The scouts spent about half an hour cutting apart the vinebears, searching for valuable materials. In the meantime, a few spidercrab packs wandered into the area, perhaps attracted by the mana leaking out of the vinebear corpses. Alice and the other mages quickly shredded them apart, if the [Guards] didn’t shoot them down first. Alice was sure she was pretty close to {Monster Hunter III}, though there was still some way to go. With some effort, she could probably pick it up before she left Cyra. These corpses were also disassembled by the [Scouts], turning into more spoils of war.

Apart from that, the few people who had gotten injured during the fight received treatment from the [Organic Mages]. Luckily, nobody had died or lost a limb, making it fairly easy to heal most of the injuries. Alice couldn’t help but marvel at one of her first times seeing this world’s method of healing [Soldiers] and [Guards] after a battle. She had been unconscious when an [Organic Mage] had interacted with her during the Expedition, and the [Organic Mage] who had inspected her after her trial had simply used some Perks to analyze her body for potential problems. Thus, this was her first time actually seeing an [Organic Mage] heal someone else.

And upon seeing [Organic Mages] heal people, Alice couldn’t help but think that this world’s healing was definitely superior to Earth’s medical technology. On Earth, getting someone to heal after getting mauled by a bear and receiving a massive gash to their chest would have required some serious medical attention. The person in question would probably have needed to take a trip to the Emergency Room. If a person was particularly badly mauled, they might have even needed surgery, blood transfusions, rabies shots, and any number of other things.

In this world, an [Organic Mage] demanded the patient give {Patient’s Consent} to reduce their resistance against Mana. Then, the [Organic Mage] put their hand on some exposed flesh from the other party, closed their eyes, and started throwing Perks and mana at the problem. A process which Alice could now, finally, observe firsthand, as mana fractals formed a strange net that stretched out from the brain of the [Organic Magic] and into the other person’s body, continuously lighting up the whole way before the entire net of mana dissolved into thin air and much more basic Organic mana started healing up the person. Usually, the whole process took less than ten minutes. Afterwards, it was hard to tell that the person in question had even been injured in the first place. They could get up, move around, and walk with no problems, whereas on Earth they would have probably needed to stitch up the mauled area and keep it safe for a few weeks before they finished recovering.

After everyone was healed up and the [Scouts] were done cleaning up the vinebear corpses, it was time to deal with the rewards from the battle.

Every single monster had a monster core – this was something innate to all monsters on this planet. Vinebear cores were particularly compatible with Healing Enchantments, making them relatively high in demand because Healing Magic wasted far more mana than Organic Magic. On top of that, the pelts of the vinebears were also decent materials for making warm clothes. Even though many of the fur coats had been ruined during the fight, about half of the vinebears still had useable pelts. Finally, there was a huge amount of bear meat and bones, neither of which was particularly valuable.

First, everyone was given a choice: they could either take one vinebear core, or Illa would sell them in bulk to one of the traders from upriver and divide the money among all of the people who just wanted to sell the core. Most of the [Guards], [Scouts], and [Soldiers] chose to sell the core, along with about half of the Mages. Everyone was given a similar option for the bear pelts. Alice grabbed a Vinebear core, since she would probably have a use for it sooner or later, but opted to sell her share of bear pelt because it wasn’t particularly useful for enchanting. Finally, the bear meat and bones didn’t have very much value. Thus, they were pretty much just ‘whoever wants it can take some.’ Alice grabbed as much as she could stuff inside of {Sample Collection} – which wasn’t much, since the Perk only allowed a certain quantity of any ‘unique’ substance to be stored inside of it. However, it was still at least a few days of free meals after they were cooked. Alice could probably sell it to the [Innkeeper] in exchange for a free dinner or two. She could use the money. She did the same with the bones, on the off hand chance she could figure out something useful to do with them, although she didn’t have very many hopes for actually using her vinebear bones. Still, since she had room to store them, it didn’t hurt to bring them along, just in case. Finally, the Mages and [Archers] picked up whatever they wanted from the dead spidercrabs.

Since the number of vinebears had slightly outnumbered the members of the hunting party, there were about fifteen remaining vinebear cores. These were distributed to the Mages in the group, including Alice, netting her a total of two extra vinebear cores, with the final remainder going to Illa and Allira.

