Blood Shaper

The room Kay had been given to sleep in was meant as a temporary place to sleep for new Outworlders. The BOA’s mandate was to give Outworlders the necessary knowledge and tools to create a new life for themselves, not just coddle people. Kay was expected to eventually start making his own money and find a place to live for himself.

One of the drawbacks of having a temporary place to sleep was a less than adequate bathing situation. There was no shower, not that Kay had any reason to suspect there would be one. There was just a large wooden tub, and a few buckets of hot water to pour over himself. Kay wasn’t the kind of person that would end up in another world and start improving the technology or creating new things, but he made a vow to himself that morning. If there was no indoor plumbing to be had, he would create it anew. He needed his hot showers.

The soap was really good though. He made another note to buy some when he had money.

The receptionist lady from the day before brought up some breakfast and told him that Springcall would be ready to leave once he was done eating. He scarfed it all down at the small table in the room, unwilling to let the representative wait too long on him. Even if it was their organizational directive, he wasn’t going to do anything to annoy the people that were going to be paying for him to be trained and helping him find a job.

“Good morning Kay!” Springcall cheerfully greeted him when he made it downstairs. “Did you sleep alright? And how was breakfast?”

“I slept as well as could be expected, I guess.” Kay smiled as he thought about the food. “And the breakfast was great. I’m glad that bacon exists here.”

“Right?” Springcall chuckled. “You can never go wrong with bacon. Well then, ready to go? It’s not too far from here.”

Kay followed him out the door and they started down the street deeper into the city. Kay tried to match his stride as best he could to the gnome’s walking speed.

Springcall looked up at him and laughed. “Just walk normally. I have movement skills that will let me keep up.”

“Oh, um… sorry, it’s just.”

Springcall waved a hand. “You’ve never met a gnome before and didn’t know what to do. Don’t worry about it. And if you meet another gnome, not walking off and leaving them behind is the polite thing to do, so good job. Not everyone can get movement skills.”

Listening to him talk, Kay realized something. “Representative Springcall?”

“Yes, what-, wait did we not do introductions?”

“No, Torren just told us each other’s names.”

“Well, damn. That was rude of me, I apologize. I’m Douglas Springcall. Please, call me Douglas.”

“Kenneth Davis, but I go by Kay.”

“Wonderful to properly meet you. Sorry again. Now, what can I do for you?”

Kay frowned. “Well I was just wondering how you keep your voice from doing that thing when you talk about [Skills].” He pointed at his mouth. “That thing, right there. It happens even when I think about it, and it’s driving me nuts.”

The gnome grimaced. “Crap, I forgot about that. It’s been awhile since I had to deal with it myself. Alright, you know how you can understand what I’m saying even though we’re from completely different worlds and are actually speaking two different languages?”

“I was kind of just taking it for granted at this point. But, yeah, I know what you mean.”

“It’s something that comes with being an Outworlder in this world. Whatever your native language is gets automatically translated into the most common language of the area you end up in, and anyone speaking that language gets translated back to you as your language. What we’re actually speaking right now is a language called Sha’ken.”

“So you’re speaking Sha’ken, and I’m understanding it as English?”

“Technically I’m speaking my home language, it’s being automatically translated into Sha’ken, and then back into your home language as you hear it, but with people naturally speaking it, yes that’s exactly right.” Douglas grimaced again. “The issue you’re having is with what is generally called [The World’s Voice].”

Kay twitched.

“Yes, it does have that effect on people who aren’t used to it.” Douglas pulled on his short beard as he walked. “People can learn to do it if someone teaches them how or they develop it on their own, and it functions to let people give information about their [Classes] or [Skills] in a more formal way, one that calls directly on the power of the world that gives us our [Status] allows us to have [Classes]. At least, that’s the commonly accepted explanation.”

Kay trailed behind Douglas a little at this point, whole body twitches throwing off his steps each time Douglas used [The World’s Voice]. “How am I doing it then? Why is it in my head? And how do I make it stop?”

“It’s because of the automatic translation. Technically The World’s Voice is part of any language you speak. Whatever controls the translation knows that you’re talking about class and Skill related things, and automatically turns it into The World’s Voice.”

“What about it being in my head?”

“No idea, that just comes with it. Can’t tell you why.” Douglas grabbed Kay’s pant leg and tugged him towards the opening of a small alley between two buildings. “Stop here for a second.” Once they were out of the way of the light morning foot traffic along the street, Douglass looked up at him. “Alright, now, to make it stop, close your eyes and concentrate on really hard on not doing that anymore.”

Kay stared down at him incredulously. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Sighing, he closed his eyes and did just that. After a few moments, he opened one eye and glanced down at the gnome.

“Try it out.”

“Class. Skills. The World’s Voice. Oh, thank fuck.” Kay rubbed at his face. “That was driving me nuts.”

“Yes, it causes discomfort and other negative effects in people at lower tiers. And if a high-tier does it, it can cause actual damage to lower tiers.”

“You can talk as a weapon here?”

“Well, it won’t kill anyone. Worst thing that might happen is unconsciousness. Mostly people just get bloody noses. Still, it’s good for giving important speeches or addressing enemies.”

Kay wasn’t really sure if he’d ever do either of those. “Alright.”

“Once you get to tier two or three you should learn how to do it purposefully. It’s a good technique. [Especially If You Can Do Full Sentences With It].

“Ahhh!” Kay staggered against the wall, clutching at his ears.

“Shit!” Douglas took a step back, a contrite look on his face. “Sorry, my bad.”

“It’s. Fine.” Kay panted. “It didn’t hurt, I just really didn’t like that.”

“Sorry.” Douglas patted Kay’s leg apologetically. “Let’s get going. We’re almost there. Once your class is unlocked you’ll officially be a tier one. Besides all the other things it does for you it’ll give you some protection from that.”

Kay pushed himself off the wall and gestured outward. “Lead the way.”

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