Chapter 2: Adjusting to a New World

For some reason, Crimson was still able to see just fine as he fell into the dark, going faster and faster, so he had a neat view of the dark mists whipping past with their biting cold cutting into his bones. In fact, the mist wasn't just going past him, but through him as well! For some weird reason he could feel it swirling around in his chest before settling in...around his heart? No, lungs - on the right side.

It wasn't...unpleasant, but he didn't like the cold feeling. What was going on?

Before he could really think deeply about it a point of light appeared below him and he rushed to meet it. In less than a second it engulfed him and his world changed.

———

Crimson slowly roused himself as the sound of wood creaking and the smell of animal dung assaulted his senses. When he opened his eyes he found himself in the back of a cart.

It was trundling through a forest being pulled by a horse. Well, something that resembled a horse - he'd never seen a green horse after all. His mind was actually providing a different name for it, but the best way to express that word in English would be "horse."

In that moment, he also became aware of two things. 1: He suddenly knew how to speak, read, and write another language. 2: He had overlooked the driver of the carriage.

The driver in question was wearing a big floppy straw hat and his clothes were old, but neat and well mended. Unfortunately, Crimson couldn't see anything of his face or other physical features from where he was sitting, but the hands on the reigns were tanned by long hours under the sun.

Hmmm. What was going on? Crimson kept looking around at the sparse forest they were passing through as he tried to figure out the situation. To his annoyance, he didn't have enough information. Maybe there was a note or something like it on his person?

He searched the pockets of his pants - similar in style to his driver's, but in better condition - to find that there was a small purse of coins, a note, and a necklace with something like dogs tags acting as a pendant. Jackpot! He glanced at the necklace then focused on what he was after.

The note read thus:

|

Yo! So you need a way to kill time for this next year. Try to do a huge variety of things so that you can get access to some nice [Classes] and [Skills]. If you do something to help your [Affinities] as well that would be super - save you some work down the road. I'd also advise you to save up a decent amount of money.

Anyway, I arranged a work agreement between you and Evans that'll last a week. This'll give you the opportunity to make some money and adjust to your new body in a micro-setting. So there won't be any trouble if you trip a lot or whatever. Go wild.

I've also arranged things so that he won't be too suspicious no matter which questions you ask, so fire away, but don't be too obvious about your lack of origin. If anyone asks, you're from Kosoka and you ended up here when you accidentally fell into a Fairy Circle. They won't ask too many questions after that - Fairy Circles tend to mess up peoples memories. It's common sense. (Which you need to learn, lol!)

With Love,

Raften

|

Crimson read the note with a deadpan expression.

So this fool had been serious when he'd mentioned people got access to the system when they turned sixteen? It had been one of the bits of info Crimson had gotten outta him during the Q&A, but he'd hoped that he would be exempted in some way. Well, considering the first paragraph of the note his time without the system would be valuable. He couldn't waste time for the year he had.

Crimson neatly folded the paper and returned it to his pocket before turning to Evans, "How much further are we employer Evans?"

The employer in question laughed, "You finally woke up, huh? I was worried I'd hired a sleepy-head!"

"A head that never leaves the pillow" would be a more literal translation, but he decided not to think too much about the way his mind translated things and just roll with it.

"Don't worry about the honorifics kid, just call me Evans. I'm not a big fan of being on the receiving end of such things!" He turned back to look at Crimson with a big grin that highlighted his vivid yellow hair and blue eyes, "And how far are we? You slept for so long that we've actually arrived!"

Right as Evans finished speaking they rolled into an artificial clearing. The center of the clearing was dominated by several buildings - the biggest of all a two story main house. There were a few other buildings and Crimson could see their different purposes at a glance: stables, a small forge, tannery, barn, guest house, and a building recessed into the ground. Probably a place for storage. There were a few other buildings as well, and there were places on the edge of the clearing where it appeared they were still clearing space as well.

