The midday golden sun shone on the Evergreen Plains as the vividly green fields and hills passed by. Despite looking like it was spring, the cold still crept along every bit of greenery. Signs of it could be seen here or there. Like how some of the blades of grass we passed by still had frost clinging on to them. Or how the carriage had to occasionally move to the side to avoid a frozen puddle in the middle of the dirt road.

  Or how my hands were slowly getting numb as I glared at the book that they held.

  “Alex glarin’ at the book ain't going to help ya with the channelin’.”

  I switch my glare from the book in my hands to my tanned friend sitting beside me. Said friend was currently holding back some giggles as he gave me a smile while I tried and failed to channel any kind of mana in my body.

  It had been about a day after we left the village of Sadim and were about a day out of Dreshabor. Danny had been working on a new spell he was trying to learn, while I had been working on my ability to read the written language of this world. Through my hard work and effort, I felt that I was decent at reading even if my writing still needed some work. This, in turn, led me to talk to Danny about his own reading.

  One thing led to another and I was given a very basic book on magic that Danny had used when he was first beginning as a spellcaster. Magic was something that I took instant note of when I learned about it, but I never had a good chance to dip my toes into the subject. At the moment, I was attempting a basic exercise to channel magic through my body. It was an activity that most Mages and others who used magic did to help increase the flow of mana through their bodies. It was supposed to be an easy thing to do, even for a non-Mage if you had proper instruction.

  ‘Supposed’ is the keyword in that last sentence.

  It just wasn’t working for me. I tried my best to feel the magic within me, but nothing seemed to be there. According to Danny, every living being naturally produces mana which would circulate through the various pathways through our bodies. Mages and other spellcasters could manipulate this mana in their body and even draw from the mana in the surroundings to cast spells. In theory, any person could learn magic if they put their mind to it.

  But I wasn’t of this world. That thought kept nagging at me as I practiced and tried to feel any kind of mana in me. I could feel the doubt creeping along the edges of my mind as it ebbed away at my thoughts and feelings. Every time I would banish them away, they would just creep back in and start anew. Even Danny’s words of encouragement were doing little to help me.

  Eventually, I took a moment to rest as Danny went back to his own spellwork. He was trying to learn some kind of simple spell that could create some kind of armor or barrier that blunted damage. For as much as my tanned friend loved to do and talk about magic, he wasn’t a great teacher. He was bad at explaining things and giving examples.

  I took a moment to observe Danny as he unerringly read from his book. My gaze also swung to Furgen who was guiding his Furnest along the road. Finally, my eyes looked towards the passing countryside as the last bits of frost from the night were fading from the unnaturally green plains. It was rather peaceful and calming and eventually I closed my eyes and simply listened to the sounds of nature and the turning of wooden wheels.

  As seconds, if not minutes, passed I found myself lulled into a state of peace as my mind wandered from nothing to nothing. Even the noises that I was listening to faded into the background and I felt a small but real smile come to my face. Then, just as I seemed to be about to take a midday nap, I felt something. It was like a new perspective was opened to me as I saw in my mind’s eye an outline of my body. I felt something flowing slowly through it, not unlike blood but more…potent.

  Mana.

  For a second, I almost lost it when I realized what was happening but I once more calmed myself and felt the foreign energy in my body. The instructions from Danny’s book came to mind for a second and I metaphorically reached out slowly. At first, it didn't move much as I pushed, then I tried more gently but firmly and I saw the mana start to move around my body with more purpose. It was almost hypnotizing to watch as the weird feeling I was getting from it moving around my body started to fade.

  I could have probably done this for hours without realizing it.

  The world had other ideas.

  Congratulations! You Leveled up!

  Personal Lv has gone from Lv3 -> Lv4

  The words echoed in my head and seemingly forced their way into my mind’s eye. Any concentration I had left me as I jerked from my seat in the carriage. To my side, I saw Danny pause and quickly earmark the page he was on before turning to me with a concerned expression on his face. “Alex! Ya scared me there for a second. What happened?”

  The shock quickly left me as I took a moment to attempt to feel for the mana again. To my relief, it was still there and now seemed to stand out to me far more easily than before. It's like seeing a hidden object in a drawing; it took forever to find it, but once you did you’d always see it when you looked. Now that my concern was satisfied, I turned to Danny with a smile and spoke.

