Alan could sense the disappearance of the being, the quick movement of what he now knew was his soul away from the being and towards something else, with a pop he could see again. A marble of blue, green, white and tan floated before him lines of white surrounded him and the ball. As if he or it was moving it grew steadily larger, soon the details slowly became more distinguishable. It looked to be made of large swaths of water, surrounding big chunks of earth.

Is this what a world looks like from the stars?

It is so beautiful, it is becoming so large, did I really miss this much from being on the ground?

I hope I can see this again one day.

Alan now knew it was him that was moving. He speedily approached the planet, descending onto one of the large land masses on his side of the sphere. As he lowered into the atmosphere he could tell he was falling extremely at a tremendous pace.

Oh Gods I’m going to die again!

What the hell is this, I was just given a body again!

I thought I was going to be born again with my memories intact, not fall into the world from the stars!

As he approached the ground Alan was resigned to going back to the darkness, he clenched his eyes as hitting the ground would certainly kill him again and he hoped to diminish his senses enough to not know when it was going to happen. Right as Alan was about to reach the ground he stopped and was deposited safely on the ground. Alan opened his eyes, amazed that he had not felt the impact with the ground, and could still feel his body, unlike when he had been in the darkness and could feel nothing.

*DING*

[*Error*]

[*Entity lacking system access detected*]

[*Granting system access*]

[*System access granted*]

[*Entity protected upon system detection as entity had no system access*]

System??

What does that even mean?

How do I get this out of my vision?

Clear my eyes damnit how am I supposed to see!

The blue window in Alan’s vision instantly disappeared with his last thought.

Okay so clearly I can control it at least somewhat with my thoughts, what does it do though?

Why is it in my vision? Is it a creation of the Gods? Are there even Gods here?

Too many questions, I need to focus on myself first, where am I?

I need to get to that village I saw to my left, it looked close enough.

Alan gathered his thoughts and noticed he was wearing the same drabby hemp tunic given to him by the orphanage. It was as it had been before he was horrifically beaten and stabbed, no blood, rips, or tears. Turning in the direction he had seen the village from the heights of his fall he began his journey.

The walk so far had been calm but tedious, walking through the overgrown forest without a path was abysmal for Alan, constantly struck by branches swinging in the wind, the small offshoots scratching him as he pushed through getting ever closer to the village.

If the sun moves at the same speed as it did at home it's been about an hour that I’ve been walking, hopefully I come across the village soon.

Somewhere between one and a half to two hours later Alan finally stumbled out of the forest, covered in small scratches mostly scabbed over but still with some fresh and bleeding on his arms and legs, into a clearing where he could clearly see a four meter tall wooden wall about one hundred fifty meters away. He assumed the wall surrounded the village he saw from his fall. There was a well worn road a short distance away from his exit of the forest and halfway between him and the village a small cart covered in canvas and drawn by what looked to be a small horse moving towards the village. Alan hastily made his way to the road as to seem like he belonged traveling the road to the village. Following what felt like the easiest walk of his life after his slog through the forest Alan approached the wall where a Guard standing on the palisade behind yelled out.

“Halt! What is your business in Halltir? Why do you look as if you trekked through the forest, boy?”

Oh gods what do I say? I’ll just say I got separated from my caravan. It happened a few times in Warnen, it would be strange if it didn't happen at least occasionally here as well. That should be believable enough.

“Hello sir, I am just a weary traveler, just looking for a place to stay. I was separated from my caravan and got lost in the forest and happened upon the village to my great luck!”

“Well boy, I suppose that is reason enough to look the way you do, how are you Level 0? My [Identify] has never failed me before so you must be, but that is sure strange! Come in the gate and we will continue our chat!”

Identify? Is that something to do with the System? I am really going to need someone to explain this to me. How will I make sure they don't realize I’m not from this world?

The guard opened the gate and ushered Alan inside.

“Well there son, what's your name?” the gate guard asked. “And why are you Level 0? You look as if you should be at least sixteen or seventeen years old with some levels under your belt!”

“My name is Alan, and I’ll be sixteen soon.” Alan replied.

Should I be honest with him? No I can't let anyone know, who knows what they would do to me

.

“My parents were very strict, didn't let me do much.”

“Well Alan that's a shame! You're quite large for still being fifteen you look as if you'd make a good [Guard]! Are you sure your [Status] doesn’t show that you're older, haha?”