Evans shifted the reigns to one hand and waved his free one to indicate the space, "This is my family home! My Pa and older brothers all ran off two weeks ago to see the Tournament in the capitol city - so it's just me, my wife, my younger brother, and a few farm hands. As you can see we're completely self-sufficient here! Each of my brothers and I learned a second trade and that allowed us all pitch in and help in another way. Personally, I know my way around leather. I even have the [Leather-Worker] and [Seamster] Sub-Classes to help out with that! I've even reached Lv. 9 with my [Leather-Worker] Sub-Class!"

Lv. 9...was that supposed to be impressive? The max level should be 100...he didn't think so, but considering the fact that this guys pride was leaking off him like embarrassment coming from a teenage girl confessing to her first crush...it would probably be best if Crimson humored him.

He let out a half hearted slow clap and did his best to inject some energy into his voice, "Ooo, very impressive."

Evans did a little bow toward the horse's backside like a maestro bowing before a wildly clapping audiences, "Thank you, thank you - you're too kind."

It was going to be a long week if he'd have to play sycophant.

"Yeah, so what do you need me to do Evans?"

"Well, my wife is pregnant and she'll probably deliver soon, so I can't be too far from her. Some of my older brothers who were supposed to stick around ran off to the same tournament as my father when they had the chance, so we're lacking enough hands. I hired some extra farm hands, but with me out of the picture we don't have enough help anymore. You'll just need to fill in where you can: cutting fire wood, planting, weeding, and a few other things." Evans suddenly pointed over his shoulder at him, "Can you read?"

Crimson nodded firmly, "I can."

"Your handwriting is legible?"

He shrugged, "I've never had a complaint."

Evans gave the horse a thumbs up, "Good enough for here. I want you to create an inventory for everything currently in the storage as well as the rest of what we have available: animals, food, and tools. You up to it?" Evans asked.

Crimson tilted his head in thought for a moment before responding, "No issues, when do you want me to do it?"

"I'll have you start tomorrow afternoon, there's too much work in the morning for you to do it then."

"Okay, where shall I start for today?"

Evans looked sideways at him over his shoulder, "You sure you don't want to unpack and settle in?" He gestured at a knapsack resting on the floor of the cart next to Crimson.

In response, Crimson chuckled, "Unpack what? I was hired to work; I plan on earning my pay. What do you need me to do?"

The cart came to a stop as Evans slapped his knee and guffawed, "That's right! You're here to work! It was a gamble choosing a fifteen year old kid, but you're showing me a good pay off! Just make sure you work like you talk and you might get a bonus!"

They both hopped out of the cart as someone rushed out of the stables. It was a twelve year old kid who appeared to be Evans brother based off the fact that they looked almost exactly the same.

"This is my younger brother -Nelson- he'll take some kinda Tamer Sub-Class when he gets his [Blessing of the Gods]. He loves animals with a passion I've never seen anywhere else."

The eager boy in question rushed right past Crimson without even glancing at him and started unhitching the horse with sparkling eyes and eager hands. He was even whispering to the oddly green horse, but Crimson couldn't hear what he was saying. Probably better that he didn't.

"Well, don't worry too much about him. If you and I get along, it'll have to be good enough." Evans scratched the back of his head under the hat for a moment before his expression brightened, "Ahh right! I almost forgot, be careful as you're working around here. Since this is an isolated farm we're still having to deal with monsters."

Crimson perked up in interest, "What kind of monsters?"

"Nothing too interesting, all the powerful stuff stays further in the forest -where the trees are dense- so we mostly get slimes around here. They aren't too powerful -even Nelson can kill them- but they are still dangerous. The biggest thing is that you watch your head - this breed of slime like to ambush. If they drop on you...well, getting one off without someone around who has a combat class can be difficult, so it's pretty much death around here. Just don't hang out under any trees without checking over your head and you'll be fine."

Crimson's interest hadn't dropped in the slightest as he asked, "How do you usually kill them?"

