The house was huge.

Penelope stopped at the gate to look at the three-story house. There was a stone fence around the yard, walling it off from the street. Ivy covered most of the fence, while a row of trees just inside the yard provided another layer of privacy. Once the gate was open, she was able to see the well-kept yard and flower beds along the outside of the mansion.

The house itself had a foreign structure, with rounded edges and lots of glass, though the reflections on the glass were of the trees and the yard, with the upper floors giving her an image of the dome behind her.

Most of the Mebope who were going to be part of their 'classes' were gathered in the yard setting up scaffolds in the yard to hang sacks for target practice. Their skin tones ranged from blue, silver, black, and brown, with blue being the main color. They all had the same jet-black hair and blue eyes, with an even distribution of men and women. They all had on either a skirt or a dress, even the men, and none of the fabric went below their knees. There was a variety of colors of their clothes, but they were darker shades of green, brown, black, gray, and blue in a random camouflage pattern.

"Dane!" Lady Husley waved at one of the older men.

The silver man ran over and stood at attention. "Yes, Lady Husley."

The older Mebope woman gestured at Circe. "Lady Circe is hungry; go get her something suitable for our surface guests from the kitchen."

He saluted, then ran into the house.

"Lady?" Circe giggled the moment he was out of earshot.

"It's a term of respect." Lady Husley looked at the two Humans. "Both of you will be addressed as 'Lady' during your stay here."

"Wow." Circe grinned. "I feel like a princess or something."

"None of the royal family was off-world when our homeworld vanished, so we don't have any princes or princesses." Lady Husley frowned. "Rather than crown a new regent, we established the Court of Lords and Ladies. For every colony we have, there are at least three members of the Court to govern our people." She looked out at the others who were gathered in front of them. "There aren't any Nobles here, so you don't have to worry about addressing anyone here with a formal title, but I do insist that you require them to show you that level of respect."

"I can do that!" Circe beamed. "Am I going to get a crown or something?"

I'm not very interested in titles. Penelope turned her voice inward to avoid listening to Circe's wishlist for looking like a Noble.

"It's a part of their culture." Jeru shrugged as he motioned at the people. "Granted, it's a recent addition to their culture, but it's something that has served them well since Dad hid their homeworld."

Your dad is the reason that their homeworld went missing? Penelope closed her eyes to try to keep from showing a reaction.

"It's not as bad as it sounds." Jeru insisted. "Well, there was some pretty messed up stuff happening back then, but he did what he did to protect them. Not that anyone knew he did it."

Penelope opened her eyes to look at the Elf. But you know.

"Only because I'm from the future." He shrugged. "Back then, I thought it was a black hole or something like everyone else."

Of course, because you're from the future. Penelope took a deep breath as she switched topics. Can you give me any information about the people here?

"Lanlo Chillau, Endal Berdy, and Eldil Carda are the three who are Magic over Speed like you, which will be the 'easiest' for you to show how you do what you do, but Endal and Eldil are going to clash with your personality." Jeru pointed at one of the younger women. "Vaci Andon probably has the best stat spread and personality to match you, though she's Magic over Recovery, so she's going to specialize in summon spells, plus she's water affinity."

Dane came back with some grilled fish wrapped in long, woven green leaves. He handed the three wraps to Lady Husley, bowed, then returned to what he had been doing before with the archery targets.

"How are we going to decide who will be the best two people for us to train?" Penelope looked at the group in front of them as she took the wrap from their host.

"I assumed that you'd want to talk to the people who had a similar stat spread to yourself." Lady Husley took a bite of her food.

"We can show them how we leveled, but we've been working with others, so having someone who mirrors ourselves and someone who doesn't would probably be the best pair we could work with." Penelope smelled the wrap. Fish had a texture and a smell that made it difficult for her to eat, but she also knew that it was going to be rude to refuse food. She took a small bite. The greens were crisp despite being warm and the fish was flakey with the hint of salt and butter. There was still a hint of fishy flavor as well, but it wasn't to the point that she wouldn't be able to eat it. She peeled the green back and tore off a piece and popped it in her mouth.

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"Wouldn't it be best to train someone with your exact stat spread?" Lady Husley eyed the two women.

"I can see people's classes and affinities." Penelope nodded at the group in front of them. "Lanlo is a light Spellshot, so he matches me, but no one out here has the dark affinity."

"They don't?" Circe popped the last bite of her wrap in her mouth.

"All of our affinities are either water, ice, light, or electric." Lady Husley eyed Penelope. "The ability to see someone's information is a very powerful ability."

"I assumed it was just part of the system." Penelope shrugged and took a bite of just fish so she didn't have to explain anything else.

"Pen can see monster's stats too!" Circe beamed. "She's our secret weapon against the monsters."

"Really?" Lady Husley looked between the two. "She's the only one who can see monster's stats?"

Penelope swallowed what was in her mouth. "It's an Aura ability."

