Clarity followed her two new, completely willing tour guides into the back streets of Eden City, stepping over the trash as she left the alley. Trash consisting of old tin cans, scraps of paper, banana peels, rotten food, and the unconscious body of a certain would-be mugger.

She continuously twirled the two bronze coins she'd filched off the thugs over her fingers, marveling at how far her control over her gooey body had come in recent days, before speaking out “You know, I thought crime would pay better than this.”

“Hey” the more outspoken of her tour guides began to protest “do you really think we'd be out here stealing from people if we already had money?”

“Yes” Clarity closely scrutinized the menacing appearance of the speaker “Yes I do.”

He could only sputter in outrage. His silent friend pulled him along to continue the tour before Clarity could take offense.

Her guides weren't exactly acquainted with many tourist attractions. Most of their stops amounted to nothing more than shady bars, drug dealing hot spots, and a couple of hidden black markets, but at least no more criminal elements dared to make trouble with Clarity after noticing her tour guides meekly leading her around.

“This here's the tallest water tower within ten blocks. One of the few old world techs that still works! At least eight out of ten houses in the area has indoor plumbing making it one of the best living areas outside of the center!” her guide exclaimed “And easily one of the best lookout spots in the city! You can see the third district guard station right down there, and the fourth district guard station over there.”

Clarity was pretty sure a normal tour of the city wouldn't include the tops of random water towers, but she wasn't going to complain. It wasn't until now that she finally caught a glimpse of the very center of Eden City. Whereas most of the city had become overrun with slums, filled with both citizens and vagabonds alike, the large walled area within the center of the city was nearly pristine. And very familiar.

“Hey, you're not a bad tour guide. Maybe you should consider a career change?” Clarity joked. “Now, what's that over there?” she asked, pointing at what clearly used to be The Uni. There were more buildings now, packed tighter than ever, and a shimmering bubble surrounding the entire area, but the layout was still the same and many of the old buildings remained.

“Ah, that's the inner Eden, where all the rich folk live away from the rabble. Their barrier is the real deal, don't try going in there without a pass, and I don't mean one of the cheap passes they hand out for the city at large. A few of our boys tried sneaking in there once to score some easy marks but they came out all black and blue. The guards didn't even have to touch 'em, they said it was like the air itself started crushing them.”

Clarity allowed the duo to lead her around for the rest of the night and into the morning, but nothing else particularly interesting came up. The most entertaining part of the tour was when she decided to ask them about their “old world lightning magic” as Esmeralda had put it. Her guide went on an unfiltered rant for the next hour about the wonders of electricity, air conditioning, and the internet. According to him, even magic didn't make up for their loss.

'I've got to disagree with you there' Clarity smirked to herself. 'The internet was great, but throwing the elements around with my mind is even better.'

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The two guides shuffled along, dead on their feet as the sky began to lighten in the east, when Clarity decided to call it quits for the night and let them go. She didn't want to make Rob have to wait on her to get ready.

“Here” she tossed the two unused bronze coins back to the would-be muggers. “For the tour.”

“Thanks” they mumbled, before nervously running away, checking over their shoulders as though they were afraid Clarity would change her mind about letting them escape.

About an hour after sunrise, Rob left his room and found Clarity sitting outside the door waiting for him, playing with a small ball of magical, blue flames. “Please don't burn down my room” he joked as Clarity stood up.

“Don't worry” Clarity reassured him “I know water magic too, so it'll just get slightly singed.”

The day passed in a blur. Rob set up his stall in a large, open square in one of the less run-down nearby areas, which he kept stocked with a variety of wares pulled from the back of his wagon. The customers and bystanders slowly mingled and meandered through the square, purchasing what they liked from various stalls and hawking merchants. They wore much nicer clothing than Clarity had seen at any point during the night, though most still showed signs of wear and tear.

Rob even encouraged her to continue “playing” with her magic as much as she wanted, so long as she was able to keep an eye on his products at the same time. Clarity gladly took him up on his offer, much to the entertainment of nearby bystanders.

She decided to stop playing with her fire magic when a small child ran up to her and tried to grab the rhythmically waving flame out of her hands. Instead, she switched to water magic, her previous experience with Aqua's magic allowing her to put on a small show of twirling water serpents that attracted a bustling crowd of children and, much to Rob's delight, their parents who had nothing better to do but browse his wares.

Three separate individuals attempted to nab an item and run, none of which got very far. The slime merely extended her arm after them and picked them up like a bag of flour before they could escape. According to Rob, that was considered a good day.

Later that night, while Rob was sleeping, Clarity began exploring the perimeter of the inner section of Eden. The barrier was just as strong as advertised, pushing down on Clarity's body as though gravity had been tripled, which would be devastating for any normal person, but not so much for Clarity. She suspected the average adventurer wouldn't have much trouble with it either. Still, she refrained from trespassing too far in because of how easily identifiable she was. The last thing she needed was for her and Rob to be detained because a blue creature with glowing eyes had been spotted inside a restricted area. Instead, she decided to come back at some point in the future, after procuring a proper disguise.

The next day trudged on just like the first, Rob managing to sell most of the magical products he had planned to offload here. It wasn't until the third day that their usual routine was broken.

As Rob was preparing to close up his shop, putting the last few unsold items back into his wagon for later, a small humanoid with a carefully tailored coat and very angular facial features stepped out of the crowd and approached their stall. “We need to talk” the small man huffed at Rob.

Rob appeared briefly taken aback by his approach, but soon conceded with a scowl “Sure, but only if my guard can come along. After all, my last run-in with a gnome was on less than friendly terms.”

After Rob finished packing up his goods, the gnome lead the way to a small restaurant with dividers positioned between every table. Clarity could sense magic running through each of the dividers and up into air above them, forming a dome above the diners. The gnome whispered to one of the waiters and they were led to an empty table of their own.

Three mugs of beer were served immediately upon their arrival. “Want anything? It's my treat” the gnome asked. “I'll admit the food isn't very good, even for a place like this, but the privacy is top notch. Did the enchantments myself during a job. Now I use this place for most of my meetings.”

“I'd like to know why you sent those men to attack me” Rob glared at their host “That was you, wasn't it?”

“Not at all” the gnome denied. “I didn't send anyone to attack you. I'm Ernie by the way. Bert was my partner, who was supposed to be in charge of the business side of things. It was his job to handle the local magical market and sell my magical items for me. He couldn't even do that. Instead he came to me, blaming me for giving him faulty goods. He had the gall to accuse me of producing flawed work! So when the guards showed up and started hounding us about an attempted hit on one of Bert's rivals, I gladly turned him over.”

Taking a sip of beer, Ernie continued “The only thing I'm interested in is continuing my craft. So... I find myself in need of a new business partner, and you already have a reputation for selling magical goods. Are you interested?”