  “It’s fine Danny, it was just some shock. I was finally able to start channeling my mana like the book was talking about and got lost in the process. It wasn’t until I got a Lv up notification that I realized what was happening.” As I spoke, Danny’s expression slowly changed from concerned to excited.

  “YA LEVELED! Great job Alex! And you also finally took your first steps as a spellcaster! I knew ya could do it if you just tried hard enough.” I smiled at Danny’s words as I glanced down at the worn beginner’s guide to magic book in my hand.

  “I appreciate your words Danny, I truly do. Do you mind if I keep hold of this book for a bit? Now that I was able to channel my mana a bit, I would like to read further on the subject. I’ll be sure to give it back once I’m done.”

  Danny gave me a smile as he nodded his head before speaking, “Ya, that's fine Alex. Just take care of it. I got it from an old Mage in Dreshabor back when I first got the Mage Class. Talked to me before I left the Guild buildin’ and wanted to help me a little. The book’s great! There's a few basic spells near the back that you can learn as a start when you get down readin’ the rest.”

  I nodded my head in appreciation and soon silence once more fell upon the two of us as we both went back to our respective readings. But my mind did wander a bit, often leading back to thinking about the level-up I had just gotten. It was pretty clear that was the result of learning to channel the mana in me, but I couldn’t help but feel it was slightly unearned. Maybe I was just overthinking things, after all I was in the single digits so it did kinda make sense that I would be leveling a bit fast.

  Now that I thought about it, I wondered what the average level most of the people in this world was. Same for the Class LVs as well. I thought about asking Danny, but my paranoia started to flare and I decided to leave it for research once I got to Dreshabor. But another thought entered my mind and after thinking about it, a screen entered my mind’s eye.

  Alexander Magna Burleson

  Personal Lv-4

  Primary Class-None

  Secondary Class-None

  Strength-★

  Constitution-★

  Dexterity-★

  Agility-★

  Intelligence-★

  Wisdom-★

  Spirit-★

  Charisma-★

  -Primary Skills-

  -Secondary Skills-

  -Spells-

  I stared at it for a few seconds before allowing it to fade. The lvs didn’t make me feel that different. Danny did mention that Personal LVs only really affected someone when they had a Class. Again, the thought about asking Danny about this came to mind but again I pushed it down. I had so many questions, but I had to be patient with them.

  For now, I could answer some of them. Or at least the ones I had on the magic of this world. With that thought my attention once more turned back to the book in my hands. I had at least a day before we reached Dreshabor and I had to make use of the time. At least the book was rather informative about the subject matter.

  I’d be a liar though, if I said it didn’t almost put me to sleep.

  It was noon of the next day that I was finally able to read through most of the book. I felt like it would have been faster if I weren’t so used to the language of this world. As I looked at the few basic spells that Danny had been talking about near the back, I thought about what the book had spoken of.

  The magic of this world wasn’t too complicated, at least in how it was categorized and sorted. I had seen my fair share of magic systems from various RPGs I had played and novels that had found my interest. It helped that the book did a really good job explaining the basics. It made me wonder if I could find this old man who handed it to Danny while I was in Dreshabor.

  First off, each spell belonged to one of six elements. There was the standard basic four of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water that I often saw used in various media. On top of that, there was Light and Darkness as well. Apparently, each of these elements is also tied to one of the six gods of this world. I made a note to find some info about these gods while I was in the city.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Every spell derived itself from one of these elements. Like how the Impact spell that Danny used was an earth spell that used earth energy to make a bludgeoning force to blast someone with. Or at least I think that's how it worked. It made me wonder how stuff like teleportation and magical communication was classified.

  Questions for later.

  Besides the six elements, each spell required one of three things to be cast. These things were basically focuses that helped channel the spell. They were Vocal, which was a spell that used words as a focus. Somatic, which used one’s hands and various gestures to cast a spell. Finally Material, which was something along the lines of a wand or staff which seemed to be what Danny used.

  Vocal sounded like something I would prefer to use. Material could be taken away from you and Somatic seemed too much work for my liking. I already enjoyed talking, so being able to do it while I was casting a spell or two sounded like a lovely way to spend an evening. The book did warn that many spellcasters had counters to each of these focuses and to try and vary them but that was a problem for later.

