As the two made their way back to the palisade gate, Cole decided to strike up a more casual conversation.

“Hey, Bear, what’s your name?”

Bear’s face wore a look of confusion, and Cole paled as he realised what he’d just said. “Uh.. I mean hey BRO, what’s your name…?”

Bear looked even more quizzical.

“Uhhhh… The name’s Argyle, kid. Yourself?”

“Cole,” he replied sheepishly.

“Well, Cole, you mind telling me what class you got there?”

Cole furrowed his brow, wondering just how much he should tell Argyle. He wasn’t sure if having a strange, stitched together class was normal, and so decided to err on the side of caution.

“I’m a [Runic Knight]. I can draw runes to increase my battle strength by making myself faster or stronger, but I only know three right now.”

Argyle stroked his chin. Cole could see gears turning in his head. For such a big guy he seemed strangely intellectual.

“A [Runic Knight] huh, can’t say we get those around here. I knew a fellow way back who was a [Runic Archer]. That bow of his could puncture through the scales of a Dragon level monster…” he reminisced, looking away into the distance.

“Anyhow, I’m a [Monk of the Solar Flare]. Bet you’ve never heard of that!”

Cole had. When he had first started playing Vestria Online, Monk of the Solar Flare was a new class development that had just released for the basic Monk class. The class development quest was apparently super tough, but very rewarding. Cole had never liked to fight close range, so he’d never even considered it.

Argyle continued, “I can empower my body with the power of the Sun. It lets me zip around short distances almost instantly, like I did earlier, and also gives my punches some extra ‘kick, if you know what I mean.”

He grinned, cocking his fist and flexing his huge biceps.

Cole and Argyle had made it to the gates of the palisade. Now that he was standing right next to it, Cole felt incredibly small. The structure that ringed the village was about 6 metres tall, and as the gate opened when Argyle gave a yell, Cole could see that it was about 1 metre thick. He could see why the villagers felt safe enough to live in this dangerous area, especially during a monster wave.

Cole recalled what Argyle had said. Apparently, the Magus Supreme, who had been using some sort of magic that was at the very least incredibly similar to his Instant Portal technique, had died, and then the monster waves had started. Was it possible that that had been him? Cole couldn’t be sure.

Regardless, it seemed like he had some sort of explanation for why he couldn’t take the [Spatial Mage] class when he was floating in the vast, expansive void. Perhaps because the previous holder of the class had perished, he couldn’t connect his soul to it.

But that couldn’t be right. There were still [Knight] classes, it was one of the most popular starter classes to choose in Vestria Online, and it was so old that there had to be countless people who had died using it. It was yet another mystery about his arrival in this world, one that Cole had no clue where to even start when figuring it out.

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The inside of Venture, as Argyle had called the village, was pretty standard as far as medieval towns went. Even though it had been more than a hundred years since the Vestria he knew had existed, the technology level seemed to be the same, with forges and wells, rather than the huge leaps forward humanity on Earth had seen in the last hundred years.

There were many scattered small houses, all dispersed in a ring around a central town square. The river was on the other side of the village, where he knew the fishing boats and docks were situated.

Argyle was leading Cole into a building that was on the edge of the central square. As they made their way through, he could see a few townspeople staring at him and the huge man, probably wondering who the hell he was. There was a faded wooden sign hanging outside, even though it wasn’t written in English, Cole could read the words “Adventurers Guild – Venture Branch.

The Adventurers Guild was the biggest guild in Vestria Online. This was because it was created by the developers at the Nexon company, and was a simple path for new players to take to find quests and get rewards quickly and easily. However, unlike player created guilds, the Adventurers Guild was strictly neutral, staying out of any political conflict or Player versus Player combat that happened in the world. Their sole purpose was the protection of humanity. Cole himself had been a part of the Adventurers Guild, only leaving when he’d become so powerful that he was basically wasting money not accepting mercenary contracts from player guilds.