"Well, I wasn't kidding when I said this breed was weak. I've used all kinds of farm tools to kill them. For you, a big rock should be enough if you hit them square. You can worry about it later, we'll have you cut firewood close to the house to finish off this day."

Evans looked at the sky and Crimson followed suit - the sun was already well past its peak and was starting to sink in the cloudless sky. He'd had no practice estimating time by the sun before, but if he'd have to guess it was maybe 3:00 or 4:00pm? It kinda gave that feeling.

Evans nodded sagely, "Yup, I don't think there's time for you to do anything else. Let me show you where you'll be chopping wood."

Evans led Crimson behind the main house and not far from the edge of the clearing to a huge pile of uncut logs. He scooped an axe off the ground and presented it to Crimson.

"Here you go, a Lv. 3 Axe! You won't be able to see the stats since you don't have your [Blessing] yet, but it's durability is still high and it'll see you through! You don't need to worry either, even though it's Lv. 3 it doesn't have any crazy stat requirements, so you should be able to use it without any issues!"

Crimson took it and felt the weight settle comfortably in his hands, "You seem oddly proud of this axe..."

"Yeah, my older brother made that one! He only got his [Blacksmith] Class recently so he can't really make anything good, but this axe is one of his best pieces! I'm really proud to see his hard work paying off."

Crimson nodded and passed a compliment over to Evans.

"Thanks! I'll let my brother know when he gets back!" Evans gave Crimson a huge thumbs up. "You can use that stump over there to split the wood. Split it into quarters and chuck it into that pile over there. I'm not expecting you to do the whole thing, but cut about a dozen and you can call it good."

"Yes sir."

"Great! I'll be in the shop over there if you need me." Evans pointed at one of the out buildings before bidding Crimson farewell and heading over to the building in question.

Crimson turned to look at his task. The whole thing seemed fairly do-able. Now that he was finally alone he could take a good look at his body and feel how things were.

He stretched and started trying to figure out what was different and what was the same. He felt comfortable in his body and it didn't give him any of the sense of weakness from before - good. His skin...taking a look at it he was lighter than before. He'd probably get some nasty sunburns before it would darken up.

He continued to stretch and finally was able to put his finger on a feeling he'd been having, but hadn't quite figured out what it was: he was shorter. He couldn't be certain because he'd never been able to stand before, but he definitely felt shorter. It felt like there was "less" of him there. He was definitely more narrow than before as well. That he could be certain of; he'd been on the fast track to John's "Gentle Giant" body type, but now...he couldn't be sure.

He chuckled lightly to himself. In a way, it hurt. He'd lost his connection to his father and, though he didn't have a mirror, he was certain his face had changed too. On the other side, it felt like a clean break. It felt like he'd become someone else - someone who would never have to deal with a useless body, so that made it easier for him to accept the situation. It would still take him time to get used to the idea though...

He finished stretching and scooped up the axe once more, grabbed a log from the pile, and got to work splitting them. As he worked he continued to inspect his body, once he'd worked out a rhythm for the task he didn't have to think about it too much and he didn't have any issues directing his attention elsewhere.

Of his own observations, his arms felt powerful and strong with every swing of the axe, he'd set his legs at shoulder width and they felt firm and unmoving, he enjoyed the feeling of the shock rushing up his arms with every swing, and he even enjoyed the slight sting that came with it. Even when his shoulders and arms started to burn and shake he ignored it and forced himself to continue working. It didn't even take long for him to finish the requested dozen, so he did a few extra, just to continue getting a feel for his new body.

When he had almost finished the task his mental perusal of himself noticed something weird. In his chest, on the right side, there was a feeling...kinda like something was full - right where that mist had settled. It was a feeling similar to how he knew when he was full and when he was hungry, but instead of his stomach it was over the right side of his chest.

He set down the axe and pressed his left hand over the spot where it was and focused on it far more intensely than before. Yes, there was the sensation of being "full," but what was "filled" was an interesting thing. It felt...familiar. Like an old friend or a favorite book.