  Finally, the only other thing to note was that each spell was also divided into five ratings depending on how strong and powerful it could be. These ratings used a one-star to a five-star system, where one star was the weakest and five stars were the strongest. It seemed that most things in this world used the five-star rating system. From what Danny told me, it was probably due to the fact that stats ranged from one to five stars as well.

  Zero stars was not an official thing, but it was referenced in the book. In the case of spells and magic, zero stars were usually something that was magical but had no real use. Or at least that was what I could gather from the book, it was unfortunately a bit vague about the zero star stuff.

  With this info in mind, I looked over the few one-star spells that the book talked about in the back. It provided a name and description for each of them, along with a few tips about how to cast it. There were six of them, one for each element.

  The first was a Fire-aligned spell called Warmth, which seemed to make a person warmer. It wasn’t a blistering warmth, but rather just a nice cozy one like being under the blankets of a bed. It was meant to help people in colder areas of the world.

  The second was a Water-aligned spell called Dampen, which simply made an object slightly wet. It was specifically an object and not a person. It seemed like it was for watering plants mostly, but I could see some use in making a person’s clothing wet and uncomfortable in a fight or something along those lines.

  The third was an Air-aligned spell called Gust, which was pretty much what it was called. It just made a gentle gust of wind from the user’s focus. I remember Danny using this one, along with some kind of skill against one of the Winterwolves back when I had first met him. His gust was strong enough to slightly throw back a decently large monster, but the normal version had nowhere near the power to do that.

  The fourth was an Earth-aligned spell called Clean, which could clean up either an object or a person. Nothing really fancy about this one, but it was still useful for my purposes since staying clean was a good first step in people not dismissing you outright. It would also help save time in the mornings when I clean up myself a little. That alone made me want to start with it, but I held off before looking at the other spells.

  The fifth one was a Light-aligned spell called Glow, which made an object you touched glow decently brightly. A good spell to have in the dark. Sadly, the light it gave off didn’t seem enough to blind someone. Or at least that's what it seems like from the description the book was giving.

  The sixth and final spell was rather interesting, or at least it was in my opinion. It was a Darkness-aligned spell called Numb that allowed the caster to numb certain parts of the body. It worked on either the caster or someone else from a distance. Pain was the main example the book gave, but other things like hunger could work with it as well.

  After some thinking on the matter, I decided that Numb was what I would put my current focus on. Pain was something I would rather not deal with, and it could help in a pinch. I did wonder how it was a Darkness-aligned spell though. Either way, it was what I decided to pick with Clean and Warmth being the ones I would go for after. The other three, I would see about learning if I had the time.

  Sadly, I only just started to dip my toes into magic when I heard Jurgen yell back at us. “Right lads, I see Dreshabor in the distance! Why don’t ya come up here and take a look?”

  I paused in my practice of the Numb spell and was at first annoyed at the interruption since I felt like I was finally starting to get it. Then I processed Furgen’s words fully and snapped the book closed and got to my feet. Danny wasn't too far behind me as I got to the front of the carriage and leaned over Furgen’s right shoulder to get a better view of the horizon.

  It was hard to make out at first, but eventually I saw the distant shape of a large city on the horizon. As we got closer, I noted the large stone walls that surround it. It was larger than any kind of wall I had ever seen and was what I had expected of some kind of medieval city. Towers dotted along the walls along with a few other fortifications.

  I could also start making out a rather large grouping of housing and other buildings that gathered all along the wall and after some time, I realized that they were probably centered around a gate or two that led into the city proper. On another side of the wall, I could see another grouping of buildings, which was probably around another gate. It took me another minute to also realize that I could see the ocean as well, the city seemed to be built along the coast, with the walls surrounding a huge section of it which now contained the inner city.

  It was far larger than I thought it would have been. Not comparable to a major city from my own world, but probably larger than most of the medieval cities that used to exist on Earth. I guess when one has access to magic and Lvs you could build quite a lot. It was truly starting to put things into perspective for me as we drew ever closer to our destination.

  Eventually, my musing was interrupted by Furgen’s words. “It’s truly something ain’t it? Dreshabor is one of the largest cities in the Kingdom of Valnus. It’s also one of two major ports that the kingdom has. The other is Kaliops over by Lake Cretan, which has a river that leads to the Merish Sea. That water ya see over there is the Lake of Fire, which has a river that leads into the Gulf of Winter. The only city that outshines them two is the capital itself.”

