Chapter 7 - On the Road Again
The plains were a sight to behold. Covered in a tapestry of flowers, sporadic yet charming trees, and teeming with wildlife like deer, foxes, elk, and turkeys, it was oddly familiar.
She couldn't help but think it was strange to see so many recognizable creatures, especially since she was sure this wasn't Earth. She would have expected evolution to have taken these animals in wildly different directions. That’s what every paper and article on alien life she had ever read theorized. She should be seeing Jellyfish cats that could spit acid, or eight legged turtles with four eyes. Instead, she was standing in a wide-open grassland that, if it weren’t for the monsters, could have been on Earth.
As Kelsey explored the new area, she saw a huge variety of monsters. Significantly more than she had seen in the Mageblood forest. Deer, elk, foxes, coyotes, rabbits, horses, antelopes, and even a few badgers of every element imaginable. All the way from basic elements like water or fire, to more complex ones like a shadow aspected deer she saw bouncing from shadow to shadow. Most importantly though, among these monsters, were roving bands of Centaurs, attacking anything, and everything in sight. These Centaurs were mostly male, with female centaurs making up about 15 percent of the population. They appeared human from the waist up, each of them carrying different weapons ranging from the smallest daggers to incredibly large two-handed hammers. There were even a few archers in the mix. Each of them was wearing colorful clothes made from simple fabrics, leather, and feathers. The best comparison she had from Earth was that their clothes looked like something shamans would wear in a fantasy video game.
Initially, she spotted them from afar, but eventually she ventured closer in order to observe them as they hunted for a [Flame Coyote - lvl 35]. She watched as they encircled their prey, with one breaking off to take on the coyote head-on once they had the monster trapped. The fight was uneven, the Centaur obviously stronger and higher leveled. It made her wonder why they even bothered with such prey, especially since after the fight had finished, they left the coyote’s body unclaimed.
Driven by curiosity, Kelsey stealthily followed the Centaurs for an entire day and night, observing them through her domain, trying to figure out if they were mere monsters like a Thorn Wolf, or sentient beings. She grew skeptical when she noticed their lack of conversation, only hearing their battle cries. But the real answer came on the second morning. They were hunting a Lightborne Elk that was capable of using light magic. During their tried-and-true tactic of surrounding and individually challenging the prey, the Elk managed to gather enough magic to instantly kill the attacking Centaur with a huge beam of light. This triggered a short-lived fury among the dozen or so other Centaurs, who banded together to quickly butcher the Elk. Initially, she thought their reaction showed some level of sapience and care for their fallen companion, but they soon returned to their usual behavior, completely disregarding their fallen ally. They even left the dead Centaur’s great axe behind.
Once the other Centaurs had moved away from the Lightborne Elk and their fallen companion, Kelsey moved closer to inspect the fallen monsters. The Elk had the wounds you would expect from a beating as bad as it had received. Multiple broken bones from where hooves or hammers impacted, gashes from the Centaur’s bladed weapons, and arrows sticking out from every direction. When she moved to the fallen Centaur, she saw something that struck her as very odd. Its eye color had changed. Every Centaur she had seen so far had bright amber eyes. This one’s eyes were a dark brown that matched its hair color. She didn’t usually notice stuff like that, but the amber eyes were very bright, and they stood out from their tanned skin.
Not knowing what to make of this information, she moved on and continued following the Centaurs. Her guess was that each Centaur was leveled somewhere in the mid-50s to early 60s. After watching their battles, she felt fairly sure she could take on one by herself. So, doing the only thing that seemed sensible, she started hunting. She was going to get as close as she could in order to Identify one of them. She was quite confident in her ability to escape from the Centaurs if things went poorly. They hadn’t displayed any abilities, yet that made Kelsey think they would be able to catch her if she began teleporting away.
During the time spent trailing the Centaurs, she noticed something interesting about her domain's ability that let her use magic from anywhere within it. It wasn’t nearly as fullproof as she originally thought. During some more testing, she realized that not only was casting the magic itself more difficult, but there was also a faint purple line of shining mana that connected her and the place she cast the magic at. It didn’t mean the skill was useless, far from it, it just meant that any creature she used it on would quickly discover where she was if they had Manasight. And unfortunately for her, it seemed like nearly all of them did. She also made the unfortunate discovery that most, if not all the monsters she encountered had some sort of danger sense and were always aware when something unseen was going to damage them. That didn’t mean they reacted perfectly, but it often turned an attack that was certain to kill into one that simply wounded them. It did however make hunting lower leveled monsters for food much simpler.
