The next morning, right after breakfast we had another discussion.
“You are not from around here.” That was a statement, not a question. It included more than just one question. Where was I from? Why could I be revived from such a poor state with just healing? How did I get here?
It was difficult to say which of these questions, if any, I even wanted to answer. Catherine seemed open minded, but the consequences of answering any of these questions could have dire consequences.
Aliens from different worlds would always be viewed with suspicion. My kind of immortality? I might be either hunted by fanatics or sought by immortality seekers. Actually, I already was, Catherine had been happy enough with just my blood, but she must been interested enough in my strange state to expend some effort to revive me. It was an investment, that may have been futile, actually even improbable, but she still tried. That said something about her.
She also wasn't stupid, a simple lie like 'I can't remember.' would not satisfy her, and I didn't have the inspiration to invent something extraordinary that would keep bloating up until I could hardly keep track of my own lies anymore. Nor would it help me.
That left me with either being vague, deliberately not saying anything or telling the truth.
Telling the truth had the advantage, that Catherine would be able to assist me with the questions I had directly. But I had gotten her help even without and with a bit of patience I should be able to pierce together how most of this world worked. As long as I kept it to only her this option didn't seem too bad.
If I told her nothing, I might hurt our relationship. Some things were already obvious, and not admitting to them just seemed impolite at this point.
As for being vague, there were definitely details I could let out, there was no reason to tell her the whole story of my life. I liked keeping to myself and was not the most open person anyway. The obvious things I could just go into as much as I felt necessary.
She had been considerate and just waited, while I took my time to sort through my options. I took some more time.
One point of view I hadn't taken on yet, was what she actually wanted to hear. She had not told me a lot about herself, nor had she inquired about me so far. Of course, until yesterday evening those were difficult topics to discuss, but she had seemed content all this time. So private information was probably not high on her priority list.
I think what she must have been most interested in were my means of arrival, a bit about my origin and the method of my immortality. If I could believe what that angel had said, people with this kind of curse were extremely rare. Was the way I had gained it repeatable or a pure fluke? I strongly leaned to the later and since it was something very unique I wanted to keep it to myself until I understood it better.
The traveling of planes I might have to go into a bit. If I played it right I could it be left unspoken that I might have been from this world, traveled somewhere else and just returned. I would try for it at least, and hope Catherine wasn't to inquisitive.
“I have been to some strange places. Time might flow different there and I have lost a lot on the way, so I am not yet sure how much time has passed since then. You probably want to know about how I could survive near total destruction. It was a curse I got while I was there. I don't think it can be reproduced and it's also the worst kind of immortality, the one where you are unable to die, so it is not something you should pursue.”
Now she took some time to consider.
“How can one get to these places?”
I actually didn't understand very much and could just try to think back to the few travels I had been doing. Now that I had admitted to it, I didn't mind sharing that bit of information.
“You need something of the place you are traveling to.” That was actually a nice reinforcement that I had come from here. “Then you somehow walk towards it. Keep it at the top of your mind and move. I am not actually sure how to get out of the place you are at. Perhaps find or create a place that is more open to the outside.”
“Can you do it again?”
“Perhaps, but the place I would end up in is something I probably couldn't leave. I will not go there.”
I think I already said to much there. When Catherine wanted to continue with another question I just shook my head. I hope I had appeased her without releasing the wrong information. This was however as far as I was willing to open up, and I would live with however this whole thing developed.
We both took our time until Catherine took out some coins and explained their approximate market value to me. I put some into a closable pocket. It was mostly spare change for a meal or small purchases, but I was in no need for more money, that might just make me a bigger target. I was now more aware of some of the possible dangers I might face from now on. Until I was prepared to deal with them I intended to be a bit more careful and keep a low profile.
“I have gotten in touch with Silvia yesterday after we split up. She is a herbalist who often sells to me and helps me out with some minor chores. She should arrive here soon. Silvia will help you get to the city and train you up a bit. Don't forget to visit that old grouch.”
“What did you tell her about me?”
“Nothing much really, just that you are very inexperienced and she might have to explain a few things that seem common sense to most people.”
I had been thinking about how to explain myself to other people.
“Don't think about it too much. There are so many idiots in this world, that you won't stand out much. Just play it a bit mysterious and maybe people will start thinking you are some naive runaway princess.”
It is true that I had also met some strange people before, who sometimes didn't seem to know the most basic things. I had never wondered if they came from another planet, and only speculated that they must have had some very strange upbringing or some slight mental problem. I could care less what others thought of me.
