“So you’re an orphan?” Miles asked as Phoenix tried to expin the hospital she had come from and her world’s supposed ck of magic. “Nobody left behind?” he crified.

  They had been walking for almost an hour by now, trading questions. Miles had been mostly courteous to her unless she forgot to let him take his turn, and he struck her as the type who was a stickler for the rules. She hadn’t gotten nearly enough information, though, mainly confirming the things she already knew now.

  “Um… yes, I’m orphaned now, I guess. The older you are, the less you’re thought of as an orphan where I come from, so I never really thought of myself that way,” she admitted before solemnly adding, “But I don’t have anyone left that cares about me.”

  The nky man stopped walking to look at her and gave her a gentle smile. “Well, you have someone that cares now.”

  She blushed in embarrassment at the words and asked, “So, do you have any family?”

  He gave a half-hearted ugh. “Yes. Too much, honestly. I practically ran away to the Order of Magic and buried myself in research mainly to escape my horde of siblings and make a name for myself.”

  Miles began walking once more as he continued to lead her through the densely packed woods with more confidence in their direction than she felt. After another minute, the mage asked, “You said you were considered older in your world. How old are you? You seem rather young.”

  “I turned eighteen when I arrived yesterday,” she responded, slightly surprised to realize that she had celebrated her birthday by wandering through the forest fighting off tiny monsters.

  He gnced back at her with a slight frown. “You are young. Most cultures on Makera don’t consider you a full adult until thirty.”

  “Why is that? How old do most people here live to be?” she asked as she raised an arm to shield her eyes from the bright sun that broke through the trees periodically. Thirty seemed incredibly old to her to be considered an adult.

  “That varies wildly, but at thirty, you’re no longer barred from certain positions of authority within most societies. However, your Caste usually pys a bigger role in that factor,” Miles answered as he grabbed her hand again to help her over a tree that had fallen in the path. “Did you have caste systems in your world?”

  She nodded, then remembered her book mentioning that Casters were people who had become Crystal Caste and crified, “We had social hierarchies that pced people in certain csses. We had things like nobility, which was another type of caste system.”

  “We have those here, too. Monarchs, nobles, and aristocrats can be found in many of our nations. If you’re part of one of the various international organizations, you can raise your social status a bit through those inner ranks, like the Order of Magic, whose members are referred to as Magi –which I am one of. Then there’s the Alliance of Adventurers, who are little more than thick-skulled mercenaries, though technically separate from the Mercenary Guilds. The Society of Symphonies, Alchemy Association, or the Federation of National Unity. Or even if you join one of the many clergies of the gods.”

  “The nation I came from didn’t have a monarch, though its social css was basically determined by how much wealth you had,” she managed to say before stumbling slightly on the uneven ground.

  As Miles helped right her, she added, “Being a very sick and bedridden orphan with no job put me at the very bottom, naturally. Can we rest here?” she asked, gesturing to another fallen tree by the trail.

  The Magi gnced back in the direction they had come from with a pensive expression before nodding. He helped her sit and took the spot beside her as she asked, “You don’t happen to have any food or water, do you?”

  With a shake of his head, Miles frowned and said, “That was two questions, but no. I don’t need to eat or drink as a Crystal Caster. The ambient magic of this area is enough to sustain me.”

  Phoenix scrunched her face in confusion. “How does that work?”

  He ughed and shook his head. “That’s three. Before I answer, can you answer some of mine?”

  She nodded, and he asked, “Was it your looting power or your book that gave you your Aspects?”

  “My book,” she answered and then rubbed at her stomach as it gave an angry growl. “I can loot them?”

  The mage shot her a gre that she almost missed and reluctantly answered, “Possibly. What Aspects did you get? I can sense you have two or three of them, but I can’t tell what they are. There’s also some weird effect I don’t recognize going on with your aura. Do you know what that might be?”

