Standing in front of Lirushik, Ruwi speaks up. “Yumi said she wasn't able to gain favor from Pannatir until recently, but she doesn't want to say why because we should learn it in class. So: what's up with that? I think I speak for everyone when I say we have a lot of questions about this.” She looks around and they all nod with her.

“Ugh, kids...” The instructor groans and rolls his eyes. “If you really want to know that bad, I'll tell you, but it's not pleasant. Now come, we're finished here, so I'll explain on the way back.” He waves, and we all start walking.

Lirushik gets right to it. “So, first off, Yumi was a slave.”

“Huh?” The whole group looks confused. Why would he say that if they don't know about slavery outside of debt-slaves?

But the question that comes, from Beck, isn't the one I expect at all. “Wait, if she was a slave, she'd be marked as one.”

“The handsy receptionist clearly isn't doing her job. Girl should've been marked by now.” Lirushik shrugs. “I'm going to make sure it gets done when we get back to avoid any more idiotic misunderstandings like this.”

Wait, I'm confused, what are they talking about? Lirushik sees my confusion, rolling his eyes and scowling at me, then explains. “Former slaves get marked so that we know not to trust them. We can't have them mixing in freely with the rest of the population after getting broken by those beasts, they could wreak all sorts of havoc on our society, obviously.”

“O-oh...” I had no idea... They didn't do that in Thanifa. Is that the difference between a small town and a large city-state?

They're going to mark me so that everyone who sees me knows I'm different? That I don't belong? Won't I be discriminated against again? Treated like a second class citizen? As my heart starts to sink, the mixture of pitying and distrustful looks from the students makes it worse.

This whole time, they thought I wasn't a slave because I didn't have this 'mark.' That's the only reason they've treated me like they have, and not with contempt...

“Well, that explains a lot,” Ruwi says, looking at me, conflicted. “Class, Rank, how she behaves...” Then she turns to Lirushik again. “So what about the last part? She said she couldn't gain any Ranks until a couple years ago. What's with that?”

“That's the unpleasant part.” His face turns so hard and solemn, it makes it hard to look at him, and even his students tense up. “Remember: you asked.” He takes a deep breath, then explains, “The beasts kidnap our people and enslave them. You know that. What you don't know about yet, are called beast-bred.”

A few mouths fall open, disbelief in their eyes at the implication of the term itself. I know where he's going with this, and want to interject, but I haven't heard the full explanation myself yet either, so I hold back for now.

Then Lirushik continues. “What you're imagining – it's worse. It doesn't refer to slaves they rape and impregnate. It refers to the beasts setting up farms of captured humans, breeding them like animals to produce children to raise and groom for slavery.” There are angry hisses from the crowd, but he's still not done.

“As you know, the child produced is usually the race of the stronger parent, so these farms necessitate the animals capturing and enslaving powerful humans, then having weak animals forcibly impregnate them. That way, they give birth to human children, sold from birth into slavery. Raised to be the highest rated slaves, to love those beasts and hate their own people. It's an atrocity... unforgivable...”

With fists clenched and shoulders shaking, he lets it sink in for a few minutes as we walk. The students all go very, very quiet. The air of revulsion and rage is palpable. I figured as much from what I heard before, but fuck. I know both sides are fucked up, but damn it, why would the altraska do that? They're just making it all worse...

Finally, Lirushik speaks again. “So there you go. Remember: you asked.” There's another pause, before he adds, “Of course as you can probably guess, Yumi is a beast-bred. Even if it's not her fault, she can never be trusted.”

We walk for quite a ways further, pitying, disgusted looks all around, making it harder and harder for me to speak up, but I know I have to.

“Actually,” I manage to force out eventually, so stressed from their looks that it practically comes out as a squeaking yelp. I clear my throat and try to focus only on Lirushik, not the gazes my words bring from all sides. “I'm not beast-bred. I'm an otherworlder.”