Several hours after witnessing the death of the Lightborne Elk, she finally found the perfect opportunity to get closer. The Centaurs had returned to the river in order to drink their fill of water. There was a thin tree line that she could use to move through via teleportation.
Waiting for one of the Centaurs to separate slightly from the pack, she found her target, teleported to a tree nearby, and identified it.
[Centaur Thrall]
Wait, a Centaur Thrall? Guess that explains why they seem mindless. She thought for several minutes, trying to decide what to do next. Well, I guess it can’t be helped. I’m not just going to murder a potentially innocent creature that's just enthralled by some mind magic. She then teleported past the centaurs and continued south, following the river, giving up on her centaur hunt. It’s a shame, it would have been a good fight. Maybe I’ll come back once I learn what all of this is about.
Thinking back to the Centaur as she traveled south, she also realized that she hadn’t seen the tick marks after the Centaurs name that indicated a level. That’s certainly strange, I wonder if it has something to do with them being enthralled.
Over the next couple of days, she found many more packs of the strange, enthralled Centaurs along with hundreds of more magical beasts. Every single one of the monsters was above level 40, with most of them being unidentifiable to her skill. And with her Identify skill level now at 10, the highest creatures she could properly Identify were level 52. During all this time she hadn’t successfully identified a single Centaur that showed a level or even tick marks. She realized that if the Centaurs weren’t roaming everywhere, this area would make a great place to work on leveling up. As it stood, if she started fighting the monsters in the plains, she would quickly be forced to fight and potentially kill one of the thralls, and she wasn’t willing to risk it.
Six and a half days after breaking from the pack of Centaurs she first encountered, she saw her first signs of civilization. A bare dirt road stretching from east to west, cutting straight through the middle of the grasslands. There was a simple wooden bridge spanning the river. I have never been quite so happy to see a road and rickety bridge. Though, I can’t believe someone would build a road out here with how dangerous this place is. Not knowing which way was better, she chose to move east, if only because it kept the setting sun out of her eyes.
She followed the road for dozens of kilometers over the next few hours, moving nowhere near her maximum speed, staying on high alert for any sign of people or something of interest. Eventually, she saw her first change of scenery in days. In the distance, she could see what appeared to be a single snowcapped mountain peeking from over a large forest that she could see in the distance. It kinda feels like the horizon is further away than on Earth. Hard to tell for sure though. The mountains she saw were nowhere near as large or vast as the ones she had come from, but they were a welcome change of pace from the monotony of traveling over the plains.
It took her several more hours, the evening in full swing, until she arrived at her first slice of true civilization. At the edge of the plains, as the grasslands transformed into what seemed from a distance to be normal woods, she saw another river with a wooden bridge over it. In the middle of the bridge was a tall stone archway with two towers acting as the base for the arch. Hanging from the arch was a wrought iron gate that was currently closed. She briefly considered teleporting past the arch but discarded the thought almost instantly. I am really craving some social interaction, even if it’s because I startle a grumpy guard in the evening.
The sight of this tower also confirmed to her that this was no modern world, it was very clearly something she would imagine could be pulled straight from a tabletop roleplaying game. Not that I ever found an opportunity to play one. My friends in college loved them but I was always ‘too busy with school’. Ugh, looking back I really wish I had made more time to enjoy myself during college. Those were supposed to be the good years.
Steeling herself, she continued down the road and walked confidently towards the closed gate. As she drew closer, her domain pierced the stone walls of the arch, and she was able to see a small group of people in the right tower. There were three men and one woman playing some sort of card game around a wooden table. They were even playing with what appeared to be something like poker chips. The left tower was a simple supply room filled with food, water, blankets, and other various things one might need for extended stays at a remote outpost.
The moment she stepped onto the wood of the bridge, the guards inside the tower whipped their heads toward a small circular object on the wall that began shaking and releasing a ringing noise that she could hear all the way from the edge of the bridge. The guards put down their cards, glanced at each other, their hands moving towards their weapons. One of the guards moved over to the wall and placed their hand on the ringing object, injecting some mana and causing the object to fall silent.
Seeing the guard's reaction, Kelsey stopped moving forward and placed her hands nonthreateningly over her head. The guards still hadn’t seen her as there was a wall between them and her. But Kelsey waited patiently for them to open the door and as they did, she inspected all of them.