After that, with the spoils of war distributed, the group began trudging back towards Cyra. Alice opted to walk alone this time, intending to think more carefully about what she had seen during the fight instead of chatting with others.

As they walked, Allira began bouncing from group to group again. Alice couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised by this. She had expected that Allira would mostly keep to herself on the way back home, now that there was no real need to keep up morale. However, the woman seemed to actively enjoy mixing around and talking to people.

Perhaps Allira just enjoyed talking with people in general? That did seem quite logical. In the first place, [Bards] tended to be people who interacted with other people a lot. If Allira didn’t enjoy talking, she would have probably picked a different Class.

Eventually, Allira made her way to Alice. Alice, although slightly surprised, was more than happy to see her. It wasn’t often she got an opportunity to observe an Immortal up-close.

“Greetings to honored Immortal,” said Alice, giving Allira a respectful nod. “That was extraordinary! I had heard stories of Immortals fighting before, but hearing about it and seeing it firsthand is completely different.”

Allira gave a small chuckle at Alice’s statement, before she nodded. “The abilities Immortals possess are pretty interesting. Once I became an Immortal, I could hardly believe what we’re able to do myself. It took a few years for me to really get used to the idea that I my abilities were so... reality-bending.”

“So do all of your abilities get a comprehensive upgrade after you become an Immortal?” Asked Alice.

“Well… the Achievement for becoming an Immortal gives you a lot of things. That being said, it’s far from the majority of what makes an Immortal a force to really be reckoned with. Part of it is just the Attributes – Immortals have dozens or hundreds of years behind them. Even if they don’t train much after becoming an Immortal, they’ll still end up with ridiculously high stats just by virtue of the normal exercise people do in their day to day routine. If an Immortal DOES actively train their stats… well, they can get to stupidly high numbers with enough time. On top of that, our Classes are obviously way higher level. Our Perks are way better as well – after level 50, you can start combining Perks within the same class, giving massive upgrades each time. After level 75, you can also start combining the Perks you got from combining Perks, meaning you usually start to refine all of your Perks into a couple incredibly strong ones. After level 75 you can also start combining Perks from different classes, giving you an even better selection of high-power, focused Perks.” Allira shrugged. “It all just sort of lumps together, really. At level 100 you upgrade your classes and get another big boost to strength, and then the Achievement for Immortality tends to be the final huge ‘upgrade’ most Immortals experience. Why? Jealous?” She gave Alice a big grin.

Alice gave a somewhat strained smile back. “A little, but for now I just like to hear about it. I’ve always been curious what makes Immortals different from other people, after all.”

Allira nodded. “That kind of curiosity is pretty normal. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve had little kids ask me if Immortals fight massive monsters every day, or can kill people by looking at them, or all sorts of other crazy stuff.” She chuckled. “It’s pretty interesting what kids come up with. The questions they ask are really… out there sometimes.”

“Do you spend a lot of time with children, then?” Alice was caught slightly off-guard by the idea of Immortals spending time playing with children.

“Sometimes. If court is in session, I usually have to be present and represent the Immortal Estate, especially if there’s a big issue the King wants multiple opinions on. There are only six Immortals in Illvaria, and most of them have other responsibilities tying them down. It often falls to me to do all the boring court crap since I’m the youngest and still legally qualified to represent the Immortal Estate. It’s a huge pain. Still, the court of the Estates is mostly active in Fall and Winter. When it isn’t in session, if I’m not doing something else, I usually just roam around and have fun. Going from city to city, playing songs, messing around…” Allira seemed to have a grin on her face, tinged with a bit of nostalgia. “It’s a decent time. I enjoy seeing what life has to offer and wandering around. When I was a young girl, I wanted to journey across the two inhabited continents, becoming a world-famous [Bard] and seeing everything there is to see.”

Allira shook her head, as if in regret. “I guess I’m at least sort of world-famous now, since most countries keep records of known Immortals. Still, I can’t really say I managed to accomplish what I once wished to,” she said. Alice felt that Allira’s smile was tinged with a trace of both sadness and nostalgia. Then, Allira turned to Alice.