As he mentally prodded it, it actually began to move. It felt like a liquid was moving though his body as the "full" spot no longer felt full, and what was in it -the "liquid"- began to swirl around the once "full" spot.

Exerting a force of will and, not even sure what he was doing, Crimson began to move it, to force it down his right arm -the non-dominant one just in case what he was doing was a stupid mistake- and it began to bleed out through the tips of his fingers.

When he looked closely at said fingers it looked like the air was wavering and distorted - like the air above a brightly burning flame.

"Cool."

At least it didn't seem like he'd done anything too stupid. The "full" spot had lost just a bit of the liquid, but it seemed to be filling back up again - very, very slowly.

"I suppose," he looked at the sky while clenching his right hand into a fist, "this is magic?"

He grinned, a new body, plus the ability to use magic? This world would be a lot of fun for him. He didn't know what his [Class] would be, how he'd fight, or how he'd find people crazy enough to join a party with him but, for the moment, he wouldn't worry about all that. Time to focus on what he'd control, the rest would come in it's own due time.

He would be ready to complete that task, to kill the endgame boss, it would be fun! Fun to actually live!

----

Crimson reported to Evans after he finished his task, then was given some free time. He chose to explore the different buildings since Evans had instructed him to not "go too far" and he lacked a reason to rebel. One was a fully stocked smithy that allowed Crimson the chance to see tools and implements he'd only heard about and seen online, but never in person. Unfortunately, there weren't any weapons, but it wasn't like this was a smithy for a Weapon Smith.

The building that Evans was in was a workshop filled with leather and tools for working it. When Crimson had walked in his employer was working on a decent but simple saddle.

The next building was a tannery, but it was situated far, far away from the others. Walking near it the smell had about killed Crimson and it took quite the force of will to actually go inside to take a look. There were hides stretched over frames all over this particular building to dry and the horrible stench was coming from the group of vats in the center of the room. Crimson would have taken a closer look, but his eyes had been watering so bad from the urinal stench that he could barely see period, much more "take a closer look." He had beat a hasty retreat after that.

The next building he took a look at -the barn- had been more or less what he'd been expecting. A center isle that ran the length of the building with stalls on either side for barn animals. Cows, chickens, goats, pigs, and even a few ducks.

A few of the stalls had doors in the back that opened into fenced areas outside and some were filled with nests for the chickens and ducks. It was nice, but all the animals were...off...in some way. They were almost exactly like the animals he knew, but the chickens were able to rival a mid-sized dog in size, and the cows had horns that looked like they were made out of metal. It was a little off putting. Was every animal a monster in some way?

From what Raften had told him, the presence of magic had affected everything...so was this what he'd been talking about? If so, it would take a bit of getting used to, but the reminder that he wasn't home was nice in a way.

The next two building weren't anything to write home about: the stables and the food storage. They'd been pretty much what Crimson had imagined: the stable was fairly large with fifteen or so stalls, but twelve of them were empty. The food storage was a large room partially buried and extremely cool. It was filled with rows of shelves and with food. A sinking feeling in his gut informed Crimson that he would spend a lot of time in the cold space.

The last building -the one next to the main house- was a shrine. When Crimson walked in it was a round room with nine delicately carved wooden statues. Four were male and five were female. They were all wearing robes that obscured their faces and were each holding something.

From what Raften had told him...The one with the glass sphere in his hands was the God of Truth. The one next to it had to be the God of Death, the scythe in one had and the skull in the other made it kind of obvious. A part of Crimson was surprised that they would use the same weapon in association with death as back in his old world, but it wasn't hard for him to accept.

The next statue was a Goddess. She was holding a baby. Must be the Goddess of love. The one holding the spear with a sheathed sword at its side was definitely the God of War and the one holding the book was easily the Goddess of Wisdom.

The next one was holding a staff, so that would make it the God of Magic.

