The group only traveled for half a day, mostly to get away from the bodies of the two men, before stopping for the night. Before Jace could even set her pack down, her two new companions were already moving.

  Marian took off hers, then said reaching for Jace's pack, “Okay, let’s get this all sorted.”

  Hina nodded and immediately began pulling out all of their food bundles. “I’ll check rations.”

  The girls worked quickly, reorganizing the supplies, mostly to redistribute the weight.

  Richard quickly noticed that most of what they were pulling out was going into his pile. “Why am I carrying all the heavy stuff?”

  Marian didn’t even look up. “Because you’re the guy.”

  “That is not,” he sputtered.

  Hina raised an eyebrow, “Your bag’s magical, isn’t it?”

  “Okay, fine, whatever.”

  Jace hid a smile, but then realized that all of the coins they had collected were now in her possession, and not much else.

  While Marian continued arguing with Richard about what they would carry, Hina started on a simple stew, pulling out a small magical heating stone.

  “That looks useful,” Jace finally asked, “How can I help?”

  Hina froze for half a second, then shrugged. “No, it's okay, just rex. I’m used to it.”

  “You need to let us do it, okay,” Marian expined, rubbing her colr.

  “Well, stop giving Richard all the heavy things.” Jace sighed; she didn’t like this at all.

  Marian snorted. “He’ll live.”

  Richard muttered something under his breath but didn’t argue.

  When dinner was ready, they sat in a loose circle. The stew was thick, tasted a little strange but after the monster meat they had been eating since they arrived, it tasted like heaven.

  During that time, Jace and Richard told more of their story, leaving out a few things, but the girls were surprised by how deep the two had traveled in the necropolis, and even more so by the magical items and treasures they had collected.

  Richard opened his menu. “Okay, curious, what skills do the two of you have?”

  He was pleased to notice that a couple of his had advanced a rank.

  Marian blinked. “Skills?”

  “Yeah, you know, adventuring and combat skills," he crified. "Whatever listed on your, skill lists, or I guess your character sheets. I have mostly combat skills, but there has to be more. I mean, if this were a game, the system would list things like tracking, appraisal, stuff like that.”

  Jace nodded.

  However, both girls stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

  Hina shook her head slowly. “Character sheet?”

  Marian frowned. “What's a system?”

  “Wait, you don’t have a skill list?"

  “We have abilities that, yes, it sounds simir, but we can't see them.” Hina shrugged.

  “One of the reasons they summon us. Those born here cannot gain those god gifts without the sve colrs; still, we don’t have a nice menu to show them,” Marian expined.

  “God gifts?” Jason asked.

  “That’s what they call them,” Marian shrugged.

  Richard frowned. “How do you know what you’re good at? Or what to pick when your rank goes up?”

  “We don’t,” Marian said ftly. “I mean, back home, how can you tell you're getting better at baseball? We know we're getting more skilled the same way. As for new skills, we just know we have something."

  Hina frowned. “But this system does sound like something I heard before.”

  “Really?” Marian sounded surprised.

  Hina thought for a moment, then nodded, “When I was visiting the temple with the little mistress, her grandfather told a story about one of the family's champions in the past who had a book.”

  “A book?” Jace frowned.

  Hina nodded. “No one else could see it, but it showed him what he can do. Like Richard’s menu. When a skill was given to him from the gods, it appeared in that book.”

  “I say it sounded like a story, but,” Marian pointed out.

  Richard looked at Jace. “Yeah, it sounds simir, doesn’t it?”

  Jace considered it. “It does. I wonder if this world’s magic is showing us something we’re familiar with.”

  “Or maybe they upgraded the system, but I most definitely have a menu.” Richard grinned.

  Marian whistled. “That’s… actually kinda cool.”

  “Magic here’s very strange.” Hina nodded.

  Richard leaned back. “Now Jace’s system…”

  “Not working.”

  Richard snorted. “Right.”

  She ignored him. “I still see it, and when we first got here, I had to choose what type of magic I wanted to learn, but something’s wrong with it.”

  Richard poked at his menu. “So, summons with systems, or books, are rare?”

  “No clue, as I said, it’s the first time I have heard about it.” Marian shrugged.

  Jace grimaced. “Then we need to be careful. If anyone realizes Richard has a system…”

  Hina finished for her. “They take him.”

  Marian nodded. “And they take you because you sound like a noble. And they take us because we’re escaped summons.”

  Richard groaned. “So basically, everyone wants to kidnap us.”

  “Welcome to the Maran Shahr.” Marian grinned.

  Afterward, the four cleaned up and prepared for bed. Although they were all exhausted, anyone travelling in the necropolis needed to keep watch, even if they were in a safer area. Richard said he would take the next one and ignored the discussion the girls were having, as they didn’t want Jace be part of it, and rolled over and fell asleep.

  Strange dreams kept him from sleeping soundly, mostly semi-nightmares of returning home and finding that his parents wouldn’t believe that he was in Jason's body. Someone punching him in the ribs startled him enough to wake him. Surprisingly, it was Jace standing over him.

