Focusing on himself, Athen slowly opened his eyes.

He only had one chance at this.

In front of him lay the same dirty and messy bar with the same rich customer standing in front of the now amicable bartender.

There was just one thing different.

The noise was gone.

Not a single sound echoed throughout the full bar; even the sound of the creaking chairs was muted.

Looking down at himself, Athen also realized that his entire body was covered in a light-blue hue...as if he were some sort of a spirit.

Taking a step forward, Athen did not waste any time as he rushed towards the frozen rich figures.

Behind him, the empty glass that was previously in his hand was now floating in the air .

Even as Athen ran through the bar, his shoes weren't touching the ground as he seemed to be floating in the air.

Finding the most optimal path, Athen rushed right toward a table instead of going around and wasting time.

However, instead of jumping over the table, Athen simply...ran through it.

His spirit-like body simply phased right through the table as if it didn't exist in the first place.

Passing right through one of the frozen customers, Athen slowly came to a halt as he approached the figure with the blue diamond in his pocket.

When Athen first received and discovered this unique magical power, his excitement was through the roof.

Think of all the things he could do with the power to work in this frozen time.

All the robberies he could pull off... all the money he could make!

There was nothing he couldn't do!

"and short-lived that dream was..."

Yet, a day after discovering this insane power to "stop time," he was back in the dumps, scavenging for coins and anything he could sell to get a drink for the night.

There was just one problem with his power.

He couldn't do anything except move around in this frozen time!

In order to activate the power, he would have to concentrate on the feeling of his heartbeat and focus on the blood moving through his chest, taking at least a couple of seconds.

And maybe the worst of all, the power had a cooldown of more than two days, and he could only use it for ten seconds at a time!

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In this world, though time was frozen, he was an incorporeal figure who couldn't touch or do anything besides move himself around.

Thankfully, though, his clothes stayed with him when he stayed in this incorporeal state.

Everything else was left behind.

Looking at his previous spot before he had activated the power, Athen could spot his floating empty glass.

Below the glass, a couple of pieces of trash that were in Athen's pockets also levitated in the air.

Unable to resist his desires, Athen threw his hand at the rich man's pocket, yet just always, his hand passed right through the diamond.

Shaking his head, Athen leaned down, hiding under the bar top and behind one of the stools.

Then, the next second, time resumed as the previously frozen rich customers approached the counter where the bartender stood.

Hidden below the bar top, Athen could only see the legs of the rich customers as they began speaking.

"One Arcane Ale with a lemon."

"I'll take a Sorcerer Stud."

Nodding his head, the bartender quickly turned around and began making their drinks, hoping to get a huge tip from the two.

As one customer, the one with the diamond in their pocket, sat down, the other quickly asked.

"Where might the bathroom be?"

Normally the bartender would simply say, "piss off!" and tell the customer to go take a leak outside, but this time, he pointed to the right before immediatly saying.

"Over there!"

Scooting closer to the stool where the man with the diamond was sitting, Athen reached his hand out, preparing.

It was just a matter of seconds until they dropped.

There was some delay, but it should drop in about...

"now!"

As Athen whispered those words, the empty glass and trash that were floating in the air, even after time resumed to normal, suddenly moved.

The empty glass quickly descended, while the trash had already hit the floor by now.

*SHATTER*

As the glass hit the wooden floor, it splintered into hundreds of small fragments, adding to the already dirty floor.

Hearing the glass shatter, the bartender angrily turned around with his mouth open and ready to yell.

Following his lead, the rich customer twisted his stool around before staring at the broken glass fragments among the small pieces of trash.

The other customers, however, already used to glasses breaking, ignored the sound and continued loudly talking.

Noticing nobody by the broken glass fragments, the rich customer looked at the bartender with a confused face.

Trying his best to keep his composure and act civil, the bartender replied to the customer's confused gaze.

"ah, that little kid, Athen. He must have dropped the glass and then ran off. Don't worry, he'll pay me for that glass and much more... sooner or later."

At that moment, Athen used the distraction to reach into the customer's pocket and grip the diamond.

Maneuvering his hands so that they didn't hit any part of the customer's pants and alert him, Athen slowly retrieved the blue diamond out of the pocket.

Holding the diamond with both of his hands, Athen immediately scooted away, hoping the rich man wouldn't notice that his pants had suddenly become lighter.

Stuffing the diamond in his pocket, Athen's heart felt as if it was going burst out of his chest.

He knew that a beating and some prison time... maybe even death, depending on the personality of the rich customer, were coming his way if he got caught.

But maybe death wasn't such a bad thing... at least it would bring him peace.

Solace in this terrible town seemed unobtainable...

As the rich customer lazily stared at the bartender while he made the drink, Athen slowly emerged from the bar top.

Crouching, Athen speed-walked through the bar, getting closer and closer to the doors with every passing second.

Yet, as he approached the door, a familiar face suddenly stepped forward and blocked the exit.

Looking down at Athen with a concerned expression, Darren sighed before also leaning down.

Whispering into Athen's ear, Darren softly said.

"Look...don't come back here for your own sake. That glass was at least five bronze coins...and the boss takes payment with interest."

Then, before Athen could even reply, Darren opened his hands, revealing the rusty bronze coin that Athen had used to pay for the beer.

Forcing open Athen's hands, Darren handed him the coin before gesturing to the door.

"Good luck... Athen. You'll need it in this cruel and terrible world."