the point in replacing it.  The blood yesterday wiped right off with a bit of water and it was long enough I didn’t have to worry about upskirts.

Once that purchase was done and deposited back at the inn, my real plans began.  I grabbed my knife on the way out and headed for the weapons shop.  Goblin knives were good and all, but they were rusted from the start and quite scary looking.  When I found the shop I went right.

It seems I was too quiet when I entered as the lady at the counter didn’t even notice me.  “Miss shopkeeper?”

“Hmm?  Oh a young one.  I’m sorry.  What can I do for you?”

“I apologize, but I don’t have funds today.  I was hoping to see what I could work towards though.”

“I see.  Well a future customer is still a customer.  I’m Ven.  So what do you have experience in?”

I handed her the goblin knife I brought from the inn.

“Oh isn’t that a fancy buckle set-up on a dress?  Goblin knife huh?  These are fairly heavy and poor quality.  Have you slain anything with it yet?”

“20 goblins and 2 ogres yesterday.  If possible though, I want to dual wield.”

“All that with a rusty thing like this?  You’re not a normal kid are you?”

What could I say?  I wasn’t normal by any stretch, so I just shook my head.

“Alright, but are you sure you want to dual wield?”  I guess I looked determined since she continued, “...okay.  If you’re going to dual wield then you need something short and well balanced.  You want to stick with blades?”

“Probably.  I already have some skill with them”

“Alright.  Blades that aren’t too long for your size, would work well drawn from the shoulder, and balanced for speed over strength.  I think angled blades would be your best bet.”

I had no clue what she meant, but what she took out from behind the counter reminded me of a game I used to love.  Large pommel with an open grip, with a straight cross guard and a triangular blade about 20cm at the guard, with straight edges to the point.

“I’ve only got one, and I think it’s a bit long for you, but I could always get some made for your size.  They aren’t the best for slicing like a curved blade, and their size doesn’t work well with a shield so I hardly ever sell one.  But their shape is useful for parrying and dual wielding.”

“That is perfect.  How much for two my size?”

“Hmm, I could do 70 silver for good steel.”

“Wait, you have something better?”

“Of course I do, but you’re looking at multiple gold for that.  Look, I know you’re excited kid but you’d be better off getting a small house with that much.”

I knew it wouldn’t be cheap, but the price of a house?  I knew my new magic would help make money, but that was a bit absurd.  “So, if I bring in about 35 silver, would that be enough to start production?”

“Half in advance and half on delivery is a standard deal.  Good luck getting it out on that plateau though.  Not exactly the richest hunting grounds.”

“I understand miss Ven.  I think I know a way to get enough.”

“No thievery or shaving coins now.  As long as you get the coin legitimately I’ll make you whatever you need.”

I refastened my knife and readied to leave.  “Thanks a bunch Ven.  Now I know what to work for.  You’ll see me again when I have the coin.”

“When you come back, ask for me.  My wife is usually the one running the shop, so I’ll let her know about you.  Take care.”

70 silver, or 7,000 copper.  That was not going to happen just hunting lesser goblins outside of town.  To that end, the moment I left Ven’s shop I headed for the general merchant Selena introduced me to.

“Hey little one.  No Selena today?”

“Hi Stella.  No, she’s hunting solo today.  You’ll see her around sunset I bet.”

“That one always works hard out there.  Damn good source of leather around here.  So what are you up to today?  Finally getting some shoes?”

“No.  I was wondering if there were any good monsters nearby to hunt for expensive loot.”

“Hmm?  With your gear, even with Selena’s help the best you’d do are goblin packs a day south-west of here.  Each pack has twenty to fifty copper worth.”

That wouldn’t work.  “How about if I had the best gear and weapons?”

“Oh, well I don’t know what it’s like further west than a day or two since Krat’s out that way.  South of us though, towards the mountains are good hunting grounds for obsidian lizards and mountain drakes.”

“What are they like?”

“The lizards are just that.  Lizards, but they’re the size of a person and you need magic or really good weapons to kill them.  Their scales are good for light armor and one lizard could fetch you a silver.  The drakes are basically oversized obsidian lizards with wings.  You need a group to take those down.  They sometimes drop small gemstones though, so we see hunter groups travel here for them from time to time.”

