The main room of the inn was nearly empty, only a few stragglers here and there at random tables. The striking difference caused a pause in James, a question posed to L'sara whom was a few feet in front of the teen. "Where'd everyone go?", he had expected less patrons, but the number last night there should've been at least a dozen or so getting meals or an afternoon drink.

Hearing this she replied and continued forwards towards the main counter, "They left, no reason to stick around with the level this planet is at. Pointless killing is frowned on by the system so it'd only be a hindrance.", she took a seat at a square of bar-top with a hollow in the middle. A brown haired woman with pointed ears approached her and the two began to converse leaving James to his thoughts. Why would the system care about something like that? Doesn't it encourage us to kill and gain levels and power?

His eyebrows were creased towards the center of his face for a few more moments before he shook it off and approached the counter L'sara was at, intending to use the current information dump he had available, as the wiki was about as useless as you'd expect. "So the system looks down on you killing animals?" Both the barkeep, and his companion paused their conversation, looking at him like he had a second head on his shoulders.

"No? Why would it care about that?", It was the second woman that answered, not L'sara, her voice was on the rougher side, far more masculine than he had expected. James turned his head to L'sara who was stifling a bit of a chuckle at his expense, "He's fresh meat Joub." The barkeep leaned forwards over the counter and looked him up and down before settling back, a shrug rolling across their shoulders.

"Fresh meat huh? I'll give you a few gold if you let me have a go." James's eyes shot open at that, looking towards L'sara once more, almost pleading in his gaze, her response was a soft laughing voice, "Mm. I don't think he swings that way, at least I think so~ He was pretty interested last night, this morning he was almost like a blushing maiden."

Embarrassment. That was what crawled its way across his face, tinting his cheeks red, and sending his fists to clenching like he wanted to lash out, the only thing holding it at bay the fact that L'sara despite her joking gave off a vibe that she could crush him instantly. The barkeep seemed just fine with this, instead, turning their gaze to him and giving him another once over, licking lips before speaking, "Ahh, they always say that, but by time I am done they usually never look at a woman again, course, they don't walk so right either."

James pulled back, his bare heel catching the edge of his pants and sending him to the floor on his ass. This sent his tormentors reeling in laughter, which was just enough for him to lose his cool, brain temporarily forgetting the difference in perceived strength and instead hopping back up and lunging at the cackling barkeep.

He was not allowed to get close, however, L'sara raised the arm closest to him, slapping him in the chest. He impacted it, and it felt almost like he had run into the trunk of a tree. His balance was thrown off and once more he was on the floor, this time on his back, staring up at the ceiling, unwilling to move.

You have taken 20 [Blunt] damage

She lowered her arm, and looked back to the barkeep, "Mm. Told you he was fun to tease he looked like he wanted to rip you to shreds Joub.", another chuckle, James had just shut his eyes, wanting this conversation to be over with, but L'sara had flipped him on his backside like an unruly child, surprisingly, it was the barkeep he had just tried to assault that came to his rescue.

"Poor thing probably thought I was a woman, they always do.", that almost masculine voice sent out another chuckle before continuing,"If he's been around you for more than a day he's got some kind of merit to him Also not everyone is as "comfortable" with themselves as you L'sara, you should cut him a little slack." Joub had come around from the bar, and now was standing over James, a hand offered out.

When James opened his eyes, and saw the presence, he hesitated, before deciding it was probably best to not try and make more enemies. The barkeep was surprisingly strong for such a lithe and agile frame, even offering the teen a beaming smile as he spoke, "Sorry about all that, it is fun to cut loose once in a while and tease someone. We got off on the wrong foot, so lets restart, I am Joub. I've known this walking cock tease of a woman for quite a long while. Nice to meet you."

The man, now that James was aware of it, brought his hand to his chest and gave him a short but polite bow, just barely shifting his body forwards. He had just tried to attack him despite the goading, James, not sure how to reply, just nodded his head, and tried to do the same minus the arm on chest. "Sure... James. Uh. Nice to meet you Joub."

Another smile and a nod, and the man went back behind the bar, "So listen, I'll get you guys something to eat and L'sara, answer his question, you know new planets don't have much information wise." With that, the elfen man disappeared from the bar once more, this time headed towards a set of double doors on the opposite side of the entrance to the inn.

James stood there, unsure if he had crossed a line in trying to strike one of L'sara friends, before a cough got a wince from him. "Come sit down." She said this whilst patting the stool beside her own. James turned getting ready to bolt, but a firm hand latched onto his wrist, holding him still.

"Stop worrying. You would not have been able to hurt Joub easily and to be fair, hes right, we were teasing you quite badly. So come. Sit. I'll answer your questions again like I promised~" Unable to get his wrist free James felt a grimace pull across his face, a few more tugs, L'sara insisting grip not relenting, and he sighed, letting the grimace fade away. "Fine... I thought the system was fine with killing? Why would it matter if it happens?"

She did not release the grip she had on him, even as he settled into the stool, much to his dismay, but she did loosen it a little from the vice it had been. "Hmm. Well. Think about it like this, you kill animals for food right?", he nodded, "Do you also have people who kill animals for no reason?", it took him a second, but he also nodded to that.

Her free hand came up, tapping clawed finger at her chin as she continued, "And what purpose does that serve? Just pleasure right? Makes the person happy? Well. If everyone did that, the system would lose mana rather than gain it since it has to make those creatures. So it does not give you mana when you kill things far weaker than you, with intent mind you, instead it takes it away. The more you kill. The more you lose." Satisfied with her answer she nodded her head and gave his wrist a small squeeze.

James looked conflicted, thinking back to how easy it had been for him to dispatch the scum back in town, and the fact he had gotten experience for it, a question came from that though, "What about people not part of the system?"

L'sara suddenly had a look on her face like she had forgotten something important, thinking about what she had just told James, only to suddenly realize, "Oh! Well, as far as I know, they still have mana, which is why you get experience, but the kill rules don't apply to them. They actually don't apply to any life the system does not make since it won't cost it mana. Women, elderly, children, doesn't matter much in the systems eyes, as long as you are not costing it more mana than you bring in you're fine~"

So basically give more than you take and you can do what you want... Isn't that kinda.... well... evil? Why would the system reward me for killing a bunch of children? James felt conflicted, again, the more he learned about the system, the more it sounded like the thing cared only about mana not about anyone a part of it. It also did not sit well with the fact that despite him hating humanity a lot of the time he still felt like a good person. After all, the people he had killed deserved it, right? Would he have to just slaughter indiscriminately to get stronger? His mind was racing as Joub returned with their food, two bowls of something that looked close to brown porridge and fresh toasted bread with a red colored smear on top.

L'sara nudged the teen, trying to get him out of his thoughts, only for him to completely ignore her, instead, just pulling his food in front of him. Could I do that? Killing wasn't hard. It was a mindset sort of thing... those guys were bad people and over a billion people already died, what did their lives matter anyhow?... L'sara, gave another soft squeeze of his wrist before letting go and beginning to eat her own food. She had plans for them today after all.