“Is this too much?”

“No, it’s fine.” After feeding Ria some slightly thicker gruel than usual for lunch, some lumberjacks had come to me for assistance. The village needed wood for cooking and heat, and the limiting factor besides cutting the trees was hauling it back.

With my Inventory that problem was gone, and the brothers were okay with working all day. They’d started by handing me split firewood, but eventually decided they should just hand me whole logs. This did not work out.

“Hfrrmmmmp!” Air wheezed out of me. I could only drag one end of the tree along the ground. No way I could lift it into my inventory.

“You're a big guy with little muscles.”

“Maybe he uses all of them to stay standing.”

“But his body is so tiny!”

“I get it, I'm not a barrel of muscles. Just cut the thing in half.” My body was that of my avatar. In the old reality, I had quite a few inches on most people. I wanted to keep my height advantage in the game, and realized other people tended to add a few centimeters as well. Ending up 6’7”, the towering stature was preserved.

However in the past, people were shorter. A statement that remained true in the new reality, even if the price of salt hadn't. Now I without a doubt loomed over everyone in the village. My strength had not risen in proportion to my height, and was in fact weaker than the average mortal.

Thankfully I had not ended up comically weak, able to be blown over by a passing leaf.

So I strained myself a little, lifting torso sized logs. In doing so, yet another holdover from underworld became clear.

Stamina! Or, as it was more amusingly referred to, the Brute’s Mana. At least, I would find it amusing if people called it that.

Used to fuel actions which were unsustainable with the user’s strength, it could automatically be consumed without the explicit use of skills. The weight of the logs didn't far surpass my physical capabilities, so in that situation the usage was small. When I tried lifting the entire tree, the bar had depleted to half almost spontaneously.

An odd quirk of the system was I never felt physically exhausted. In game, 20% was when penalties would start showing up. Until that point even if my strength and endurance were pathetic I would be a tireless workhorse.

Which was good, considering how energetic the two woodsmen were.

In the old reality, I too enjoyed the feel of felling trees, even if I was more partial to the sledgehammer. The pace they were moving at still seemed a bit excessive. I didn't know how much the village needed, but this was probably too much.

Well, at least the two had a job they enjoyed.

As we deforested, I tried figuring out the qualifications for taking up a new slot in the Inventory. There was a slot for firewood, for the torso sized trunks, for stave length branches, and for the whole smaller trees I could manage to lift. The small trees category varied way more in size than the torso trunks and firewood. The torso trunks and staves were both processed similarly, chopped on each end. I even had the brothers chop down a sapling; it was pretty much the same as the stave length branches, but it went into the trees section. My Inventory was mocking me, and I would not stand for such a thing.

I began picking up stones and tossing them into Inventory. Until I found a rock around the size of my head, it accepted them all into the same slot. Arbitrary delineation aside, I started wondering what would happen if I tried putting too much into the extradimensional space. After all, I wasn't solving the riddle of Inventory’s classification heuristic any time soon.

I realize that the mysteries and unexplained continue to pile up at this phase; and things continue this way for a while. It's the slow progression of the early levels, at that point one doesn't have the power to just get their questions answered. You just have to grin and bear it.

More and more, I envied those OP starters, who didn't need to worry about things, like speaking the language or having food for a journey. It’s not the mountain it’s the climb? Say that to me after you actually go climb a mountain, instead of criticizing from your air conditioned home.

Failing to learn much of anything other than Stamina during the outing, we returned. Items could be more or less directly dumped out; touching even slightly could be considered removing if desired. Mostly I decided to ‘hold’ a tree by a leaf or piece of bark and let it fall. In this manner the lumber was unloaded in a far more expedient manner than gathering it had taken.

I was given more fish, this time not breams but some sort of catfish looking thing. They were bigger and meatier than breams, so it was alright. Storing them away, I bid the two a good evening and went to collect the gruel.

Pan had shown me where to get my rations from, since bothering him every time was tedious for us both. I collected the oats in a shallow earthenware bowl before going to the collect my supper fish for the day. It was meager, but more is better.

*Can you guess what’s for dinner tonight? That’s right! More oats! Would you like them on a boat? Would you like them with a goat?* letting out some of my pent up daily babbling, Ria was beginning to stir. Odd how she never seemed to move unless I was nearby. I'd done tests to make sure it wasn't just my imagination, but given the lack of resources maybe I just hadn't been persistent enough.

She still acted like someone asleep, except she would occasionally ask questions if she was in a good state, and sometimes heard the responses. I still had to hold her up to feed her.

“Ria, food time. Come back to the realm of the waking.”

“Doc I wannaea’.”

“Yes, that’s why I'm here.” I poured some of the water from Xflask onto a cloth and then onto her head again. It seemed to help wake her up. I also learned that touching the horns didn't count if it wasn't my skin, though I hadn't tried touching them again at the moment.

After feeding her and giving her water, I figured it would be a good time to test the horn reaction again. Letting her digest a little, I boiled more water as I waited. Cooling it down in the stream, I figured it had been long enough.

I put the water away and returned to the bedside. Shifting Ria towards the center of the bed, the chances she’d hit her head on something decreased.

Before actually touching them, I examined them more. Smooth and without blemish. Not like the spiraling or segmented horns sometimes imagined. She didn't react when a finger was just waved near the horns. Nothing happening, I prepared myself to keep her from running into something and touched one of the horns.

