The group awoke in the morning full rested to a warm sunrise. Victor was up first. “Good morning everyone!” The Fur Fellows waved farewell as they reentered the labyrinth. The group packed up and departed exercising along the way. “So… I guess I should open with this since we had no time after he told everyone my secret. Are there any questions?”

  Serena jumped up wrapping one arm around him and pulling him down to her height. “Did you have a girlfriend before you died the first time?”

  “No.” His eyes narrowed almost irritated at the question given how absurd it really was.

  “That’s my only question for right now. I may have more later.” Serena explained.

  Brice raised his hand. “I have one.”

  “Ask away.” Victor added.

  “You are from a dead magic world?” Brice clarified. “What was that like? I literally cannot imagine a world without magic.”

  “On earth money was essentially the most powerful force, and I had none of it. I often went hungry. The employer I work for I had to obey no matter what or I’d lose my job and starve since my mom wasted our money on drugs. I didn’t really have time to make friends so in my spare time I’d read. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it the ceiling of the building I worked at collapsed crushing me to death. Now I bet I could lift that no problem.” Victor smiled.

  “So without magic money reigns supreme?” Brice asked.

  “Yeah.” Victor grimly remembered Earth and the miserable life he had before.

  “Money still reigns supreme here. Magic and levels just make it less extreme.” Serena countered. “At least in human societies.”

  Emilie asked. “Without magic how did you heal people? Did you just die if you got hurt or sick?”

  “Well the medicine on earth was pretty good, if you could afford it. It was astronomically expensive to fix anything serious. I knew if I had something wrong with me I’d probably just die or have to suffer through it.” Victor looked down. “I actually saved up some money to try and go to school and get a better job but right before I died but my mom stole the money for drugs then overdosed and died.”

  Swordie added. “He went hungry that day. It was the final straw in his bad luck streak and left him at -100 luck. Few people can survive even 1 day at -100 luck. It’s one of the reasons he was brought back. A reason he was given a gift from me was that he was born on a dead magic world.”

  Jenora asked. “Well does that mean he has the most tragic of back stories between us?”

  Victor insisted. “No.”

  Emilie threw her hands forward as if to point to it. “You DIED already. You can’t seriously think that isn’t the worst thing to happen to any of us.”

  Brice nodded in agreement. “It’s hard to overstate just how horrible to me death is. It’s the ultimate tragedy in life. So I definitely agree with Emilie.”

  Victor shook his head. “Serena was enslaved. My job and life were shit and felt like I couldn’t escape, and I definitely felt like a slave since any disobedience would take away my ability to eat since my mom didn’t even buy food she just bought drugs but hers was worse.”

  Serena waffled. “Slavery is definitely worse than a terrible job or hunger, but dying is worse than that for sure.”

  “Wait really? I definitely think death isn’t as bad as slavery.” Victor insisted. “The founders of the country I came from shouted ‘Give me liberty or give me death!’ although they didn’t mean for everyone since they too had slaves. We fought a civil war later and slavery ended but a lot of people remained rather racist. It always irritated me because it just felt wrong to me. I can’t even really say why.”

  “Of course death is worse than slavery.” Serena pressed her fist to his head. “I’m alive RIGHT NOW because of you if I was dead I’d have no chance of being saved.”

  “Well yeah but you said so yourself being saved by someone or freed is vanishingly unlikely.” Victor countered.

  “It is! But there’s no chance of that if you die. I lived because I was defiant. When you freed me I was bleeding to death and despite being a slave for YEARS dying was still more terrifying than being alive. It was even more horrible than that dungeon that elf had.” Serena insisted almost insulted. “Just because I’m a victim doesn’t mean I’d rather be dead.”

  Emilie frowned at Victor. “You know just because your life is terrible you shouldn’t choose death right?”

  “Fine we our slogan won’t be liberty or death.” Victor slumped his shoulders.

  “I liked what you said back in hell.” Serena noted. “Time to shine is a good one.”

  Emilie clapped her hands together. “Even though you seemed completely outclassed your confidence was inspiring.”

  Brice agreed. “It was rather rousing!”

  Cawthorn also cheered. “MY MAGE IS THE MOST INSPIRING HERO! MY MAGE DID YOU HAVE ANY PETS IN YOUR PAST LIFE?”

  “No, but I really wanted one. You’re a great familiar Cawthorn.” Victor nuzzled him and pet his head.

  Cawthorn puffed out his chest. “I AM THE GREATEST FAMILIAR TO EVER LIVE!”

  Jenora asked pointedly. “Are there any intelligent races besides humans where you came from?”

  “No, just humans. Well there are animals with some intelligence but not like humans.” Victor explained.

  “Wait then how were people racist? It’s just humans right?” Emilie asked.

  “Well they hated people with a different skin color than them.” Victor noted.

  “Wait, that’s stupid. They’re the same but just a different color. Would people from your world hate me just for the color of my skin?” Serena asked.

  “Yeah, really stupid right?” Victor asked.

  “That’s idiotic.” Serena narrowed her eyes. “Do you?”

  Victor glared back at her. “What do you think?” They both laughed not able to keep a straight face.

