The wind howled past the longhouse, making the wooden beams creak, and snow drift down from the smoke hole in the roof. Inside, Piper huddled under a blanket and cursed the winter weather. Even with a roaring fire, it was still freezing indoors.

  She stood up, the blanket wrapped tightly around herself, and walked over to Ethel. The blond-haired woman was busy changing the bandages on her husband’s arms. It had been a few days since their battle with the awakened lion, and Alfred’s wounds were healing nicely.

  Ethel tied the linen bandage before tugging on it hard. When her husband winced, she frowned. “You’re lucky you can still feel pain after fighting an awakened beast. What were you thinking?”

  Alfred rubbed his biceps. “I told you, we didn’t know it was an awakened beast until it was too late. They don’t leave a sign out with a picture of a fire-breathing lion, you know.”

  Ethel harrumphed before examining his other injuries. He’d taken claw strikes across his upper arm, his forearm, and his thigh. According to Ethel, he was fortunate that none of them showed any sign of infection because they couldn’t afford a healer.

  Once the other bandages had been changed, Ethel shuffled off to start dinner. While she was annoyed at their recklessness, she was also visibly grateful the lion wouldn’t be returning to take any of their animals.

  “Ready to practice again?” Alfred stretched out his arm experimentally, grunting before dropping it.

  “Are you sure it’s going to work?”

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “No way to know for sure. However, I don’t want you walking around with a class named ‘deceiver’. Not many people can see a person’s class, but anyone who is able to won’t trust you with that name.”

  From the kitchen, Ethel called out. “You really should wait until the storm lets up, and Beatrice can train her.”

  “The storm might last days yet,” Alfred replied. “There’s not much else for us to do until then. And there’s no harm in trying.”

  Ethel put down the plate she was cleaning and arched her eyebrow. “No harm in trying to train a demon? I seem to recall you being nervous about having one of her kind around when she first arrived.”

  Alfred's broad face split into a grin. “That was before she slew a lion at my side. You should have seen her. She was like a warrior of old in battle.”

  From above, Ophelia’s face popped over the side of the loft. “I’m going with you next time!”

  “Not until you awaken,” Alfred replied. “Even then, not until you’re at least level 50.”

  “But Piper was only level 1!” she exclaimed. “That’s not fair.”

  “Piper is… unique.” Alfred crossed his arms. “Now go make yourself useful mucking out the animal pens while we try to learn a new skill.”

  Ophelia let out a harrumph very similar to her mother’s. A second later, she slid down the ladder and stomped over to the animal pen on the far side of the cavernous building. Without slowing, she grabbed a wooden shovel and set about cleaning out the pens.

  Piper took a seat next to Alfred and prepared herself for the lesson. For the last few days, he’d been trying to teach her the skill Identify and a way to hide her class. The first one would allow her to see the levels of anything awakened, as well as aspect beasts, and aspect born. Apparently, it was the one skill virtually everyone had in this world, as it was vital to know when to fight and when to run.

  As they’d done over the past few days, Alfred first demonstrated the skill. He focused his gaze on Piper, and then she felt a prickling on her skin. He motioned for her to do the same in return.

  Staring intently at him, she wished there were a textbook or something on how to learn a skill. There had to be a better system than just looking at someone and hoping for the best. Did they even have books in this world? So far, she hadn’t seen any writing. She’d have to remember to ask Ethel later.

  After a minute, she leaned back and blinked her stinging eyes.

  “Well?” Alfred asked, looking at her expectantly. “Did anything happen?”

  She shook her head glumly.

  “Try again until you get it.”

  Fighting down a sigh, she returned to staring at Alfred. But this time, she decided to attempt something different. She tried to look past his physical body to try to see the mana swirling inside of him. After a second, she began to see faint lines of power coming off of his outline. They had a slightly bluish tinge and moved in erratic patterns.

  Congratulations! You have learned the skill, Identify, Level 1.

  The first step to surviving in this world is to know your opponent. This skill allows you to view the target's racial level.

  Learn this skill? (Yes/No?)

  She didn’t have any free skill slots, so she would have to discard one of her others if she wanted to take Identify. After a few seconds, she removed Baking. While she could have removed Stick Wielding, it still might come in handy if she had to use a club.

  Another notification immediately followed after she selected ‘Yes’.

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  Ding! Your racial skill Demonic Intellect has reached Level 5.

  Piper jumped to her feet and clapped her hands together. “I did it!” she shouted. “I learned a new skill!”

  “Excellent,” Alfred boomed. “How’d you do it?”

  Shrugging her shoulders, she sat back down. “I have no idea. But after focusing for a bit, I saw some lines of power coming off you. After that, I just learned the skill.”

  “Did I not tell you about that part?” Alfred gave her a sheepish look. “That was how I figured it out, too.”

  From the kitchen, Ethel chuckled and shook her head. “Your heart is in the right place, but you’re an awful teacher.”

  “This is a bit outside of my wheelhouse,” Alfred said indignantly.

  “Let’s try my spell next,” Piper said excitedly. “I want to see if I can learn to hide my class.”

  Alfred nodded and looked at her intently. His gaze bored into her until her skin prickled once again. As he used [Identify], she focused intently on trying to hide her class. But after a few minutes, nothing had happened.

  “Nothing?” Alfred asked. When she shook her head, he rubbed the bridge of his nose while blinking his eyes. “That’s more staring than I’m used to.”

  Piper frowned and turned her gaze to Ethel. As she did, she activated [Identify].

  Almost immediately, text appeared above the blond woman’s head.

  Human, Level 102

  At Piper’s actions, Ethel’s head snapped around, and she raised an eyebrow. “You know, it’s not polite to use Identify on someone without their permission.”

