"So, how exactly do they soundproof the houses?" Nora asked while examining her keys.
"The actual house is in a separate dimension, a pocket world of sorts. I think they're suspended in a void somewhere, but it makes it completely soundproof and pretty magic-proof."
"Not completely magic-proof?"
"Well, you can't make anything completely magic-proof, I think it's anything less than literal gods won't be able to break into it, or out of it. As long as you don't piss off some divine beings, then I think you'll be ok, honestly."
As they walked to Nora's new house, she asked Torin to explain a bit of the general knowledge of the world, claiming that she had spent most of her life in a forest and she didn't know anything about the happenings outside that forest.
"Oh yeah, you should probably learn about all this before you have to go out and complete any tasks." Torin launched into a general explanation of the world. "So basically, you know that mana powers everything, and the more mana you have, the more powerful you are. You should already know this, living in the forest and all you had to survive, right? Anyways, it's basically the motto that the strong decide, and the weak have to deal with it. That isn't exactly the case in the bird clan, though; we kind of follow a looser set of rules; the weak thrive just fine here and were pretty good at making sure that the weak get strong faster. We can do this because we are one of the bigger and stronger forces out there. We have to be one of the stronger forces because we have become a big information hub for all creatures. "
"This was really not that difficult since humans still think that all beasts are below their intelligence, which is super important when you're out and about. Do not let people know that we are smart. Got it?"
Nora nodded seriously, "Yeah, I got it. Is that why we take on human forms?"
"Exactly! The wings are something that the bird clan refused to give up when we switched to human form, since they're too useful, but as long as you hide those when mingling, there shouldn't be a problem at all."
"So what do the other creatures do then? If they aren't the ones collecting information."
"Well, that depends on the animal; birds are a pretty generalized category of species. Do you have any specific animals in mind?"
"Well, I met this fox while I was out and about, saved it from being captured, and then had to turn it over to a different group of foxes. Makes me wonder what role they play."
"Hmm, fox is a difficult one. All that I really know is that they make great spies; they're experts at deception. Honestly, I wouldn't trust one, but they are pretty helpful to us, though. We tend to collaborate often when it comes to sharing information, though."
"That's interesting, I would have never thought. Completely unrelated, but are there dragons?" Nora went out on a limb, hoping that she wasn't accidentally revealing something.
"Oh yeah. Arrogant things, honestly. Think they're better than everyone else cause they're mystical and all-powerful and their god is some big hotshot."
"I take it you don't like them, huh?"
"No, every time that I've had to work with them, they think they own the skies. It's infuriating."
"I get that. What do you mean their god is some big hotshot?"
"You haven't heard of the dragon god Aetherius?"
"…no. I've been in some woods in god knows where for all my life."
"Right, haha. Well, Aetherius has been one of the more prevalent gods recently. I don't think that they're all that powerful when it comes to gods, but since most of them have been silent recently, the race of dragons has risen to be pretty powerful."
"Interesting.. Does that mean that the bird clan has a god, too?"
"Oh yeah, the name of our god is Serelith, but she hasn't been seen in eons. Doesn't make much of an appearance anymore. It's kind of made up, falls behind a little bit, you know, without a god backing us up, it's a little bit harder."
"But I thought you said we were one of the most powerful races?"
"Oh, we are. That's mostly because other races don't have a god; also, it's just bad luck that the only other flying creatures have a god backing them." Torin grumbled, clearly unhappy. "But I do like to believe that we would be unstoppable with Serelith back."
"Yeah, probably, it's good to know that I'm in good hands at least."
"Yeah, of course! I'll teach you how to control your mana, and honestly, you should be fine. You seem like a pretty powerful bird."
"Yeah, I don't exactly have many offensive abilities, unfortunately, and I still have to figure out how to work that pocketwatch."
"You know, I'm kind of jealous. I wish I had some mysterious, powerful artifact… that would be so cool."
"Who knows, it may just be a pocketwatch of trapping you in timeless spaces, haha."
