“Your brother? I would be more than happy to help you find him. Do you have reason to believe he is in Anoura as well?” Gregory asked.

“Yes, I do, we were both inside the teleportation bubble when it surrounded us. He should have arrived with me, but I was told that people have been arriving for around 80 years, which means that he could already be here. I just want you to check the records to see if someone with his name has gotten identification before.” Kelsey said while leaning back in her chair. “His name is Thadius Kain.”

***

Thadius woke to the sounds of nature; the morning sun shining in his eyes as he slowly opened them. He stared at the foreign scenery around him in wonder and confusion. First, he saw the inexplicably tall Mageblood trees towering above him, their blue leaves casting shadows across the forest. Secondly, he saw the small blue box floating in his vision as he unlocked the Identify skill by studying the Mageblood tree.

He then pulled himself up with his arms like he was used to and leaned his body against the large tree and sat silently for several minutes while he pieced together what he was experiencing. Floating screens, general skills, something called a Mageblood Tree. It’s pretty clear that I’m not in Tennessee anymore. As he was deciding on what to do next, he felt a piece of grass touch his leg through the bottom of his pants leg. Without thinking he jerked his leg away and yelped in surprise.

He stared down at his leg in wonder. It moved. He tried moving his other leg and it responded to his commands. They move. At this realization, Thadius attempted to stand; something he hadn’t done in over 3 years. Thadius shakily stood up and began to take his first steps. By this point tears of joy were streaming down his face. He was bordering on breaking down into sobs of joy.

Thadius spent the next few minutes getting used to his legs. Walking, jogging, running, and jumping. His legs were as strong as they’d ever been. With my legs, I may actually be able to survive out here.

And survive he did. Thadius spent the next several weeks traveling through the Mageblood forest. First, he found a river leading from the mountains, then he found a good place to set up traps for animals. Unlike his sister, he spent much more time hunting with his father and working with his hands. He was able to build much better traps to catch the rabbits in. This allowed him to kill the level 0 animals in order to gain his first class. He chose a specialty class, [Spear Fighter] and fashioned himself a basic stone tipped spear. He had always heard that spears and their like were the easiest weapons for a complete beginner to use.

Eventually, Thadius decided to settle down in the forest. By this point he had also fought enough of the horned rabbits and other monsters in order to achieve level 23. It took him a long time to reach that point due to many close calls and near-death experiences.

Thanks to his knowledge from Earth, he was able to quite easily build himself a small cabin near the riverbank. He even began a small farm in the back where he grew the three types of berries found in the forest that he ate as his main source of food.

Thadius spent over a year living in his little cabin, living off the land and never fighting, until one day he heard the sound of hooves cracking against the stones on the riverbank. Leaving his cabin quickly, he saw a group of Centaurs coming his way from down south. Centaurs? I’ve never seen one of them before. As he was watching the Centaurs, one of them noticed Thadius and pointed him out to the rest of the band.

Not knowing what else to do and knowing he couldn’t outrun them, he simply waited for them to get closer so he could Identify one of them.

[Warrior]

No level? No ticks? What is going on?

“You there, human. What are you doing out here in our lands?” the lead Centaur asked.

They can talk? “Uh nothing sir, sorry. I just arrived here a little over a year ago. I woke up about 15 kilometers west of here. I don’t really even know where I am. Forgive me, please. I didn’t mean to trespass on your land.” Thadius said with a quiver in his voice.

“Trespass? No, it is okay that you are here. We were simply curious. Our land has, and always will be open to Humans. I assume since you say you woke up here that you are from Earth?”

Earth? They know about Earth? “Are you saying there are others like me? People from Earth?” Thadius asked, feeling excitement build in his chest. Maybe I can find Kelsey. She’s got to be here too, right?

The Centaur chuckled in a deep low rhythm. “Yes human, your kind have been arriving in Anoura for the past 40 years or so. I believe the last known estimate to be that nearly 6,000 Otherworlders are now in Anoura. Would you like us to take you to a human town? It is roughly one week's travel from here if you are willing to move quickly.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you sir. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?” Thadius asked as he began packing his belongings to leave the cabin.

“You may call me Chief Ruhakan,” the Centaur answered. “I am the leader of the Northern Plains Centaur tribe.

The week Thadius traveled with the Centaurs flew by quickly. They were able to answer all of his questions, and more, about the world, classes, Otherworlders, and paths. I’m lucky I never reached level 25, or I would have been stuck with a Combat Path until level 100. Thankfully I can change my path now before I reach my Path Advancement. I’m going to settle down and focus on being an architect. After arriving in Anoura, Thadius quickly realized that he didn’t enjoy fighting. He had done everything in his power to avoid it, going as far as running and hiding from enemies that he could likely defeat.

