Laiko sighed as he fell back onto his poorly made mattress in the small room, he and Minily shared. She was still out on a job, and he had just got home after an exhausting day of working the wall.

  To him, anything was better than being in that forest day in and day out. Working on the wall was normally uneventful and was simply used by newer class chosen to grind their skills while making some pieces which is what the denizens of their temporary home called their money.

  When their eyes had fallen on the city walls the first time, both had started jumping in excitement before taking off in a full sprint to the gates. Unfortunately, two mysterious class chosen covered in dried blood running towards the gates didn’t sit too well with the guards on duty.

  Even more unfortunate was the fact that neither of them had thought to come up with any sort of backstory. It was unsurprising that the “we came from another world” excuse wasn’t taken seriously, and they had been detained for nearly a week.

  A few weeks had passed since they were released. The city guard ended up calling in a specialist that could detect lies and read intentions.

  In those few weeks, they were still being watched, and they were under a strict rule that they don’t tell anyone where they are actually from.

  Minily found work almost immediately as they were walking towards the small out-of-the-way one-bedroom unit they had been given by the guard. People had been begging guards as they walked past them to find a missing family member or pet or friend. The guards simply ignored them. Minily, however, saw an opportunity and took it. She was investigating the lost and had already been able to find a few people.

  That had left Laiko to fend for himself and he asked if he could help on the wall to pass time since he wasn’t allowed to leave the city until they were officially cleared by the guard.

  Every day he walked the wall looking towards the distant edge of the forest to keep the people safe. As he walked, he continuously used his skills until his mana dropped below half. When he reached level 10, he didn’t get a class evolution like most people and Minily had told him it was likely due to the rarity of his class. Then he hit level 20 and still there was no new class or skill. To him that meant that level 30 was the threshold he needed to get to.

  His eyes registered a flash of light, and he sat up startled only to find Minily resting her lantern against the wall.

  “Just me. Go back to sleep.”

  “Minily? You, okay? What time is it?”

  “I’m fine. This investigation is turning into something bigger than originally thought. Valotus seems to have some secrets. It’s midnight. Go back to sleep.”

  “Need some help figuring it out?”

  Minily pulled out a skewer full of meat and slid it off with her teeth before swallowing the whole mouthful seconds later.

  “We may need to go on a bit of an adventure once we are cleared. A lot of the missing are pinging my skills from the same location and it’s far.”

  “I guess we get to see more of this planet after all.”

  “Well, if you would hurry up and level up, we could get back to our planet. For that, you need your rest which is why you should go back to bed.”

  Her lantern light vanished and plunged the room back into darkness. Laiko sighed again and shut his eyes.

  “SNOGGHJTKEJSJGJGODFLSJ”

  Laiko jumped out of sleep into action to fight against the foul demon who tried to attack him in his sleep only to realize he was awake yet again by Minily’s obnoxious snoring.

  Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had barely started to come over the horizon, but there was no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep.

  Focusing on the nexus he entered the menu for the listings before searching for ingredients from Motholo to make himself and his unladylike friend some breakfast.

  He purchased some screech meat along with some fresh baked bread from this bakery that his parents used to take him and his sister too in Gale. Once he discovered that the baker was selling his bread and confections on the nexus, he started to only buy from him. Along with the bread, he couldn’t help himself and purchased two sweet rolls.

  A mana stove sitting against the wall could turn mana into heat which is what he cooked the meat on. When the meat was the perfect color, he cooked up two eggs and then threw it all between a couple slices of bread. Some veggies followed to make it a good meal to start the day with.

  His foot kicked Minily in the side and she simply rolled over ignoring him.

  He sighed at the same morning routine they performed every day.

  “Minily, breakfast!”

  Immediately she shot up and grabbed one of the sandwiches from him before taking a monstrous bite.

  “I swear you eat more than anyone I know. Also, your snoring is getting out of hand. I thought we were under attack!”

  “I grew up a pirate, remember? What do you expect?!”

  “Some silence in the morning.”

  She just laughed in between bites.

  “This is good. But do you have the…”

  “The what?” He knew what she was asking about, but this was their thing.

  “Come on. You’re really going to make me do this every day? Hand over the sweet roll. I know you couldn’t resist!”

  Reluctantly he pulled one out and handed it to her. It was still gooey, and warm.

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  “This is what I live for!”

  Laiko laughed at her comment and popped his into his mouth savoring the divine flavor.

  “You know you could buy breakfast for once?”

  “Eh, you’re always up before me.”

  “Because of your atrocious snoring!”

  “Maybe you should get some ear blockers then.”

  “You know those would be unsafe. Anyone could sneak in here.”

  “Then I guess you’ll have to live with it.”

  He sighed once again letting the argument go.

  “Any news from Vorin or the party?”

  “Doesn’t seem like it. Ecclo doesn’t have anything for sale out of the ordinary. Last time he said that they were going to be travelling along a mountain pass. It’ll probably be a while before we hear back. Hopefully by then, you’ll have a skill that can help us.”

  “30 seems so far away.”

  “Imagine how long it takes for others that have skill walls at level 20. Sure, you have to get to a higher level, but at least you won’t have to work on getting a skill caught up before progressing.”

  “Still. I’m not sure I’ll get there sitting in the city.”

  “I’ll go talk to the guard captain today and see if we can set off again. My skills are screaming at me to follow the missing. We are up to 200 reported people now.”

  “Part of me doesn’t want to walk through another forest for months, but part of me doesn’t want to be bored day in day out like I am here.”