No one responds. They look conflicted, unsure if they can believe me. They were just told they can't trust beast-bred, and that's what they think I am. I stare at the ground under my feet, their looks making it hard to breathe. Then I tell them, just the briefest summary of my life. Skimming very lightly over having terrible parents, and how I ended up coming to this world when I hit a dead-end in that life.

How I appeared in an altraskan town, and how I lived there for a while before becoming an adventurer. I mention that I eventually became a slave, and how I'm so suited to it because of my terrible upbringing with my parents on Earth, and how I actually enjoyed being a slave, at least for the most part. How I've always been so weak, even my stats being pathetic compared to the people of this world, that I always needed protection.

I skip all the details, like Thanifa, Montheric, and staying with Veshic, only mentioning that I went questing for a while with my master, but my slave crest and low magic power basically stopped me from Ranking up at all.

Then I jump right to the end, how Master searched and searched for a human town to release me when she was near the end of her life. Again, I don't mention how it was mostly because she thought it was her fault for breaking me and wanted to make it up to me before the end, and just tell them that she really cared for me and wanted me to have a better life.

“So, that's how I came to Miselka. Even if you all hate the altraska, Master did everything she could to care for me, so I won't regret my time as her slave... I know I'm still not suited for a life of freedom like this, but she wanted me to live my life better, so I have to at least try...”

Even skimming over everything so briefly, it's quite a story, and still took a few minutes to go through. It's the most I've talked in months. By the end, I'm actually feeling a little more comfortable speaking again. And recounting what I've been through, even in broad strokes, kind of helps me get out all the stress from it.

Again, everyone remains silent for a long time to process my whole story, surely a huge departure from everything they've heard before.

We keep walking as everyone thinks it over. I'm surprised when it's Hrinth, of all people, who speaks up first. She moves close to my side with her words coming as a whisper. “So the reason you just give in to things...” She keeps glancing at me, but doesn't look me in the eyes.

“I have a really high Obedience Trait, yeah,” I tell her. It's somewhat embarrassing, but I long since came to terms with that, while I was Master's slave.

But her next question, leaning in even closer and asking more quietly, is unexpected. “Does that mean, when we did it the other night...”

It takes a moment with the sudden topic swap, but then I catch her meaning. The other night, when we had sex, she... thinks I was just obeying her, that I didn't actually want to do it.

My face flushes bright red, at both the thought of what we did, and her downcast expression. She thinks she forced me. But... “N-no...” I whisper, and she looks up at me, meeting my eyes again. Face glowing brighter and brighter as I speak, I admit it so she won't keep feeling down. “I wanted to. Because... I've been so lonely since I came here. You made me feel like... like I wasn't alone anymore...” I mumble.

I feel like my face will catch fire, but it works. Her smile returns, more coy than usual. “I'm... sorry,” she says for some reason though. “I wanted to apologize.” She rubs one arm, glancing away. People are turning suspicious looks on her as we whisper, but Hrinth looks like she's trying to ignore them as she goes on.

“I'm sorry about the enchantment. I thought you'd know to break it after, you know...?”

I open my mouth slowly, confused. That's right, enchanters are normal here, everyone knows about enchantments and how to break them. I'm the one missing that common knowledge. Anyone having sex with an enchanter would expect the same.

...Right?

It's only now that she's mentioned it, that I'm realizing... “Hrinth... why did you enchant me?” My heart is sinking as my massively belated realization sinks in. Are lust enchantments normal? Or was the enchantment the reason I was on-board in the first place?

No, that can't be right, I was turned on by the way she looked at me.

...Right?

Just as I'm starting to spiral, she answers, also looking a bit confused. “I mean, it makes the sex better...?” That's right. My anxiety rapidly dissipates when I think back. Now that I know how the enchantments feel, I know for sure. She only did it after we started, to make it feel better, not to trick me into it.

That makes me feel way better about it all.

