As Duncan came out of the ‘Fine diamond jewelry’ store he quickly checked his time off and saw he still had approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes left. He googled for his bank and found they had an office 15 minutes away from him.

“It should be enough time,” he said and started walking according to googles direction.

The walk through the crowds went without incidents and he soon came to his destination. The office was open but there was a crowd and he waited around 20 minutes before he could deposit his money. He decided to deposit 6 thousand and keep the rest on hand for any emergencies. He stuffed the 1500 dollars together in an envelope in his thigh pocket and started walking back.

As he left the bank, he directly transferred those 6 thousand to his mother from his bank app. Soon he made his way back to the bus stop through the crowd. Duncan, unfortunately, missed the bus by a few minutes and had to wait for almost half an hour for the next one, which went in his desired direction.

Being on a time limit was a new experience for Duncan. He had jobs before but there was no deadline involved. You were frowned upon if you moved slowly but as long as the job was done, nobody cared if you had to stay a bit longer to do it. The paycheck didn’t reflect it for sure.

Duncan sat down at the bus stop on a metal bench and took out his mobile phone. He decided to do some observing until the bus came. Checking the battery, he was still at thirty percent and it should hold out for another couple of hours until he was home.

Finding a movie clip, he clicked on it and started watching with Observe activated. The people passing by slowed down but Duncan’s eyes were glued to the screen. With the speedup function, the video was playing at almost a natural speed. Soon he was finished and got another level up for Acting raising it to 4. He checked the time and he still had plenty.

Of all the skills he already had only Swordsmanship was below level 4 so he opened another short Kendo fight since he knew it would work and started it. Soon that too leveled to level 4. He didn’t dare to open another one for fear he will miss the bus.

The bus finally came and Duncan climbed aboard paid with his mobile app and took his seat. It was surprisingly not crowded since most people were still at work. He watched another Kendo video clip and it popped a Learn prompt up but no level-ups before he went off.

Checking the time, he had 54 minutes left and he hurried to the bus that will take him near his home. The bus was not there yet but according to the schedule it should be arriving shortly and Duncan impatiently awaited looking at his mobile phone.

As it came Duncan once again boarded it and was lucky enough to score a seat. Looking at his time left he had 46 minutes left and just around 20 minutes to reach his home.

Feeling the time constraint, he looked over at what he should Observe. There were so many choices his head hurt as he reasoned about what to choose. After a few minutes, he decided on a short Mathematics video and started it, and activated Observe. It was a 6-minute video explaining integrals. Duncan watched it in slow motion as a shadow approached him and sat beside him bumping his hand which pressed the smartphone’s next button.

To make matters worse for Duncan it was a long video called 100 integrals uncut which lasted 5 hours. He watched with terror unable to abort the Observe skill as he slowly drove on the bus. Watching integral after integral being slowly solved as his time on Earth was ticking away.

After what felt like forever, he woke up in his bed at Wazsh’s place.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. How could I have been so stupid?”

“90 minutes and I can go back, only around 6 minutes will pass, only 6 minutes,” he mumbled as he clutched his head.

Then he remembered and yelled, “-BLEEP- I need to stay here for the whole day to get one hour,” while still twitching from electricity he checked his time off and it was as he feared at zero.

Pacing around his room, he breathed in deeply.

“I will get robbed for sure,” he told himself.

“Maybe the driver or some other good person notices me drooling on the window,” he shouted and clutched his head.

He checked the notification he got from the system and it was about learning Mathematics. He clicked yes even though he wanted to click no out of spite.

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“Oh, Duncan you can finally do Integrals, you fulfilled your only regret in life, dumbass!” he thought as he closed the window informing him his intelligence went up by 0.1 stat points.

“The irony of my intelligence going up by 0.1 stat points is not lost on me. If I had been smarter, I would not have started the Observe skill with a crowd present. Or maybe that would be Wisdom,” he lamented his mistake.

“At least I am not dead yet, positive thoughts,” Duncan said as he slapped his knees and made himself stand up from the bed.