[Status]? What's that?

As soon as the thought crossed his mind Alan’s vision was once again beset by a blue window however this time it was different.

Status

Name : Alan

Age : 16

Race : Human

Level : 0

Class : N/A

Health : 60/60

Mana : 60/60

Health Regeneration : 2 Health / Hour

Mana Regeneration : 18 Mana / Hour

Strength : 7

Dexterity : 5

Vitality : 6

Endurance : 8

Intelligence : 6

Wisdom : 9

Free points : 0

Class Skills : N/A

General Skills : 0 / 10

Spells : N/A

Oh gods what does all this mean, I guess my sixteenth birthday must have passed while I was in the darkness. I will have to look at my [Status] later so this guard doesn't think I’m ignoring him.

Alan willed the [Status] away, and reengaged with the guard.

“I must have missed my birthday! Wow, time really sure does fly! What is your name sir guard?”

“That’s a shame son, becoming an adult is always time to celebrate! The names Rupert, no need to call me sir, now that we are friendly and all.” The guard, Rupert replied.

What is my plan here? I have no coin, or whatever they use on this world, I sure hope it's similar to home. I don't want to get anything mixed up.

Alan asked the guard if there is any work available in town, to which the guard replied that the village guard was always hiring but that applicants all had to be at least sixteen years old and at least be Level 14 waiting for their first threshold level up, to be able to join.

“Why do applicants have to be at least Level 14?” Inquired Alan

It seems like the age of adulthood is sixteen here just like home. This level nonsense is confusing. I will need to find a source for information without giving myself away as an outsider.

“Well son, it’s so that if they get through the training and are accepted they can select the [Guard] Class upon their level up to level 15, your parents really must have isolated you if you don't even know the basics, haha!” Rupert teased.

Maybe this is my chance to learn all about this “System” as it calls itself. If I can continue to chat with my new friend here he might just give me all the information I need to survive this strange world.

“Yeah they really did! Didn't explain anything to me really, maybe you could help me out with learning about stuff they didn't teach me. You seem to be very knowledgeable, Rupert!”

Alan and Rupert continued their conversation for a few minutes afterwards, Alan didn't want to seem too strange so he only asked about a few of what he believed to be the most important things.

The first and most mundane question he asked was how the currency worked. He learned that the currency consisted of copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins, each silver worth one hundred copper, the same for gold with silver, and platinum with gold. Rupert gave Alan a bit of advice about the Adventurer’s Guild, with outposts in every village, town, and city they provided a board of tasks, from menial tasks, such as cleaning, to guarding caravans or even clearing dungeons. Signing up with the Adventurer’s Guild was free, and most “Adventurers” simply performed tasks inside the walls of the village as a way to contribute to their income from their main job.

Just like home, how strange is that, maybe it is just the best way to do it? I will definitely have to visit the Adventurer’s Guild after this.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He also asked about levels and how to get them, Rupert laughed at him and stated that his parents must have had a death wish for him by sending him with a caravan without even knowing how to level up. Levels were gained by killing monsters, completing dungeons, and completing crafts. By gaining those levels you unlock your Class selection at level 15. Most people got to level 15 and selected the Class that was automatically provided by the System according to their job, unless they had fortuitous circumstances that lead to other better classes being available, some such classes were [Farmer], [Blacksmith], or as previously mentioned by Rupert, [Guard].

Strange, back home people just performed their jobs, I wonder if these Classes provide any benefit to the person who has them, that sounds extremely helpful if they do.

The last thing Alan asked about were skills, how to get them and what they did, once again Rupert was absolutely baffled about his lack of knowledge on anything to do with the System and shamed his parents. Skills were gained by repetition, intent, and knowledge, depending on the rarity of the skill the time, and luck needed to unlock them grew exponentially. Rupert used [Sprinting] as an example of a common skill that could be unlocked relatively easily by those who didn't have it unlocked by having the knowledge of how to sprint and intentionally focusing on the skill. Rupert also informed him about [Class Skills], skills granted by your Class that come with knowledge from the System itself to get you started. The rarities of skills were common, uncommon, rare, epic, exquisite, legendary, and mythic, however to Rupert's knowledge there was no one with legendary or mythic skills, and exquisite skills were used by the strongest individuals Rupert had heard of.

