I choked on my dumpling.
"Wha- cough! What?!" I almost shouted. "What the fuck is a half?"
"A Halve, my ignorant companion, are born of E'er." She took a sip from the bottle. "I've had better."
The e in Halve is stressed? I shook my head.
A realization struck her.
"Right! I'm such an idiot!" she facepalmed. "How old are you?" she asked almost sticking herself to me.
"Uhh... I woke up about a day or two ago." I counted in my mind.
"Well, there it is." Lapia pointed at me, sitting back down. "You are a being of E'er. Born with incredible power, but really ignorant. There is no centralized nation or anything of the sort for you, though. Halves are mostly independent from all others. That's good, too. Nobody wants a super nation full of ultra beings." she drank a bit. "Let me guess. You woke up in a forest?"
"That I did. Why?" I finished my first dumpling. "Want another?"
"Sure, thanks." the elf received a second treasure of culinary arts with glee. "You Halves are born in places where E'er gather. Forests, caves, volcanoes, deserts. Anywhere that could gather enough E'er can birth a Halve. We're surrounded by forests for thousands of kilometers. Of course, those places are dangerous to any other species. Powerful monsters live around gathering spots. That's as much as I know, though. My bad."
"Nah, that's a lot to process. Thanks." I sighed.
I'm not human. I pondered. Well, not anymore.
"How long do we live?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Hmm . As long as you don't die of either illness or a fatal wound, you can live longer than us Elves." she saw my raised eyebrow. "That is, thousands of years."
"Can I have children?" I asked after a while.
"Yes, but you'd have to try for yourself." she shrugged. "I've heard that your fertility rate is as low as it gets. Understandably so. Nature is the way it is for a reason."
"What about Elves?" I asked.
"Our cycle comes once every fifty years. The longer the lifespan, the lower the fertility. That's how it works."
As she said so, she handed me the empty pet bottle. I took it and put it in my inventory. I had a lot to think about, so I kept silent. She must have noticed, because she too, didn't say a word.
Time passed with us to ourselves. The river kept widening and we passed through some rudimentary bridges which crossed many streams that fed into its size.
A being born of magic, huh. I thought. If that's not a convenient excuse for ignorance in a fantasy world, I don't know what is. I could ride on this heaven sent background. Nobody needs to know I come from another world, really.
I bit the air a couple times, the crisp sound of my teeth reaching my ears.
Definitely not a dream, then. I sighed. Not counting the killing earlier, this seems like a pretty good situation I'm in. I don't have to work 8 to 5 anymore. Whatever happened to the 'me' from earth is up to speculation. Those mental gymnastics escape me. I am, or was, an artist, not an inter-dimensional expert.
"It really works like that, huh." Lapia said to herself as late evening turned into night.
"What does?" I asked. We had been silent for the last few hours.
"I'm getting a feeling of duty." the Elf said turning to me. "It is said that those who encounter newly born Halves get an inescapable feeling of responsibility to teach them about the workings of the world. I never understood that, mostly chalking it up to attempts to promote the selflessness of those who told the tales. Lies, in other words. But now I understand, though I can't properly explain it."
"That... sounds creepy." I cringed a bit. "The workings of the world? What does that even mean?"
Like getting a quest? I wondered. You've met Natasha, explain the world and fuck slow exposition!
"That's E'er for you." she shrugged. "It means seeing E'er. Or what we refer to as 'seeing E'er'. It's easier to learn when you present it like that, really. The actual mechanics are too complex for a simple explanation." she extended a hand and produced a fist sized flame. "E'er is in everything. If you learn how to read it, information will be provided. What you can see is limited to what you know in most cases. If you meet the unknown, the uncharted or that which lies beyond, you will see very little, if not nothing. But you're a Halve, E'er will react to that." she extinguished the flame and pointed at a bird flying by. "All beings have a measure of E'er in them. There have been many ways in which the amount of E'er is categorized. In current times, however, there is a single universal term accompanied by a magnitude represented by a number. Are you following so far?" she turned to me.
I was wide eyed and my mouth was hanging open. This sounds like science. I nodded.
"Good." she chuckled at my reaction. "The bird that flew by is a Level five Gorrooter. Level being the way of measure, and five being the magnitude. That is the most basic of information. You will always be able to see that unless the measure is well beyond your capabilities. You, for example. All I read at first was your species. Now I can see your name. Your 'level' is not disclosed, due to it being way beyond my reach. I could see your species because I've met your kind before. You with me?"
