The sound of an alarm clock resounded through a rather decently furnished bedroom with the clock sitting on a small nightstand beside a dark comforter covered bed. Slowly a hand reached out from underneath the covers hitting the snooze button. silencing the shrill sound from the mechanical menace, and after the hand returned underneath the covers for a few more minutes of respite... BEEP BEEP.
The alarm clock resounded once more with even more gusto causing the figure underneath the covers to fully sit up essentially throwing said comfort off of the bed with an annoyed expression across his face. "Alright up and at it. '' The man mumbled running his hands over his face in order to wipe away the sleep. "The old man will be disappointed if i showed up late.." Slowly he got out of the bed walking over to the bathroom ready to take on the day after freshening up a bit.
The mirror reflected a man with Greenish Blue eyes and a pale, sickly man with a decent amount of light brown Brown scruff that matched the messy locks atop his head. Lifting both of his hands, the man sent finger guns his way with a slight grin. "Looking...passable Edric." He mumbled to himself for a moment before grabbing a toothbrush. He Quickly Went through his Daily Hygiene Routine, Half assed a shower, sprayed whatever type of cologne he held onto throughout the years and got dressed. A regular plain T-Shirt and a pair of shorts, nothing fancy.
It had been three months since he had arrived in this….place….Nexus. That’s at least what everyone around here called it. The slums were for people like him, normals.
People without a system, The unlucky bunch that were treated like second class citizens. He was still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing with systems, totalities, different multiverses, all of it. He didn’t understand it now, but he would learn to understand within time. Stepping out the door of his home, He locked it and began walking down the path towards the center of town,Towards a small restaurant . It was owned by a rather nice man named Egon, His boss. When he first arrived in this place, Egon was a mentor of sorts to him, giving him advice, food and even clothing.
In return Edric would work for him in his restaurant, serving food, cleaning, stocking the backroom, gathering ingredients from the local farms. Busy work… but it helped him maintain his sanity a bit. In the man’s opinion Egon was cool. Edric took in the sights as he passed by a few run down homes, some of them barely being held together by old wood, He was lucky his home was somewhat in better shape than most..except for the bugs. But nothing some insect repellant cannot fix.
System users, Isekai protagonists, hell, even other types existed here, and were all touted as their betters, and it pissed him off to no end because of that. People like him are treated like garbage because they don't have these skills, magic, or whatever other bullcrap. They were treated worse than the native people as well.
“I just don’t get it..” He mumbled under his breath, thoughts suddenly interrupted by a Football. The impact didn’t hurt a whole lot, but It stung a whole lot. Glancing around he finally noticed a group of young children running up towards him. Two boys and three girls. The man smiled for a moment before picking up the football off of the ground. “Nice throw, but next time make sure to watch where you're throwing alright Laos?”
Edric held the football out as a blond haired boy with somewhat droopy eyes approached grabbing ahold of the football. “Sorry Mr. Edric,” an apologetic smile gracing the child's face. The man looked down at the boy for a moment before simply shrugging “Don’t worry about it Kid, Did not hurt all that much, but you got an arm on ya thats for sure” One of the girls out of the group of five approached the two and grabbed the ball from laos. If Edric remembered correctly her name was Orion. Tanned skin contrasting fiery red hair, an oval shaped face with soft features capped off with orange eyes.
“Laos was trying to throw the ball to Nash, But he used too much force in the throw” As Orion spoke a Dark haired boy with freckles approached. “And it was Awesome, I mean seriously, Laos never throws that far. It was a new record!” Nash seemed to be hyper as usual, Honestly a breath of fresh air. Edric then noticed the last two Girls of the group approaching. Evelyn and Selene, Evelyn with long curly hair and heterochromatic eyes, Selene with blue eyes, short cut hair, a constant pout and a scar across the lower portion of her lip.
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Evelyn gently grabbed Nash, moving him away slightly. “Nash, Calm….” At the behest of Evelyn Nash slowly stopped in his excitability. Edric looked on with a slight smirk of bemusement, These kids were something else. From day one that were friendly towards him, they were the ones that brought him to Egon. Laos was the constantly tired one of the group, Nash, the hyper one, Orion, the one that spoke her mind, Evelyn, the voice of reason and finally selene…. Honestly he had no idea about her, she never really spoke.
