The Monday city, a bustling metropolis established in the middle of Aria. It was a giant of steel and glass. With towering skyscrapers and millions of people living in it. 

“After the emergence of the Red Moon, it's reported that there are a huge number of strange incidents happening. The experts reported tha- *bzzz* It's reported that this haunted hou- *bzzz* Aliens! It's all aliens! They are re- *bzzz* “

A hand stumbled out of a pile of blankets and felt around for something. After a few minutes and blind stumbling. A frustrated growl echoed out from the blankets, and a girl with dishevelled red hair threw away all the blankets on her body. Then, she quickly located the remote for T.V and shut it off. 

“Ugh, so cold~” she shivered, “Damnable bills. Why do I need to pay money for some warmth? It should be free. Ugh, damn, Tony, why does he have to shut down his shop at this time. Now, I need to find a new job,” the girl mumbled while shivering. She grabbed a blanket and tossed it onto her haphazardly for some warmth.

This pathetic excuse of a human being was Claire Fall. 

Job: None 

Money: Pitiful 

Education: At least passed High School

Appearance: Barely Passable

Overall rating: It’s a miracle how she lived to till now

Fortunately for her, her previous shop owner Tony Marino, her boss, is a kind and hearty fellow and willing to hire a pitiful-looking girl with clumsy streaks when he found her wandering like a lost puppy on the streets. He is a huge guy with a mean right hook and opened a pizza shop named [Big Tony’s Amazamo Pizzeria]. However, unfortunately for her, Tony disappeared last month after a few too many rumours of him being a werewolf. Landing her in this situation. 

“Right, need a shower,” Claire whispered, “but, the hot water… I haven't paid for it this month,” she whimpered, “Bu-but if I want to get food for next month, I would need to get a job. So, I would need to take a shower,” she muttered pathetically and got up. Then, shivered and sat down again. 

Again, with tears, she got up and went to the bathroom. With trembling hands, she turned on the faucet. She tentatively struck a hand under the running water and quickly withdrew it. 

“It hurts! Maybe, I should be fine with some perfume…” she shook her head, “No, I must do this. Here comes all or nothing!” With a shout, she jumped under the water. However, she slipped and fell face-first. Her head slammed on the wall, causing a loud noise. With a trail of blood, she fell, water still coming down on her. 

“Ugh, where is this place?” 

When Claire regained her vision, she was in a mysterious space full of white mist. It was as if she was trapped in a world of white. 

Then, colours began to seep into this pure world. From, above, from below, from sides, from all directions, countless doors of myriad colours emerged from the mist. They shone with an alien intensity. Claire looked at them in silence. She looked and looked, unaware of what to do. As if testing, she reached out an arm toward a door nearest to her. It was a door made of some kind of twisting wood. It has red as the most prominent colour with other colours dotted across. When her hand touched it, it shone even more brightly and opened. With that, the other doors slowly disappear back into the white mist again. 

“Does it want me to enter?” Claire said to herself. 

“Well,” she looked around. There is nothing but a vast expense of whiteness and the door beside herself, “Since it’s like this, I should enter it, I guess”.

She stepped into the door and it closed. 

Claire stood still. She had closed her eyes. She could feel the winds on her body. The salty and fishy smell. She slowly opened her eyes and what greeted her was the sight of a port. Hundreds of ships come and go through this port. Countless people go to and fro on these docks. Looking around, it could be confirmed that this was a bustling port city. When she entered the door, she had a lot of expectations. However, she didn’t expect this. 

“Was this a hallucination or an entirely another world like those novels I used to read?” she said to herself and pinched to check if it was real… A few minutes later, with a huge red spot on her arms, she walked away, confident that yes, she was in a deep, deep shit. 

“Okay, the first rule of travelling to another world… I don’t know,” she said in a lost tone, “come on brain, think of all these useless novels you used to read before. What do they do?” she urged herself. 

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Oh, yes, I shouldn’t let anyone know that I am from another world and find out my cheat,” Claire fisted her palm with a smile. 

“Hmm,” she assumed a thinking pose, “status!” with great confidence, she shouted, earning her a few weird looks from other people. However, nothing appeared. 

“I don’t have a system, it seemed. Let’s test what I can do,” Claire muttered to herself. 

Half a day later, at some park or something, Claire sat under a tree, seemingly pleased with herself. 

“Okay. After a round of testing, I have determined that I do have some special abilities. First, I have unlimited stamina or quite a huge stamina. Even after jogging across the entire city twice, I didn’t get tired at all. Second, I heal fast. That cut I got from falling disappeared immediately. I don’t know the limit of it though, I really don’t want to test, ugh. Third, I can turn intangible at will. I have a feeling this will be the most useful ability at the moment. Fourth, for some reason, even though this world utilises languages I have never seen or heard before, I can understand without a problem,” she listed down all the abnormalities she had discovered in herself so far. 

She looked at the sun. The gradually dimming daylight and the reddish colour suggested that it would soon be night. Claire had an issue. She had nowhere to sleep. Perhaps, she could sleep on the side road. From her observation, this world’s technological level was all over the place. She had seen steam-powered locomotives and ships. If that were all, she would’ve just assumed this was early industrialisation, however, there were all sorts of things that didn’t fit with that. Like huge airships over the sky and robot police dogs. From this, she could safely assume that it should be relatively feasible to sleep on the side of the road. She could always run away and hide with her newfound powers anyway. 

