It turns out humans weren’t a complete novelty to the elf, whom he came to know was called Aysha. According to her, humans existed on her planet hundreds of thousands of years ago and even co-existed with elves of the period. However, scientists believe that widespread diseases caused humans to perish before any sort of civilization was established, and therefore little was known about them on her planet.

That story shocked Lucas deeply and sent his mind spinning in all sort of directions, the main one being: Were the humans related to the elves somehow? And to that, Aysha replied that they most likely shared a common ancestral, and it was no wonder they were so similar. The scientist on her planet believed, however, that elves were the most adapted beings between both; they were lighter, had fewer useless organs, and also lived longer than humans.

All of this was told while they ate the meat that Lucas had prepared, and Aysha was very pleased with it. She told him that she had only been eating fruits and other plants ever since arriving.

“How much longer do you live than us? Thousands of years?” Lucas asked, and she laughed upon hearing that.

“No, not that long. It was believed that humans lived up to sixty years old at that time, and elves lived to a hundred and twenty. With modern medicine, however, we can live up to two hundred years old now. Well… before the System; now I’m not sure anymore,” she finished with a confused expression on her face.

Lucas nodded. The elves could be the better species when talking about a pre-System world, however, the System came to level the playing field.

“That explains how you know about humans, but why were elves mentioned in some of the mythologies from Earth?” Lucas asked, intrigued.

Aysha thought for a while before she replied. She had been very surprised when she heard Lucas mentioned that for the first time. “Well, I’m not sure, but if travel across planets is possible, maybe a few elves from the multiverse paid your planet a visit in the past,” she suggested, and Lucas had to agree that it was a very real possibility, even if a bit disturbing to think about. Didn’t that implied that orcs, demons and whatnot had also visited Earth? That was simply mind-boggling.

They spent the next two hours talking about their own planets and societies. Lucas learned that elves lived life much more leisurely than humans, probably thanks to their extra years. It shocked Aysha to find out that people spent most of their time on Earth working or commuting. Lucas was also surprised to hear that the elves still followed the imperial system and had a lot of Kings and Queens spread throughout the planet.

After some hesitation, Aysha confessed something to him.

“I’m actually a part of one of the royal families…” was what she said. It looked like she wanted to say more, so Lucas prompted her.

“So, are you a princess or something?” Lucas said it nonchalantly.

She seemed surprised by his reaction, but a little more at ease, Lucas noticed.

“Yes… but please, if you ever meet another elf, don’t tell them about me.”

Lucas nodded in agreement. He had no plans to blow her cover, and he was a little touched by her confession, seeing as they had only just met.

“You don’t seem too surprised by that,” she stated, after a while, a little disappointed, maybe.

“I’m surprised by too many things right now,” Lucas answered truthfully, shaking his head. The reason why he wasn’t that surprised by her title as a princess was very simple: he was talking to an elf; nothing could surprise him anymore. She could be the queen and it wouldn’t add to his surprise. “By the way, how did you get here?”

By now, Lucas already knew that she was also from another planet, but he never got to how she ended up there.

“My planet had a… problem. Its core was damaged, and it was going to implode in a few more days. We have tried and succeeded at creating spaceships that would allow the majority of us to leave the planet. But the System appeared when we were getting ready to leave,” She said, pausing, her eyes seemingly filled with memories.

“It said that our plan to leave would fail,” Aysha continued “Many ships would malfunction, and the others that prevailed would have nowhere to go, and the people would die in a few years.” She paused again. “They gave us the option to come here. I heard that many rejected the offer, believing the spaceships would succeed, but being a part of the royal family, I knew better. The construction of the space vehicles was rushed, and we truly had nowhere to go. Maybe if we had a few more months to prepare…” her voice trailed off, tears dropping from her eyes.

Lucas didn’t know what to do, but he couldn’t just stay there looking at her crying, so he got closer and patted her on the back. “I understand how you feel,” he said, and he shared the story about how Earth was doomed due to a comet.

But if he had to be honest, he didn’t truly understand her. He understood what it was like to leave people behind, but he held no special love for Earth—not really. Probably because he didn’t hold a powerful position like her and wasn’t responsible for others. It was interesting, however, how her planet was in a similar position to his own. An apocalypse event has to happen for people to be offered the Second Chance Program? Lucas wondered.

Wiping her tears, her head rose again. “It has been two weeks since I arrived…”

“Two-weeks?” Lucas was so surprised he interrupted her.

“Yes, why?” she asked, curious, seemingly completely recovered from before.

“I arrived here about a month ago,” Lucas said, and she stayed quiet. But Lucas broke the silence not long after. “Its impressive for you to have reached level nine already,” he praised in recognition.

