“Finally the road!” Will exclaimed as the packed dirt marking the road came into view.

It had been relatively uneventful on their way to their current destination. They had only been attacked by slimes twice, so they made better time than yesterday. Will pulled up his map. Now that they were here, he had to decide which way to go. In one direction the road seemed to go on in the uninterrupted plains, and in the other direction there looked to be a forest on one side of the road. Will noticed something strange about the trees though, but he couldn’t put his finger on it at first. Then he realized that the edges of the trees were in a straight line, and as the old adage goes, nature doesn't make straight lines. So Will picked that direction and started walking.

The path down the road was much easier than the walk across the plains. While plains might look flat from a distance, there were all kinds of rough terrain hidden beneath the grass. They continued to walk down the road as morning turned into late afternoon. Surprisingly enough, there were no monster attacks while they traveled the road. Will’s mini map didn’t even ping any monsters nearby. From testing as he walked, his minimap seemed to cover about thirty meters. So they seemed to be safe for now, unless some monsters could hide from it.

As they continued walking, Will noticed a strange phenomena. They seemed to be covering more ground than they should be. He would occasionally pull up the map to check progress, and they would be farther than he thought they had walked. He pulled up the event log for an explanation, and he was not disappointed.

[You are on a road, travel speed increased by 50% while traveling on roads.]

“Wow, even the road is magic.”

Will wondered what other seemingly mundane things were magical in this world. He had finally decided that this was indeed another world. He was too lucid for it to be anything else. He just wondered how he ended up in that dungeon to begin with. It was just another thing that he was going to have to figure out as he tried to carve out a new life for himself.

Finally something popped up on his map other than what he had seen already. It was a cluster of buildings surrounded by what he thought was a fence. It was finally people! Excited, Will ran down the road until he got to the tree line. The trees were all planted in straight lines, and had fruits that looked like bright blue apples hanging from the branches. It was an orchard! And with how well it was taken care of, it gave Will hope that it wasn’t abandoned or in ruins.

He was surprised that he didn’t see anyone working in the orchard, but it was growing late. Maybe it was dinnertime? Will didn’t resume his full out run, it was draining his stamina too fast, but he did keep up a light jog until he saw the wall surrounding the village. It was three meters tall, and constructed of logs bound together. He continued to inspect the wall until he noticed someone standing against the wall.

It was a young woman in leather armor holding a spear. She didn’t seem to be paying all that much attention, staring off into the distance. Not wanting to startle her, Will called as he got close.

“Hello there!”

She snapped her attention to him, broken out of her daydream. A few emotions flashed across her face as she saw him. First surprise, then relief, then confusion, then horror, and finally anger.

“Halt! Who are you and why do you have a monster with you!”

Will put his hands up in a placating gesture, “I’m Will, and this is Alice. Alice is a tamed monster, she’s my companion.”

“A tamed monster?” The guard seemed confused.

“It’s part of my class,” he explained, “if I defeat a monster, I can tame it to fight with me.”

The guard seemed to relax a bit.

“You’re a class holder?”

“Yes, I kind of got lost after getting my class, so I was looking for the nearest place with people, that was your village here. Also, I haven’t eaten in over a day, so if I could buy some food and other essentials from your village, I’d be grateful.”

She relaxed a bit more at the offer to spend coin in the village.

“Alright, let me take you to the village chief and hopefully we can sort you out.” She seemed to hesitate for a moment, “If you don’t mind me asking, what level are you?”

“Oh, I'm at level two.” He told her.

That seemed to relax her the rest of the way. She held out her hand towards him.

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“I’m Maxwyn, but everyone just calls me Max.”

“Nice to meet you Max.”

Will stepped forward to shake her hand, but instead of grabbing his hand, she grabbed his forearm. Will grabbed hers in return and they shook. That done, Max turned and led Will through the gate that she had been guarding.

“Hold on a second.” She signaled for Will to stop.

She then went to a small hut next to the gate and opened the door.

“Ozzy, I need you to cover the gate for me.” She spoke to someone inside.

“For the hundredth time Max,” a tired sounding young man's voice came from the hut, “call me Oswald, not ‘Ozzy’. It makes me sound immature when you do. Plus it’s not my shift yet, are you trying to sneak off to see Brenda again?”

A blush spread up Max’s face, “First of all, we’re the same age, so you are immature Ozzy. Secondly, no I’m not off to see Brenda, we broke up last week. No, there’s a class holder that just showed up, who I need to take to see the chief, and you’re keeping him waiting.”

A smug grin appeared on Max’s face as Will heard scrambling and cursing inside the hut. After a few moments a young man exited the hut in gear that matched Max. Though it was slightly more disheveled. When he saw Will he bowed.

“My apologies for making you wait sir, I..”, He trailed off when he saw Alice, “Monster! Behind you!”

He raised his spear at her, ready to attack.”

“Calm down,” Max said nonchalantly, “the horned rabbit’s with him. Haven’t you ever seen a class holder with a tamed creature before?” She shook her head as if in disappointment, “You still have a lot to learn.”

This time it was Oswald who blushed. Max left him there and guided Will into the village. He saw more villagers as they headed towards the village hall. Will mostly got looks of curiosity, but Alice seemed to strike fear into everyone. It seemed like the only reason that no one ran outright was due to Max being so relaxed. Either way, no one blocked their path.