I sigh out quietly. “Just be more careful,” I scold her gently. “I know most people know about enchantments, but there could always be exceptions.”

Hrinth nods, and we share a short look, clearly both feeling a bit better, before she slinks away again. With that strange departure dealt with, I really just have to worry about the rest of them, and how they're going to take the news about my past. At least it helped distract me for a bit.

We continue up through the caves, nearly outside again before Lirushik finally speaks up. “An otherworlder, huh? That's a really bold claim. Can't say for sure whether I believe you or not, not without any proof. I'm sure you understand.”

“Yeah, I know it's hard to believe,” I sigh and shrug. “The best I can offer is that I'm fluent in English. Also, like I said earlier, I'm only sort of twenty four. Years are shorter here, so I'm really only nineteen. I'm not sure how much that helps since...” I look down at myself, not even appearing nineteen all malnourished like this. It's not much for evidence, is it?

Lirushik returns my shrug. There isn't much more to say. Either I'm actually an otherworlder, or I'm beast-bred, someone he shouldn't trust, trying to convince him otherwise. If he just commanded me to tell him the truth, that would solve the problem, but he doesn't look interested enough to bother. He probably thinks I'd lie.

With all of that finished, we proceed up the last few levels of the dungeon-err, cave, and finally emerge outside once more. Even though it's dark out, there's still the one distant sun in the sky, and quite a few moons, so it's amazing and makes me feel so less closed in, it's wonderful.

However... “What happened out here...?” I ask uncertainly. There are still little bits of ambient mana lighting up the area. Did killing the boss of the dungeon make the ambient mana around it so much stronger that it's visible? Does it work like that?

“What do you mean?” Hrinth asks, coming a little closer again. On my other side, Ruwi comes too, but most of the other students are clearly hanging back, keeping their distance uncertainly after everything they heard earlier. I'm glad at least these two still seem alright.

I look between them and say, “The ambient mana is so much stronger out here now. Does it have something to do with us killing that 'bo-'” I stop when I slip into English, “I mean, killing that huge monster?”

“You mean the source of the corruption, right? Why would that have anything to do with the mana out here?” Hrinth asks, looking around with a clear expression of confusion. “I don't think it looks any stronger than before...”

“Really?” I don't get it. “But it's visible now, doesn't that mean it's stronger... or something? Like down in the cave?”

She blinks at me, totally not getting it. I'm so confused, why does it feel like we're talking past each other?

It's finally Lirushik who cuts in. “Ugh, that's what happens when you get your training from animals. You don't even know about Passives, do you?” He practically spits the question out in disgust.

Oh shit, there's another part Pannatir's magic I completely missed? “Sorry, no...” I answer, lowering my head again. I don't remember any of the humans in Thanifa mentioning it. Is it supposed to be something really basic, to the point they don't even bother talking about it?

“If you'd gone to an academy, it'd be the second thing you learned about, after your Status itself. It's about as basic as things get,” Lirushik sighs at me, confirming my guess. “Just think about your Passive Abilities and you should get a window for it.”

I follow his instructions, and it works immediately. The window appears, and I scan over it for the new information I can glean.

Passive Abilities: Speech 50 – Spoken Comprehension Reading 50 – Written Comprehension Math 50 – Extra Numeric Capability Logic 50 – Logic Understanding Mana Absorption 10 – Sense Mana Mana Cleansing 1 – Resting Resist Appraisal 10 – Enhanced Scan

“Mmm...” I mumble, looking it over for just a few moments, before I get it. “Mana Absorption ten, Sense Mana...” I read it aloud. “So that's why? I can sense mana now?”

“Exactly,” he nods. “You must have reached the tenth rank in that skill while we were down inside the cave.” I nod a few times in response, that makes a lot of sense. I had to keep absorbing mana to keep my mana up because I was spending so much for light. Looking over the window, it also explains my question from Scanning that staff earlier. Appraisal clearly came from my attempts to Scan things better.

