The Lucky Goose tavern tonight is much the same as last night, the people at each table have changed, but it's still half full of a diverse bunch of folk willing to spill Monster blood for coin.

I head to the bar again the same as yesterday. The friendly hawk looking fellow named Antonin is manning the counter once more.

“Drinking?”

“Uh, maybe, what would a Tae get me?”

“Got yourself some coin then? Sure you don’t want another freebie? I’ve got another one of those mugs of beer with your name on it.”

Internally, I wince. I hate handouts.

“I’m grateful for yesterday, however I wouldn't want to abuse your hospitality."

“Suit yourself, we take care of Newcomers around here, but I’m not going to turn you down if you want to pay your way.”

That's the sort of attitude I can appreciate. Paying my way is a must.

“For a Tae you can have the same as last night,” he continues. 

The watered down beer from before. Barely alcoholic. I certainly do not want to be drunk, I need to be clearly thinking while I look for fellow Hunters to team up with.

“One of those would be great.”

“One watered down beer coming up then.”

That reminds me. I hope I'm not going to like, get dysentery.

“So, this is safe to drink right?”

Antonin snorts. 

“Lady I used to work at a water treatment plant in Chicago, you’re not in the middle ages, everything is safe to drink I assure you.”

Huh.

“Right, sorry, this is still all hard to take in.”

His smile is placating. 

“Thanks again,” I mumble.

Awkward.

About halfway through my drink I turn to take in the assorted patrons. I’m trying to tell the big fish from the small fish but the nuances elude me. 

I do however, see the redhead halfling from yesterday sitting alone swirling her drink looking both bored and angry. She is local I think, and a safe prospect for more work.

I stand up and make my way towards her. Maybe she'll be a more suitable teammate than Bvench and Dorg were. I can't imagine why she doesn't already have a bunch of teammates, she looks like a little hellraiser ready to rip apart Monsters with her bare hands. What's not to love?

“Still looking for Party members?” I ask when I arrive at her table.

“You looking to interview?” she counters.

Her voice has an airy quality to it, an edge, and an undercurrent of hostility.  

“I might be, can I sit?”

The halfling's scowl morphs into an accusatory grin.

“Depends, are you a slacker? I’ve got no time for that.” 

I slide into a seat. It's a rough wooden thing and for about the thousandth time this week I’m missing the creature comforts of back home. 

“Nope, can’t say I am. I’ve got coin to earn, and I plan on doing it by Monster Hunting.”

Hopefully that is a proper and professional sounding answer.

“You new in town? I haven't seen you around,” she asks, both accusingly and with a renewed scowl.

I know how to at least act confident in these sorts of situations. That was basically my entire life before arriving here.

“I am new, a just arrived Newcomer actually. Name is Evelyn,” I reply casually.

Her harsh demeanor softens significantly.

“Ah, Sorry for the attitude. I’ve been here less than a year myself. I’m Deirdre. How long since you arrived?”

“Less than a week,” I answer.

She pales then leans forward onto the table all the stern intimidation gone from her body language.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry. Only a week? How are things going, are they feeding you alright, do you need anything?” she asks in a hushed tone.

Wait, what happened to the angry lady a head shorter than me that was staring me down seconds ago?

It’s a bit of tonal whiplash from her standoffish introduction but I’m mostly just relieved by the shift. This isn’t my world and I don’t know how to fit in yet. Give me a corporate board meeting any day.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Made my first payout today. Swords are freaking expensive.”

Leaning back, she settles into her chair and takes a quick sip of her drink.

“So, you're a sword fighter then?”

“Oh no, actually I’m a support caster. But I figure I still need a good sword right?”

“A support caster? So what can you do?” she asks eagerly, ignoring my eailer question. 

"Well, I’ve got three Spells right now, a healing one, a defense increase, and an attack increase."

Surely that is enough of an explanation for casual conversation.

“Hmm," she replies, "I use a spear. Light armor, quick attacks in-and-out you know, that sort of style. I’d call myself a skirmisher if you asked me to put a label on it. Your Spell spread is pretty nifty, variety can be really useful. Do you have Abilities for combat with your sword?”

“Abilities with my sword? What do you mean?”

"Your Abilities."

"Huh?"

“I mean like, if you have to attack with your sword how would you do so?”

“Uh? I don’t know, I’d just attack with it, swing or stab or something?”

What on Earth is she talking about? 

Well, not Earth anymore I guess.

“What about with a mace?” she asks.

“Bash them in the head?”

“You don’t have a weapon or fighting style that calls to you, like your Spells but different?”

“I... don’t really know what you’re talking about. Were they supposed to tell me about this at the Newcomer Building?”

Did I miss weapon training?

“They should have helped you connect to your Mana so you could understand it. Do you feel like your Mana would help you attack in any way?”

