After Elias caught up with the group, they entered the Inn. The place was even rowdier than before, and nearly all the tables were filled. They stomped across the dining area back to the counter. The large man was still there, this time in a conversation with a man that looked like he had one foot in the grave. He was bald with a large white beard, though his clothes looked expensive. It was a combination of dark blues and reds, garish by Elias’s standards.

  After they reached the bar Brent started, “How much for one room?”

  The man stopped his conversation with the old man and turned to Brent, “The rate is 10 starlings for a room, another 5 for a meal 10 if you want meat. You get a share of whatever is in the pot in the morning for free.”

  “How many people to a room?” Elias asked,

  “Don't matter, but only one person gets a free morning meal,” he said.

  “We’ll, take a room, 4 meals and as much meat as you can spare. And three morning meals. I didn’t catch your name.” Brent responded. Then he dropped two eagles on the counter. Which disappeared into the man's bear-like hands.

  “Kass.” he said then he whistled, and a young man came running over.

  “Miller show gets these people to room 7. And a meal with meat. Throw in a tankard each and some fresh honey bread.” Kass ordered. A young man who looked barely older than 13 came to them, bowed and said, “This way, will you be eating in the room or down here,” he asked.

  “The room, right?” Brent asked everyone.

  “Definitely,” Alicia said.

  “Thank you so much sir Kass, Kellik was a great help.” Becca said to the scared man. She even curtsied prettily. The man gave her sad smile in return and gestured to the stairs. “Go on now, have a good meal and rest.”

  A few minutes later they were led into a small room with two beds on opposite sides. The beds were barely large enough for a single person. There was a nightstand beneath a small window but other than that the room was barren. They had discussed earlier whether they should get separate rooms but decided against it for the sake of safety.

  “If you want some water and cloth to clean up its 2 starling. I even have your clothes cleaned for 3. There’s a bathhouse near here, ladies in the morning and men in the evening.” the boy said as they entered the room.

  The idea tempted Elias, but it wasn't his money no matter how much they shared. Elias resolved to find his own method of income quickly.

  “Just meals for now.” Brent said. Then the boy left, closing the door behind himself.

  “Well, at least we're not going to sleep in a forest.” Elias offered.

  Brent looked at Elias and said, “We take the floor, and the girls can have the beds. After we figure everything out, we can see about getting our own rooms.”

  “My, how chivalrous,” Elias mumbled only to himself. There was no point in arguing.

  Alicia and Becca sat on one of the small beds in quiet conversation. Elias sat cross legged on the floor against a wall since he had no interest in talking to Brent.

  “Alright, let's pool our knowledge and make a plan.” Brent said, taking on the ‘glorious leader’ tone.

  “We know we have around three gold dragons worth of jewelry. That's weeks of food and shelter; the question is: what do we do from there? Becoming hunters is a possibility but that means going back into the frontier. It could also be a way home. Maybe there was something we missed.” Brent finished and looked at everyone else.

  Becca looked up “We should check out the apothecary and enchanters and get new clothes, maybe visit the bathhouse. I can't stand this filth. We get our armor and weapons then we figure out how hunters work. How do they earn money and such.” Becca looked to Alicia for more advice, and she delivered.

  “We need things like water skins, medical supplies, food for travel, and flint and steel to make fire. Most of all we need rest and recovery; a few days at least. I'm barely keeping myself awake. Another problem are the weapons. I don't know how to use daggers and neither does Becca know how to use a crossbow.”

  Brent nodded along, “Right right, we need some practice. At least our abilities should make up for the lack of skill.”

  Elias watched them for several minutes excitedly talking about different methods of practice. Even Alicia, who was normally cold, seemed excited. Elias disliked their enthusiasm for some reason, it was as if they thought this was some kind of vacation. After a few minutes Brent finally noticed Elias wasn't saying anything.

  “Care to contribute Elias.” Brent said testily, he hid his distain well, but Elias could see it.

  “Teamwork is probably something we should talk about.” Elias offered not matching their enthusiasm in the least.

  Becca excitedly said, “We have a pretty good team comp. Tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS and crowd control. If only we had a healer, then we would be perfect.” She pointed to Brent, Alicia, herself then Elias respectively.

