The aspect people envy us the most is our strength, our ability to control the elements, but what they do not understand is that our greatest advantages are the near-immunity to all disease and extended longevity.

  Even just awakening slows one’s aging by one and a half times. Reaching the second realm halves the time’s ravage, while a fifth realm knight or mage could under ideal circumstances live for up to six and a half centuries. As for tenth realm Exalts, it is difficult for one as lowly as myself to guess, but histories speak of heroes whose longevities spanned between fifteen and twenty thousand years.

  — Excerpt from Introduction to Realm Cores

  Day 7, 9:00 AM

  “What?”

  “I know, right? That was my first thought as well!” I grinned. “Why would anyone poison me? I know nothing about this world, I have no idea what’s happening, and the first memory I have is of someone trying to kill me. So I came here, trying to figure things out.”

  She looked at me as if I was mentally challenged, which in all honesty, Dandelion Blackfist deserved.

  “Somebody tried to poison you in your castle and you decided to solve the problem by visiting the library?” I think I broke something inside her, her eyes going out of focus. “Really? How did you think that would solve the problem?”

  “Well, my butler told me nobody would dare attack me here, and there are books, meaning I can learn stuff while I’m recovering and thinking about what I should do next.”

  Her expression shifted from incredulity to silent contemplation, time to break that one as well.

  “But now I’m hungry, and I’m going out to grab a bite to eat.” I looked at her with the best sparkly idiot eyes I could muster. “Can I pay for food with these gems, and if not, could you lend me some money? I can trade you for a shiny.”

  Anger and disdain flood back into her eyes.

  “Who do you think I am? Do you think I need to rob a braindead bandit?”

  Interesting choice of words, I think as she buries her hand into her pocket and draws a fistful of gold and silver coinage.

  “Here! Go eat something, and make sure to stay alive. You are strong, but you are vulnerable if you don’t know how to use that strength.” She sank deep in thought, staring at my bright, clear eyes.

  I drew the breath needed to express my sincerest thanks, but she didn’t let me speak.

  “Ah, fine, I’ll take you out for a meal.” She suddenly turned around and raised her voice. “I’m taking my break early, sir.”

  There was no response, but she grabbed my wrist and led me out.

  “There’s a decent place where I take my weekly lunch. I’m surprised an initiate could stay awake and without food for so long.”

  What’s an Initiate?

  “What’s an initiate?” I let Blunt vent, but lately the trait’s random vocal outbursts caused me no problems. Probably because my thoughts have grown clearer with the passage of centuries.

  “A person who has expanded their core to the third realm.” She glances back at me and notices my confusion. “You don’t even know that?”

  “I read the Introduction to Realm Cores. It was an interesting read, but it sounded like nonsense to me. Someone’s power fantasy.”

  Water manifested around the librarian’s hand, tendrils coiling down to grab my arm and squeeze while my sleeves remained perfectly dry.

  “It’s no fantasy. I’m constricting you with enough force to crush a commoner’s arm, yet you’re completely unharmed. In fact, you’re surprisingly durable, considering you’re a mere townlord whose domain borders the Summersweald.”

  Several thoughts vied for my brain’s processing power, the most immediate winning.

  Assuming Introduction to Realm Cores was correct, the librarian was at least a third realm mage. Since she revealed her ability so readily, it stands to reason that the empire uses third realm mages as librarians, and she seems to have a supervisor.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  The book stated awakened are one in a thousand, ninety percent of them knights, nine percent mages, and with one in a hundred being a mageknight.

  My mouth voiced the second most important thought. “What is Summersweald, and why is it important?”

  She looks at me with wide eyes again, and I tap my temple with my index finger doing my best to give her a harmless grin.

  “Right,” she says slowly. “Follow me, I will explain things while we eat.”

  I follow in silence, compiling questions for the nicely presented shortcut, and wonder about why the aloof librarian suddenly wanted to help me. With a thought I summon my other screen, the one showing the class and achievements which carry through different lives.

