You have learned a new skill: Etiquette

Note! This is a regional skill. Skill effects may be reduced in settings outside of: Sylum.

I sat in my new room — which easily rivaled the space I’d received back in Ftheran, if perhaps less gaudy — and scowled at a row of forks arrayed on the table in front of me. Markus stood at my back, relentlessly quizzing me.

“You’ve arrived unannounced at a noble acquaintance's house, while, unbeknownst to you, she’s already sat down for a late midday meal. She insists you join her and serves you a tea cake. Which fork will you be using?”

Whichever one I want to? Preferably the big one because it can hold more cake?

I quashed the thought, knowing that aggravating my new teacher would do me no good. Plus, it wasn’t his fault that this kingdom’s nobility apparently had way too much room in their heads devoted to cutlery.

I pointed at the third smallest of them. “That one. Larger would signify either that I’m treating the cake as an entree and expect to be served another course afterwards, or that I wish to finish the cake too quickly, which would imply I’m eager to leave. Smaller would be viewed as me imposing myself upon her hospitality by taking too long.”

Obviously nonsense, of course. I was more than capable of eating a cake quickly with a small fork.

“Well done. And if instead of getting to choose, you were given the largest of the forks, what would you glean from that?”

I sighed. “That my acquaintance is unhappy that I showed up unannounced and wants me to know that I should get whatever I came for over with and scram.” Probably not exactly how Markus would have put it, but he took the answer nonetheless.

Altogether, etiquette lessons had been exhausting, if surprisingly easy. The dizzying number of different rules to abide by were often so complex, I wondered if anyone without superhuman Intelligence possibly could learn them. That was, I realized, probably purposeful: If someone messed up, they’d look either dumb or low-leveled.

Luckily for me, I did have superhuman Intelligence, and a great memory-bolstering skill as well. As a result, what would have been enough information to force me into a caffeine-and-anxiety-fueled all-nighter back in college was now just a matter of a little bit of study. It was one of the more concrete reminders of how far my mind and body had changed since I’d come here.

“Lovely! A remarkably good job. Let us move away from etiquette and onto some more general information, shall we? I imagine you may be curious as to the nature of the city in which you now find yourself.”

Finally. It had only been one day since I’d arrived, so it was hardly like I’d been kept in the dark for too long. Still, I had to admit that I was a bit lost hearing about all the “houses” and such.

With a flourish, Markus waved his hand and a thick scroll appeared within it. He unfurled it and placed it against one of the walls, somehow binding it there without using any pins or glue.

Depicted on the vellum was a city drawn from a bird’s eye view. For whatever reason, the city’s architects had opted to shape it as a pentagon, with a large pentagonal outer wall, and then closer to its center, a second pentagonal inner wall. This broke everything into three sections — a sprawl of homes and farms outside the city, then an outer city, then an inner city.

“This, as you may have surmised, is Sylum. As is the case for many intelligently-designed cities, its structure can help us understand how it operates. Now listen carefully for this next part, as it is particularly pertinent to you.” Despite knowing I had a memory skill, he paused, making sure I had his full attention.

“The city of Sylum and all the people within it are divided into five houses. To put it briefly, the five houses are Prosperity, Guidance, Progress, Strength, and Labor. Each of these five houses is based out of one of the triangular slices of the pentagon.”

Okay. Weird — and uncomfortably Harry Potter-y for my tastes — but at least I followed.

“Furthermore,” he continued, “each House is split into two Chambers, one which resides in the inner city, and one which resides in the outer city. For the House of Prosperity, we have the inner Chamber of Nobility, and the outer Chamber of Wealth. The first is home to all nobles, while the second is for merchants and business owners.” As he spoke, he pointed to the map, noting which exact part of the city the chambers were located in.

“Guidance is split into the outer Diplomacy — the smallest of the chambers, which focuses on how our decisions might affect surrounding kingdoms — and the inner Divinity — which does much the same, but from the standpoint of the gods. You’ll find most of the city’s churches in this fifth of the city.”

Interesting. From what little time I’d spent in Ftheran, it didn’t seem like the gods played much of a role in city affairs. If all they had here was one out of ten chambers, I doubted their influence was too strong, but they at least had some influence.

“Progress breaks into Magic, the house of most mages and arcane researchers, and Knowledge, which is a catchall for all non-arcane scholars and mundane researchers. Most places of learning and magical services are clustered in these districts.”

Wizards and professors. Check.

“Strength is home to the Chamber of Peace — city guards and those in the military — and the Chamber of Adventure — aptly named for the city’s adventurer population. The guard barracks, the adventurer’s guild, and the settlement dungeon are located here, in addition to a large number of weapon and armor stores.”