Then Catherine went and got the scroll she must have bought yesterday.
“You have already used a scroll yesterday. This one is a bit different. It can teach you the ability 'Analyse', that will help you to determine the strength of some of your opponents. It can only be used on monsters, and the amount of information you receive depends on how much mana you spend. There isn't information for every single monster, and some may not be as detailed as others, but it can certainly be used for most of the things that run around close to the cities.”
I took the scroll which was sealed up.
“What is this seal here?”
“The spells you learn from scrolls depend on how well they are written. Some may even be corrupted and have negative effects on you. The seal proves that this Analyse scroll was written by the archivists themselves. It is more expensive than the ones you can get on the free market, but also more dependable.”
I broke the seal and took a look at the parchment. I doubted the way I had activated the one yesterday was the standard method. You might have to read the scroll for it to work normally, but I didn't know how. This only began to bother me now that I had learned spoken language. Still, it was no problem, because I focused on the place where the structure had an exit and opened it up again. Compared to the one yesterday this scroll seemed to be almost a perfection of construction, not that I could understand it. At least there were no polluted or obviously wrong parts and it was amazing to view it.
When the scroll had been activated, it released its energy at me again, but this time it was no effect that it casted on me, but instead shot directly into my mind and imprinted itself there. Now there was a kind of construct in my brain that I just had to activate and it would automatically go through an amount of motions required for a spell. It was packed so tight, that I couldn't just pluck it apart and remember a single component. It was part of my memory, and I did have complete access to it, but unraveling it might take a lot of time. It was like a memorized version of a poem in a foreign language.
I began to understand why certification was so important for memorization scrolls. It might be a shortcut to learning, but also entailed risks. I decided to go through even this certified spell once I had a rough understanding of the way it worked in practice.
Catherine left the house once I had learned the spell. I just relaxed for a bit, because I expected another long exhausting day. After some time there was a knock on the door. I went to answer.
In front of the door the woman, who was probably Silvia, stood with some baggage. She was in her mid twenties and seemed friendly.
“Hi, you are Shalyne I guess. Catherine told me about you yesterday. I am Silvia by the way.”
Silvia was a herbalist and often wandered through the woods in search of different plants. She was also a well versed hunter and could easily take out any game she came across with her bow. She had learned both from her mother, who had had the same professions. Her father had once tried to teach her a bit about being a warrior, but it had not suited her well as Silvia had taken after her mother.
She was living in the small house I had seen yesterday with her boyfriend, who was one of the towns guards and the two would probably marry sooner or later. The way she openly talked about herself was very pleasant and I enjoyed her company. If anything she might be a bit too nice and could easily be taken advantage of. Catherine used her for many small tasks and had also somehow talked her into helping me out without any direct compensation. I vowed to myself to help her out, if she ever needed my help.
I didn't tell her much about myself. I had told her that Catherine had picked me up when I was starving and had allowed me to stay at her house for a while.
“Does she take anything in return? Now, I don't mean that Catherine is a bad person, but she is a bit selfish. It's rare that she does something without getting anything in return.”
“Yes, I made a deal with her. She is using some of my blood for potions and in return gives me some of the things to get started here.”
“You should really be careful. Catherine wouldn't do that, but if you keep selling your blood somebody will perhaps force you into slavery or worse. I wouldn't give it away at all if I were you.”
I nodded in agreement.
We were walking through the forest towards the town. I remembered most of the way by now, but still needed to fresh it up and let it settle in my mind.
“You wanted to be able to defend yourself, right? Do you already know which class to take?”
“I'm a bit ashamed to say, that I don't really know much about classes. I am a sorceress, but I don't don't have any useful spells.”
“You have a mage class? That is actually a bit rare. It takes a lot of training to get those classes. I don't know much about them, but I heard it takes a long time until you have enough mana to defend yourself. Many mages train a bit in another class until they feel comfortable. I can't teach you anything about being a sorceress, but if you want I can show you a bit about being a hunter. I could also teach you the warrior class, but I can't really tell you a lot, I am only level 5 myself and haven't used it at all since I became a hunter.”
“Can I become both a warrior and a hunter?”
“I don't mean to pry, but did you parents not tell you about the other classes?”
“I would rather not talk about it if you don't mind. It's already awkward to ask you about this.”
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“I am sorry I won't ask then. If you want to tell me about it I am always willing to listen.”