  ‘What the hell is this chick talking about.’ Elias vaguely knew those were gaming terms, but he failed to see what the hell it had to do with their current situation.

  “This isn't a game Becca,” Elias said, his voice filled with reproach. That took some of the wind out of her sails. Everyone stared at him since the stern tone was a massive change from his quite despondence. Elias didn't know why he found her excitement so irritating. He almost wished she was more morose.

  Alicia wasn't having any of Elias’s attitude though, “She’s trying to help Elias, everyone should pull their weight, maybe you should follow her example instead of just sitting there.”

  Elias rolled his eyes, “I’ve pulled my weight as much as anyone else here. Don't try to pretend otherwise.”

  Alicia’s eyes became frigid, “Have you really, last time I checked we were the ones paying for everything.”

  Brent chose this opportunity to butt in, “Maybe you should show some gratitude for once.”

  Elias laughed in mockery, “Gratitude?”

  ‘If these fuckers think that them paying room and board meant that they deserve my deference, then they’re shit out of luck. They’ll get none from me. I need them to survive, that's it. Didn't I give up my knife? Didn’t I keep them hydrated for days? Didn’t I fight alongside them. I carried my weight. You two assholes are just looking for reasons to complain, no matter how small. If anyone deserved my thanks; it was Becca she didn't even hesitate to consider sharing. Unlike these two’

  Elias bit back his retort. None of this mattered in the long run. Getting home is the only thing that means anything. Elias wasn't a fool; he knew they needed him as well. Unfortunately, his pettiness won out and he responded.

  “Alright, thank you so much for the truly earth-shattering sacrifice that was selling your irreplaceable jewelry and throwing a couple eagles my way. Especially since I've done nothing to help get us here. You two truly are magnanimous beyond measure. Saints even.” Elias said with obvious sarcasm. He had a small smirk as Brent's face became red in anger. Alicia sniffed in disgust and rolled her eyes. Becca tried to look anywhere but in his direction. But he wanted to twist the knife in a little more.

  “And thank you Becca for actually wanting to share.” This time there was no sarcasm; he was genuine. Alicia jolted as she realized the point he was making and had decency to look mildly ashamed, for about a fraction of a second before her face returned to a familiar amount of contempt. Brent wasn't remotely moved. At the very least Becca offered him a small smile and a nod. Fortunately, a knock at the door ended the awkward silence.

  “Enter,” Brent said. Three people came in, two carried trays of food and a third carried some kind of drink in a metal tankard. All thoughts about them ended as the heavenly smell of meat and bread wafted into the room. Elias considered taking his meal and leaving since the room had become awkward but waiting even a few more seconds that necessary to get food in his stomach was too much to ask.

  After the servants left Elais dove into the meal, not even bothering to look up at the rest. He shoveled down his stew, barely chewing the meat and vegetables. Taking a sip of whatever was in the metal tankard, he winced, realizing that it was some kind of honeyed beer. Other than his dad sneaking him a light beer one new year’s, he had never consumed alcohol. It was slightly lukewarm and mildly sweet with a honey aftertaste. Then a smile came over his face. He focused on the water inside the beer and with a small application of his ability willed it to freeze. Just as ice crystals were starting to form, he cut off the power. Then he took a large draft savoring the ice-cold beer.

  After his bowl was around a third finished, he finally bothered to look up at everyone else. Brent and Becca were doing essentially the same thing as he was, scarfing down the food as fast as possible. Alicia, however, was picking at how bowl almost disdainfully. Occasionally taking out a piece of what Elias thought was a potato or carrot. Elias had to ask.

  “Not to your taste?” He couldn't understand why she wasn't diving into it.

  “I’m Vegan,” She replied. She looked annoyed that he even asked the question. Then Elias started laughing, a loud belly laugh that attracted everyone’s attention.

  “And what's so funny about that.” She said after Elias finished laughing.

  Elias could barely hold back another laugh as he said, “No. it's just…..We are in another world and have been starving for days. And you’re bothering with that stupid shit.”