Glossing over the fact that the military was under the chamber of… peace, I was surprised to see adventurers formally recognized. They kind of struck me as outliers, doing their own thing. It was probably part logistical — if everyone wanted to go into the dungeon joined a guild, it would be far easier to regulate.

“Last but certainly not least, the House of Labor contains the inner Chamber of Artisans — high-paid crafters and professionals — and the outer Chamber of the Commons. It’s specifically for any other workers, but it’s something of a catch-all, also including anyone who is unable to work or doesn’t fit into the other houses. As you may or may not be aware, this is the Chamber you now belong to, as the granddaughter of the Chamber Head, Master Astorius.”

Master Astorius? Who- Oh, that was Suds, wasn’t it? I thought back to his long and ridiculous name: Fudunkerexelesterioastorius. Guess that last bit was some sort of family name. Good thing too, as I had little desire to have to say that mouthful.

Still, it put things into perspective for me. Barb had made it clear that he and his dad were part of the upper echelon here, but I hadn’t realized he was head of something like that. It sounded like kind of a big deal, honestly.

As if to underscore just that, Markus kept on. “All major laws and decisions for the city are decided by a parliament of the Chamber Heads. If a particular issue is related to one house more than any other, they get a larger share of the vote — for instance, the Chamber of Peace would have multiple votes if there were a proposal to change the guard uniforms. Additionally, the Chamber of Nobility always gets two votes, regardless of the issue.”

I was tempted to ask why the nobility got extra votes, but realized it was a dumb question. It was because they were the nobility. If anything, I was slightly surprised that they didn’t have more power considering one of the last major cities I’d been to was an absolute monarchy.

Overall, though, it struck me as a fairly simple system. Perhaps I’d just been given the version for dummies, but compared to how a lot of countries back on Earth did things, ten people who voted on things was pretty tame.

Nice. Won’t have to spend too much time trying to learn that then.

As if sensing my thoughts, Markus fixed me with an intent gaze and the slightest of smiles. “Now, as I’m sure you’ve already committed all that to memory, let us take the next few hours to discuss some of the more practical elements, starting with the houses’ stances on current issues. To begin, let us say that the Miners’ Guild wished to move to a two-day work week. We’ll go through each of the Chambers’ stances, and decide whether such a proposal would pass or fail in the parliament. To begin…”

Not able to stop myself, I let out an audible groan.

Why did I sign up for this?

While Markus showed no signs of sparing me from the horrors of etiquette and politics, it was clear that teaching me wasn’t the only task he had to attend to. Luckily, that meant I had plenty of time for myself.

Unluckily, there wasn’t much to do with that time. I was still on room arrest, not allowed to talk to anyone until Suds came through with my obfuscation equipment. As nice as the room was, it was, after all, just a room.

On the flip side, there was one major task that I’d been hoping to get to. I’d likely have done it after talking with Nadja, but seeing as I’d been interrupted, I’d yet to get the chance. With the extra class points from unlocking mental magic, it was at last time for me to grab a new class skill.

A quick trip to my class space later, and it was done.

Arcane Vision

Allows the user to enhance their eyes with mana. When using raw mana, this will increase the user’s vision and mana perception. Results may vary based on the mana type used.

Grabbing the skill had unlocked the next step in the Arcane Augmenter path as well — a pair of gloves. They’d apparently help with my professional skills, but at a whopping five class points, I was unlikely to pick them up too soon.

Not that I was in a rush: I had a new toy to play with!

Snug in my new bed, I channeled some mana towards my eyes, ready to test the skill out.

Arcane Sight

Greatly augments the power of Mana Sense*.

+3 Perception*

+3 effective level to all detection and identification skills*

Effects scale with Intelligence.

*Note, all increases only affect the user visually, and do not help in aiding auditory or other sensory Perception effects

I read the description and after a few pregnant seconds couldn’t help but… frown. “Kind of lackluster here, if I’m being honest. This was really worth three entire points?” I already had mana vision, and a small boost to Perception and my detection skills didn’t feel that groundbreaking.

I shrugged. “Maybe the other mana types are more fun?” I could hope, at least.

I started with light mana, hoping that light and vision would pair well. As I switched the mana type I was supplying, I realized that I wasn’t sure what the skill even looked like. “Should scrounge up a mirror from somewhere…” It wouldn’t do to use the skill in public and then have everyone staring at me because it looked ridiculous. Unfortunately, I’d seen next to no glass since coming to this world. Wasn’t sure why, but it just hadn’t been a staple in either Drawgin or Ftheran.

Light Sight

Allows the wearer to see in incredibly bright environments as if they were normally lit.