“What about you, Alice? Do you have any hopes for the future?” Alice quietly noted that this was the first time she had actually heard Allira use her name. She appeared to have gotten a slight upgrade in status after actually going through a battle with Allira, even if it was mostly a one-sided massacre of vinebears.

“I want to learn everything I can about the nature of magic and reality,” Alice said, after a moment of hesitation. “I want to learn everything I can and explore everything I can about the world we live in. And I think a lot of that stems from mana, so I want to know everything I can about mana first.”

“The scholarly type, then? I have to say, I’m a little surprised. Most [Scholars] tend to come from scholarly families, and I heard you only got your mana baptism recently. Or did you get your mana baptism for reasons besides desperation? Most get a mana baptism because they’re on the brink of starvation and decide to make a last-ditch attempt to rise in society or die trying, but you don’t seem to… used to physical labor. Or hardship, really,” said Allira.

“I became a Mage by accident. If I had been given the choice, I probably wouldn’t have ever taken the risk,” said Alice, shuddering as she remembered the horrifying pain of her mana Baptism. The fear, the risk of death, the feeling as if she was being burned alive… she would probably never forget those moments. “Still… even though I didn’t expect to become a Mage, and I probably wouldn’t have ever risked a Baptism if I had the choice… I’m glad it happened now.” Alice gave a bitter laugh. “Which is basically entirely because it turned out well, now that I think about it. My odds were… very bad.” And even worse, since I accidentally got a Broken mana baptism instead of a normal one. “It is, however, really easy to see how much better my life is because I’m a Mage. And being a Mage also means I can explore how mana works much more easily, so I guess it’s pretty lucky I didn’t have a choice in the matter and I ended up lucking out.”

Allira laughed, much more lightheartedly than Alice. “Indeed. There are ways to get around not being a Mage if you want to study mana, but… the Perks required just to see mana are a nightmare to get if you aren’t a Mage. Then there’s the fact that you would need to either burn through as many enchanting supplies as an [Enchanter], and you would have needed to hire Mages to do more specific experiments. Mages are pretty darn expensive to hire, you know? I remember back when I was a regular [Bard] and a caravan I was travelling with hired a Mage as an escort. No clue what the heck they were transporting that required an actual Mage as an escort, but the Mage’s prices were crazy. With the danger involved, time spent away from civilization, and all of the other fees the guy managed to tack on, the caravan ended up paying the Mage three Silver Crowns a DAY. The guy was only level 30 in [Kinetic Mage]. The [Guards] were probably getting paid one or two silver Suns a day for the same job.”

Alice nodded, before she turned back to Allira. She paused, carefully weighing her options, as well as Allira’s personality. Finally, she decided Allira probably wouldn’t mind her asking about something she had been wondering since the start of the conversation. “You surprise me a lot. I thought Immortals would be a lot more…”

“Intimidating? Stern? Aloof from the mortal world, devoid of emotions towards regular humans, or somesuch?” Allira snorted. “It might not be great to say this, considering the fact I often need to act as a political entity as well, but… Immortals are people. We laugh, we cry, we love, we hate. Sometimes, we even die if we get unlucky enough. Even if I’m an Immortal that has lived for decades, will never age, and can accomplish crazy and reality-breaking acts when I put my Perks to the task, I’m also just Allira. Honored Immortal of Song and Shadow, but also just Alli. Being someone in a position of power, or even just somebody with powers well beyond the common sense of ordinary humans, does not take away from my humanity. It is easy for some Immortals to forget that, I think. However, I try my best to remember it. I don’t want to lose what makes me… well, me.” Said Allira. For a moment, there was an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face. Then, the playful grin returned, and she focused back on Alice again.

“But I really admire [Scholars]. Too much fiddling with numbers for my tastes, but the innovations [Inventors] and [Scholars] sometimes create make life better and easier for all of us.” Then, her gaze became slightly more teasing. “Did you discover anything from me, oh great [Scholar?] I’ve seen you looking at me a lot during the journey here. I was wondering what you were up to, but if you’re studying mana, I think I at least have a few guesses…” Her playful grin widened.