“Do you want to throw the football with us?” The question was poised by Laos, However Edric simply shook his head, and reached out his hand to ruffle the blond haired boy's head. “Unfortunately kiddo, not today. Double shift at Egons. Maybe tomorrow if things go well enough alright.” Laos looked disappointed alongside the rest of the kids, However Evelyn was the one that spoke up for them. “You promise?” Edric simply sighed, Kneeling down and extending his hand with his pinky outwards. “Pinky promise, I’ll play some football with you guys tomorrow alright?”
Evelyn smiled and reached out her hand interlocking her finger with his, a promise was a promise after all. “We will hold you to that Mr. edric” She spoke with a small grin, Behind her Laos and the rest ran back to the small clearing and began to play once more, Orion shouted towards the both of them for a moment. “C’mon Evelyn!” Edric watched as the girl in front of him looked back, before letting go and running over to the other children. “Don’t forget Mr.. Edric!” She yelled out towards him.
Edric simply waved his hand and shouted back. “I won’t kid, I won’t” After a moment more of watching, He continued down the road that lead to Egon’s, The small town was in disrepair, multiple buildings condemned and or overgrown with flora, Some were rebuilt with whatever materials were on hand…but it was a long process, or at least so he was told by Egon. The man stopped for a moment to simply take in the scenery, even after he had been in the place for three months… it was still somewhat beautiful in a haunting sort of way…melancholic.
He looked over a few of the open stores, specifically at the Items in the windows, Despite the slums being a community, commodities and goods were still sold. But without systems… the normals had to devise a different currency, Dontra. It was divided into coins and paper notes. And thankfully the coins were not valued by different metals, due to the scarcity of them. Most Dontra coins were made out of an easy to procure metal called alunaium.
Edric reached into his pocket for a moment and looked over the ten coins he had, If he remembered correctly. The monetary system worked like japanese yen…because of course it did, Coins were in increments of ten, so if he had ten coins, then he had 100 Dontra in paper currency if he exchanged it, It also went in increments of twenty five and fifty, but right now it hurt his head to much to learn everything about it, He just knew the basics.
He looked into the shop’s window and saw a few weapons for sale, But the one thing that caught his eye was a brass knuckle…with the unfortunate price underneath being around 3000 dontra. Edric seeing this immediately pocketed his meager change and continued on his way. He now has a small frown eclipsing his face due to the price. “What a scam…and for a singular one as well, not even a set of two” He mumbled crossing the street until he managed to finally arrive at the main markets, Egon’s was only a few more minutes away, and thankfully he could see the neon sign of the small restaurant from where he was, now time for him to get moving.
The markets in the slums were abuzz with activity as usual, peddlers selling wares they procured from the thrown away remnants of things that system users trash away, Edric weaved through the crowd of people, Occasionally giving an apology and or a greeting to someone he recognized. ‘Damn vultures’ He thought for a moment seeing all of the items and weapons that most of the peddlers had in their possession. “And selling them at a marked up price… scumbags” He mumbled continuing on, " It would not be good to stick around for too long. Those vultures liked to try and sell hard on their items, almost like a car salesman.
.
Edric quickly made his way over towards the old man’s Restaurant. Egon, the old man in question, was busy wiping down the counter with a rag; Sporting his signature Hawaiian shirt, khaki Shorts, and Beach sandals. It was pretty plain but it suited the hot weather perfectly. The old man sported a long, Snow White beard. It was a stark contrast to his Old and almost wizard-like appearance. As Edric approached, Egon looked up and smiled at him, wrinkles deepening as he did so. “Edric! Son, how’s everything going today? Wait! Let me guess, no Dontra, right?” Egon chuckled and finished willing the counter, leaning forward to give Edric a wide and knowing smile. “I got a job or two saved up for you if you need ‘em.”
Edric stopped in his tracks and let out a quiet huff, looking away before approaching the stand. “You’re pretty damn insightful, Ya old man.”