Boy I hope these guys know how to fight and I’m not about to get their entire village slaughtered, Vin thought as he ran down the hill; an actual chance of survival that didn’t involve entering a knife fight with a giant mutant scorpion giving him the motivation he needed to keep his tired legs moving.

From his spot atop the hill he was able to make out the village in pretty good detail. The buildings seemed to be made from crushed stone and some type of mortar, and they were arranged rather haphazardly, as though there hadn’t been any sort of plan at the start of the village and they just built a new house somewhere on the edge whenever the need arose. The villagers were a bit harder to make out from this distance, but he could definitely see what looked like regular people walking around inside the village.

“HEY!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, waving his arms around as he ran down the hill. “MONSTER!”

He only had to repeat his message one more time before he saw someone point in his direction. He wasn’t sure if this was a common occurrence or if these people were just extremely efficient, but the moment the villagers spotted him and the monster running towards them the village transformed into a bustling hotspot of activity. Within seconds, half a dozen villagers appeared at the edge of the village and began heading toward him, each of them carrying a lengthy spear.

“Oh thank God!” He cried, his legs burning and his lungs on fire as he sprinted toward his saviors. He met the group a few hundred feet out from the village, finally slowing down and coming to a complete stop as he doubled over beside them, his hands on his knees. He tried to speak up and thank them, but he was panting so hard the words just wouldn’t come. Luckily, the six warriors seemed to know exactly what to do, and they formed a half circle spear wall between the monster and himself.

In amazement, Vin watched as five of the six warriors readied their spears to strike as one the moment the scorpion got within range. To Vin’s shock, rather than trying to maneuver around the improvised kill zone that had been set up, the monster instead rushed directly into it, almost as Vin was the only thing it could see. All five spears struck true, and the scorpion’s momentum halted in an instant, the monster hissing as green blood splattered across the rocky ground. Attacking the monster seemed to finally bring the villagers to its attention, as the scorpion’s stingers shot out, trying to strike the nearest villagers. Thankfully, the stingers weren’t quite as long as the spears were, and the monster’s desperate attacks struck nothing but air.

Now pinned and unable to move, the scorpion struggled to no avail as the final hunter carefully aimed his spear and thrust it directly into the monster’s head, taking its life and causing its chitin-covered body to drop to the ground.

Finally, after what had to have been at least half an hour of panicked running, Vin’s nightmare had come to an end. Letting out a shaky laugh, he forced himself to stand up straight and grinned at his saviors.

“You would not believe how happy I am to see you guys! Thank you for the save by the way. My name’s Vin.”

The presumed leader of the small group of warriors, the man who had struck the killing blow against the monster, stepped forward and looked him up and down. He wore the strangest assortment of armored pieces Vin had ever seen. Most of the armor looked to be made from rock of all things, while the joints were covered in a thick leather. Even his helmet looked as though it had been carved from solid rock.

Vin didn’t care what world this man lived in; there was no way that could be comfortable.

Banging the butt of his spear into the hard ground, the warrior frowned at Vin and gestured at his body. “Os ta puste? Ae ots tan murra?”

Vin stared at the man, blinking dumbly as the foreign words went in one ear and out the other. He wasn’t sure why he’d expected the random village of people living in an entirely different world to speak the same language he did, but he didn’t think two high school Spanish classes had prepared him for whatever this was.

“Uh… This is a longshot, but any chance anyone in your village speaks English?”

The man stared at him blankly. After a moment he grunted, nudging one of the other warriors watching the whole exchange. “Ta voxa ommomo cit puste au Darvai al rife at?” The second man seemed to hesitate for a second before sighing, motioning for Vin to follow him.

Through sheer willpower Vin managed to force his exhausted legs to take one step after another as he followed the guy clearly tasked with bringing him somewhere. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as the remaining warriors got to work cutting apart the monster they’d slain, separating the meat and the chitin into two different piles. Vin noted how they seemed to be treating the scorpion’s meat extra carefully, ensuring the monster’s blood didn’t get all over everything. As they worked, the leader stood watch, his gaze sweeping cautiously across the rocky terrain and ensuring no threats approached the team while they were distracted.