Max didn’t notice though, she was too busy pointing out all the various stores and shops to to will as they walked. This shop sold the best pastries, that stall had the best produce, where the blacksmith was in case he needed his gear repaired, and what not to drink at the inn if he didn’t want the worst hangover ever.

Will listened to all this with half an ear. He was studying the village as they went through. The buildings seemed to be of medieval design. All wooden structures with thatched roofs. They were all well cared for and maintained though. The streets were clean, and there was no stench of waste in the air, so they did have some benefits over medieval Earth society.

Will stopped his ponderings when they came to a large building and Max led them inside. A beautiful older woman in a simple dress sat behind a desk in the entryway. She had golden blond hair and a gentle sleepy expression. Will was startled by how lovely she looked in the late afternoon light. Max walked right over to her in greeting.

“Hello Isabell, I’ve got a class holder here to meet the chief.”

“Hello Maxwyn. A class holder you say?” She looked Will up and down, inspecting him. Will was sure that it was his turn to blush this time. “Not an adventurer?”

“Nope,” Max responded, “only at level two.”

“Really now?”

She seemed to inspect him even more thoroughly this time. She also seemed to notice Alice this time as well, but showed no sign of alarm other than a slight pause.

“Well the village chief is still in, but about to finish up for the day so hurry on in. I’m about to head home for the day as well.”

“Alright Isabell, see you later.” Max waved to her, and started heading towards a closed door.

Isabell walked up to Will and bobbed a curtsy for him.

“It was also lovely to meet you mister…”

“Oh, um,” Will stuttered, realizing he hadn’t introduced himself yet. “Will, W-William Warren.” he managed to stammer out, while doing an awkward half bow.

Isabell let out a slight giggle.

“I hope your meeting with our village chief goes well.”

And with that she left.

“Hey Will,” Max called over, “if you're done gawking, over here.”

Will hurried over. “I wasn’t gawking.” he denied unconvincingly.

“Right, hey I get it. If she wasn’t my moms best friend, and like an aunt to me I’d gawk too. She's really pretty, and single too.”

That surprised Will. “She looks like that and she’s single, how does something like that happen?”

“Her husband passed away a few years ago in a monster attack.” Max let out a sigh, “By that time all the men her age were already married, and all the younger guys are too intimidated to try anything.”

“That’s gotta be lonely.”

“Not really, she has a daughter a bit younger than me to take care of, so at least she’s not totally alone, and our families have dinner together almost every night. But enough of that, it’s time to see the chief.”

Max turned from him and opened the door. Inside was a cozy little room. The walls were lined with bookshelves and random knick knacks. A couple chairs sat nearby, and in the center of the room was an ornately carved desk with a high chair behind it. In that chair sat another woman, about the same age as Isabell, but more solidly built. She didn’t look up as the door opened, but spoke instead.

“Time to head out already Isabell? Let me finish this up and we can go together.”

“Sorry Mom,” Max said, “but I got a little extra work for you before you go.”

The village chief looked up at her daughter.

“Max what are you doing off your post, you still have a few hours before it’s supposed to end.” Then she saw Will and her tone changed from disappointed mother to village chief. “And who might this be?”

“Willam Warren, level two class holder.” Max said with implied meaning.

Will stepped forward. “Will Ma’am, nice to meet you.

“Please no ‘ma’ams’ you’ll make me feel old. Call me Kat.” She said with a smile, “ Level two. That must mean that you gained your class quite recently, no?”

“Yes M-, yes, I just got my class yesterday.”

“Yesterday! How did you…” Max started to exclaim.

“Maxwyn.” Her mother cut her off.

“Yes mother?” she responded sheepishly.

“Go tell your father to set an extra place at the table, we’re having a guest tonight.”

“But Mom, I was the one who brought him here.”

“No buts young lady, or I’ll have you cover Oswald’s shift tonight.”

That seemed to convince Max, as she quickly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Kat gestured to a chair in front of her desk.

“Please sit.”

Will took the proffered seat, and Alice came to sit beside him. Kat finally noticed the giant rabbit, but seemed to take it in stride.

“First off a word of advice,” Kat started in a serious tone, “I don’t know what peaceful backwater village you came from to not know this, but never tell anyone your level. Unless you’re in a party with them, they don’t need to know.”

“Why does it matter?” Will asked, trying to figure it out.

“Those who gain a class in this world are privileged. They gain much more opportunities than those without. There are two ways to open the class system.”

She held up one finger.

“One is to gain the necessary experience points to unlock it. This way is long and dangerous, as it usually requires fighting monsters to do so.”

She held up a second finger.

“Two, if you kill someone who already has a class, the system will recognize your skill and unlock."

Will looked at Alice. She was still at level five, the same as when they had first fought. A fight that he won despite being four levels under her.

"So if someone found out that I was barely above them in levels they might try something?"

"Precisely. While you should be safe in a quiet village like ours, if you ever go to a city you'll have to watch yourself, at least until your level passes a certain threshold."

"So should I just hunt monsters until I get there to be safe?"

That wasn't really an appealing option for Will. He only had to fight Alice to get to level two, but they had fought another nine monsters since then, and no level up. Plus he missed sleeping in a bed already.

"Well there is another way to ensure your safety until then."

"What is it?"

"Join the adventurer's guild."