[Warrior]
[Warrior]
[Warrior]
[Warrior]
They have basic classes? No, that didn’t seem right, they looked stronger than that. I wonder what I Identify as. I assumed it would say my full class, but maybe It just says Mage. I also can’t see a level, or even ticks to indicate level. Maybe the Centaurs are really people then. Glad I didn’t fight one.
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she saw the guards had noticed her. A wave of relief washed over the guards as they regarded her, curiosity evident on their faces. They had all taken their hands away from their weapons and were now waiting patiently. Two of the male guards in the back immediately started whispering to one another while glancing at Kelsey. Those two are clearly talking about me, I wonder why they seem so excited.
One of the Warriors, the man who seemed to be the leader, raised his hand, waving at Kelsey. “Hey there, sorry for the threatening entrance, thought you might be a Centaur. Attacks are rare these days, but they do happen,” he said with a chuckle in his voice. “Come on over here.”
Oh good, I can understand them. It definitely sounds like they’re speaking English. Let's hope they can understand me.
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The group of people was truly a sight to behold. Each one was equipped uniquely, wearing different kinds of armor and using different weapons. There certainly wasn’t a standard set of equipment like she would have expected. The leader was a broad-shouldered man who looked to be in his mid 50s with graying hair and a strong jawline. On his hip hung a longsword, and a shield was strapped to his back. The armor and weapons he had seemed to be incredibly high quality and were both covered in beautiful designs. He was wearing silver-colored chainmail with leather boots and gloves. The other three people all had unique weapons and armor as well. The woman in particular, who seemed to be second in command, was wearing no armor at all, just simple clothes and a long, bladed polearm on her back with the blade coming out of a golden dragon’s mouth. She had an athletic build, long blonde hair, looked to be in her late 40s, and was extremely tall. The two guards, both younger men and clad in simple leather armor, were armed much more simply—one with a basic great axe and the other wielding a regular flail and shield.
Kelsey relaxed as she saw their tension drop, a small smile reaching her lips. Finally, some human interaction, oh how I have missed this. “Not a problem, I ran into a few of them myself on my way here, I totally understand the nervousness,” she said as she approached them. “Is there any way I can get past the gate tonight, or is it closed for business?”
The woman who was standing next to the leader in front answered her question first. “Sadly, we can’t let you through till morning. Ya know, the mayor's orders and all that.” she said a little apologetically. Okay good, they can understand me.
Feeling a bit disappointed, Kelsey said “Ah, not a problem I suppose. I’ve been sleeping in the forest for the past couple months, another night can’t hurt.”
This sentence seemed to shock the guards, but they recovered quickly as the leader said “Wait, where have you been? The next town is only a day and a half from here. Do you mean to tell me you’ve been in the Mageblood Forest for two months?”
Not knowing what to say Kelsey simply nodded her head and said “Yeah. Kind of a rough place.”
This caused the woman to bark out a laugh and chime in with “Yeah no kidding kid, are you even a Combat Pather? You can’t be higher than mid level twenties, how did you survive in the Mageblood Forest by yourself?”
Kelsey hadn’t considered any of these questions. How was she supposed to explain that she was from a different world and had just arrived here a couple months ago. These guards were going to think she was crazy. So instead of answering she simply froze like a deer in the headlights.
Noticing her awkwardness, the group of guards looked at each other, then back to her. The leader with the graying hair slapped his palm against his head in understanding and pointed at Kelsey. “You’re an Otherworlder aren’t you? From Earth, right?” It was like a lightbulb had gone off in the rest of their heads as they regarded Kelsey in a new light.
Kelsey’s mind froze as she heard that they were aware of Earth. They know? That must mean there are other people from Earth. Thadius?
The leader, noticing Kelsey’s shock at his revelation, extended his gloved hand out to Kelsey, proffering a handshake, which she absentmindedly accepted. “My names Owen, this here is Lisa.” he said pointing at the tall woman, “The other two are Grant and Fin. I know you’re probably confused, why don’t you come on in and sit down. We can get you some food and water while we explain some of what’s going on.” He motioned for her to follow them to the tower and began walking towards it.
Not knowing what else to do Kelsey followed them in a daze. She noticed the two lower ranked guards, Grant and Fin, whispering to each other excitedly and glancing back at her. She heard the phrase Otherworlder multiple times.
A few minutes later Kelsey was sitting down at the table across from Owen. The other two guards had been dismissed to a patrol for the time being and were scouting the area around the bridge. They weren’t far away as she could still see them inside her domain as they patrolled, standing much more closely than she would have expected from two co-workers.
