POV Lewis:

When a thin trickle of light passed over his eyes, it was enough to wake him up. Still half asleep, he rose and went through his morning routine before sitting down in front of his computer.

"Let's see how it goes..." he thought, looking at the statistics of his networks and his system. These social networks had all reached an average of 1,500 followers, and this mission had reached the 8,500/10,000 hype people needed to complete it.

Content with the stats, he began to look at the city's website to see what there was to do. Innovation Square? Central Park? From what he could see, he'd come to this world in a decade of prosperity, when humanity was launching expeditions to reclaim land.

After writing down a small list of where he wanted to go today, he decided to leave, taking with him everything he needed. Arriving at the entrance of his building, he made his way to Innovation Square, which seemed to take place in the same location every year for one month.

He lost his way a few times and found himself asking passersby which way to go, reviving his memories of life before cell phones. In this world, as far as he could see, there were cell phones, but the problem was that they were just starting to appear, as if this world were in 2010, with a few extra challenges to extract the more difficult and therefore more expensive ores.

The places where laptops were sold were quite famous and chic, but always with laptops worthy of a Blackberry, which made him feel like he'd gone back in time a bit...

Continuing to ask passersby, he finally arrived at Innovation Square, with its many stands and people talking passionately about their inventions.

"Here's the mead that'll knock even a barfly off his feet, with its composition of the most powerful substances in the world, from the saliva of a whisperer to snake berries. If you want to try it, it's 20 euros each, but if you manage to drink three and don't fall asleep, I'll pay you back!" shouted a well-built man, pointing to a rather ornate glass bottle.

"Are you tired of listening to your neighbors and want to listen to your music wherever you want? Introducing Samhwei's Earphones, available in our stores today! To help you, this little box can record what's next to you or record music already on the Internet!" shouted a man dressed like an advertisement from his world.

"It's quite varied," he said to himself as he listened and looked at the various stands around him, ranging from the most diverse to the most specialized equipment, with one stand selling only weapons from the Middle Ages, ranging from swords, spears, axes to daggers. He lingered for a while to observe all these weapons, some of which were even in different colors with very nice patterns.

Apparently, he lingered too long in front of the stand, which was very original to him coming from another world, and he attracted the attention of the salesman who saw a newcomer like him looking at his stall and tried his luck.

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"Hello, dear sir, I see you're interested in my weapons," he said with a haughty air, "they are made by the best blacksmiths in town and the ones you're looking at so intently are made by Madame Sophia, the best sorceress in town," he said convincingly. Lewis didn't find it particularly interesting to have a sword or anything else right now, so he decided to decline.

"Hello, I'm sorry, but I'm just looking at your weapons. Although being the curious fellow that I am, I'm wondering why you don't use a gun against the whisperers, it would be much easier..." he said, holding his chin as he continued to look.

"Where have you been that you don't know that mankind's strongest weapons have been partially destroyed and could only kill E-rank creatures or scratch D-rank ones," the man said, giving him a curious look.

"I didn't mean to sound suspicious..." Lewis said, thinking hard about how to answer him, "Of course, I know that, but it was just a question to find out if you sell firearms here..." he said, making a disappointed face as if the man hadn't understood.

"None of that here, if you want trinkets go to Arold, he sells what he finds outside for a small price," the man said, completely changing his tone as he moved on to another customer.

"Arold then... who can that be," Lewis thought as he walked in the direction the man had indicated. From a distance, he saw a rather old man in his fifties with a stall full of dirty stuff and not many people around. As he approached, all he could see was a grandfather sitting on his deck chair reading some kind of newspaper.

"Hello," Lewis said, smiling in the direction of the man, who looked at him quizzically as he replied, "Hello, young man, are you interested in anything in my barn?" He said, putting down his newspaper and coming over to stand in front of Lewis with the stall between them.

"To be honest, I've just come to observe and chat, if you don't mind." Lewis told him frankly, not planning on spending money on these trinkets. "If you like, young man, I don't have much to do at my age," the man said, sounding like a real grandfather from Lewis's old world.

"I'd like to know what it's like out there, and also where you find all these treasures," Lewis embellished his words to make the old man proud. "Ah, you're interested in that? It's rare these days, it's nice to hear that my hobby won't disappear with me. For your information, all these antiques come from the expeditions I've been leading for over 20 years," the old man said, his eyes distant as he remembered his past.

"Expeditions? I've always known about conquests to help the city regain control of what was once ours..." Lewis said, looking at the trinkets.

"Oh, but you should know, because when you join the Association, you're obliged to do one to experience all the specialties it allows..." The old man looked at him, a little shocked that Lewis didn't know.

"You've got the wrong idea, I'm not a member of the Association, I'm just curious," Lewis said, laughing.

"Ah, I see. Let me give you some advice before you think about joining, because from what I can see it doesn't seem to be your thing unless you want to die on your first expedition," the old man said, winking at Lewis like a grandfather.

"Ah well, I'm not that bad at fighting, old man," Lewis said, a little hurt by what the man had just said, before the man replied, "I've been in this business for many decades, I can tell when someone has experience, and from what I can see, the whisperers will do nothing but bite you in the ass."

Lewis was a little embarrassed at first when the man hit his pride. "In truth, on closer inspection, it's true that I'm nothing in this world," he thought, a little sullenly.

"Hey young man, you have your whole life ahead of you! You have plenty of time, I'm sure you can be good if you give yourself the chance, believe me!" the old man said, trying to cheer him up.

"Thank you, old man, I'll be on my way," Lewis said, shaking his hand and heading towards his second destination.