Erick arrived at the [Mend]+[Cleanse] job full on mana. He knocked on the large front door. Thanks to [Meditation 7] he could walk and regen at the same time, but he was already on his 6th mana bar of the day. He was doing too much. Bed time could not come soon enough… But…

  Where would he sleep tonight? Would Al really add a third floor to the Sewerhouse, making space for Jane and Erick? That would be good enough for him, but Jane wanted—

  The door opened. The sounds of screaming kids filled the street.

  “WHAT!”

  The pink dragonkin woman standing in the front door looked chastised as soon as she yelled the word. Red paint marred her face and shirt. Blue paint accented her trousers and hair. Yellow paint was, simply, all over. Her face, her hands, her entire self, had been messed by…

  And here came the screaming dragonkin kids themselves, similarly looking like a Jackson Pollock painting, all of them every color of the rainbow, each one with different colored scales. Each of them wearing what had once been nice clothes.

  Really nice clothes.

  Erick looked around him. He was in a nice part of town. This was a big house. They were rich people.

  Ah. Mana Exhaustion. He really shouldn’t walk around like this. He should have noticed the neighborhood before now. Was he dressed properly for this sort of place? No. Not in the least.

  “Hume—” She cut herself off, saying, “Welcome to the Atriz house— Stop that, kids.” The screaming kids were pulling at Pinkscale’s clothes. She gently batted them away, speaking over the screams, “Are you from the Mage’s Guild? You really should wear your badge in view.”

  “Oh!” Erick pulled out the badge from behind the collar of his shirt. “Sorry about that. I’m Erick Flatt from the Mage’s Guild here for a CL job at the Atriz house. I apologize for my manners and appearance. It’s been a long day. I’m a bit out of it.”

  Pinkscale laughed loud. Tears trickled. She stopped herself before she started to cry.

  Something happened among the kids and all five of them tore off, back through the house, screaming as they went, playing with each other in some strange, kid-like way. Why did they run away? Did Erick say something he shouldn’t have? Oh, no. Erick was really out of it. He shouldn’t have taken this job—

  Pink lady didn’t give him a choice. “Thank all the gods and demons you’re here.” She stretched back, head to the sky. “Please, [Cleanse] me, right now. Big as you can. Grab as much of the house as you can.”

  Shaped [Cleanse].

  Thick air washed over Pinkscale, evaporating paint, continuing into the rest of the house like a stiff breeze. Unwanted paint footprints vanished from the wooden floor as hand and clawmarks disappeared from the papered walls.

  If that’s level one, it can’t level like a normal skill. Right?

  Pinkscale sighed in relief. “That feels so much better.” She smiled, ushering Erick inside. Erick walked two steps into the house. It was air conditioned, of course. “Wait here while I make this a bit easier. The Guild can never send enough of you guys.” The sounds of screaming, giggling, laughing kids began to return, like a police siren coming up from behind. With her voice a gentle warble, Pinkscale called to them, “Come here, kids! Meet the nice man.”

  They screamed and laughed as they came forward.

  The lead kid stopped, proclaiming, “He’s a cleaner! Run away!”

  “[Cleanse] them, now!” Pinkscale pointed. “Now!”

  The kids yelped and rushed to flee.

  [Cleanse].

  Pinkscale laughed as thick air washed over the kids and that whole section of the house, turning paint into a mirage, dirt into nothing, and screams of laughter into tortured sighs and drawn out ‘why!’s. The kids stopped in their tracks to pull at their clothes.

  Pinkscale whipped a hand through the air. The air around the kids warped, a sphere of clear-something trapping them all together.

  Silence descended, but the kids were obviously still yelling. All five of them pounded on the surrounding invisible sphere with their tiny fists, clawed at something, doing no damage. Two of them wailed, silent to Erick, as they crashed to their butts.

  “Ah! Some quiet!” Pinkscale said, “I’m only allowed to do that for half an hour a day so we gotta hurry.”

  One of the kids, Goldscale, had pulled out what was probably a pocketwatch, or something similar. Goldscale kid waggled his finger like a metronome at Pinkscale and Erick, as he held up the probable-watch.

  Pinkscale pulled Erick along.

  A whirlwind tour of the house demanded 270 mana spent on [Cleanse], 120 on Mana Shaping, and 150 on [Mend]. He had to Meditate for a bit in the middle there to make it all the way through Pinkscale’s CL job.

  With ten minutes left on Pinkscale’s [Force Wall] cage, the job was over, the house was clean. She signed Erick’s work order as she begged him to come back tomorrow, preferably after dinner. When everything was done, she dismissed the [Force Wall] surrounding the kids.

  Two of them were napping but they were quickly roused by their compatriots to once again terrorize Pinkscale and the rest of the house.

  Pinkscale stood in the open doorway. “You were great. Thanks, Mister Flatt.”

  “Glad to help.” Erick stood outside. “By the way, what was your name?”

  Pinkscale said, “Redalia. Sorry. I thought I told you?”

  “You might have.” Erick smiled. “It’s been a long, long day.”

  “Don’t I know it. Thankfully, Paint Day is only once a month at the Atriz house. Good bye.”

  - - - -

  Erick trudged into the Mage’s Guild with his completed job order and handed it to the receptionist.