The Elf had my complete and total attention. I nodded once more.
"Take those bandits from before. They attacked as soon as they saw an opportunity. I guess they've never met a Halve before. Things would've ended very different if they knew your species. They must have mistaken you for a human, a demi, or thought it was an illusion. I bet all they saw was 'Unknown' until they connected what little they knew with what they witnessed. This... 'system' can backfire like that. However, you can't hide you species to those who know. People believe it can be done mostly due to ignorance. You can, on the other hand, misdirect. Instead of showing your species, it shows something else, but it can't show 'nothing'." she shook her head.
"How can I see, then?" I asked expectantly.
"For you who are born of E'er, it's way easier than for us born of flesh. Try reading me. Focus on the E'er within me and attempt to give meaning to it." she explained.
"Okay, I'll try." I focused on her.
At first, nothing happened. I could neither see nor feel this 'E'er' thing she talked about.
What in the flying fuckitty fuck is E'er anyway. It's 'magical' in nature. So, 'Mana'?
It's in everything. I am born of it. 'That which lies in front of you is a reflection of yourself'. I remembered what my counselor once said.
As that thought formed in my mind, something clicked. Unconsciously, I connected what I understood 'mana' was from the fantasy genre of literature, covering thousands of iterations on the concept. From this marvelous thing that fell from the sky as a gift of the gods to a foul curse from demons. Every take of 'mana' I've read before coalesced into one. Maybe subconsciously I translated it to a scientific understanding. Whatever the case was, it was undeniable that something clicked.
[Lapia, Level 172 Domi Elf Pyromancer.]
"Oh, fuck!" was all I could say. A slight numbness spread on top of my skull.
"What did you see?" she asked. Her eyes flashing with interest.
"I see your name, level, species, race and it says you're a Pyromancer." I said while rubbing my head.
"Hmm. Race and class. Not something I shared. Must be the difference in level." she said to herself. "Check yourself now." she said turning to me.
"Alright." I focused.
-Hoplite Lvl 450 (Open Skills)
-Lancer Lvl 450 (Open Skills)
-Dragoon Lvl 450 (Open Skills)
"HOLY SHIT!!!" I screamed unconsciously. Lapia jerked in surprise. "What the fuck are those numbers?!"
"What do you mean?" she asked before raising a hand. "No, don't tell me. I apologize. It's taboo to share that information."
"This looks inflated as fuuuuck." I breathed out in disbelief. "I have SO many questions." I looked at her with wide eyes.
"No. It's taboo." she shook her head.
"Do I look like I give a fuck about that?" I grabbed her shoulders. "What's-"
"AHHH! I CAN'T HEAAAR YOOOOU!!" the Elf closed her eyes, covered her ears and started shouting over my voice.
I let go of her. She continued making noise for a while. It was hilarious and slightly annoying.
As Lapia shouted with closed eyes and covered ears, I was doing math inside my head. However, the Elf-turned banshee beside me wasn't helping.
I tapped her shoulder and did a silencing gesture when she cracked open an eye. She nodded and went back to normal.
"I won't push. Please be quiet though, I'm trying to figure things out." she nodded again and I focused back on the road ahead.
So. It looks daunting but it must be quite simple in reality. I thought. And sure enough, after about thirty minutes I was close to a definitive conclusion.
Doing some 'simple' math, I arrived at the answer of the status inflation.
Plus four in strength, I guess, every level. Two for constitution. Three for dexterity. The other two got half a point every level. That is, assuming the classes were there since level one. But I didn't level up. True, my character was max level, but the system didn't work in the game. Well, that was a game, can't expect it to be real life. However, health points in reality?
"Hey, I have a question, it's not about my numbers or anything, but about the nature of things." I leaned back on the cart seat.
"If I know the answer." she said after a moment of contemplation.
"If I receive a million damage at once on the tip of my finger, will I die?" I looked up at the dark night sky, the moons already in sight.
"What?" she held back laughter. "Of course not. You'll lose a finger, though." she fixed a few locks of hair that had been rustled when she covered her ears. "Health numbers and damage is a dodgy topic. There are way too many factors that influence them to have a satisfactory answer as far as I know." her voice trailed off as a yawn escaped her. "Anyway, they represent reality, not influence it."
"Fair enough." though the specifics escaped me, I was sure I'd understand more some other day. "Get some sleep. I hardly feel tired. I do, however, need to take a piss." I had been suppressing the urge for a few hours now.