  Elias shook his head, unable to form any more words as the laughter started again. “Caring about the systematic suffering of billions of animals is not stupid. Have you ever seen the scale of suffering in the meat industry?” Alicia said, with the same righteous anger she usually had when they argued.

  “Wh-why don't you start protesting in front of the Inn. Promise you’ll only look slightly less stupid than in our own world.” Elias continued to laugh; it felt so good he didn't want to stop. For a moment he forgot about his tragic situation. The loss he felt, his constant worry, it was far away. This was bliss to him.

  Alicia was getting angrier by the moment. Elias wasn't interested in another argument, so he decided to defuse the situation.

  “We have to be practical Alicia; our survival is all that matters. The luxury of caring about animals is something we can’t afford right now.”

  He let calm wash over him and continued to polish off the rest of his food, dipping his piece of warm bread into the thick stew. Alicia’s anger slowly melted away and resignation finally took hold. She took a deep breath and stared at the bowl, after a minute she took a bite of one of the thick sausages. Brent actually looked surprised that Alicia started to eat the meat. Elias, even more so vegan, were always annoyingly self-righteous. It came as a surprise that she could be convinced that it wasn’t practical at the moment.

  The Next Morning.

  Elias rose earlier than the rest. It was a habit that, even in a different world, he couldn't break. Becca and Alicia were sleeping on both the beds. Brent literally slept in front of the door and Elias slept in the center of the room. Nature was calling Elias was dreaded using the communal toilets.

  Still, he got up off the cold wooden floor and groaned from the pain. The sun had barely started rising and, looking at the street below, he could see almost no one about. Elias walked over to Brent and gave him a gentle push. His eyes opened in worry before he focused on Elias.

  “Going to use the outhouse, lock the door when I leave,” Elias whispered.

  “Fine, hurry back,” He responded, clearly not fully awake.

  Not a minute later Elias left the room, and he could hear Brent locking the latch behind him. Elias walked downstairs to find Kass by the counter. After offering a greeting, Elias walked out front doors to the outhouse next to the Inn. He steeled himself and did his business. Elias found there were plenty of uses for his ability, if only he could find soap. Ash certainly wasn’t as effective, but he knew it was better than only water. After a short conversation with Kass he used a handful of ash from the Inn’s brassier to clean his hands. Being able to summon water from the air was a godsend.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Is the morning meal ready,” Elias asked Kass as he made his way to the counter.

  “In an hour or so we, even have delivery of fresh eggs to add to the pot.” He said cordially.

  “Now that sounds excellent,” He sat down thinking about what to do in the meantime.

  “Are there any interesting shops in town? My friends and I have been looking for resources?”

  “Most everyone won’t open for another hour or two, you could try Nessa. She's an herbalist, she has a knack for it. Might have work for you. The enchanters and alchemists work on their own time, most open at midday. The smiths, leatherworkers and everyone else opens up shop around morning meal.”

  Elias was certainly interested in this herbalist, “Where is Nessa?”

  “Around a ten minutes’ walk up this street, it's a bright blue building, you can't miss it.”

  “How safe are the streets in the morning,”

  Kass shrugged, “Pretty safe, just avoid the back streets.”

  With that information Elias left the building and made his way to Nessa. The morning air was pleasantly cool. Few people walked the streets, almost all were human. Around one in ten were something different. Some with bright purple skin and twisted horns on their heads. One man was over 8 feet tall, heavily muscled, with a protruding brow wearing nothing but a loin cloth. He dragged a cart behind him. Elias gave the man a wide berth before he spotted the severed head of what looked like a massive iguana sitting in the carriage.

  After gawking at all the strange sights for several minutes, Elias reached the herbalist in no time.

  Elias entered the bright blue building. A bell attached to the door rang as he entered. The walls were covered in plants, almost none of which Elias recognized. Some plants were in pots while others hung drying. At a counter near the back a woman and a small boy were being attended to.

  “Make sure he breathes in the steam from the herbs, both in the morning and night. Drink a cup only once a day with a meal.” A woman in front of the counter said. After some coins were exchanged the woman and the boy left the store leaving it empty. Elias walked to the counter to see a middle-aged woman with brown hair wearing a simple grey dress. She gave Elias a once over, noting his strange clothes.