"Ah." The Mobope woman nodded. "So why wouldn't you want people who mirror your own experiences?"

"Most of my spells deal with casting multiple projectiles at a single target." Penelope pointed at the cluster of targets. "While I can target multiple things, it costs extra mana, while someone who is Magic over Aura would be able to hit all three of those with a single spell." She turned to their host. "Only having one type of Caster means that if there is a monster with a resistance to projectiles or a large quantity of monsters, I could get overrun, while someone who has a wide spell would be able to keep them back."

"So you're saying that having someone who specializes in boss fights and someone who can take care of waves of smaller monsters would be the wiser option?" Lady Husley nodded. "That makes sense."

"I think Vacy Andon would work well as the second person for me to train." Penelope pointed at the young woman.

"But she's water." Lady Husley scrunched her brow. "Why not Carpry? He's the same class as Vacy, but light affinity."

"You don't want everyone to be the same element." Penelope didn't need Jeru's help to justify the choice. "On the third floor, the monsters were nature, which resisted light. If the monsters on the fifth floor are resistant to light as well, then both of them will have to be support instead of offense."

"True." The Mebope woman nodded. "Would you like to meet them or are you confident in your ability to work with them?"

"I think I can manage." Penelope peeled another piece of her wrap off.

"What about me?" Circe looked at the group on their left. "There's not anyone with the dark affinity, so who should I work with?"

"Nochi Yere is the only person we have who is Speed over Power." Lady Husley pointed at the young, brown woman at the edge of the group. "She's water affinity. What do you think would be a good compliment for her?"

"You've doubled up on water, so you probably don't need to double up on light." Penelope gestured at the three Mebope Archers who weren't water or light.

"Then why don't you take Rendhe Betwsy instead?" Lady Husley pointed at the dark-skinned woman on the right side of the yard. "She's a Herbalist as well, but the electric affinity."

"And as volatile as bottled lightning." Jeru groaned. "Her older brother is here too, which will antagonize him if she gets training and he doesn't."

How do I refute her logic? Penelope looked at the other options. You said Endal was a bad choice. If I want to avoid the siblings, then Renno would be out too, which leaves Tuira—

"Who is a fanatic." Jeru cut her off. "You've backed yourself into a corner." He sighed. "Sorry, I've never had this type of situation." He shrugged. "Good news is that you can probably get all of this stuff done in a few runs, but that means you're going to be spending a couple months with Rendhe."

"That works." The words felt sour in her mouth, but the process of elimination had left Rendhe as the least bad option.

"Which leaves us with Findo Aldil as the only ice person." Lady Husley clapped her hands. "Splendid!" She turned back to the group. "Lanlo Chillau, Rendhe Betwsy, Nochi Yere, and Findo Aldil!" She motioned for them to come to her.

The four people hurried over. Findo was one of the older men, but in his early thirties, he was young compared to the older men they came with. The blue man stood in the back of the four next to the other man in the group, while the youngest of the four, who'd been called, stood in the very front.

Rendhe glared at the younger woman who shouldered her way to the front. Both women were young, but they projected a confidence that the two men didn't show.

Why did a seventeen-year-old get a Mantle? Penelope looked at Nochi.

"She'll turn eighteen before you'd go down to the fifth floor." Jeru floated between the two women. "But she's got enough attitude for all four of them."

"The four of you will be rooming with our guests in a private residence." Lady Husley addressed the small group. "You're still going to have some training sessions with everyone else, but you'll be able to shadow these experts on a daily basis."

The two women grinned from ear to ear, while the guys looked bored.

"Findo, I expect you to act as our representative when I'm not here." Lady Husley typed on her wrist pad. "I sent you the address where you'll be staying and once I can work out a schedule with teachers to raise your jobs, I'll send that to you as well."

"Yes, my lady." The blue man gave her a slight bow.

"But—" Nochi began.

"I don't want to hear of any trouble for our guests." Lady Husley cut her off. "We are in the middle of a crisis that is going to last years. I expect for each of you to give these Humans the respect that they have earned." She eyed those gathered. "They've already cleared the first three floors and if you learn from what they've gone through, you should have no problem surviving this incursion."

"Yes, ma'am." Nochi lowered her gaze, but the glare was still on her face.

"Now…" Lady Husley turned to Penelope. "I have other matters to attend to, but Findo will make sure you get settled and if you need anything else to make your stay more comfortable, let him know and he'll convey it to me."

Penelope watched the silver woman walk out the gate, then she turned back to everyone in the yard. The other eight Mebope were staring at them, which made her feel very uncomfortable. Should I explain things to them?

"Nothing you say is going to make them feel any less passed over." Jeru shrugged. "Focus on the task at hand. Trust me, it'll get easier in a few runs."

"Alright." Penelope cleared her throat as she looked at the older man. "I'm ready to see where we're going to be staying."

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