It didn't take me long to understand why Cáit was so eager to ease the pain as she moved through the dungeon at a ridiculous speed.

Fuck. Now I understand why she questioned the sledgehammer. Even in better physical condition, I would struggle to keep up with her with my short legs and that heavy thing in my hand.

I gave it everything I had, but after three sprints I was almost coughing up my lungs. Cáit realised I was having serious problems with her current pace and suddenly slowed down, allowing me to catch up.
"Are you all right?" she asked worriedly, but my miserable appearance was enough of an answer, "I can go a bit slower if you need me to".
“How bout walking speed?” I asked her with a weary smile, "I know you want to finish your quest quickly, but I will probably collapse before we reach your destination."
Cáit nodded and mumbled, “Sorry, lass. I usually do my quests solo. I forgot that not everyone is as fast as me."

As we slowed down, I was able to observe the surroundings a bit, and this dungeon reminded me of an old underground factory. I think that's probably the best way to describe it. I remembered pictures of such places from school, I could see old flickering lights and lots of old and broken pipes on the walls and ceilings.
"Do you have any idea what this building was like before it was used as a scrap yard?" I asked Cáit, and she more or less confirmed what I suspected, "We think it was an old factory. But it could be an old copper mine. Who knows. At the end of the day, it's considered a cleared area now. And that's all that matters.

I tried to follow her explanation, "Let me get this straight. A cleared dungeon is open to the public and anyone can enter it. Others are closed to the public until all enemies are defeated?"
"Simply put - yes," she replied, "when I joined my guild at the age of fourteen, this whole area was overrun with clockwork spiders, steam ghosts and, deeper in the dungeon, aggressive mechanised copper golems. It took the Adventurers' Guild a while to clear the area. Now it is up to us to keep it safe while we stroll through the dungeons looking for treasure... at least as long as the Merchant's Guild is willing to pay us."
Aurora mentioned ether several times, Cáit used the words clockwork and steam in rather unique combinations. I was beginning to get an idea of what kind of world I'd been reincarnated into.
"Sounds like fighting a few rats is the least of your worries down here?" I asked and Cáit nodded, "They're not really dangerous in small numbers. We just kill them to keep them from getting out of the dungeons."

We slowly followed the path in front of us, and while Cáit scanned the area carefully, I suddenly spotted a large door in front of us. The door was massive, definitely too big to be moved by hand. Cáit instructed me to keep looking for some sort of switch or lever as we reached the door. "Typically, they are open, but the scrap collectors got scared and closed them for safety's sake," she explained, “If we're truly dealing with a steam spirit, that precaution is rather useless since monsters are usually bound to their floor. Unlike rats... they're just annoying."
I was a little surprised at how talkative Cáit was, considering she usually handles her missions alone, but I was really grateful for it. Not only did I gain some insight into my new world, but I didn't have to start my new adventure alone. Besides, the potion she gave me was starting to work, slowly easing the pain.
"I haven't been down here for a while," Cáit added, "and it took me ages to find those levers on the other floors.
As I tried to help her, I could hear Cáit swearing like a trooper. She certainly wasn't the most patient person in the world. Unlike me - tinkering with old broken-down cars day in and day out made me extremely patient. I just couldn't stand having to do things on my own when I knew I needed a second person to help.
"Got it," Cáit called excitedly, and the mechanism that controlled the door immediately began to work. "Be prepared. We shouldn't run into anything dangerous, but you never know."

The fifth floor turned out to be rather boring. As we walked around to reach the next door, I took the opportunity to experiment with my Scavenging skill. Walking next to Cáit, I tried various commands to turn off my skill, as the constant appearance of shiny spots began to annoy me. I muttered several phrases, starting with the most obvious ones like "Scavenging off", "Skill off". After several attempts, I muttered "Reboot my fucking brain".
Cáit watched me with a mixture of irritation and amusement. "Can I help you with something? You sound frustrated."
As Cáit had already shown me how to use my personal status screen, she was aware of a few minor gaps in my knowledge. So it was surprisingly easy for me to ask for help this time.
"I learned a skill called Scavenging before we moved to this floor. That's probably why I found the sledgehammer so quickly. But I cannot switch off this skill," I explained.
Cáit nodded in understanding. "Open your status screen. Are there any updates?"
"Share status screen." I muttered.
Cáit smiled immediately, "See? There was an update. You have activated a skill called Scavenging at beginner level. I won't lie, I'm a bit surprised that you've only learned your first skill today. You are obviously a late bloomer."
I was relieved that Cáit didn't question this point and continued with her explanation.
"Open Scavenging," Cáit muttered, and suddenly a new page with further explanations appeared in front of us.
"Scavenging allows the user to easily find useful items in piles of junk and debris. It is a permanent skill that only requires a very small amount of ether," I read out loud, feeling dejected.
Unlike me, Cáit was overexcited. “Lass. Stop bitching. With this skill you are a freaking goddess."
"A junk goddess. What a step up," I started, but Cáit cut me off. "You'll get used to it. And if not, there is always someone who knows someone. The important thing is that it doesn't take much of your magic. Which reminds me... if you feel a bit dizzy, let me know... I'm not sure how well you can handle your ether and I've brought some potions to help you regenerate over time."
"You're well prepared, aren't you?" I asked Cáit and she smiled mischievously at me, "Not everyone is as crazy as you and enters an old dungeon with only a letter in their item bag. Besides, my explosions eat up a lot of my ether. I always have to carry these potions with me."
I ignored her teasing, as she couldn't know that her theory was wrong, closed my status screen, and followed the path until we reached the next locked door.