  The Atriz job was worth 3 silver. No tip. They didn’t do tips in Spur, and the receptionist was a bit stiffer after Erick asked. Erick accepted the cash payout to lessen the dent of 1 gold it cost to sign up for the mage guild. Tomorrow he would do several of these jobs and direct deposit it all.

  He left the Mage’s Guild feeling lightheaded, exhausted, and hungry.

  When he arrived at the Sewerhouse and saw Jane alive, he felt a lot better.

  Jane was more than just alive, too. She was highly successful in her first hunt. Where did she hunt? In the sewers, of course. She had found 5 slimes, two with above average cores, and a rusted sword that Al mended to perfection. It was better than her knife!

  She had turned the cores into the Adventurer’s Guildhouse for a 1 gold quest completion, 10 gold for the pair of large cores, and 9 gold for the three smaller cores. She had brought a bottle of wine and part of a pig with most of her earnings. How she carried 200 pounds of meat through town was beyond Erick, but 20 Strength had a bit more of an effect than just more HP. Al was already chopping the pig up for dinner. He would be cooking tonight; Savral was out on an adventure in the Dead City.

  As they sat down to eat, Erick said, “You did really good, Jane.”

  “She did!” Al raised his glass. “To your first hunt!”

  Jane raised her glass, first to Al. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Al. Thank you for everything you’ve done for both of us.” She turned to Erick. “And you, Dad. I’m so glad you ended up on Veird with me. If you hadn’t… I think I might have ruined any chance for a good life here, trying to get back home. I love you, Dad.”

  Al smiled at both of them, but remained silent as tears began to well in Erick’s eyes.

  Erick raised his own glass to clink Jane’s, and Al’s. “I’m glad we survived.”

  “To more than survival!” Al shouted, “To the future!”

  “To the future!” Jane agreed.

  “To the future!” Erick said.

  Dinner was great. Wine was delicious.

  “Oh yeah. Al? I got Aurify today. That’s a funky looking experience requirement for level 1.”

  “What is it?” Jane asked.

  Al smiled, then said, “Level 2 Aurify needs 10000 experience. It looks like a lot, but it’s not. You don’t get experience from Aurify, either. There are a few other funky skills like that out there, but I doubt you’ll run into them.”

  Jane ‘huh’d.

  “Well that’s a shame,” Erick said. “I was hoping for a huge level boosting skill.”

  Al laughed. “Everyone would be an aura mage! It’s 1 million experience for level 3, which is the last level, but the final level isn’t that important. It’s only two auras at once. The second level of Aurify is the good one. Aurify 2 lets you chose who is affected by your aura, or not, and doubles the range of your auras. Tripling your range at level 3 doesn’t feel that much different than level 2.”

  Jane declared, “Funky skill!”

  Erick said, “Now if only casting all this magic didn’t grind me down like a toddler after a snack.”

  Al started, “Sci—”

  “Scion of Focus means no Mana Exhaustion,” Jane continued, smiling.

  Al laughed. Erick chuckled.

  Jane said, “I’m scouting housing tomorrow. I want you to come with me, Dad.”

  Erick smiled. “I’d like that.”

  “But it’s late and all the hotels are too far away! You sleep here tonight.”

  “Thanks, Al.”

  “Thank you.”

  - - - -

  Earlier in the day, Al had spent all of 4 seconds Aurifying a Mana Shaped [Mend] for 510 MP per second, inside of his office. Every scrap of paper that had been burned, every fragment of his desk, everything that had been trashed in the attack, was remade in those 4, short seconds.

  Part of what Al recreated were the papers and notes he had given Erick.

  Erick spent some time after dinner lying on his couch, reading those papers, while Jane snored softly on the couch next to him. They were abbreviated lists, curated by Al, and with a few of his personal notes strewn throughout. One of the lists was of skills that gave a hint as to the greater workings of the Script. He went over that list first.

  Clarity was nothing special. Just less MP costs. Cheaper spells were absolutely needed to keep an aura up for long, but Clarity wasn’t important right now. First level gave a Favored Spell, too. He could save up his Favored Spells, but that seemed like a waste.

  He glanced at Jane, tucked in to herself, sleeping on top of five pillows and under her blanket.

  Maybe I should go hunting slimes with her tomorrow. I still can’t believe that she was out killing monsters and making so much more money than I did. But that’s what risking your life does for you. I’m not about to start killing monsters for money, though.

  But if those Incani attack me… Ugh. Not great.

  He read Al’s attack spell list. He needed one of those. Probably Shrapnel.

  Utility spells…

  And yet more skills and spells.

  Spells, other:

  And then, of course, there were some healing spells, though these came with a message attached at the beginning. Erick didn’t think he was going to get many of these, and certainly not right now.

  There were entirely too many options. What should he pick? There were thousands of basic spells out there; the ones on these papers were just a part of Al's curated list. There were undoubtedly more attacks than just [Strike], too.

  What sort of build was Jane planning? What skills has she bought lately?

  …

  … Erick bought Mana Altering, Force Shrapnel, and Force Beam, before he could talk himself out of it. And then he bought Clarity, which prompted a Favored Spell, which, thankfully, he could put off selecting.

  As hovering boxes appeared and disappeared, Erick had a thought.

  I think I made a mistake.

  Damn. That’s a lot of little boxes.

  … I hope I can aim!