After reaffirming their partnership, the traveler and the foreigner chowed down on their breakfast in the field where they once trained.

“I saw a little bit when I was buying the breakfast, but what’s the money like here?”

Ace remembered stealing Aliza’s pouch and buying breakfast, which lead him to want to know more about the money structure in Felona.

“Take my money then ask me about it... hmph!”

The blue-haired traveler jerked her head away from Ace, a degree of salt directed at him.

“Haha, ok... I’m sorry.”

He said as he clasped his hands together and faced in her direction.

“Forgive me already...”

Aliza turned back to face him and looked into his eyes.

“Hmph. Just this once.”

“Thank you, now, tell me about money.”

“...”

Ace realized the mistake in his request...

“*sigh* Please...”

“...”

She hesitated before answering, but gave in and responded to his question.

“*sigh* You already saw in my pouch, but there are a few types of coins...”

“The ones I have on me are the bronze 1 Felo coin and the silver 10Felo coin.

“Other than those 2, there is only the gold 100 Felo coin.”

“Out of the three, the bronze one is probably used the most.”

“All of the cheaper stuff like food are bought with the bronze coins while the more expensive stuff like clothing and paying for a stay at an inn would be bought with silver coins.”

“The gold coin would be used for stuff like high level potions and weapons.”

“Most people don’t need stuff like weapons and potions so gold coins aren’t used by regular people.”

“That’s pretty much the gist of it, anything else?”

Ace placed his hand on his chin, taking in the information about the money system in Felona.

He looked back at Aliza, who was waiting for his response.

“I got most of it, but I want to confirm one thing again...”

Now determined to answer his concern, Aliza looked at him in the eyes...

“Hit me.”

Getting confirmation to ask his question, Ace continued...

“You’re... pretty broke, aren’t you?”

“Ahhh! This is the second time!”

A hint of frustration at the unexpected question, Aliza started to heat up a little.

“Haha, I'm being serious though... You only had a few bronze coins and like 2 silver coins in your pouch.”

Aliza continued to redden up after the contents of her pouch were revealed.

“Ahhh! I get it! I’m broke...”

She stood up and stomped over to the nearest tree, sitting underneath it.

Her feelings were now a mixture of dispirited and frustrated after the amount of money she possessed was exposed.

“Wait... I’m sorry, okay? You’re not broke... just... unhealthy in the financial department?”

“That’s the same thing!”

Her voice was now more on the pleading side rather than furious.

Not using the right words, Ace tried to cool her down one more time.

“Ok, ok, we’ll find a way to get some money, don’t worry...”

“Ahh... I’m supposed to be helping you... not the other way around.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t worry about it...”

Ace now tried to reassure her, not wanting her to be depressed.

“We’re both strong, we’ll be fine...”

“Are you sure...?”

“Of course! We’ll be fine!”

He walked over to her and reached his hand out, wanting her to be more determined.

“...”

She grabbed his hand and stood up, feeling a little better than before.

She looked at Ace, who had a smile on his face to reassure her.

She smiled back; her face with a warm feel to it...

“...”

“Wait!!! What is this situation! You’re the one who made me feel like that in the first place!”

The situation took a turn, causing a drop of sweat to run down Ace’s face.

“Let’s not sweat the small details... right?”

He tried to simmer down the situation, not wanting to make her any angrier than she already was.

“Yeah right! You use my money, call me broke, ask me for information, then call me broke again!”

“That’s not important anymore, is it...?”

He was now trying anything to calm her down...

“Aaaccceeee...!!”

Her voice rising in furiosity, it caused Ace’s senses to be turned on at high alert.

“Ahhh!!”

He sprinted away into the forest, not wanting to be caught by the monster in front of him.

*huff, puff*

He ran for a few more seconds, not giving any time to look back.

“---!!”

He felt a hand on his shoulder, the sinister aura reaching in front of his face before he couldglance behind him.

“Get ready... for some... punishment...”

He looked back to see Aliza, furious, reaching for her sword.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

“Hahaha! Don’t ever call me broke again!”

The laugh was sinister, sending a shiver down Ace’s spine.

He had to get her to calm down or he wouldn’t make it past the first day.

“Ok ok! I’m sorry! Just leave it as a warning... Just this once! Please!”

He got onto his hands and knees and pleaded for his life, terrified of what she was going to do to him.

