After visiting the cafe known as Cream’s Edge, the next hotspot I was going to was a restaurant called Horizon- and yes, I am doing this to simply eat food because who wouldn’t want to? - but before I go there and eat a meal, I decided to run around the city for a bit to you know, sightsee and stuff, see how everyone is doing.

All the while holding and eating a bag of chocolate donuts, which honestly is very, very delicious, I really need to compliment the guy who made this when I eventually go back to Cream’s Edge or something.

For now though, I’ll stick to enjoying these circular, tasty food- also, I kinda forgot to give my compliments to the chef (maybe he’s a baker?) when I was leaving that cafe… but I’m not mostly at fault of course- okay, maybe I am mostly at fault since I didn’t really bother with doing anything else other than focus on the donuts when I was leaving the cafe…

Moving on-

I gulped down my latte before sliding another donut into the mouth of my paper bag.

I started walking down the streets of Everlast without so much as a care in this half-frozen world- honestly ever since I found out that most of the people looking at me were doing it because they think I’m cool I’ve decided that shame shouldn’t be my reaction to all this and after getting approached five times by groups of people in the first few minutes of leaving Cream’s Edge, I decided that these guys weren’t so bad- but also very annoying.

Right now, no one is approaching me thanks to me using Maximum Speed to blitz past them before they can even react or do anything about my presence, which, even when I’m taking a leisurely walk across the street, in the eyes of the typical person; I’m nothing more than a white blur that briefly passes them by.

I finished another one of my donuts and after taking another chug of my coffee; decided to sit down on a nearby bench on the side of the road and just watch the semi-frozen world move past me.

I say semi-frozen because everyone still manages to move from my perspective, but they’re so slow that they might as well be snails compared to me, the carriages and the animals pulling them were a tad bit faster but not by much.

This gave me enough time to look around the place and appreciate the city that’s under my family’s rule, Everlast isn’t exactly what most people would call beautiful- the city is after all, more industrialized than natural, with houses and other human comforts instead of plants and trees, - but even then, there’s something about it that attracts my attention; it could be the fact that the city is perpetually clean and so is appealing to look at, or maybe it’s the aesthetic of the greco roman houses mixed with modern day architecture that made it look good, or maybe it’s even the various technology and the people using them.

There’s honestly no real reason why it’s beautiful to me; it just is.

Everlast is beautiful- it’s also good, nice, and comfortable: a lot of words can be used to describe this city but in the end, none of them capture the… feel of humanity’s greatest bastion, the last stand against the Demons.

Of a city found amidst clouds.

Shaking my head- honestly, I’m getting a bit nostalgic and sentimental about all this, must be all the sugar I’ve been eating, - I put another donut in the mouth of my paper bag and bit out a large chunk out of it, then I washed it down with my latte until the cup was empty before throwing the now useless paper cup on a trashcan to the side of the bench.

Another bite out of my donut later and I got up and started making my way downtown.

At some point, I turned a street corner and noticed something on the glass window of one of the shops found across the city- the store was one of the smaller ones and what it sells are clocks, most of them regular, circle-shaped, clocks that come in a myriad of forms, some looked as though they had vines wrapping around the edges of their earthen colored body, with a root of them dangling at the bottom like a beard, others were artistically designed glass.

Each clock was unique in its own little way and they were so intricate that eyeing all of them barely got me to notice the two grandfather clocks standing on either end of the window, they towered over even me and their imposing presence gave off this strong feeling that made each clock between the two of them more… solid.

Protected.

But if the grandfather clocks barely got my attention- though they are nicely made, - then the clock at the center of everything was the object responsible for my-way-too-long window shopping, and what it is, is an hourglass filled with golden dust, which felt like it was letting out a hue of gold so strong that anyone would eventually find themselves staring at this thing should they decide to turn to this particular street corner.

It was a beautiful little item and I couldn’t stop staring at it. It also had an enchantment that told the person viewing it what time it was- and would you look at that, I just finished the first hour of my break… still not going back though, - but that wasn’t the best thing about the clock, personally speaking, I considered the small granules of gold slowly falling to the bottom as the best feature that this thing has.

