“[Recruit],” August said, “No error message; I’m assuming that worked?”

Boko swiped his hand through the air in front of him, clearly attempting to touch something none of them could see—August could almost imagine the words wavering under the force before reasserting themselves within his vision.

“Defender, striker, evader?” Boko said, “What am I looking at here?”

“They are roles; each one seems to contain a single form of mana manipulation,” Rittan said, speaking up. “Striker allows you to enhance your attacks with mana; the skill is called [Break]—August?”

August took the offered skewers and then leant forward, holding them out for Boko to take. The Voithos took them and handed them off to Haiko.

“Evader has a skill called [Burst], which kind of propels you in a chosen direction,” August said, taking the next handful of skewers to pass along. “That’s the one I chose when I first arrived here—Defender gives you a skill called [Brace], which enhances a block with mana.”

“Offense, defence, mobility,” Boko said, furrowing his brow. “You can only get one of these?”

“I’m capable of gifting any of the roles I’ve encountered to you, and you’re able to unlock new ones by yourself, but they are locked out until I use a skill to activate them,” August said, passing the next load of food across. “We’re not exactly sure of the exact unlock requirements for each one, but some of them seem easy enough to figure out—Defender, for instance, is most likely unlocked after blocking a certain amount of attacks, Striking for attacking a certain amount of times.”

“If I’m going to unlock all of them, then the choice isn’t that important, is it?” Boko said, reaching forward and touching something more carefully than before. “Evader will do.”

August just nodded at the choice before bringing up the [Faction] menu again to see if anything had changed.

Population – 2/2

Assigned – 0

Unassigned – 1

Settlements

Lakeside Hovel

The population counter rose, as he expected, but the [Unassigned] parameter returned once again.

“Boko, there is a job system that I only unlocked this morning; Rittan might have mentioned it already?” August said, “There were a bunch of different jobs, and each one gives a different bonus.”

“General assignments, right?” Boko said, pulling his eyes from whatever he was seeing. “He said he chose to be a cook—what were the others?”

“Gatherer, Builder, Tailor, Cook, Courtesan, Guard,” August said, listing them off. “You can change them every seven days, and each one unlocks five new blueprints.”

“Rittan chose cook; what did you choose?” Kalter said, speaking up.

“Builder,” August admitted, holding his skewers over the fire alongside the rest of the group. “I was hoping it would drag us out of the stone age—it had the blueprint for the [Draft Furnace] that I was already trying to figure out how to make, so I suppose it kind of worked.”

“Then it’s Gatherer, Tailor, Courtesan or Guard,” Boko said, squinting at his skewer. “What were the bonuses?”

August listed them off one after another, pulling up the [Job] menu as a reference.

“Stamina, hand-eye coordination, attractiveness and striking strength, respectively,” August said, summarising them at the end. “Is there anything that stands out to you?”

“Gatherer or guard,” Boko admitted, “I feel like I’d get some use out of the latter, considering the circumstances—I’ll take guard.”

August called up the [Delegate] menu and selected each of the drop-downs one after another.

Boko

Job

Guard

Boko glanced up from the fire, eyes moving over something none of them could see before he tilted his head and closed his eyes.

“Boko?” Kalter said, watching him.

“This is just—how can it just give me information like this?” Boko said, shaking his head. “Do we have some kind of rune system built into us now? That’s the only way I figure we can manipulate mana or have all this just appear in my head.”

“If there is a rune system presence within us, it’s unlikely that it just occurred at this very moment,” Haiko said, speaking up. “The moment August returned each of us to life seems the most appropriate time for something like that to occur—something about the process must change us on some fundamental level.”

August accidentally caught Kalter’s eye over the top of the fire, and a spark of that heat from earlier returned. He forced himself to hold her gaze, unwilling to be the first one to look away, and after a long moment, Kalter shifted her eyes back down to the fire.

“There are hundreds of runes burned into the area where I summon someone,” August said, “I don’t know what any of it does—except for the few runes I manage to actually analyse—there might be something in that mess that’s responsible for giving you the ability to interface with this like I do.”

“Boko,” Rittan said, visibly curious. “What were the blueprints you received?”

“[Palisade], [Wall], [Gate], [Cage], [Watchtower],” Boko said, listing them off. “That last one is probably a bad idea for us to try and build any time soon, considering those Efkini like attaching themselves to high places.”

“I’m surprised there aren’t any weapon blueprints or even a shield,” August said, taking a bite out of his food. “Then again, there’s probably a job for blacksmithing or armourer that would unlock those.”

Rittan reached up to tap a finger against his chin.

“I find myself intensely curious about the blueprints associated with Courtesan,” Rittan admitted, “Thoughts?”

There was a pause as everyone considered the question.

“Rope or some kind of restraint? Incense? or maybe an instrument if it leans more towards entertainment?” August guessed and then paused as the rest of the Voithos turned to look at him. “What? That’s what a courtesan is, isn’t it?”

“You are correct,” Haiko said, amused, “It’s just interesting that your initial thought was of restraint.”

Kalter rolled her eyes at the words before leaning back on the bottom pair of her hands.

“It wasn’t my first thought; it’s just the first thing I said,” August said, a bit flustered. “Rope wasn’t in any of the other job’s blueprints, and it’s something I was expecting to find already.”

“I’m not judging you, August,” Haiko said magnanimously.

“There’s nothing to judge—” August said before breathing a burst of air out of his nose. “What do you think it has in the way of blueprints, then?”

“Perhaps some kind of decorative adornment? Clothing?” Haiko wondered, still pretending not to smile. “A curtain? Some kind of bedding?”

August twitched at each of the answers. Each one was just as apt as he’d thought his own answers to have been—and with nothing that he could return fire at.