We arrive at the gathering point, and there are some other adventurers scattered around. Then I see a cat-altra, a pair of human slaves standing near him, and I shrink a little.

“Yumi?” Master Liina asks, and I flinch down a little lower, then point. “Oh,” she says when she sees them. “Other slaves bother you?”

I don't know what do say at first, then I mumble, “Slavery bothers me. I... still don't want to be a slave...” She grimaces a bit at my small show of resistance, even if it's pointless.

Even though I know it's pointless...

Then she hisses a little and tells me that they're coming over. I look back up to see that she's right. The man is walking over with his pair of slaves in tow. I glance over them and cringe a little. Besides their slave collars, they're basically just dressed in rags. The woman is oddly tall, almost as tall as the cat-altra, while the man is around average height, with his hair practically buzzed to the scalp.

Both look kind of sickly and thin.

“My, how interesting, you've got yourself a combat slave?” the man asks as he approaches, glancing at my light armor. What is she?”

Smiling, Master Liina says, “Synergist, Rank two.” Then she puts a hand on my head and ruffles my hair. “She's a good girl,” she declares proudly. Hearing her talk about me like that makes me blush and shrink a little smaller, even though her hand makes some small, stupid part of me happy.

The man nods a few times. “I see. Good for you. These two are just a couple I managed to get my hands on for cheap. Taking them to Rialetra to sell them on the market.” Then he grabs the girl by the shoulder and carelessly yanks her forward so she stumbles a little closer to us, and takes her under the chin, turning her head around a little while she squeezes her eyes shut. This one should fetch a very nice price. Rank C, virgin.”

I wince and look away. I can't watch this.

Seemingly unfazed, Master Liina goes, “Ahh, nice. I just got mine, any training tips?”

The man barks a laugh. “Keep a tight leash on her. These humans, one wrong move and they get uppity and willful and it takes a good beating to put them back in their place. Isn't that right?!” he turns and shouts at the human man, who immediately flinches away.

I can't.

I can't.

Can't do this.

Can't see this.

What if Master Liina was like that?!

I can't breathe.

I start to curl up, crouching down to the ground to hide while I rub and rub and my collar.

Then Master Liina is there. “Yumi. Talk to me.”

My voice won't work.

Then my crest starts to hurt. I shake. I try. My voice isn't working.

I can't think. It still hurts.

I look up at her, tears in my eyes as much from the pain as the fear, and finally manage to force the words out.

“I'm scared.” That stops the pain. But the fear is closing in.

“What are you scared of?”

“Y-you. T-t-treating me... l-like...” I curl up into a ball and shake.

“Wow, you sure picked up a mess of a slave. Why not hit the market with me when we get to Rialetra? I'm sure you could sell her for a good price, she still looks young and healthy, even if she's got a few screws loose.”

No! no no no no no no...

Master Liina wouldn't just sell me, would she? Is that why we're really going to Rialetra? So she can get rid of me?

I'm starting to choke, unable to make myself function at the thought of her selling me off to someone like this man.

This is what slavery is. I'm just living by the will of others. Even if I'm not being hurt now, I'll be hurt later, and there's nothing I can do about it. Because my life isn't mine.

Then Master Liina's hand is on me again. “I'll pass, like I said. She's a good girl.”

He scoffs. “You think that's good? What rating is she, H?”

I can hear the grin in her voice. “I'd rather not tell you that.”

He sounds flustered and put off for a moment, before regaining his composure. “You just don't want to admit I guessed it right,” he huffs. “You're probably getting attached because it's your first slave. Don't make that mistake. Humans are meant to be used and disposed of. They'd do the same to us if given the chance.”

“Hehe, mine is different,” and she grins knowingly, still rubbing my head. “She's a good girl.” Because I'm an otherworlder?

“Yeah yeah, think that all you want, until she turns on you. Then you'll regret it.” He waves a dismissive hand and her and turns on a heel, walking off, his slaves trailing behind.

They follow, but turn longing gazes back toward me that make me shiver. Then Master Liina crouches down next to me. “Talk to me,” she says.

I hesitate. It's hard to speak. As I go, I keep stopping, needing my slave crest to shock me forward again. I tell her about how scared I am. How she could treat me like that, or sell me to someone like that, and there's nothing I can do about it. How terrifying it is to have no control over my life again. How it's just like how it used to be. How I could reach another dead end without any way out.

