52 – A bit concerning, to be honest.

I stood up and walked to the bookshelves and spent a couple of minutes searching for a lighter read while Pokora finished her reading. I found some fifty volumes of the book series 'Understanding Galeia', but the titles weren't exactly that tempting. Plus, they were pretty thick.

I could come back everyday to read more, I concluded, determined to consume as much information as I could.

Walking around, I found a thin book with the title 'Time: Understanding the Eras and Ages'. That got me hooked. I went back to the table and sat down in front of Pokora, then opened the booklet.

'We see the use of Eras and Ages everywhere in written records and documents. An Era begins when a God dies, and an Age is when something that changes the world takes place.

The First Age of E'er began when Gods and Halves came together. After that, Her Divinity Danuva granted sentience to the ancestral species. This marked the start of our path in evolution(...). This Age lasted one million five hundred thousand years.

Eras went as follow:

Danuva's Era, Yiama's Era, Shorvanna's Era, Photem's Era, Yiama's Second Era, Photem's Second Era, Pitela's Era, Photem's Third Era.

(…)

The Second Age of E'er began with the founding of the first countries, where the first descendants congregated and formed secluded societies. The key event was the separation of Divines and the people (..). This Age lasted three hundred thousand years.

Eras went as follow:

Admak's Era, Danuva's Era, Saravia's Era, Photem's Era, Shorvanna's Era. Yvanna's Era.

(…)

The Third Age of E'er began with the conquest of Patuk, the eastern continent. The countries of the world rushed to get a piece of the cake and their desire to show their achievements to the Gods pushed them to action. This Age lasted seventy thousand years.

The Eras went as follow:

Tylke's Era, Yvanna's Era, Tylke's Second Era, Shorvanna's Era, Pitela's Era, Admak's Era, Yvanna's Second Era, Danuva's Era, Admak's Second Era.

(…)

The Fourth Age of E'er began with the conquest of Makah, the western continent. It didn't go as smooth as with Patuk. Giants live in Makah, and they answered in kind to the call for blood. This Age lasted one hundred and twelve thousand years.

The Eras went as follow:

Danuva's Era, Photem's Era, Tylke's Era, Shorvanna's Era, Yvanna's Era, Shorvanna's Second Era, Danuva's Second Era, Pitela's Era, Yiama's Second Era, Admak's Era, Shorvanna's Third Era(...).

Every Divine died at least once at the hands of the massive invasion of Giants. We can only thank Galeia for their immortality.

(…)

The Fifth Age of E'er began with the ban on War(...). This Age has lasted a million years, which goes to show that conflict between the people brings about Galeia's unfiltered fury.

The Eras have gone as follow:

Yvanna's Era, Pitela's Era, Photem's Era, Shorvanna's Era, Photem's Second Era, Admak's Era, Photem's Third Era, Yiama's Era.

(…)'

-Time: Understanding the Eras and Ages, Tobias Fischer, Historian. 1302, Yiama's Era, Fifth Age of E'er.

I leaned back and processed the information.

I can't read everything available, I concluded. Three million years of history. I rubbed my eyes and a tiny chuckle escaped me.

The sound of a thick book being closed shut made me look to the front.

Pokora sighed, “Nothing.”

“What were you reading?” I nodded at the encyclopedia.

“Technological advancements of Lumin Kingdom throughout seven hundred thousand years of history,” she leaned back and stretched. “Nothing resembles anything that could have come from Earth.”

“What are you looking for? Precisely, I mean,” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table and supporting my chin with my hands.

“Steam machinery, the telegraph, telephone lines, usage of radioactive material as energy fuel,” she shrugged. “Things we came up with back on Earth.”

“I see,” I nodded, not that interested. “You should have gone for the classic ones, capitalism and guns.”

She laughed at that, “Natasha, Monarchs have been killed for less. I doubt there would be a big enough retard to employ such a stupid system,” she leaned forward, looking me in the eye. “What would you, as a Halve, do if Lumin Kingdom turned to capitalism? Imagine they sell The Endless Pit, the many mines, their ports, the roads connecting cities. All for profit instead of something of actual importance to society and civilization as a whole. Would you chip in for quick coin? Would you slap their hand and say a few words after their minds were poisoned by greed? Natasha, I will live longer than the entirety of modern Humanity back on Earth. Think of what horrors can be done to a planet.”