As they neared the village, Vin realized it had a lot more artistic flair than he’d been able to see from up on the hill. The buildings were indeed made of stone, but it seemed as though every possible inch of the structures had been delicately carved. Some were abstract and nothing more than random shapes and squiggles, while others were shockingly detailed pictures of spearmen carrying out a hunt or two people coming together under a bright moon.

“Your village is beautiful,” Vin said, admiring one building with a carving of a dozen small children playing some sort of game that involved throwing rocks at a target. He felt the subtle tingling of the System messaging him, but he pushed it aside for the moment. His eyes were far too busy taking in the myriad of sights.

“Jon verra jautar ta,” the man muttered, clearly unhappy he’d been singled out for the task of leading him wherever they were going. While they walked through the village, Vin quickly realized he’d become an object of fascination as dozens of villagers stopped whatever they were doing, instead choosing to watch him with curious eyes. He noted that only the warriors were clad in armor carved from rocks; the villagers appeared to be wearing simple leather clothing. However, both the men and women seemed to have expertly carved accessories made from different types of rocks adorning them.

He was so distracted that he nearly walked into the back of his guide when the man finally stopped, gesturing for him to enter a small building in the center of the village. Lifting the hide acting as a door, Vin stepped in and blinked at the unexpected interior.

Admittedly, after seeing the rock armor, rock jewelry, and rock buildings, he’d been expecting rock furniture. Instead, he found himself inside a quaint room containing a few sets of wicker furniture draped in woolens. The walls were decorated with a mixture of carvings and hanging leathers, and the entire room was lit by a few glowing stones hanging from the ceiling. Taking the directed seat, the man nodded and gestured for him to stay there before walking away, letting the hide door covering fall shut behind him.

Looking around, Vin realized the building didn’t have any other rooms, so he turned to face the front door and waited. While waiting, he pulled up his System interface and looked at the rewards he still had to spend. But first, the message he’d ignored when entering the village.

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New village discovered! 300 exp gained.

“Hell yeah!” Grinning at the unexpected bonus, he turned his focus on his rewards. “A skill point from reaching level 2, and that free passive the System itself seems to be bribing me with,” he muttered, wondering just how concerned that should make him. “Hopefully one of these will help with other languages.”

Focusing on his shiny new skill point, his eyes widened at the absolutely insane list of skills that opened in front of him. He’d thought the list of classes had been big, but this list had to be nearly three times that size. At least.

“Alright, I am not about to read through all that.” Remembering how he’d been able to organize the class list, Vin thought about splitting the skills apart, and the System obliged, breaking the list into two different ones, labeled Class Skills and Non-Class Skills.

A quick glance through the two lists showed that those on his class list cost only one skill point, while those on his non-class list cost two. Seeing as he only had the one point, he dismissed the non-class skills for now and took a look at his options. Thankfully, while still rather large, his class skill list was the far smaller of the two.

Unfortunately, each skill had literally no additional information other than a name.

Scrolling through the list, Vin scowled at the lack of information the System provided them. Some skills sounded rather self-explanatory, but there were plenty more that he could only even begin to guess as to their function. Eventually, he picked out a few of the skills that sounded immediately useful or just plain interesting to him.

Cartography

Dungeoneering

Resistance

Running

Spellcraft

“This is where even a short blurb would be helpful,” he muttered, wondering if the System was even paying attention or if it just automatically sent any recommendations into some godly waste bin.

Cartography was self-explanatory. It would probably help him make maps more easily or something like that. With his Mental Map passive, the only reason to take this one would be to make it easier for him to transfer what was in his head onto paper. It might be worth picking up soon, but he wanted to choose something for himself for his first skill.

Running was another obvious choice, and he was highly tempted to take that skill after that scorpion monster had been kind enough to provide him with the chance to experience firsthand what it was like to be the main character of a terrible horror movie. He probably would have taken this one without hesitation, if it weren’t for the three mystery skills that stood out to him.

