~Aliami POV~

Once Aliami came back downstairs and found her girls bent over in laughter, she knew she had made the right choice, even Hurma was chuckling. The young man was oddly charismatic, he looked like he was socially clumsy but somehow managed to fit into the odd group within seconds. It possibly helped that he was a rather good looking young man, by human standards. Tall, not compared to a leonid but for a human he had a bit of decent length to him. A lean build, signs of beginning musculature, a mess of brown, even slightly reddish hair. The eyes however, were the reason she had for the first time taken in a male, they were kind, calm, with a sparkle of amusement.

She shook her head to herself, even dropped into a new world the young man didn’t seem the slightest bit rattled. Taking everything in stride, she was sure that if she was in his shoes she wouldn’t be dealing nearly so well. She stepped into the room and motioned for Aeric to follow her, “You seem to be fitting in pretty well.”

“People are people, no matter how they look.” He answered with a slight smile.

She smiled, “Yes, that has been my experience as well.”

Aeric scratched at his neck, “Thanks again for taking me in, I’d have been pretty screwed otherwise.”

“Unlikely, if others had found out you were a worldwalker, they would have been all over you. Ha old Grun is gonna be so mad when he finds out his recruiting practice turned away a worldwalker.” She chuckled to herself at the realization .

“So being a worldwalker seems like a pretty big deal, a positive one even. How come?”

She reached the top of the stairs and pointed him to one of the doors, which she immediately led him to, “Worldwalkers always tend to reach high levels, for most people reaching level thirty is a sign of skill. If you reach that rank you're considered an exemplary member of your profession. Those who reach level fourty are considered true experts, but those who reach higher? They are rare, and they affect the world around them. Take our very own city lord for example, he’s one of the highest level warriors known. That very fact is what makes other nations leave our city alone, even though we have some prime resources.”

She opened the door once they reached it and showed him the inside, it was humble, but cozy. Just the way she liked things, it made the appartments feel more like a home. Plus all the gaudy things she sometimes got offered hurt her eyes. Rich people had a terrible sense of style in her opinion. Although some of them really do have good taste, she smiled slightly as she eyed the well-made but otherwise simple wardrobe. Good memories there.

She glanced over at Aeric who was taking in the room appreciatively. “This is way bigger and a lot better than I expected from a dorm to be honest.”

She chuckled, “Well I do like my home to have a proper look about it.”

“I can tell. This furniture is well made.” He sat down on the bed and it conformed to his weight. “This is a really nice bed too.”

“What did you expect to get then?”

“Honestly just a bed and a closet. Of middling quality at best, it’s what I expected when you used the word dorm. But that might’ve just been past experiences speaking.” He tapped the bed appreciatively. “This is quality, from a craftsman who takes pride in his work.” He nodded approvingly.

Aliami nodded to herself, ‘Yup this one has that bit of craftsman's pride. She wondered what was gonna happen when he reached a higher level himself. He’s gonna end up being a pain in the ass when he competes, that’s for sure. Why did she think this was a good idea again?’

She studied him for a moment, “So what is it you plan to do now?”

He turned around with a slight frown, “Well I guess do my job, and get used to my situation. Then figure things out from there.”

“I have to say, you seem oddly at ease with the whole worldwalking thing.”

He smirked, “Well there are a lot of fictions that I’ve read about people ending up in entirely new worlds. I’ve always enjoyed those stories, it was like a fresh start. Back home I was a rather boring individual. I just went with the flow, a social chameleon. Unnoticed and unappreciated by the world around me. The only sparks of light in my life were my father and my roommate. Dad always had some creative insanity to him, completely focused on his latest ideas. My roommate was the same.”

His face fell slightly, “I’m going to miss them and my dog, she must be so confused when I don’t come home... but they’d be pissed at me if I messed up an opportunity like this.”

She cocked her head, “So you think of this as an opportunity?”

“Well it's a fresh start isn’t it? No one knows anything about me, not my history or my mistakes. Such a fresh start was impossible in my own world, your past would follow you wherever you go.” He ran a hand through his curley long locks. “This is more boon than bane.”

Aliami studied him, “So what are you going to do with this fresh start? ”

In her mind she whispered, Touch of a Golden Future

He blinked at her, then looked around the room before finally studying his own hands. “I think I’ll be the version of myself that I always wanted to be. No more caring about what people think of me, I’ll be indulging in my own strange urges. I’m going to be insane, and I’ll revel in it. I will leave my mark, improve the lives of those around me.” He straightened his back and a grin appeared on his face as he balled his hands.