Sitting down next to her, Lisa handed Kelsey a hot cup of tea. Kelsey had seen Lisa grab the cup and pour the tea from a pot similar to one she would have on Earth. Honestly the fact that tea exists here is just… perfect.
Owen was the first to speak, “So, let's start with introductions. Like I said before, I’m Owen, Silver ranked adventurer from the Anouran Adventuring Guild.” Lisa then chimed in with her introduction. “I’m Lisa, also a Silver ranked adventurer from the Guild.”
Not knowing what else to say Kelsey just responded with, “I go by Kelsey, or Kel for short. Thanks for the tea by the way, I haven’t had anything hot to drink in a while and I absolutely love tea.”
Lisa smiled with motherly understanding and said “Must have been terrifying out there all alone, but now we can finally answer some of your questions. Warning, Owen and I aren’t exactly the most well-traveled people in the world, so we don’t know that much.”
“Let's start with the basics” Owen said as he pulled out a small silver card from his pocket. “This is my Adventurer Guild badge. You’re in a region called Anoura. The kingdom you’re in is called Cardona. You are not on Earth anymore, and you are not the first person from Earth to have arrived in Anoura. As far as I’m aware, the last official count was that roughly 12,000 people from Earth are here.” Owen paused, waiting for Kelsey to digest this information.
All things considered; Kelsey felt relieved that she wasn’t the only one going through this. That also meant that there was a real chance that Thadius was somewhere in Anoura. Not knowing what else to say, she asked “How long has this been going on for?”
Owen looked like he had expected this question and quickly answered, “About 80 years. An Otherworlder appeared in the middle of a city in the far north. Since then, there's been someone new appearing every few days across the region. You are the first in this specific area in about 40 years though. Most that appear in dangerous places like the Mageblood Forest likely end up dead.” He paused to let this information sink in before saying, “High level mages think that there is actually a summon every day and slightly over half of the Otherworlders never make it to civilization. We do know that every single Otherworlder, no matter when they arrive, all remember being teleported on the same day.”
Kelsey’s heart was pounding in her chest as she considered the implications for her brother, who was paralyzed from the waist down. She knew that if he were summoned in the same situation as her, he almost certainly would have died.
Activating Meditation, Kelsey breathed in deeply and calmed herself. No reason to get worked up over this yet, I don’t have nearly enough information. A minute or two went by before Kelsey managed to get her heart rate and breathing under control. She opened her eyes to see both Owen and Lisa staring at her with sympathetic eyes.
“Why?” Kelsey asked simply.
“No one knows, I’m sorry.” Owen responded gently.
Surprisingly, all this new information didn't upset Kelsey; if anything, she felt a sense of peace now that she knew and didn't have to wonder anymore. “Well, isn’t that something. I was pretty sure I was going to have to do a ton of explaining and lying about why I don’t know simple things like laws, kingdoms, or customs. Turns out, you already know.” Kelsey smiled wryly as she said “Well, this is going to be a whole lot easier, isn’t it?”
The two adventurers relaxed after seeing Kelsey’s reaction to their news and smiled at her. “You took that a lot better than I expected.” Lisa said as she stood up. “Why don’t we get you a bath? You have such pretty red hair, but it's currently filthy. There's a small bathing room at the base of the living quarters tower on the other side of the arch. Also, sorry, but you stink badly. We can talk more afterwards.”
Using her domain, Kelsey could see the room Lisa was referring to. It looked quite cozy, and private. Kelsey quickly agreed and followed Lisa to the bath.
The next few hours were a much needed and welcomed reprieve from her past two months of survival and solitude. She bathed with Lisa, ate dinner with the guards, and then spent a couple hours chatting with all four of them. She learned a lot during this time. They taught her mostly about classes and paths. But she also got her answer about language. Apparently all Otherworlders arrived with the Anouran Language skill, and all of their systems were always in their preferred language.
The stuff she learned about paths was much more interesting. There were as many paths as there were people. Each one was unique to the individual that earned it. Both Lisa and Owen were on what they called ‘Combat Paths’ which were basically just people who gained levels and experience from combat. Both Grant and Fin were on Guard Paths. They were similar to Combat Paths, but they gained experience not just through fighting, but also from patrolling, helping citizens, protecting people, and finding criminals. There were other paths they told her about, such as Nobility Paths, Diplomacy Paths, Labor Paths, Engineering Paths, and hundreds of others.