She looked confused at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I took me three weeks to reach level ten,” he said. And she was quiet again. This time, however, Aysha was the one to break the silence.

“What level were you when you arrived?” was her question, and it was Lucas’ time to be confused.

“Zero. Why?”

“Hmm… I was level five,” she said, looking embarrassed. And Lucas understood why after; it had taken her two weeks to gain for levels, so she probably believed her performance wasn’t very good. Lucas decided not to mention that he only stopped at level ten because the System wouldn’t let him raise his level anymore.

That whole thing made Lucas wonder. Was it on purpose that she had arrived at the planet later? The fact that the humans got there sooner gave them enough time to catch up to the elves who were already born on level five. That didn’t seem to be a coincidence, but he decided not to mention this as it was mere speculation.

When they were finishing their meal, Lucas mentioned what the old man had told him about the city of NPCs and told her that was his destination, even showing her the place on the map. When she asked where he got that map, he only answered that it was through a lucky encounter, and changed the subject inviting her to come along. She was very happy with the invitation and promptly accepted it.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

So, when they were done eating, Lucas stored the spare meat on his ring—a technology that Aysha was very much fascinated by—and they set off again.

Aysha was excited to reach the city, and they talked the entire way. She asked him what had happened to his arm, but by the time they started travelling he noticed he no longer needed his sling, which surprised him greatly, so he said to her that it was just a minor injury. He had no idea how fast his recovery had been compared to others and didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

Replying to his question, Aysha said that he was the first person she had seen so far, and she had no idea if there were other elves around. But she seemed weird when saying that, making Lucas think there was more to this than she was telling him. He didn’t mind it, however, because he was also keeping a few things to himself. It just seemed like a good idea to not talk about the orb, the necromancer or the tree; he didn’t know what others might think.

Along the way, they began to feel really comfortable with each other’s presence, and at times Lucas forgot she wasn’t even human, he even forgot momentarily about his wretched appearance. Aysha seemed to feel the same thing towards him and even mentioned that it was good to talk to someone who didn’t treat her like a princess.

Hunting together was another thing that proved to be very easy. Aysha was a perfect partner for Lucas with her long-range attacks. While he was fighting in melee, she was always ready with an arrow to cover him and divert the attention of the beasts. Their whole performance left both exultant and it made Lucas want to try to hunt something far above their level, but he restrained himself for now. The city first, he thought.

…

Going around the mountain took longer than Lucas expected, and they had to stop when it got dark. They found another cave and made a fire there. Lucas noticed that the nights were colder on that side of the planet.

Aysha stared into the wilderness outside the cave, melancholy in her eyes. She had been awfully quiet ever since they entered the cave, and Lucas didn’t know what to say, so he remained quiet too.

“Do you think they are already dead?” she said suddenly. Lucas looked at her and remembered his mother.

“I hope not…” it was all he could say.

After some time of silence, she spoke again.

“What I don’t understand is: why not take all of us? Why did they have to ask if we wanted to come?”

Lucas had asked himself that same question many times before he went to sleep, and he had come to a conclusion, even if it wasn’t a very pleasant one.

“I think they only want people who are motivated enough to have a second chance.”

Aysha seemed to ponder his words. “And what exactly is this second chance?”

“That I still don’t know, but I believe we will find out,” he answered, and she nodded.

That night, Lucas slept better than he had in a long time. They took turns on watch, so Lucas could sleep without worrying about a beast finding him in the middle of the night.

He woke up feeling refreshed and was surprised by a breakfast set up by Aysha with fruits that she had gathered previously. It was a very nice change in his diet, which had become strictly carnivorous. As soon as they finished breakfast, they left again, and after three hours of walking, they reached a massive wall of bricks and stopped.

“Wow!” Lucas muttered, shocked.

When the old man mentioned a city, he imagined one of those Wild West towns, a desolate place with only a few stores that he could visit. Instead, he had met an enormous construction that only represented the outer wall of the city, apparently.

Aysha was also surprised. And after a few minutes of taking things in, she started walking towards the massive city gates, only stopping when Lucas pulled her arm.

“Wait,” he said. She stopped looking at him. “I have to warn you of something. I don’t know how many elves there are here, if any, and I don’t know how people will react.” He wasn’t sure of what else to say, he just wanted her to be prepared.

She nodded, seeming to understand what he was getting at.

“I think I’ll cover my ears; it won’t help if people actually use identify on me, but it will probably raise less attention,” she said and adjusted her hair to better cover up her ears.

“That’s a good idea, you probably won’t have many problems though; we were transported into a new world after all, there’s a lot of new stuff going on,” Lucas said to ease her concerns.

