The door to one of the huts in front of Ayden and Noah was slowly opening up.

“Gerald? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” An elderly man asked as he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes. Gerald, the man that let Ayden and Noah into the village, slowly stepped aside and revealed the two young men behind him.

“These two were wanderin’ around outside the walls. I don’t recognize ‘em. I thought you might.” Gerald explained, and the elderly man, who Ayden assumed to be the Chief, looked at the two young men curiously.

“No... I don’t seem to remember them either. Are you from a neighboring village?” The Chief inquired. But Ayden quickly stepped forward and shook his head, “No, we’re not. We woke up in the nearby forest and don’t know where we are at all.”

“Is that so?” Curiously, the Chief kept looking them up and down before nodding his head, “Fine. Come in, you two. I’m sure you must be feeling quite cold. Thank you for your work, Gerald.”

The Chief took a step aside, inviting both of the young men into his home. Ayden turned around toward Noah, whose eyes once more lit up in bright green light. Slowly, Noah nodded his head, and Ayden’s confidence to trust these men returned.

Noah was never wrong when it came to judging people, after all. Both of them stepped into the hut. It was illuminated mainly by the moonlight shining through the door. However, there was also a dim light coming from the same sorts of flowers that Noah and Ayden found in the forest.

This whole situation was still quite confusing, but it seemed like they would at least be able to ask the Chief some questions. Once Gerald made his way back to the watchtower, the Chief, Ayden, and Noah sat down at the table in the center of the room.

“Now, first come the introductions, I’d say. My name is Charles, the current Chief of this village. What about you two?” Charles asked with a light smile on his face. Ayden was about to open his mouth, but now, it was Noah’s time to shine. He also knew that Ayden must be feeling pretty uncomfortable.

“I’m Noah, and this is Ayden. As Ayden already told you, we just randomly woke up in the forest. I’m not gonna lie. We don’t know much more than that. This place is a bit different from what we’re used to.” Noah explained quickly, and Charles furrowed his brows curiously, “And what kind of place are you used to, then?”

“The kind where there aren’t two moons in the sky.” Noah pointed out. On their way from the gate to this hut, Ayden quickly explained his thoughts on this situation to Noah. And now, since Noah was better at social interactions than Ayden was, he took over.

Charles lightly smiled, “So you really are ‘Lost Ones.’”

“...Could you explain that term to us? We’re unfamiliar with it.” Ayden asked. Charles slowly nodded his head, “Of course, of course. ‘Lost Ones’ are also called ‘Wanderers’ or ‘Lost Souls’. It refers to those whose souls lost their way after death and then came to our world. They are quite rare, but the appearance of ‘Lost Ones’ changed this world for the better.”

Noah and Ayden locked eyes with each other. If what this man was saying was true... then they really did die. They didn’t just imagine that they died. They really did.

“That means you won’t chase us away, right?” Noah asked, still trying to wrap his head around this situation. But he needed to make sure that they could stay here to figure the situation out for now.

Charles smiled lightly, “Of course we won’t. However, not everyone is quite so open to ‘Lost Ones’, so I suggest you try and hide this in the future.”

Noah pressed his face into his hands for a moment and just let out a deep groan, “Fuck this... How can we get back to where we came from?”

“...As far as I know, there is no way for you to return. But I’m not a mage, so I can’t say for sure.” Charles replied. And with this, it seemed like the whole world broke down underneath Ayden and Noah’s feet.

This was really another world, and they couldn’t go back? Then... That creature that Noah saw back there just before they died... Was the one that brought them here. And while Ayden was starting to panic, Noah was seething.

He jumped up and felt like screaming out in anger. Noah hated this feeling. It felt like he could punch at everything around him. Like this whole place should be turned upside down. But he was able to calm himself down when he glanced to the side and saw Ayden basically breaking down next to him.

‘I need to stay calm...’ Noah thought to himself, ‘We can’t both be complete wrecks...’

He saw back down and placed his hand onto his friend’s back, “Don’t worry, man. Everything’s gonna be okay. We’ll figure something out, alright? We always do. I promise.”

Ayden slowly raised his head and nodded at his friend. He was still shaking all over, entirely anxious, but he could gather his thoughts again at least. While Ayden was thinking, Noah slowly rubbed his fingers over the small tattoo of a rabbit on his wrist. It always helped him calm down in the weirdest way.

But suddenly, Ayden realized something, “Did you... Say ‘mage’ just now?”

“Of course.” Charles replied with a puzzled expression, “Although mages are rare, I’ve heard rumors of some of them gathering not too far from here. But speaking of, what are you boys’ Classes?”

“Classes?” Noah asked, “As in... Like Math or some shit?”

Even more confused than before, Charles nodded his head, “So your class is ‘Math’... It is one I have not heard of before. It must be quite rare, then! I am currently a ‘Farmer’ and a ‘Village Chief’.”