‘So the best I could do is a silver per monster, but only after getting good weapons.  No wonder Selena was stuck hunting goblins.’

Well that was one down.  Time for plan B.

“Stella, is there anywhere I could sell metals?”

“Sure is.  I and any blacksmith will buy iron and steel from you.  For copper, silver, and gold you need to take it to an official coin exchange.”

“Official?  Like government?”

“Yeah.  Coin changers work for the government, and collect and sort raw metals for coin.  In exchange they give you minted coin up to ninety percent of the weight, if it’s pure enough.”

“Alright, I can go that route then.  Thank you Stella.”

“No problem.  Just don’t try to cheat the money changer.  They have symbols to tell if you are.”

“Of course not.”  Again, no way was I getting in trouble here.

An hour later and I was finally ready.  After some convincing with the guards, I was far enough out into the desert that no one could see me.

‘Now for the test.’

Gathering my mana, I sent it into the ground around me. Then I walked, concentrating on finding what I needed.

I had waited a few hours for my mana to recharge, and I was glad I did.  Walking with my magic working drained mana every twenty to thirty seconds.  Once I was close to no mana I stopped and turned.  Behind me was a cloud of the finest dust.  Using the last of my mana I collected it all onto my hand.

What formed were two small balls. One, a marble of silver. The other, a tiny pebble of gold.

“It works!”  I couldn’t believe it actually worked!  I recalled the night before about how simple dirt and water on Earth had extremely minute traces of precious metals, but I didn’t expect this world to be the same.

Now I had an income.  What I had wasn’t much but…

{Skill Unlocked - Sustained Magic}

‘Yes!’  There was even a skill for that.  The next day promised to be a lucrative one.  Before that though, I wanted to pay back Selena.

Some time later, and after asking directions, I reached the coin exchange.

“Hello?”  Inside was the simplest layout possible.  Room for maybe ten people in front of a counter which held scales and completely separated the customer from the employee.

“Yes?  Don’t just stand there, I assume you need something right?”  She was a rough looking woman, not tall but wide in a ‘you don’t want to mess with me’ fashion.

“Sorry.  I found a small amount of silver today and was told you could help me.”

“If you want coin for it, then that’s what I’m here for.  Go ahead and place it on the counter here.”

The moment I placed it, a small blue light shined under it.  Looking closer I could see a faint symbol stained in the wood.

“Oh, it’s not much but it’s pure.”  The woman quickly weighed it using a nearby balancing scale.  “Looks like I can give you 43 copper.  Are crowns alright?”

“Yes, but I also have this tiny bit of gold.”  43 copper wasn’t as much as I hoped for, so I handed over the gold as well.

“Oh, that is tiny.”  She passed it over a different symbol then weighed it.  “11 copper for this.  Sorry kid but it really is quite small.”

“No that’s fine.  Thank you.”

I got my coins and left.  Considering it took about ten mana to get half a silver, it was looking like it would take some time to collect what I needed.  At least it was something though.  Hopefully my new skill would help out too.

{Sustained Magic} - Consume mana at a constant rate to maintain an effect.

Such a useful sounding skill.  Unfortunately I was starting to get hungry.  I was used to skipping lunch before, but this new body seemed to eat up all the energy I supplied it.  I almost missed having a slow metabolism.  Almost.

I didn’t want to miss Selena though, so I went to wait for her at the town gate.

“Oh, hey little one.  You didn’t go with Selena today?”

“Hi Jills.  I had lessons today, so she went out solo today.”

“Well, don’t worry.  She’s been a solo hunter here for a few years now, so she’ll be back.”

I talked with the guards while I waited.  A lot of it was small talk, but it seems the guards in Krale work the same five hour shift every day, so they were all the same ones that saw me bloody.  They all perked up when I told them about the day before.

“Wait, there was a goblin pack that close?”  One guard asked.

“Yeah, maybe two hours out.”  They all exchanged looks.  “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.  It’s just not very common.”  The way they were all looking around made it obvious that wasn’t it, but I didn’t push the matter.

Not long after Selena showed up.  “Hey Jils. Taishi, what are you… Oh, sorry. I forgot to leave you enough coin for dinner.”

“No no. I just didn’t have much else to do.”

Then Jils butted in.  “Don’t let her fool you.  We’ve been listening to her stomach growl for almost an hour.”