Thadius and the Centaurs went their separate ways after they escorted him to the town of Whitebranch. With more than 40,000 people, the town was quite large, and it was growing rapidly. He could see dozens of buildings that were in the middle of construction. The only really interesting thing about the town was that it was built around a nearly one-thousand-meter-tall white tree. How can something that big even exist?

Thadius spent the next year modifying his Path and designing buildings for clients manually; exactly like he had done on Earth. From what he had read in the library, skills would have made this process much easier. Once he was confident his path had been modified, he went on a week-long excursion with some adventurers to get the last two levels so he could reach level 25.

Thankfully, his efforts paid off and he was able to choose his unique path of [Architect of the Spear]. It was somewhere in between a Combat Path and an Architecture Path. Luckily, he was able to gain levels by doing either.

The next five years of Thadius’ life were spent in Whitebranch as he perfected his new skills and began working on larger and larger architecture projects. The final project he designed for the town was a massive stone wall that spanned the entire exterior of the town, perfectly in line with the shadow from the White Tree above. This single accomplishment rewarded him with enough levels to reach level 100. With that, he was able to evolve his [Architect of the Spear] class into the [Architect of Wonder] class. This was a fully Architect based Path, and by taking it Thadius lost access to most of his combat abilities. He was more than happy about that.

After achieving level 100 and choosing his second class [Earth Mage], he began traveling around Cardona. He built houses, estates, and businesses for merchants, nobility, and even royalty. He became proficient enough that he could design and build the structure in less than a week provided most of it was made of stone. He didn’t usually stay around to see his designs finished, but he would check back in once in a while if he was around.

He spent seven years working in Cardona until he ran out of clients wealthy enough and in great enough need to afford his services. Thadius then decided to move on to other nations. He set his sights on the Kytan Kingdom, which had just been dealt a heavy blow by a rogue mage. They needed many of their cities to be rebuilt from the ground up. He spent 20 years in the Kytan Kingdom which pushed both his Primary and Secondary classes past level 250. He unlocked the [Immortal Architect] and [Mover of Mountains] classes. Both of them being architecture and building paths with Mover of Mountains having some combat uses in a pinch.

After reaching level 250 in both classes and becoming an Immortal, Thadius traveled back to Whitebranch and settled down for a peaceful life. He wasn’t sure that Kelsey would eventually show up here, but he decided that it was his best chance of finding her. He knew that if she made it to a town or city anywhere in Anoura, she would be required to register with the Anouran Adventurers Guild and Identify herself as an Otherworlder if people found out. Knowing her, they would likely find out immediately. He had checked the records for her name, and their parent's names, every week since finding civilization.

The next seven years of Thadius’ life in Whitebranch were wonderful. He met a lovely woman named Claire whom he had two beautiful children with. They were named David and Lorie. He wanted to name them after his parents and Claire thought they were beautiful names.

During this time, he was also asked by the Whitebranch Guild Master to design and build them a new headquarters for the town. He decided to design it after Adventurer Guilds he had seen in video games and movies. It was almost point for point an Adventurers Guild he had designed for a tabletop roleplaying game he had run in college. I know if Kelsey does show up here, there is no way she won't know exactly what that building is supposed to be.

Stolen novel; please report.

His life was peaceful, and he didn’t have much going on most of the time. He ran an architecture firm, but with the town mostly constructed, his firm pretty much just worked on renovations. He didn’t even really need the money, as he had made much more than his fair share during the rebuilding effort in Kytan. This was until one seemingly random day, roughly 40 years after he arrived in Anoura. Thadius woke up next to his beautiful wife Claire and decided to get up early and fix the family some breakfast. He didn’t technically need to sleep or eat much anymore, but even as an Immortal, he felt miserable if he didn’t sleep and eat regularly. A few minutes later the kids woke up to the smell of freshly cooked bacon and eggs and ran down the hall screaming like wild animals.

“Hey, hey, hey, kids, quiet down. You’ll wake up mom.” Thadius scolded the children.

“No, don’t worry about that, she’s already awake” his wife said groggily from the stairs leading from their bedroom. “Smells good, what made you want to do this today?”

“I’m not sure, I’m just in a good mood I guess.” he said as he prepared her plate. “I think I’m going to head to the mayor’s office today. I want to try to speed along the entrance for the refugees.”

Thadius handed his wife a plate of food before finally making his own. “They’ve been waiting out in those dirty slums for months now, we have plenty of room in here. I just can’t figure out what's taking them so long.”

Thadius and his family chatted for a few more minutes before he went upstairs to get dressed. He left the house, making his way to the mayor's office. Thankfully, he knew his way around the building as he was the one who designed and built it. He walked straight up to the door to his office and began knocking loudly.