This whole System thing is strange, interesting as it is my first thoughts need to be of survival. Once I make enough progress in these Levels perhaps I can investigate more, maybe I can get strong enough to meet the Arbiter of Souls again.

Alan followed the helpful guard’s instructions to the Adventurer’s Guild, the village was quite small with perhaps two thousand residents, and the Guild building was easy to find as it stood out from the surroundings. It was large, contending with what he assumed to be the town hall or mayor's house as the largest building he had seen on this world so far, with a three meter tall wall surrounding what looked to be an open area, he assumed was for training as he could hear the sound of blades clashing inside. The building looked like a miniature castle, completely made of stone which looked as if it was carved from a singular block, a banner hanging on either side of the open and extremely large reinforced wooden double front doors. Alan entered the building in awe, never had he seen anything quite like it, as he inspected the interior of the building a long desk was situated directly through the main doors, to the right a sitting area with tables and chairs, further past the sitting area, there were stairs to a second floor, and to the left another set of stairs leading to a different section of the second floor along with a door that lead to the training area, a sign above the door said. The building, being the most luxurious building Alan had ever seen let alone been inside, held his attention for a few long seconds until someone at the desk called out to him.

“You must be new, I am Richard, if you can lift your jaw off of the floor I’d be happy to help.” The bald older man situated behind the desk laughed at him

“Hi, I’m Alan, I’m looking to sign up for the Adventurer’s Guild, I was told it's free?”

“Yes, it is free for those that wish to join us, doing so will grant you access to our in-house ranking method, which is used to determine your capabilities to complete different tasks and higher level ones as well. You will just have to touch this stone, which will read your age to make sure you are an adult, and then your level, and class to determine your first rank. You will then be assigned an Adventurer’s Guild badge based on your ranking, the ranks being Copper, Bronze, Silver, and Gold, by completing tasks gaining levels will work your way up to the rank up examination which is conducted by an Adventurer’s Guild trainer at the location you are in. Locations such as ours, in villages will only be able to rank you up to bronze and sometimes but very rarely Silver if there is a visiting superior available. Larger locations in towns and cities will always be able to rank you up to Silver, unfortunately only the main Adventurer’s Guild branch in the capital will be able to rank you up to Gold.” Richard informed him

“Wow, that is quite a lot, yes I would like to join the Guild, and I would also like to look over the tasks available to me once I get my badge.” Alan

Richard pulled out a small sphere, etched with what appeared to Alan to be some sort of runic lettering similar to what he remembered being described to him as being on the barbarians shields from the raids on his village as a child. Richard placed the sphere in front of himself on the counter and instructed Alan to simply place his hand on it and his age, level, and class would be read. After placing his hand on the ball Alan felt a small tingle from his palm which he had touched to the ball, he pulled his hand away like someone who had just accidentally touched a pot over a flame. Richard laughed at Alan and then congratulated him on becoming a Copper tier adventurer, giving Alan a copper badge and a list containing the tasks befitting a Copper adventurer in or around Haltir.

The list was extensive for Haltir only housing what looked to Alan as two thousand villagers or so, the tasks were of all sorts of mundane variety. Deliver a package from the blacksmith to a farmer, help a merchant unload their purchased goods, clean the common room of an inn short on staff, help a farmer reshoe his plow horse, clear a root cellar of a rat infestation, such were the tasks of the copper tier adventurer, limited in scope and payment yet oh so abundant, or at least that's what Richard had told Alan when handing him the task list. Alan, having just arrived in the world hours before, and only acquiring tidbits of knowledge from Rupert and Richard, was still quite naive to the systems and System of this new world so his first goal was to complete as many tasks as possible from different people and ask them questions if the opportunity arose.

“Can I accept multiple tasks at once?” Alan asked

“Of course, some tasks may have a time limit or need to be done at a specific time so just make sure you don't fail to complete a task. Failed tasks, unless the task tier has been miscalculated, give you strikes against your Guild reputation. If you get three strikes your Guild tier will drop, however since you're Copper tier if you receive three strikes you will be removed from the Guild and not be allowed to rejoin for one year's time.” Richard informed Alan

Alan accepted three tasks for the moment, two cleaning tasks, one to help clean the local apothecary’s shop tomorrow, and one of the first he noticed that was to clean a local inn short on staff before their evening rush today, and his final task to help reorganize a shop that was broken into this morning so the owner could get back open as soon as possible. The total of all three tasks would pay him 35 copper, he was hoping to be able to reorganize the shop fast enough and then be able to move on and clean the inn that was short on staff.

