The sky was darkening, the sunlight lessening as the room began to sink into darkness.

A sombre atmosphere descended upon the three inhabitants as none of them could avoid thinking about the situation they were in, even if they could talk about otherwise jovial, trivial things.

The gloomy, sullen man refused to speak, even as Lefie tried, numerous times, to engage in conversation. His prior bout of conversation seemed to be born of curiosity and incredulity rather than genuine need for social interaction.

Even her new friend, Riza, proved to be a sporadic and unreliable conversation partner. She wasn’t too eager to start conversations herself and when they did talk, Lefie continued to find herself surprised by Riza’s lack of knowledge, whether it was basic vocabulary up to basic concepts she should’ve been aware of. Like, where exactly she was or the Dominion itself.

Because of this, conversations with her were difficult, not that Lefie didn’t try!

However, the glacial journey of the sun across the sky was inevitable. By the time tiredness was beginning to take over their bodies, an unfamiliar figure rudely burst into the room.

She was a woman, dressed in the robes signifying her allegiance to the Dominion—though, Lefie couldn’t identify what her position in it was—though different from the person who brought Riza here.

“There’s a curfew. None of you are allowed to leave this building unless given explicit permission. Argand!” She shouted towards the man resting against the wall on the floor, eyes closed, causing him to jump slightly before turning his menacing gaze towards her. “You’re not sleeping here; come here.”

In a surprisingly compliant fashion, the man, who only now did Lefie learn his name, reluctantly got to his feet and followed the woman out of the building, leaving the two in darkness once more.

“So...” Lefie began, trying to make conversation now she was beginning to feel conspicuously alone. “What do you think that’s about?”

“...What?” Riza asked, after a pause.

“Where do you think they’re taking Argand?”

“To sleep. With men,” She replied laconically, though her face showed some worry about her answer.

“Do you think he’ll be back?”

Riza didn’t answer verbally, simply moving her shoulders in a strange up and down motion.

“I know not,” She eventually said upon seeing the confusion on Lefie’s face.

Once again, silence descended upon them.

They had been talking intermittently since Riza arrived but she wasn’t exactly an amazing conversation partner, though that should’ve been expected given her limited competency with the language.

But, Lefie didn’t want to stop talking! She was the first person who willingly talked to Lefie, like an actual person, and silence would only make her feel more alone.

“How old are you?” That’s right; she was delving into the most basic of personal questions to maintain a conversation. At least, she was very genuinely interested in the answer.

“Something,” Came the immediate answer, though Riza quickly realised something for she supplemented it by flashing five fingers on her hand four times in succession.

“You’re twenty?” Lefie clarified, partly to make sure of what the hand signals conveyed and partly because she struggled to believe it.

Riza quickly nodded her head, repeating the word to herself a couple of times.

“You?” She asked.

“Fourteen!” Lefie answered confidently, her eyes quickly widening as she realised that Riza was significantly older than her.

Riza, perhaps unsurprisingly, seemed to expect that answer.

Their conversation continued for a small bit in a similar fashion; Lefie trying to keep the momentum going by asking trivial questions about Riza. Part of it was through genuine interest--Lefie wanted to make friends and not be alone, after all--but an arguably larger part was sheer boredom; Lefie was bored.

In a room with minimal furniture, no games, no food, and no other people to talk to? Needless to say, there wasn’t much to occupy your mind with. In that respect, Lefie could actually be seen as lucky that Riza was dissimilar to her other companion; she actually was fine with talking!

Eventually, however, Lefie’s mind ran dry of things to ask and silence descended upon them once more. That is, until she decided to ask a deeper, more personal, riskier question.

“What are you in here for??” Odd that only now she was getting into the nitty-gritty details and personal history but, frankly, Lefie didn’t really care until she got to learn more about Riza; her proficiency and experience with magic was initially far more enticing.

After Riza’s blank stare, she put it another way:

“What did you do to get here?” Simpler and more versatile vocabulary; gotta remember that.

“Don’t know. Maybe used cleanse. Don’t know why that’s wrong.” Riza explained in short bursts of speech.

“Ah; that would make sense. That’s forbidden magic, you know. Bad-bad magic.” Lefie nodded.

“Although, why did you choose life magic to begin with? Weren’t you taught it’s forbidden? There are more obvious choices instead, like fire or water.” Not that we were ever particularly advised to take fire, anyway. Far too volatile.

“Health bad. Want more health.” As simple as it can be.

“Why [Leech] and not [Heal]?” Frankly, this was a question that was bugging her for a while. After all, if there were no enemies nearby, then there was nothing to use [Leech] on!

“Good numbers. [Heal] small, [Leech] big.” That’s true? Hmm… I don’t like the sound of that.

“What other skills do you have?”

“Something, something, something, something, and something.” Figures. “Why did you have water?”

The unexpected question startled Lefie for a second; she didn’t exactly know how to respond straight away, looking away momentarily.

Should I tell her everything? No one else knew the story. It’s not like it’s a bad reason, though. Is it?