  Brice tilted his head confused. “Wait so they hate them for literally no reason. At least the hatred of elves somewhat makes sense because we live forever and tend to be much stronger solely as a result of our gifted ancestry.”

  Jenora agreed. “Same with devils. People hate devils because they’re part of long running evil empire that consists of many immortal devils which have been alive and conquering or killing for literally millennia. Would people on your world just hate me because my true form is red?”

  “Oh definitely, they’d try to burn or shoot you.” Victor pointed.

  “Shoot me? Like with arrows?” Jenora asked.

  “No with guns.” Victor explained.

  “Guns?” Jenora and the whole group asked confused.

  “Ohhh right. There are no guns here. On earth everyone is effectively very low level. Like less than level 10. Guns were widely produced and you point it at someone pull the trigger and it shoots a small metal bullet. If it hit in most of the body it will cause enough damage to seriously hurt or more likely kill someone. They were manufactured in factories along with cars, televisions, and so much more. Oh wow I just realized none of you have ever seen any technology my world would have made in the past 200 years.” Victor came to a startling realization.

  Brice noted. “For obvious reasons I’m just going to take the shortcut the question. What are all of those?”

  “Does this world have carriages?” Victor asked.

  They looked at him like he was stupid. “Of course horses can draw a carriage.”

  “Well cars are like that but they move many times faster than a horse and don’t need a horse to draw them.” Victor explained.

  “Like a spectral carriage!” Brice snapped his fingers.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “A television allows you to view either live or recorded visual information from any distance away. Like a moving painting that allows you to communicate.” Victor explained.

  “Like a crystal ball!” Brice seemed excited. “So even without magic humans managed to develop alternatives and use them in place of magic. Did you have some kind of fire technology?”

  “Well not for the general public but flamethrowers existed.” Victor noted.

  “So you also had fire, technology was it?” Brice seemed extremely excited.

  “I guess that is one way to look at it.” Victor thought about it before turning to Serena. “By the way Serena, why aren’t you angry at me for keeping this from you?”

  “You couldn’t tell me right?” Serena raised an eyebrow confused.

  “Swordie told me not to.” Victor blamed him shamelessly.

  Swordie chimed in. “Reincarnation is dangerous for the general population to become aware of. It will result in many ignorant people killing themselves if their situation becomes dire if they assume they can restart their lives, even if they can’t. I am pleading with all of you as an angel. Do not tell anyone else about his past life.”

  Serena scoffed. “Pft! Like anyone would believe us. If Deox himself hadn’t said that you were like him and told us about it even I wouldn’t believe you.”

  “You wouldn’t believe me?” Victor asked.

  “Why would I? You’d clearly be being mind controlled or perhaps you were suffering from a head injury. Something like that.” Serena insisted.

  Jenora insisted. “Don’t worry Swordie. Other than Cawthorn I can’t imagine anyone here telling anyone that secret.”

  Cawthorn protested. “I AM THE MOST SECRETIVE BIRD IN ALL OF VERDAN! I KNOW OF SECRETS BETWEEN MY MAGE AND I THAT EVEN YOU DO NOT KNOW!” Victor immediately turned to Cawthorn and they glared into each others eyes for nearly a minute of total silence as they jogged. “AND I’D NEVER TELL ANYONE THOSE SECRETS!”

  Serena burst out laughing doubling over and slowing down for a moment before catching up. “Cawthorn, you’re so dumb. Not as dumb as Victor but you’re dumb, for the same reason.”

  “I’m not dumb!” Victor insisted.

  “You could be the smartest man in Verdan dear but with what you’ve done you’ll always be the dumbest man alive to me.” Serena continued jogging.

  Brice returned to his point. “So technology is basically just a type of magic right? It’s like creating magic items since you didn’t have mana and couldn’t really level up.”

  “I guess you could say that. I can’t easily explain all of them but I’ve read books about some things like trains and mills. The gears always fascinated me.” Victor fondly remembered the pictures in books of trains and waterwheels.

  Brice smiled. “Even on a dead magic world life finds a way. People are remarkable. Was there anything about humans which set them apart from other species on your world. Surely giant monsters had to be fought all the time.”

  Victor scratched his head. “Well actually no, the most dangerous monsters on Earth were not much of a danger to humanity as a whole. Sure a tiger or a bear could kill someone but guns put them down rather fast. The most dangerous thing on earth was humanity.”

  Serena shrugged. “Same as here I suppose.”

  Emilie protested. “The most dangerous thing on Verdan is an archdevil! Maybe a vampire or a lich.”

  Jenora noted. “Or a dragon! Dragons are fearsome beasts.”

  Brice noted. “There’s no way that humans or even other humanoids are the most dangerous creatures in Verdan.”

  Serena corrected herself. “Elves are the worst, dangerous or not. No offense Brice.”

  Brice noted similar to Gargrim. “Some taken.”

  Victor puffed up taking a deep breath as they continued jogging. “Can we all just not mock different races? Like I get we have some unusual group members and people have a bad history with some of their species but everyone here would risk life and limb for one another. I know you and Emilie have, issues, with Brice and Jenora but we went through LITERAL hell together and came out the other side.”