"Screw those idiots. They broke the lever," Cáit began to swear after we had wasted another ten minutes trying to find a way to open the door, "I have to finish my job. Otherwise I won't get my reward and I'll have wasted a whole day."
I slowly walked over to Cáit to see the damage for myself. Before I could reach her, the words 

Skill: Mechanical Aptitude. 
This skill allows the user to identify weak points in broken objects and repair them.

appeared in front of my eyes. I immediately opened my status screen for more information and got super excited. "Yeah baby. This is finally getting interesting."
"Let me guess. You learned something new?" Cáit asked me curiously and I nodded, "I might be able to solve your problem. But you must teach me how to use magic that is not permanent."
I had obviously piqued Cáit's interest. “Lass. If you can really fix this, I owe you," she said.
"You owe me nothing," I said quickly, "This is the least I can do for you after taking me into your care."

I looked at the mess and quickly realised that it was not a broken lever, but that they had somehow destroyed the engine. Repairing engines was my speciality, so I was convinced that I could fix this without the use of ether, as long as I had the right tools and spare parts. Unfortunately, with only a sledgehammer and a few other old tools, this seemed like a mission impossible.
"I'll explain more once we leave the dungeon, but for now just follow my instructions. I don't need to know anything about your skills - so you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. In theory, using ether always works the same way. Think about what you want to do. If you want to create a fireball, just imagine it".
For demonstration purposes, Cáit conjured up a small fireball in her hand. 
"You probably won't be able to create a fireball, as fire magic is part of my explosion skill, but I suggest you try it yourself within the limits of your abilities."
"In other words - all I have to do is imagine that I want to repair the engine and it should just work?" I asked again and Cáit nodded, "I'm not sure it will be that easy in your case. But you could try. But you might have to chain a few steps together.”The second part of the explanation made more sense to me, as it would have been too overpowering if simply imagining repairing things was enough to fix problems - especially at beginner level.
"I'll give it a try," I muttered, closing my eyes to concentrate fully on identifying the problem. A little pressure and tension built up deep inside me as I said the word 'Analyse'.
When I opened my eyes again, I noticed something glowing red in the engine, accompanied by a brief description telling me that the steam lines had been damaged.

"Cáit, don't blame the junk collectors. The steam line responsible for moving the door is broken. It's not their fault," I explained, "with the right materials I could probably fix the problem in a few minutes, even without the use of ether."
Cáit nodded, but her mischievous smile returned. "Where's the fun in fixing it manually when you can do it with ether?" she remarked, "You'll hardly get a better opportunity to learn more about your skills than now."
She was definitely right - it would have taken us forever to find something good enough in the junk to repair or replace the damaged steam line, so I closed my eyes again and repeated the same process as before - the only difference being that I was trying to repair the lever by saying “repair”. 
"Holy crap," said Cáit, completely taken aback, as she began to describe to me what was going on.
Out of the blue, some spare parts came flying towards the damaged lever from the surrounding scrap heaps to repair the broken line. Cáit was not very precise in her explanation, but she did mention that hemp had been placed at the point of rupture and that some screws and iron plates had been used as clamps to hold it in place.
"I've only heard rumours about it - but are you by any chance able to use any kind of repair magic? The scavenging skill was a bit weird... but what I'm seeing right now is absolutely amazing," she said excitedly.
I couldn't answer right away as I was concentrating on repairing the steam line. But Cáit's excitement piqued my curiosity and I couldn't resist taking a peek. In retrospect, that probably wasn't the best idea. Apparently Cáit also noticed that I was suddenly struggling as she began to instruct me, "Keep your eyes closed. Stay focused."

A few moments later, the red colour in front of my closed eyes turned green and I could hear the sound of the lever. When I opened my eyes again, the door to the next floor was already half open. Repairing things must take a lot more ether than my scavenging skills, because I suddenly felt a bit dizzy. I asked Cáit, "Could you give me one of those potions you mentioned earlier? I'm not feeling very well right now." Cáit nodded. "Not really a surprise," she said as she handed me a small bottle, "You seem very inexperienced, and the magic you just used is rather unusual here in Yorkchester."
I was surprised that Cáit hadn't asked many personal questions yet, but I had a feeling that was about to change.
"Strange, dirty clothes, an almost empty item bag, some rare skills and no idea about the use of ether," Cáit began, "I hope you understand that I have to ask this question now. Are you from one of the northern city states? You certainly didn't grow up in Yorkchester or any of the surrounding lands. Otherwise you would at least know the basics".
Interestingly, answering "yes" wouldn't even be a lie, as both my old hometown of York and my birthplace of Manchester are in the North of England. 
"I really hate to talk about myself, but yes - I am from the North," I replied calmly, "My mum died when I was born. My dad had to work a lot. He had no time to teach me how to use ether - but at least he taught me how to read, write and do simple arithmetic before he died."

Looking at Cáit's face, I had the feeling she knew she was crossing a line with her question. But she obviously believed my story and had no reason to doubt my words.
"I'm really sorry," she murmured softly, and I suddenly felt guilty for having to change the truth slightly.
"No worries. I understand you had to ask. But I'm just a lonely nobody with a sad past. Besides - some ghost is waiting for us."