“...”

After begging for his life, he looked up to see Aliza’s face.

“*sigh* Just this once...”

It seems that the ominous auradisappeared for the time being...

“--But!”

The sinister aura returned just as fast as it left, descending towards the ground where Ace’s forehead laid.

“If I hear broke again...!”

“I understand! I understand! I won’t say it again!”

He didn’t hesitate in reassuring her that he wouldn’t do it again.

Aliza took her hand off her sword’s handle and walked back towards the field where her breakfast was.

“*sigh* I’m safe...”

Letting out a breath of relief, he waited about a minute before also returning to his breakfast.

--

He made it back to the field and sat near Aliza, who was finishing up her eggs.

It seemed they weren’t on bad terms anymore, so Ace spoke up.

“I’m probably going to have more questions about Felona, so if you could answer those when I have them, that would be helpful.”

Aliza, still showing hints ofanger, dropped the feeling to answer seriously.

“I’ll make sure to.”

“Thank you.”

After receiving confirmation that he could continue to ask questions, he didn’t hesitate in starting.

“I already have one... if you could answer it.”

“Ask away.”

“How do I pick my magic attributes now that I’m here?”

“Oh, you go to the Adventurer’s guild to receive a guidebook on how to start training with the affinity you chose. Most of the books are quite small because of how many spells can actually be used with each affinity.”

“Got it. Can we stop there when we go back into Furio?”

“Sure, we haven’t really thought about what else to do. Like... where we go from here.”

“You’re right. My time is limited here. I need to get stronger and find a way to face off against this enemy of the kingdom.”

“Haha... it’s a little early to think about that, but yeah, we should think of what we’re going to do from here on.”

“Okay, for now, let’s get me started on magic.”

“Got it.”

She stood up and extended her hand towards Ace.

Ace grabbed it and stood up, then closed his eyes.

362 Days

13 Hours

14 Minutes

Map

Support

He opened his map and then focused on the magnifying glass with the minus symbol on it.

He wanted to confirm just how big this world really was.

“---!”

The map was completely black, but once he zoomed out, he could see the outline of Felona.

It may just be the map but... Felona looked huge.

Not only Felona, but after zooming out a little more, he could also see the names and outlines of the other countries.

“Felona, Zineen, Gorto, Loreo, and Mirofa.”

“Why’re you naming all the countries?”

She said, confused, while looking at him with his eyes closed,

“Oh sorry, just checking my map.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. That’s really cool, huh? You can see all the countries on a map.”

“I can only see their outlines unless I actually visit the place. For example, I can see a bunch of colors on Furio village, but the rest of the map is black.”

“I see...”

“Okay, I’m also going to use my support option now, I want to ask Deepa some stuff.”

“That’s when you talk to the god for 2 minutes, right?”

“Yeah, once every day.”

“Got it. Let me know if something happens.”

Ace nodded back and closed his eyes once more.

362 Days

13 Hours

11 Minutes

Map

Support

He focused his mind on the word “support” and...

“It’s meee~ Deepa at your service~!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Good morning.”

“Morning~”

“I need to ask you for some stuff, I’ll get right to it.”

Unable to see a nod, Ace continued.

“Can I ask you to replace the minutes and seconds with a proper time in my head? It’s hard to make out the time.”

“~Haha, can do!”

“Thank you...And also...”

He hesitated, having little hope that he would get a positive response to this question...

“Can you give Aliza the same boosts you gave me...?”

“...”

He waited a few seconds before receiving a response.

“~That’s a tougher request... ~I can upgrade her... with some limitations...”

“What are the limitations?”

“~Hmmm... Her skill growth will be increased, but not as fast as yours. ~Also, she gets no changes to her magic.’

“That’s fine. Whatever you can do for her would be helpful. Also, how many people can I do this for?”

“~Hmmm... I think I can give one more... maybe?”

“Okay, thank you. One other thing I wanted to ask is if you could add whatever’s on my status plate into my head.”

“Like my level and my skills.”

“~Got it... I will add two categories, level and skills. You just need to focus on them to use them.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“~No problemo... Okay, we’re out of time now... call me again tomorrow~”

“I will.”

“~Byee...”

And the voice disappeared from his head.

Ace looked back at Aliza, who was waiting for him to finish his conversation.

“I’m done.”

