Nefre and Eiael had found their way down a long road away from the battlefield and even further away from the castle that Nefre had briefly been at for his training. Soon they found themselves at a small town, mostly wooden houses, kids running down the dirt roads, and one Tavern for them to get some food and some rest. By the time they got inside the sun was slowly beginning to sink down and the night was only a breath away from settling across the land. With the craziness that had suddenly been thrust upon him, the warmth of a fireplace and the smell of homecooked food in the tavern was enough to help Nefre finally relax since he had fled the terror of the Thunderwyrm on the battlefield.
Making the way over to a table both of them sat down, Eiael ordering two drinks and two bowls of stew for them before looking at Nefre with a grin playing on her lips. "Well, we should be fine out here for a while. I think tomorrow we should get going and head west until we are out of the borders of this kingdom. Even if they didn't see you run away from the battlefield, I wouldn't recommend risking it. They wouldn't just try to kill you, they'd kill your family too just to make a point. This way at least they may think you just got eaten by the wyrm." Nefre nodded as she spoke taking the drink as it was sat down in front of him and taking a long swig. The alcohol burned in a good way. Setting the drink down he looked at her forming his thoughts for a moment before speaking, "So who are you exactly? You said you were a hunter what does that mean exactly?"
She leaned back in her chair taking a long sip of her drink as well, a content sigh escaping her lips. "Well, first what exactly do you understand about the system in our world. Involving the numbers on our arms?" He looked down at his arm then to her. "Well, I know that the higher the number, the more powerful you are. I felt it when I went up from 0 to 1. It was like I had been living in a fog. Beyond that, that's all I really know. Commoners like me all have 0 and we don't tend to ask many questions." Eiael nodded as she sat the drink down. "Well, then seems I have a lot to go over. I'll try to keep it simple and to the point though. No reason to get to deep into it."
"So, yes as you go up in numbers your body becomes more powerful, its like unlocking hidden potential inside of yourself. Though where this comes from or how it actually works is unknown to most. Priests say its from the gods themselves and they might be right. The thing is though your body has to be able to handle the change to a higher number. I'm assuming you were a farmer which means you were already physically in shape, so the process of going from 0 to 1 was an easy adjustment. After that, if you want to head up further in numbers, you'll still have to train. Now what's interesting is 1 and 2 just seem to upgrade strength, speed, and stamina. Nothing too special really but when you hit the number 3...Things seem to change. "
She stopped talking for a moment before reaching into a bag of hers and pulling out thing of charcoal. She then drew the number 2 before drawing diverging lines from it. "Once you get to three you start developing special attributes and abilities. Now many of these seem to occur across multiple people so they are grouped into classes. Now what class you develop into seems to be determined by innate ability. Certain weapons you'll just naturally be better at, certain ways of fighting, sneaking, whatever will be dependent on that class. Now once people hit three the road up from there is...linear. But diverging branches again further up. No reason to get into all that now. Keeping up so far?" Nefre nodded, it was a lot to take in but he wanted to understand as much as possible.
"Now, there are a few ways to up your number and to prepare yourselves. Some people do what you did...or well is forced into what you were forced into. The military of a kingdom and just like anywhere else, they have diverging paths and as they battle in wars and training they can increase. Though obviously not everyone will and sometimes even if they should be ready the process doesn't always work and they can either die at the worst case or best case they just have to keep trying. Then you have the way I did it and a lot of others do it. By joining the Adventures guild. People who actively hunt monsters, or defend towns from monsters that are attacking an area. Successful missions earn you money and help your body prepare for going up to the next number. Now only certain people can up someone's number as I'm sure you've figured out, how I don't know and I don't care it's not my concern."
Nefre nodded as he sipped on his drink now, their stew sat in front of them he ate a few spoonfuls his growling stomach appreciative of the food. "So, do the nobles start at 0 as well then?" Eiael snickered at that and shook her head. "No, they have access to some special numbering system. It's how they are able to keep control. I don't know too much about it but it makes me wonder..." She took a bite of her own stew for a moment then sighed. "So anyway, the plan is we head to a city register you with the adventures guild there, change that 1 on your arm to a 1 recognized by the guild and not the military and you're going to help me hunt. Any questions?"
He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head no as he was filled to the brim for the night and his exhaustion was starting to take hold. "Good then. I'm going to catch some sleep and you should too. I'll pay for our rooms. We have an early day tomorrow, so you better get all the sleep you can." She winked at him before heading off up the stairs after paying for two rooms. Nefre looked around as he was left by himself and shook his head. Too tired to dwell on anything he got up and headed off getting the key for his room. "What have I gotten into..." He said to himself, before stepping into the small room collapsing onto the bed and in moments was out.