They both had a good laugh for a minute.
"Yeah, who knows? Also, have you gotten your tasks yet? The new moon cycle should be coming up soon."
"I think I get them in 12 hours," Nora said, double-checking with her lifestone. "It doesn't say that I have any tasks yet. What are they like, by the way?"
"Well, for right now, they shouldn't be too difficult. There are a couple of different categories of tasks, but they can be grouped into the bird clan and out of the bird clan. You'll usually get a couple of tasks within the bird clan, and that will span from helping with some lessons, helping clean up, helping sell, or helping sort through information. Tasks outside the bird clan include a lot of gathering intel or collecting items. Very rarely do we have to do rescue missions, but those do come up sometimes with important figures. They'll usually leave that to the more experienced birds, though."
"Ok, interesting, on average, how many tasks are we supposed to get?"
"Well, you'll usually start with about 5 or 6, but depending on how well you do, they can go up as much as is possible within a moon cycle. You can also go to the task hall and request more if you need. If you need Feathermarks for something, you can usually take on extra tasks to get those."
"Feathermarks? What are those??"
"Oh, think of them like a form of currency; they're magically preserved feathers that the bird clan uses to trade. There are four different categories of feather mark: Downchips, pinions, royal plumes, and molten crests. Basically, for every task, you'll get a certain number of either Downchips or pinions, then once you have enough of those, you can convert them into royal plumes and eventually molten crests. Although molten crests are pretty rare, the average bird rarely sees more than one in their lifetime."
"Interesting, what's the conversion between them exactly?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure that it's something like 100 Downchips for 1 Pinion, 100 Pinions for 1 Royal Plume, and 100 Royal Plumes for 1 Molten Crest. But I wouldn't worry too much, you'll be able to afford to live off of just Downchips."
"You said they were made of feathers, yeah? Can't just anyone shed a couple of feathers and use them to buy something? Isn't that a bad economic practice?"
"Those are some big words, haha. Technically, all of the currency has to be processed. Yes, you could use your own down feathers for some down chips, but you'd have to sell them to the currency department to have them processed properly. With the more expensive feathers, they have to be given willingly and by a trusted source. Pinions have to be fully grown flight feathers, which are already rare enough; the royal plumes come from high-ranking or magically gifted birds, and molten crests only come from the goddess's wings herself. They're super rare, and only the richest birds have them."
"The fun part about using feathers as currency, though, is that if you don't have an immediate need for the money, they can double as great weapons, especially the higher-ranking ones."
"Really?" Nora exclaimed incredulously, "I can't imagine why someone would use money as a weapon."
"Well, in a life-or-death scenario, they do come in handy. That's also partially what gives them their value; they are a standardized weapon among birds. The more you have, the more you will be protected."
"That… actually makes a lot of sense…."
"Haha yeah, also it looks like we've arrived at your house."
"Oh yeah." Nora tried to speak nonchalantly but couldn't hide the excitement in her voice.
"Well, I will let you explore your house on your own. I have some things to take care of back at my place. But take this," Torin said, handing her a small teardrop-shaped pendant wrapped with silver wire.
"This is a communication device; it'll attune to your lifestone, and we can talk through it. I'll meet you tomorrow, and we can go over your tasks, and I'll help you get acquainted."
"Thank you, Torin, really. I can't say how helpful you have been today."
"Of course! It's not a problem at all," he waved her off.
"If there's any way that I can pay you back, let me know," Nora said seriously.
"No, really, it's alright, being your friend is enough, I swear."
"Ok if you say so," Nora reluctantly said, unconvinced as she slipped the pendant around her neck.
"Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow! Sleep well." Torin waved as he began heading further down the street. After about 20 or so feet, he spread his wings and took off into the air, heading back to his house.
Nora watched for a moment before turning her attention back to the treehouse. She got off the sky bridge that she and Torin had been walking on and headed up to the front door of her house. Pulling out the keys, she took a deep breath to stifle her excitement as she unlocked the door.