Max opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. His head was pounding but it quickly passed. Besides him and Emi there were only a few others. Max leveled his breathing and felt the damp air.

The Class Stones Garden would be a great relaxation spot if not for their strict rules. Max said to Emi.

Emi gave him a strange look. Max knew what it meant, but he chose to ignore it for a few more minutes.

Max had his eyes closed, but a man approached. Max kept his eyes closed but refocused his Space Affinity to focus on the man. I just wanted a few minutes to myself… Max was slightly irate. Max watched and listened to the man walking. He stopped directly before Max and sat down.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” The man said.

Max opened his eyes and sighed deeply. The man who sat in front of him was old. Very old. Elves naturally lived long lives, even without a high level. The man in front of Max was by far the oldest looking person he had ever met. The man wore simple outside clothes, long boots, long pants, and shirt. He was a gardener, his belt of various tools told Max as much.

“It is, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I saw what happened when you were in the menus.”

“What happened to me?” Max asked, giving himself a quick check over.

The man chuckled, “No no, nothing is wrong with you. Not anything you can control anyways. What I meant was, I have been working in this garden for most of my life. And let me tell you, I’m old. I’ve seen it all. Screeches of joy, tears of sadness… Folks ending their lives the moment they open their eyes… I’ve seen it all.” The man took a breath.

“What I’m trying to say is that whatever your class, whether it's the one you wanted or something else, everyone has their place. I take it you are a [Mage] of some sort.” He waited for a nod. “Even the most basic class has the potential of great things. Trust me, those tears will one day be used for joy.”

Max smiled solemnly. “Thanks, but the class being weak isn’t the issue.”

“Oh?”

“I had the choice to choose a class that could help me, and only me in the long run. It would almost guarantee me the future I want. But… But I couldn't do it. I have friends and even family-” Max gestured to Emi, “I have people who trust me, and I couldn’t break that for my own goal.”

A bright smile appeared on the man’s face. “Well, in that case, you are already a better man than most. Your friends and family must be very special to you. The only advice I can give on that matter is this. The people around you might be able to cause you to go higher than any rare or powerful class. Take it from me, as long as you are happy with your choices at the end of the day, who cares what your class is.”

Max inspected the man.

Level 5

“You don’t have a class?”

“The Class Stones don’t always work as intended. But that's not important. What is important is that I’m happy. My life is coming to an end, and I will be able to see my wife again soon. My children and their children have all grown up. I’ve lived well. Better than most I would guess. My class doesn’t define me, and neither should yours.”

The man slowly got up; his joints creaked at the strain. “Thank you for listening to this old man.” He spoke.

“No. Thank you, honestly I mean it.”

The man waved his hand and slowly walked off. Mas sat for a moment in contemplation.

“Thank you, Emi. I had a class that would jumpstart my chance at getting home. I wanted it so bad, but I couldn’t. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but I want you, Reep, Clammy and the others to be there. I want to go home, but now is not the time.”

Emi bit Max on the hand. You stupid. She said, Home here!

“Home… here...?” Max’s eyes glossed over. “Yeah, maybe.”

Deep in Max’s heart he knew this world would never be home.

“There he is!” Clammy yelled to the others.

“About fucking time.” Vel grumbled.

The group were waiting close to the entrance to the garden with the speeder. They were all huddled eating an early lunch. Everyone noticed the depressed atmosphere radiating from Max. Emi had been trying to remedy this, but it was to no avail.

“Whatever the matter is boy, we don't have time. Let's get moving.” Vel said.

Max nodded and boarded the craft. Reep handed him a sandwich and Emi a exotic fish. The group finished packing up and they hit the road. They stayed quiet for the first hour or so of the trip, making sure they were out of scry range before they started talking.

“Not the class you wanted?” Clammy finally asked.

“Sort of, but not really.” Max sighed. Might as well tell them… He decided.

“I think my class is good. It’s Mythic rarity afte-”

“Come again?” “HUH?” “What?” Each person had their own response, except Reep who stayed quiet.

“You have a Mythic tier one class? Do those even exist?” Clammy asked Bishop.

The System expert nodded, “Yes… There have been a few accounts throughout history… None confirmed however.”

“What does that mean for Max?”

“Just another thing people would try to kill him for.” Vel said, shrugging.

“It can’t be that sim-”

“GUYS!” Reep shouted, silencing the conversation. “Max was trying to say something.”

All eyes fell to Max, except Bishop’s who was watching the road.

“Thanks, Reep. I... I- It's just that I don’t think I’m going to be going home anytime soon.”

“Lester would go through phases like this. Something would spark a memory of Earth, and he, well let’s just say was close to death a few times. That’s part of the reason he got to be as strong as he did. He wanted to find a way home, and when he couldn’t? He made this world his home.”