  [Anarchist Level 7

  Abilities - Rage, Redo, Blunt, Heavy Handed, Direct, Insightful, Precise, Amicable, Visionary, Godly ??, Gate Sealer ??, Vengeful ?, Grandmaster Rider ?

  To level up, force the authorities to impose justice upon a party they had previously ignored.]

  It could be Amicable, allegedly it improves my odds of positive reactions when interacting with other humans, but there’s no way to confirm such a thing. The next likeliest culprit could be my high presence and charisma, or maybe the librarian has a thing for amnesiacs.

  We took a turn and entered a back alley — a surprisingly clean and fragrant back alley. Someone had taken the effort to polish it and place a bunch of potted plants all around to neutralize the smell. I recognized them all, thanks to the books I had read. Other than smelling nice, they also repelled various vermin.

  The librarian ducked into the unmarked door, and I followed behind her, realizing I didn’t even know her name.

  “Good day, Basil. I’ll have two of your daily specials and a bottle of my wine.” She nodded at the innkeeper before heading to a private corner and pulling closed the curtain. “He’s a passable cook, but you can’t find decent wine in these parts.”

  She sat and motioned me to do the same.

  “Now, I will answer some of your questions, and then I will ask you about various topics. Don’t even consider lying, I can tell.”

  She lied. I have enough experience with people, and she made no reactions when I served her lies and half-truths in the past half an hour or so. She would have called me on those already if she could really read me.

  “Sure, I have nothing to hide.” Such a huge lie, and again, not a hint of reaction from her.

  “So what is Summersweald? And why is it important, but before that,” I stood and stretched my hand towards her. “Hello, I am the nameless townlord, who are you? And who am I by the way?”

  She looked at me incredulously, then her lips spread in a fine smile showing healthy teeth.

  “You are Dandelion Blackfist, a bandit and robber who reached a high enough realm for the imperial administration to offer you a pardon in exchange for defending this remote outpost from invading saurians.”

  Well, that explained the initial bad impression.

  “My name is Ruby, an imperial librarian and a fourth realm mage.” Her smile turned ferocious. “I could have crushed you with a thought even when you were at your peak, let alone now. Don’t try anything funny.”

  I gulped and tried to pale a bit, but I wasn’t sure I managed it. I would need to practice facial expressions before a mirror for a loop or two.

  “As for Summersweald and its importance, Summersweald is where the saurians live, they rarely leave their borders, but incidents happen once every century or so. With that date past due, the imperial administration in their infinite wisdom,” heavy sarcasm suddenly bled into her words, “saw fit to promote a third realm bandit and his gang of second realm thugs as supervisors of this area. Ignoring the victims, they pardoned their crimes, and gave them respectable jobs, because they found the solution cheaper than hiring independent contractors, often called adventurers.”

  Quite a bit of hate festered in her eyes. Her glare scorched my flesh, or at least tried to, and I shrinked back.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You should be,” she hissed through her clenched teeth. “I have been here before they appointed you townlord. You and your men have stole, raped, and murdered with no consideration for others, using the other distractions the imperial administration faced to run rampant.”

  “Why didn’t you just kill us?”

  “I wanted to, when I caught wind of your atrocities, you are—you were an evil man, but I am a mere library slave. I can’t leave my post.”

  You’re a what?

  My eyes bulged sufficiently without me having to act. A fourth realm mage was a slave?

  “Yes, I am a slave, and you are a free man, yet another insult to my dignity. If my teacher wasn’t a slave too, I might have really run away from my post to slaughter you, consequences be damned.”

  “What? How?”

  “As you should have realized by now, everything is expensive. Resources to advance your realm, even the resources you need to awaken in the first place come with impossible price tags. Since we can’t get them any other way, most knights and mages become slaves in exchange for manarium, tutorage, and other necessities. The fortunate few who come from wealthy backgrounds can avoid such fate, as can those who rob and evade the law for long enough.” Even with her saying I wasn’t the same evil man, her glare wasn’t any less scalding.

  I couldn’t blame her either. She tried to be an upstanding citizen, did everything by the book, and a marauder became a townlord while she was a slave.

  Funny thing how every world’s politics boiled down to the exact same ending.