Since I paid attention that time, I noticed a small shock arcing to my finger before it was withdrawn. Sitting up like hair of an electrocuted person, Ria looked at me.

“Who...who’re you?”

“I'm the Doctor.”

“That doctor?” The second time was no more successful than the first. Due to her startled nature, she was talking slow, and was already becoming less energetic. About 10 seconds remained, so I moved on to the main questions.

“Do you feel strange anywhere?”

“I feel itchy. My hands are so itchy.” Ria slowly started to scratch at the back of her hands. Her eyes were starting to close.

“Where did you get sick?”

“Sick? Imno’, ‘mno’ siiick.” And there she went. Maybe she couldn't tell since she was sleeping all the time. From that I figured at least she wasn't too discomforted, if she didn't know she was sick.

Ahh, the job was so troublesome. I still had a few months, so there was still time. Inventory would contain plenty of food by that time in case things went south. I knew to be prepared.

I’d stepped out to enjoy the evening air, humming along to the song. I sat along the wall of the hut, taking a break from real thinking. Ever since arriving to the world I felt much more footloose and fancy free, even if the quest I was trying to complete seemed impossible. Then I heard a familiar monotone.

“Singing isn't something magicians usually do.”

“Criticizing magicians isn't something children usually do either. What brings you to this humble abode *Tagalong Girl*?”

“You told me to come speak with you later.”

“And you just listened?”

“Did you not expect me to?” She looked genuinely puzzled, as if me asking her to come was reason enough. If she’d not revealed her manipulative side, I would have had no doubts those were her honest feelings. Then again, there are too many stories about a suspicious main character completely misinterpreting the situation, so I made sure to keep an open mind.

“You’re here, that’s what matters. I believe we left off talking about why or how you were planning to leave the village. Do you have any particular plan or skills that will keep you alive?” I didn’t really question if she was leaving; in my head I was just finishing up the storyline to acquire my first party member. Learning her goals and abilities would help me guide us through future quests more efficiently and satisfactorily.

“No, I have planned to stick near Rion. Anything past that is his will.”

orz...can’t you think things through a bit more? No, you’re still just a child, I should already consider this much impressive. The phrasing also seems rather adult, although maybe that’s just the way of speaking here.

My thoughts were downcast as she revealed her non-plan. She’d evaded the question of skill, but I could deal with that later. Party leaders typically ended up carrying the team by endgame anyhow. There were other questions that burned hotter in my mind.

“Why though? I can’t imagine that you’re undertaking this on a whim.”

Tagalong Girl’s face turned a bit red, and looked down to her feet. This made her messy hair fall in front of her face, and she tried shaking it away, but with her head firmly pointed at the ground it was to no avail. It was what some sages would call kawaii, and even I was not unmoved.

*You really are, huh…* Whims were not something to be trifled with though! I have a philosophical devotion to the notion of whimsy; it didn’t matter that she really had no reason to be doing this, I would take her with me upon my departure.

“That’s alright, I don’t mind.” She looked up and tucked her hair back behind her ears. “How long were you planning to stay here with Rion?”

“Until he became aware of magic on his own. That way, I wouldn’t reveal my eyes.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, how are you doing that? Seeing the magic potential in people and whatnot?” Magical eyes, obviously, but I was unsure of the specifics. If she didn’t head out on her own, she likely didn’t have any magic power. At least, it would be too small to get by.

How could one even manage to utilize the magic power without spells anyhow? I thought that perhaps people individually came up with their own spell shapes, but set aside the notion, as even my simplest spell was quite intricate.

Internal musings interrupted, Tagalong Girl began speaking.

“You really are weird, I thought all mages knew about them. I can’t doubt that you’re able to use magic, but you don’t seem like any of the magicians that have passed through in the past.”

“I doubt that I am like them.” Although if there were other world travellers, that would definitely be something to look into. “How does this mage vision work, and what do the others call it?”

“I am becoming reluctant to travel with you. You know far too little.”

“Well you'll just have to keep me *appraised* of the situation, little *sage*.”

It was a good idea for me to take her on, logically speaking. Having someone native from the world to guide me would help me avoid any critical faux pas. Faux pauses?

“Why is it that you don't mind being advised by someone as young as me?”

“Why would I?” I wanted answers from everything, even when answering her questions. It seemed we both had plenty to ask each other, although I supposed I was probably the stranger one, asking about what was apparently common knowledge.

“The mages who passed through this town in the past wouldn't even look down on us. At best they would demand food and lodgings. People who are able to use magic and are outside the church are not to be trifled with.”

“It doesn't really matter to me if I have no face.”

Tagalong Girl looked at me with a strange expression. Realizing not all idioms carried over, I just waved my hand around, as if to brush it off.

“How much do you know?”

“Enough, but when you’re wise you don’t really need to know anything.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“How about I explain it after we start travelling.”

“You’re...you’re going to take me with you?”

“Of course.”

She brightened up far more than I expected at those words. She seemed to be surprised by the way I stated it, although the words I’d spoken earlier certainly should have implied my decision. Regardless, it was nice to see her apathetic face show a few more emotions. It didn’t really matter if she was keeping some secret, or if it really was on a whim; there’s no need for someone to look so dour and I was glad to help her smile.