The tired youth placed his weapon beside the cloth sack bedroll he dragged beside the wall and he fell asleep as soon as he lay down. He woke up after several hours, still groggy and sore. Bray was sleeping next to the burnt out fire, so he moved quietly to not wake him up. His stomach churned slightly and he felt the heavy call of nature for the first time since his arrival to this new world.

He quickly headed down one of the tunnels, cutting apart one of his ragged bandages with his spare bronze knife. By the time he got back, Bray was already awake, pouring some water into a clay cup before pointing at a small washbowl near the stairs. Regis quickly washed himself before sitting down.

“Bad stomach?” The old man asked without even turning towards him.

“Not really. It’s just the first time in this world.”

“I guess your new body arrived here quite empty. Want some water?”

“Yes, please!” He answered and the grey haired elder poured another cup of water.

“You’ll need to get more of it,” Bray said. “That small river running across the city might not be drinkable, but it’s still good for washing and such. Clean water on the other hand seems to be a rare treasure nowadays.”

“I’ll make sure to get another waterskin as payment tomorrow.” Regis promised as he looked up at the reddish sky.

“It’s getting dark,” Bray said while following the youth’s gaze. “You should get going if you want anything done before the night gathering begins.”

“Will you be fine alone here for another night?”

“No one comes near such a dark and desolate place. You should worry about yourself more. As the days go by, more of those wretched undead will make their way here. Try to be careful lad. It might be because I’ve been alone for too long, but I like our talks, such as they are.”

“Same here gramps,” Regis admitted. “I didn’t have much to talk about back on Earth, nor people who actually wanted to talk to me. It’s kind of nice to have someone who doesn’t try to shoo me off the moment I speak.”

The young dark elf fell silent for a moment, looking up at the fading light sifting through the grates on the ceiling. A loud cough pulled him back to his senses as he stepped next to Bray. He patted him on the back with a bit of force before pouring him another cup of water.

“You should rest more,” he said. “And eat the apple I brought too. We have a saying on Earth that an apple a day keeps the doctors away. I guess I should go now. My gear is still with those girls and I promised to try to get some food for them for their work. See you later Bray.”

“Yes,” Bray wheezed slightly. “Good luck to you and take care!”

Regis nodded at the old man’s good wishes before putting away a pair of rations into his mostly emptied out knapsack. He then re-checked the few bandages he still had in his waist satchel, leaving the rest with Bray. Once back up in the alley, he sealed the hidden entrance and headed towards the marketplace. When he reached the rundown smithy, Amanda was already awake and polishing a pair of daggers.

“Hey Amanda, is my gear ready?” He asked casually, the tall woman turning her head towards him with a curious expression.

“Do I know you?” She asked in genuine interest as she noticed the lean but well-built dark elf stopping in front of the wooden counter.

“Very funny,” Regis mocked. “I’ve only been away for a few hours and you already want to scam me out of my armour and iron dagger?”

Hearing those words, the blacksmith’s eyes widened to a saucer.

“Regis?” She asked baffled. “Is that really you?”

“The only one, as far as I know.”

“But you, I mean…”

“Regis,” Sophie stepped closer from the shadow of the building. “What happened to you?”

“I used the soul-space’s power to get rid of my fledgling status.”

“Wow,” Amanda whistled “I didn’t understand half of what you’ve just said, but you’ve grown at least a head taller and a bit thicker as well since the morning.”

“What is there not to understand? I spent 2000 Amaranth to get rid of my status and it brought along some physical changes along with an avalanche of attribute points.”

“Okay,” Amanda said frustrated. “You’ve got to level with us here. What the hell kind of status are you talking about?”

It was at that moment that Regis realized why she acted like she did.

“You do know about Amaranth, don’t you?”

“You mean the glowing green mist that people with markings like ours gather from the corpses? We were told that it’s valuable and how to gather it for ourselves during the first night’s battle.”

“Some of the mercenaries we’ve fought along showed it to us,” Sophie kept staring at the young dark elf. “But other than collecting it, we don’t know how and what to do with it.”

“I see,” Regis sighed as he vaulted over the counter so that he could sit on it. “I guess you two need a crash course on this world’s equivalent of a character sheet and how to get to it.”

For the next half an hour Regis kept on talking about the soul-space and the tome they would find there, along with their own statue and the shelf with the constellation charts. Amanda and Sophie listened like awestruck children as he explained them how to access their soul-space and the use of Amaranth. In the end they’ve decided against trying it out after the dark elf told them about how it would take them a lot of time to get back out at the first try.

“I’ve got to admit,” Amanda whistled. “When I fell out of that crack in space, I thought about those stupid books with similar beginnings, but nothing happened when I tried to summon the character sheet. Now I know why. Damn, I feel like an idiot for trying it in the first place.”

“You’re not an idiot for trying it,” Regis laughed as he imagined the tall woman try reciting different phrases in vain. “If it weren’t for Bray reminding about the soul-space, even I would have completely forgotten about it. Instead; I’ve managed to grow up from being a short stack. I even went back to Earth accidentally while doing it.”

“Back to Earth,” Sophie mumbled. “How?”

“It seems to be an ability called World-shift. I’ve no idea how to activate it, but if I’ve had to guess, it should be useable from the soul-space. The second way of going home I know of is to die. As long as the planar paths are still in vicinity, we’ll get tossed back to Earth instead of actually dying. The problem with this is that I don’t know how long that will last. Sooner or later the barrier between the planes will re-thicken and we’ll be stuck here permanently.”

“Are you saying we can go home at any time we want?” the young elven girl chirped happily before her smile vanished. “I don’t want to go back. Even with the monsters, it’s still better here.”

“I’ll go back tomorrow,” Amanda spoke up as she looked at her tattoo. “I’ll leave a note for my father to tell him that I’m all right, so he wouldn’t worry about me.”