  “I have the Star and Dark Aspects. I’m not sure what you mean about the aura, though. I only got mine yesterday with those passive abilities.”

  “Wait, plural?” He quickly went back a few pages in his notebook and muttered to himself, “Oh, right. This [Beacon of Hope] talent lets you unlock more than one aura. I didn’t realize you would get multiple so soon, though.” He gnced up at her with a grin. “That’s fantastic. Breaking system limitations like that is extremely rare. That means you’re an Aurabreaker, which is what we call your type of Limit Breaker. You’re even more unique than I could have ever dreamed of.”

  Phoenix flushed again at the awkward compliment, not feeling comfortable with his focus fully intent on her the way it was. “Um… thanks? I guess…”

  “It’s lucky that you already managed to get two Aspects in just a couple of days,” he said as he scribbled in his notebook once more. “They are very valuable, especially ones like Star that are harder to find. Many Mundane families will save up their Bits for years just to be able to afford a single one.”

  He gnced back down the path, then up to the sky, and stood again. Brushing off the embroidered tunic he wore over his traveling pants, he held out a hand for her to take again as he said, “We should keep moving. As you’re well aware by now, it’s not safe at night when Visku is shining.”

  “Visku?” she reiterated as she took the proffered hand and tried to ignore her rumbling stomach. While she was used to pain, she was not used to being so hungry like this.

  “That’s the blue moon that rises at night. It’s extremely magical and causes an increase in magical spawn points that occur as it circles the pnet. Now,” he flipped back to the next bnk page in his notebook as he asked, “what are your two passives?”

  Phoenix regurgitated the information for him to note down, then went back to her question. “How can Casters survive without food or drink?”

  The mage gave a reluctant nod as he expined, “Ah, well, that’s a bit of a complex answer, but the simplified version is that as you increase your Caste and refine the magic within you. That magic repces most of your bodily functions, like needing lungs, bowels, or a stomach, and starts running off mana for fuel instead of food or air. The process occurs over multiple Castes, with the digestive system being gone at Crystal, then the lungs at Sapphire, and so on.

  “This whole mountain range is considered a Low Rate Mid Sapphire Caste area, meaning that it doesn’t spawn monsters often, but when it does, they have the potential to be near the middle of the Sapphire Caste or lower, which is one step up from Crystal.

  “Because it’s a higher Caste area than I am, the ambient magic is enough to sustain me without food. Otherwise, I would have needed another source like mana-dense food or Crystal Mana Bits.”

  “Wait, you eat the Bits?”

  “Or trade them. They make for a nice universal currency since they’re used for so much,” Miles expined as he pulled a milky white stone from his pouch to hold it up for her to see. “If you have a looting power and managed to kill some of the Mundane monsters roaming around here, you should have seen some of these by now.”

  “I wasn’t sure what they were for,” she murmured as she held out a murky grey version from her own collection to compare. “What’s the difference?”

  He gave a slightly pained smile and pointed at the book that she had kept holding onto. “That thing gives you information, right? Does it do items?”

  “Um, yes,” she held out the book in front of her, opening it to a bnk page, and stopped trying to walk like that after tripping again a moment ter.

  Miles paused with her and set the small stone he had on top of the page, causing the information to appear reactively.

  Item: Crystal Mana Bit

  Condensed mana of Crystal Caste potency.

  Caste: Crystal.

  Avaibility: Common.

  Type: Consumable, ingredient.

  Effects:

  Can be used as an ingredient for certain rituals and enchantments.Can be used as a mana source for certain magical items and enchantments.Can be consumed to replenish your natural reserves and sustain yourself.Warning: Consuming a Mana Bit above your Caste will cause mana poisoning.

  “Oh nice, it comes with a little warning bel,” Phoenix said aloud.

  Miles gave her an odd look before saying, “Yes, well, that’s why I can’t feed you. Eating a mana bit when you’re a Mundane can potentially kill you.”