Crimson wasn't sure with the next one. It was just wearing black gloves, but glancing at the next two helped him figure our who it was based off elimination: the Goddess of Darkness.

She'd caught his interest a bit when he'd asked Raften about the religion of this world. "Darkness" was referring more to the concept of what was hidden instead of actual darkness. So stuff like: Thieves, Assassins, Secrets, Betrayals, and the like fell under her domain.

The next one in the line was the Goddess of Nature. She had vines entwined around one hand and the fingertips of the other resting on the head of an animal that looked more or less like a doe, but the body shape was wrong. More bulky.

The last one was easy, it was holding a paintbrush in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other. The Goddess of Art, patron of all craftsmen.

It was easy to see that the two statues in this particular shrine that got the most love were the Goddesses of Nature and Art. Makes sense, farmers and crafters were the ones who ran this place after all. Four of the statues -War, Wisdom, Magic, and Darkness- were completely neglected while there was just one little flower in front of the God of Truth. Death and Love tied after Nature and Art. Makes sense, people want their love life to succeed and they don't want to die.

Crimson chuckled. He knew from Raften that all these Gods did exist. They were system [Administrators]. He also knew that they liked being worshipped, but it was mostly because they liked the attention. Raften had then tried to convince Crimson to worship someone who had more [Authority] than nine measly lesser Gods, someone like...Raften. Crimson had actually bust a gut laughing at him. Best laugh he'd had in years.

Well, all that aside he still made sure to pay his respects to each statue. Even if he didn't worship them for their "God" status, he could still respect them for their jobs. They also gave out [Quests], so staying off their bad side was a good idea unless he wanted a [Quest] out for people to hunt him down.

Heading outside, he saw that the sun was low in the sky, and Evans was standing in front of the main house looking around. When he'd spotted Crimson he waved him over and they went into the house talking a bit along the way.

In the house, there was a large room with a dining table set with plates and dishes. An extremely pregnant woman with green hair was setting out a few more that were loaded with food. Seeing this, both Crimson and Evans made eye contact before jumping in to help.

He could blame his mother - she liked to fume about how chivalry was dead, so she beat it into her son.

As Crimson took a dish out of her hands she looked him in the eye and asked, "So, you're the extra hand my husband hired?"

"Yes." he nodded firmly in response.

"Well, my name is Symia. I'm Evans' wife. I don't know if he told you, but we've been married for three years. As you can see from my hair, I'm half dryad, so if you've an issue with that you'd best leave."

"I have no issues with that, I'm just here to work."

She smiled warmly, "Good. I know a lot of people don't like half-born people like me, they consider them an abomination. I'm glad you're not like that."

"Yeah," Evans chimed in around a mouth stuffed with stolen roll, "there were actually a few guys I passed up who were stronger than the kid, but they gave me a feeling like they were purists."

Symia snorted derisively, "How those kind of people can nitpick so badly I don't know! Hating those who are half human, but not hating those who are wholly one race is just foolish!"

Crimson nodded quietly in agreement as he finished setting the table with Evans' help. It really was a petty reason to hate a group of people, but it was all too common everywhere. Too bad he hadn't been able to escape it - even by coming to another world.

"Dear, please call in the other farmhands and your younger brother. I don't want supper to get cold."

Evans said "yes dear" and grabbed a bell off the wall. The crisp clang of the bell echoed through the forest and brought in a group of hungry men to devour the delicious feast like a pack of hyenas.

The group of six -that included Nelson- didn't bother introducing themselves to him, but it was fine. He was just a fifteen year old kid...or at least, that's what he told himself as he pushed down the annoyance of being ignored.

One of the men called out to the other as everyone started to dig in, "What were you doing today Clem? You work was so bad that I thought your [Strength] stat must've dropped by six or so points!"

"Shut it! I don't want to hear it from the guy who's Agility stat doesn't even break into double digits. You're even Lv. 12, so you have no excuse!"