She rubs my head and tells me something that I wish I didn't have to hear. “Sorry, but the world isn't fair. You're my slave because I want you to be my slave. Obviously, most slaves hate their masters because of that.”

She lifts my chin so I'll look at her, but every word is like another stab to the heart. “But just look at you, you're different. You're already an S rated slave, and with the way your Status is changing, you'll be a SS slave before long. Yumi. You aren't suited to freedom.”

I squeeze my eyes shut when she says it. I don't want to believe it. No matter how ill-suited I am for freedom, I want it. Why can't I just have the one thing I want? Why is the world so unfair?

“Yumi, look at me,” Master Liina says seriously. “You're an S rated slave. That makes you extremely valuable. Even if I did free you, someone else would enslave you again in record time. No matter what you want, there are so many more powerful people out there who will force their will on you, it's inevitable. Wouldn't you rather stay with a master that actually cares for your well-being?”

I grit my teeth and lower my head. “Why?”

“Why what?” she prods.

“Why are you different? Why do you treat me like this?” No matter how terrified I am, I can't put off asking anymore. I have to know.

“I already told you. My mother taught me that you take care of your slave if you want to be a master worthy of respect.”

“But... but why did she teach you that? I've met other masters, they- they're all-” I bite back my words short on reflex.

“Say it,” she pushes me forward again.

“They're all racist pieces of shit.”

Master Liina chuckles again, a sound that eases my heart, even though I don't want it to. She sits down on the ground next to me.

“When I was younger, my mother had a slave. He was absolutely loyal to her and she left me in his care a lot of the time. He helped raise me and...” she smiles a bit. “She never said it outright, but he was definitely my father.”

My mouth falls open. Master Liina is half human?

No, races don't work like that here, I remind myself. Because of the celestial magic, children are born one race or another. Half-breeds are stupid rare.

That doesn't change the fact that her father was... a human slave... Her mother's human slave.

I sit on the ground, knees pulled up to my chin, just trying to process that for a while.

Eventually, it's time for the caravan to leave. I push thoughts of Master Liina to the back of my mind for later so I can focus on our job.

We have a little over a dozen adventurers scattered around, three big, covered carriages in the middle. If I remember right, it's a five day walk down this road, pretty much a straight shot between Karshis and Rialetra.

“Master, can I practice with my new spell?” I ask, a little uncertain. There are a lot of people around and I'm not entirely sure how I want to practice yet. Supposedly this road can be pretty dangerous. It's too well traveled for bandits, but we're pretty much guaranteed to run across monsters along the way.

Especially because apparently, there's a mana vein that cuts through the region between the two towns, causing a much higher rate of monster spawns in its vicinity.

I'm kind of worried that if I start casting magic, people will think we're under attack.

“It's fine, just stick with little spells. It's magic for pulling things, right? Just cast it on some of the rocks nearby.”

“W-well...” I stammer. “I don't know...” Talking to her feels weird. Knowing what I know now.

I already knew, but I don't think I wanted to accept it. No matter what I do, people will keep trying to enslave me, because I'm valuable...

I shake my head and push those thoughts away again. Now isn't the time.

Then Master Liina pats my head. “Don't worry about it. If anyone has a problem, they'll have to bring it to me.” She uses her stern tone this time.

“Y-yes, Master.” I respond automatically.

Then I get to it.

We go for three days before anything happens. As expected, we hit monsters near the mana vein. It's... way more than I imagined.

They look like giant moles or something, with dark brown fur and big claws that rake through everything in the vicinity, shredding the ground and anyone who gets too close.

The problem is that there are fucking truckload of them. Like, sure, they're huge, so each one takes up a lot of space, but I literally can't see through the crowd when we approach.

“Mages, get us started, alright?” One man calls as we approach the literal fucking wall of monsters.

Looking side to side, there are three other mages here, out of the fourteen adventurers. They're all wearing robes with glowing runes and magic staffs. They really do look like mages. I wonder if I can eventually get equipment like that? How much does it actually help? What does it even do? More spell power? Mana regen?

Pushing those thoughts away, I turn and ask, “Master, how much power should I use?” Hearing the question, the other mages scoff, but I try not to pay attention to them.

“Do your best, but don't incapacitate yourself this time. I'll be really mad if I have to carry you again,” she warns. It makes me gulp and bob my head obediently.

“She knocks herself out with magic?” one asks, laughing, and the others pick up on it too.