Silvia really was a sweet girl. It almost hurt a bit to keep my information to me, but I wanted to avoid spreading it. I also feared that if I told her, she might easily share it with someone else, even if unintentional.
“Becoming a warrior is actually very easy. Almost everyone has at least a few levels in the class. It makes you stronger and more resilient. All you have to do is just swing a weapon around a bit until you feel comfortable and try fighting. Of course if you want to become a real warrior you must be able to use your weapon in a real fight. It gets more difficult the higher your level is.
If you want to become a hunter you have to know how to shoot with a bow or another ranged weapon. And then you have to shoot at some prey. It is a bit more difficult because you can't practice against another human.”
“Do you know how dangerous the wolves here are? Is it too risky if I try against one of them?”
“I don't know, I have no trouble with them, but if you let them come close they can still be dangerous. The weakest ones are alright, but if one of the stronger ones attacks you it can become really dangerous.”
“Catherine bought me the Analyse spell yesterday, I want to try it out, too.”
“I would really like to use that one, but I can't cast any spells. Hey, you are a sorceress, can you teach me a bit? Then perhaps I can one day also learn that.”
Catherine really should take care of this girl, I am sure she is helping out so much that teaching her a bit about magic would be no problem. Maybe she was just to shy to even ask...
Although I have to admit I do not know how difficult it is to learn, because I never had to learn the regular way. In the game the sense for mana has always been just there. You were then directed through a tutorial, where a few spells were automatically cast, and you just had to remember the feeling and reproduce it. Could it work the same way here? I would actually be happy to have a more balanced relationship with Silvia if possible.
“I don't really know the requirements for becoming a sorceress, but I think it has to do with your sense of mana. Can you feel your aura?”
“No, I don't think so, what does it feel like?”
“Maybe I should try something else, tell me what you can feel.”
We stopped our walk and I concentrated on the faint aura I could sense in Silvia. Then I gently pushed against it. I tried to let it flow in the one, then in the other direction. It didn't take a lot of effort, her aura was very weak compared to something physical.
“I can feel that! What should I do now?”
The next step should be to form it into something.
“I will try something again, tell me what you can feel.”
This time I pushed a bit of mana toward her right hand and imagined it getting warmer there. I was careful to keep the temperature at a safe level, because I didn't want to hurt her.
“It is getting warmer in my hand. I want to try doing that, too.”
Following some of the lessons from the tutorial seemed to work out. I was still surprised how fast Silvia got a sense for the energy. Well, sensing a bit of mana inside of yourself and using it as a sixth sense all around you were two completely different things. I waited and watched as Silvia tried to heat up her hand. It took a while but it began to grow warmer and warmer. If you lack practice, regulating the power was a bit difficult.
“It's getting hot, I can't stop it!”
“Don't let it get to warm inside of you or you will hurt yourself. Push it out of your hand and keep it there.”
She struggled to push it out, but her concentration wasn't focused enough. Now parts of it were heating up inside, others outside and the heat was exchanged in between. I stepped in and forcefully pushed the entire heat out of her, to a safe distance of about 20 cm away from her hand. She continued to produce more heat, but I let none of it accumulate inside.
“I am pushing the heat out of you, you don't need to worry. Try to let go of it and I will handle it.”
“I can't get it out of my mind.”
“Just breathe out and focus on your breath. Imagine how with every breath your thoughts of fire are blown away. Repeat that until your head is clear again.”
That finally seemed to calm her down. Perhaps it was a bit too dangerous to start the training out this way. Now she knew how to form her mana, but had no control over it. If she wasn't careful she might hurt herself or others unwillingly. I felt some responsibility to finish this, now that I had brought her this far.
I added a bit more mana to the fireball and ignited it. Silvia jumped up in shock, but calmed down, once she saw the fireball was just floating steadily in front of her. Right now I held the control over it and could feel the slow and steady drain of my mana to keep the fireball active.
“I am giving the control over to you, just hold out your hands and keep it floating in between. Don't do anything else. If anything happens I will take the ball over again.”
Shifting the fireball over to the space in between her hands I slowly let go of it and let her aura envelop it. It began to flicker a bit, but never left its position by too much. I wasn't sustaining it any longer, but kept an intense focus on it, prepared to wrest it away from her the moment it went out of control. It is a real effort to keep full concentration on someone else's handling. It is easier to just do it yourself half subconsciously.
We kept this up for a full five minutes until Silvia's concentration began to fail.
“Let's stop here now. Try to extinguish the fire by imagining it go out just like a candle. Don't blow on it.”