“I see... what did he say?”

“You heard me ask about upgrading your skills... he said he could, but your growth wouldn’t be as fast as mine.”

“That’s fine... I’m grateful for you asking about me.”

“Haha... I can’t get too far in front of you that quick.”

“Haha... I’d be in front of you even without the boost.”

“Come on now, you were struggling on your first day against me.”

“Hah! I wasn’t trying!”

“Whatever...”

And Ace closed his eyes to confirm the changes to his menu.

362 Days

10:52 AM

Level

Map

Support

Skills

Ace saw the three new changes that were added and decided to focus on level...

“...”

Once he focused on level, he saw the same rectangle he saw on his status plate, except this time, there was a 2 on the left side and a 3 on the right.

The box was also about a quarter filled.

Ace knew what this meant.

He had gone up a level and a little more.

When he first came to this world, there was a 1 and a 2 beside the rectangle, now there was a 2 and a 3.

The rectangle was also empty on the status plate when he was first transported.

Ace grabbed his status plate from his bag to confirm that the rectangle in his head and on the plate were the same.

“Yeah, they’re the same.”

He said, seeing the same numbers and filling on the box on the plate.

He then turned the plate over to check over his skills again.

“---!”

The skills section that was once empty now had some words printed on it.

“Hard Hitter...”

“Oh! You got a skill! That’s really good. It takes people quite a while to get skills.”

“I guess my growth really is better... Aliza, do you know what this skill does?”

“No, sorry, but the Adventurer’s guild can check details on skills.”

“Wow... they can do a lot. What else can they do?”

“They can check your total mana capacity, they post jobs, give out handbooks like I said earlier, check skills, skill details, and skill levels. I think that’s all they do...”

After hearing everything they could do, Ace thought it was necessary for them to visit the guild.

“Yeah, we need to visit there. Let’s go.”

“Got it.”

And they made their way towards Furio, leaving the small field where they sat.

--

They now stood in front of the guild with their hoods on, not wanting to be discovered as humans or anything similar to humans.

Aliza led the way, opening the swinging doors to reveal a place that looked like an old-fashioned bar.

At the counter stood a female demihuman, her body and facial features resembling a dog’s.

Aliza walked up to the counter, Ace following closely behind.

“Good morning, do you have any magic guidebooks in stock?”

“We have only fire, earth, water, and wind. What are you looking for today?”

The clerk answered with a smile on her face to properly greet her customer.

It still left a weird feeling inside of Ace, remembering how he was treated on his first day in Felona.

“I’m looking for space and time books, do you know where I can get those?”

“Wow... you don’t see many people asking for those. You should be able to find some in the capital, but not many people ask for those, so they aren’t sold here in the outer villages.”

“I see... thank you. I also wanted to ask about skill details and a mana capacity check.”

“Oh, I can help you with that. Which one of you would like the inspections?”

“For the skill details, it’s my friend, he gained a new skill and would like to check the details. For the mana capacity check, both of us would like one please.”

“That’s fine, follow me.”

She walked towards a back room, Ace and Aliza following behind.

When they entered the door, there was a table with a piece of equipment on top.

It looked like a chunkier version of the status plate, except this one had a magic circle engraved on the top.

“We will start with the skill check... if you could take a seat and then place your hand on top of the machine.”

She said to Ace, the only person who requested a skill check.

“Sure.”

Ace sat in front of the contraption and placed his hand on top...

“Oh... I see that you’re not a demihuman.”

“---!”

Ace quickly retracted his hand, not realizing that he was revealing his skin.

“Oh, I’m sorry to scare you. I do not care much about what species you are. I have dealt with other species before and haven’t had any problems, so I don’t see the need to be spiteful like other demihumans.”

“I see... that really surprises me. I haven’t had any good experiences when demihumans have seen my face... so it was unexpected to hear you say that.”

Ace took off his hood and looked the clerk in the eyes.

“Thank you.”

He felt the need to express his gratitude to the kind clerk, who didn’t discriminate or treat other species poorly.

“It’s my pleasure.”

She could tell the gratitude was heartfelt, so she accepted it and made sure to respond to it.

--

Ace then continued with the inspection and placed his hand back onto the machine.

The magic circle started to light up, then info was displayed in front of the clerk like a projection.

“I see... Hard Hitter...”