“She's still low level, but her magic is really impressive,” Master Liina boasts proudly.

“M-Master!” I cry. Why would she talk me up? I know I can hit wide areas, but the damage of my magic still isn't that great. I have serious concerns about whether I can even hurt giant monsters like this...

She just pats me on the back and keeps laughing. Still bright red as I look over to the other mages, a couple actually shrug a little for some reason.

I reluctantly ask, “Is... is there an element that's most effective against these?”

That draws a few more laughs and scorn that makes me stare at the ground. Are elemental weaknesses not a thing in this world? Then there's a short delay, before one of them reluctantly addresses me. “Just use whichever element you specialize in,” a bird-altra huffs like it's obvious.

“I-I don't have a specialty,” I admit, looking up at him.

“Huh? All the human mages I've fought were super specialized.” He looks over to the others, who nod in confirmation. “Their magic is ridiculously strong, but they're one trick-ponies. Just get past their specialty and human mages are the easiest to take out.”

Hearing him describe it like that sends a horrified chill up my spin. They kill-

I shake my head violently to dislodge the terror starting to set in. Come on, I already knew about this. No reason to be shocked now. They're enemy races, of course they kill each other...

But that makes me wonder even more. “I-I'm sorry, I've never seen another human mage, so I don't know how they normally do things...” Rather than an answer, that draws questioning looks, not at me, but at Master Liina.

“You're trying to train a bred slave for combat?”

With a shrug, she answers, “She's tenacious and unbelievably smart. She's a good girl.” She rubs my head again and... now I don't know exactly how to feel about the praise...

But my attention is brought back by the question, “What Class is she?” I'm a little upset it's directed at Master Liina and not me, but I think people usually try not to talk to slaves...

“Synergist.”

“Never heard of it,” is the immediate response, and the others agree.

“Of the human mages I've captured, almost all of them were Wizards. Only a few Casters.”

“Yeah, I got a Sorcerer one time.”

The last one adds on, “There's more variety than that. I picked up a Cursemancer once, nasty piece of work. And a Blue Mage.”

I'm... confused. If human slaves aren't that uncommon, why doesn't the guild have a full rundown on all human classes? Maybe they do? I haven't thought to ask. Malic didn't seem to know much when he was trying to help me though...

Still, why are all the humans they've ever fought only spread through a handful of classes? There were so many Classes under just the Offensive Magic Job...

Are those ones the best, so all the others were optimized out of use? That tends to happen in a lot of competitive games. Only the S-tier characters see any use in tournament play...

Just how powerful are those Classes? Mine feels like it could become really strong later, are those ones just completely broken or something?

No, I have to remember, I picked a high skill cap Class. I feel like I'm still just scratching the surface, despite throwing all of my gaming knowledge and the scientific method at it.

My Status says I have insanely high intelligence compared to what I have to assume is average here, so it must be that it doesn't get used because it can't be used effectively that happens a lot of the time too. When character kits are just too complicated, only grandmasters take the time to learn optimal play for them.

My Class was probably optimized out of use because it has the skill curve of mount everest. Thinking that, I try to assure myself again that I'll definitely be useful. I just have to get stronger.

Looking up, I tell them, “There are... actually a whole lot of different Classes. I have the Offensive Magic Job, and just that one had at least fifty different options.” A few jaws drop.

“Wow, that's a lot more than I thought,” says one, while another whistles.

“Well, I guess it figures there's at least one unspecialized human mage out there.” The bird-altra shrugs. “As for the best element, big monsters like this... gravity magic is probably pretty good. Maybe light magic, eyes like that, they're probably pretty sensitive to light.”

I lower my head. “I... don't have either of those...”

I get a deadpan look from all three of them that says 'why did we even bother with this entire conversation.'

With annoyed sighs, they head out ahead of me. Our caravan is starting to get closer to the monsters. It's almost time to engage.

It makes me wonder briefly. One of the Focus options was Long Range and it increased damage based on distance to the target. How powerful would that be, hitting something all the way at the horizon? Not much use wondering, I don't even know if I can cast that far, forget about any possibility of accuracy...

Leaving that aside, we approach the monsters. The caravan stays a little way behind, with a few defenders just in case, while most of the group prepares for battle. As for me, I close my eyes, taking deep breaths while I work on a plan. I think I'm basically at the point where if I dump my entire mana pool, I'm at my limit of how complex I can spin things together.