  Serena thought for a moment deciding if it was worth arguing or not. It wasn’t. She didn’t hate Brice more than he loved Victor. “Alright, I can’t just change my opinion on him but I can avoid talking about it.” Emilie looked to Jenora and then to Victor unable to say what she wanted to say and instead nodding.

  Jenora still hung her head disappointed. Victor turned to her. “Hey Jenora want to run ahead with me for a minute?”

  Serena raised an eyebrow. “Why not me?”

  “Uh no reason.” Victor smiled at her.

  Serena shrugged as Jenora took off in front of them for a moment. “What is it?”

  “So don’t tell Emilie I said anything but she still wants to be with you. She just can’t get over the nightmares and how she recoils from you after that incident. If you work on it you might be able to get her back. Just try to be yourself around her.” Victor explained.

  Jenora lit up and smiled. “Thank the Goddess. I was considering staying at the guild hall because it was actually hurting to see the look on her face.”

  “Yeah just trust me on this. She probably needs some time but I’d be shocked if she didn’t take you back. That said you probably have to apologize.” Victor noted.

  “You should apologize too! You didn’t tell us you’d been reborn into this world.” Jenora snapped at him. “How did my secret result in her leaving me and yours just made you more interesting to Serena. Uhg!”

  “Different people, different secrets.” Victor shrugged. “

  Jenora smiled widely at him back to brimming with confidence. “Right, I’ll pretend you didn’t tell me.”

  The two let the group catch up and resumed jogging. Emilie gave a knowing smile to Victor who nodded. She didn’t catch Jenora watching her smile. Brice asked another question. “Did your world have the ability to fly?”

  “Well technically yes but I never flew until I fought Zolvorn. We had large metal tubes called airplanes. They transported large quantities of people very fast across great distances.” Victor explained.

  “Wait multiple people? How fast?” Brice inquired deeply interested.

  “Think of it like a sky carriage, and according to what I’ve read it could similar speeds Zolvorn reached. It’s possible Zolvorn could move much faster. We created a few sonic booms during our fight.” Victor noted.

  “Could you make one of those with enough resources?” Brice asked.

  “HAH! We’re missing far too much technology to reach that level. I might be able to make a mundane plane that doesn’t go fast and is more of a single person glider.” Victor shook his head disappointed. “The most complex thing I remember how to build is a steam powered engine. Which couldn’t power a plane but could power a train.”

  “You should do it!” Brice insisted.

  “A train has significant costs to setup. Trains run on tracks that have to be laid out. You have to agree on specific locations, and fund it. I bet it would cost literally millions of gold to make one that went to 3 or 4 locations.” Victor grimaced.

  “What would it do if we actually had one?” Brice continued deeply interested.

  “The trip between Wonora is about 12 or so days by foot right?” Victor asked.

  Emilie agreed. “It’s about 12 days, despite the necropolis being halfway between the cities it’s far out in the woods.”

  “It wouldn’t even take a full day most likely depending on how effective we can make the speed of the train. I’m guessing 6 to 10 hours to travel between cities.” Victor pondered thinking about it carefully.

  Jenora shook her head. “There’s no way it could sustain that speed right? It would break.”

  “I mean most trains run either around the clock or only stop when the human conductors need a break. It could probably make a trip to Kival in the morning and then make a trip back in the evening.” Victor explained.

  Brice looks at him with starry eyes. “We have to try and do this someday.”

  Victor laughed. “Sure, if we have millions of gold, control over the local laws, and two locations which need to be linked we can do it.” Brice pumped his fist. “Why do you care?”

  Brice looked at him like the answer was obvious. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Serena clarified for him. “Dear elves view things on a much longer timeline than us. Even if it’s say 10 or 20 years from now you’ve just told him he’ll be able to save weeks, or months of his life and the lives of others forever after it’s built.”

  Brice realized he really didn’t understand. “A thousand years from now I’ll have ridden the trains so many times I might get to spend an additional literal human lifetime with friends and family. That is if we succeed.”

  “Any other major questions about my world you want to ask make sure you ask when we’re alone, I really am trying to respect your request Swordie.” Victor noted.

  “As is tradition my knight, you are trying but failing. I accept your failure as an apology.” Swordie dryly answered.

  Jenora asked one more question. “Did your world have a lot of conflict? Wars and such?”

  “Yes, oh yes. I don’t know what scale destruction occurs in your modern day wars but we had a lot of devastating wars and a lot of people died in them. I don’t see much point in getting into them. My life, while shit was peaceful. I was little more than a tiny cog in a machine for people to scream at.” Victor explained.

  Emilie asked Serena a question. “You’re the most meticulous person in the group Serena. How long will we have been away when we get back?”

  “I’m the most meticulous!” Brice insisted.

  “Ok then the question is to you.” Emilie raised an eyebrow.

  “About 39 to 40 days depending on how long we will be away from Jenora.” Brice noted clearly recounting the time.

  Victor ended their conversation. “Oh shit! Forala is going to be worried isn’t she?”

  “We were not gone that long for artifact hunters. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Serena reassured him.