As Aeric rubbed the bleariness and sleep from his eyes and splashed his face with cold water he looked up at his reflection, his chestnutt coloured curls with a bit of a ginger shine to em, his green eyes. He took a look at his beard and saw it was still nicely trimmed, maybe a few centimeters long at most. He nodded to himself and smiled, today was exploration day and he was kind of looking forward to it. He’d hung out with the girls before but he hadn’t really gotten to know any of them on a personal level. He kinda just jumped straight into the ‘we are family now’ mode.

He looked around his room and took it all in, his dark tropical wood coloured bed, the slightly lighter but elegantly carved wardrobe. He ran his hand over the carving, something with a slight floral expressiveness to it. It reminded him a bit of hindu mandelas but with a bit of victorian roses? He snorted to himself at the vague explanation, he really was turning into the artist type. He couldn’t really help himself, though perhaps the new skill he had gotten when he reached level twenty-five yesterday had something to do with it, ‘Artistic Impressions’.

An utterly useless name that gave no hint to it’s actual use, although he did notice how he saw the artistry of the crafters in the furniture around him. Those who focused more on their work and let their creativity take over, such as with the carvings on the wardrobe drew his attention. He could feel how much work and passion went into the the work. It was heartening somehow, and it made his fingers itch to get back to work and create something that just… popped. But he let the feeling flow away and brought himself back down to earth, today was a day to relax and finally get a proper look at the city. Who knows, he might find some inspiration.

He turned the handle on his door and stepped into the hallway, looking back at his door, with a sign melded into the door itself as if it had been part of the whole all along. On which was written with his own sense of calligraphy, his name. With some random little doodles that he’d added because he felt like it. He smiled to himself, somewhat awed with how fast this place had felt like home, it reminded him of his own home. Mom’s old paintings covering the walls, dad’s little artistic projects here and there. Even of his appartment later in life, where he and Sofie had spent most of their adult life. With her metallic artwork and little robot projects spread across the living room. He smiled, wondering how he had ended up working an office job when everyone his life he cared about had been an artist one way or the other. Although he had played his violin quite a bit, maybe he could find one in the city today. Something to ponder, he thought. Aeric shook his head and looked down the hallway, glancing at the different doors and the calligraphy that adorned each door.

Treeka’s had been done with expected enthusiasm, little blots of spilled ink splattered in various places around her name. Lshrkr’s had been written with machine like precision, not a drop wasted. Hurma had a lot of swirling and curling expressiveness. Yisillia had a neat, professional looking bit of calligraphy while Xii’s looked as if she had used her brush as a sword to cut her name into the door. Which he actually thought had a reasonable chance of being the truth of the matter.

He walked through the door appreciating the artistic personal touches of the calligraphy and the tastefully hanging paintings and other odd little artworks that were placed along the hallway. He stopped before an elaborately painted flower that called to him, it was a cross between a rose and a lily. Coloured with a vivid blood red and accentuating dark colours, he was almost sure that it was Xii who painted this or at the least that it was a painting that was meant for her.

He admired the work before tearing himself away and entering the kitchen, he was the second one awake as usual. Xii was already working on breakfast, never failing to be the first to rise. He watched her ebony hands as the grey smoke from the stove curled around her fingers tipped with those sharp ivory fingernails. One hand holding a lid and the other idly twirling around a kitchen knife with absentminded skill. She looked up and grinned at him, open mouthed and showcasing her sharp teeth. While she did have molars she had triple the amount of sharp fang-like teeth that humans had, what did they call those again Execisers? No, no that wasnt it. Incisors! That was the word, it would be an intimidating sight if he wasn’t used to it.

She looked him up and down with her crimson orbs, “You look like you’re spacing out quite a bit. What’s up?”

Aeric sat down in the cushioned seat of the handcarved chair, he ran his along the carvings. Marvelling at the quality of their dining table and the seats spread around it. “Got a new skill yesterday called Artistic Impressions. It makes everything seem more… more? Like all the little things people do with attention to skill or art. It’s like it’s all more vivid, more feeling. It’s got my mind wandering off into all kinds of emotions and creative stuff.”