I know that this is probably only true in my slowed down perspective but… it’s the most eye catching thing to me and the beautiful lines carved across the surface of the hourglass, nicely carved wood, and the tiny statuette of a golden phoenix held nothing to the slow falling granules of golden dust.

Pushing a strand of stray hair behind my ears, I eyed the hourglass with a small smile.

Drip.

A small series of golden dust would fall from the head of the hourglass and into the funnel at the center, then, due to time being slowed down, the dust starts to gather as it falls through the neck, coalescing into a thin cylinder of glittering gold before falling down and slowly, as the dust touches the open air, they begin to spread, others strike and bounce away from those too close to them, some simply parting due to the pull of gravity.

And then… they’d fall, landing on the bottom with a sound so inaudible, no one would be able to hear it.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

After looking at it for a while, I moved on and looked away from the hourglass.

Continuing my trek through the streets and moving downtown led me to pass various people, all in different states of emotion and expression that gets captured in this small, picture perfect moment that only I could see: People who were halfway through laughing, holding their bellies or wiping the corner of their eyes, people who were smiling as though what they heard was the best thing in the world or couples who listened in to one another sweetly.

For that last part; one had the girl resting her cheek on the back of her hand while staring affectionately with half lidded eyes full of mirth at the guy sitting in front of her, who had both his mouth half open and his hands raised animatedly. In between them were two plates of pancakes as well as a pair of juices, one orange and the other… strawberry.

Life- these people are living, and I want to keep things that way. I don’t want any of these men and women, children or old men to fall to the demonic horde and lose the safety of Everlast and start surviving in groups out in the wilds.

I’ll fix my mistake and keep these people safe- that is a promise that I have said to myself once and I’ll repeat it throughout the course of my life.

The last, notable thing I saw before I arrived downtown was this statue of a Hydrokith- a Nymph, - spewing water out of their mouth, water that was stranded in mid air, water that was forming tiny transparent globules that refused the pull of gravity.

I liked to think that the tiny blobs of water were glaring at the basin of water below, as if they were confused about why everything’s frozen.

Well it’s me! It was me who made you all fall so slow water droplets! Haha!

Villainous Neophyte strikes again!!!!

Anyways, the spectacle that were the water droplets only managed to entertain me for a good second or two before I eventually decided to move on from cupping them into my hands and moving them around the air to actually head into downtown proper.

And here is a bustling market full of stores of all kinds, there were no stalls here, just tiny, family owned businesses that had either rented out a store or purchased it for themselves.

Just like me, a lot of people were window shopping around here, though unlike me who could move freely, most of them were frozen in time; girls pointed at various storefronts and open windows in excitement, with some tugging on the sleeves of their boyfriend or fathers… question mark?

Some of the girls had old men as companions and I really hoped what I was seeing isn’t actually what I think it is- but everyone has lives of their own and they can do whatever they want with it so it’s fine.

I guess…

I stopped in front of a clothing store, one that had an open front instead of being covered by a glass window, walking forward, I entered and eyed all the clothes hanging on the racks and checked them out, I mean, I can always make my own clothes through my family’s factories and brands didn’t really exist here- well, they did, but those were for swords and enchanted stuff rather than clothes since they sell more, ingame the brands are translated as “attributes” that a weapon comes with, like Extra Damage or something. - so me window shopping for these things is kind of pointless but it’s the experience that counts damnit!

I checked out the last of the clothes and silently left, and I think there shouldn’t be a sudden burst of air that would pass around the place thanks to me running around it while it’s frozen… that usually never happens with Maximum Speed.

I am feeling a bit anxious though…

I decided to deactivate my Technique and sighed in relief when nothing bad happened- then I activated it again.

As my foot touched the streets once more, I wondered if I should actually buy something and then it hit me- I should totally buy something for my friends shouldn’t I? But what can I buy them that they’ll appreciate and use?

Training stuff?

Training stuff.

Okay, as it turns out, I didn’t actually know where to start with anything related to “training” out in downtown because back in the game, I usually got those in the mall, at a shop called “Hero’s Strength,” which sells equippable/wearable weights, a few vitamins which enhance stat growth depending on what kind of vitamin is drank, then there’s also the herbs, and I guess the drink that gives a temporary exp boost as well, which I don’t know how it’ll translate here since EXP don’t exist…

… or even if any of those are as effective as their game counterparts since real life doesn’t exactly have “instant” training stuff unless it’s hardcore drugs or something…

… I pursed my lips and paused in thought, should I just go ahead and go to the mall and buy those things there or something- no, nope, that’s a boring shopping experience and I am not gonna go to Hero’s Strength without checking out all the alternatives first!

