Under normal circumstances, I would have been elated to know that I could charge my phone, but I had other ideas. No, the question was: why? Why could mana charge my phone?

I dwelled on this as I picked up the dried out pelt of whatever it was that I had killed in the previous night, ready to continue. I had discovered that in the travel sack the village had gave me was a large amount of dried sandworm meat, meaning that I had a pretty decent source of food for a little while at least, maybe longer if I rationed it properly.

If mana can charge my phone, does that mean that it acts like electricity? When I discharged there would be arcs of what looked like electricity, but I certainly didn’t feel like I was being shocked. No, while the discharge was painful, it didn’t have that sensation. Hmm.

Now, dear readers, this might be where you begin thinking to yourself what the true nature of mana might be, and if that is indeed what you are doing, then congratulations! You get to read my book, A Comprehensive Study on the Characteristics of Mana! And if you aren’t theorycrafting, then that’s understandable. After all, this is only chapter six!

Jasko mentioned that mana saturated objects are prone to discharging, and if that’s the case, then maybe I should avoid casting with my phone in my hand in the future. A mana discharge might ignite the lithium in the battery, and that’s the last thing I need.

----------------------------------------

A few weeks passed before anything of note happened again. The thing of note being a sandstorm. I could see the sandstorm coming from quite a distance away, and it prompted me to set up my tent, and bury myself partially in the sand with it to prevent it from being blown away. Fortunately the fabric was woven in such a way that it allowed for easy airflow, but kept things like sand out, so I didn’t end up suffocating.

As hours passed and I wasted away in boredom, I heard what sounded like a lightning strike.

I would really prefer to not be zapped today, thank you.

Normally I would end this section right here, but unfortunately lightning wasn’t the only thing I heard. Just a short while after, I heard a pair of shrill roars in the distance, followed by a veritable orchestra of lightning.

Oh you have got to be fucking with me right now. I am not going to fight a lightning dragon or whatever the hell that is out there.

It would be my luck then that the sandstorm eventually dissipated, taking the roaring and lightning with it. I emerged from my tent-burrito to find the area dotted with strange black rock formations, some only up to my shins, while others were multiple heads taller than me. Fulgurites. Lightning doesn’t strike that frequently, not on Earth. For every roar I heard, lightning would follow shortly after. Whatever had been out there must have been causing this. If not the storm, then definitely the lightning.

----------------------------------------

As it happens, humans have better endurance than Girtablilu, and so we tend to cover long distances faster. The remainder of the trip only lasted another two weeks, meaning that I made the trip to Tokal in half the time that Darman had said I would. This left me with more leftover rations, which I gladly saved for another day.

The air had actually gotten warmer by quite a significant margin, and considering that I had been heading north meant that I must have been getting closer to the equator of Helsa. If I couldn’t make water on demand, I’d have been cooked alive in that desert several weeks back.

Even so, over the few remaining days of travel, I noticed the sands begin to slowly and gradually fade into a tropical forest of sorts, with the biome passing through a sort of savannah like middle area. And it was in this pseudo-savannah that I found my first destination — Tokal.

The town was sort of what I had expected. It certainly looked like it belonged, with the buildings taking on a very rustic, yet tropical appearance. Many were wooden with thatched roofs, while others were made from gray stone brickwork and had uniform tiled roofs. The stone buildings also had proper glass windows, instead of just a hole and some cloth or the like. This town was also much larger than Dilanja, with many many people bustling about the place.

And boy were there people. I saw all sorts of species — girtablilu, some kind of partially feathered human-like species with long elven ears, and an even more avian species that looked like a feathered theropod dinosaur with a beak.

Truthfully, I had no clue where to start. This town was quite large, and many of the signs weren’t even in English.

Or would it be Common? I think I heard the villagers in Dilanja call it Common. Huh. Linguistic convergence, weird.

----------------------------------------

I decided to choose a building and just enter, hoping that I would find something useful. I came to a stone building with a sign that while not in Common, had a picture of a mug of some kind — a tavern?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Stepping in I found my nose immediately assaulted by the pungent smell of alcohol and fermenting fruit. I guessed they were producing it in the back rooms or something.

I moseyed my way over to the bar counter and took a seat on an elevated wooden chair. The bartender regarded me with a strange look, and approached me.

This person was of the aforementioned feathery human-like race. They were positively covered in feathers, though their face was bare, the skin similar to that of a human, and much closer to a light tan than the almost chocolate color that girtablilu tend to sport. The feathers were a mix of black and a warm gray, with black striped patterns running horizontally down their body. They sported ears that were very much similar to that of a girtablilu, but they were tilted slightly up as opposed to the nearly horizontal angle of girtablilu ears. In place of a head of hair, they had long, majestic feathers that reached their upper back.