Dungeoneering implied that this world contained dungeons. While Vin hated fighting, just the thought of magical dungeons full of strange treasures and unique challenges filled him with glee. The only thing stopping him was a need for more information. If dungeons locked you in a room with a monster that you had to defeat to progress, he’d avoid them like the plague. But if they were more free roaming and able to be tackled from different angles, he’d absolutely pick up the skill. He’d have to ask around and learn more before pulling the trigger on that one.

Resistance could be so many things he wasn’t sure what to think of for this one. Would it make him more resistant to fatigue? Poison? Injury? Any skill that sounded like it would help keep him alive was probably a good skill to have, but he didn’t want to risk wasting his first skill point if the skill ended up being terrible.

And the last wild card, Spellcraft. From the name, it sounded like the skill would help him create his own spells, or at the very least interact with magic somehow; both of which sounded awesome! Except for the tiny fact that his magic attribute was currently sitting pretty at a whopping zero.

Groaning in frustration, Vin spent a few minutes trying to decide what skill to pick before dismissing the interface all together, pulling up the possible passives instead. He’d pick his skill later.

Interestingly, the list of passives seemed to mainly include class related choices, meaning there were probably tons of other ones that he’d never have the option to take so long as he stayed as an Explorer. Thankfully the list was a more manageable size compared to the skill list. Though he had an entirely different problem with this new list.

Every single passive looked fantastic, and he could only pick one of them.

Vin stared hungrily at the passives as he scrolled through them. Even without any additional information, the names alone made him want them all.

Iron Stomach… Night Owl… Distance Runner… The list offered about a hundred different passives for the Explorer class, and Vin literally would have been happy snagging any one of them.

However, when his eyes landed on one name in particular, he knew what he’d have to take first. Sighing in both relief and disappointment, Vin made his choice and watched as the new passive appeared on his System interface.

Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot

His decision wasn’t a second too soon, as right after making his choice the hide covering the door was pulled back and an elderly woman stepped inside. Like the rest of the villagers she wore a few intricate pieces of stone jewelry, and she walked with a cane that was covered in carvings of so many abstract shapes and patterns it almost hurt to look at. Giving him a quick once over, she carefully walked over and took the chair opposite him.

“Do you understand me?” She asked, in perfect English to Vin’s relief. Curiously, he could just barely sense a slight humming in his ears when she spoke, and when he answered, he felt the same sensation in his tongue.

“Yes, I understand you.” Seeing her look of bewilderment, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “I actually just picked up a new passive from the System just now in fact. I couldn’t understand your warriors when they led me here, so it seemed like a good choice.”

“That is a useful gift indeed,” she said, tapping the ground with her cane. “I was not aware such an option was even offered by the Great System. We will have to add it to our records. What is your class?”

“Explorer,” Vin said, eagerly leaning forward. “You have records of the different options provided by the System? With descriptions?”

“But of course,” she chuckled, seemingly entertained by his clear excitement. “What good would records be without details? It is tradition for our people to journey to the Great Stone before coming of age and selecting their first class. It is an ancient monolith wider than this very village that stretches up to the heavens. There all may lay eyes upon information carved by their ancestor’s ancestors and plot their entire future if they so choose.”

“So, uh… this stone. Is this some sort of holy site? Or is anyone allowed to go take a look at the Great Stone?” Vin asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice.

“The knowledge is free to all who seek it,” the elder said, raising Vin’s hopes before tearing them right back down. “…or at least, it was.”

“Even if outsiders are forbidden now, surely there is something I can do to gain access to the Great Stone? Maybe a trade of some sort?” Vin asked, scrambling to come up with a way to convince the village elder. They didn’t exactly bring any sort of riches or valuables with them to this world, but he had to try. Getting their hands on that type of information would be a huge boon to the people of Earth.

“You misunderstand, child,” the elder said, a deep sorrow reflected on her face. “We did not change our rules and traditions all of a sudden. The Great Stone is no more.”

“It was lost when the world ended.”