Roger had to flail his arms out to stop himself from falling after hearing her words.
'She has an Omega-rank element too? What are the odds we both would have one, and the System would place us both here? They'd have to be near zero.'
His gaze hardened.
'Unless the System intended for it to happen…'
Lila was watching him with confusion written on her face, although she seemed somewhat pleased at his reaction, clearly thinking it was purely due to her having such a rare element.
Roger took notice of this and decided to play into it, not wanting to reveal that he had a similarly rare power until he felt confident she wouldn't reveal him to the government.
Realizing he must have looked strange, he coughed and scratched the back of his head, feeling that his hair was noticeably longer. It added more proof to her claim he had been asleep for days, a reality he was still trying to wrap his head around.
"That's really cool Lila! Uh, I think. I don't know this magic stuff well enough to know just how rare that is, but it seems pretty good, right?"
Her smile slowly shrank, but didn't disappear entirely. It was clear his words did dampen her enthusiasm, however.
"It is incredibly rare. As far as I know, the only people who have ever had Omega-rank elements have found God Shards, which should show the level of strength and skill having such an element means!"
Her smile returned in full force as she stood up taller, clearly expecting a big reaction to her statement.
Roger gave her one, staring agog at her, although it was for a reason entirely different than she was thinking.
'So the only ones who found God Shards had Omega-ranked elements? That explains so much! So the reason I have the legacy is due to my element's rarity, not due to anything I specifically did. Or maybe it was things I did, and the System decided I deserved the element because of it.'
As he was internalizing the new information, he reached a new realization, his eyes widened as he looked at Lila's innocent face.
'If all of this is true, then shouldn't Lila gain her own Archonic Legacy at some point?'
He didn't know how long it would take, but it seemed very obvious that she would gain one eventually. It also made more sense why she gained an artifact forged by an Archon, especially one created by the Eye of the Storm.
'I would bet a million credits she will inherit his legacy! She will then also be tasked to find the God Shard of whatever god represents lightning and storms!'
Roger suddenly realized that Lila would one day become one of the strongest magi in the world, so long as she reached her full potential. And if her having an Archonic Legacy meant that for her, then it meant something equally as startling for himself.
He smiled, happy with the new conclusions that her information had provided, which she quickly interpreted as him sharing in her excitement.
Noticing her reaction, and assuming her thoughts, he worked to confirm them.
"That's really lucky, Lila! It seems the System believes you will go on to do great things! I bet your family will be very proud!"
Mentioning her family, her smile froze for just a second, but Roger noticed it quickly.
'I've noticed it before, but this all but confirms it. Does she have issues with her family?'
Before he could ponder it further, she spoke, her tone noticeably less upbeat.
"Yeah, they should be. Let's not focus on that, though. Instead, we should be celebrating and working to fortify this area. Once we reach Beta, we can try to push further into the forest. If we are lucky, we could stumble upon a high-ranked hunting party trying to find Omega beasts and harvest them for resources."
Her pivot towards the reality of their situation caused Roger to exhale.
'I guess it's true what they say, no rest for the weary.'
His shoulders sagged as his sore muscles reminded him of their presence, the adrenaline wearing off.
"That sounds like a good plan. Did you have any ideas for what we should do to accomplish that?"
She nodded and turned back to the forest.
"I was thinking if we collect enough wood we could build a small shelter in the center of the clearing, and then place some spikes at the treeline. If we can get that done, we can then try and get some amenities made up, like proper beds and a smokehouse."
She paused for a moment in thought.
"It might also be worth attempting to map the local area to figure out where the dangerous creatures are so we can avoid them. We could also get lucky and stumble upon some ruins. Some of the ancient civilizations had decently advanced tools, especially compared to what we have access to here."
That piqued Roger's interest.
"Ancient civilizations? I thought you said they were wiped out?"
Lila nodded but didn't turn to face him as she responded.
"They were, but their buildings were far more resilient than they were. There are whole guilds dedicated to finding and exploring the remnants left behind by those people."
She turned her head and noticed his confused look, causing her to shake her head.
"Guilds are groups of magi who band together to work toward a common goal. Some of them work as mercenaries, alchemists, or in this case explorers and journalists. I plan to join one of them myself, preferably a knightly guild."
Roger smiled at her for her offered explanation, even if she still seemed slightly annoyed at having to explain yet another point of common knowledge.
'It's far better than how she used to react.'
"So where do they usually find ruins?"
Roger couldn't contain his innate curiosity at the prospect of finding ancient treasure, and was hoping Lila could give him information on how to satiate that desire.
"There is no rule for them. They can be anywhere, even where you think a civilization couldn't have survived. The existence of magic made the people of Avar incredibly innovative, in many ways more than the people of Earth. Skyvale, for example, was an ancient floating city that served as the capital of the Archon of WInds empire. It is now a huge human settlement, as some of the first of our kind sent here wound up landing in the center of the metropolis."
'So we have entire cities populated here? Just how many magi are there? And how would a floating city even work without technology?'
The answer was obvious, being magic, but it was still difficult to just wave away all his questions as "because magic". It felt cheap and surface level. There had to be a deeper mechanical nature to how magic worked, Roger was sure of it.
Even if the laws of physics didn't apply, Roger felt confident that magic was still held to some semblance of a rule set. He just had to figure out what those rules were exactly.
Refocusing on the task at hand, he walked up beside Lila and studied the forest.
"Well, if the goal is creating some shelter, why don't I take the axe out and collect more branches while you make dinner."
As he spoke, he rotated his shoulders and stretched his arms. His new muscles were strong and felt ready to explode with energy, and Roger was happy to be able to use them after so long spent floating in that darkness, unable to exert himself physically.
She gave him an approving look, one of the first he had seen from her.
'Things have definitely changed with her, but what? Is it because she has had time to grow more comfortable with her element?'
"That would be great Roger. If you could, focus on thinning the trees nearest to the water. Having better sightlines in that direction will undoubtedly help. You won't be able to do much in that regard today, but a few weeks of effort and we could be more prepared for another attack."
Roger nodded at her words, agreeing with her assessment.
'She might be a bit of an ass, but she definitely has a decent head on her shoulders. Maybe we really will get through this together.'
Choosing to end the conversation there, he went to go find his axe and get to work.