Bishop nodded in agreement.

“Thanks Vel. Thanks everyone.” Max said with a weak smile.

Vel nodded, “Now then. Your Mythic class?”

“It's called [Astral Dimensionist]. It gives me the same, but better effects of [Space Mage] but I have access to something called the Astral Dimension.”

Max couldn't see it, but Bishop scrunched his eyebrows. Vel on the other hand let her dissatisfaction know.

“That’s it? Does the [Space Mage] portion have some crazy powerful effect?”

“Fifteen percent less and twenty percent more cost to favorited and unfavorited spells.”

“That’s it?” Reep said, unable to hold her tongue.

“What were your other choices?” Vel asked with scrutiny.

“One class made teleportation spells cost fifty percent less. The other reduced Space Spells by twenty present and made Space Creation Spells fifty present easier to create. Both were Epic.”

Everyone but Bishop looked at him like he was an idiot.

“That second class sounds amazing. Why not choose that one?” Clammy asked.

“I took a gamble?”

“A gamble?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”

“Max. I have always thought of you as smart and cool headed. I now may have to change my opinion.” Vel huffed.

Max took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. With a smile he said, “I don’t care. Someone told me that it doesn’t matter what class you have, it's about how you use it.”

Max might have butchered the old man’s quote, but the same message came across. Vel huffed. Normally Bishop would talk for hours about classes, but something was off. Max noticed and decided to ask him about it.

“Bishop? You okay up there?”

“Wha- Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Bishop faltered.

“Bishop.” Vel hissed. “What do you know?”

With a sigh, Bishop said, “You know me too well, Vel. I might have an idea about your Astral Dimension. Let me preface this by saying this is all through rumor and unverified accounts.”

“Alright, go on.” Max eagerly said.

“I have seen a few accounts about people with access to dimensions. The writers talk about their experiences in a world outside of Nava, but also inside at the same time. All accounts are different but the outside and inside world is always the same.”

“...What?” Clammy asked.

“Maybe an example would be better. There was a [Arch Fire Mage] a few millennia ago who left his personal journals within a volcano. It was found a couple hundred years ago and after un-trapping the documents, they were translated. The [Mage] talked about a world of fire. The world was similar and different from Nava. There were structures in the fire world that were also in Nava, but they were created entirely of flame.”

Max could already see where this was going. “Parallel Dimensions.” Max muttered, causing Bishop to nod.

“The [Fire Mage] was able to draw from that dimension and increased their power exponentially. There is a niche group within the Mage guild who study dimensions, I suggest once we are back in Lesterwood that you contact one of them. They should have copies of the accounts along with other findings. No guarantee that they would help, however.”

Max nodded. “Any idea about the astral part?”

“Astral typically refers to the power of stars. Think incredibly powerful fire. [Astral Mage] is also incredibly rare. I only know of one that is alive.”

Max sighed. “Let’s figure this out later. We have a quest to do.”

They found Wepish at the meeting spot. He looked slightly bothered, most likely from how long it took for the group to show up. Max felt bad.

“Sorry Wepish. My time at the Class Stones lasted longer than I wanted.”

“It’s alright, I know it is an important event. We need to hurry; I don’t like being out in the open like this.”

“Right, where's the site from here?” Reep asked.

Welsh pointed off in a direction. “That way, but we are going to have to go a special route to bypass the wards.”

“Wards?” Clammy asked, confused.

“Yes. The sites have been warded from outside influences. It could be an animal, monster, or curious youngsters, no one wants the site to be contaminated.”

“Oh... Right, that sounds...” She trailed off.

The group entered the speeder, with Wepish in the driver's seat, they maneuvered through the wards. Max didn't know much about wards. As he understood them, wards were a type of specialized rune. There were a few different types of wards, all with their own subcategories. The most common were keep out, keep in, keep away, and alert. Each one used a different method of protecting an area or item.

Ward specialists exist, such as [Wardwhisper] or [Wardologist], but that also meant that the opposite existed. A [Wardcracker] was a person who specializes in taking down wards. Good wards would never be seen without special equipment. A person could walk right into a room that was full of wards and never know. Wepish had a necklace that allowed him to see ward mana.

Max was honestly not too interested in learning wards. Past the basics, the subject just didn’t interest him. Why would I want to learn about wards when I can learn to fly or teleport or create real runes? Max thought. Most other [Mages] thought the same way. Wardcraft was among one of the lesser mastered magical professions, but one of the most in demand. Every bank, high profile shop, or paranoid noble wanted professionally made wards.