Noah and Charles looked deep into each other’s eyes. And then, Noah turned toward Ayden, “Dude, I don’t get what’s going on here...”

“...I think I do.” Ayden replied, “Actually, we don’t have any Classes at all. Could you explain to us how to get one?”

“Oh! How were you raised that you never even received your first Class? Of course, I will explain it to you two!” Charles exclaimed with a broad smile while Ayden and Noah locked eyes again.

“It seems like the fact that we’re from another world is the extent of his knowledge on it... Let’s just play along with the rest until we know the situation.” Ayden whispered into his friend’s ear, and Noah slowly nodded in response.

He trusted Ayden’s judgment.

“Now, first, you need to open your Status. On the right, you will see the area for your classes. Concentrate on that, and you will see if you have met the requirements for any Classes yet! You just need to select the one you wish to take, and you receive your Class-Quest!” Charles explained enthusiastically. Ayden seemed to be able to follow along roughly, although Noah was confused after the first sentence.

“Just to make sure, but how do we open our ‘Status’? We would like to know if we forgot anything important like that...” Ayden suggested, and Charles nodded his head, “Of course, of course! Simply think of your status appearing, and it will! Ah, and when you look for your Class, do not worry if you can’t read. You will know what everything means nonetheless.”

“Thank you.” Ayden replied and slowly turned toward Noah, “You know what this means, right?”

“That this is some shitty system-based isekai novel..?” He replied, but Ayden shrugged, “I guess. Now, let’s try it out.”

The two of them stopped whispering to each other and concentrated on opening this ‘Status’ that Charles mentioned. They were both familiar with making use of unnatural abilities, so it was relatively easy to get used to the feeling of connecting to something like this.

---

[Noah Christoph Hastings][Human][19 Years]

[Health – 14/14][Mana – 8/8][Stamina – 9/14]

Attributes

[Vitality - 14][Strength - 13][Endurance - 14]

[Agility - 15]]Intelligence - 9][Wisdom - 8]

Personal Skills

[Eye of the Heart – Lvl 2]

Classes(0/3)

[None]

---

[Ayden Samuel Turner][Human][19 Years]

[Health – 10/10][Mana – 14/14][Stamina – 3/8]

Attributes

[Vitality - 10][Strength - 9][Endurance - 8]

[Agility - 9]]Intelligence - 16][Wisdom - 14]

Personal Skills

[Eye of the Soul – Lvl 2]

Classes(0/3)

[None]

---

Unnatural, slightly translucent windows appeared in front of Noah and Ayden. Even though they didn’t read all of it yet, they immediately knew all the information shown to them.

Noah’s window was emerald green, while Ayden’s was nearly metallic silver. The same color as their eyes when they used their powers.

After they opened these windows referred to as ‘Status,’ with all those numbers that really didn’t mean anything to them, they both noticed the ‘Skill’ section first.

Both Noah and Ayden each had a skill, one that they immediately were able to recognize. Of course, the ‘Eye of the Heart’ was Noah’s ability to see people's personality taken shape in reality, even making it possible for him to interact with those things.

And the ‘Eye of the Soul’ was Ayden’s ability to see and interact with the dead. These were abilities that they had since birth and things that they could use like another limb.

They looked at each other and slowly nodded, telling the other that they also had a skill like that. At least, that’s what either of them figured. As best friends for as long as they could remember, Noah and Ayden's ability to communicate without words was top-tier.

However, after they established this fact and understood the layout of their Status, they concentrated on the ‘Class’ section like Charles told them to.

Either of them had only one possible Class right now, appearing in another window that floated in front of them like their Status.

“My possible class is Medium...” Ayden explained. A medium was a person that could come in contact with the spirits of the dead... So basically, precisely what Ayden’s ability allowed him to do. It made a lot of sense that this was his possible Class if it was based on things like special abilities and personality traits.

As for Noah, his Class was a bit more abstract, albeit still somewhat logical, “Mine is Heart Seer... What’s that supposed to be?”

“A seer is ‘someone that can see something specific’. Usually, it’s about seeing the future, but in your case, it’s related to your ability.” Ayden said bluntly while Charles looked at them in something akin to shock.

“Medium and a ‘Seer’... You must be two quite special young men, with strong spiritual power!” Charles exclaimed excitedly, “However, I am not sure if I will be able to help fulfill your ‘Class Quest’ in that case.”

“That’s fine. We’ll figure something out ourselves, then.” Ayden replied bluntly. It’s not like they would definitely need the help of Charles... or at least that’s what he hoped. Ayden and Noah were capable of doing anything they put their minds to, as long as they were together.

And so, the two of them looked at the message that they were both seeing.

---

[Do you want to accept your initial Class-Quest?]

---

Since it seemed like the only thing they could do now, the two lost young men accepted their quests.