“I will become a living legend, or die trying. I will burn brightly and share my light to those around me. I’ll make the best of what I have and carve out my own slice of paradise. No more walking for me, life is at full sprint now.” A fire burned brightly behind his eyes, his posture radiating confidence.

‘Ah, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.’ Aliami thought to herself as she looked him in the eyes, an anticipatory grin appeared on her face. “I look forward to it, let’s get to work then shall we?”

As she led him back downstairs and watched him dive into the work with an all new fervor. She felt a slight tingle on her arms, this might be the most important thing she had done in her life. She could almost sense the change, shake the world huh. When was it she gave up on doing such a thing herself? Perhaps she would be the cause of a shift, even if it wasn’t caused by her but by her apprentice. She was never one to hold back on teaching and keep secrets, but she resolved herself to put in everything and anything she could. Time for a gamble, time to relight her own fire.

Because something that most people didn’t know was that she wasn’t a Tailor herself, she was a Merchant, and a level fourty-six at that.

~Aeric Pov~

With his newfound drive and determination he dove into work. Gathering as much information as possible and learning what he could. The girls were rather surprised at his sudden fervor, he had to admit to himself he was rather astounded at the change. He had never felt this… driven before. He blushed a bit when he remembered his speech, but he stood by it. This time, this time would be different. He would make it so, he focused on his stitching, making sure they were meticulous.

He still chatted with the girls of course, but only small talk. Talking about the latest fashion colour trend, green and red of all things. A truly hideous combination only reserved for christmas in his opinion. He finished up the pair of trousers he was working on and started on the shirt, the embroidery was left to the more experienced girls for now. Mostly Hurma, he noted, whose needle darted in and out with beautifull efficiency. Just when his fingers started to cramp Aliami announced the end of the day, he looked up and followed the rest to the dining room. Something Aliami had apparently forgotten to show him, he guessed they’d been a bit caught by his speech. He smiled at the realization .

To his surprise Xii was the one who always did the cooking, feeling slightly caught out by the idea that the one who eats the dead is the one who manages the cooking. He joined the rest at the table. Curious as to the cuisine this new world of his had to offer. What ended up on his plate was both familiar and completely alien at the same time. This looked like the standard potato, veggies and meat combination. Nothing that odd, except the potatoes were blue, the meat had a greenish tint and for some reason the vegetables were on fire. He noticed the rest of the table staring at him as he studied his meal.

He pointed to one of the burning broccoli things, “I think you might have overcooked that one, it’s still on fire.”

The others chuckled and Xii smiled as she pointed at the vegetable. “That’s Burning Broccoli, it’s like a spicy version of the normal thing.”

He blinked in surprise, “It’s actually called burning broccoli? This world is so awesome.”

He put a piece on his fork and under a watchful audience put the vegetable in his mouth, he saw Xii tense up just a tad. “Hot! Hotototototot” He juggled the vegetable with his tongue before he quickly bit and then the taste exploded in his mouth. His eyes watered and when he swallowed he felt a pleasantly warm sensation settle into his stomach.

His eyes widened, “Owh christ that is good.”

Xii grinned proudly and posed seductively, “For you my dear there will always be more!”

“Booooh!” Treeka called out quickly followed by the others, “No bribing the new one with food! It’s unfair!”

Xii grinned at her triumphantly, “Should have learned how to cook then.”

Treeka sniffed, “Might as well be alchemy with all the recipes you have to learn.”

Xii snorted but turned to her dinner, eating with gusto. Followed swiftly by the rest, once dinner was finished Aeric helped with the dishes. He said his goodbye to the girls and headed to his room. Letting them know he was knackered from the day, although he had tried his hardest not to show it, the whole worldwalking thing had left him feeling wrung out. His new goal had brought a light into his mind that overpowered the oncoming negative emotions. He laid down in bed and closed his eyes, exhausted, yet excited for the coming days.

~Tailor level 3 reached~

~Studious Apprentice skill gained~

He woke up with a grin, and that was why this world was awesome.

When he woke up the next day still feeling the afterburn of the excitement of receiving his new skill he got up with a burning sense of purpose. Time to put that skill to the test, “Status.”

Nothing happened, Aeric frowned. “Menu?”

Again nothing.

“Character sheet, Character, User Interface, Options.” More nothing. He tried swiping the air and pressing imaginary buttons.