  “Good morning, young man, what can I do for you?” she asked.

  “I’m not actually sure, I'm planning to be a hunter and wanted to know what the various shops have in offer. You seem to be the only one open.”

  She shrugged, “Well, you see my stock, herbs, plants and a few topical remedies I make myself. And various teas to help with any number of conditions. What do you need?”

  His normal response was to ignore the advice of anyone who offered herbal remedies and condemn them as charlatans. But this was a different world with magic after all.

  “What do hunters usually get?” Elias asked.

  “Hmm, there's Lydun paste, probably the best non magical topical ointment for wounds. Salia root tea helps with sleep. And Duvia bark powder, it will kick up anything in your stomach.” She explained.

  Elias was most interested in the Lydun paste. If it does what she says it does, then they should get as much as reasonable.

  “How much would the paste cost?” He asked.;

  “Five silver for a cask.” She reached beneath the counter and pulled out a small wooden cylinder around three inches wide and an inch tall. He couldn't believe it was such a small amount.

  “I have cheaper alternatives,” she said with a smirk.

  “I hear you offer work?” Elias said with a smile. She chuckled and said, “Yes, but I don't think you're prepared to go into the frontier, that's where most of my herbs come from.”

  Elias decided to test the waters, “Any work for a water sorcerer?” He hedged,

  Her eyebrows shot up and then she smiled, “You can summon water. Yes?” her smile became sly, Elias pretended to not notice it. Elias studied her face, no fear or earth-shattering surprise.

  Elias shrugged, “Easily,”

  “One moment,” She placed the cask back beneath the table and Elias could hear the sound of sliding wood and a lock. Then she left the counter and went into the back room. Elias stood there awkwardly for almost a minute before she returned with a large watering can.

  “If you fill that and concentrate as much mana as you into the water, I'll give you a silver for the effort.”

  ‘Mana? Is that what the energy is called? And what did she mean to fill it.’ Elias wasn't going to completely drain himself in the effort since he didn't trust the woman. He thought about her instructions then shrugged. It took him a few minutes to summon roughly a gallon of water.

  ‘She said to fill it with mana.’ he mused, so he pushed power into the water with no intent behind it. The water drank up the energy easily. After another minute he was half empty. The orb of floating water didn't look any different, but he could feel the power in it. Then he gently lowered it into the watering can.

  Nessa was ginning as she pulled a small gem out of her pocket. It was light blue around the size of a pea. She lowered it into the water and slowly the gem started to glow. Once it stopped increasing in brightness, she pulled it out and examined it.

  “Not bad, but you're a novice aren't you.” In the same breath she pulled out a single eagle and dropped it into Elias’s hand.

  ‘I guess that gem tests how much mana is in the water.’

  “Is it that obvious?” Elias asked.

  “Yes. No experienced sorcerer would offer that service so cheaply.”

  “I’ll be honest Nessa, where I come from, magic is strictly forbidden. I didn't even know that the energy was called Mana.”

  That information floored her, “Really?”

  “Yes, I'm not even sure what you're going to do with the water. Care to explain.”

  She looked deeply into his eyes and shook her head, “you’re not joking, you genuinely know next to nothing about magic. Well, now I feel guilty.”

  “How about this, since you’re clearly underpaying me, you can make up the difference by giving me the basics. Like what is mana, what are sorcerers and gifted.”

  Nessa laughed, “I don't half a day, but I'll humor you until someone else walks in.”

  Elias grinned, “That sounds like a deal.”

  Nessa wasn't as knowledgeable as Elias would have desired, but since he was starting from essentially nothing, she was a paragon of knowledge. She cleared up the difference between a Sorcerer and a gifted. It was apparently common knowledge. The gifted are, as the name suggests, people with unique magical gifts. They fell into two types: self enhancement or external enhancement. This essentially meant that an individual could enhance an aspect of themselves. Strength, speed, durability, reflexes and more. The reason they were called gifts were that they could literally be granted by powerful enough sentient creatures. Or you could be born with one randomly.

  Nessa described one woman, Liliana or the songs called her, Thousand Eyes. She had a gift that enhanced her reflexes. Overtime, she mastered her gift to the point where most thought she could see the future. A person could have multiple gifts, though more powerful gifts take precedence; secondary gifts usually enhanced the primary.