  “Sorry!” Piper held her hand up in front of her mouth, her cheeks becoming rosy. “I didn’t know.”

  “Please just ask in the future.” Without another word, Ethel returned to preparing dinner. For most of the day she’d had a pot over the fire, constantly adding new bits of meat and vegetables as everyone ate from it. It was simple but delicious.

  “Do that to a Crimson Guard and you’ll end up in real trouble,” Alfred grumbled. “Not many have done that and lived to talk about it.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  “Also, something else you should know. If you ever try to use Identify and it comes up with question marks, you need to run for your life. That means it's at least 200 levels above your own. You’re going to have a bad time if you try to fight something like that.”

  “Like the Crimson Guard? What level are they?”

  Alfred shrugged. “No one knows. My guess is that they’re at least somewhere around level 1000. Probably much higher. Most of them have had centuries to level up.”

  Piper chewed her lip, considering her next words. Since she’d arrived, she’d always been bothered by the fact that everyone let vampires feed on them. “Why do people put up with the Crimson Guard? The vampires sound awful.”

  “There have been a few rebellions over the years,” Alfred said carefully. “None of them went very well. It’s hard to beat immortals who spend lifetimes mastering their classes. Not many humans can compete against that.”

  He paused and drummed his fingers on the table. “Plus, none of us are supposed to have combat classes. If they find you with one, you’re in big trouble. That’s why I want you to learn to hide your class sooner rather than later. The blood rent is coming due, which means vampires on my property.”

  “But the new lord in town wanted to eat me! How can you live like this?”

  He leaned back in the chair. “We have safety here. Not many places in the world can say the same.”

  “I still say it’s not worth it,” Piper mumbled. Then she decided to change the topic. “Ready to try again?”

  Alfred leaned forward, his eyes comically wide as he gazed at her.

  She fought down the urge to giggle at his silly look, as her skin began to prickle. Using all of her will, she concentrated on hiding her class from him. Her mind began to ache as she poured all her mental energy into the task.

  After a moment, she felt something click, and a notification appeared.

  Congratulations! You have learned the spell, Truth Shroud.

  To move among mortals, a demon must shroud her true level and class. This spell allows you to present a false class and level.

  Ding! Your racial skill, Demonic Intellect has reached Level 6.

  “Any luck?” Alfred asked, likely noticing a subtle shift in her.

  Piper smiled. “You let me know.”

  She cast [Truth Shroud] before she finished speaking. Then she altered her race to show human and level 25. She could tell the spell worked as Alfred’s eyebrows shot up.

  “How… how did you do that?”

  She grinned like a cat. “I learned a new spell.”

  “That’s wonderful,” he said. “Now we won’t have any problems with the Crimson Guard.”

  Ethel paused in the process of pouring oats into the pot hanging over the fire. “Not until she’s leveled it up. She’ll need to cast it daily around us until it’s a bit higher. We don’t want anyone seeing through her spell. That could be disastrous.”

  “I wonder if I can learn anything else today,” Piper mused. “Maybe some offensive spells for the next time we fight a lion?” But she paused as the words left her mouth.

  What other spells could she learn for her class? Maybe something to scare her enemies? She remembered from the visions of the shadeling that the demon had cast a spell to terrify her opponents.

  However, she couldn’t exactly learn that around Alfred and Ethel. No matter how badly she wanted another new spell, she didn’t want to drive them temporarily insane. Then again, maybe she could scare Ophelia. Her friend deserved it for all the stick-shaped bruises covering her body.

  But that wasn’t really an option. She had no idea how potent a spell like that would be. For all she knew, she might scare someone literally to death. And she didn’t want to terrify people who had practically become her family.

  Other than that, she could only practice her illusions and hope she learned a new one. Though at the moment, she couldn’t think of anything different from what she already had. Finally, she decided to give up for the day. Her brain could use a rest, anyway.

  “I think that’s enough for one day.”

  “Thank Infernus,” Alfred said. “My eyes are going to be dry for a week from all this staring. Mind you, I’m glad you learned a new spell. It should make your life here a lot easier.”

  Piper rose up from the table and stretched. Sitting all day was hard on her back. Which was funny, since before coming here she’d spent virtually every day sitting in her wheelchair or a hospital bed.

  I guess I’ve just gotten used to standing in this world.

  Walking over to the kitchen, she sniffed the bubbling pot. “Is there anything I can help with?”

  “I’m almost done,” Ethel replied. “But maybe you could help Ophelia if you don’t mind? She seems to be struggling with her mucking.”

  Piper glanced over and giggled at the sight of Ophelia sliding around in the slick animal pen. A particularly ornery pig was pushing her, while a pair of goats ran past. Her friend very nearly face-planted into the muck, which none of them would have ever heard the end of.

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Grabbing a shovel, she hurried over to Ophelia and offered the girl her hand. With a tug, Piper pulled her out of the pig’s way and back onto the dry floor. For her efforts, she was rewarded with a poke in the side from Ophelia’s stick.

  “Got you again, foul demon,” Ophelia said playfully.

  She could have easily parried the attack and even wrenched her makeshift weapon from her friend’s hand with her vastly improved attributes. But she didn’t want their game to end. Though it would be more fun when Ophelia awakened next year.

  “Want me to finish up?”

  “Please!” Ophelia said. “I’m not cut out to be a farmer.”

  “Yes, you are,” her mother called out from the cookfire. “And Piper is helping you—not doing your chores.”

  Smiling, Piper began the task of mucking out the animal pen with Ophelia at her side. At least the animals gave her a wide berth. As she worked, she thought back to Alfred’s words. He might think she was destined for something greater, but she was perfectly happy right here.