006

Erick woke up in a startled second.

He was alone. Drool stuck him to the pillow clutched in his hands. Yellow-white lightorbs cast steady light from the upper corners and center ceiling of this pillow/resting room. The sound of rushing water was far away, but audible. His MP and HP were full. Did that wake him?

Erick stood up and cast a [Cleanse] where he had laid, standing himself in the burst of thick air as it went to work. Eleven more of those and he’d reach spell level 3. He brushed his clothes down. He had already [Mend]ed everything of his and of Jane’s, but maybe, if the pay here was good, he could buy some local clothes soon. He was wearing a traveling outfit when they fell to Veird, and he was still wearing that traveling outfit. Jeans, t-shirt, shoes and socks meant for car rides more than hiking through the desert. Jane was in the same boat.

“I wonder what’s happening with her.”

A giant appeared in the doorway.

“AHHh! Oh.” Erick tried to not look like an idiot. “Sorry.”

Al smiled, saying, “Back to work! You have more mana, yes?” Al beckoned Erick to follow.

“Yes.” Erick followed. “Full on mana.” Then he remembered the one [Cleanse] when he woke. “Uh. Mostly full.”

“Concentration?”

“And Mana Shaping.”

“Mana Shaping we can work on later. [Meditation]?”

“No [Meditation]. Not yet.”

Al nodded. “We get you to level five today. Buy the necessary skills. [Meditation] very important. You work on that on your own until you can meditate without afflictions.”

Erick tried to work out what he was saying. Working on [Meditation] on his own? That sounded about right. Makes sense. But Erick didn’t want to Meditate in the sewerhouse until he thought he was safe to do so.

– – – –

 

Down the staircase they went, past the terrifying underground river, back through small metal door #2. The trip wasn’t as terrifying the second time. That darkness past the metal bars of the cesspool room, though… That was still terrifying.

Erick dumped 12 [Cleanse 2]s and three [Cleanse 3]s into that cesspool, chunking two and three meter holes into the settling sludge, but the pool itself was something like ten meters across and several meters deep. The water was almost as nasty after his cleanings as it was before. Al didn’t seem to mind that Erick couldn’t clean the whole thing. He just made Erick go back to the pillow room and lay back down. This time, Al left Erick with some bread, cheese, and water, then went across the hallway to his well appointed office and shut the door.

The cheese was strong and so good. Erick would have eaten more, but being at 6 mana was exhausting beyond belief. He laid down.

– – – –

 

He woke up, startled. His HP and MP were full.

Jane snored on the couch next to him. The little food that he had left on the one plate was completely gone, but there were two plates on the table in the center of the room. Did Al give Jane some food, too? That was really nice of him.

Maybe working here was a good idea. It’s not like it was a full time job, since the pools got cleaned and processed every four days. Maybe that’s how long they took to fill up?

Status: Cleanse.

 

 

Erick did some quick calculations based on what he knew. Skills only go up to level 10, according to Irogh. So the pool itself was probably exactly ten meter across… Or probably less to account for water depth. That meant a max level [Cleanse] was necessary for this job. He wasn’t sure about how long it would take to get to level 10. Jane would know. He’d ask her later.

Status.

 

 

422 per day? The heck? Oh. Right.

 

 

I guess it levels based on what actually regenerates? Every MP past my cap must have been lost.

Hmm. And it didn’t give base experience, either. Maybe skills like this get their own exp based on what they do, but my exp doesn’t go up unless I am spending resources? Yet another thing to ask Jane.

Erick looked at Jane. She was sleeping soundly on her couch, her blanket wrapped around her body. The few trinkets left from the car crash were tucked just under her couch.

A blackscaled monster loomed in the doorway.

“HOLY FU—!”

Jane launched to her feet. She immediately calmed, then glared at Erick.

“Calm down! Stupid humans!” said Blackscale, shaking his head. He was out of his armor, wearing a simple dark tunic and dark pants. “I came to invite you to dinner, not get screamed at. Dad wants to talk to you more.”

“Of course.” Jane composed herself. “We would love to have dinner with you all.”

Blackscale spoke to Erick, “And you should spend some mana on [Cleanse]. We’re done for the day.”

Blackscale waited. Jane turned to Erick, and waited.