“Okay,” Regis coughed awkwardly. “Can we talk about my stuff now?”

“Oh, right. I’ve repaired and reinforced your armour,” the elven girl said. “But it’s pretty much just a patchwork job.”

“Why?” Regis asked surprised.

“We’re just apprentices,” she stated. “Only seasoned crafters would have the skills to make pristine new things in such a short notice. I’ve also finished your helmet. Luckily I’ve made it a bit larger, so it should be a good fit.”

Sophie walked to the back of the smithy, only to return with a pile of equipment. She spread them out on the counter so that he could get a better look. The helmet was indeed simple in design, covering most of the head and the side of the face. It left the front open with a thumb sized piece reaching down from the forehead to the nose. Its stats were also in line with the rest. What caught his eyes were the small bronze plates stitched up on his armguards, gambeson,

{Simple leather helmet}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 100/100}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour Value: 10/10}

{Simple leather pauldrons}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 100/100}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour Value: 12}

{Bronze reinforced gambeson}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 110/110}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour Value: 15/15}

{Bronze reinforced armguard}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 110/110}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour Value: 12/12}

{Bronze reinforced tasset}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 110/110}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour value: 18/18}

{Simple leather cuisse}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 100/100}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour value: 15}

{Simple leather greaves}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 100/100}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour value: 14}

“Not bad,” Regis admired his gear while equipping them. “Now I just need a pair of gloves and I’ll have the full leather set.”

“That’s trickier to make and I would need soft leather as well.”

“It’s okay,” He waved dismissively. “I’m not sure if we could get any proper materials here. There seem to be even more people than yesterday, but I didn’t see any carts with supplies being pulled around.”

“Don’t even mention it,” Amanda scoffed as she gave him back the sharpened iron dagger. “We went to sleep for a few hours and I woke up finding a pack of scavengers trying to climb in here to steel away any useable piece of equipment. I had to beat up quite a few of them to scare away the rest.”

She seemed quite angry as she spoke, but then her mood got better as she turned towards the workshop part of the place. She vanished for a minute behind a wall, returning with a hefty looking weapon. Regis stared at the giant two-handed bronze hammer with eyes wide as she put it on the counter.

“Beautiful, isn’t she? This is the first real weapon I’ve made myself.”

No one had to nudge Regis twice as he grabbed the bronze hammer, lifting it in the air with both hands. It was many times heavier than his own staff, but thanks to his increased might attribute, he was able to move it around. He stared at the point where the handle sprouted a head sized metal rectangle and then he looked at the other end where the shaft thickened into an almost tennis ball sized pommel. Its stats were much better than his staff’s as well.

{Bronze great hammer}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 100/100}

{Damage: 30}

“It has 30 points of base damage?”

“It’s a heavy beast,” Amanda nodded with a wide grin. “Hold on a moment! You can see its stats?”

“I can,” he admitted. “I’ve learned the charlatan’s wisdom spell, so I can determine the stats of items up to uncommon rarity along with creatures up to the 10th level.”

“Damn,” the tall woman scratched her head. “That’s some handy magic to have around. Wish I could get something like that too. Anyway; I’d say it turned out quite well. Then again, I did use up most of the materials you gave us to make it. Now I just need to get it enchanted and I’ll be set for a good while.”

“Good luck with that,” Regis said while he tried to do a few swinging motions with the oversized weapon. “I’ve heard that the wizards here are an arrogant bunch. It would probably cost you an arm and leg to get it done. I do know a bit about infusion enchanting, but you could only make use of a little increase in durability. By the way; I also brought something for you girls.”

He put his knapsack on the counter, pulling out a pair of cloth bundles. After handling them over to the girls, they looked at him with a puzzled expression. Sophie untied the cord that bound the small package and she began to unwrap it.

“It’s a ration,” she muttered. “You’re giving us your rations?”

“They’ve said that my kill-count was quite good, so they gave me a fair amount of food. You’ve mentioned before that you girls were short on it and that…”

“I don’t want your charity!” Amanda slammed her fist on the counter.

“It’s not charity,” Regis said while looking her in the eyes. “It’s advance payment. You girls did a good job on my gear and I’ll likely need your help with this tomorrow as well. I don’t know how things will work out tonight, so I’m paying up front in case I won’t have the same luck as yesterday. Also; you’ve said that you want to team up with me this night and I sure as heck won’t trust my back to someone who can fall over at any moment from hunger. If you don’t want to eat it, then just give it to Sophie. I’m sure that she can finish both pieces without a hitch.”

“Please,” Sophie looked at her friend. “Let’s just eat it and if we get more tomorrow, we can pay it back.”

“You’re right,” the hard headed woman sighed. “But this still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not used to being looked down upon.”

“Just get over it, will you?” Regis shook his head. “I get the whole strong and independent woman thing, but food is food and I’m sure that even back home you got at least some of your lunches paid for you by friends. This is no different. Now get your butts in gear and let’s get going. We need to get there early, if we want to know the latest news.”

“And who put you in charge?” Amanda chuckled as she took a bite from the granola bar like ration.

“No one, but I’m already geared up, so that leaves only the two of you. I’ll wait over by the market’s side.”

Regis left the girls alone and decided to have quick look around the market. He was still astounded by the increasing amount of refugees in Hunor. He had no idea where they came from with all the monsters lurking about, but they were shaping up to be a serious problem as the guards had to dissolve many fights and drag away tied up thieves.

Despite being called a market, there were barely any hawkers or other sort of merchants present. He could see a couple workshops that crafted and maintained all sorts of weapons and armour, but most of the ordinary shops were either closed or overtaken by refugees. One peculiar shop that caught his attention had strange runes and fake jewels on its signboard.