The golden sun was slowly rising in the sky as the Wheatmen family was saying its goodbyes. Mrs. Wheatmen had tried to be strong but it didn’t take long before she was all but smothering Danny with a tight embrace. Mr Wheatmen was also a part of the embrace but it seemed to be more awkward for him. Danny’s father seemed to be a stern but fair man who didn't openly show emotion a lot. But even that stern face cracked a little as he hugged his son goodbye and wished him luck.

  I tried my best to not seem too out of place as I waited by the carriage that would be transporting Danny and me to Dreshabor. I had made small talk with the driver, an older man with a whirly grin and salt and pepper hair named Furgen. From what I could gather he was an old friend of Mrs.Wheatmen’s dad and was doing this as a favor to her. Seemed like a kind man who gave off a grandfatherly energy and was more than happy to be helping two youths start their adventure.

  I had just finished a discussion with Frugen when Dannt’s parents separated from him and allowed Jackal and Anna to start saying their goodbyes as well. While Mr. Wheatmen seemed content to simply stand back and regain his stoic demeanor Mrs. Wheatmen instantly made a beeline for me.

  Despite myself, I felt a creeping uncertainty crawl down my back as the older women got closer. I took a step forward and opened my mouth to speak, not sure about the words about to be spoken, when I was cut off from doing so. Not by the older woman’s own words but by a warm and far too comforting hug that fully enveloped me.

  Any words that would have slipped from my lips all but vanished as Mrs. Wheatmen smothered me and an almost suffocating embrace. Not suffocation in the physical sense but in a mental one as my mind whirled with confusion about what to do. My own mother hadn’t hugged me like this for years and I was very out of practice for this sort of thing. In the end, I just focused on staying on my feet until the mature woman finally released me from the pleasant prison.

  “Alex,” Jeaneta spoke with a warmth that should have only been reserved for family, “It was a pleasure to host ya for these couple of days. You’ve been a great guest and a good friend to my family, especially to Danny. If ya need any help don’t go over thinkin and just come to us. We'll be more than happy to help.”

  I hadn’t realized how dry my mouth had gotten until she finished her words. Even after watering it to acceptable levels of wetness I still found no words to match the heartfelt ones of the woman in front of me. I could deal with falsehoods, I was more than ready for any manipulations, and I thrived when it came to deceit, but there was one thing I simply didn’t know how to handle. How could I when I had run into it oh so little during my life?

  Honesty.

  Eventually, I felt like I had made enough of a fool out of myself and started to speak. “I…Thank you for your kind words Mrs.Wheatmen. It was also a pleasure to stay with you and get to know your wonderful family. It was…nice to be welcomed.”

  I internally winced at my word choice but Jeaneta gave no reaction to it other than to give me another kind smile. Soon afterwards she reached into a bag she was carrying by her side and pulled out a smaller bag before holding it out to me. With a raised eyebrow I grabbed the bag and felt it. I was surprised to feel coins within and was even more surprised to open it up to see silver staring back at me.

  “Mrs. Wheatmen, I can't accept this! These silver coins are far too much to just give me.” I instantly went to hand the small sack back. Silver coins like that were worth a hundred copper ones and there were at least a dozen in the bag. That kind of money was like handing someone a couple hundred dollar bills without a care.

  But the older woman simply shook her head and pushed the bag back towards me. “We're not rich enough to just hand people a couple of silver like that Alex. Those are from the Winter Wolf fangs and claws you handed me a little while ago.”

  I pause at her words as I remember deciding to give her some of the monster parts I had collected from the three dead Winter Wolves. One I had killed on my own and the other two were from the fight that Danny had been in. The tanned man had helped me take the other two’s claws and fangs and had taken a few for himself but I had ended up with the lion’s share of it. A few days into my stay I had decided to give Mrs. Wheatmen most of them as a form of payment for allowing me to stay.

  I blinked rather owlishly at her words as my eyes switched back and forth between her and the bag. Was the parts really worth that much? I still had a few left in my own carrying sack that I was keeping in one of my inner pockets. Either way, I still felt like it was too much but when I made to open my mouth and speak the mature women beat me to it.

  “Now don’t be sayin anything about giving me the coins back Alex. I keep a few silver for myself so you still helped pay for your stay as you insisted on doing. Got a rather good price for them during the festival. I’m sure Pa would have been proud of me.”

