“Yumi,” Keane's voice grabs my attention as I sit on the ground.

I had the idea to try and meditating to refill my mana faster. You see it often enough in games and fantasy novels and stuff, so I figured it was at least worth a try.

As it turned out, meditation was useless. Well, just sitting down and resting does help recover just a bit faster, and meditation counts for that, so I can't say totally useless, but whatever.

It did give me another idea though. I still have that mana control ability. So I tried using that to like, pull in more mana from the surroundings, since I know there's supposed to be mana everywhere. That actually did help me regain mana faster. A good deal faster actually. Maybe twenty or thirty percent.

On the downside, using it makes me feel ill and nauseous and eventually gives me a splitting headache. I checked my Status repeatedly to make sure it wasn't actually hurting me, but my Health never budged. As far as I can tell, Health gives a direct indication of a person's life force.

Kind of like some of those more intense tabletops where characters start taking stat penalties as their hp drops. You don't die until you hit zero, but you'll end up incapacitated before that point, because that's how injuries work in the real world.

I went to Malic to ask and double check, and he basically confirmed my thoughts, though he did add on that some adventurers with very strong bodies will continue to fight at nearly full strength, all the way until their life force gives out.

Woah, that's pretty intense. I mean, that's basically how it worked in video games, but seeing an actual person do things like video game characters did would be horrifying in real life...

I also made sure to ask if he knew anything about taking in mana faster, and he explained that it's possible for some magic users, but the wild mana needs to be converted and absorbed into your body. Doing that too fast can disrupt your own body's functions, leading to the sort of ill-effects I experienced earlier.

Well, as long as it's nothing permanent and won't kill me...

Mind returning from my musings over the past days, Keane is approaching. I gather my stuff and rise. I'm wobbly and feel sick from both using and absorbing too much mana, but I don't care. If this is what it takes to train my magic into a usable state - if it's what it takes to avoid wrecking my stat-distribution in the future, a few days of shit is a small price to pay.

“Hey,” I say, but my voice comes out hoarse and cracks, and I have to clear my throat, then try again. “Hey.”

“We've got a quest,” he tells me as he gets closer. Then he looks down at me with concern. “You alright?”

“Yeah, fine. Just feel like shit from training.”

“Alright then. Let's get going.” He leads us back out of the training ground while talking. “This one will be a bit harder than the last, but it pays five gold.”

With a thought, I bring up a window showing my slave contract. I figured out how to open it after wondering what would happen if someone forgot the contract terms or the exact amount of money they owed.

Eight gold coins. I have a little more than three left from Limmera and my pay from the first quest, so that will be enough to repay my debt.

“This time, we're hunting some invasive boars, they've been wrecking some fields to the east,” he goes on. “There won't be as many as the goblins, and they should be a lot easier to find, so it should be a quick job. However.” I straighten up when his tone sharpens.

“They're big, they're mean, and they can soak up a whole lot of punishment. I boosted your vitality so you should be more durable than last time, but you're still weak. If they get too close, they will gore or trample you to death, so be careful.”

I gulp, and nod obediently. Not getting trampled to death sounds good.

“Good, here's your gear.” He passes me a backpack that should contain the armor I left with him, and I slide my couple notebooks and pens inside. “There are provisions in there for the trip. A few silvers.” I wince as the my debt increases in the corner of my eye on the window still floating there.

Alright, ok, this is fine. I still have enough money.

We meet up with our group for the quest, and this time, there are just four others. Glancing around, we have a tank, a swordsman, a mage, a ranger, Keane is our healer, and me. The other party members hardly spare me a look, coming up behind Keane. I guess I must look like any other human slave to them...

“Hey,” one greets Keane. “You're our healer?”

“Yup.” He points a thumb back at me. “She's a mage. So, are we all set?”

“Yeah, I'll go tell the guild.” The swordsman, a female, red furred fox-altra says, and heads up to the counter. Everyone waits, chatting about nothing in particular, and there's a joke about how skinny and weak I look, that I try to ignore as it draws some laughs. It's not my fault I've been skimping on food to save money...

Then the party leader returns with one of the guild receptionists. I've met this one a couple times, some sort of monkey-altra, but can't remember his name. He definitely knows me and eyes my collar for just a moment as he begins to address the group.

He looks at the flyer in his hands and says, “So you're the group for the boar-subjugation quest. Five members, one slave...” he briefly goes over the names, general classes and power levels of everyone and they return small nods at the information.

It's kind of weird since every one of them has a different celestial based on their race, so their 'level' might be called Might or Strength or Favor, or any number of other terms to refer to the concept.

I'm just kind of glad that despite the plethora of different classes, if such a thing even exists for a given celestial, everyone still gets labeled in an easy to understand way based on what they bring to the table. I guess that's the difference between class and Class.

Listening to the information, I glance around anxiously. I doubt each race's version of levels really correlate numerically since there's such a wide spread for what I'm guessing is a pretty basic quest, but... everyone else here ranges between level fifteen and sixty.

Keane is level twenty five. Or, Power twenty five, as his celestial labels it. When the receptionist reaches me, it draws questioning looks from the other group members.

But they don't address me. “You brought a Rank zero slave with you?” the mage asks. He's kind of scaly, and his eyes look weird. Some sort of snake-altra?

“Yeah.” Keane doesn't offer any further explanation. I'm not sure why he isn't explaining that I'm an otherworlder. Because I don't look like one anymore and they might not believe him? I'm not sure, so I just stay quiet for now.

The fox-woman party leader puts her hands up. “You're the healer, so it's on you. Just don't come blaming us if she dies.” Keane nods, and everyone looks pacified, but it doesn't save me from them all Scanning me anyway.

Once the receptionist goes and logs the quest, he gives us the ok and we head out. The trip out of town is a whole lot less nerve-wracking than last time since I'm not sneaking away from some slaver. The walk also helps settle my stomach, still all turned up from my training.

On the way through the gate, I catch the guards eyeing me, but they lose interest when they see my collar. I rub it a little before I have to stop. I guess this also acts as a shield from scrutiny...

Once we pass the city limits, I return to my endless magic casting to try and eke just a couple more points out of my Magic before I have to spend my potential on it.

Unfortunately, the other party members complain to Keane that I'm making a racket with my ridiculously flashy magic and say that he should keep a shorter leash on me. Just hearing them talk about me like that... It's worse than before. Not just jokes from drunks in a language I can barely understand.

They mean it, and it hurts. But I can't even say anything back. They all think I'm an enemy race. They hate me and any one of them could, and maybe would, kill me if I spoke up...

I gulp, that ever-present trapped feeling suddenly pressing closer around me. It's hard to breathe, but I just keep walking. Keane said I can keep casting magic, so I keep casting.