Ayden and Noah were sitting right next to each other. They were staring at the floating windows in front of their eyes, still in disbelief. However, both of them were already used to things being weirder in their lives than regular. After all, they had magical, supernatural abilities since they were born.

Maybe it was that fact combined with the shock from dying that made this feel weird but not too weird to handle.

Charles smiled broadly at the two young men, “Now, go ahead and read through those Quests. I have some free beds that you can use for tonight.”

The two friends looked at each other for a moment. With a somewhat suspicious frown, Noah looked at Charles. This whole situation was... unusual, to say the least. Sure, the fact that they were in another world itself was something hard to grasp. But the first person they met was someone open like this? Someone that seemed kind to outsiders without even knowing more than their name?

To find this out, Noah used his ability again. His eyes flashed up in green light, and he was able to see the man in front of him. But Charles didn’t look remarkably different at all. Instead, there was no difference that he could immediately spot in general.

While not everyone had some sort of grand ‘Heart’ that displayed itself through Noah’s ability, usually there would be something small going on. For example, when someone was actually seething with anger but smiled outwardly, their face would become a raging grimace.

But the only thing that Noah could see when he was looking at Charles was Charles. There was nothing hidden. Charles was genuine and seemingly didn’t have any powerful personality traits shown through Noah’s ability.

It seemed like they would be able to trust Charles, at least for now, “Sorry, but it’d be cool if we could go outside for a minute or something. All this shit is just kinda... Overwhelming.” Noah said to Charles. The old man quickly nodded his head, “Of course, of course! I will get the beds ready for you two in the meantime. But please, do not stray too far from the house. People would be scared if they saw two men they have never seen before strolling around.”

With a quick nod, Noah stood up and walked outside, with Ayden right behind him. The door closed with a quiet creak behind them. And the moment that it did, Ayden looked at Noah nervously.

“I’m freaking out over here, man... What’s going on? How did we end up here? Were we really...”

“Killed? Yeah... Probably.” Noah replied. He was still thinking about that dark, shadowy figure towering over them back then that made him freeze up in fear. It was terrifying, but Noah didn’t know where it came from at all, “But at least we can trust that guy in there for now. He seems ‘genuine’.”

“...Well, that is a bit calming, actually.” Ayden sighed in relief, “But that’s weird in itself, isn’t it? He never saw us before, and we literally spoke about coming from another world. How can he trust us like that?”

“Maybe he’s just going a bit senile or something. Either way... I’m not complaining. Well... I am, kinda, but more about the fact we fucking died rather than where we are.”

“Yeah, it... Feels weirdly natural. As if we are supposed to be here. This is still a bit weird, though.” Ayden pointed out, turning his head toward the silver, game-like window floating in front of him.

---

[Class Acquisition Quest – Medium]

[Difficulty – F]

[Requirements – Aid a spirit in reaching the afterlife]

[Reward – Medium Class]

[Penalty – Class Acquisition Quest will become unavailable for 1 Week]

---

“So, I apparently just have to help out a spirit to make it move on. So, it is pretty easy...” Ayden explained quickly, “But should we really do this? Shouldn’t we wait a bit?”

“You’re talking about the ‘Quest’, right? If you’re scared, I can try completing mine first and see what happens. Shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how to do this.” Noah suggested. Ayden looked at his friend with a wry smile, but he let out a deep sigh when he saw Noah’s serious expression.

“No, but thank you. I think we should just try to find out more about ‘Classes’ first. I don’t particularly want to do something irreversible.” Ayden held his hand in front of his mouth in thought. There were a lot of things running through his head right now.

What kind of world was this? Why did the people here speak English? Would they be able to read things, or would they just understand spoken words?

After one died, there was no way of going back. Ayden knew that better than anyone. Death itself didn’t scare him, or at least, so he thought before he did end up dying. But now that he somewhat came to terms with it already due to his unique relationship with death, he had to think about his and Noah’s new lives.

If they had to stay here, then Ayden wanted to be as well-informed as possible before doing anything. However, there was a clear time-limit to this. Ayden usually felt nearly obligated to help out any lingering spirits he came across if it was within his power. In the end, it’s what got both Noah and Ayden here.

“By the way... What is your ‘Quest’?” Ayden asked. Noah had said that he would need to figure out how to complete it, so it was probably a bit more complicated.

“Ah...” Noah said and looked at the emerald green window next to him.

---

[Class Acquisition Quest – Heart Seer]

[Difficulty – F]

[Requirements – Take part of a heart for yourself]

[Reward – Heart Seer Class]

[Penalty – Class Acquisition Quest will become unavailable for 1 Week]

---

“That does seem a bit... cryptic.” Ayden replied, “Does it mean the ‘personality’ you can see with ‘heart’?”

“Ehh... I guess? Probably... My ‘personal skill’ was called ‘Eye of the Heart’, so that would make sense.”