  Jeaneta's words calmed me down as I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. The Wheatmen family had been nothing but kind to me and the last thing I wanted was to cause them to go into bankruptcy, or whatever this world’s equivalent was. With the new knowledge in hand, I was more than happy to take the silver. If I was smart I could ration it out over the next couple of dozen days and be fine even if I didn’t do anything to make more money in the meantime.

  “Oh, and I also got something else for ya.” Mrs. Wheatmen’s words caused my eyes to jerk up from where they were observing the bag of silver. Upon setting my eyes on the older woman once again I saw her holding out a sheathed dagger.

  It was about a foot in length if you included the blade and handle. The sheath was made of a rough brown leather material that seemed to have a latch to attach to a belt or some other object to make carrying the weapon easier. The handle was mostly red cloth bound together with an iron guard and pommel on either end.

  I took the dagger with a bit of trepidation as I put the bag of silver into one of the many inner pockets of my trench coat. I observed the sheath a bit closer before lightly pulling the blade out of it and felt my eyes widen in surprise. The blade itself wasn’t metal but a blue crystal-like material that had been sharpened into a fine edge and point. It was also very familiar to me.

  It was the large fang that I had used to kill one of the Winter Wolves.

  “Now before you start complaining about that I made that myself. Took a bit of work and had to call in a favor to get the thing sharpened like that but I think it came out great. You never know what you might find out there Alex…be careful. And look after Danny while you're with him. The boy needs some street smarts with him.” Jeaneta’s words once more left me without any. Instead, I simply stared at my new weapon for a bit more. Ultimately, I simply gave the woman a nod and spoke two words.

  “Thank you.”

  Despite the simplicity of my words, she seemed more than happy at them as she gave me another hug.

  Then with a simple goodbye to the rest of the family, I found myself climbing onto the carriage that would be taking Danny and me to the next part of our story.

  I just hope it was as pleasant as this part had been.

  It had only been a little over an hour since the carriage had started moving but already Vanners had disappeared over the horizon like a fading dream. Apparently, the journey to Dreshabor would normally take 14 days on foot but the carriage would cut the time to a little over 9 days, at least according to Furgen. In truth I hadn’t been paying much attention to anything as for the past hour I absentmindedly stared at my new dagger still in my hand.

  Danny had tried to make conversation but soon realized that I wasn’t in the mood for a chat so had pulled out a book on magic that his parents had given him before we had left. I felt bad about not speaking to him but I found myself really needing the hour to simply just…exist.

  Eventually, the muddiness of my mind seemed to clear up a good bit as I took in a deep breath before letting it out and finally strapping the dagger to my belt. It took a few tries but eventually, I got it into a decent position where it wasn’t too uncomfortable and could be pulled at a moment’s notice. Finally satisfied I allowed myself a small smile as I relaxed into the carriage bench and started to gaze out the back of the vehicle's covering to see the world before me.

  Or at least that had been the plan.

  Congratulations! You Leveled up!

  Personal Lv has gone from Lv2 -> Lv3

  What.

  “Ya ok Alex?” Apparently, I had not just thought the word but spoken it aloud as I saw Danny from the corner of my eye turn to speak to me. Without thinking my mouth moved as I stared at the floating words in my head.

  “I appear to have Leveled up.” I regret speaking those words as soon as I said them. All of Danny’s focus shifted to me all at once with an expression of excitement. Before I could make some kind of excuse he spoke with a voice full of interest and wonder.

  “You Leveled!?! That's great Alex! You know usually-” I drowned out most of his words as I dismissed the words in my end and thought about why I would have gotten a Lv now of all times. It didn’t really make sense to me but at the same time I also really didn’t understand much about how the leveling system of this world worked. I had tried while staying at the Wheatmens to gain some kind of info but the topic never came up naturally.

  Until now.

  “Danny,” I said, interrupting the excited man from his rambles about Lv parties or something like that, “What do you know about getting Lvs? I’m afraid there is not much about it from my home and some clarification would be wonderful.”

  The tanned man paused as he seemed to put some thought into my question. I found myself holding my breath as he did so. Learning about this sort of thing was high on my to do list but the problem was that this was info that people my age in this world would have long since learned. If I asked too many questions then I ran the risk of having too many questions asked towards me. I might be a bit paranoid about this but it was better safe than sorry.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  After about a minute or two Danny finally seemed to have come up with an explanation as he once more turned to me with a face that spoke of eagerness. “Lvs come in two varieties. The first is Personal Lvs. You tend to get these by just living. The greater the things you do the more you get. Starting a new and long journey can be just as big as killin a monster or savin a person.”