“Hey Richard, do you have a recommendation for an inexpensive but quality place I can stay while I’m in Haltir? I just arrived this afternoon and haven't had too much of a chance to explore the village.”

“Sure kid, the Laughing Donkey is probably your best bet, that's the place you took the cleaning task for, I’ve known the owner Martha for years. Always keeps her place clean, and makes a great stew. She's not the cheapest around but there might be more you can do around there if you need the coin. Her best barwoman and the barwoman’s husband, who cleaned the dining room, left with a traveling merchant, and she hasn't found someone to replace him so she's been posting tasks here at the Guild.”

Richard gave Alan directions to the first of his tasks and the Laughing Donkey. Alan left the list of tasks and Adventurer's Guild behind, as it was time for him to see just exactly how different this world was from his, and explore the village to find out just how much money he was going to have to earn. Walking out onto the main street of Haltir Alan was ready to explore the village, starting with finding the vandalized store. He made his way out of the Guild and onto the main street of the village.It was just wide enough to pull a single large carriage down and was lined with shops, he immediately saw what looked to be the largest house in the village, a tailor, a barber and a few other shops, restaurants and what looked to be homes as well. Following Richard’s instructions he made his way to the two story building with the giant chimney near the gate on the opposite side of the village that he entered from, finding the large building, sign hanging out front adorned by a white donkey with its mouth wide open he knew it must be the Laughing Donkey where his second task of the day and hopefully his lodging would be. Entering the building there was a larging dining area filled with tables and booths along with a large bar, the few patrons drinking before noon being tended to by a small woman with frazzled graying hair and piercing gray eyes.

I need to ask about the prices of the rooms and food and inform the owner that I accepted her task of cleaning the dining room here, not that it looks too dirty yet, maybe she just likes it to be very clean.

“Hello! I just became an adventurer and Richard over at the Guild told me that Martha ran a great inn here at the Laughing Donkey and I just came in to ask about your prices.”

“Yeah, I’m Martha, that devil of a man told you right, the Donkey is the best inn around these parts. Always been a handful that one, used to work as a host for me until he got that fancy Adventurer’s Guild job, glad he hasn’t forgotten about this humble innkeeper. Anyway, each night's stay is fifteen copper, we serve two meals a day, lunch and dinner, four coppers for lunch, six for dinner. The village has a water mage we pay to clean the water so you can either have an ale or water with your meal, extras of either are a copper a piece.”

“Alright I don't have any coin right now but I will be back! I also wanted to tell you that I accepted your task to clean the dining room here. My name is Alan, and I will be back after helping Mr.Jacobs at the general store get cleaned up and organized after his break-in. Can I bother you to give me directions to his shop?”

“Of course boy, you just turn left after leaving the inn and head closer to the southern gate, his building is the first building you see when you come through it, hurry up and clean his store so you can come clean my dining room! It must be clean before I will be able to even think about serving anyone in here!”

“Thank you Martha I will be back in a hurry!” Alan said, taking his leave and heading for the general store.

It looked very clean in there for her still being short on staff, I hope her demands aren't too crazy, especially for the ten copper she's paying!

Arriving at the general store it was in shambles, by now it was well past noon. Alan had heard the bell tower toll four times just before he arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild and six times as he was leaving the Laughing Donkey signaling ten in the morning and twelve in the afternoon respectively. Knocking on the extremely damaged door a male voice called out urging him to come in and informing him that the store was still open if in disarray. Alan made his way into the store and yelled back to the speaker that he was from the Adventurer’s Guild and had accepted the task to help reorganize the shop.

“Great great”

The voice got closer

“I am Mr.Jacobs, everyone calls me such and so shall you, I am glad someone accepted the task I published at the Guild, not many adventurers around Haltir these days I suppose but any help is appreciated. I will instruct you and if you follow my instructions we will finish in record time!”

“Okay… Well Mr.Jacobs I am at your service.” Alan hesitantly stated.

This man is ancient, no wonder he placed a task with the Guild, this mess would take him days to clean.