After that, they both started walking towards the massive gate, and as they approached, they saw two guards wearing full plate armor.

Human — Lvl ??

Human — Lvl ??

“Those are the NPCs that you mentioned it?” Aysha whispered to him, and Lucas nodded.

“Greetings, visitors!” One of the guards said. “Our city is called Zoria, and we welcome travelers with open arms!”

Lucas was very surprised by the warm welcome they had received, and it was Aysha who responded.

“We thank you for receiving us,” she said, bowing, and Lucas followed suit.

Soon after, they heard the gate open slightly, and they went through. As they crossed it, Lucas and Aysha felt like they had crossed a threshold, despite being invisible. Lucas felt that there was definitely something around the city, maybe protecting it, like a force field of some kind; but that was soon forgotten when they saw what was in front of them.

The city was bustling with life, with vibrant stores lining the streets, and a rainbow of colors painting the landscape in the form of clothing and various objects. There were a lot of people moving about, and one of them came up to them before they could do anything else.

“Hi,” a smiling man in his forties greeted them. Lucas wasn’t sure, but he suspected this man wasn’t an NPC like the guards. “Nice to meet you.”

Human – Lvl 12

“Hi… who are you?” Lucas asked, and the man chuckled.

“Oh, yes, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m sort of the mayor for the real people living in this city. My name is John.” He extended his hand, and Lucas shook it. Aysha seemed a bit confused at first, but did the same. He stared at her a little longer.

“I didn’t know elves existed, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised with all that has been going on,” he said, shaking his head.

“So… were you elected or something?” Lucas didn’t warm up to him and decided to be direct. He didn’t have any specific reason for not liking him either; it was just his natural aversion to overly friendly people.

“No, it isn’t anything like that. It’s just that life in a new world and a new city might leave people a little loss on what to do, so I help them settle down, nothing more,” he explained, raising his hands.

Lucas thought it made sense. In a lawless world, some leaders were bound to emerge eventually. Some people simply couldn’t live life freely and needed others to guide them; it was almost human nature. But that didn’t mean Lucas liked it, and he wasn’t planning on following anyone else’s rules. For the time being, however, he would just play it cool, as it didn’t seem like this John guy was looking for any trouble.

“Hm, I understand. In that case, your help would be very welcome. Thanks,” Lucas replied, and the man nodded. Then Lucas remembered what the old man had asked of him as his dying wish. “I have to tell you about something first,” Lucas said, and then he told him about the spider and the group that had been caught in its web, omitting the part about his method of escape, and just explaining it as dumb luck.

The man put two and two together, discovering the reason for the recent disappearances without Lucas having to say a word about his previous encounter with the old man’s group.

John sighed, saying he would warn the others, with sadness in his eyes. Afterward, he went on to inform Lucas and Aysha about the important aspects of the city.

“There are a few cheap hotel rooms that you can rent for the night here in the city. They are not great, but definitely better than sleeping in the open,” he laughed half-heartedly. “But first, you’ll need to do a couple of quests if you want to have the money to pay for them. Or, I could pay for your first day, and you pay me back when you get the money.”

“What are these quests that you mentioned?” Lucas asked. The only quest he had done so far was in the Dark Forest, and that was a stroke of luck. But judging by the way John was talking, this seemed like a sure thing.

“Oh, I forgot to say. There are a few notice boards scattered around the city with quests posted on them. You can grab any you want, and you’ll be assigned that quest. Most of them pay in coins, and a few offer other rewards. It’s up to you to decide which one you prefer. But you need to remember that every quest has a time limit. After that limit, if you haven’t completed the quest yet, it will go back to the notice board, and you won’t be paid.”

“I’ll be sure to check those out. Anything else?”

“Well… This city is mostly populated by NPCs, but there is a lot of empty space, places to rent, stuff like that. No one is able to afford one of those yet, but as time passes it should be possible. In regards to the NPCs, they mostly keep to themselves, so you shouldn’t have many problems.” He had a puzzled look on his face when he said that, but Lucas didn’t inquire. “Also, you should go do the tutorial; you can get your class there.”

That part interested Lucas greatly. It was one of the main reasons he had come to this city.

“Where is it?” Aysha asked before he did. Apparently, she was very anxious to get her class as well.

“It’s near the city hall, right in the middle of the city, in a big tower. You can’t miss it. They also host a challenge there; it’s called the Ten Floor Challenge if you are interested, but you should do the tutorial first.”

Lucas and Aysha thanked him, and they walked away. Lucas was intrigued by this challenge, but it was soon forgotten. It was exploring time!