  Danny took a breath before speaking the next part, “The other kind of Lvs are Class Lvs. You don’t get those without gettin your hands on one of the eight basic Class Gems. When I picked the Mage Class during my Coming of Age I was given a blue crystal with some kind of symbol in it, I couldn't really tell what it was. Then I concentrated on it and was given the Mage Class along with an Lv in it. When we get to Dreshabor you should be able to pick any of the Basic Classes since the rules of the Guild say that anyone without a Class and past the Coming of Age can get a free use of one of the Gems.”

  He pauses to take a another breath. I absorbed the info as he did so. It suddenly makes a little more sense that I got a Personal Lv now. But that still left me more curious about what the Basic Classes were. I knew that Mage and Cultivator are two of them but what did that truly mean and what were the other 6?

  “Danny, what are all the Basic Classes? Or at least how you understand them.” I added on the second part hoping to make it seem like I just wanted his opinion on the classes rather than wanting to know what they were. Either way, the Novice Mage was more than happy to continue his explanation.

  “Like I said there are 8 Basic Classes. Each of them change your stats when you get them with each focusing on one of the 8 stats. First, there's Warrior which uses Strength. They are all about fighting face-to-face and taking on challenges head-on. I think Bakton has the Class which is probably why that punch of his nearly took your head off.”

  I wince at the memory as Danny continues, “Next is the Rogue who uses Agility. They’re like the opposite of a Warrior and are all about being sneaky and fast. After that is the Mage which focuses on Intelligence. Magic is the thing they do and do well, whether it be about learning it or using it. Then there's the Ranger who uses the Dexterity Stat. They focus on range fightin and explorin.”

  Danny took a moment to pause and seemed to try to remember the rest before continuing once more. “Then we got the Cultivator whose big thing is Constitution. Growing things and raising stuff is what they like to do. Artisan is after that and it uses Wisdom. They’re all about crafting and making things. I think that was what Ma picked during her Coming of Age.”

  I nodded at that last part, Mrs. Wheatmen did seem to focus on house upkeep and crafting useful objects while the rest of her family tended the farming. I noted how Danny’s words made it seem like she was no longer an Artisan but decided to let him finish talking about the rest of the Basic Classes before saying anything.

  “Priest is after that one and they’re all about the Spirit Stat. They do things with the Great Six and some other stuff that I don’t really know about. And finally, the Speaker Class is last and they mainly use Charisma. They’re really good at talking and communicatin. Kinda like you Alex the more I think about it.”

  I once more absentmindedly nod my head as I take in the new info. Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Ranger, Cultivator, Artisan, Priest, and Speaker. Those were my choices it seemed. Instantly both Priest and Cultivator were tossed away as I had no interest in either one of them. After a little more thought Warrior was added to that list as I had no desire to hit things with a sword.

  Magic is something I want to try so maybe Mage would be the best option for me. But then my mind flashed to the Status Screen in my mind and a question escaped my lips before I could think about whether I should have asked it or not. “Danny is magic only something those of the Mage Class can do?”

  Danny, who at this point in time had been taking a drink from his water flask to refresh after the long explanation, quickly down the water in his mouth before turning back to me. He was already shaking his head before he spoke, “No any Class can learn and use magic. Mages are just really good at it. I think Artisan is also a good Class to do magic since some magic uses Wisdom instead of Intelligence. I think it depends on whatever Element the spell comes from.”

  Instantly another question comes to my mind but I clamp it down before it could leave my lips. At this point, I felt like it would be best to simply stay quiet and use the info I just got to gleam more later. I was more than thankful that Danny was such a trusting individual. It made me feel a bit bad about my lies but in the end, I felt keeping my cards close to my chest was better here.

  A secret spoken can’t be unspoken.

  At least without digging a new grave in the ground.

  It had been 6 days since Danny and I left Vanners behind and started this little journey. For the most part, it had been a pleasant time as I watched the passing countryside. The vast plains and roving hills were a wonderful sight only broken up by the occasional tree or small patch of them. Despite the coldness in the air as the time of Darkness, aka Winter, started its reign upon this world the plants of the Evergreen Plains refused to bow. Even as frost started to build up at night the plants just stood there like it was a fine summer evening.