Xii shrugged waving the kitchen knife through the air dismissivly, “Eh don’t worry about it, you’ll get used to it fast enough. Some passive skills can be like that, changing your view of the world. It tends to be usefull in whatever field you're specialising in though.”

Aeric raised an eyebrow and placed his elbows on the table leaning he head on his folded together hands. “You have a skill like that?”

Xii grinned at him and licked an incisor, “I can see and feel heartbeats.”

Aeric groaned and rolled his eyes, “You are such a knock-off vampire.”

Xii laughed, the sound carrying through the somewhat larger space. An odd sound somewhat like a mix between a cackle and a full-bellied laugh. “I’m much more dangerous than a vampire dear lamb, not to worry.” She winked at him and turned back to her food, her knife expertly cutting the vegetables into small pieces before she tossed them into the pan where they joined the omelet she was making. After a few neat flicks where she flipped the omelett she tossed a plate on the table before him on which the omelet landed a moment later.

“Eat up, Hurma’s got you first, taking you round the residential district.” He smiled as he looked at the food on his plate, already inwardly enjoying the no doubt delicious meal. Another plus for this world, the food was so much better. Granted he did have something like a professional chef cooking his food at every meal time. Which was such a luxury all told.

He grinned and cut of a piece of omelet before sticking it into his mouth and groaning around the explosion of flavour, the soft meld of ingedients and taste coming together in a harmony only accentuated by the spices. “I’m gonna be so used to your food that I won’t be able to eat anything else ever again.”

She laughed, smirking at him. “Well I’ll have to leave eventually on the next expedition and then you get to try Treeka’s food.”

Aeric groaned and collapsed onto the table, “But I need to feed my addiction!”

She snorted at him but didnt further respond as she was already starting on Hurma’s portion which as expected was a few sizes larger than his own. Aeric ate a few more mouthfulls, fully enjoying his food as he turned back to Xii. “I saw that painting of the rose-lily flower in the hall, the one with the bloodred and the black? One of yours?”

Xii shook her head, “One of my sisters painted that for me Did I ever tell you about how Aerminians fight?”

Aeric shook his head in turn and raised an eyebrow, inviting her to elaborate. “We don’t fight alone nor in large organised battalions as most armies do. We have little… syncs. Like a small group of people that fight together. Anywhere from three to five of us, our fighting style and even our classes meld together. Where we become seperate parts of the whole, on our own we are strong. But together we become more than the sum of the parts. We cover each other’s weakness and openings. We synchronise, together a group of Aerminians are more than a match for an adventurer group an entire ten levels higher.”

Aeric nodded in understanding and stuck another piece of omelet in his mouth before chewing it and swallowing. “I’m guessing you're more dangerous than the average Aermenian?”

She grinned at him, one of her incisors biting down on her lip. “Who’s to say really, that’s, for me to know and others to find out if they are looking for an assisted suicide.” She laugh-cackled at him as she continued with cooking Hurma’s portions, throwing a plate on the table just as the ogre entered the room.

Hurma raised an eyebrow at the two of them and Aeric just waved the unasked question away. She shrugged and set down in her chair, one a few sizes larger than his own and reinforced if his guess was correct.

He turned to his first guide-to-be, “So what residential districts are we gonna be visiting today.”

Hurma shrugged as she grabbed her fork, which might as well have been a small trident to Aeric. “I’m mostly just going to make sure you know your way around, so you won’t get lost. I’ll let you know which groups live where so you know where to find whoever it is you’re going to be looking for when you inevitably need to find someone.”

Aeric shrugged and nodded, waiting for her to finish her meal before following her lead when she stood up. They waved a goodbye at Xii who told them to have fun and that she would see them later tonight. He left the house and looked down the street, the street where their shop and home stood was something of a mix between and industrial district and a residential district. It was near the center ring of the city which housed the Lord’s castle and the other governmental institutes. The houses were mostly made with a mix of stone and wood that reminded him the most of old english construction. He rather enjoyed the way the buildings looked in all honesty.