And with that being said, I took a brave step forward into the unknown world called downtown.

“Huh, neat,” I found one, and it’s a shop that sold “growth herbs” or whatever.

All of which were available for me to see on the shop’s window, and I managed to recognize some of them, with a few even being something that I actually spammed harvest whenever I go into forests because of how useful they were as healing items- well, no, they only healed for like, 15 HP but they were very common, - and even herbs that can only be found on quests.

Nodding to myself, I looked up at the top of the store to see if they had a name and… the sign says Herbalist’s Needs, okay, noted, I’ll come back here if they sell good stuff- I stopped when I was about to enter the store, no one inside would actually be able to talk to me if I go in there with Maximum Speed activated right?..

Hm… but what can I do so that none of my fans disturb me while I buy stuff?

Let me see… I don’t think I can go back to Pledge Academy and get a change of clothes because it’s too far and also too tedious, enough that it’ll just ruin my mood when I do it so instead, I’ll go ruin the mood of someone else!

And that particular winner was a girl who I found sitting on a remote bench in a park, there’s no one around her and there were bushes to her right that I could hide on while I convince her that I was the real deal so uh, yeah, I think this is gonna go great.

I walked up to the bush, deactivated my Technique, and as the world went back to normal, I peeked my head out and started ‘psshing’ the girl-

“PSSTT!!!!” I called out to no success, okay, this is embarrassing but it’s for the disguise! “PSSSSStTTTTTTTTT!”

And that was it, the girl stopped feeding the ducks with the bread in her hand and turned to me, “What do yo- YOUR MAJESTY?!”

I flinched and looked around before placing my finger on top of my lips in a shushing motion, she slowly nodded and I gestured for her to come forward and she did, cautiously, “I’m the real Neophyte,” I said and she took a step back, I called my Pledge and showed it to her as proof and her cautious and fearful expression turned into one of happiness.

Okay, wow, doesn’t she know that other rapiers like mine exist out there in the world? Can’t believe that’s all it took to convince her, I was preparing to show my credit card as the final nail in the coffin but I guess this works too.

“I need your help,” I said and she nodded, conviction written on her face.

“Anything for you princess!” She said with a bow, “what do you need from me?”

“I want to buy your bag,” I said and that got her to blink.

“You mean my clothes?” She said and I nodded, “but why?”

“Well people are gonna notice me if I just walk around like this so I need a disguise, and wrapping myself around different clothes should do the trick,” I said.

“Well… I do have a cloak in there but I think it’ll only reach halfway through your body? You are pretty tall compared to me…” she mumbled.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” I waved her off.

Who cares?! That’s just double the disguise isn’t it?! People wouldn’t dare assume that I, Neophyte Astral Everlast will somehow be stupid enough to wear something so silly, nope, of course not, that’ll ruin their image of me and the girl who’s gonna be wearing that cloak that only reaches half her body? She’s not gonna be Neophyte, but some crazy girl with silver hair instead!

But maybe I should buy a wig too? But how do I prepare to wear one? Should I also get sunglasses? Maybe…

“Uhm,” she was reluctant and I decided to do what I’ve been planning to convince her- I showed her my gold and black credit card, “wait, you’re going with me to buy new clothes?”

Wait what? I was planning on letting her borrow- oh, I’m an idiot, who lets other people borrow their unlimited credit cards?

I’m so stupid.

Slowly, I nodded, “... yes,”

“Then okay!” The girl said happily before skipping over to her bench and proceeding to hand me her bag and after checking out the inside, what I saw was a cloak, a small T-shirt, and then finally, a pair of black pants.

Okay- okay, this is great, now I have my disguise, I shook off my clothes and started changing.

Also, if the girl- Mindy, as she’d introduce herself later, - was going to look at me with a red face while watching me change, then maybe she should’ve given me privacy and moved away from the bush?!

Now I’m also embarrassed!