  Elias thought about Becca, she had a combination of both. She had enhanced perception for trajectory as well as the ability to manipulate velocity and rotation of anything she throws. Brent also had multiple gifts. At least two, one to empower his arms with large amounts of concussive force, and other to reinforce his body against the power.

  Alicia’s was likely the same. She probably had a gift to lower the effect of gravity and increase her agility.

  Then there were sorcerers, people like Elias could control a single element. The definition of element was dubious at best, one would think water, fire air and earth but it was more complex. There was a sorcerer who could control bone and another who had control over dead wood. There was even one woman, Helena the blood witch, who could control, well, blood. She couldn’t exactly explain how the abilities worked, but at least now Elias knew that sorcerers were rare but not so uncommon that most people didn't have basic knowledge about them.

  There were some people whose abilities couldn’t be categorized properly. One example was the imperial family. Anyone in the direct line apparently had the ability to breathe fire. The first emperor gained this ability by slaying a fire dragon and ever since then his descendants all received the same power, but only those with a direct line to the throne. Elias couldn’t make sense of how that worked. But it was neither a gift nor sorcery. This also extended to abilities unique to specific species.

  Next were wizards, unlike gifted and sorcerers anyone can be a wizard with enough training and the proper implements. They used magic circles in grimoires to cast spells of fire water ice and such though each spell had limitations . Unfortunately, Nessa didn't know much more than that. Wizards were more common than sorcerers but were incredibly secretive.

  Finally, there were people with knacks, weak magical skills with no real explanation, they were the most common. Someone with a knack could be born with the ability to predict weather with perfect accuracy. Another could tell the gender of a baby before they were born. No one really understood why knacks existed, but they were the most common.

  Some people could have a knack and not know it for their entire lives. Nessa herself had a knack for growing plants, she just knew how much to water or how long to leave them in the sun. It wasn't conscious on her part, but that was the sole reason why she became an herbalist. Almost all knacks were strange passive abilities. Of course anyone could have a knacks even sorcerers.

  There were other mana users, alchemists, enchanters, artificers. The list went on though their abilities were limited to simply channeling mana into their creations. One thing she couldn't certainty answer was: Could a sorcerer become a wizard? Or could a sorcerer get gifts? She was completely certain a sorcerer could never become a wizard, the latter she wasn't sure about. Why, she couldn't say, but she was firm on Elias never becoming a wizard.

  She even explained the frontier to him. It was essentially a massive section off the corner of the continent thousands of miles across. Each of the five continents in this world, Iyah, had a frontier with different biomes. Something in the forest increased the ambient manas this causes mutations in mana beasts. Every hundred years or so the mana increases substantially causing massive mutations in every creature. Something drives them out of the forest, deserts, or mountains where they usually live. This leads to thousands of powerful mana beasts dealing with. The frontier wall was created to block off the flood of monsters.

  Throughout the entire explanation Elias watched as Nessa watered her plants. Every time she watered a plant, he could actually see it perking up in response to the mana rich water.

  “The water will still remain saturated with your mana for a few days, some of these plants are from the frontier and need mana to grow properly. Normal herbs will grow stronger and more potent with consistent exposure to mana rich water. If you were an earth sorcerer, I would pay you to do this with soil. That effect lasts even longer, weeks at a time. Though,\ it's not as potent as water, both would be ideal.” Nessa explained.

  “Would drinking the water give you mana?” asked Elias.

  “From what I know it doesn't, though I'm not sure why. Something to do with the fact that we produce mana and not absorb it from the environment like mana beasts. All mana potions really do is mimic this absorption within your body for a few seconds. Same thing with any elixir, tonic, decoction or philter really, they all mimic phenomena observed in mana beasts. Which is why they're all made from parts of beasts and magical herbs. Though you’ll have to speak with an alchemist for a real explanation, I grow and prepare herbs, that’s it. The local apothecary always has a few drafts available.”

  Elias’s questions were piling up by the minute. He was about to ask another question before a group of hunters walked in. They looked impressive. Four men in full plate and each were wearing similar armor but different carried weapons.