“So cold…” After half an hour of sleeping on a bench, that’s the only thing she could say. The air coming from the sea blew inland. With that, a chill that only the sea possessed. Claire, unable to sleep because of the cold, sat up. Thankfully for her, she wasn’t sleepy, and her mind was still active. Deciding that the best course of action was to take a walk, she left the park bench she had determined would be her bed for the night. 

‘I miss my bed,’ Claire thought as she wandered through twisting streets. Suddenly, a noise startled her. Her body turned transparent as she activated her intangible form and slid into darkness. A fast shadow rushed. Followed by three other shadows. The first shadow looked back and tossed something into the dark. Right into Claire’s face. Of course, due to her state, it passed through her safely. Curious, she bent down and picked up the object. It was some sort of circuit. Neat yet innumerable lines spread through its surface like railways. 

“This must be a valuable thing,” Claire concluded. It was obvious. Looking left and right, she pocketed the thing. 

‘That person will surely come looking back for this. Maybe I can ransom it for some money,” she said to herself.

Sure enough, an hour or so later, that person came back. It was a petite brunette with a bob cut. Like a ghost, Claire observed from a vantage point. At first, the girl looked for the circuit casually. However, as time passed, she became more frantic. At some point, her body glowed, and she tossed aside a trash can. Claire felt her eyebrows rise at the sight.

‘Superpower? I didn’t expect that. When I was going through the city, everything seemed like a normal Victorian era, just with odd technology. No wonder the development of this world’s technology was all over the place,’ she thought. The girl was now crouching and looking all over the place.

“No, no, no, I just tossed it here. Did those Consortium guys come back and take it? Eep, if I can’t bring back the Tidal chip, Boss will kill me!” the girl whisper-shouted in despair as she grasped her hair as if that would materialise the chip in front of her. 

Sensing that it was time for her to make an appearance, Claire jumped down. Thankfully, she was in her intangible state, sank into the ground without noise, and instantly floated back to the surface. 

“Looking for thi-” before she could even finish.

Swish

A blast of wind hit her face. Within the inches of her was a leg. Filled with an electrifying energy. She could feel it. If that leg touched her, her head would vaporise. She froze. She felt her vision sharpened as her heart hammered in her chest.

‘If that kick hit me, I would’ve died. I will really die,’ these thoughts circled in her head. 

“State your name and purpose” the girl coldly said with her leg still near the head of this strange girl who appeared out of nowhere.

‘I couldn’t sense her at all,’ the brunette thought with shock.

‘I was already at the Flux Circuit stage. Yet, she blindsided me. I can’t sense any Essence Current from her, which means she is a normal human. Was I too focused on finding the Tidal chip that I overlooked her?’ the girl silently thought as she looked at the red-haired girl in front of her, who was calmly gazing at her without even blinking. 

‘I am gonna die. I am gonna die. I am gonna die. I am gonna…’ Claire felt her thoughts spiralling as she breathed quicker and quicker. If this continued, she was going to hyperventilate. Luckily for Claire, the girl who was threatening her withdrew her foot, giving Claire some comfort. But before she could rejoice, a glowing hand gripped her throat and lifted her.

“Who are you? Are you from the Steel Veil Consortium?” the brunette narrowed her eyes. 

“I-” Claire tried to answer, but something took her attention. She could feel it. When the mysterious girl’s energy touched her body, it awakened, no, it reacted with something inside her. She could feel the spark filling all of her body. Instinctually, she knew how to use it. And with this spark, something else awakened within her. 

‘What? This is Essence! Did she just awaken? Oh shit,’ the brunette thought as she was forced to dodge a fist the size of her head.

At the front of her was the red-haired girl, now at least ten feet in height. Size manipulation. That’s the power Claire had awakened. 

“… Let’s talk, like civilised people,” Claire said with a sigh and extended her hands, “I am Claire, Claire Fall. No, I am not from that Steel whatever you said. I was just taking a walk and happened to run into you”.

The mysterious girl stared at her for a moment before extending her hands too, “Nova Rhine. A member of the Freeform Dancing Stage. Are you the one who picked up the Tidal chip?”

“Yes, yes, I am,” Claire agreed and took out the circuit she picked up from the ground. At the sight of it, Nova’s expression showed some relief.  

“That chip is a very important thing. Can you give it to me?” Nova asked. 

“Not so fast. Since this is an important thing, then it must be valuable, no? I want money and information for this,” Claire negotiated. 

Nova turned red from frustration, “That thing is very dangerous. There are a lot of people after that and can’t be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. For the safety of many people, you should give it to us. We can protect it”.

“Yes, no, I will give it to you when you agree to my terms, otherwise, well, I should see how much… Steel Veil Consortium would offer for this chip. After all, if I am not wrong, you stole it from them, don’t you?” Claire said coolly. 

Nova’s face turned gloomy, “Very well. I don’t have any money on me. You should follow to the base,” she said gloomily.

“That won’t do. What if you all ganged up and ambushed me? Let me think, tomorrow, 12 o’clock, in front of that giant fountain, how about that?” Claire offered. 

“Very well,” Nova sullenly agreed.

“Good,” Claire said and went into the intangible state and used her newfound power to run. 

Only after half an hour of running, in twists and turns, did she stop. 

“This should be enough,” Claire muttered to herself. She continuously used Essence Current to boost her speed and the intangible mode and ran constantly. From what she had seen of Nova Rhine’s speed while she was being pursued, she shouldn’t be able to follow her. 

She took out the Tidal chip and looked at it closely, “a chip, huh? How

did they even manage that in this steam-age?” she asked herself and then shook her head, “Well, I should know tomorrow”.