He glanced over at his guide who pointed a thumb down a street before she started to walk off. Measuring her paces and keeping them small enough that Aeric could keep up if he held a decent pace. Hurma was looking around thoughtfully, “I guess I should start with the a bit of the history of the city, it’s not that old. Barely twenty years and still growing fast. It was founded, as you know, by the Lord of the city.”

“Yea the guy called Ursmir right?” He said as he looked up at Hurma who in turn looked back it him with a raised eyebrow.

“Make sure that’s Lord Ursmir if you ever have to speak with him.”

Aeric shrugged noncommitedly and took another look at the surrounding buildings, most buildings were at least two stories high with most being three or four. The bottom floor usually holding a shop in this area and the areas above either living areas or perhaps storage. He did see that all windows were covered by nice clear glass just as they would have been back home, he frowned. That seemed unlikely with how hard it would be to make and transport glass in a medeival world.

“How come there is so much glass, that everyone can afford to have windows made with it and even some doors?”

Hurma turned to look at him, her dark dreadlock like hair falling around her face, she looked at the glass at the buildings and blinked as she processed the question. “Glass mages mostly, they just conjure up the glass, reinforce it with some magic and then get the windowframes to sustain the minor amount of mana it needs to keep the conjuration in place.”

Aeric blinked and took a look at the window frames only now realising the small little carvings in place that held the glass. “Huh, I hadn’t even noticed the magic.”

Hurma shrugged, “It’s present in most houses, the people running the city make sure that everyone has a job and glass mages are always in demand. But there’s enough competition around that the price isn’t too high so almost all houses have glass windows installed. Ursmir pushes really hard to make sure there won’t be a slum or any homeless people in the city. If they can’t find a job he’ll force one on them.”

Aeric smiled as he looked around at the slowly waking up city, noting the varied colours and races walking around. Most people had a walk to them that spoke of ‘I have places to be and things to do’. “The city looks healthy, the people driven. It’s a good city, even by the standards I grew up with. Which reminds me, what’s the city’s name?”

Hurma smiled at his comment, “The city’s called Ursolf, and yes. The inhabitants are pretty proud of what the city is shaping up to be, everything is growing and on the move and people aren’t content with were things are. When most people want to still improve everything and they live in a city where such thinking is encouraged. It becomes a place of possibilities and where dreams can be realised. It helps that most lazy people don’t really want to move to the frontier. Or at all, because… you know, lazy?”

She nodded to herself as she looked around, “I really like it here, I’ve never really had a proper home before. But this city is shaping up into something great, people here are open minded and there is a larger mix of races here than I have heard of in any city anywhere except the Great City of Trade or the Academy.”

Aeric nodded and smiled at the people around him, those who noticed blinked but offered a friendly smile in return. “Yea I think I can find myself to be a proud member of this city, Even if I haven’t been here that long. All my family is here and everything has been going… Honestly a lot better than I had been expecting.”

Hurma raised an eyebrow, “What had you been expecting?”

Aeric smirked, “I half expected to be mugged in the first street I walked into, only to have some kind of holy order declare me an invader or a heretic and then thrown into a dungeon or out into the wilds to get eaten by some appropriately terrifying monster.”

Hurma blinked and furrowed her brows, “To what kind of dark place did you think you’d come?! Is your home… like that?”

Aeric laughed softly, “Not at all, my home is… honestly the sense of my hometown is somewhat similar to this city. I do kind of miss our architecture though. The english style architecture is pretty great and cobblestone looks amazing but something about the dutch architecture just flows together in a neat meld between traditional and modern.”

Hurma smirked, “Is that the new skill talking I heard about.”

Aeric grinned, “Might be, who knows for sure. But you were telling me about the history of the city.”

“Right.” She nodded as she took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Well the group that had surrounded Ursmir found this nice empty flat land a bit to the north west of most settled lands, three kingdoms kind of share a border with us. Called the Harlan Kingdom, the Collection of Unified States. Which we usually refer to as the Collus. And last but not least The Academy. Which is by far the one we are on the best terms with since Ursmir was an apprentice of the current Headmaster. Not that we are on bad terms with the other ones. It’s just well, normal neighbouring country stuff.”