  Nessa noticed the group entering and said, “We'll have to talk later, here. Since you're planning to become a hunter, I'll expect you as a repeat customer. The going rate is three silver for one of your ability.”

  She dropped another silver into Elias' hand. Giving her a respectful nod, Elias turned to leave then shivered at the mana radiating from the group.

  “Greetings Madame Herbalist, do you have our order prepared?” The lead man said in a rather respectful tone.

  Elias didn't stay to listen and headed back to the Hunter’s Cove; his thoughts filled with everything he had learned. The streets were getting busier, Elias examined the various stalls that were being set up. Some had basic weapons and others had clothes for sale. There were books, cheap jewelry pots, pans, even nails and hammers.

  Elias entered the tavern to see a few people sitting at tables. Elias's classmates were nowhere to be seen.

  ‘I can't believe they're still sleeping.’

  Elias went over to Kass who was pouring a drink for a man who looked like he fell out of a moving car. Elias didn't care to ask about him. “Have my allies come down?” Elias asked.

  “No but I sent up food a half hour ago. Saw the islander once but no one else.”

  ‘Islander? Who is he talking about? ’ Elias wondered. He shrugged, gave Kass a small salute, which confused him, then walked away.

  Elias knocked on the front door and Brent's voice responded, “Who is it?”

  “Elias,”

  There was a sigh of relief then he opened the door and was greeted with the smell of food.

  “You had better saved my bowl.” Elias said, Brent rolled his eyes and pointed to a bowl and tankard sitting on the small nightstand next to it were three empty bowls stacked together.

  Elias grabbed his bowl and sat at his usual spot.

  “Where have you been? I said no one should wonder off.” Brent said. Elias didn't like Brent's tone but bit back his sarcastic remark. He wasn't in the mood for another argument. It was too early. Becca and Alicia were sitting on one of the beds looking at him expectedly.

  “Getting information, a lot of information actually. I had a wonderful conversation with an herbalist.”

  Becca perked up and locked her eyes on him. “Well, what did you talk about?” she asked.

  “Hold on, let me get some food in me. Then I'll spill the beans.”

  Taking in a spoon full of stew, he grimaced at the lukewarm temperature.

  “It's been sitting there for half an hour.” Alicia stated.

  Elias smiled, “Easy fix.”

  Then he focused on the water and channeling a bit of mana, he heated the water to boil. It was a bit more difficult since it wasn't pure water, but such a small amount didn’t cost much.

  “You heat water now?” Becca asked.

  “Yeah, it's a trick I picked up accidentally.” Elias teased.

  “That could be very useful,” Brent mumbled, focusing on the bowl.

  “Mana sure is a wonder.” Elias said, then shot a glance at Becca. She was boring a hole in his head with her eyes. Elias had teased her enough. He spent the next half an hour relaying everything he had learned to them. He answered questions to the best of his ability, but most he couldn't beyond guesses, which were probably wrong.

  Becca was in a daze, “Wizards, enchanters, alchemists, artificers, poultices of healing, they all exist. This world is amazing,” She was mumbling to herself. While Alicia and Brent were in contemplation.

  “We still have an hour or before mid-day. I saw we hit up a tailor for some cheap and well-made clothes. Then head to the apothecary for potions and such. Finally, we head back to Kellik’s for our armor and weapons. We then spend the rest of the day practicing. They’re plenty of open spaces outside the town.” Brent said.

  Elias finished his ice-cold honeyed beer and asked, “By the way, which of you is the islander?”

  “That would be me. Apparently, there's a massive island continent out east, Eshlier, where people with my skin tone are most common.” Alicia said.

  Elias thought about his own world he had to ask to make sure, “Have you had problems?”

  “No, none seems to care really. They just think I'm from Eshlier. Then again, I've only talked to a couple staff and a few people on the street,” She sounded almost surprised.

  “Well, that good, so how about we head out.”

  Everyone nodded and got to their feet. For all their agreements everyone wanted a bath, importunely Elias would have to wait until later. They marched out of the inn after getting directions for Kass.

  Elias felt good, like he was making progress. He could only hope that there was some clue in the frontier since he didn’t have any other ideas.