Stealing a glance back at Riza, she saw the woman looking at her, waiting for an answer.

She’s told me her reasons; it’s only fair I tell her mine.

“It began a few months ago. There was a fire--a great, big flame. It set half the forest on fire, where we lived.”

“My parents were away with a hunting party when the lightning struck. I-I got impatient; was told to stay but I didn’t.” Recalling the events made her voice begin to waver.

“I went out looking for them--searching--where the lightning struck. There was just fire. Ash, smoldering trees, and heat so intense you could barely breath.”

“One moment, I was there in that inferno, the next… Clear skies above. Not a leaf in sight.”

“The rest of the tribe weren’t there when I got back. Just burnt tents, trees, and the occasional body.” Shivers ran through her at the resurfaced memories.

“I...I couldn’t let that happen again.”

Silence.

Riza seemed to be deep in thought while Lefie, for the first time, simply didn’t feel like speaking.

The recount affected her more than she expected; it was so long ago now but the memories--the smell, the suffocation, the pain, and the light-headedness--was all still so real. So visceral.

And then, abruptly, Riza spoke. Not words she recognised--words in her own tongue--but her tone was soft and gentle. Regardless of her non-comprehension, Lefie appreciated it anyway.

A yawn overtook the teenager. Rising deep from within, she stretched out her arms languidly as she opened her mouth wide, letting the feeling overtake her. Riza, too, copied her, both of their bodies tired, fatigued, and desiring sleep.

Unfortunately, the bedroom only housed a singular bed; the frame was rotted, broken in places, and looked overall unstable. But there was a mattress, albeit a small one.

Just as Lefie was about to discuss the bedding arrangement, Riza beat her to the punch, giving up the bed to her and walking out of the room without an argument.

Well, she wasn’t going to decline such generosity, even if she felt slightly bad. They could’ve shared the bed, and Lefie was prepared to, but she understood if Riza wasn’t comfortable with that decision.

And so, for the first night in a while, Lefie was enveloped by warm confines, sleeping under a roof, and wasn’t alone.

Her body creaked and groaned as she shifted, sitting up on the floor and stretching out her limbs.

Her cloak was warm and comfortable but she felt it getting a bit stiff in places; splashing it with a few cleanses helped to even out the surface, retain youth to the material, and offset the decay for a bit. In all honestly, Riza didn’t know how effective the skill actually was; all she knew was that, for uncured hide and fur, they had a surprisingly long life to them.

The sun had barely risen; the light in the room was still dim. Trudging into the bedroom, she spotted the teenager--Lefie--still sound asleep under the small, thin cover.

Undoubtedly, a much nicer, restful, and restorative sleep than Riza got but she didn’t want to be accused of being greedy; she was used to sleeping on the floor lately, anyway.

However, the building was old, the floorboards decaying; it was of no surprise that her few footsteps elicited numerous groans from the wood underneath her feet.

No sooner had she stepped into the room did Lefie wake up, her slumber disturbed due to the noise. A slight wave of guilt washed over Riza but she quickly quelled it.

“Good morning,” She greeted instinctively, her sense of propriety taking over even though she knew the teenager wouldn’t understand.

But yet, the young girl shifted up, looked at Riza, and returned a few words of her own--that Riza couldn’t understand--before quickly giggling afterwards.

Not long afterwards, a woman carrying two bowls of an unknown liquid entered the building, setting the food down on the table. Although she wasn’t certain, having only had a single, quick look, Riza believed the woman to be one of the three people who were playing a game outside this very building the other day.

Guards, presumably. And this was their holding cell, waiting to be processed.

They quickly devoured their meals, both ravenous after the lack of dinner, and got back to talking--though, that was mostly Lefie in actuality.

But they couldn’t talk long for the same woman who took Argand away appeared once more, looking exactly the same as before.

Just like before, she called for Lefie, taking the reluctant teen away--though, for reasons other than for Argand, Riza assumed--and leaving Riza, once again, alone.

She had been alone most of her time in this world so far but, lately, that wasn’t the case. Truth to be told, it was starting to grow on her--the companionship. A person to talk to, even if she barely understood what they said.

Maybe it was because they added some variety to life? Unpredictability? It was the very thing she disliked about society but it wasn’t like she had lived out in the wilds for an extended period of time before.

She didn’t know and, frankly, didn’t want to go rummaging through her mind, sorting out whatever feelings may or may not have been there; it was all complicated, psychoanalytical stuff.

So, Riza instead focused her mind on something she did know and was comfortable with--something productive; Skills.

Lefie had mentioned all the skills that she owned and while Riza looked for their skill tree, she hadn’t actually done much in-depth thinking about them; too preoccupied with learning the language.

What better time to do that than now?

Water

0th Tier

[Conjure Water] (1/10)

Spawn 2kg of water per second

2m radius

Cost: 1 es/sec

[Manipulate Water] (1/10)

Manipulate 2kg of water

2m radius

Cost: 1 es/sec

Straight away, an annoyance: These are all [Lone Wolf] values! Lefie’s aren’t like this. Please, Mr Interface, could you present them without my boon amplification?