I thought I needed to actually figure things out better by myself, I had no idea I would basically unlock a special ability to make it work better automatically after working on it enough. With that thought in mind, I look at my own hand and Scan myself.

Yumi Adventurer Rank: 5 Race: Human Job: Offensive Magic Class: Synergist Style: Finesse Focus: Area Control

Ignoring the crawling feeling, I look over the window and see that there's no particular change compared to before. Does it only work better on objects then? Giving it another try, I move the magic like I figured out from working with it before.

Even if it was months ago now, I can basically remember how it worked when doing a Party Scan, so I do it more like that instead.

Yumi Health: 117/124 Rank: 5 Race: Human Stamina: 88/155 Class: Synergist Mana: 480/480 Focus: Area Control

That, could, uhh... use some work...

In any case, I can clearly do it differently on my own, so it's not like I'm restricted to what my Passive Abilities enable. I guess they just help me do things better automatically.

With that in mind, now I'm wondering what exactly my Speech, Reading, Math, and Logic actually do. Understanding, Capability, and Comprehension? Do they just generally make me better at those things... somehow?

I'm not really sure, but now I feel kind of ridiculous. I'd always been under the impression that Skills were basically just a gauge of how good you were at something, not that you actually got something out of increasing them.

Well, Master gained Special Actions from her magic if her Skills got high enough, but I didn't. I guess I was gaining Passive Abilities instead...

Having thought through all of that, I look back over at Lirushik and ask one thing that's still not clear. “So, why do some Passives unlock at different Skill ranks?”

“It has to do with different Skill tiers. Passives are gained at ranks one, ten, twenty five, fifty, and one hundred. And, supposedly at two hundred fifty, five hundred, and one thousand, but...” He shrugs. Obviously, the chance of someone reaching levels like that are absurd, I wonder how they even know about it? Just guesswork maybe? At least it confirms that Skills can go above one hundred, I guess?

“Skill tiers,” I repeat after him to get my thoughts back on track. “How does that work?” I try thinking about the concept some, getting my magic to work with it, but I'm not getting anything. Are they not hard-coded into Pannatir's magic?

“Certain Skills start gaining Passives at different ranks. We refer to the ones that get more passives as higher tier. Tier one get their first Passive at rank fifty, tier two at twenty five, tier three at ten, and tier four at rank one.”

“Oh, I get it...” So it's a way of dividing up the Skills based on Passives. Some are considered higher tier since it's easier to amass Passives from those Skills. Like Mana Cleansing, I have a passive from it just from having the Skill, so it's tier four. “How useful are Passives?”

Thinking in game terms, they're like special unlockable feats or something. Is it worth going out of my way to train a Skill to get a one from it? For instance, my Mana Cleansing is at four now, so it would only take six more levels for another Passive. Of course I'd need to get enchanted or absorb more corrupted mana for that, so it would be pretty rough, but would earning another quick Passive from it be worth the time and pain?

“You just got Mana Sense, didn't you? You tell me if you think Passives are useful,” he grunts. Right, literally gaining a new sense for mana in the atmosphere around me, that would be a huge YES. Definitely useful.

“Of course, the Passives relate to their Skill, so as a mage, you'd obviously want to aim for Passives that boost your magical abilities. Sense Mana, Resting Regen, and Amplify are considered the basics for any decent mage.”

Just going on the names, the other two would be from Mana Regen and... Magic Casting, I guess? I have to ask to confirm my guess, and he explains with another eye-roll. I mean, the second one was really uncertain, based more on the assumption that the basic Magic Casting ability would be expected to be higher than anything concrete about the Passive name...

In any case, with a glance at my Status, I have both at level twenty. Since Lirushik just mentioned they're tier two, I only need five more levels to gain those Passives. But that means I only just gained one of the three, I'm still missing two thirds of what's considered the basics for mages.

I swear, the more I learn, the weaker I feel...