“Not much, but a little bit,” said Alice. “At least as far as I can see, your body seems to be made almost entirely of mana – which is something I find fascinating. I haven’t interacted much with children yet, but they seem to have pretty low amounts of mana in their body. By contrast, Immortals are almost entirely made of mana. Every time people level up, the mana in their body increases. Now, a lot of people know that people with higher levels have more mana inside of their body, but I’ve always wanted to know why that is. So I think that your body, being made mostly of mana, is fascinating. And it also makes me wonder more about what mana actually is.” Alice shrugged. “Well, for now I don’t really know – I have a lot of guesses, and I’m getting into research to try to narrow down those guesses and confirm whether I’m on the right track or not. However, I find the way your body still looks so human, and yet seems to be made of totally different stuff, to be fascinating.”

Allira stared at Alice, a little more thoughtfully now. “Hmm. I can honestly say I’ve never thought about that before. Though I can’t say I feel it’s particularly practical.”

Alice shrugged. “I want to know the truth of mana. I am sure I’ll find a way to use it for practical purposes in the future – however, even if I don’t find a single practical use behind anything I spend my time and energy learning about, I wouldn’t regret it. I just want to know for the sake of knowing.” She felt a small smile tug at her lips as she said this. “Though, I have already gotten a few Achievements for exploring and learning. In that sense, I’ve already gotten some nice bonuses from studying this topic, so I can’t say it has been a waste of time.” Alice didn’t hesitate at all to advertise the benefits of taking part in her research. Even if it was unlikely, maybe in the future she could get an Immortal to help her learn about the truth of mana! Allira was a pretty relaxed person, so maybe someday it was possible!

Allira’s smile became gentler, less filled with fun and carelessness and more relaxed. “If that’s what motivates you, then I can only admire you. Wanting to know for the sake of knowing may not always be what causes [Merchants] and [Nobles] to line up and sponsor your research, and some people might even say it’s a fundamental failure to research something just for the sake of knowing more. But… Ultimately, even ‘impractical’ knowledge is what creates the stable base of knowledge all other [Researchers] in the future reference as they make their own innovations. If you truly make great contributions in this area, perhaps in the future someone will take your work a step farther and create something miraculous.”

The conversation fell into a comfortable silence for a while, until the walls of Cyra came in sight. After a brief hunt, the Vinebear threat was exterminated.

* * *

Somewhere far away, a man stood in a room filled with rocks and maps. If one were to analyze the rocks, they wouldn’t be able to find anything unusual about them – save, perhaps, the fact that most System Perks would completely ignore the rocks, as if they weren’t there at all.

In the center of the room was a map. On it were images of three continents.

The Central Continent, the origin of the human species in this world, and the continent with the lowest mana density and highest human population density.

The Southern Continent, which was more recently settled. It had much higher mana density than the Central Continent, and few had ever explored farther south than the Shil Confederacy and lived to tell the tale. It was becoming more and more heavily settled as the decades passed, but it would be a long time before it reached the population density of the Central Continent.

And finally, the Western Continent. The mana density would kill anyone who tried to go there and wasn’t a Mage. And if the mana density didn’t prove fatal, the ridiculously powerful monsters would. Even Immortals never ventured onto the Western Continent unless they were feeling suicidal. The only maps of the continent basically consisted of some random chunks of coastline. The rest was untouched by human hands.

And on the map, there were a variety of blinking lights. Most of them were black, but about one in four of them were white. There were even a few blinking lights on the Western continent, though they were very few in number.

On the map of the Southern Continent, one of the white lights blinked, then flashed bright red. After a few moments, the light disappeared entirely.

“Another hit, huh?” The man turned to the only other occupant of the room – something which seemed human, except half of its body had been replaced with metal. “Are there any known settlements there?”

The half-metal human stared at the spot for a moment, deep in thought. Then, finally, he shook his head. “None of my Perks are pulling up anything at all in that area. Checking through the map’s record log, There was no blue flash. So the total number of people is lower than 100. Still... Red means at least 50. An unrecorded settlement with a high enough level of [Enchanter] to start investigating one of the probes and trip the minimum population requirements… it might be the one, Master. There’s a good chance of it being another miss, but this could be it.”

The man who was looking at the map smiled. “Then prepare my Enchanted weapons and Items. Especially the consumable ones – get at least a few hundred ready. Just in case. We are taking a trip to the Southern Continent, it seems. Let us see if we’ve finally stumbled across one of the bases of the Society of Starry Eyes.”