Thankfully, the interface complied, halving the effectiveness of the skills quickly.

Water

0th Tier

[Conjure Water] (1/10)

Spawn 1kg of water

1m radius

Cost: 1 es/sec/kg

[Manipulate Water] (1/10)

Manipulate 1kg of water

1m radius

Cost: 1 es/sec/kg

Let’s think about this; what’s a logical way for the skills to increment? Both start off with 1 kilogram so they probably both go up by 1 kilogram; that makes sense.

Unfortunately, Riza didn’t fully understand Lefie’s explanation of the cost; she knew that [Manipulate Water] cost 8 at level 2 and that level 3 was much more expensive, but it was a number she didn’t know.

But...8 at level 2. I can see that it’s 1 at level 1. I know, I know, too few terms to make a sequence but the interface is nothing if not consistent.

The cost went up more than she expected which suggests it’s not a linear growth and the cost, for my skills, anyway, were proportional to the level.

So, a provisional guess would mean the cost is cubic? 1 at level 1, 8 at level 2, and 27 at level 3? If so, that would make level 10… 1000 essence!

That’s a ton. I can see why she has [Well of Essence] and [Alteration Mastery], now.

Still, why would it be cubic? [Leech] is linear, after all. Maybe because it’s three-dimensional? 3 grams of water is roughly 3 cubic centimetres so maybe there’s something about the square-cubed law affecting it somehow? Then again, the radius will increase per level as well so that will add to the cost.

Or maybe it’s all completely arbitrary and I’m talking out of my arse.

Either seems equally likely.

Just how expensive is 1000 essence though, really. For me, a shit ton but I haven’t really put any points in that stat at all.

Let’s say Lefie did what I did with spirit but with essence instead. She’s level 5, so that’s 25 stat points. Starting out at an essence of 1, that’s 26 points total. 26 multiplied by 20 is… 520.

Half the cost, but that’s not accounting for [Well of Essence], which she said was level 10. So, 520 times by 5--no, wait, it’s 3 because she doesn’t have [Lone Wolf]---is 1560 essence.

Huh. I guess the cost isn’t that absurd afterall; the skill can’t get any more expensive--unless she maximised it--while she can continue to level up and stack multipliers and raise her essence stat.

If she didn’t focus heavily on essence, like putting an equal amount into spirit, [Alteration Mastery] would be necessary for her to use the skill at all.

I should ask her what her stats are when she gets back.

After the quick calculations, Riza tried to think about other things. However, she just couldn’t take her mind off the numbers; off Lefie’s situation.

The girl had leveled up to level 5. That meant she killed things. She was small and scrawny-looking--and a child, to boot--surely she would struggle to kill things?

So, did she use water magic to kill things? It didn’t really seem that offensively orientated.

Say that essence isn’t an issue. Take a person who has conjure and [Manipulate Water] both at level 10. Say they have [Lone Wolf] as their boon, as well as [Maximise Mastery].

That means, for 5000 essence, they can suddenly create and control 100 kilograms of water--more than how much I weigh.

How much damage could that deal if you just dunked it on someone?

Let’s imagine the water is a point and released from rest--which is how I believe the skill works, anyway. That means the water gains energy just from falling.

Assuming the radius increases by 1m per level, at level 10, that’s 20 metres. A height of 20 metres if you release the water on yourself but you’re not suicidal.

Say, there’s an enemy 5 metres away. Some Pythagoras gives us the height as root 375, which is around 19. A bit more but let’s be conservative here.

19 metres in the air, water accelerates with g. Say the average person is around 1.5 metres tall, that leaves a distance of about 17.5 metres.

Assuming no energy loss, that’s 17500 joules of energy.

Comparatively, punches by professional punchers are in the magnitude of a couple hundred joules. Holy fuck.

No, no, no. Now that I think about it, that’s not even the most dangerous part; [Manipulate Water] means you can move water without touching it. There’s nothing stopping you from making water encapsulate a person's head, cutting off their oxygen supply and either suffocating or drowning them.

What’s stopping them from conjuring water directly into someone’s lungs? Probably the same line-of-sight issue I have with [Leech]. In the nostrils? Likely doable. Outside the mouth as well.

Can you make it so no air gets through? An airtight bubble of water, in a sense?

That’s far more effective and far more essence efficient. I take back what I thought about water magic not being good for combat now.

For the next hour or two, Riza found herself consumed by numbers and calculations, looking at various skills on the skill tree and seeing how they’d all work together. She began with fully exploring the water tree and then slightly modifying it to look at the blood tree while she was at it.

Eventually, her time was up; the reaper had arrived.

Lefie still hadn’t returned, and neither had Argand. The same woman, wearing the same clothes, who had taken those two brief roommates from her arrived, as was prophesied in Riza’s mind.

She didn’t understand what the woman said, but the intent was obvious; her time had arrived.