“No..?” I carefully reply.

“Maybe you don’t have anything then, just pure Spellcasting.”

Okay hold the phone.

“Well wait, wait wait wait, what’s it like for you? I thought people with weapons were just you know, swinging them. Just like we would back on Earth.”

“Yes but no, magic turns your body into something that works best for you. My attacks are at my strongest while they are fueled with Mana. Sure I could still strike with my spear if I was out of Mana but the attack would be less accurate, less powerful, and slower.”

Can I do that too? Why is this the first I'm hearing about using Mana like this.

“So you don’t have any sort of Mana fueled Abilities?”

“You keep saying Abilities, is that a thing? Is that what using Mana to fight with a weapon is called?”

“They go by many names I think, but yes. Mana fuels my Abilities. I mostly like to use a polearm because they feel right to me.”

“Okay, got it. So no Abilities then for me, just my Spells I guess.”

“Well that's no big deal. Pure Spellcasters get by just fine, in fact not having Abilities probably lets you focus on your Spells even more, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some people blend the two, some people forgo Spell casting all together and instead use their Abilities with weapons or barehanded. Each approach works.

At least as far as I’ve seen and understood. I don’t really know what really radioactive Hunters get up to."

“What about people that don’t use their magic to kill Monsters, what about farmers and blacksmiths and stuff?”

“Same principle right? Use an Ability to be faster with a farm tool or use a magic Spell to cut down crops with a big blade of magic. Craftspeople seem to get by just fine with their Abilities and Spells, even if they don't tend to train them at the same intensity that us Hunters do."

"Well okay then, so you use Abilities to fight I take it?"

"I sure do. Like a lot of Hunters I slowly channel Mana while fighting to better use my chosen weapon. Besides that I've got a few active Abilities and a Spell. Now I could just tell you about them, or if we Party up I could show you."

Deirdre folds her hands together and leans closer with a predatory glint in her green eyes.

“So how about it. Want to give it a go tomorrow, I’ll take it easy on you I guess, don’t want you keeling over.”

 

***

 

Deirdre has not been taking it easy on me. Bvench and Dorg comparatively felt like a stroll out past the farmlands. Deirdre sets a blistering pace, and we've been at it since sunrise.

We head from small hill to small hill surveying the plains. We search for gullies and small wooded copses. She’s dead set on finding wherever beasts are lurking and it doesn’t even take us two hours until we’ve found a Monster. Yesterday I was still getting dressed in freebie Newcomer clothes at this hour. 

The creature that comes barreling out of the brush is a cross between a pig and a porcupine. So basically a demonic wild boar with red quills and neon gray eyes. It had been hiding in dense foliage between two small ridges but came rushing towards us as soon as we neared.

Per our earlier agreement I would be handling this fight a little differently. I’d be casting Aegis and Recovery whenever I deemed them needed, but Deirdre would call out for Empower when she was ready to press her attack. 

What that would look like, I wasn’t sure.

The Monster’s tactics are less subtle, it bull rushes Deirdre grunting and wheezing all the while. Deirdre, for her part is dashing forward to intercept. She moves so quickly in her light leathers, nothing like my heavily armored lumbering dwarven companions of yesterday. The tip of Deirdre's long spear glints in the morning light as it bobs at her side.

When the distance between them closes I cast Aegis.

Deirdre has her spear out and is already warding off the beast’s charge, she side steps while keeping her weapons tip in the creature's face, the effect is that she gets around behind it and the Monster misses entirely. 

I’m waiting to cast Empower but the command never comes. 

Deirdre stabs and swipes with alacrity and precision, but none of the attacks appear to do much damage. At first I think she is struggling against the beast but when the creature lunges she gives it an easy slice near the neck while weaving to its side. Perhaps she was just gauging the Monster's prowess. She leaps forward and back, batting away the lunges and spin attacks from the spiny demon hog.

“Now!” she cries.

I send Empower her way as she dances behind the Monster with a bout of sudden lightning fast footwork. By the time the creature has turned around to reface its opponent Deirdre is already bringing her spear down for a powerful stab. It pierces into the back of the pig Monster but isn't nearly enough to finish it off.

Deirdre has bounced away instantly while the Monster tries desperately to gore her, she’s diving back in and with three quick swipes it's all over. 

The Monster bellows and falls prone, bleeding profusely from its neck and face. Deirdre is there with a killing blow to the skull and the demon pig is no more. 

I’m left slack jawed. That fight was as quick as it was brutal. Clearly, she has a lot of experience. 

Deirdre wipes at her forehead and stabs her spear into the ground.

“Alright! That was a good one. That little maneuver is an Ability I call Rapid Movement, gives me a short but powerful burst of speed. Come here and help me dress this thing, I’ve got good hearing, so no need to keep watch while we work.”

