After Nero received the stone, he immediately went to the board on the left. Written there in large letters was: "Tasks posted by mortals."
There weren't many orders posted on this board, and of those that were, Nero quickly noticed that most of them involved some kind of knowledge-based question. For example, "Ten credits for someone who understands how to grow wheat and can explain it to me," or "20 credits an hour to teach my daughter reading, writing, and advanced mathematics."
Nero skimmed these notes briefly before turning his gaze to a second board. Countless notes hung there, many stacked on top of one another. Here, jobs weren't being offered; instead, goods were apparently being sold. From simple items like wine or meat, all the way up to fields and houses. Apparently, these were all being offered by mortals as well.
After Nero had gained a good overview here as well, he moved to the other side of the room, where many people were gathered around a significantly larger board with the heading "Official Tasks."
No notes were hanging here; instead, the tasks were listed in neat rows one below the other in glowing letters. Tasks were constantly disappearing and being replaced with new ones. Before each task was a long, seemingly random number consisting of ten digits. When a mortal decided on a task, he pressed the corresponding number with his stone.
The stone glowed briefly before the job disappeared from the list and was replaced by a new one. Nero immediately noticed that these jobs were mostly long-term assignments—more like job postings—that had a specific duration listed next to them. For example, there was the assignment: "...Harvest carrots, 15 credits for every kilogram of edible carrots harvested and delivered, 6-month standing order."
Nero scanned through the many jobs and finally realized the purpose of this camp. They were like the mages' beasts of burden, performing the menial tasks for them that were beneath their dignity—such as hunting, mining, or farm work.
In return, they were granted the chance to become mages.
Nero smiled to himself. It was clever when viewed from the outside. Since mortals had little to no understanding of magic, they could promise whatever they wanted to drive people even harder. Unlike with slaves, this camp was not only completely self-sustaining—since the mortals had to provide for their own food—but Nero would wager that the mortals here worked significantly more effectively on average than slaves would, because the harder they worked, the faster they would get a chance to become a mage.
Speaking of which, on the board next door, there were once again many offers for credits displayed in glowing letters. Once again, there were plots and houses here, but most of them were more expensive than the offers available to mortals. But Nero's attention was immediately drawn to the offer at the very top, where it read in much larger letters, "A spot in the drawing to become a mage, 5,000 credits!"
Nero looked at this price without emotion. It was actually quite low for what it was supposed to represent, but Nero wasn't an idiot. Buying a spot, of course, didn't guarantee you'd be drawn; likely, thousands of mortals bought one or more spots every month. The chance of being drawn was slim, so the price was probably much higher unless you were incredibly lucky.
Then, of course, there was the question of what would actually happen if you were drawn. Nero strongly doubted that you'd actually become a magician.
Nero's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an overwhelming feeling of weakness that washed over his body. His mage body ached, and he realized how hungry he was. As a mage, he was used to having to eat only incredibly rarely, but now he was human again, with the normal needs of a mortal.
Suddenly, a feeling Nero rarely experienced washed over him. Anger. It was a sudden, raging fury, long suppressed, that overwhelmed him in an instant. Anger at the fact that everything he had worked toward for the past decades had simply vanished, anger that he was once again a nobody, one of thousands upon thousands, a mere breath in time. Rage at the fact that he was helpless, with no choice but to follow the rules of this camp.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to calm down. He needed to clear his mind. Anger would not help him here. He had to stay level-headed. What was this setback anyway? After all, he was still breathing and alive. He still possessed all his physical and mental abilities.
He simply needed to start over and if he gave in his anger now, he was nothing more than a child whose toys were taken away. Nero took another deep breath; his eyes were cold and motionless, like a lake on a calm day.
He needed credits to buy food, so he looked through the tasks intently.
But he didn't see any official tasks he liked, so he returned to the mortals' tasks. He chose the task that required a teacher. In the many years he had lived, he had read many books and acquired a great deal of knowledge, so mathematics was a breeze. As for language and writing, the symbol of Ramor ensured that he had mastered them perfectly. He read the assignment carefully. It seemed to be the daughter of a district leader, just as Lars was, but this was not an assignment from Lars but from someone else.
He needed to go to District Two, Glarel Street Seventeen. If only Nero knew where that was, he could get started.
He tore off the paper and went to the symbolic at the counter. He registered himself for the task.
After that, Nero went out and looked around, searching for someone he could ask for directions.
Soon, he spotted a suitable person. It was a friendly old man strolling leisurely down the street. He seemed to be in a good mood and not in a hurry.
"Excuse me, good sir," said Nero, greeting him.
The man turned around, perplexed, and looked at Nero with raised eyebrows.
"Good sir... Hahaha," he chuckled briefly. "How can I help you, young man?"
Nero smiled kindly, "Do you know your way around here?"
""You could say that," the man said with a laugh. "After all, I've been in this town for many years." His expression grew a little sadder, but only for a moment, before he broke into a happy smile again. "Why do you ask?"
"Unfortunately, I'm completely new here and need to find the second district. Specifically, I need to go to Glarel Street seventeen."
"Ohhhh..." the old man murmured. "To the community leader, Koal. A good man indeed. Yes, you need to..." The man gave him detailed directions. Nero thanked him and bid him farewell politely.
It was quite a distance. Only now did Nero realize the scale of this camp. Initially, he had thought it was quite cramped and small, but he was mistaken.
This camp was rather large. There were certainly more than tens of thousands of people living in this village, making it way larger than any normal village he had heard of.
It was even larger than some cities in his former world. Of course, it didn't come close to the holy city Gloris, but that was not comparable.
Large fields were everywhere, but interspersed among them were clusters of tightly packed houses.
Every now and then, Nero would even see mages walking around, easily recognizable by their resplendent robes and the way mortals made way for them or even bowed before them; but the Second District was right in the heart of the camp, and the farther Nero moved away from the wall, the fewer mages he saw walking the streets. Sometimes he saw some flying through the air, carried by magic, but that was it.
The district Nero came from was District Forty-Four, and he had to go to District Two. Finally, Nero arrived in the second district.
A stark contrast could be seen between here and the forty-fourth district.
While the houses were clearly older, it was much cleaner here. Nero realized that this was a richer area.
Shortly after, he finally arrived at Glarel Street. Nero didn't even need to check the house numbers to know where he had to go.
The community leader's house was significantly larger and better-maintained than the surrounding houses.
Nero approached the grand door and knocked firmly. An old woman opened the door and looked at Nero inquisitively.
"How can I help you?" she asked.
Nero smiled slightly, "My name is Nero Davis. I'm here regarding the posted task."
"Which one? We have posted many tasks."
"I'm here for the tutoring for the community leader's daughter," Nero explained.
"Ohhhh..." The woman made a sound and scrutinized Nero with doubt. "And you can teach?"
"Of course, after all, I was taught by my parents during my childhood," he lied.
The old lady nodded slowly but with skepticism. "We shall see. Please come in, and I will inform the master of the house."
Nero nodded and stepped inside behind the woman. The house was large and well-furnished. They walked through a long hallway into a spacious and comfortable living room.
"Have a seat. Master Koal will be with you shortly."
Nero did as instructed and sat on a comfortable, large sofa with soft upholstery.
It confused him.
Every mortal he had encountered so far looked poor and hungry. Nero, of course, knew the reason. They all spent as few credits as possible on cloth, food, or homes.
But Koal seemed to live in luxury. As if he had no worry about spending his credits. But if he was so rich, why doesn't he just buy as many chances to become a magician as possible? Surely he would've been taken by now
Many questions raced through Nero's mind as a tall, old man entered through the door.