Upon entry to the building, Cole was presented with a desk, as a few rooms branching off to the sides, as well as a staircase at the back of the room, which led to the upper floors of the building. From the outside it seemed to be about three stories.

Argyle strode over to the man at the desk, exchanging some words in a soft tone that Cole couldn’t quite make out. While they were talking, he could see the man at the desk’s eyes dart over to him multiple times, first looking confused, shocked, then understanding as he nodded to whatever Argyle was saying. Cole walked over, wanting to know what was going on.

“….he’s not back until tomorrow, they had to go and quell some Reavers in the forest, before they could get too close….”

That was the man at the desk talking. But who were they talking about?

Argyle grunted, then turned back to Cole.

“Well boy, welcome to your new home, at least for the next few days. The Guild Branch-Master has gone out on an expedition, and he’ll have the best idea of what to do with you. I’d love to chat but the monster wave could start back up anytime now, and I need to be be back on the palisade.”

Suddenly, from outside, a bell began to ring frantically. Argyle’s eyes widened.

“Gotta dash, kid. Lyndell here will take care of you.”

Without another word, he vanished in a flash of orange light, zipping out the door back towards the palisade.

Cole turned to face Lyndell, the man at the desk.

“Cole, isn’t it. I’m Lyndell, the steward of the Venture Adventurer’s Guild. Come with me and I’ll get you situated with a room.”

The man opened a cupboard beneath the reception desk, pulling out a heavy key. He then walked out, heading towards the stairs at the back. Cole followed, feeling a little bit of whiplash from how fast everything was happening.

“Argyle tells me you’re from another world, like those people the Vestrian capital had to deal with. He said you’ve also likely got a second phase class, which tracks with what we’ve been hearing across the Guild network. Apparently the whole lot of you are coming through having skipped the first phase entirely.”

Phases were the ways Vestria Online separate classes from each other. It was pretty easy to ascertain someone’s class phase just from the name. First phase classes were single words, like [Recusant], [Knight], [Mage] etc. Upon class development, players would enter the second phase, with classes like [Vileblood Recusant], [Hallowed Knight], and [Frost Mage]. What Lyndell and Argyle didn’t know, was that Cole actually had the equivalent to a third phase class, on the same level as Argyle’s [Monk of the Solar Flare]. Because it was underdeveloped however, he was still probably on the same level as a second phase class, in terms of power.

Lyndell kept talking, as they began to ascend the second flight of stairs.

“Once the Branch-Master comes back, we can get you properly appraised, and also figure out what to do with you. While the Vestrian mercenaries who came through were perfectly amicable, we’d hesitate to hand you over to their counterparts in the Empire military. Nasty bunch they are. From what I’ve been able to hear on the Guild message channels, a fair few others, like you slipped through the cracks of whatever strange gate brought you here. Rather than ending up safe in the Emperor’s hands, they’ve been scattered around the country, and he’s put out a reward for anyone who can find one of you…. Ah, here we are!”

The pair had reached the top of the headquarters, and were standing outside a wooden door. Lyndell inserted the key, unlocking it. It swung open to reveal a small room, and Cole peered inside. There was a small bed with a pillow and blanket to one side, and a desk with a chair to match on the other. In the back of the room was a small closet, and Cole could see a small glass window just above the desk, which showed that it was now dark outside. He could see occasional flashes of orange and blue light, presumably from battle against the monster wave.

“It’s quite small, but it should serve you nicely. I’ll arrange for some clothes to be brought up in the morning, yours seem to have seen better days.”

Cole flushed, looking down as he realised the state he was in. He was dirty, stinking of woodsmoke, and his shirt was still tied around him in that weird sash. He was holding two spears, and his pants had many small tears from all the bushes he’d crashed through. For lack of better words, he looked like a crazy person that had been lost in the wilderness for a year.

“Your key will lock the door from the inside, but I have master key for every room in this building. We normally reserve these rooms for travellers, but with the monster wave, they’ve been empty for a few weeks now.”

Lyndell smiled, “Get some rest, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

With that, he left, closing the door behind him.