  “You could always go talk to one of the space mages near the teleportation gates. These ones are clearly worse than the gates on Motholo, but who knows. Maybe they will have some useful hints?”

  “I’m not sure sharing that I have a time class would be a good idea.”

  “Just mention the spatial part. That or wait for me to see what the captain says today.”

  “I’ll just wait. If he clears us, I want to go immediately. Adventure awaits!

  “Same. I have this sickening feeling about these missing people. I almost used my skill to teleport to them honestly. I didn’t want to leave you alone though.”

  “Minily, I can handle myself. If you need to find them, don’t ever put me over your path.”

  “Thanks, kid. I can tell they are still moving. I’m waiting until they stop. If we can get moving today, then we may be able to make ground on them instead of me teleporting to them.”

  Laiko pulled out a basin of water and washed his face before heading out towards the wall for his daily duty. Eight hours of walking the wall and working on his skills.

  His favorite part of the job was when there were monsters that approached the wall. His throwing knives became helpful at taking them down since he didn’t have to go retrieve them. A pro to using conjured weapons.

  Minily pulled a bigger tub of steaming water out of a spatial bag once Laiko left and got in. Warm water hugging her body relaxed her muscles and always got her ready to face the day.

  After her daily hour-long bath, she got dressed and headed out towards the Valotus union building that was located in the center of the city. Standing five stories, it was easily the tallest building and could be seen from anywhere within the walls.

  It was where all important matters were handled and all the important people worked. The city was filled with humans, elves, and intelligent goblins. When Valotus was founded, the union building was built as a symbol of equality between the races.

  The guard headquarters was located on the first floor of the building to protect the leaders on the floors above.

  Minily walked the streets towards the buildings, and she noticed more people frantically searching around like they had lost the most important thing in their lives. She made sure to take the time to stop and talk to them each time. Her intuition was always correct. More people had simply vanished overnight.

  In the few weeks that had been in the city, a whole group of people had flocked to Minily. Their guard whom they were supposed to rely on for safety ignored their pleas. Even the captain thought they just had a large case of runaways. People who didn’t want to take responsibility for their families and fled.

  Not every missing person was with the group that was a distance away. Some she found within the city were either drunk, beaten, or lost. Her skills were even being used to find lost pets for the people of the city, and she loved how happy she could now make people by bringing their loved ones back.

  On the opposite side of things, when she wasn’t able to immediately help the people, she felt unfathomable guilt and sorrow. She wanted every case to have a happy ending, but that wasn’t how the world worked. Especially the world of class chosen.

  After seeing the popularity she was getting, the guard had stepped in and tried to arrest her once more for illegally opening an investigation business within the city. It had been taken to the council at the top of the union building, however, and they deemed it an empty arrest and she was freed.

  This decision didn’t sit well with the guard captain, and he made a big deal about it only to be told by the council that it didn’t count as a business since Minily wasn’t charging for her services. She was simply following her path.

  Now every single day, Minily walks into the union building and has a walk in meeting with the guard captain asking to be cleared to leave the city. To her it’s silly that he doesn’t want her in the city but won’t let her and Laiko leave. It is obviously a petty power play.

  Today she marched into the building once more and saw the receptionist deeply sigh before leading her back towards the captain’s office.

  “No.”

  “No? I haven’t asked anything yet.”

  “You come in here every day asking the same question and the answer will always be no.”

  “Look there are now 217 reported missing people in your city. I can help find them. Why don’t you want me too?”

  “They aren’t missing. People run away all the time. We’ve been over this.”

  “You’re saying that this city is so horrible that 217 people felt the need to leave their lives because of it? I guess I would leave too if I knew the guard didn’t care about protecting me.”

  “Do no insult the city or the guard. We have more important problems to tend to. We simply don’t have time to chase down runaways that don’t want to be here to begin with. Now leave.”

  “That’s why you can delegate the task of bringing them back to me. It costs you nothing to clear me and Laiko to locate them. It’s a win win for you. You get rid of us, and we either find your people or die trying.”

  “Yes, but then you get what you want. Besides you still may be a danger to everyone in our city and on our world. We can’t risk it.”

  At that moment the door to the office swung open, revealing a beautiful elf in an immaculate dress.

  “Captain, I need you too…oh I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were busy. You’re Minily, correct?”

  Minily turned to look at the elven woman and then gave her a smile and a handshake.

  “Yes. You’re Alora, right?”

  “I am. I hold the council seat for the elves. I’m glad to see that you two are on better terms now.”

  At that the guard captain and Minily scoffed, which drew Alora’s eyes into a curious expression.

  “My friend and I are still not cleared to leave the city after weeks of being in your city because the guard captain didn’t like that you and the council overruled him. There are 217 missing people that I’m attempting to locate for your city, councilwoman. He is keeping me from doing that.”

  “Woah now. She comes in here every day to harass me. I keep telling her that the people are simply runaways.”

  “Captain, what she says is true?”

  He sighed. “Yes, but if I can explain my position…”

  “I’ve heard enough. They are officially cleared. Even if these people are “simply runaways” I want to know. If she can find them and get to the bottom of this and perhaps save the denizens of our city, then it is a given.” She turned from the pale guard captain and looked at Minily. “This is disappointing to hear. You and your friend have the council’s support. Please keep us informed. I’ll send a courier with you to report back, if that is okay with you?”

  “Hey, I’m all for working with the city on this. As long as I can find these people and bring them home safely, then you’re welcome to send anyone you want as long as they can move quickly. The people are far.”

  Alora nodded and had a courier at the union building within minutes. Minily immediately left for the wall to pick up Laiko. They had a mission.