“What on dirt are you doing?” Treeka said as she stared at him with her hawklike eyes.

“Well I leveled up yesterday and received my first skill, I was trying to see what it did.”

“Oh congratulations!” Treeka said with a wide smile and a pat on the shoulder. “What does that have to do with saying random words and flailing around though?”

“Well I was trying to see my character sheet?”

She stared at him blankly, “Your what now?”

He tilted his head, “The thing where I can see my level and stats and skills?”

“You can’t see that though?”

“I can’t? Then how do I know what my skills do?”

“Ha!” Treeka exclaimed, “That’s the beauty of it, you don’t. You’ll just have to figure it out. If you want to tell me what it’s called, then I might be able to tell you. Low level skills are pretty well known.”

“It’s called studious apprentice.”

“Oeh, that’s a good one. As long as you're learning from people higher level than you, or with skills that you don’t have. You’ll pick them up faster, only in the profession you got the skill in though. But since you started yesterday it’s a great skill to start off with, I hear it can change when you reach higher levels.”

“Awesome, an experience boost huh. Mwahahahaa, already on my way to being all powerfull and world-conquering!” Aeric made an exaggerated power pose. To a snort from Treeka and an amused chuckle from Yassilia who just left her room.

“Let’s do all that world conquering after breakfast shall we? I am feeling a bit peckish.”

Now it was Aeric’s turn to snort. “Isn’t that supposed to be Treeka’s line? Peckish, ha!”

“Hey!”

Aeric walked off still chuckling with an affronted Treeka and an amused Yassilia behind him. They entered the dining room. The smell of something delicious and the well known smell of molten cheese. Aeric took a whiff in appreciation, “Xii is a fantastic cook isn’t she.”

“Yup she’s pretty high level, I think she has a mix class between a cook and a warrior or something, she won’t tell anyone what it’s called though.” Treeka answered.

“Battle chef?”

Yassilia chuckled, “I’m sure it's nothing quite so… mundane.”

“Right, talking about mundane, why do all of you seem so… high level? Everyone here is a character in and of herself. You guys kinda stand out, what’s up with that?”

“Yes well, we are probably one of the most enterprising and well-known businesses in the city, and Aliami has a way of gathering talent and people with potential around her. She even has a slogan she says sometimes. The odd stand out! The odd achieve!” Treeka spoke with wing flailing gestures.

“Indeed, people thought her stupid. But seeing how this place is I have to say her words probably have merit. Either that or she is extremely lucky.” Yassilia added.

“Or both.” A rumbling growl said behind them. Treeka almost rammed her head through the ceiling, she jumped so high in panic. Even Yassilia twitched slightly, as for Aeric. He most decidedly did not yelp in panic.

“Uhhhh. Hey boss, no harm done.” Treeka said with a conciliatory look on her face.

Aliami leaned over towards her, “It’s a good thing I need your pretty face for my store front or I might fire you one day!”

Treeka chuckled, “Not convincing anyone with that boss, you know you love us!” She swung a wing around the leonid who simply rolled her eyes in response.

“So I heard your question Aeric.” Aliami said as she looked over. “I’ll admit I’m always on the lookout for people who I think are interesting. To be honest I just look at people and wonder, could they be the protagonist in a story? Is that one of those people who life seems to revolve around. In my experience people who stand out, or are quietly competent, are often those who reach higher levels.”

“Is it considered rude to ask for levels and skills?” Aeric asked, “Because to be honest I am super curious as to how all this works.”

“They don’t have skills where you're from?” Lshrkr asked.

“Nope.”

“How curious, how does one know which people are worth hiring? How do you find a complimentary group that works well together and whose strengths and weaknesses cover each other? Ah and for your earlier question, it is considered something to be shared only in trusted company.”

“Ah well personally I probably won’t mind sharing. As for how we manage it back home, basically we just keep trying things till it works.” Aeric shrugged, “My home is more advanced so information is shared across the world. Everywhere you would work knows of your past employment and where you studied and so forth.”

“That sounds… annoying.” Xii murmured from behind her kitchen counter.

“Sounds great for employers though.” Aliami added, “Although the lack of privacy and hiring on history instead of competency kind of suck.”

“It does suck, it really, really does.”

Hurma spoke up with that low rumble of hers. “What I’m curious about, is what you mean when you say your world is more advanced.”

