Max woke from his “sleep” and checked his notifications. Most of his favored spells had leveled up during Max’s night training. The important one however was his Water Manipulation level. It was now at level 9. Max had been training with Emi for a majority of travel time to Esmel, but his progress had significantly slowed. The higher the level a spell was, the more experience was needed. An issue arose with not being able to see spell experience gains. Max had no idea if his training was doing anything, let alone efficient. This notification was a huge boost of confidence for him.

It was still plenty dark outside, but Max had a schedule to keep. Max noticed that Bishop was already gone, so Max hurried himself and Emi long. Max always hated waking up early in hotels. There was just something about unfamiliar amenities that slowed him down during his morning routine.

Max and Emi eventually left their room and found some of the others in the common lobby. Max took a long look over the room, noting the different rotation of globes. Vel and Reep sat alone at a long table eating a hearty breakfast. Before Max could even sit, the innkeeper had appeared asking his order.

“Whatever they are having is fine.” He spoke. “And some raw fish if you got it.”

The innkeeper darted into the back and returned a few minutes later with two plates. “I... I - If you still want those lessons about the memory globes, I can teach you.”

Max gave her a sincere smile. “I would like that thank you. I don’t think I’ll be able to today however.”

The innkeeper nodded, and Max couldn't help but think she only changed her mind because an [Arbor] personally came to get them. The three of them made a bit of small talk while waiting for the others. Clammy was the first to arrive. Her normally straight blonde hair was disheveled and curly. Everyone did a double take when she sat down.

“Wha- Good morning.” Max said, changing his mind mid-sentence.

“Grrr.” Clammy responded.

“Or not…”

“What's the matter girl?” Vel asked, already irritated.

“Bad dream.” Was all Clammy said.

The innkeeper showed up with a plate of food, and Clammy happily started eating. Bishop arrived a few minutes later, entering from the front door. He sat down and ordered coffee. The sly Drake looked entirely too cheerful for this time of morning, the whole table thought.

“Visit the brothels, eh?” Vel asked with a mischievous voice.

“No!” Bishop roared. The table went back to eating, but Bishop caught Max’s eye and winked.

What the hell…. Max honestly didn’t know what to think.

“Any idea what to expect today?”

“Either dead bodies or blood-soaked lands. Or both.” Vel answered with a shrug.

“Any idea when the guide will be here?” Reep asked the table.

“He’s already here.” Max said, causing everyone, except Vel, to look around the otherwise empty common room. Max pointed at the corner table. A thump could be heard, and then an Elf appeared. The Elf was an obvious rogue type. Between the dark leather armor, invisibility, and dual wield daggers it was a safe bet. The Elven man had long eyebrows and deep brown hair. While most Elves chose a long hair cut, this man’s was cut short.

“Ho-how!?” The aghast Elf spoke. Max just shrugged.

“What if he was an enemy assassin, Max? Why wouldn't you tell us?” Clammy demanded.

Suddenly a cage of water wrapped around the Elf. Max shrugged again.

“I didn’t want to let him know I knew about him. I had also been slowly moving water over to him. Vel, you noticed right?”

“I noticed you pooling water around that table. Not the why however.” Vel answered.

Max dropped the cage, letting the man out. The man slowly walked in front of the group. He bowed. After he sat down, a wall of mist was created around the table, silencing their conversation from the outside.

“I am Wepish. Your guide. Forgive my secret, it was not meant to deceive you, but the possible spies in the city.”

“Sit down! Have some food!” Bishop said, breaking the awkward tension.

After the innkeeper came with a new plate, the discussion began.

“Lord Honeygreen has asked me to show you the sacrificial sites. There are a total of six. We will start with the furthest and most isolated. It is one of two of the sites with the central person missing.”

“Are the bodies going to be there?” Max asked.

“Only at the most recent, which was found early this morning.”

All eyes widened at this news.

“Let's go there first.” Max said. “I don’t know if time is a limiting factor here.”

“We… Can’t. Lady Dripleaf’s men are out there. She is the [Arbor] in charge of the city guard and largest militant faction. She has made a team that specializes in tracking, and they have priority over the sites. As far as I or Lord Honeygreen knows, they won’t remove the bodies until all interested parties have viewed the site.”

“I assume you don’t want to let the other [Arbors] know about us?” Bishop asked.

“We do not. Lord Honeygreen thinks there is an enemy with a high position.”

“What makes you think that?”

“There have been some… errors. Ones that a grunt wouldn’t be able to make.”

“What kind of errors?” Reep asked.

“The first two sites were found within a day of each other. We had no idea what we were facing at the time and collected the bodies rather quickly. They were stored across multiple morgues within the city. On the same night, all of the bodies disappeared.” Wepish took a breath.” There were guards posted at each location, but they had the same story. A high-level official, who they can’t remember, told them to move the bodies into a carriage.”

