Dai had a nice little pouch of money. The first thing he wanted was to purchase a new set of clothes. Something for his tall frame.

He wandered around the town and let his thoughts wander. The AI was mapping everything. It took him about an hour of fast paced walking to map one half of the city. He had a general idea of the overall outline.

Dai tried to sense the essence in his surroundings and yet, he couldn't grasp it anymore. He'd destroyed the very foundations of his body's essence veins.

If he still had access to his essence he could bind a few critters, make them fly around the city and map everything in record time using his AI. This was just one small way the AI would be useful.

He walked into a seamstresses' shop. His eyesight fell straight on the shop keeper. It was a giant arachnid. She had a pair of small glasses on her eyes. She only had the two 'human' ones open. There were a series of other eyes on her forehead.

Dai couldn't see her hind, it would help identify her tribe. This wasn't the realm of Arachnid's but it wasn't that odd seeing one all the way down here.

Dai would've loved an armour or a suit but wrapping himself up in a steel coffin with his wounds right now wouldn't be great. The suit would be too constricting for now. He needed a set of airy, open clothes that didn't irritate his wounds.

"Can you make me a set of robes?"

She smiles and nods. A set of pearl white fangs and incisor's grace her teeth. "They need to be open and airy. Something that won't irritate my wounds."

She grabbed a tape measure and started taking his measurements. Dai didn't feel uncomfortable, he'd started to expect a semblance of privacy as a human but his demon life had desensitized him to these things.

"When do you want it by?"

"As soon as possible." Dai took out his money pouch. He'd counted it beforehand. He had about three thousand gold coins or perhaps, they were composed of something else. He didn't recognize the inscriptions on the front and back. "How much is it?"

"700 bulls." Bulls? Dai flipped a coin and it had a minotaur head on it. Dai counted out 70 and handed them to her.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Can you also make me three sets of bandages? I want to wrap up my wounds." Although, his wounds were healing up at a ferocious pace, he wanted nothing to do with an infection. Most of all, he had to make sure that he didn't irritate them in his ensuing battle. He wanted this city.

"That'll be a hundred bulls."

Dai counted out 5 and handed them to her. She counted them and raised her eyes. Dai just let the silence hang.

"I can do 80 but nothing less then that."

"60. That's it, I don't have any more money." She sighed and accepted it.

He wanted to ask her what year it was, but it would just be too suspicious, he decided to try anyways. "What date is it?"

"7th Moon of 890." 890!?

He'd died on the eve of 700. It'd been almost 200 years down here and yet, he'd only spent 150 years there, based on demon time.

His head started spinning as he stepped out of the shop, how was this place the same? In those 150 years, he'd seen humans raise planets, create giant colonies for living, set in process the enslavement of new stars, tear asunder alien empires and yet, this world looked almost the same as it had in 200 years. Other than the coins in his pouch he didn't see any marked difference.

Perhaps, the magical arts had advanced. He would have to find out about that. He decided to stop thinking about this, he had to put this city under his control first.

Judging from his limited knowledge- perhaps outdated- small frontier towns like this were ruled by iron-fisted demons. They might be ruling due to their prowess or backing but prowess was a fundamental requirement. A weak demon with no power has no place in a seat of power.

Dai decided to grab a little demon runt off the street. He grasped by its disgusting shirt and hoisted it up. "Who rules this city?" The little creatures eye-balls darted around in its socket, calculating the best response.

Dai kicked it in its abdomen. "I'm not going to ask twice." That cowed it a little bit, "Flowing River. She's an Imp with powerful magic casting abilities."

Dai threw it away. The only useful piece of info he would get from this bugger was the name. He missed his magical abilities sorely, the impact had been softened as a Human due to distance and time. Yet, here he was, it was on the very cusp of his fingers and he couldn't grasp it.

He just had to locate this Flowing River. He marched down to the outpost of guards. He smashed in those pot-bellied cow-heads. A few of them knew some basic arts but he'd just shrugged it off.

He grasped the fattest demon's throat and asked him a question, "Where is Flowing River?"

"She's out on a hunt." His eyes twisted and twitched in their bulbous sockets. Dai had the urge to smack his face in, but needless violence accomplished nothing.

"And? When will she be back by? Where does she live?"

"It might be tonight or a few days. Depends on the game but...but I can show you where she lives."

The head-guard guided him to her hovel. It was a splendorous building. Stone magic had been worked through it to give it a solid foundation.

Dai decided to break in, a few demons attacked him but he cowed them, when he crushed a bug demon's head between his palms.

Flowing River was back in a few hours. It must've been a transmission artifact or something along those lines, that alerted her.