“Ah. Well to be frank, your world seems hundreds of years behind. Maybe more depending on when your industrial revolution starts, if it ever does. Although I have noted that magic makes up a good deal for lack of technology. You have working sewage, showers, toilets and everything. So that hasn’t changed that much, but information sharing and especially warfare is very much behind.”

“Okay three questions, what’s technology and industrial revolution. How does your world share information and the one I’m personally the most interested in, warfare and what can you tell me or teach me about it!” Xii spoke with a glimmer in her eyes.

“Well technology is how we do things without magic? It would take me ages to explain everything. Industrial revolution was when technology took large steps forward I guess? Information sharing, well it's like a library with everyone's information that anyone can access? Although some private information is only accessible through the government and their permission. As for warfare, ours is probably a lot more bloody than yours, the last great war that was fought had millions of civilian casualties. You don’t want our way of warfare or our weapons.”

“Millions?!” That caused everyone in the room to sit up and stare at him.

He nodded gravely, “Millions.”

Xii narrowed her eyes as she leaned closer, the other warriors in the room were paying rapt attention as well. “Tell me about this warfare of yours and why you wouldn’t want to share. We could use it to our advantage.”

Aeric sighed, he had been expecting this to happen so he had decided to get it out of the way and shoot down the idea as fast as possible. “What would happen to this world, if I taught people how to make weapons, if I even could by the way. I have no idea how the things really work. That when placed in the hands of the average farmer, would make him on par with a well trained and fully armoured and armed knight. What would happen to monarchies if the people had the power to match their armies. If the entire populace could be armed and each person on par with a relatively high level soldier?”

Aliami sat back in her chair as she thought it over, “Regimes would collapse, chaos would ensue in a rush for power. The world’s kings would unite and do their best to destroy the knowledge and any of its applications. This would in turn cause more people to take up arms, the oppressed would react violently. Most likely it would cause devastation.”

Aeric nodded and looked around the room, tapping his finger forcefully on the table to make his point clear. “And that is why I will never give up any information I know about weapons, not under threat of torture. Not unless I have been absolutely broken.”

Xii raised her arms in surrender, “Won't ask, I don't need weapons around that will make high level people like me moot. I’d have to look for a new job!”

“Sorry just making a point, I’d like to avoid becoming a target for nations to assassinate.” Aeric said with a smirk.

“Yea yea, you’re prime real estate, go sit down so we can have breakfast.” Treeka said as she pushed him forward.

He sat down to a delicious meal of an omelette filled with a bunch of things he didn't know. Then he and the others walked down to the working room and got started on their job for the day. Aeric closely followed instruction and watched the others work, to his surprise they weren’t just a tailory. They also made light armour, working with various leathers, Yassilia used a needle with a glowing point to etch engravings and enchantments into the leather. Which would then be handled by Hurma who with strength and precision turned the leather into the desired shape. Odd that it was engraved before that, Lshrkr worked mostly on cloth and embroidery, her hands moving economically. Fauna and flora appearing in thread beneath her hands.

He himself was still learning different patterns for stitching, and where to make the folds and how to make things fit properly. He was starting to get into a rhythm, working through clothing. He could probably explore the city once he was done but he decided that at least for the first week he should just focus on work and keep himself grounded in his new reality. Quickly as it always did, days filled with work turned into a routine, then it became automatism. Before he had even fully processed the events a week had passed.

~Tailor level 14 reached~

~Dexterous hands skill received~

~Meticulous stitching skill received~

~Stronger thread skill received~

~Just a bit better skill received~

He had leveled up pretty quickly, gaining two original skills for himself and learning dexterous hands from Hurma and meticulous stitching from Lshrkr. Both made needle work much faster, while meticulous stitching allowed him to speed up while keeping the quality he wanted. Stronger thread increased the tensile strength of any material he used for his work.

His favourite skill by far was Just a bit better. It was his capstone skill, which is what they called skills recieved at every tenth level. what it essentially did was improve his work just a bit. Since he made sure that his work was of the best quality he could manage, the improvement made a pretty big difference. The better the quality the harder it is to make any improvement after all. He could already keep up and create clothes of the same quality as everyone except Hurma. Who was apparently the highest level among them. An impressive level thirty-two, she had confided when he had asked.

As he sat down for dinner on the last day of the week, Treeka threw herself down on the bench next to him. “You level so ungodly fast, it’s insaaaane and so unfair!”

Aeric shrugged, “Maybe it’s because I don't have levels in anything else. Overall I’m still really low level after all.”

Treeka looked up from where she had put her head on the table, “What do you mean overall.”