“Come in!” The mayor said from behind the door. “And don’t knock so damn loudly.” Thadius walked in the room and the mayor as he visibly relaxed once he saw it was Thadius that had come to visit. The mayor’s office was a large room that had long bookshelves on each wall. There were three tables, and the mayor's desk at various places in the room. They were all stacked high with books, ledgers, and loose pieces of paper. The room was full blown chaos in Thadius’ opinion.

The mayor himself was a middle-aged man with a bald head, and a large graying mustache that Thadius was sure got in his mouth as he ate. He was wearing his signature white suit that stood out against his dark ebony skin. He was a short man, and very thin. He didn’t have the height or broad shoulders that most politicians had, but he was good at politicking. Damn good at it. Plus, as far as Thadius could tell, he cared more for the people of Whitebranch than any Mayor they’d had before.

“Good. Thadius, I’ve been wanting to talk to you. Are you available to build some housing for the refugees? We’re getting close to letting them in the walls. The only hold out is Viscount Watson. He says that if we let the refugees into the town that he will have his workers go on a strike.”

Thadius raised an eyebrow at that comment. “Watson? Why is he up in arms about the refugees? He runs the textiles industry for the entire town, with that many new people needing clothing he should be chomping at the bit to let them in.”

The mayor leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply. “I’m not sure, he claims the reason is safety. He says he is worried that inviting the refugees in will increase crime in the town to an unreasonable degree. I don’t agree with him, but he and the new Captain of the guard, Emelia, are quite close so she must be the one telling him that. I’ve spoken with most of the lieutenants that were present during the last captain’s tenure, and none of them seem to agree with her. According to them, the refugees are all very respectful and well-mannered even while living in squalor. Also, there is some other concerning news regarding the refugees. We have heard reports that there are some people going missing from the slums. So far, the confirmed reports are 7 men, 23 women, and 14 children that have gone missing. I believe there to be more that are unreported though. I have told Emelia to investigate the disappearances but so far, nothing has turned up.”

“Those numbers and that distribution of missing persons can’t mean anything good. We need to get them into the town as fast as possible, even if we have to deal with a striking Viscount. We can’t protect them while they are outside the walls. Not without putting them under something akin to martial law, which we can’t do because they aren’t yet our citizens.” Thadius said, weighing the options.

The next few hours were spent discussing the refugee issue with the mayor. Once they had a decent plan in place, Thadius excused himself and left the office. I think I’ll stop by the Jackson’s family house. Those kids just lost their mother, I want to make sure the family is doing okay.

Moving down the side streets, Thadius made his way to Dan Jackson’s house and knocked lightly on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a disheveled and worn man with dark circles under his eyes. “Hey Dan. I just wanted to stop by and check in on how you’re doing. Are the kids okay?” Thadius asked, the sound of worry evident in his voice.

“Yeah, they’re handling it well. Better than I am, that's for sure. Come on in, I’ll make you a cup of tea and you can see the kids.” Dan said as he motioned for Thadius to enter.

Using his general skills [Minor Fire Creation] and [Minor Fire Manipulation] Thadius summoned a ball flame and lit some candles around the house to give the pair a bit more light to talk.

“Kids come on down, Uncle Thadius is here!” Dan yelled as he sat down at the kitchen table.

The two little kids, ages 7 and 9, who were usually balls of excitement and joy that almost literally bounced off walls, walked down the stairs in a much more somber manner than usual. “Hey kids, I brought you some toys from the capital. You can press this button there and a voice will tell you what to do next. It's a brand-new invention from another Otherworlder. I actually used to have one like it myself when I was a kid and lived on Earth.” he said trying to keep his voice cheery. “How are you kids doing, I know you must miss your mom.”

“We’re okay.” the boy, Phillip said sadly.

His sister then chimed in, “Yeah, it sucks, and I miss her, but we know she wouldn’t have wanted us to stay sad for too long. She would have said ‘Kids stop moping about. You can’t stay sad forever. I know how awesome and pretty I am, but you gotta get out there and live life. You have to enjoy every day because you don’t know what day may be your last. The last thing I want is for my death to ruin your life. That would be double bad!’ and I only know she would say that, because… she did say that.” Fey said after finishing the truly terrible impression of her mother.

Everyone in the room chuckled softly at the words of wisdom from Maggie. She always knew how to send a message while also cutting the tension with a joke or two. “Your mom was right, kids. Now, why don’t you go play with these new toys for a bit while I talk to your dad. We can hang out after.” Thadius said as he handed the toys to the kids. I can’t believe the Otherworlder created that toy specifically. It is amazing they were even able to pull it off.