She learned that there were three kinds of classes before someone started their Path. There were Basic classes such as Warrior, Archer, or Mage, which could be taken by anyone at level 1. Uneducated children sometimes took these paths. Then there were Specialty Classes, like the one Kelsey took. In order to receive one of these classes at level 1 the person had to have a basic understanding of how the class would function and a basic understanding of the core principles involved. The theory was that there were an infinite number of specialty classes, but people didn’t have an infinite amount of knowledge. Someone with a basic class would advance to a specialty class at level 10.
She also learned that the advanced classes were new from when people from Earth arrived. It was only recently that education became good enough in Anoura that some of the native children have started to find them available in their level 1 options. Everyone, no matter what class they began with, would be offered a Unique Path when they leveled all of their class skills to level 10, and reached level 25 or higher.
She was told to be as secretive as possible about her Path and the requirements she met to acquire it. Knowledge about other people’s Paths was extremely valuable to the right people. Owen mentioned that understanding and knowledge is the most important part of a path, and people from Earth tended to start with a huge advantage over most Anourans because of their advanced education.
By now they were aware that Kelsey was a Spatial Mage of some sort, the telekinetic clothing was the main giveaway. In an effort to keep Kelsey safe, Lisa gave Kelsey some non-telekinetic clothes to wear as they were preparing for bed. “I know they aren’t quite as comfortable as something made of mana, but people will have less information on you if you wear normal clothes. People with Manasight active will still see the spatial barrier around you, but that's significantly less information than letting people know you’re a telekinetic creator.” she paused and looked deep into Kelsey’s eyes before continuing. “True creators are rare. Really, really rare. People that can create permanent physical objects with their element were once in a generation talents before you Otherworlders got here. It's certainly more common these days thanks to better education, but I would wager that there are less than 100,000 creators alive today. I’d also guess that most of them are traditionally physical elements like stone or ice.”
Kelsey nodded her head once in understanding and fell deep into thought. I didn’t realize that creation was such a big deal. I suppose it makes sense. I’m only level 28 right now and given a few days I could pretty easily create a house full of furniture. I can only imagine what someone with hund- Wait. What level is normal? The thought hadn’t occurred to her before now, so she asked Lisa. “What level is the average person, and what is considered a high level?”
Lisa took several agonizingly long minutes to think before answering the question. “I would say your average person in a remote area like this one generally passes level 100 at some point in their lifetime. At level 100 you will receive your next class advancement, and a secondary class.” Lisa said the next part significantly more carefully. “Most people around here don’t make it past level 120 or so because leveling two classes takes longer. The advancement after 100 is at 250, and it's the dream of most people to achieve. At level 250 in any class, you will become an Immortal. Remember at your level 25 advancement when you began your Unique Path? Well, at level 250 the path is called the Immortal Path.”
Immortality? Like, real Immortality? The idea of spending eternity exploring this world filled Kelsey with such raw excitement that she started to feel dizzy again.
Lisa let her words hang in the air for several more seconds before continuing. “Everyone who reaches level 250 is an Immortal. There are currently tens of thousands of them across Anoura. That being said, the vast majority of the Immortals are not on Combat Paths. I don’t know the specifics, but I would guess there are less than 20,000 humans above level 250 that are on a combat based path. The highest leveled person that is on a Combat Path and in the public eye is the leader of an Immortal Guild, The Crimson Lions. He claims to be over level 300, and I don’t have a reason to distrust him.”
Kelsey digested this information for several minutes before she was brought back to reality by Lisa. Quietly, Lisa whispered “Owen didn’t want me telling you all of this. Otherworlders have the potential to be quite dangerous with their knowledge from Earth. I would appreciate it if you kept the fact that I told you all this to yourself. When you get to town, go to the library and look up the history of the Kytan Kingdom from about 40 years ago. I can’t tell you more than that as the topic is… uncomfortable.” Standing up, Lisa handed Kelsey a blanket and pillow and said “Get some rest, I’ll use Owen’s bed when he wakes up for his watch. Sleep well, Kel.”
Before Lisa left, Kelsey thanked her profusely for all the help and information she shared. After Lisa left the room, Kelsey was left alone with her thoughts. With so many of her questions answered, and nearly as many new ones unanswered, she was restless. There were two thoughts that were at the forefront of her mind though. The first was the location of her missing brother. The second was the concept of immortality. If I don’t find you soon bro, I’ll become an Immortal and wait as long as I have to.