“Well what levels do you have, which classes?”

She tapped a talon to her chin, “Well I’ve had a lot of different jobs, so I have. Cleaner six, barmaid eight, cook three, Saleswoman fifteen and receptionist thirteen.”

Aeric nodded, “So that’s a combined level of fourty-four, while I have a combined level of fourteen. I’m a bit older than you so that still leaves me another thirty levels before I have the same overall level as you and caught up.”

“So you think, what exactly?” Xii spoke up from behind her kitchen counter.

“Well to me it seems like level is tied to dedication of course but also age. Learning new things, being innovative, will increase levels faster than if you simply do the same thing over and over. If, like me, you only focus on a single class, then it will be easier to reach a higher level with it than if you take a lot of different classes.”

He then noticed that the dining room had gone quiet, everyone was staring at him Aliami included. “What?”

Treeka looked at the others, “I-is that how it works?”

Lshrkr tapped a hand to her chin, “It would make sense, my hive has noted that our average level in our main class is higher than that of the other races. We dedicate ourselves to a single purpose, even each of my bodies dedicates themselves to a single thing.”

Treeka slammed her head on the desk, “So I won’t be a great anything cuz I’m a decent everything?!”

Aeric patted her on the back, “Actually I think you can capitalize on that, learn as many things as possible, gain a lot of small classes. Then perhaps you can combine that into one larger class called Jack of all trades or Woman of many skills or Generalist, something like that.”

Treeka swung her feet below the bench, “That sounds kinda awesome, I might try that.”

“Is my way of seeing it that odd for you guys? I mean there must have been studies made about leveling and receiving skills.”

Yassilia straightened her skirt, “Naturally there have been many studies of the like, mostly the nobles and the higher leveled people keep such information for themselves. To keep themselves in power I suppose.”

“And people don’t try to figure these things out for themselves?” Aeric asked incredulously.

Aliami smiled, “Most people are content with just living their lives, how many people try to figure out how the rain works? It might help them to know, but would they try to figure it out? Who studies the sun when there is money to be made and food that needs to be put on table. Such studies are for those with the time to spare, not the average folk.”

Aeric opened his mouth and closed it, she had a point. How many people back home truly knew how electricity worked, he for one didn’t. He knew it had something to do with copper and positive electrons maybe? You’d think people would study the things they used everyday, but how many actually did.

“Well I guess now you all know, maybe we can use that to our advantage?” Aeric asked.

Yassilia shrugged, “I kind of enjoy being able to do a myriad of things well, not that interested in specialising.”

Aliami grinned, “I was already specialising so it doesn’t make much of a difference for me.”

Treeka smiled, “I’m not gonna stop picking up new things, I’d get bored if I keep doing the same thing forever.”

Xii chuckled, “I guess in the end nothing really changes even if we do know of things that might be to our advantage. People already live their lives the way they want. Only rulers and leaders might really make use of this information.

“Why?” Hurma asked.

Lshrkr was the one to answer, “For a country it would be better to have many high level specialists than a country full of generalists. One level fifty armourer is much more valued than a hundred level twenty fives. Quality over quantity.”

“So in the end maybe it isn’t that the nobles and such keep it a secret, it’s simply that they are the only ones who really care about it?” Aeric posed.

“Maybe.” Hurma said.

“Ah who cares, it changes nothing, so where are we going tonight. You promised you’d leave the house tonight Aeric. Don’t try to get out of it with deep thoughts and stuff!” Treeka pointed an accusing digit at him. “Choose a spot!”

Aeric looked at her and grinned, “And how would I know where to choose?It’s not like I know the city.”

Treeka grinned mischievously, “How do you feel about dancing?”

That is how a few minutes later, Aeric found himself standing in front of something that was the mix of a bar, restaurant and dancing hall. “I’m not sure about this…”

The girls laughed, even Hurma looked amused. “If you want to impress a girl you have to learn how to dance Aeric, thems the rules!” Treeka said as she pushed him towards the entrance.

He guessed that was the downside of living in a house full of girls, that reminded him of the time he did an education involving care. His entire class had been girls, he had suddenly gained twenty older sisters. All nagging at him and making him try different things, like that salsa class, also making sure he was at school on time. Being surrounded by girls as the only guy never turned into the harem scenario fiction promised you in his experience. Not that he wanted a harem, he shivered at the mere thought. Awful, horrible things, true story destroyers in his opinion. He sighed and glanced at the building, resigning himself to his fate.