The next morning Iain woke up barely rested. Although Noctbenua had prepared two beautiful bedrooms for the siblings, after such a turbulent day no one would be able to sleep well.

The young man closed his eyes again as the blinding light greeted him.

How could someone ever get used to this.

I can’t even tell if its day or night.

With six stars constantly illuminating planet Hex, its natives obviously didn’t have a concept of a dark night. In order to facilitate a structured live, all the lower leveled beings dependent on sleep agreed to a schedule consisting of 20 hours daytime and 10 hours nighttime.

After Iain and Lilly took a few interesting books out of the secret room yesterday, they were suddenly surprised when metallic shutters closed before their windows.

They quickly realized that they should maybe start reading up on local customs instead of diving headfirst into magic studies. Therefore, they read about commonplace things for six hours of their nighttime.

Iain let out a stressed sigh before getting out of bed. He already felt some effects of his increase in strength. Despite only four hours of sleep his body felt full of energy. Rather it was his mind which couldn’t keep up.

The young man looked out of the window while getting dressed in some prepared clothes. His gaze roamed the strange high-rise buildings and those vehicles flying between them.

From the little bit he read yesterday Iain knew that those were built by runesmiths. Some eagerness had gripped his heart when he imagined himself creating such advanced constructs.

However, he knew not to get ahead of himself. Today some adventurers would take them on a two-month trip to learn some basics of survival.

Before leaving the room Iain checked himself in the mirror. The clothes he was wearing now couldn’t be compared to what they had in the village. His new trousers and shirts were simple and extremely light. They would billow with every step, achieving some cooling effect on this unbearably hot planet.

Content with his looks, Iain left his room. He still did a step back when his door opened automatically but since their parents had already taught them some bits of technology, he wasn’t completely oblivious at least.

The young smith admired the decorative artifacts embellishing the floor he was on. Perfectly crafted, silver-golden shimmering weapons hung from the walls on both sides. The perfectly integrated in the half wooden, vintage-style and half modern, technological architecture of this house.

Noctbenua had finely crafted the interior herself bringing a lot of influences from her own home world. Other buildings on planet Hex tended to be more technological, with decorations closer to what the Church of Light would use.

Before Iain had made his way downstairs his loud steps echoed through the living room. He was surprisingly greeted by the absent-minded words of his sister: “Morning, Brother.”

Obviously, Lilly had already woken up before daytime.

Iain tiredly answered her before approaching the sink. Luckily, they had running water in their old home, so the pair of siblings was familiar with the concept. Although it took them a few minutes to figure out how to access the water.

Generally, between magic, technology, and combinations of both there were many ways to control different devices in the vast universe.

Noctbenua, following the customs of people with weak mana control on planet Hex, had powered all the appliances in her house with mana stones.

Just like they learned from those prepared books, Iain touched the picture of a waterdrop on the kitchen counter.

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The young man silently thanked Nua for her meticulous preparation, even going so far as to provide old-school books because she feared that modern recording tools might prove too complicated for the pair of siblings.

With Iain’s touch pure electricity shot into the empty mana stone. The miraculous mineral next turned any energy it received into ‘water’-mana. Next some runes were brought into contact with the mana stone. They animated the mana to transform into real water, which was naturally released into the sink.

Despite his curiosity about this process, Iain held himself back for now. He grabbed two cups from a shelf, filled them with water, added some powder Nua recommended them and brought it towards their comfy couch.

Lilly had already made herself comfortable. The living room and kitchen weren’t separated, so she soon saw her brother approaching. She thanked him for the drink with a tired smile, before getting absorbed in her book again.

Also setting himself down on a chair, Iain chuckled softly as he watched his sister.

The young redhead opted towards wearing a black bouse and a pair of trousers. Her overall style was similar to his own. On planet Hex most weaker people would wear such light clothes since the heat could be quite unbearable most of the time.

Lilly’s clothes had a few red highlights weaved into them. But otherwise, they were rather unpretentious, suited for everyday live.

Her feet were covered in long leather boots, which were mostly hidden underneath her trousers. They were made from special beast hide, which added a comfortable cooling effect.

While Lilly was drawn into a book about basic healing magic, Iain worried about their upcoming training. Since Nua trusted those adventurers and his parents trusted Nua, then this training hopefully helped them integrate into society.

With a lot on his mind, Iain tasted a sip from the drink he just made. Suddenly a chilling pulse shot through his body into his brain. The burly man shuddered for a second, before welcoming the blissful feeling as his mind cleared up.

Miss Nua didn’t lie. This powder called Frozen Shock really helps one wake up in the morning. Unfortunately, she wrote that the effect would diminish if I drank this too often. I should be frugal.

The young man lightly nodded his head as he took another sip.

Before he knew it, Iain already emptied the whole cup.

He had an embarrassed look on his face as he stared at the cup’s bottom. From the side of his eye, he glanced at Lilly’s drink. His sister had taken a few sips but was now concentrated on her book again.

Iain smiled wryly before he shook his head and stood up.

“Let’s eat something before those adventures show up.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you coming? You won’t finish the book before we need to leave.”

Lilly closed the book with reluctance as she followed her brother. While Iain opened a cupboard to take out some yelle bread, the most commonly seen breakfast in the Luminous Empire, he questions his sister curiously:

“Is the magic here the same you learned from mom?”

Getting a chance to talk about her favorite subject, Lilly’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Yes and no. The magic itself seems to work the same. However, the progression is slightly different.

On Earth mom already showed me some broader uses of healing magic. But humans here are connected to the vault. Therefore, they developed paths according to the vault’s standards.”

“So, we should do the same?”

“Probably, yes. We should try to learn more basics, for example how the human body works. Then we get rewarded by the vault for it. Only afterwards will the vault acknowledge it if we learn more complicated things.”

“I don’t know…

I am also fascinated by these magic tools, but I don’t know if we should be obsessed with getting stronger.”

Lilly hesitated a few seconds with her answer.

“I know what you mean. But this magic is so mysterious, I just want to know everything about it. Furthermore, I want to find a way to see mom and dad again…”

Iain sighed lightly as he sat down on the table. He realized that his sister might seem calm and brave, but she was also lost in this situation.

The pair of siblings silently began to eat, as voices suddenly sounded in their minds.

[We are truly sorry. Please become stronger. In this universe it is hard to stay out of trouble.]

After listening to these few sentences Iain and Lilly already felt a slight headache. Still, they had to hold back their tears as they felt the genuine emotions from those words.

Although their parent’s voices sounded monotone in their minds, Lilly and Iain realized how hard the decision to bring them here was for their parents.

A strange mood prevailed as Lilly and Iain ate the yelle bread with some sweet syrup in silence.

Lilly soon put the used cutlery into a dish washer before turning to her book again.

Iain shook his head lightly as he approached the door leading towards the smithy. With curiosity he observed the equipment on the special puppets next to it. This was what Nua had prepared for their future.

The young smith’s eyes first landed on the massive hammer intended as his weapon. Yesterday when he spotted it for the first time, he instantly fell in love with its smooth, metallic surface.

His grip wrapped around the wooden handle, which felt great in his hand. Multiple golden runes adorned the handle, so finely crafted, they formed golden lines to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, Iain didn’t have much time to admire Lilly’s gorgeous wand as an obnoxious ringing grabbed his attention.