“What does it do?”

Ace asked as she skimmed through the information a little longer...

“It seems that you are able to activate it to put more force behind a hit with a blunt object. Do you work in some sort of construction? A skill like this would manifest after using a blunt object for a decent amount of time.”

“Oh... yeah... something like that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I did not mean to pry into your private life...”

“It’s fine.”

The clerk gave a small cough after feeling guilty for prying, then continued.

“Okay, we will now do the mana capacity check.”

The clerk stood up from her seat and opened a closet at the back of the room.

She took out a machine that looked similar to the first one and placed it on the table.

“If one of you could please place your hand on the machine...”

“Sure, I’ll go first.”

Ace said as he placed his hand on the machine. The process was similar to the first one, with the magic circle lighting up and a screen being displayed in front of the clerk.

“You have a mana capacity of 153.”

“Thank you.”

He stood up from his seat to let Aliza sit and take her turn.

Aliza placed her hand onto the machine and the info displayed in front of the clerk.

“I see that you have been training your mana. You have a capacity of 279.”

“Haha, I’m a traveler so it’s accumulated over the past few years.”

“I see... your clothes are quite strange.”

“I get that a lot, haha...”

They both finished their inspections, so Aliza wrapped up their talk.

“Well, I think that’s all we needed today, thank you.”

She stood up from her seat to take her leave.

“Goodbye.”

“Come again!”

The clerk said as they left the guild, stopping outside on a nearby bench.

“Seems like you won’t be able to use magic for a while, so we’ll have to stick to sword training for now.”

Ace sighed, wanting to be able to get a start on magic and wanting to find out how he could incorporate it properly into his fights.

“It is what it is, I guess. I’ll just have to work on my skills and level for now.”

He turned to face Aliza.

“How long will it take us to get to the capital?”

“5 days by carriage, I think?”

“That long...?!”

Once Ace took a second to properly think it over, he thought that was a reasonable amount of time.

“Never mind... I’m just feeling rushed.”

“Yeah, I understand... you want to go back.”

Ace nodded back, letting Aliza know that she hit the mark.

He wanted to get back as soon as possible.

He knew that it would take a while, but right now, he was feeling especially driven to return.

“We should probably start moving for the capital right away.”

He said, thinking magic would be necessary for his journey.

“Yeah, we can try to hitch a ride with someone. But first, we need to make a little bit of money. I just don’t have the funds for everything we need...”

Ace pictured her wallet as she shared her concerns...

“Oh, haha, I guess you don’t.”

His laugh was nervous and his statement cautious, remembering the broke jokes and his near-death experience from earlier.

“Let’s go back to the guild and check for a mission that we can take on.”

Ace nodded and they made their way back to the guild where they were just a few minutes ago.

--

They entered the guild and the same demihuman woman stood behind the counter.

The woman saw the two enter and she raised her hand to greet the two who were here earlier.

“You’re back! That was quite fast.”

“Haha, some stuff came up.”

Aliza responded, as she made her way towards the job board that was on the right side of the building.

She stopped in front of the board and scanned it for about a minute, then ripped a sheet of the board and brought it to the clerk.

“We would like to take this job.”

“3 Toriel cores, okay, I’ve got it down.”

Ace’s body gave a small jump at the words, not liking one word in particular...

Toriel.

The name of the monster that he fought on the first day.

Why would Aliza choose this quest when she knows what he went through...?

“Thank you.”

--

She left the guild, Ace following behind until they stopped on the same bench from earlier.

“I know you’re probably wondering why I chose that quest.”

“Yeah, it was a little unexpected.”

“I’m sorry, I knew it was going to make you uncomfortable. But...”

She looked Ace in the eyes.

“If you want to get back... you need to overcome this first.Toriels are one of the weaker monsters and so, I don’t want you to gain a trauma right off the bat. You will beat one early, so you won’t have any problems later.”

Ace stared back into her ocean-coloredeyes and responded with a warm smile, admiring her.

He could see that she was thinking about him very carefully and he was grateful for that.

She didn’t play easy with him and make him take the easy road...

She made him face his problems so he could become stronger and more reliable.

And he was grateful for that.

Once again,

Ace Bracker thought about how lucky he was to receive such a friend on his first day in this other world.

But, how tough would this job be...?

His second fight in another world...

How would he overcome it?