Well, single spells are still fine. I max out around sixty, sixty five elements. Just chaining them is no big deal. It's trying to manage dozens of spellcasts and properly synergizing them in flight that stretches my concentration to the limit. When I think I have it, I open my eyes, fighting to keep everything in my head.

Squinting from the effort, I step forward. The other mages are already there, looking surprisingly relaxed in the face of the monsters that we're supposed to soften up.

I watch them closely. I want to see how their magic works.

The first one casts, a hand held up and, saying, “Cataclysm, cataclysm, cataclysm...” he fires them off one after another, each attack marked by a huge explosion from the earth, giant segments of stone stabbing upward to throw whole groups of mole monsters flying and being crushed on all sides by stone. Each spell hits an area almost fifty feet across. He's already at a dozen casts when the next mage joins in.

“I call on the light and all the spirits of the earth to fulfill my wish,” he chants the words out quickly. “fill these enemies with the fear of your power. Earthquake!”

After the full chant, his spell goes off, a huge fissure exploding through the entire area in front of us, two hundred plus feet across. It's so large it almost reaches the front of our group and a few people stumble a step back in surprise.

The third has a shorter chant, but he runs through it repeatedly, unlike the other, who only casts once. “Heavens above, deliver your judgment. Meteor!” As he recites it a few times, a number of meteors fall from above, crashing down into the swarm of monsters, now beginning to rush toward us.

I gulp. I knew real mages were on a completely different level when they got serious, but wow. Now I feel even more embarrassed about Master Liina talking up my magic. Even if my area of effect is pretty impressive, the damage is nothing like what I just witnessed.

Stepping forward, I check my angles. No one in front, no one on the sides... I wish I had a better way to redirect my spells in flight than mana control...

With a deep breath, I start casting. First up are a dozen wind-pull spells. I'm glad I found out I can make tornadoes that are better at pulling things with them as they travel. I fire them out straight to my sides, an immediate laughing cough coming from behind. I fire one after another, as rapidly as I can put them out, while controlling them all as well as I can, curving them around wide.

Since most of the monsters are spread out roughly in a line, I want to push them into a pile to get the most out of my area of effect magic. It's a pretty basic tactic, hopefully it's effective here.

The spells curve, and curve, and eventually land on the outer edges of the group, big tornadoes rushing through their ranks. The monsters are so large that they aren't very effective at pulling them along. I was worried about that...

Still, I keep casting dozens of spells as fast as I can, since the mana cost for these are still pretty low. The tornadoes pile up, synergize, grow larger, pile up more, over and over as I keep throwing more power at it.

Now there's a whistle from behind. “That's one way to brute force it, but is she even doing any damage?”

“Impressive spell duration, but how much mana is she burning?” another asks.

“The monsters are almost here!” comes the call from another adventurer.

“Wait!” I yell, but no one is listening to me. They're starting to move, they're going to block my line of fire directly ahead.

It's too early. The spells won't synergize properly.

I grit my teeth, there's nothing I can do here. Then Master Liina is asking, “What do you need?”

“A clear fucking line of fire!” I bite the words out angrily, totally forgetting to be respectful with so much of my attention on casting.

There are a few coughs. Master Liina runs forward, a booming shout catching everyone's attention. “Out of the way fuckwads! No one ever taught you to clear line of fire for mages?!”

She charges right through the ranks, shoving aside a couple people in the process. But it works. Faces turn back toward me, a single clear line between me and Master Liina, the main procession of monsters coming from behind her. It's a narrow path though. I can't fire a full power spell straight through.

But I can, uhh, that will work!

I think it's time, the tornadoes on each side have grown really big and gathered up the monsters in those areas. I take a big breath, squinting. Master Liina sees it and dashes to the side to get clear.

With a grunt, I force my casting speed up further. I double up on my air-pull spells so each one comes out bigger, stacking specific water elements into them for later. The exponential cost increase starts to chew through my mana pool though.

My larger spells draw a few laughs though. “She was holding back?”

Then the main force of monsters is nearly here. I chain up the big one. Dozens of winds, pulls, and earth come together into the right twisting pattern as my body trembles, the spells spinning out all around me.

I keep chaining, synergizing them without firing to keep the magic from fizzling because I can't summon enough at once to power this. Individual spells stack together, chaining, branching, then I'm out of time. Throwing a dozen tiny wind spells straight forward, the few adventurers who moved into my narrow firing line stagger away a little with shouted curses, but then I fire my big spell.