The speeder made many twists and turns avoiding wards. After an hour, they arrived at the site. Trees had been torn down and moved off to the side and fresh dirt had been put in the holes. The site was circular and completely flat. Rune lines were dug a few inches into the ground to create troughs for blood.

It took a while for the site to be found, meaning the blood was dry. Preservation wards had been used causing the site to remain how it was found. The stench of death permeated.

Everyone started to fan out and searched. No one had any idea of what they were looking for, but they were hopeful. Not in themselves, but in Max. The general consensus was, if specialists couldn't find anything, they probably wouldn't either. Their only hope was Max and Emi sensing something.

As Max and Emi walked around, they felt...something. It wasn’t the same feeling as the Book of Pestilence, but it was definitely wrong. The land was tainted with evil and vile power and magics.

“Can any of you feel that?” Max shouted towards a majority of the group. Head popped up from searching the ground and gave him a weird look.

“It smells bad, is that what you mean?” Clammy yelled back.

“No. Something is wrong here. We can both feel it.” Max gestured to Emi.

“Of course, something is wrong here! People were sacrificed. Do you consider it normal?” Wepish sneered, not buying that Max could feel anything.

“No...” Max muttered slightly embarrassed. Nothing of this was normal to Max.

More time passed as everyone searched. Max and Emi walked down each of the runic lines multiple times. By now, the others had given up. But Max and Emi carried on, they were looking for discrepancy, shards, splinters, anything that was out of place. They walked around the perimeter, moved the speeder to look below, dug through dried blood. They even had Clammy raise them into the air to get a bird's-eye-view. Max was sketching the runes into a journal when he felt it.

He was still in the sky, but he felt something change. Bishop was walking around the edge when something happened close to him. What was that? Max asked Emi, did you feel that?

She replied with a suspicious no.

“Bishop!” Max shouted from above. He waited for the man to look at him. “I need you to trust me on this. Fire a spell at that tree to your left. The main branch. Yeah, that one.”

With a shrug, Bishop fired a lightning bolt. A crack of light and sound fired from the leathery man, decimating the tree. He missed what Max was aiming for, but Max could see it clearly now.

Water was pulled from the air around the target, creating a cage.

“WHAT IN THE HELLS!” Wepish screamed. “WHY! You can’t destroy the site!”

Everyone ignored him and opted to investigate the cage. An invisible creature was locked inside. It bounced off the inner sides of the water so quickly, it was blurring to Max’s senses.

“Vel, I’m going to need help containing it! It’s struggling really hard!” Max grunted. It was taking his full concentration to maintain the cage. Max was able to relax when a new cage formed around the old.

Vel’s eyes widened when she felt the creature frantically trying to break free. She suddenly made her cage smaller, restricting movement within. A deep screech sounded, momentarily stunning everyone except Bishop and Vel.

“Want some help?” Bishop asked. Vel snorted.

“What is it? I can’t see it.” Reep said.

“None of us can. It’s an Elemental Stalker.” Bishop said.

Wepish and Reep’s eyes widened.

“Y-you mean the kid caught an Elemental Stalker?” Wepish trembled.

Bishop nodded and preemptively answered Max’s question. “Elemental Stalkers are beings of the Elemental Plane. They are similar to familiars in the sense that you have to summon and contract them, but their summoning is completely different. While familiar summoning uses a spell, Stalkers are summoned after countless souls have passed on. They feed on souls. Nasty stuff.”

“How many souls are we talking about?” Max asked.

“Not enough from the sacrifices here, if that's what you are thinking.” Vel said, shaking her head.

“No, we are talking about thousands within the span of a few days. Think big battle in a war, or city-wide plague. Stalkers come to feed in those often. There is actually a task force in Lesterwood that their only job is to hunt down Stalkers.”

Max was horrified, but there was a question he needed to ask. “If there weren't enough bodies to summon it, that means it's been contracted right?”

“Yes. I would bet my gourd that whoever sacrificed these people are the same who contracted this fiend.” She emphasized her point by shaking the cage. The creature screeched again. Max and the others glared at her.

“Are we ignoring that this kid just caught an Elemental STALKER!” Wepish was almost in hysterics. Bishop cast a calming spell on him. “You said it yourself. There are entire task forces dedicated to killing these monsters, and he just caught it? Simple as that?”

“Wepish, man, take a breath! Everything is fine. Everything is alright. You are safe. You need to sleep.” Bishop evolved from a calming spell to a sleeping spell.

Wepish's body went limp. Clammy caught him with her magic and slowly lowered him to the ground.

“Was that necessary?” Clammy asked Bishop, who shrugged.

“We are going to need to talk privately. This way he's out of our way and we get to help the man before his hysterics get worse.”