“What?  It’s not been that bad!”  Just then my stomach gave me away with a grumble.

“Now now, little one.  I’m just teasing.  So Selena, good hunting today?”

“Yeah. I ran out a bit further than usual and got myself a few ogres.  Weird finding so many though.”

“We can only hope it’s not that time again.  Get yourself inside before our little friend here wastes away on us.”

As Selena and I walked into town she said, “I had a good haul today so anywhere you want to eat?”

“Ah, before that I have something for you.”  With that I gave her the five copper crowns I earned.  “Thank you for the magic lessons.”

“What?  How’d you get this?”

“Let’s just say the lessons worked.  I’m sorry it’s not a whole silver yet.”

“No no.  This is more than enough.  Remember at least half that was your coin anyway.  Okay, let’s go sell my loot and eat out shall we?”

Selena wasn’t exaggerating when she said she had a good haul.  When we reached Stella’s shop she pulled out almost as much loot as when we hunted together.  She even got the horns from two ogres herself.

We then had a great dinner in the square before heading to the baths.  I would have preferred to skip that, but Selena had worked hard and I didn’t feel like waiting at the inn for her.  Thankfully we finished up rather quickly, because as we left the building we bumped into Chi.

“Taishi!  You here for a bath?”    I swear she started drooling thinking about that.

“Sorry kid, but we just finished.  I forgot to ask, but how did the lessons go with you two?”

“Oh she was great.  It only took a few hours and I even learned something about her myself.”

“Chi, please don’t.”

“Huh?  Oh, you haven’t told her yet?  Okay, I’ll let you go because I’m so nice.”

“Wait.  I’m curious, but I have a favor to ask you Chi.  Would you be willing to give me magic lessons tomorrow?”

Good.  Now that Selena finally had a surplus of funds she could learn it herself.

“Sure.  My room is still set up for it.  You wanna come too?”  She looked at me.

“Sorry Chi.  I have plans.”

“Aw, fine.  Big sis, come by any time but don’t forget the fee.”

“Will do, now go get your bath.  Come on little one, I want to hear what you’re keeping from me.”

With a wave we parted from Chi and went back to our room.  Once inside Selena questioned me.

“So what’s this you need to tell me?”

“Well…”  I told her about how I was dropped in the desert after being taken from my old home by this world’s god.

“You came from another world?  Like our ancestors?”

“Ancestors?”  ‘Did Tanas take others from Earth?’

“We’re taught by the clerics that the first people on Flora were brought here from another world thousands of years ago.  Hmm, that would explain why you didn’t know anything.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot for teaching me so much.”

“So, you planning on going back?”

I shook my head.  “I’m told I died there.  Plus, this world has magic and all sorts of fun things to do.”

“Wait, you mean you didn’t have magic at all?”

“No.  Haha, Chi was stuck on that as well.  My old world had no mana, no levels or skills.  The whole status thing we have here was just imagined back home.”

“How strange.  It’s a bit hard to believe, but it explains why you were given that skill then.  Are you sure you’re okay being here though?”

“Of course.  This world is so much more fun.  Plus, I finally made some friends.  I wouldn’t want to disappear on them.”

Suddenly I was hugged.  “Thank you.  I wouldn’t want you to disappear either."  Aw, Selena.  I love this girl, but please watch the tail...

SELENA - INTERMISSION

I knew Taishi had something going on, but I never expected such a story.  To think that little girl might be from the same world as our ancestors.

I figured I’d have to keep an eye on her, but that didn’t look to be too hard.  I had been somewhat lonely ever since my parents left, so it was nice having someone like her around.  It’s actually pretty fun around her.

Now I even had the coin for my own magic lessons.  It’s a bit upsetting to think that it took over two years to save up enough, but I’d promised my mothers I’d stay put.  Oh well.  At least now I had experienced a new way to hunt.

I guess I worried Taishi a bit that morning with my mind being elsewhere, but I really was just thinking about how easily she took out the ogres the day before.  I had never thought to dodge into them.  I had always just blocked their blows.

I still couldn’t believe such a little thing was able to do it though.  ‘Hmm?  Am I worried about her?  I wonder if this is what it's like to have a little sister?’

END - INTERMISSION