I’m over in a flash as I remember my other role when it comes to this sort of stuff, healer.

“Are you hurt, I’ve got healing magic too,” I remind her. 

“Just a few scratches from those quills, I’m fine.”

Still, I should probably heal her anyways, it’s not like there is a reason I shouldn't right?

“Well here let me try to take care of them, I don’t actually know how effective this will be.”

I cast Recovery.

“Oh, this feels nice! Okay let's get to work and gut this thing.”

I try to find the scratches she’s talking about but can’t spot them. I hope my healing works.

"So I’ve only watched this part, the butchering I mean..."

I want to have the stomach for this kind of thing. I understand that these Monsters are dangerous, and need to be put down, and that it would be a huge waste to not eat what we kill, but still. I can work a broken copier, not cut up a wild boar.

I collected both of our backpacks, which have viscera resistant oilcloth and draw string where we’re going to be keeping the meat.

A thought occurs to me.

“What about just hauling the whole thing back and letting someone else do this?”

“Well it’s only our first kill, and the scavengers need to eat too, so we’ll take the good bits.”

First..?

“First kill, were you expecting more?” 

“Right, you’re new. Listen I’m going to take it easy on you today, but we should at least take down two more Monsters if we can find a second and third. Unless your Mana is low, are you going to be okay for three in one day?”

Three in one day, That's a lot of Monsters. I’ll have all my mana back in a few minutes.

“Yes? I should be back up to full mana pretty soon.”

“Oh that's even better! I’m glad your Spells have such low cost, how are you on cooldown? What sort of wait are we looking between Spells?

“I’m ready to cast again actually. You just ended the fight so quickly I didn’t have any reason to.”

She looks at me curiously.

“How are your scratches doing?” I ask.

She bends her arms over to check her elbows and nods.

“All healed up. So you’re ready to cast again that quickly?”

“I am, yes.”

“And your Mana will be full again shortly?”

“Also yes.”

“Each of those effects lasted about thirty seconds right?”

“They did, and recharge is sixty seconds, if my brain is to be believed. I should probably test that with an outside observer at some point.”

She continues squatting on her heels, bloody knife in hand, lost in thought.

“Single target, and with effects and durations like that you should be pretty well off, you’ve got a nice set of Spells to start with. I don’t think you’ll have trouble finding a party to accept you for the longer term.”

She gestures with her knife toward the sword at my hip.

“Even if you don’t know how to use that thing most everyone should see the benefits of keeping you on board. You’ll want to try to develop a Spell that can be cast on an entire Party though. That will be the icing on the cake.

“The entire Party. What do you mean?”

She looks almost angry.

“I could have sworn they sat you down and told you about this sort of stuff when you were Reborn.”

Uh oh.

“I mean, they did. There is this really nice elfy lady named Mellisa and golem named Evans, and several others, I don’t remember everyone's name off the top of my head.”

“Well, You ought to know know how your Spells work before leaving town. Tell me, who can you cast a Spell on?”

“Myself, or someone else. Also this might sort of be my fault, I was itching to get out here and do some adventuring.”

“Of course you were. Think harder about your targets. Can you cast your Spells at a random passerby in town?”

I strain to imagine it.

“I think? Yes.”

“Imagine they didn’t like you, could you still cast it?”

“What has that got to do with it?”

“Its just, an in-group out-group sort of thing. I’m in your Party right? What do you understand conceptually when I say Party?”

Hmm, What is a Party? Well it could be a lot of things… Me and Deirdre are in a Party obviously.

Oh! Not just a party, but a Party.

A concept magically solidifies in my mind. The concept of Party in this world. Not like a vague personal notion, but an infallible pure definition. 

“Okay, um, Party got it. 10 people or less, who have teamed up, and who want to be teamed up.”

“Yes, close enough. Now ask yourself can you only cast a Spell on someone if they're in your Party.”

“Yes… wait no.”

Aw heck this is hard to think about.

“I’m not much of a Spellcaster Evelyn. Maybe try to think about one Spell at a time?”

Thinking about it, I know I could cast a Spell on a stranger that consented to me doing so.

"I can target anyone that lets me, or my Party members whenever I choose to, I think."

Deirdre's expression is unreadable. 

“Now, some Spells can target the entire Party. Not just someone in that Party, but the entire Party itself.”

I feel out to my Spells. I know they can target me or someone else, was I thinking about targets too narrowly?” 

My three Spells are single target. I could target just myself. Just someone else inside of my Party, and… yes. Yes, also the entity known as Party.

I reach out in my mind and press the execute command for Aegis, this time I’m not targeting Deirdre, or Myself, I’m mentally pointing at the concept of Party as the target of my spell.

Deirdre, is looking at me waiting for me to say something. Her questioning face has a sort of endearing goofy quality to it. 

“So... I can cast my three Spells over the entire Party.”