Erick shot out 15 [Cleanse]s across the room. There was a level up notification in there somewhere, but he ignored it. The room was clean before, and it was still clean now. When he was done, he turned to Jane. “What’s your training regimen like?” He paused. That wasn’t all English, was it?

And then Jane responded in non-english, but every word was understandable, “I got this here—” She pulled a black stone from her pocket. “It’s a piece of hard stone that I can [Strike] with my finger.” She demonstrated by holding the stone in her hand and tapping it with that same thumb. The air cracked at she ‘struck’ the stone. Then she glowed with the power of a [Rejuvenation]. “Then I heal myself, and [Strike] the stone again. There’s a global cooldown of a second between each activation of each ability, but that’s fine.” Which she did. “It’s all pretty zen, once you get into it.”

Blackscale smirked. “I remember that stage of growth. A friend cast the healing spells on me for me. I’ve focused on other things.”

Jane walked forward. “But why would you not want the option of healing yourself?”

Blackscale laughed, then started walking toward the stairs leading up. Jane followed.

Erick hurried to catch up. He listened to their discussion from his position in the rear, taking in all the new words. Jane must have talked to a lot of people today. Many more than Erick had.

 

– – – –

 

Blackscale opened the door and walked in, saying, “They’re here, Dad.”

“Welcome! Welcome, Erick and Jane!” Al appeared in the doorway, waving them inside. “Come in! Come inside to my home!”

“Thank you for your hospitality.”

Erick and Jane walked in and Al nodded.

Now this place was more Erick’s style, but it was all giant sized. Stone flooring and lots of carpets. Warm wood furniture with canvas cushions. Big picture windows. Half of the upper room was open, containing the kitchen and the living room. The other half was a wall with three doors, one of them open and leading to a bathroom.

“Dinner is later, but for now, we have wine! How long will it be, Savral?”

Blackscale, Savral, Al’s son, said, “An hour. Everything is prepared already.”

“You have a nice home,” Jane said.

Erick said, “A really nice home.”

“I enjoy it here. Thank you.” Al pulled the cap off of a black bottle then poured wine into giant-sized goblets. He handed one each to Jane and Erick, then took his own, leaving Savral to pick up his own glass, which he did. “To your health.”

“To your health!”

They all drank at once. Erick was suddenly hit with a sense of vertigo. No, not from the wine. That tasted great, and everyone was smiling. No. The vertigo came from how similar this was to dinner with new friends, or old friends, or any one of the thousands of times he had experienced this exact same interaction, but back on Earth. A sudden pang of homesickness struck. He sighed.

Al frowned. “Is something the matter?”

Erick waved him off. “No. No. Just a sudden homesickness. Usually, I was the one to start these sorts of dinners.”

Al smiled wide. “I look forward to eating a meal in your home one day. But until then, come, come.” He waved them toward the living room part of the common room, to a pair of couches set up across from each other with a coffee table sitting between them. “We can sit and talk while Savral cooks. My son is a great cook, but still no wife! Or husband.”

“Dad.”

“What? It is true enough.” Al said to Erick, “He is too reluctant to commit.”

“Father.”

“Ha ha! I kid, I kid.”

Savral was already cooking and doing his best to ignore his father. There was no wall between the kitchen and the rest of the room, so Savral could participate in the conversation while he prepared dinner. It was a nice design. As for how he was cooking: it looked almost like a normal Earth kitchen. The stove was magical, of course, with summoned flames from a dark metal slab that adjusted the heat from a series of touch-based runes on the edge of the metal slab. Everything else was completely normal. Well-seasoned black woks, black pots, and black pans. Cutting boards and chef knives. Strange-looking vegetables and seasonings, though.

Erick sat down on one end of the couch, Jane the other. Al took the facing couch and brought the wine bottle with him.

Speaking quick, Al went right to business. “So you two are from another reality.”

Jane nearly spat out her wine. Erick did not control his own reaction that well; a bit of drink came out of his mouth without his say so.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Al just pulsed a tiny [Cleanse] and kept right on. “What type of world were you born on? I have known a few outsiders in my time. One was from a reality of what she called ‘spaceships’ and ‘warp drives’. She was not human, though. Close, but pointy eared and unusually skilled in plant magics. She used to call herself an ‘elfin’.” Al shook his head. “Fate was not kind to her. She used that word around a clan of orcols and they murdered her for it.”