“Mind alternating spell?” Bishop asked.

Wepish nodded. “Our specialists found evidence of tampering, yes.”

“What about the other bodies?” Max asked, channeling his best CSI mindset.

“The others have been put in a Space Safe.”

“Space… Safe?”

Wepish looked from Max to the others. He wore a “is he serious” expression. Vel nodded slightly.

“A Space Safe is a secure, nonportable inventory. Almost every bank has one now-a-days. [Thieves] would take everything without one.”

“Ah, I see. We called them by a different name where I’m from.” Max lied.

Wepish accepted his answer and continued. “Unless you want to try and rob a bank, we will not be able to examine those bodies.”

“We… could?” Max said, causing everyone to turn to him. “I’m just saying…”

“Alright, let's recap before this spirals even more.” Vel said, “We are going to each of the sites. We have to move in secret because there might be a spy. There is something about the bodies that the enemy does not want found. The only place we can view the bodies is in a secure vault, or after everyone looks at the fresh ones.” Vel’s way of speaking made everyone cringe.

“How long until we can see the new bodies?” Clammy asked, speaking for the first time.

“Minimum, two days.” Everyone raised an eyebrow at the Elf. “Each [Arbor] has an allotted time limit on their investigation. I’m not sure how familiar any of you are in magical tracking, but it takes time.”

Max sighed and muttered something about the bank not looking so bad now. The other rolled their eyes.

“Alright then, if we have to blend in, the best way to do so would act the part.” Bishop said.

“And what part is that?” Vel asked in a snooty voice.

“Adventures of course!” Bishop started to bellow in laughter. After he noticed the other’s silence he spoke up. “What? That’s what we are, right? Adventurers on a quest!”

Vel sighed. “He’s unfortunately right. Best way for us to blend in, is to be in sight of everyone.”

“Alright, we accept some quests in the forest around the sites? That’s it?” Reep asked, unsure.

“It's the perfect cover if we get caught!” Bishop added.

“We need to turn in our quests from the road anyways. And I still need to visit the Class Stones.” Max said.

On their travels to Esmel, Max had reached level 10. He only had a little to go before they left Lesterwood, the quests they took proved their worth in Max’s eyes. Some gold, and a new class! Max thought.

“Oh? Congratulations! I remember when I made tier two.” Welsh said, misunderstanding Max.

Max let it slide by only saying “Thank you.”

“If that's the plan we are going with, then we should part now. We’ll meet in the forest outside of scry range.” Vel said to Wepish.

Vel and Wepish started talking about the best location to meet up, and soon Wepish turned invisible and left. Max made note that the door didn’t open, but he somehow passed through.

The group finished their breakfast and left for the Adventuring Guild and Class Stones.

The Adventuring Guild has many branches in many cities. The 3 Guilds, Adventuring, Mage, and Merchant, have a monopoly over the continent of Salarin, which Max is currently on. Other continents are different, but on Salarin every city above a certain population has the 3 guilds. For smaller cities, the Guilds could be combined into one building or be a part of the local government building. Larger cities, like Lesterwood, have separate buildings and even districts for each Guild.

Local governments don’t like to admit it, but the Guilds have a lot of political sway. Recently, some of the smaller cities have even banded together to try and force a reform of the Guilds. They were quickly reprimanded by King and Queen Salae. The Royal family is able to keep its power mainly due to running the Guilds. Any city with the Guilds is essentially under the Royal’s rule, larger cities such as Lesterwood or Esmel are big enough to fight their influence, but smaller cities get bullied into submission.

Elven cities are rather unique when dealing with the Royals. Groups of [Arbors] are simply too powerful for the King and Queen to control. Currently, Esmel and Salae are under a defensive and trade pact. Both the [Arbors] and the King and Queen are content with this pact. The [Arbors] gain access to trade routes and the adventurer market, while Salae makes a powerful ally.

The Guilds in Esmel each have their own building, but they are each directly next to each other. The buildings still abide by Esmel’s nature theme even though they are independent from the city. The Adventure and Mage Guild share the same design, a wooden building woven from tree roots. They were significantly smaller than the Merchant guild since Esmel’s main economy is export of herbs, spices and crafting products like potions and magical scrolls.

The group had been getting some strange looks from the locals. While adventurers were not uncommon, teams without any Elves were. The worst was Bishop. Esmel rarely saw Drakes. Drakes hail from the southern marshes while Esmel was almost as far north as one could be.

The team walked into the Guild making all eyes turn to them.

“This… seems familiar.” Clammy said, remembering her first experience with Lesterwood’s Guild.

“Yes, it does.” Reep added.