I stared back at her. “That was late-stage stuff. We were unfortunate enough to be born by the time the world was ending. Doesn't mean all capitalist ideas will be predatory to the extreme. Maybe people here can think of a better system than what short-lived, weak, pathetic humans back on Earth could. And yes, I would kill them. The well-being of an entire planet is of greater value than the life of a group of despots and the weight of their purse.”

She shrugged, “See? If we can think of such things, then a five hundred year old King will do an even better job of making the right decisions. Capitalism is not a good system for this world's circumstances. Nor are guns, as a matter of fact. Atomic bombs would be pretty useful, actually. Would make leveling up a lot easier,” she squinted at me, “I bet I could shrug off a bullet,” she shook her head and gave me a smile, “Anyway, back to my point. If I went to the Great Regent back in Uuruhk and presented capitalist ideas in the name of progress, she'd laugh to death. You're looking at it wrong. Quality of life improvements have more value than those. We have hard magic, Natasha. A gun is not going to be good to any degree. Shit, the bow you gave me is perhaps on the level of a high-end sniper rifle. Don't at me on that, though.”

“Now, now,” I raised my hands. The former gamer inside me took a bit of an insult to that. “I'd bet a Chakuvin would be pretty OP compared to your bow. Hell, that's why bows went out of fashion in the first place, right?”

“Chakuvin? You know about that?” she gave me an impressed look.

I shrugged, “You could say I played a bit of FPS games.”

“I wasn't much of a gamer myself, but I knew my projectile weapons,” she smiled. “Anyway. Again you're thinking it wrong,” she waved her hands up. “How much would the production of firearms cost compared to teaching a Wizard? How would a Cleric benefit from carrying a 9mm if they can just... form barriers and wait until the Archer or Warrior in their party kills the monster? Guns don't show up out of nowhere, Natasha. You'd need to think of the price of ammunition as well. Would you spend a hundred gold coins just to have enough bullets to kill maybe a hundred monsters? Would the return be enough to justify those expenses? Diamond bullets would be feasible to a certain extent, but they'd become irrelevant after a hard-to-overcome level of power. I'd bet no bullet could injure Yolin.”

I was a little impressed with her, “You've given it quite the thought, haven't you?”

She sighed, “I've had forty years to think of ways to find people from Earth. Guns were one of the first ideas.”

“Still,” I insisted. “With the different elements in Galeia, I'm sure some magical gunpowder could be thought of. Maybe use E'eral obsidian for the bullets,” I offered.

“And then the price goes up to the clouds,” she shook her head with a chuckle. “I earned three gold coins a year while in the army. It was enough to live a relaxed life. You wouldn't catch me spending fifty gold coins for a gun, less so expensive bullets. Those materials don't see a fluctuation in price,” she nodded at the book about Merchants, “as I'm sure you've found out. Besides, I can fire some four arrows a second. That's less than a copper coin with diamond arrowheads. If I'm not making bank, bullets would be a loss.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “I can see your point. Would be cool to have guns, though.”

She shrugged, “I don't think so, and we're free to think differently.”

I made finger-guns and aimed at her, “No, you aren't. Bang!”

She 'dodged' and grinned.

“Click!” I looked at my guns. “Oh, no!”

“Hah! You ran out of bullets!” she pulled out a 'knife', which was two stretched fingers, and pointed it at me.

I smirked, “No, Pokora. I just left one chamber empty. Bang!”

“Argh!” she winced and brought her hands to her chest, then looked at me with an evil smirk, “You should've gone for the head!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!” I exploded in laughter, covering my face.

“Shh! We're in a library!” the Elf chastised me. “Don't be rude!”

I stifled my laugh and shook in joy for a few seconds.

“Who's gonna tell me to shut up, anyway?” I raised an eyebrow after calming down. “I'm an important person, you know.”