“Ah, mine was called ‘Eye of the Soul’, so that should be right.” Ayden quickly added.

Noah looked at the window floating in front of him a bit longer, “I mean, I know I can interact with that shit, but I never tried using that stuff for myself. Why would I wanna do that?”

“Is it permanent?”

“...That’s a good question. We’ll have to see.” Noah suggested with a deep sigh. He looked at his best friend and saw the dark rings already forming underneath his eyes, “Come on. Let’s head inside and sleep. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

Ayden slowly nodded his head and agreed, “Sounds like a plan. Come on.” Tiredly, Ayden turned around and pushed the wooden door open. Charles entered the main room again and smiled, “Please, come. I hope the beds won’t be too small for you two. They were my sons’ growing up.”

Without much thought behind it, Noah and Ayden followed the elderly man into another room. Surprisingly, compared to the rest of the house, this room was relatively clean and well taken care of. And the beds were clearly meant for children. Still better than sleeping on the floor, though.

Just as Noah was about to sit down on one of the beds, he noticed Ayden’s expression. His eyes were flashing up in silver light, and he was silently staring at the beds.

“...Now I see why he’s so overly trusting...” Ayden muttered quietly. He didn’t see any spirits here, but what he did see was proof that someone died here in these same beds that were in front of Noah and Ayden right now.

After describing what it looked like to each other, Ayden and Noah concluded that this ‘Death residue’ looked the same as how Noah saw Ayden’s ability; Silver cracks in the affected places.

And in the center of each of the beds, cracks spread outward, basically throughout the whole room as well.

“...Can you see how they died?” Noah asked, and Ayden nodded without hesitation, “They weren’t killed if you were thinking that. Instead, they died very, very slowly like through a disease.”

“That so?” Noah asked with a weird lump forming in his stomach. It felt strange to sleep here now that he knew this, but he also knew that Ayden needed to sleep. And if Noah didn’t act normal, then Ayden wouldn’t act normal either.

So... Noah pushed his shoes off of his feet and laid down in the bed, “Sleep, for now, dude.”

Ayden slowly nodded his head and sat down on the bed he would be sleeping on. He laid down on there, his feet peeking over the end of the bed just like Noah’s did.

And the two of them, without another chance to worry about anything, exhaustedly fell asleep.

In the morning, Noah and Ayden woke up due to a rooster’s crowing. Really, this night was anything but relaxing. Their legs hurt, and they felt even more exhausted than when they went to sleep.

Noah was the first to stand up. He wouldn’t call himself a morning person, but since he was used to working out as soon as he woke up, it was easy for him to get off the bed. Ayden, however, was the complete opposite. His face was still buried in the scratchy pillow, and he didn’t seem to want to get up.

Luckily, Noah was used to this from him already. He quickly slapped his friend’s back and laughed, “Get up, you lazy fuck. You said we needed to figure stuff out today, right?” Noah pointed out, pushing his feet into his shoes. Ayden slowly pushed himself off the straw-filled mattress and glared at Noah.

“Fine.” He groaned and sat up properly. Noah pushed Ayden’s shoes in front of his feet to get him to get going, and soon the two of them stepped out of the small room they had slept in.

“Can you see Charles anywhere?” Noah asked as he looked around the room. The door to the only other room was open, and he didn’t seem to be in there either.

“Yesterday, he said he was a farmer as well. He’s probably out doing some work.” Ayden explained while rubbing his eyes. Noah raised his brows, surprised.

“Eh? Someone that old?”

“Well, we are obviously not in modern times, looking at this place. Judging from the state of the ‘village’, this world is more like the middle ages. And during that time, you would work until your body can’t keep up anymore.” Ayden pointed out in a blunt tone, slowly stepping toward the door.

“Anyway, let’s just head outside. Let’s hope there aren’t two suns as well or something.”

“Wouldn’t that kill us?” Noah asked, and Ayden stopped for a moment to think, “Not always?” He said in a puzzled tone, confusing Noah even more as well.

They stepped out of the house and looked around. Now that it was bright out, they could see once more that this place was undoubtedly medieval. From the clothes that the few people here were wearing, the way these houses were built, and just generally the fact that everything in this village was so rudimentary.

“So... What are we gonna do now?” Noah asked, unsure where to start as he looked around this place.

Ayden placed his hand in front of his mouth and thought about it, “I guess first we should talk to the people living here. Figure out some things about this village. Maybe find Charles and ask him about where we could find a few books or something.” He suggested. But all that he was met with was complete and utter silence, “Noah? What do you... think..?”

Ayden stopped for a moment as he looked at the thing that Noah was staring at. It was a chicken that seemingly escaped the coop and was running around, chased by one of the villagers.

That in itself wouldn’t be so weird. The thing that shocked both Noah and Ayden was that the chicken was three times an ordinary chicken’s size. Confused, both of them watched as the chicken ran past them at incredible speed.

“That’s a thing, apparently.” Noah pointed out with a wry smile.