“Dan, this is going to be a hard conversation to have, but you’ve been working with me for years, so please hear me out. I am giving you six months advance pay.” Thadius said as he pulled out a few platinum coins from his pouch and placed them on the table. “I don’t want you to think about needing to come back to work for at least that long.”

When Dan didn’t say anything, he continued. “We don’t have many projects going on right now, and I can make do without you. If you do decide to come back to work before then, you can, and I will pay you your normal pay on top of what I’m giving you today. “

Dan nodded once, but still didn’t say anything as he was holding back tears.

“You are a single dad now; you’re going to have a lot of slack to pick up around here. You have to do what's right for those kids. If after six months you need more time away from work, or a pay raise to afford a nanny, let me know. You’re like a brother to me and I’m more than happy to help.” Thadius finished.

As Thadius said this, tears began rolling down Dan’s face.

Thadius could tell that Dan was still reluctant despite his tears. “Don’t do it for you. Do it for the kids. I know you don’t want to take a handout or owe me a favor or whatever. As far as I’m concerned you don’t owe me anything.”

It was clear that Dan couldn’t bring himself to speak so he just nodded several times and pocketed the coins. The two men sat in silence for a few more minutes until Dan controlled his emotions and was able to talk again. After a round of thanks from Dan, they chatted about less serious topics for a while before calling the kids back in the room so they could all spend some time together.

Thadius spent a couple more hours with Dan and the kids before saying his goodbyes and heading to his next destination, the Adventurers Guild. He hadn’t checked the registrations for Kelsey or his parent's names this week and figured he may as well do it while he was out. Arriving at the Adventurers Guild he headed straight for the back counter and found his favorite Guild representative, Fiona. She was short with blonde hair and green eyes, but she reminded Thadius of his sister. Kelsey may have been slightly taller with red hair and blue eyes, but their personalities were quite similar. They were both extremely flirty and he thought they would have gotten along well.

“Hey Fiona, can you check for their name's again?” Thadius said as he walked to the counter. It was still early afternoon, so the Guild wasn’t busy yet. But Thadius knew that the Guild was wild in the early evening and night as the Classers returned from their missions.

A few seconds passed as she checked the logs before Fiona answered. “Sorry hun, not yet. Hopefully next week.”

“Yeah, hopefully next week.” Thadius said solemnly. “Thanks Fiona, have a nice day.”

He then left the Adventurers Guild and went home. Thadius spent the next several hours explaining what he did that day, relaxing with his wife, and playing with his kids. Then, Thadius heard a knock at the door and opened it to see a guild messenger with a letter that had the Guild Master’s seal on it. Thadius tore open the letter and read it quickly.

Dear Thadius,

I am in need of your assistance at the Adventurers Guild immediately. This is an urgent matter that involves the safety of the town. Please hurry.

Gregory

Rushing to put on his shoes Thadius’ mind was racing. The safety of the town? What in the world would he need me for? Defenses? Could there be something coming that the walls aren’t enough to defend against? This could be bad.

“Claire, honey, I’ve got to run. I’ve got an important letter from Gregory. Something about the safety of the town. I’m not sure what is happening but go down to my vault and close the door. It will protect you and the kids from all manner of scrying and will defend against domains.” he said as he kissed his wife and kids on the forehead. “I love you, stay safe.”

The moment his wife and kids were out of harm's way, he dialed his mental and physical speed up to the maximum. As far as he knew he was one of only two Immortals living in Whitebranch. Most Immortals moved to the Immortal Cities or lived with Immortal Guilds. He was only here because of his family and the hope Kelsey would show up one day. This meant that he was also one of the strongest people in Whitebranch. The only person who was stronger was the Platinum ranked Classer, Theo. Even without being a Classer, his raw attributes were enough to defend himself through most of Anoura.

Pushing himself faster than he had moved in years, he ran to the Adventurers Guild as fast as he could. Thanks to the [Wind Resistance] general skill, the air he moved through simply parted gently around him. This was useful as without the skill he was fast enough to casually create sonic booms when he moved as fast as he could.

Arriving at the Guild everything seemed normal. From his perspective, everyone in the Guild was frozen in time. They were all moving at normal human speeds here as it wasn’t strictly polite to move at combat speeds inside a large population center like a town or city. It was even illegal in some areas.

Moving up the stairs, Thadius made his way to the Guild Master’s door before ramping his speed back down to normal levels and opening the door.

“What’s going on Gregory, is everything alright?” he said as he opened the door.

He quickly surveyed the room, but his eyes stopped on the woman sitting in a soft leather chair in front of Gregory’s desk.

She had a slim build, bright red hair, blue eyes, and a wide grin on her face that let Thadius know exactly how old he looked.

“Hey big bro.”