The argument went back and forth and some of the other men even joined in each arguing about stats, [Skills], and work. As Crimson watched his annoyance faded and was replaced by amusement. Back in his world, you'd only hear this kind of conversation from a group arguing about whose fault it was that they'd messed up a raid, but it was commonplace for everyone here.

Crimson glanced sideways at Symia and noticed Evans doing the same. She was staring at the arguing group of five farmhands and her cheeks were slowly filling with air. Crimson lowered his head and focused on his food. He hoped that he'd be able to weather the incoming tirade untouched, but he couldn't be certain.

Sure enough, Symia started shouting at the arguing bunch and lectured them on letting the food grow cold. In some ways, she reminded him of his mother. She'd shouted a lot too, and she got worried easily, but she always cared, so he couldn't blame her. Symia seemed to be the same way.

It was nostalgic.

After the tirade ended everyone quietly ate their food while Evans glared furiously at the previously arguing group.

Crimson was the first to finish so he took his dishes to the bin that Symia directed him to and rinsed them off. He then stood ready as the other men came to him one by one to place the dishes in his care before slinking out the door.

Evans brought over his dishes as well as his wife's, "Thanks for doing the dishes, and sorry you had to see that. These guys argue all the time and my wife tells them off all the time. They never seem to learn, but they are a good bunch. Please don't think too poorly of them."

Crimson nodded quietly.

"Anyway, I brought your stuff inside. We'll have you stay in the room of one of my older brothers. I hope you don't mind?"

Crimson shook his head, he had no issues with that.

"Great! We're out of room in the guesthouse, so I really am sorry about putting you up in the main house, but you should be comfortable."

Crimson turned his attention back to the dishes as Evans went back to attend to his wife. He helped her up the stairs in the corner of the room and as she passed she thanked Crimson for his help.

Once Crimson had finished he waited patiently for Evans to return. Since he figured it might take a while he began to play with the little point of magic in his chest. Instead of just pushing it out of his fingers he tried to bring it back up his arm and place it back where in the pool of magic, but it wouldn't go back. Giving up on that, he noted that flowing mana was a truly interesting feeling, like a rush of cold water flowing down the inside of his arm, but it didn't hurt.

He slid it back up his right arm and sent it down his left where he let it bleed out his fingers. It didn’t just dissipate, but floated up into the air until it hit the magic crystal that was set into the ceiling, making it flash a little brighter.

"Wow!" Crimson turned to see Evans, "You can already control your Mana? Most people can't do that until they get their [Blessing]!"

"I just figured out how to do it today." Crimson responded quietly, unsure how to react.

"Still, that's really impressive! I bet you're going to take a magic [Class] of some kind and make all the big Royals! Maybe you'll even be lucky enough to get a Mid or even High Grade class!"

Crimson shrugged, "I haven't decided what kind of [Class] I want to take. I was actually thinking that I'd want a fighting [Class] and not a magic [Class]."

"Awwww, but that would be such a waste!"

"Well, I won't be able to get one for a year anyway. So I've got plenty of time to think."

Evans shrugged regretfully, "True, but I still think you should take a magic [Class]. Hey, if you haven't decided, why don't you join the Adventurer's Guild? They can help you decide!"

Crimson took a second to translate that last part, Association, Group, and Bureau all would have worked instead, but he decided to stick to more familiar terminology. It would probably help if he stopped thinking in English, but he didn't feel like doing that.

"Yeah, I'll probably do that. I just need to finish my job here."

Evans nodded excitedly, "Good! They'll know just how to help you!"

Crimson chuckled inwardly, if this "Adventurer's Guild" functioned anything like he thought it would then it wouldn't be as much help as Evans thought. Well, there would be no harm in checking it out to see if they had anything to offer him.

Evans led him to his bed and he crashed right after that. He was rather excited for what the next day would hold, and he was certain it would be an early morning tomorrow. Not to brag but, he'd always been more of a morning person anyway. As he wandered off into the land of dreams a grin streaked across his face. He couldn't wait.