“Come back to this side of the store, the heathens who ransacked my place of business did not focus their destruction anywhere so we shall start where I have already begun.”

“Sounds good Mr.Jacobs I will work quickly and to my best ability.”

Mr.Jacobs led Alan towards the counter at the back, where around a quarter of one shelf had been put back together out of twenty or so shelves in the store, and began instructing him on where and how to place each item. Placing each item according to Mr.Jacobs’ wishes was not a strenuous physical task but it was monotonous, Alan grew tired of repeating the same motion over and over aligning products with each other on the shelves and making sure they looked full. He had no idea how the withering old man could keep the store in such a condition if items were selling with any speed and felt good about helping the old man get his shop back into order after such destruction had been wrought upon the rows of shelves in the store. Two hours into the job and about halfway through Alan was forced to focus intently on his work, lest his mind wander and Mr.Jacobs accost him for doing an improper job, and something clicked.

*Ding*

[General Skill Unlocked]

[Organization - Common - Level 1 : Increases Organization speed by 0.5% per skill level.]

[Accept General Skill?] [Yes/No]

Alan paused his work to look at this blue window that had once again popped up in his vision, he had almost forgotten over the last few hours about the System and its strange vision blocking prompts.

Yes! Please give me that, it sounds so helpful!

As the thought passed through Alan’s mind a tingle passed through his body. Having paused his work and completely ignored Mr.Jacobs he profusely apologized to the decrepit old man.

“Boy! What is going on, why have you stopped working?” Mr.Jacobs sternly questioned Alan

“Sorry Mr.Jacobs I got a System alert! I unlocked the [General Skill] [Organization]!” Alan excitedly informed the old man.

“Well if you have an open slot accept the Skill, boy. I thought you had it already as you were working above my expectations from my experience with you copper tier adventurers.”

“I accepted it Mr.Jacobs.”

“Well then what are you waiting for? Get back to work I expect the remaining shelves to get done even faster.”

Thoroughly excited for his first [General Skill] Alan paid the grumpy old man no heed as he resumed his work putting the shop back into shape. As they continued their work organizing his excitement only grew as thoughts of all the amazing skills he might someday be able to acquire passed through his mind. Thoughts of skills lead him to believe that the average person on this new world must be greatly superior to an average person from his home world, if skill levels increased the benefit of skills then he could only imagine those like Mr.Jacobs who had lived long lives earning those levels and how amazing they must be.

“Mr.Jacobs?” Alan asked

“Yes boy, what is it?” the old man responded

“Can you tell me about your skills as we work? I have a pretty good idea of how you like things now. Seeing as you have lived a long life and all, you must have some that are extremely high level!” Alan excitedly requested

“Boy don't you know it is rude to ask for details about another individual’s [Status]? The nerve of the youth these days! I'll tell you this, my highest level skill is [Salesman] . It is level 29 and has long been stuck at the second skill threshold as I would need more variety than just my shop to level it up to level 30. It helps me put on a better performance to convince customers to buy my wares, any good merchant has it. That is all you will be getting out of me, now let's finish this, I am tired from all this work.”

Amazed at the amount the man had spoken, as they had barely conversed except for Mr.Jacobs instructing Alan for the hours he had been there, Alan simply thanked him and continued organizing the shelves. As the bell tolled three times indicating that it was three hours past noon Alan approached the last meter of shelving that needed to be organized, Mr.Jacobs instructed him of how the last few items were to be placed and walked away, presumably to get the coin owed. As Alan finished the last shelf the old man gave him a wry smile.

“Thank you boy, most of the other dolts in this village that work with the Guild are not near as fast as you most would have taken at least an hour or two more, it is not all perfect but it is done and that is all that matters, here is your coin.” The ancient man said as he handed Alan a handful of coins.

They were slightly different from the coins on his world, made with a 2.5 centimeter diameter and quarter centimeter thickness with a face imprinted onto each, whereas on his original world they were simply flat disks of metal around two centimeters across and half as thick as the new coins. Taking the small pile from the outstretched hand Alan placed them into the same pocket sewn inside his tunic that had stored the coins he used at the bakery on his previous world. Thanking the man and making his way to the door he took a look back at his handiwork and marveled at how something like this would give him a Skill! Riding his renewed wave of excitement he jogged back to the main street and made the five minute trip back to the Laughing Donkey eager to earn his coin and potentially unlock more skills