  It was an interesting sight even if it had slowly started to become more dull after the first day of travel. A few animals could be seen here or there as well. Packs of Bashers were decently common but they played nice as long as we avoided them. Those deer with the weird horns, apparently called White Horns, were also not too uncommon but they were far more skittish than the unbothered Bashers. Besides those, there were small animals like plain normal rabbits that could be found from my world and even snakes. The latter was an unpleasant surprise as I rather hated the serpent creatures, had a bad run-in with one as a child and never quite got over it.

  Of all the things for this world to share the danger noodles had to be one of them…

  The carriage only made two stops usually. The first was around noon to the afternoon when a large meal was made by Frugen with help from Danny. The stop usually didn’t last too long, lasting half an hour to a full hour. The other stop was to set up a small camp to eat a little dinner, sleep, get up, eat some breakfast, and then pack up to leave.

  Both Danny and I did our best to pull our weights despite Frugen saying that we were fine to sit back and relax. Danny refused due to his disliking of not working while others did. I did so because I was aware that no matter what path my future would take, having some survival skills would probably help me later.

  Besides just watching the passing scenery Danny and I talked a bit about world affairs but sadly the magical farmer didn’t know too much outside of the Kingdom of Valnus. Frugen ended up being a godsend as he got around a lot and was more than happy to talk about the little section of the world I had found myself transported to.

  First off the Kingdom of Valnus which we were currently riding through was once a part of the Empire of Man. It had been a large nation slowly created over centuries after the feudal kingdoms founded on the Isle of Man united under one King. Said King was called Ganthos the King of Kings who led humanity from said island to the mainland and over the course of a few centuries conquered almost the entire northern half of it.

  I did not misspeak by the way. Yes, Ganthos had lived for centuries as the ruler of the Empire of Man. Apparently very high Lv people would occasionally get Skills that made them live far longer than they should have. Either way, Ganthos was eventually killed in some great War while trying to expand his empire to the southern part of Septima.

  The Empire of Man somewhat remained after that. The lands that the Empire claimed were split into eight regions that were in turn ruled by one of eight noble families that had helped the King rise to power before humanity had been united. It lasted for a time until tensions started to rise and the Empire was split into 8 kingdoms.

  But even that was a long time ago as half of those kingdoms were gone. The others had splintered and changed over the centuries into the various Human Kingdoms that spread across the northern and northwestern parts of the continent. The Kingdom of Valnus had been one of the original eight Kingdoms. More specifically it was the Kingdom of Cultivators.

  Though things haven’t been too great for Valnus. About 5 centuries ago one of the few remaining nations in the north that resisted the Empire of Man had attacked them. The Queendom of Isri was to the northeast of Valnus and was a land of eternal ice and snow called the Everwhite Plains. It was apparently inhabited by a race of people called Icekin. Valnus had won said war with Isri but it had cost them some of the relics they had from the Empire of Man. The Icekin themselves were also rather disliked by the people of the kingdom, there were even rumors of the Icekin sneaking into villages along the border and taking men and children.

  Besides that, there was the Kingdom of Ophia which had peacefully broken away from Valnus not too long after the war with Isri. Ophia was a smaller nation that was on a peninsula to the west of Valnus which was also where the main borders between it and Isri were. The rest of the borders were made of a large icy mountain range called the Frozen Mountains. It was apparently north of the Snowatch Forest where I had arrived in this world.

  Besides that, there was trouble to the south of Valnus. A race of people referred to as the Bofolk had once lived all over the northern part of the continent but they had been forced south by the Empire of Man. They had united into a nation called the Confederacy of Mofiln which had been one of the nations to help kill the King of the Empire. There was little love between Mofiln and the remaining Human Kingdoms. This was shown by the two major wars it had fought with both Valnus and the Kingdom of Palion which was the other Human Kingdom that bordered the imaginary line that separated what was considered the northern and southern parts of Septima.

  Not too long after the War with the Isri, Mofiln declared war on Valnus, capitalizing on its weakened state after the war with the Icekin. They had lost and the land that Molfin had taken had become a vassal state called the Confederacy of Rosn. Shortly after a similar war had happened with Palion which resulted in a second vassal state called the Confederacy of Eomon. It was a rather confusing state of affairs if you asked me.

  A second war between Valnus and Moflin had occurred a little over 90 years ago with Rosn being used as a proxy. While Valnus had fought better in this one it still lost a good bit of land to Rosn. This was apparently the war that had led Robert Hous’ father to take control of Vanners to make up for the farms lost during the war.