  I found myself rather surprised at the mention of what I thought was the ocean turned out to be a lake. I didn’t even see an end to it at all. Then again, I suppose that this would have been the same if I were looking at one of the Great Lakes up north. Still though the scale was rather surprising to me and I decided to make sure I found a map when I could while in the city.

  Danny also stared out at the city beside me. I could practically make out the stars shining in his eyes as I saw the look of awe on his face. He had mentioned coming here about five years ago to get his Class, but half a decade would dull the mind a little. It still amazed me how full of life my tanned friend could be. It almost made me feel like I wasn’t trying hard enough to enjoy the things around me.

  The next hour seemed to stretch on as the city became closer and closer. The large stone walls seem to be a good fifty feet tall at least. The outcropping of buildings that surround this side of the wall was also larger than I would have thought. It was probably about the size of Vanners and could have been a town on its own if it weren’t a part of a larger city.

  Once we were on the outskirts, Furgen spoke up once more. “This area of the city is called Northgate since it surrounds the two northern gates of the city. I’ll be stopping by the Shining Wine Inn, which is just beyond the western gate. You're on your own from there lads. Where ya stay and sleep is up to you.”

  I nodded my head, but Danny decided to speak up, “Got it Mr. Furgen! I can’t thank ya enough for the ride. If ya need any help in the future me and Alex would love to pay ya back!”

  I narrowed my eyes, a little annoyed at Danny for offering my services without my say as Furgen chuckled at my tanned friend’s words. Afterwards, we were silent as we entered North Gate and I started looking around. Unlike with Vanners and Sadim, the buildings were a lot closer together. It felt almost claustrophobic while riding through the stone streets. I was also reminded of the cities back home, which were almost leaning on each other in some cases.

  It was also very active as hundreds of people walked about the streets. Noise filled my ears as I saw people talking and shouting at each other while the sounds of dozens of carriages and carts echoed in the background. It made me slightly uncomfortable, but it didn’t take long before I adjusted mentally to my new surroundings. Danny was at my side, gawking at all the sights as he mumbled things under his breath that I couldn't make out.

  It took longer than I would have thought to reach the stone wall and one of their gates. Furgen had to take things slow due to the large number of people walking along the roads. It also took some time to pass by the gate as well. There had been a line that moved slowly as each carriage and person was stopped at the gate and inspected. By the time we were up, it had been almost two hours since we had entered the city.

  The inspection wasn’t much either. The guards mainly talked to Furgen, who explained everything to them and even had some kind of emblem that seemed to speed up the process. The only thing of note was when one guard came over to look at me and Danny. He held up a silver ring that glowed when he said the word ‘Inspect’ and then gave us a look over. When he specifically looked at me, an expression of confusion came over his face before he simply shook his head and moved on.

  Then we found ourselves in the city proper.

  All my thoughts about everything being crowded before were wrong because the city street in front of me was twice as bad as the outside part of the city. Buildings were built taller than I would have thought, with many of them either leaning on each other for support or just clinging to the walls. It was even more of a mess of people than outside as well, though it was faster simply due to the people in the walls staying off the street for the most part.

  I saw humans of all kinds walking about, along with other species that I couldn't identify. I saw some people that looked like lamias, but rather than a human upper half it was still rather lizard-like with scales, claws, and fangs. Some were large humanoids that looked like they were made of earth and stone, with four arms rather than two and one eye. The only other species of note was a small group of what looked like satyrs trying to sell some kind of merchandise, though I noticed they were mostly avoided and even given a glare here and there by a few of the passersby.

  Questions were once more on the tip of my tongue before I swallowed them back. Definitely needed to see about visiting a library before leaving the city. I just hoped they had some form of library, from what I heard in Vanners books were decently expensive. For all I know it would cost me an arm and a leg just to look at a book much less buy it.

  In a few minutes, Furgen veered off the streets and parked in a large stable area that reminded me of a parking lot. Swiftly Furgen, Danny, and I collected our stuff as the older man led us to a nearby building with a sign on it proudly proclaiming it to be the Shining Wine Inn. It was a large building with about three stories to it and it seemed rather old too.

  The next few hours became a blur as Furgen departed from us with a goodbye and I ended up talking to the Innkeeper, a fellow by the name of Haskic, and after a rather intense bartering, I was able to get myself and Danny a shared room for only two silver. It seemed like a lot to me, but at least it brought us five days before we would have to pay again. It also came with free food for breakfast and dinner so maybe I was just being a miser in this case.