It took her a bit, but the fire went out after a while. Now I could finally relax again.
Sorceress has increased to level 2.
I really had to find some more free time to play with my mana. The first few levels of this class seemed to be far too easy to get.
Silvia's aura still seemed steady, and I would estimate that she had not even expended half of her mana.
“We should take a break until your mind is fresh again, but we can try again later. Don't try to play around unless I pay attention, it was stupid of me to introduce you in this way. Now there is no choice but to train your control.”
“You have become so serious.... teacher.”
I was taken aback. Before I had been happy to just let her talk and explain, but had taken charge the moment she played with the mana. That was not the kind of relationship I wanted to have with her. What if she began pestering me with endless questions?
“I am not your teacher! Things just got out of hand a bit. I was actually asking you the questions.”
She just snickered.
“Okay, lets see if we can find some weapon.”
We continued walking again. The forest might not have been the best place to practice creating a fireball, but I was sure I could extinguish a small fire, if it became necessary. It didn't take long until Silvia found a solid stick of about my body height.
“Swing it around a bit and try to get a feel for it.”
I had some experience with the bo, so wielding it felt natural. It was a bit rough compared to the smooth sticks wielded in training, so I could not just slide my hands along its surface. Still, it was nice to swing it around a bit and I remembered, that I had not done any morning exercises in a long time.
“Wow, you're a natural. Let me grab another stick and we spar a bit. It should be enough to do it a bit playfully. I am really bad with weapons, so take it easy on me, I think you are already better than I am.”
After we found another stick we just playfully attacked each other. I took care to do my blocks and attacks properly, if slowly. It was quite fun to simply deflect her attacks with little effort. Once we got used to each other we picked up a little bit of speed and it didn't take long until we were finished.
Warrior Level 1 has been obtained.
“I've got it!”
“Ok, let's stop here. I can't really teach you anything more about being a warrior. You can either train by yourself or find a real teacher. Have you ever shot a bow before?”
“No I haven't.”
“Then it's better if I first teach you the basics before you try to learn the class. I only have one bow and I can't defend myself without it.”
We walked through the forest until we happened upon three wolves. Silvia immediately shot two of them and I activated Analyse on the remaining one before it came too close. The moment I thought up the spell a complete sequence automatically began to activate. I knew I could interrupt it at any time if I willed it, but right now I just went through the motions. I was watching the wolf and taking in the details, his aura, the way he moved, the tone of his pelt... The intensity of the observations was something I could control consciously. I didn't really understand the significance of all this information, but once I had set a rough amount of mana, I automatically sent it off as a kind of thought package. Almost immediately I received an answer and before my mind a screen appeared:
Young Wolf Beast Level 5
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 8
Vitality: 13
Endurance: 12
Intelligence: 9
It was stronger than myself in almost every regard. I had casted the spell almost the instant we had seen the wolves, but the time it took me to go through the spell and comprehend the information was all it took for the wolf to take a full on charge at me. Before it could get close enough Silvia had shot her third arrow and struck it down. The use of Analysis seemed limited, if the information wasn't available before the enemy became aware of you. At least I now had a rough estimate of the strength of at least one of the wolves.
Silvia killed one more pack on the way and then we reached the valley. I wanted to collect more data, but I also wanted to keep some mana reserves and the practice before and the Analysis spell had brought me down to only a third of my pool. It had already become a bit late and Silvia invited me over for lunch. The house was empty when we arrived.
It was equipped with cheap furniture that didn't fit together. Most were old but still in good condition. It was a bit cramped inside, but there was a personal touch that made it feel like a nice home.
I wanted to assist her, but Silvia insisted on taking care of the cooking of her own. It didn't take her long to prepare wolf steaks with some vegetables.
“I still have to visit the enchanting shop and talk to Mr. Heart. I don't know if Catherine told you, but I broke one of his scrolls and now he wants me to work it off. He didn't take any money and now I have to go and discuss the conditions with him.”
“Then you are really unlucky. I don't think he ever lets a single coin slip through his fingers, so you won't get out of this easily. I don't like going there but if you want I can...”
“Thank you, but it's alright, I will go there on my own. You are already helping me enough and I don't want to take up all of your time. I feel already bad, but can you please bring me back afterwards?”
“That's no problem at all. I can catch you tomorrow morning, too, if you want.”
“Thank you, honestly, but I will first see how things turn out with Mr. Heart. Perhaps I can find a better solution. I enjoy your company, but I will have to go into town a few more times and can't depend on you all this time. You do have to work sometime, too?”