“Well okay then. There you go, icing on top just like I said. You’re set kid, now help me peel the skin off this dead Monster.”

“Kid? How do you know I’m not older than you?”

I might feel 20 again but that’s because being Reborn took a decade off my figure.

She glares at me and smirks.

“Because you were literally Reborn like yesterday? Come here and learn to field dress.”

And with that we get to work. It takes almost half an hour to sort out the Monster bits.

"Say, when am I going to get to see those other abilities of yours?"

"Huh? Oh. You did, Rapid Movement remember? I should have enough Mana in an hour or so for another fun one I can show off, I call it Rapid Strikes, you can guess what that one does."

She's still recharging. Wow, that Ability must have used a lot of Mana, makes sense, it was crazy powerful.

The next Monster dies as quickly as the first. I’m worn out from all the running around, its maybe noon when we spot the demonic feathered wolf hybrid. This creature is fast on it’s feet, but Deirdre is faster. We’ve just finished skinning and cutting out the best meat to add to our backpacks when Deirdre informs me that we can get back to hunting for our next target.”

“Mercy please, I don’t know if I have more hours of running around in me,” I beg.

I’m tired, sweaty, These boots are killing my feet. I’ve got blood under my finger nails and all I've had to eat since breakfast is bread crusts and water.

Deirdre stretches by arching her spine forward and rolling her shoulders out.

“Done already, aw, but we were doing so well.”

“You do this all day? When do you rest?!”

“At night, like everyone else,” she says, “Fine fine.”

Deirdre looks genuinely frustrated for a moment and quickly pushes past it with a quick shake of her head.

She starts whinging quietly.

“You’re a Newcomer, gotta be nice to Newcomers. Everyone Reborn was a Newcomer once upon a time and it's really shitty to be mean to someone that just died,” she mumbles it to me as much as she says it to herself. 

“Who patrols at night then?” I ask to help clear the mood.

“I don’t know, people whose bodies are better suited to working at night? Less people go hunting far afield though, just lookouts and perimeter checks. At least in Waldonton."

"Gotcha."

My backpack is heavy with Monster meat, and it makes goopy sliding around sounds as I adjust my shoulder straps.

Deirdre breathes out deeply and looks my way.

“Tell you what. Why don't we swing south along the plains until we’re skirting the crop fields, and if we haven't spotted more Monsters by then we head into the market to sell our haul.”

“Okay? I don’t really know the area. If we get lost out here I’m screwed. I worked in an office back home. This is very very new to me.”

I wince a bit.

“Sorry, not supposed to bring up Earth stuff right?”

Deirdre sighs.

“It's fine, nobody is going to freak out at the mention of an office. Generally it's rude to talk about Earth stuff because you might screw with someone's head, but if you don’t say anything dangerous, nobody cares.”

I raise an eyebrow at her.

She raises an eyebrow back at me.

"So what’s dangerous?” I ask cheekily. 

She sighs.

“People places or things that might like you know, be only relevant to your time. Listen, actually, just don’t talk about earth.”  

“So I could ask you why some people look like elves from Lord of the Rings?”

“Ah, so you’ve read Tolkien?”

Instantly I’m terrified I could have just fucked up. Sure the books are old as dirt, but the movies I’ve been thinking about are from the 2000s, and as far as I know some people here are from as far back as the 1950s.

“Heh, yes, right, anyways moving on. I’m just going to not talk about Earth stuff.”

“That’s usually best.”

 

***

 

The deals Deirdre makes at the market seem to be really good. A few butchers were happy to clean us out of meat. I’m up a bunch of coin and have obtained a free bloody gore stained backpack on top of it.

“Welp that's it then, a good day's work I suppose. Not bad Evelyn, not bad especially for a new arrival. If you can hack it we should Party up again some time. Your buffs are pretty helpful.“

My buffs are helpful? Hell yeah!

“Yeah that sounds good.”

“Where are you off to now? Do I need to point you towards some reputable shops? Do you need anything?”

Food for one.

“I figured I’d wash up and see what the Newcomer building is serving for dinner.”

Once again something I've said has perturbed my new companion, she grumbles under her breath.

“You’re still eating at the Newcomer building? Don’t they only have like water soup and day old crunchy bread there?”

“Yes..? Should I not be?”

“Well if you work hard like you did today you can afford to eat better than that. Not every Spell is going to use as little mana as your current Spells do, and it pays wonders for Mana regeneration to go to sleep well fed on Monster meat.”

I don’t come out and tell her that I’m pretty much always at full Mana. Is that not normal?

“I guess maybe I need recommendations for dinner then.”

Deirdre heaves another sigh that tells me she is being put out but is too polite to be rude to me.

“Come on then, I’ll do you one better, let's wash up and I will introduce you to Waldonton's worst kept secret, and the best joint in town.”