  By the time Danny and I were in the room, the golden sun had descended under the stone walls and night would soon be upon us. After a few minutes of settling in, Danny turned to me and started to speak. “Right Alex, we need to go ahead and plan some things out for the next few days. First thing in the mornin', I’ll take ya to the Guild buildin' and I can get signed up as an Adventurer and you can get ya Class. Then we can spend the next few days getting ready to head back to Sadim to help those poor village folk out. Now then, ya got any questions about the eight Classes?”

  I felt a surge of awakeness at Danny’s words and allowed the floodgate to open a little as I started asking him about the Classes. Danny was more than happy to answer them and soon the hours started to pass as I absorbed more and more of my tanned friend’s words. But despite this discussion, sleepiness soon started to creep up on me and judging from Danny’s yawns, he as well. Soon, the conversation started to peter out despite my desire for more info.

  Current me just wanted to sleep.

  Which is what I did the second my head met the heavenly pillow of the bed.

  (POV-Dolin)

  I waved goodbye to Jula as she walked away from my stand. It was only after she was gone that I finally allowed myself to lean on the wood and let out a small groan of pain. My age was finally catchin’ up with me it seemed. I just couldn’t spend all day out at the stand selling my goods like I used to.

  The thought brought a frown to my face before I smiled again when I saw the new shovel that was leanin’ on my stall. The village blacksmith Samin delivered it a few hours ago. After that nice young fellow paid me handsomely for his new clothes, I went to Samin and asked for a new shovel for Kean. My husband would probably complain about me wasting money on it, but then he’d use it and suddenly he would quiet down.

  Happened every time.

  After another hour of light business, I started to lock everythin’ up on the stand and get ready to head home. Kean was starting to feel better from whatever sickness had snuck up on him. He even said he would try to have dinner ready for when I got home. I yelled at him to stay in bed, but that stubborn man was probably grillin’ some Furnest right now.

  When I finally got my stand how I wanted it, I took off along the road. It didn’t take too long to get to the house. Sadim was a small village after all. Larnet’s sun was already below the horizon and I could see Dresa’s moon startin’ to climb up the night sky. It was a beautiful night as the stars shone above. I remember hearin’ as a youngin that the stars were Folsa’s gift to her mother. How the Goddess of Fire and Creation breathed life into each of them to make her mother’s night sky a work of art.

  I almost walked past the house because I was so busy starin’ at the sky. I felt like a ditz for almost walkin’ by it, hope Kean didn’t see that from the window or somethin. I took another second to enjoy the sight above me before opening the door and heading inside.

  And I instantly knew something was wrong.

  None of the candles were lit. Even the fireplace wasn’t being used, which made the room feel terribly cold. I thought about quickly lightin’ them, but if Kean hadn’t done it already then I needed to check up on him. He’d been gettin’ better, but the sickness might have doubled back on him or somethin’ worse!

  I set the shovel and everything else I had been carryin’ on the kitchen table and rushed to our bedroom. By the Six, it was even colder in there than the front of the house!

  I saw Kean in the bed and felt my heart skip for a beat as I walked up to him. “Kean sweety? Is everythin-”

  I didn’t get the rest of my words out of my mouth. As soon as I touched him, it felt like I was touchin’ ice. And as I looked down at his face, I saw two cold glazed eyes frozen in a look of fear. My breath left me as I looked at the frosted-over corpse of my husband.

  Then I felt a clawed hand grab my neck from behind.

  I opened my mouth to scream, but nothin’ came out. It felt like my very soul was frozen as a deep numbing pain spreadin’ across my neck. I couldn't even breathe as my legs stopped working. My body fell for a second before another hand grabbed my side and kept me up. The monster was holdin’ me in a hug-like embrace as I felt heat leave me. Darkness started to cloud my vision as it felt like all my warmth was sucked out of my body. I could only twitch my fingers as the pain spread everywhere.

  My life started to flash before me as I remembered me and Kean growin’ up. I remembered how he used to poke me to annoy me. I remembered when he asked me out after my Class Day. I remembered when he asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. I remembered the day of our weddin’ and the perfect night that followed it.

  I saw everything as I died.

  Including those cruel, pure white eyes that stared down at me.