Or rather, my small spell, with a dozen other much larger spells set to chain off of it. Mixing with a couple tossed out fires, initial spell triggers as soon as it passes through the line of adventurers, releasing the larger spells chained onto it.

They hit the group of monsters, forming a dozen massive tornadoes that I throw forward with all of the force I can through my mana control and tossing dozens of other smaller scale spells in from the sides.

At the same time, I step of my other casting yet again, flinging large spells from the side that blow through almost all of my remaining mana.

The tornadoes rip through the horde of monsters, and I think it's enough. I start throwing together the most important part while lobbing small spells to keep the tornadoes going long enough to pile up the large monsters.

“Damn, girl did it.”

“Cool, but she burned all her mana for it and hasn't dealt any damage.”

“Should've done that first and let us wreck the whole group,” one complains.

I barely register the complaints, I'm so focused. The tornadoes are in position. I throw my last spells, draining the last of my mana, and fall to my knees, wincing even as I try to keep my focus going. I lobbed a power water spell upward, I'm working on curving it down.

Last is a fire and earth spell, shot low enough to skim along the ground.

The water lands first, hitting the two side tornadoes as they meet. It links up with the water elements I shuffled in earlier, morphing the entire spell into a pair of quickly synergizing water tornadoes, all coming together into a huge, blasting torrent of water.

At the last moment, I redirect my fire spell upward, before it hits the tornado carrying the main line of monsters backward. Almost there...

They hit, synergize, and pull back and up. I grin widely when everything comes together.

The fire tornado goes flying up and back, into the water tornado. The huge mob all ends up piled together between them as the fire flies up and away, the air and all being sucked away.

It causes the entire thing to flash-freeze. By the time the time the fire tornado runs its duration, the entire group of monsters is buried inside of a whirling pillar of ice forty feet across.

Grinning madly, I stare at my work. I don't have ice magic, but I have science.

“That's... wow. Ok.” There are similar mumbles from the other mages. As I pant on the ground, I think back to what the mages said while I was too focused on casting, and grimace. At least one of them was totally right. I should have gathered the monsters and let them deal the damage.

I was being selfish, I knew I couldn't look at their magic while focusing on my own. I feel a little bad for it... While I was able to freeze a huge number of the monsters, leaving our frontline a much smaller number that didn't get caught in my tornadoes, I definitely couldn't deal that much actual damage to them.

After finishing the small group, my ice pillar is quickly melting and the trapped monsters start shaking themselves out, not much worse for wear even after all of my magic.

As they begin pouring out, the ice quickly starts to shatter as the remaining monsters fight their way out. Overall, it helped to reduce how many we needed to fight at once, but it still would have been better to let the other mages wipe them out. I'm getting the impression that most of my fights, I've been casting like a control mage rather than an offensive mage, to make up for my low damage...

While watching the battle unfold, the other mages hesitate at first, but eventually drop a few comments and questions, like one who asks about my spell list, and is surprised that I only have five spells. And extra surprised that I don't have any ice magic. Every one of them notes that I have ridiculously elaborate magic though.

Sitting on the ground, it's clear to me. I'm exploiting this ridiculously elaborate magic to punch way above my level. It takes everything I have, throwing literally hundreds of unique, overlapping spells from different angles to accomplish something similar to what these three can do in a few words, but I can do it at level two. With lower Magic than a melee class. I just can't hurt anything yet...

Eventually, the battle finishes up and Master Liina returns. “Good job with your magic. However.” Her tone makes me stand up a little straighter. “You were very disrespectful earlier. Bad girl. Punish Slave.” With her words, pain lances through my chest and I flinch. Wincing with a hand to my crest as it throbs. “You will be more polite and respectful,” she orders.

I lower my head. “Yes, Master.”

“Good.” The pain disappears, and I rub at the spot for a few moments. Damn that hurts. Looking around, there are a few adventurers nodding with approval. I grumble a little, but I get it. I did curse at them...

We continue on down the road, encountering monsters a few more times, but nothing on the scale of those mole monsters. The adventurers sweep away anything along the path without much trouble, until we finally reach Rialetra. I'm just glad that the slower pace of the carts helped me barely keep up on the way, since my level of stamina is still nowhere near people of this world.