  “We need to talk.”

  The two moved to the other end of the room, when Jace began, “What the fuck, Annabeth. You just decided to change your name, and what took your dad's?”

  Richard shrugged, then waved his hand. “Keep your voice down. Sorry, I wanted to tell you this earlier, but meeting those two, I just decided to go for it. I mean, if I were born a boy, I would be Richard the Third, right? And, I don’t feel like a girl anymore, you know that.”

  Jace made a fist, frustrated. “You just…”

  “Alright, sorry.”

  “You’ve been saying that a lot,” she sighed, then kicked the wall. “Fine, whatever, any other revetions you want to bring up, before I try to get some sleep.”

  “I thought the girls didn’t want you to take a turn.”

  “I overruled them, so Richard,” she half-sneered. “Anything? I see when you told the two about our adventure, you didn’t mention the gender change.”

  “Can we not?” he made a face. “It's not like we can do anything about it for now.”

  “Whatever. I am still going to find a way to switch us back,” she started to walk about. “Hina’s next on watch, be sure to wake her.”

  Jace slept only a few hours and spent the rest of the night keeping Marian company. Her magic left her feeling rested despite the short sleep. After washing up, she tied her hair back with a strip of cloth and checked her small personal bag; there were even fewer things in it than before.

  Richard was still half asleep, sprawled on his bedroll, as the two other girls were making breakfast.

  Jace nudged him with her foot. “Rise and shine, boyo.”

  Richard groaned. “I hate this world.”

  “Good morning, Richard.” Hina bowed slightly.

  He blinked at her. “…Morning.”

  Marian looked up from what she was doing and then pointed to the wall. “We should finish up before the guild cleaners come through.”

  “Guild cleaners?” Jace asked.

  Hina nodded. “This room is on one of the main routes. So, the merchants keep the path clear of the dead and debris.”

  “Yeah. Someone’s gotta keep the rich folks from tripping over bones and dead bodies.

  Hina smiled, “Breakfast’s ready.”

  After eating, Richard looked into his bag. “Why are there even more things in there than yesterday?”

  “Because we reorganized a bit more during the night,” Marian smirked. “You’re welcome.”

  Richard muttered something unfttering but shouldered the pack anyway.

  The further they went, the more the funerary murals vanished, either painted over or faded away. Even the floors were smoother as people travelled the corridors for centuries. For Jace, though she didn’t say anything as it felt like she’d walked these halls before.

  Richard noticed her pace quickened. “It's getting colder.”

  ” That’s probably a good sign,” she then pointed to the floor. “Everything's so, well, clean.”

  Marian nodded. “Yeah, this is definitely one of the main routes. Merchants, adventurers, guild runners, everyone uses these passageways.”

  Richard perked up. “So we’re close then?”

  “Close-ish,” Marian waved her hand back and forth. “This pce is massive, but yeah, we’re heading toward the commercial tunnels.”

  "You might want to unsummon your light, master." Hina pointed ahead at the light as they approached a rger corridor. Sure enough, the walls glowed with a soft light of magical guild mps set in the celling.

  Jace nodded then pulled out a magical rod. Walking around with a glowing orb over her head would make her stand out even more than she does already.

  Not too long after they took a break, even if they were close, the necropolis passageways stretched on and on.

  Richard adjusted the straps of his pack. “Well, we haven’t seen a monster in a few days, so that's good.”

  Hina nodded. “These hallways are safe."

  “Safer, well, mostly.” Marian kicked what looked like a thigh bone to the wall.

  “Mostly,” Richard nodded, noticing a rib cage on the other side of the wall.

  They walked another hour before Marian spoke again, “Okay, so, we’re going to look for one of the travel lodges to spend the night. Also, don’t call them inns, owners get upset if you call them that.”

  Richard frowned. “What’s the difference?”

  “Lodges have walls, and they're a lot safer than some random spot on the floor. Less chance of well, not dying,”

  Hina nodded. “They look like tiny forts.”

  “And they have real beds. You pay for a room, you get a lock, and nobody bothers you.” Marian grinned.

  “Usually,” Hina added.

  Richard groaned. “Why is everything with the two of you ‘usually’?”

  “Because we’ve been sves,” Marian said bluntly. “We don’t get to go sightseeing.”

  “But, after, well after,” Hina bowed her head sadly. “I worked in one owned by the family. I know some things.”

  Jace smiled in understanding. “That will help, thanks.”

  Hina nodded. “We must choose the right lodge. You…” She hesitated.

  Marian answered, “You sound and dress like a noble.”

  “Right, so we're not staying at the Holiday Inn.”

  “It's not like we can't afford it, right?” Richard pointed out. “It will be nice to sleep in a real bed for once.”

  “With the amount of treasure and the gold from the brothers you're carrying,” Marian smiled. “You should at least be able to fake being one.”