Grants immunity from light-based blind effects.

Grants the temporary skill Flashlight.

Channel additional mana to form a flashlight which will follow your eyes. Can cause a Blind effect on enemies if sufficient mana is used.

I had a magic flashlight! Actually, it kind of reminded me of a model I’d had as a kid — whenever there were power outages, we’d wear little forehead flashlights.

On the one hand, it was practically useless to me now that I could see in the dark anyway. There was also the argument that having my big class skill give me the equivalent of a dollar-store gizmo was fairly underwhelming. In this case, though, I was actually kind of excited. Maybe it was silly, but it was fun!

The rest of the effects were highly situational. They would have actually been pretty nice that time I’d fought a light elemental with Cal and Hartha, but unless I knew I was about to get blinded by light, they probably wouldn’t do much for me.

Moving on then. Let’s do fire?

Heat Sight

Grants thermal vision.

My vision shifted dramatically as the color of everything was suddenly overlaid with reds and yellows and greens, signifying their heat. It wasn’t exactly like wearing thermal goggles — the effect was overlaid on my regular vision instead of fully canceling it out — but it was incredibly jarring nonetheless.

Maybe good for detecting stealthed enemies? Although, I’d have to know there was someone stealthed nearby in the first place. That, or I’d need to make a habit of using it constantly.

Kind of a bummer I didn’t get laser eyes. If light mana could give me flashlight eyes, was it so much to ask for fire mana to give me eyes that could burn things?

Well, whatever. It was still cool, and I wasn’t even done yet.

Water Sight

Gain an innate sense of how far the nearest water source is in the direction you look in. Can discern how pure water is on sight. Additionally, allows the user to open their eyes underwater in comfort.

Weird, but neat. Probably useless seeing as I could already conjure drinkable water, but maybe if I was ever stranded in a forest like I had been on my first day, I’d be able to find a stream faster.

The actual mechanics of the skill were the oddest yet: Instead of giving me a concrete distance, the skill just gave me a vague sense which I instinctively could interpret. I stared directly upwards, and all I could feel was far.

As a test, I stared down at my own hand. While the skill seemed to register the water inside of me, the pull was remarkably weak. I doubted I’d be able to use the skill to pick out stealthed enemies, at least as easily as I could with thermal vision.

Last but not least was life mana.

Life Sight

Highlights all living entities and grants an innate sense of how much health they have. Can see through up to /10 meters of solid matter. May yield reduced results on creatures that are stealthed or near death.

Neat! Not the most exciting, but the part where it would let me see through walls was appreciated. I’d have to test it out to see if it was better or worse than the thermal vision for seeing enemies in stealth — would have been nice to have Cal around — but I was a fan.

Wonder if it works on plants? Maybe I’d be able to get a job replacing those truffle-smelling pigs by being able to see where they lay underground. Plus, not like you haven’t been ambushed from underground before. And attacked by roots.

I revised my initial view on Life Sight, ranking it higher up on my favorite skill list.

As a final test, I sent a bit of mental mana up to my eyes, but as expected, it didn’t work. I wasn’t sure what I needed to do to make my skills work with Advanced magic, but all of them were consistent in denying me.

All in all, it felt like a bit of a mixed bag to me. Some of the effects were pretty moot for me, as I already had a high Perception, darkvision, and the ability to conjure drinkable water. Still, I could only imagine the skill would grow more and more versatile as I unlocked more new magic classes, and it did greatly add to my ability to find stealthed enemies.

“Guess I should probably grow used to it, though…” I switched Heat Sight on, deciding that I’d try to make it second nature to use.

After a few minutes, I switched it off. Hopefully I’d get there eventually, but for now, it was just a little too weird.

Two days passed. Two days of brutal tutoring, followed by periods of blinding boredom. My skill in Etiquette — partially to my bemusement — shot upwards under Markus’s tutelage, and I slowly gained a stronger understanding of the inner-workings of Sylum. Suds had visited a single time — a brief respite from my boredom — but it was for a particularly hair-brained scheme that… Well, the less said about that, the better.

As night fell, right as I was considering making a run for it just to see anything but the walls of my room, there was a knock on the door. Expecting Markus, I opened it.

Instead, Suds stood there, his usual steely expression plain for all to see.

Without preamble, he tossed three small chains in my direction which I scrambled to catch.

“Obfuscation. You should put ‘em on now.”

I raised a brow. “Now?” It was hardly like I needed them while locked away in my room.

He nodded, his stoicism breaking to form a grin. “Yes, now. Go explore! You’ve been cooped up in here for a few days. Time for you to find out what a real city looks like, eh?”