“Why did he react like that? I get that there is a task force for these things, but I don’t see it warranting a reaction like that.” Max said.

Vel and Bishop looked at each other. Bishop nodded.

With a sigh, Vel said. “Elemental Stalkers are a special type of summon. They… they don't fully appear in this world. This thing in the cage is merely a projection. Its real body is in the Plane waiting to get free so it can either escape back to its world or kill us.”

“Okay, but I still don-”

“Quit interrupting boy! I was getting there!” Vel snapped. “The taskforce wasn’t made because they are hard to kill, or difficult to fight. Or strong for that matter. No, what makes these difficult to kill, is that they are hard to hit. They are nigh invisible; no anti-invisibility spell works on them since they are technically not in this world. The only way to track them would be from following the influx of lost souls or a niche racial or ability. Like you.”

“I see.”

“No. Max, I don’t think you do. There are four people on that task force in Lesterwood. Five, now, I guess. They all come from completely unique and often horrible backgrounds. Trust me Max, I was on the committee that made the team and the method they use is nothing like what you just showed today.”

“What? Icarus told me that Lester and I share a racial. The same racial that allowed me to see the stalker.”

“Interesting… I guess we are just going to have to ask Icarus when we get back. But for now,” Vel became more serious. “A stalker proves that we are working against some powerful forces. Those task force members were handpicked to be able to find and kill stalkers. Not contract.”

The three students' eyes bulged in realization.

“What do we do?” Reep asked confidently.

“WE don’t do anything. I will initiate a contract with the Stalker. If it accepts, I will kill this body rather than trap it forever. In return for its master’s name and location.”

“Vel… Is that really a good idea?” Bishop was concerned.

“Heh. Remember when I said that I created the task force? Trust me. This is not my first rodeo.”

Max wasn’t sure if he should smile at the Earthen phrase or be worried. He knew so little about the people he put all of his trust in, and it scared him a little.

Just who was Vel? Past being Lester's wife and adventuring companion I don’t know anything about her. Who is Lester for that matter? Max disregarded this line of thinking, knowing that it would only bring trouble.

Vel took everyone's silence as a go ahead. Water dripped from her gourd and created a rune on the ground. The cage was placed in the center and Vel sat before it.

“Bishop, be ready with a cage if mine slips. Max, keep the water in the rune pattern if… well you’ll see.” With that said, she closed her eyes and initiated the contract.

Max and the others were left slight flabbergasted at her “be ready if I fuck up” attitude. The students have not seen their teacher like that, ever. And Bishop hadn't seen her like this since their adventuring days. It worried all of them.

The cage shook and the water runic line with it. Max and Emi both had to focus on maintaining the straight edges. Bishop was always ready to step in, but it was unnecessary. Not even two minutes after Vel started the process, it ended.

“Weak.” Vel said, with her hand raised. She closed her hand into a fist causing the cage to mimic the movement. The water crashed into the Stalker, ending its life.

“Well?” Bishop said.

“Dugal Fenten was the contractor. Mallor Henbar was given command over it.

“Fuck” Bishop spat.

“Indeed. It was able to give me information without a fight because Dugal is a dumbass and didn’t put in any safety measures for Mallor. It didn’t know Mallor’s location, but it knew of a Vast Empire stronghold near Renloc. I know the location.”

“How is Mallor still alive? I thought he died during the Contagion War?”

“As did I, but you know Dugal’s magic.”

Bishop shivered, reliving vivid memories.

“Where's the stronghold?”

“Do you remember a small expedition that went missing in the Shallowkin Marsh’s? The one with Avery Thornsmith maybe sixty-five years back?”

“Oh. She could have been one of the greats.”

Vel nodded.

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Clammy asked.

“The Thrornsmith’s were a noble family up until about fifty years ago. After Avery’s disappearance, Ralph Thornsmith, Avery’s father, became paranoid. He was sure that there was a conspiracy but was unable to prove it. Fifteen years he searched. He broke generations long friendships, committed slander, and even attempted an assassination or two. The king gave him multiple warnings and eventually had to strip him of his nobility. His wife had died during childbirth and Avery was his only daughter. He was just a lonely old man.” Bishop said quietly.

“I see.” Clammy was downcast. Her family failed this man, and Clammy knew that there were others her parents had failed. Too many in fact.

“What happened to Ralph?” Reep asked.

“No one knows. After his removal, he asked Lester for help, but I don’t know what happened from there. He’s most likely dead. People like him often kill themselves or die solo adventuring.” Vel said.

“No. You're wrong. He’s still alive. I can feel it.” Clammy spoke with confidence.

Everyone nodded along, reveling in Clammy’s young innocence. Little did they know, she was right.