He skipped the toothbrush even though his teeth felt like a rainforest has grown on them and went right downstairs.

“Wazsh, where are you?” Duncan shouted.

“In the garden, what’s up?” Wazsh was heard shouting back.

Duncan rushed to the garden and saw Wazsh pruning some weeds from a patch of vegetables that looked like cabbage.

“Is there a way for me to return back to Earth sooner?” Duncan said in a rush.

Wazsh looked at him before asking, “What did you do?”

“I returned here while riding a bus and I have no time off left,” Duncan replied.

“I don’t see the problem,” Wazsh said after a while.

“This is not the 60s when people in the cities left their houses unlocked,” Duncan explained with frustration.

“Well, you are still here, so you are still alive,” Wazsh responded beaming with positivity and a smile.

Duncan rolled his eyes before he once again asked with a loud voice, “Is there a way for me to go back sooner.”

“Not that I know off,” Wazsh replied and started pruning his cabbage patch again.

Duncan took a couple of big breaths and paced around the garden as he watched Wazsh.

“I am sure what you are doing now won’t help,” Wazsh said after a while.

Duncan stopped and stared at him.

“I told you to be careful with that skill,” Wazsh added.

“-BLEEP- you Wazsh,” Duncan said and went back into the kitchen.

Duncan knew he brought this on himself but he felt helpless in fixing it. Only time would help him out. He needed to get busy and make the time pass faster so he went upstairs.

He laid back on his bed and opened another book from the pile. He read the bestiary vol.5 and gained an upgrade to Reading and Learn. Identify stayed the same this time. Checking the time, he saw that 50 minutes have passed.

“Around 27 hours to go,” he mumbled before picking up vol.6 and started reading. This time Identify leveled and the other two stayed the same. His head hurt a little and he decided to take a break. Then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and contemplate his life’s choices. He flushed them down the toilet.

“26 hours to go,” he said as he picked up vol.7. Reading it no skill leveled up. Duncan noticed the books were getting thinner and the information scarcer the higher up the volumes he went.

Volumes 8, 9, and 10 followed and his Reading, Identify and Learn skills leveled up again. Duncan’s headache leveled up immensely also.

He lifted himself off his bed as he felt his heartbeat throbbing in his head. Checking the time, he had 23 hours to go before he got one hour.

He walked like a zombie downstairs and saw Wazsh cooking.

“Here have, some cabbage with venison,” Wazsh said when he noticed him then he poured a thick stew into a bowl and served him in the kitchen.

“I am sorry Wazsh,” Duncan said as he sat down.

“Don’t be. I know how it is to worry about things you can’t control. I did that for about a century. Pretty much immune to it by now,” Wazsh replied with a smile.

“I feel like an idiot,” Duncan replied.

“I won’t dispute that,” Wazsh said with a laugh and went to get himself a bowl also.

“Worry about things you can change and do better next time,” Wazsh said and Duncan nodded.

“Now eat your damn vegetables before they get cold,” he quickly added and spoiled the mood.

After they ate Duncan was feeling much better. He remembered that his body here was almost 3 days without food or water because of the time difference. He was too concerned over what was happening on Earth that he didn’t even notice he was thirsty and starving here.

“Can I have a beer?” he asked Wazsh.

“Sure, anything for my favorite customer,” Wazsh replied and produced a beer.

Duncan rolled his eyes, “Don’t take your mind games too far Wazsh. By the way, where do you get your beers and wine from.”

“Alright. I thought it might brighten you up. As for the booze I get it from my employers. They automatically replenish. Don’t ask me how because I have no idea. I have one beer in my inventory and I can take it out infinitely. The same thing happens with the wine and all the other items on offer here,” Wazsh explained.

“You have more things to offer?” Duncan said.

“Anything you might find to drink in a bar in the 1960s,” Wazsh replied as he nodded.

“Why do you then only serve one type of beer and wine?” Duncan asked.

Wazsh looked at him like he was looking at an idiot, “Why would I make my life harder?”