  “A Mundane?” Phoenix asked as she handed back the small stone and closed her book once more.

  The Magi gave a sigh and turned to start walking again as he answered, “Yes. You’re not a Caster, therefore a Mundane. Some might consider you a Half-Caster because you do have some extra magic with those Aspects you have, but you’re not considered a true Caster until you have the full set and gain your Css.”

  Miles gnced over his shoulder as he added with a slight smirk, “Until you become a real Caster, you have to accept your pce as a Mundane. Shouldn’t be much different from your position in your old world.”

  Phoenix felt a shiver run through her at the thought of being as powerless here as she had been there. Something about the way he had phrased his statement, though, rubbed her the wrong way, and she asked, “So if I get two more Aspects and become a Caster, then I’ll move up the Caste dder?”

  “Naturally, but for right now, you’re a Mundane, and I’m a Crystal Caster. People will take my word and authority over yours,” he gave her a cautious look as he bent down to pass under a low-hanging branch.

  His tone became more serious as he seemed to warn her, “Remember, Wayfarer. The Rule of Caste means everything here on Makera. Most people are Mundanes, and they have their own separate structures, as you mentioned. Nobles, wealth, divinity, or what have you, but Caste; that is what rules.”

  “How many Castes are there?” she asked nervously, wondering just how low her current pcement was. As she passed under the branch, she suddenly found herself between it and the much taller man who felt way too close to her now.

  Miles frowned again and said with a hint of annoyance, “You keep skipping my turn. It’s becoming quite frustrating, you know. Here. Let me make this really clear.” Then he surprised her by beginning to draw in the air off to her left with what seemed like light from his fingertip.

  He drew a white line and said, “This is Crystal.” Then above that, he drew a pale blue line. “This is Sapphire. Next is Emerald.” He added a bright green line above that followed by a dark red line. “And this is Ruby. The st is basically a legend with how rare they are but there are some well known Obsidian Casters.” Then he drew a bck line at the very top with more space between it and the other lines.

  “The darker, the stronger,” he added as an afterthought, then moved back to the bottom and drew a barely visible grey line far below the white one. “You, however, are still here. A Mundane with only enough mana to offer a few talents and the capability to tap into other forms of magic.”

  She frowned at the representation but what he had said made her curiously ask, “Other forms of magic? Like what?”

  His annoyance became much clearer on his face. “Were you not paying attention? You are here,” he said and pointed at the grey line, then back at the white one. “I am here. We’re done pying this game if you’re not going to follow the rules. Now that you understand the Rule of Caste, you should understand your pce in this world, which is to listen to me.”

  Phoenix returned his gre. She wasn’t about to let some random stranger try and take this new life and freedom she had just acquired away from her as she retorted, “I’m sorry that I have a lot of questions, but everything around me is strange and new. I didn’t mean to skip your turn, but you don’t have to try to bully me into doing what you want.”

  “I’m not trying to bully you,” he replied with a smirk. “I’m telling you that it’s a new fact of life you find yourself in now. You. Are. A. Mundane. Until you become more powerful than me, you answer to me. Now quit stopping and start walking while you answer more of my questions.”

  She almost growled at the command as her anger started to get the better of her. “I don’t need to answer to you. I’ll just go find my own way.”

  As Phoenix turned to try and go back under the branch that she had her back pressed against, she felt a hand grip the back of her neck while another arm wrapped around her waist to keep her from moving.

  The Wayfarer tried to struggle against the hold, but it was utterly pointless against the Caster. She realized that despite his bookish looks and nky frame, he was much, much stronger than she was.

  Miles practically tossed her over his shoulder as he said with a chuckle, “Now, now, my little Wayfarer. There’s no need for any of that. This is not a safe pce for you, but you’ll be more secure once we get to my home. I have plenty to eat and drink. Along with some potions that will make you nice and compliant. No more games, just solid data for me to increase my standing in the OOM with.”

  Oh, screw this guy.