“Luçololam pærsz?” they questioned with a more feminine voice than I had been expecting. “Lanan teu eç yben ysz…” her yellow-sclera’d eyes squinted as though they were scrutinizing my appearance.

That, is not Common.

“Uhhhm, do you by chance happen to speak Common?” I probed.

Her eyes widened, and she promptly nodded. Clearing her throat, she responded anew. “Yes, I do speak Common. I was saying that I’ve never seen ears like yours before. Are you an outworlder?”

“...yeah I am. Are outworlders a regular occurrence or something?” I asked, genuinely curious.

The feathered person shrugged. “They’ve been appearing for the past few centuries after sky-quakes. I’ve heard that they can be found in numbers in the big cities, but other than that, I’ve never actually laid eyes on one. You almost look like an elf, though if you were one you’d be molting well out of season.”

Wait, molting? These are some pretty weird elves. Eat your heart out Tolkien. Or roll in your grave, it doesn’t matter to me.

“Uh well that aside.” I said, changing the subject. “I got a couple questions for you, if you don’t mind. Oh and my name is Max, nice meeting you.” I said, extending my hand for a shake.

“Well met, Max. I’m called Ava!” she said as she extended her hand. It was similarly covered in black and gray feathers, though the underside was bare for the purpose of grip. I took her hand and gave it a firm shake. “I’m happy to help, what can I do for you?”

“Well for starters, do you know where I might be able to sell this?” I said, pulling the pelt from over my shoulder.

“Oooh is that a lupien pelt? Those’ll sell for a pretty decent sum! Where’d you get it?” she asked with an excited curiosity.

“Oh, it attacked me a few weeks south of here. I hit it with a spell and finished it with my spear.” I responded.

“Ohh you’re lucky to be alive Max. Those guys’ll kill you real fast if you don’t see ‘em in time. How’d you notice it? They normally camouflage themselves…” she mused.

“I just shined a light on it and I guess that stunned it? I didn’t really hesitate when I saw it, so I guess I just got lucky?” I conjectured.

She nodded furiously, her head feathers fluttering about. “Luck is right! Though you made the right decision killing it so quickly. If you had hesitated for a moment longer it would have ripped you apart.” she warned gravely. “Though I wouldn’t sell that pelt if I were you. I bet if you let a local craftsman have a few feathers from that pelt, they’d be happy to make a ghillie cloak out of it for you!”

“A ghillie cloak?”

Is that what I think that is?

“Mhm! Try channeling some mana into it!” she urged.

And so that’s exactly what I did. I grabbed a small amount of mana and passed it into the pelt. And as I did that, the feathers regained their colors in waves, and eventually settled into a strange camouflage of their relative surroundings.

Holy hell. Naturally occurring active camouflage? No wonder these things sell for a lot!

“Woah. Now this is something I’d be interested in. Know any good craftsmen nearby?” I asked excitedly.

“Uh huh! There’s this therian guy named Kalenz just a few buildings down that would kill for a shot at that! Tell him Ava sent you.” she answered.

“Alright thank you so much!” I said as I rushed out the building to find this Kalenz guy.

I then realized that I had forgot to ask Ava my other questions.

Nope! Get that cloak Max! Go! Go! Go!

----------------------------------------

It didn’t take me long to find this Kalenz guy. He had a shop stall a few buildings down, closer to the center of the town, and behind the stall was a larger building. I could see heat waves distorting the air near the windows.

A blacksmith too perhaps?

I saw a strange creature exit the building and take up space behind the stall counter. This creature was a heavily feathered — like a lot of this world’s life it seems — biped. If I had to compare it, I would say that it looked very similar to a medium-sized theropod dinosaur — for the paleo-nuts reading this, similar to utahraptor if it had a beak. It was covered in rust colored plumage, with specks of bright yellow. Its eyes were sharp and focused, facing forward like a predator. It had raptorial arms with a clawed five-fingered hand featuring an opposable thumb.

Is- is that a goddamn dinosaur? And is it a shopkeep?? Can it speak??? I must know more.

I immediately approached the stall and introduced myself.

“Hey there! I’m Max, and I was told a could find a guy by the name of Kalenz nearby?” I asked enthusiastically.

And what I heard come from this creature was so truly incredible. He sounded like a parrot! He had a really deep voice, but there was this crunchy texture to it that was a dead giveaway that this beautiful creature spoke using a syrinx!

“Thaaat would be me! What can I do for you today sir?” Kalenz parroted.

Hah. Get it?