She pulled Matthew and Sarah in with Bowser and took them to a small room that had plush red seats.
They sat down and Matthew grabbed some water for Bowser out of the metal pitcher sitting on the table.
"Hahaha, that's an interesting way to use the water pitcher…I am going to be honest; I have never seen that one before." Said the girl with a chuckle.
"Well, he has had a lot of exercise today and he needed some water pretty bad…I am sorry if we look dumb but he is our companion and he-" Said Matthew as he is cut off by the girl.
"Don't worry, I understand. You seem pretty new to the city and have been looking around a lot. Is this your first time in a large building or city like this?"
"Yeah, we didn't expect to come to a city quite like this…but it is very nice and seems really safe with the walls!"
"Meh, the walls keep it safe from the outside, but the inside is what we worry about…"
"What do you mean?" Said Matthew with a completely confused look on his face…
"Wait, you don't know? Not even about dungeons?"
"Ah, yeah, dungeons…would you mind explaining it to me…"
"Sure, the dungeons are a mythical place. They contain a majority of the lost mana and can generate whole worlds!" Said the woman with a gleam in her eye.
"Uh, what do you mean the lost mana?"
"…You don't know about the lost mana…"
"I know about the [Manawell] and the demon king, but not much else…our parents didn't tell us much about the outside world."
"Huh…that is strange, but it isn't your fault. Well, the guild kills monsters, right?"
"Yeah.."
"So, why are there so many adventurers in here on a slow day?" Asked the lady.
"Uh, to update stuff?"
"Nope. They are here for the daily update. I will assume you don't know what that is…
Well! It is a rebalancing of mana. See, when the demon king won the war, he destroyed the well. That is very bad. We needed the well for atmospheric mana regulation-"
As she finishes that sentence, Matthew stands up and says "WHAT! THAT BROKE MANA REGULATION???"
As Sarah and the lady look at Matthew and then at each other they silently agree that he is strange with a series of nods.
Matthew is stood with his hands on his head and muttering something about "unfilial AI's".
"Uh, Matty, can you focus and let the pretty lady continue…" Said Sarah as she pulled on his shirt sleeve.
"Ah!" Exclaims Matthew as he realizes that he is with other people still.
"I am sorry, please continue…"
"Yeah..well the regulation is important for life so many things changed. The maximum level or the amount of mana one can store in their body is different from the Downfall Era. We are a modest and less powerful people, but nature has also been brought down by the flaws. Creatures of mass destruction like [Elder Dragons] are no more. Their bodies were said to be too saturated with mana to sustain their life and as a result they died."
"Wait, there are no dragons?" Asked Sarah.
"Well, there are certainly [Adult Fire Dragons] and other variations of the species but they are very high level at around Lvl.160-170 and take around 100 [Royal Guard]'s that are Lvl. 120- 130. to beat."
[What the hell? The whole world is so much weaker than before…why did the AI patch it like this?]
"Then the dragon would probably have done a massive amount of damage still. Thousands of lives would be lost, and the mana shift would be very dangerous."
"What is the mana shift or daily update that you mentioned?"
"Ah, each day at 0800 hours the dungeons around the continent will simultaneously adjust the required mana that should be shattered that day. If the guild or royal family does not take care of the shift, then it will result in a wave-break. The total amount of remaining mana that needs broken will be allowed to leave the dungeon and it will cause massive damage."
"That sounds incredibly dangerous…"
"It is dangerous, cities can be deadly places if they are not maintained, but most newbies are able to handle small mana-monsters. Just break a small amount of mana and get paid for the recorded amount. There are mostly slimes at level 1-3 and they become slightly harder over time."
"Wait, how does the daily update impact the wave?" asked Sarah with her hand raised.
"The wave will break on Tuesday…for whatever reason. Some scholars claim that the world was started on a Tuesday or that the god of Tuesday was responsible for the mana-management from dungeons, thus saving us."
[Well, that makes sense at least…it's on patch day!]
"So, if the amount of mana is not shattered by the Tuesday, the remaining balance is released to the surroundings?" Asked Matthew.
"Yup, that is it! That is why people are in here today. Some have done their weekly amount as a farmer and they might be picking up any extra work for half-pay. The mana is set to the required amount each day and can shift. If the amount required is not cleared by the end of the day then it is added to the amount of mana the next day, until a break on Tuesday…"
"So, the guild would pay us to kill a bunch of slimes? And what about items or materials?"
"Precisely, and the monsters usually do not drop anything. They might drop a [Manastone] occasionally, but there is not much use for regular folk. The nobles can use their family's techniques to absorb the mana at a moment's notice for combat, or they can be made into weak potions for the lay person."
"Why do people keep saying that nobles are mages and that other "regular folk" should be fighters or soldiers?"
"That would be because the ability to learn magic is strongly tied to the bloodline. But, more importantly is that the magic spells are not very intuitive. From what I have been taught, the mage class has a special tree, just like fighters and the other classes. But these mages have affinities. These affinities can control how quickly someone learns magic at an actual level. See, a warrior class could learn a simple [Chop] skill at level 5 and it would cost maybe 3 MP to use every few seconds for a good extra chunk of damage. Now, what does a basic [Fireball] cost at level 5?"
"Probably around.." as Matthew caught himself he finished with an outlandish number of "..30 MP?"
[That is WAY too high probably.]