  Tension was still rather high, not helped by the fact that a few years ago Moflin had done the same thing. Declaring war of Palion this time using Eomon as a proxy. Said war was still going strong apparently and was a heated topic in the larger cities in Valnus. Valnus was supporting Palion but there was a strong call for the kingdom to fully aid the other human nation and declare war. It all sounded like messy politics that I had little interest in being a part of.

  All of it was interesting info and something to think over as we continued along the road as the golden sun was making its way down the sky in the west. Also the sun in this world did rise in the east and set in the west like I had wondered about back in the Snowatch Forest. Good to know that was the same in this world as well.

  I doubted that much of the things that Frugen had spoken about would affect me too much. The situation with the Icekin, the Queendom of Isri, and the Kingdom of Ophia might. If only because Dreshabor was rather close to the borders between the three nations. It was something to keep in mind while I was in the city.

  “You two alright back there?” The older voice of Frugen came from the front of the carriage and grabbed Danny and my attention. I had been working more on learning to read and write the written language of this world at the time. I was able to read most things but at a slow pace and not quite everything translated over correctly.

  Danny, who had been trying to learn a new spell from his book, was the one to reply as he folded the corner of the book's page and closed it. “We're just fine Mister Frugen. Everything ok?”

  Frugen’s own reply didn’t take long, “The roads have been a bit more bumpy than usual but other than that I don’t see or sense any trouble. But I just wanted you to know that in about an hour we’ll be arriving in the Village of Sabim. We’ll stay there for the night to resupply and be on our way to Dreshabor.”

  “That sounds rather lovely, Frugen. Staying in a nice little inn would be a nice change of pace.” I spoke back to the old carriage driver and Danny nodded along in agreement with my words.

  Soon afterward silence once more regained control as Frugen went back to focusing on the road and Danny and I also went back to the tasks we were doing before the little conversation. However I will admit that I was focusing less on my studies and more on the thoughts of actually sleeping in a bed for the night and not just a basic sleeping bag that the people here called a bed roll. It wasn’t too bad but I had grown up in a world of basic comforts and that wasn’t going away anytime soon.

  I'd be a liar if I didn’t say I wasn’t looking forward to a night in this village.

  (POV-Basn Jillen)

  I gripped my graying hair with so much force that I swear I was about to rip a chunk of it out. But despite the pain, all I could do was stare at the reports on my desk in despair. Each of them gave names and descriptions of about a dozen or so village folk. Good hard-working people who made the village of Sabim a pleasant place to live.

  Those same people who were now missing.

  It had started slowly, one every 20ish days or so. Even just one person going missing in a small village though was very much noticed. But after a few days, nothing turned up and many were forced to go back to their livelihoods. But it kept happening and now I had just gotten word that six people had gone missing around the time of the small harvest festival we had done to celebrate the end of the Time of Air.

  Each of the missing people weighed heavily on me. Being the mayor of a small place like this wasn’t that big of a deal but it still made me feel like I was doing something with my life. Seeing the villagers happy and cheerful always made my day. Now a gloom had overcome the town as some refused to leave their house under fear of being taken.

  We didn’t even have any clue what was happening either. I know that some of the older folks were blaming the Icekin, saying how the people of cold were taking innocent people back to their land of ice and snow. Some of the younger folk thought it was some kind of monster and wanted to band together to deal with it. But nothing was certain a this moment.

  I had hoped that the quest I had put in for some help to the Guild in Dreshabor would get a few Adventures to come but no one had shown up yet. I suppose it was due to the low reward amount that I gave. But that was all that Sabim could spare to give. Besides the missing people, the last few years had been hard on the village with the crops not doing well.

  Eventually, I let go of my hair and was dismayed to see the small clumps of hair that clung to my hands before dismissing it and pulling out a small casket of beer I kept in my office for special occasions. It wasn’t one of those occasions but I really needed a drink right now. Couldn’t head to Levery’s tavern either, if people saw their mayor drowning in alcohol during a time of crisis things would only get worse.

  As I got a cup and poured myself some of the beer. I muttered a small prayer to the Great Six. Asking them to send someone to help us. Anyone that could do something. Before the old ache in my bones proved that the feeling of things about to get worse was proven right.

  The drink was gone in seconds.

  It didn’t help.