Jane held her breath.

Erick couldn’t help but say, “Just casually murder someone? Over a word?”

“Ah. So you come from a kinder world.”

Jane said, “Well. Maybe not. I’m sure there’s a case of someone saying some seemingly innocuous thing around someone else and getting killed for it.”

“You seem like good people.” Al said, “So don’t ever call an orcol an elf. The beauty you see is part of a long history that started with the Sundering, the destruction of all the elves, and the sudden combination of one people and one monster because the Script misfired. The Rage and the Genocide Wars followed, where the Goddess of Beauty was dying because her people were already dead and the only way to save herself and stop the War was by becoming our Goddess of Brutality. To this day, she gives us the tools, but we cull the Rage from ourselves. There are some side effects.”

That was all great to know, but mainly Erick was ecstatic for one specific reason. “Oh, thank god you’re not human!”

Al chuckled, “What?”

“My self-esteem just got a massive boost.”

“Ha!” Savral said, “You thought an orcol a human?”

“I’m not from around here.”

Al just laughed.

Erick was about to speak when Jane spoke first, “We’re from a world— One world, just humans. No magic. Do you know the population of Veird? The size of your planet? It’s hard to judge comparisons.”

Al looked up, humming.

Savral said, “Maybe five hundred million people? Not sure.”

“That doesn’t include the Wrought, either. There’s too many down there and they don’t let any non-wroughts into their cities.” Al said, “Veird is maybe 25,000 krin across? I think that’s right.”

“Krin?”

Jane said, “It’s practically the same thing as a kilometer. They also use a base 10 metric type system.” She turned to Al. “Our Earth is half that size, but with eight billion humans.”

“Crowded!” Al said.

“Yes.” Jane asked. “Were you always a sewermaster?”

“For about 25 years. I used to be an adventurer until Savral’s mother dropped him in my lap.” Al smiled. “I’m happy for the outcome, but I miss travel.” He pointed at Erick. “I hope you skill up fast. I want to take a vacation soon!”

That was a big load to drop in Erick’s lap.

Really?

“Really?” Jane said, “That’s a bit crazy.”

“Don’t get me wrong. The Mage Guild gets very angry if they don’t get their shipments on time. I just want another aura mage that I can trust to do the job and keep the rads flowing so I can leave Spur for a week or two, every so often. I’ve trained up several aura mages over the decades but the last one left for greener pastures over a year ago. I’ve had a standing request with Irogh to point any new aura mages in my direction.”

Erick let that all sink in. Al was primed to let him.

Erick said, “Sounds great to me.”

“YeesS!” Al cheered, sloshing wine. Some spilled on the carpet. A tiny [Cleanse] followed as Al stood up to completely fill everyone’s wine glasses, saying as he did, “Another bottle!”

Erick drank to that. So did Savral.

“How much does this job pay, anyway?” Jane asked, sipping her wine.

Al rummaged around for another black bottle of wine, saying, “We pull an average equivalent 5400 gold from the pools per month, 4100 is immediately deducted by the City of Spur, as is their due.” He opened a new bottle and rejoined them on the couches. “1300 is left. 400 of that goes into sewer maintenance which is handled through daily [Mend] and [Cleanse] quests posted at the Adventurer’s Guild.” He sipped his wine, which was more like taking a huge gulp, then filled his glass before setting the bottle on the coffee table. “Leaving 900 for pay. I take 600 of that since I personally do the magic and the business necessary to control the sewerhouse. 80 goes to Savral, 60 to Bacci. There’s another pair of employees at the other gold building in town, you might have seen it? They both take another 50. That leaves 60 for any part-timer that wants to cast the correct spells, correctly, and who isn’t a liability.”

He looked at Erick. “Can you do the work, or are you a liability until you can?”

Smiling, Erick said, “A liability for sure, but I still want to get paid.”

“Ha!” Al said, “Half pay, provided you do your best to level. If I think you’re slacking, you’re fired. You’ll also need [Ward] at some point in time, but that’s easy to level. [Ward] is also useful to make money outside of this sewerhouse.” Al pointed at the window and down. “See those lights in the streets outside? I made those. Some last for years, but a good warder is never destitute for long. The Mages Guild organizes all that, so talk to them if you want to do some warding.” Al turned serious for a second. “But this job comes first, okay.”