“That doesn't excuse you from basic manners,” she shook her head.

“True,” I sighed and chuckled, “Anyway, let's get out of here. I've read enough for today,” I stood up and gathered the books. “Also, I'm craving some alcohol. The fact we're floating in the sky is still at the back of my mind.”

“Alright,” she nodded and stood up.

We returned the books and left the library.

Once out in the streets, the suns blasted us with their light. Summer was alive and well.

“Where should we go now?” Pokora asked as we looked around like the tourists we were.

“Something tells me Bonte is already drinking,” I focused on the Bond with him for a second. It pointed west. “And I'd bet Bromisnar is making sure he doesn't black out while it's still bright outside.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “He's a bit of an alcoholic, isn't he?”

I shrugged, “He drinks less than me. I'd blame his low constitution.”

She laughed, “I don't know about that.”

After minutes of walking, Pokora and I unsurprisingly arrived at a large tavern while following the Bond.

The building was pretty big, some six stories tall. Bigger than Lakeview's only tavern. Next to the front door stood a trio of Tigeas of various races. They were smoking and talking to each other.

Pokora walked in front of me and I followed. The woman was short enough that my field of view wasn't impaired.

We passed the men while entering the building and the rancid smell of cannabis assaulted my nose. My face scrunched up and I turned to them.

“Is that legal?” I asked the closest man.

He turned to me with an annoyed face but froze once his eyes met mine.

“Is what legal?” his ears pressed against his head and his eyes widened a bit.

The other men turned to each other with questions in their eyes.

I pointed at the massive joint in his hand and raised an eyebrow, “That.”

“Uh, yes, it is,” he answered. Then took a closer look at me, “You're the new Halve, right? Natasha I think was your name. Read it on the newspaper a month ago. Made big waves.”

I noticed his eyes weren't red or squinting, oddly enough. Nor was his speech slurred as I'd seen with people smoking weed.

I cringed inside at his words, Big waves, fucking Ren Dabrak.

“Yes, that's me,” I replied in Kator. “Pleasure to meet you.”

The group looked at each other with pleasantly surprised smiles.

“First time meeting a Halve,” another man joined the conversation, an Egys Tigea. “I'm Julis, Your Excellency.”

“Hugo,” the first man introduced himself, his amber feline eyes inspected my face.

“Claude,” the last one gave me a nod. He was an Urkila Tigea.

Who asked? I held the joke back. It could come across as incredibly arrogant.

They were all around level 200, from the Performer Class family. Their behaviour didn't seem to be clouded by what they were smoking, so I didn't pursue it further.

“Well, have a good one,” I gave them a nod and walked inside the Tavern.

The interior was pretty nice. A wide, modern-looking bar with hanging lights above each table. About half of them were occupied, and patrons of many species were enjoying the day's last hours. The counter occupied the wall opposite of the entrance, where many bartenders and waiters were making conversation.

Pokora was waiting a few steps inside, looking for our companions.

“Can't you just track him with a skill?” I walked next to her, looking around.

There were two Humans, a few Dwarves, and a surprising amount of Elves.

“While that would be convenient, I don't use skills to find people I'm bonded with,” she shrugged, and started walking to the stairs on the left. “Kind of redundant to have two of the same... effects if you will.”

I nodded in understanding, It's not urgent, anyway.

We climbed the stairs to the second floor, which was almost a copy of the first one.

“Aha!” Pokora pointed to the far right of the space. “They're... wow.”

I looked in the direction and my jaw almost dropped.

Bonte, who is around 160 centimeters tall, was pinned against a wall by a mountain of a woman. And was being kissed in the most... passionate way I have ever seen a woman kiss a man.

The... lady... in question was at least two meters and a half tall, skin the color of stone and muscles so defined it almost put mine to shame. Almost.

“Who... genderbent Kratos?” my voice barely came out a whisper. I was shocked.

[Rodon Goliath, Lvl 210 Shieldmaiden]

“Natasha!” Pokora turned to me with a horrified face, “We have to help him! That's death by snu snu!”