“Well, James earns enough if it is only for some time. I can't let you walk through the forest alone if you can't defend yourself...”
“I will think of something...”
At least I got her to leave me alone until I sorted out the thing with Mr. Heart. She obviously had other chores to do, but was reluctant to let me go on my own. The reputation of that enchanter was really bad, so I became a bit worried. I still wanted to take care of it on my own, because I had caused this mess in the first place.
I had only been to the city once, but the way there was easy to remember and I had memorized a part of the city when I was strolling around with Arienne. Walking on my own was different. Catherine's as well as Arienne's presence had deterred other people, but I became more pressured by their attention now. I was in no mood to entertain anyone and hid my nervousness beneath a cold expression. The effect was there, but I am sure that if I stopped somebody might find an excuse to approach me.
The enchanter's shop felt like a safe haven. Mr. Heart stood at the counter and didn't show the same kind of interest like the people outside. Instead he eyed me in a cold, analytical way.
“I was wondering when you would show up. The scroll cost me a lot and I somehow have to get back my losses.”
If I gave him an inch he would take a mile.
“Catherine has offered to pay you for the scroll, there was no reason for you to take a loss at all.”
“At least you can talk properly now. Not that I expected any different from that woman...
No, the problem is the risk I took. If such a strong enchantment explodes it can cause a lot of damage, perhaps even destroy the whole shop! That is not something you can compensate with a little bit of money. Now you did seem to have a bit of a hand with enchantments at least and I am in need of some assistance right now, with the increased demand for enchanted weapons. If you work for maybe a year, I would consider your entire debt paid off and even pay you a bit of a wage. I will show you the weapons and then we will see if you can do well enough.”
He didn't even consider me anymore and started walking into some other part of the shop. I stood my ground and waited.
“Are you coming? I can still think the part with the wage over.”
“I didn't agree to anything. You will have difficulty forcing me to pay for anything but the scroll, even if you try.”
“Compensating me for that is only fair. I just have to get in a word with the guards and you will have no choice then!”
“I doubt they would go out of their way to help you out.”
It usually wouldn't be the best idea to aggravate him any further if I wanted to work for him in the future, but something told me that it wouldn't make a difference anyway, so I just used his bad reputation to my advantage. I must hit a nerve, too, because he stopped to think for a moment.
“It is probably not even worth it, but there are conditions that I would accept to work under. I am interested in becoming a scribe, and there are not many options to learn the craft. If you teach me, I will work for you. And don't try to get a lot of work without any teaching. I work fifty-fifty. An hour of work for each hour you teach me.”
“That is just ridiculous, I could just work for myself then and would actually be more productive!”
“That is only if the time you use for teaching is completely unproductive. I am sure we will also finish some work in that time.”
“Even if that time is not completely lost you still have to work off that scroll! And then my teaching has a lot of value, too. People would beg me on their knees just to get a few pointers from a scribe like myself. And you want it all for free? No one has ever even dared to offer me such a horrible deal!”
“And instead you would work me to the bone for much more than that scroll was worth? You know I have a good sense for mana, but if you don't teach me anything I can hardly do any quality work. If you teach me I can do much more complicated and valuable work.”
I think I got him at 'valuable', the way he paused for a second.
“Even if that may be true, if I take half of my time just to teach you it is still a huge waste of effort! I could let you use some of the theory books I have, then you can teach yourself instead.”
“I can't read.”
“You can't even read? How do I know I am not wasting my entire time on a nitwit? Now you probably even want me to teach you reading? I think I should just take that hags' money and give up on this whole thing.”
This was getting out of hands. It was definitely unfortunate that I didn't know anything about the written language that was used here. At least it seemed to be some kind of alphabet and not glyphs or something like Chinese characters. Learning to read an alphabet language isn't too difficult if you understand the language. Writing properly might be a different thing, but I didn't need to do that right now. The question was, who would be able to teach me. Was the ability to read common here? At least I was sure Catherine should be able to, judging by the books she kept locked in the storage.
“I didn't mean I couldn't read at all, just that I don't know this places' writing. I should be able to learn it in a short time. Until you have instructed me properly, written theory won't help much anyway.”
He let out a long sigh. At some point we must have changed from discussing the terms to an implicit agreement. I just didn't know exactly what that agreement was. It didn't matter anyway, because I was sure I would have to remind him of his duties regularly, even if we signed a contract.
“Very well, come along, at least I have to see what you can do before we decide this.”