Aeric nodded, “Soo uh, how did Ursmir even get the funding and the people to build an actual city?”

Hurma blinked, “I have absolutely no idea, ask Ali when we get back. She knows a lot more about it than I do. Both her and Xii have been here since the start.”

Aeric blinked, “Xii is that old?”

Hurma laughed, a low rumble escaping her chest. “Don’t let her hear you say that, but yea Aermineans age slower, not as slow as elves but like a third as long as humans and the like.”

“I always thought she was the same age as me, she seems so young.”

Hurma shrugged, “She’s closer to sixty than she is to thirty.”

“Huh…” Aeric shook his head, it was that things mostly seemed normal to him until something like this happened and he’d be shook a little and remember this wasn’t his old world. Then he’d be surprised at the different life spans that existed. He’d known logically that an elf like Yisillia was probably a lot older than he was but it never really sunk in. Probably wouldn’t, till he started going grey and wrinkled and she keeps looking the exact same.

Then he blinked, “What’s the average life span for humans anyway?”

Hurma shrugged, “About a hundred and eighty?”

Aeric almost choked, “A hundred and eighty?! What? I’d be lucky if i reached the nineties, thats double what I expect to be living for!”

Hurma turned to him slightly slack jawed, “Why would you die so early?”

Aeric blinked in return, “Why would I live that long?!”

Hurma folded her arms and tilted her head, “A hundred and eighty isn’t long, humans are still one of the most shortlived races alive. Ogre’s like me expect to live to at least three-hundred. Xii might reach a thousand. Yisillia will live who knows how long, only Treeka and Ali will have around the same life span as humans.”

Aeric’s shoulders sagged, “Imma need a bit to wrap my head around that, I wonder if my own aging will slow down or if I’ll die before most of you reach middle-aged.”

Hurma looked at him with a frown, stopping as she lost herself in her thoughts, after a moment she looked up and put a large hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think you have to worry about that, higher-level people tend to age even slower than others. They nearly always gain a skill that slows aging in one way or the other at higher levels. I know of a few who have even gained immortality that way. Not that I know them personally or anything.”

Aeric waved it away with a small smile patting her arm in reassurance, “Don’t mind me, was just going off on a bit of a self-deprecating tangent. I do that sometimes, get lost in my emotions. It goes both ways though, so there’s that.”

Hurma smiled and then turned to look at the buildings around them, “Most of the architecture in this district is similar to the Academy and some of the other non-neighboring western countries. Other districts have different architecture so I’m sure you’ll find something that you can enjoy in the variations throughout the city.”

Aeric nodded as he picked up the pace and started walking again, Hurma soon stepped in beside him, he looked over at her noting her somewhat flattened nose, bronzed skin, and ever-noticeable size. “So where did you grow up, and how did you end up with Aliami and the rest of the girls if you don’t mind me asking?

She hummed thoughtfully, sounding more like a growl than anything he was used to coming from a person. “Well I was part of a travelling merchant’s caravan, as were my parents. The caravan was attacked by monsters en route and my parents died. As did a large portion of the caravan. We had the bad luck to run into a creature that could prove a challenge to even Ursmir himself. It was… traumatic, I didn’t have anyone left and while the members of the caravan who were left did their best to take care of me they didn’t have the resources necessary. That’s when I ran into Aliami, who offered to take me in. That was twelve years ago, even then she’d already had a reputation so the caravan felt safe leaving me in her hands. They still visit sometimes.”

Aeric patted her arm comfortingly, she smiled at him and accepted the gesture. He let himself be led through the streets both he and Hurma letting themselves relax in the comfortable silence. When they made it back to the store they realised there was something of a frenzy surrounding it. There were over a dozen of hyena-like humanoids outside the store. Well dressed and circled around a palanquin of sorts. Aeric raised an eyebrow at Hurma who shrugged as they made their way to the store.