The group was able to turn in their completed quests, as well as accept new ones in the general location of the first site they were viewing. The only issue they had was that the receptionist ignored them until Max showed his black plate. Max also put on his best spoiled rich kid act. It was the agreed upon cover story for why Bishop and Vel were with them. The receptionist bent to every request after that. They took on three quests, two gathering and one extermination. Max had no idea what items or monsters he was supposed to be looking for, but that hardly mattered.

Next stop was the Class Stones. In Esmel, the Class Stones were a rock garden full of hundreds of small pebbles. The garden was in a small clearing between two [Arbors], their trunks had been made into a natural wall. The group was stopped at the entrance. Esmel took maintaining the garden seriously, meaning only those who were actively using the rocks may enter. Max left his comrades behind, except for Emi, and sat down in a secluded corner. Max felt for the connection and a familiar menu opened.

Welcome to the Class Stone. Take your time, there is no rush.

Second Class:

Abjurer

…

Already knowing what to expect, Max filtered the classes. His first filter; [Water Mage].

Not Applicable

That’s strange. Maybe I can’t have two of the same type of class? Max thought, trying a second search, [Water].

...

[Sewer Cleaner]

[Water Wielder]

[Water’s edge]

…

Yep, that must be it. I can’t have a second [Water Mage] class. Max changed the filter again this time [Space Mage].

[Cosmic Traveler]

[Space Mage]

[Space Transporter]

[Spatial Emulator]

There was more, but Max felt these were the one he most likely would become.

Cosmic Traveler (Epic): Having traveled between the stars, no distance if too far for you.

Favorited Spatial Spells that move the caster cost 50% less.

Non-Favorited Spatial Spells that move the caster cost 50% more.

Creation of Spatial Spells that move objects or beings are learned 15% easier.

Max had to read through the description a few times. This… this class is perfect for me. This would make getting home so much easier.

In the real world, a tear dropped down Max’s face. Emi could feel that Max was incredibly happy and excited, but deeply depressed. Emi curled into a new position and purred as deeply as she could, hoping that the familiar vibrations would sooth Max’s inner turmoil.

Max spent a long time debating with himself. But ultimately, he knew he was in a time crunch. Wepish would only be waiting for them for so long.

Space Mage (Rare): Manipulate space with magic!

Favorited Space affinity spells cost 5% less mana.

Non favorite spells cost 10% more mana.

The exact same as [Water Mage], but for space... Max recognized.

Space Transporter (Rare): Transporting specialist.

Favorited Spatial Spells that move the caster cost 10% less.

Non-Favorited Spatial Spells that move the caster cost 15% more.

Just a weaker version of [Cosmic Traveler]. Max thought, removing the class from his potentials list.

Spatial Emulator(Epic): Knowledge of space has the potential for great things.

Favorited Spatial Spells cost 20% less.

Non-Favorited Spatial Spells cost 30% more.

Space Creation Spells are 50% easier to create.

Feel Space.

Well, Max thought, Wow. Max didn’t know what to think. The reduced mana cost alone was incredible, not to mention Space Creation. Max thought long and hard about what he thought that meant. In the end he could come up with anything. Feel Space? What could that mean? Max questioned.

Max ignored thinking about his final selection and sorted by rarity.

Rare:

Dreamwalker

Hexmage

Invoker

Prophet

Tormentor

Zealot

Epic:

Gravity Mage

Spatial Emulator

Cosmic Traveler

Mythic:

Astral Dimensionist

Max instantly looked at the description for the Mythic class.

Astral Dimensionist (Mythic):

Favorited Space affinity spells cost 15% less mana.

Non favorite spells cost 20% more mana.

Gain access to the Astral Dimension.

...What? That’s it? For a Mythic level class? Whatever the Astral Dimension is, must be incredible. Max concluded.

Max thought long and hard. He rationalized the classes as; Incredible mana cost reduction on teleport spells; Incredible mana cost on any space spell, and creating space? Something that bumps [Space Mage] to mythic rarity. Max’s biggest worry was that if he chose a class other than [Cosmic Traveler], would he be able to get back home?

Do I even want to go home? Leave the other behind? Emi, Clammy, Reep, Vel? What would they do if I just disappeared one day?

Again, Max let out a tear. Emi became worried.

I… I don’t even know if travelling that kind of distance is possible… But then again, it must be… Max suddenly felt calm. Images of Emi doing various cute things started appearing in Max’s mind. Thanks Emi… I’ll make sure to spoil you after this.

That's right. Max resolved. I can’t go home yet. I have people here that need me. One day… But not today… Max looked between [Spatial Emulator] and [Astral Dimensionist]. The Astral Dimension is a huge gamble… But if I’m going to survive, I’m going to have to take chances. The payout is potentially too large for a reduction in mana cost. Besides, I now know that I can create space… Whatever that means.

Max made his choice.