Chapter 4

Looking at his information, Seth was reminded of the games he used to play before all this, `damn those were easy times,` thought Seth.

Here though, he knew he was in danger. Seth felt that black aura by now and so he quickly retrieved his hand and made his way to the back entrance. People's eyes looked up in indignation at this fiend but dared not even try to stand as they felt the pressure of a giant stamping on their backs.

Making his way out of the chamber the surroundings were surprisingly calm, It seemed that none of the aura had leaked out of the room and so after looking at the lax guards standing by the gate, Seth rapidly made his way through the Asylum and out the back gate.

Knowing that time was running low before the guards noticed and thinking on his feet, he saw his parents in the crowd of carriages roaming around the back gate. His parents were looking for him, but, with a heavy heart and a sigh of resignation, he ran into a crowded area and sneaked away.

`No looking back now` Whatever happened at the awakening centre was going to cause a ruckus and dragging his parents into that mess was the last thing Seth wanted to do.

His mind ached, and his soul felt tired as he plundered his mind of any useful thought to think of a way out of this dreaded situation.

His eyes flew around the busy area as families reunited and made their way home. According to his pre-made plan, Seth decided to hitch a ride with a leaving carriage.

With a crooked wooden door and flimsy wheels, this carriage had little to no protection, this carriage was one of the worst Seth had seen but, thinking he had little choice in the matter, he walked up to the carriage and asked the driver if he could hitch a ride.

"Sure, but no trouble, or else I'll chuck you off."

This was a ferry* for the poor and a city/town-run transport system to and from the awakening area, it cost nothing and had extremely lax security. Add that to it being used by every poor person made Seth, a middle-class citizen, look out of place.

So, as he stood board and 20 eyes of young adults surrounded him, Seth felt the pressure that he just renounced. As he rummaged his way to the back, he asked a roughed-up youth if he wanted to trade clothing.

The youth looked shocked but then immediately agreed: he could sell this kit for at least 10 silver looking at the spotless fabric, he scrubbed away his doubts and took Seth's clothes with extreme swiftness.

Children with either no parental support or just extremely poor citizens were the main users of this system, and all looked for money desperately, They barely ate so after this person swapped clothes, he didn't even wear them and instead opted to shove them in a bag of sorts, assumably so he could sell it for more later.

These children were the outcasts, the poor, and whilst they all looked hopeful for the future, they mostly were going to stay poor.

Money and exp went hand in hand, except for adventuring.

His family did not even think of doing this, they were a utility-based village and did not have access to any dungeons or anything of the sort, but that was the well-known method of getting out of poverty: to stake your life in an adventure.

Adventurers were some of the highest levelled people to ever exist as they killed enemies to gain experience, this came at the cost of having the highest death count by an absolute landslide. Called meat grinders by a few; dungeons were areas of high mana concentration that were controlled by a speck of divinity called a dungeon core.

Here, in their own domain, they grew fantastical fruits and to protect these treasures the dungeons had defenders that fended off attackers. This was how this world worked and was the main difference between Seth's old world to this new one. Seth looked for when these Dungeons appeared to see if this was a future earth or something but found maps that looked nothing like Earth so gave up on that thought.

When Seth was younger, and he heard of all this he thought he was dreaming but reality came and went as does the tide of an ocean. Yet in this deep sea, ripples of excitement carried waves of anticipation for when Seth would unlock mana and could use it for his own. Though this would be much later in the future, when he hit level 25 and received an evolved class, he still could hardly wait.

Seth smiled at the thought of using magic to steal, but for now, he practised moving his hands as his latent ability activated and they moved like lightning, `This, this was going to be fun` thought a grinning Seth.

With new clothes and a smile, Seth sat down on a crooked bench on the carriage. Feeling the bumps of the road made Seth regret his actions for a bit, his old carriage was a rank 6 object* made by his father himself, so it barely moved when it hit a massive bump, this was the magic of high-class equipment.

Regret and guilt made Seth much more uncomfortable than the bumpy ride and whilst his mind was in a maelstrom, he heard something he dreaded far more than that.

"Pull over! The Order has to inspect this carriage for signs of the Demon!" This booming voice echoed throughout the carriage and whilst most kids looked annoyed, Seth was practically shivering in fear.

Thinking fast Seth's mind came to looking for a solution, and he knew what he needed to do. Stealing an identification necklace, looking around he scanned his potential prey and fixed his eyes on the kid he swapped his clothes with.

Walking up to him whilst the carriage was pulling over, he asked the person, "Yo dude can I check my clothes really quick, for the necklace, I think I left it in there."

Thinking his reason was acceptable the guy opened his bag and chucked Seth the clothes, not before reminding him "Sure, but no takebacks. Those clothes are mine!"

Dashing his morals in favour of survival Seth checked the pockets for the identity necklace that was unsurprisingly not there.

"Shit, it's not here. Can I check your bag to see if it fell out, please dude I don't want to get into unnecessary trouble with the Order." Seth pleaded with his mark with eyes full of innocence and maybe because he was lucky, or maybe because the guy was dumb, Seth gained entry.

Looking through the sack, Seth found food and water for one, that was it. `Damn` thought Seth. He had thought the guy might have left it in there, but it seemed his target wasn't that dumb.

Seth's mind fell into overdrive as the carriage slowed to a halt, but right as the carriage was about to push on its breaks Seth had flashbacks of his time on the metro and when the train stopped moving quickly, everyone was pushed backwards. Thinking of this he quickly positioned himself to fall in the direction of the guy.

The breaks weren't hit, because it was a horse-pulled carriage and breaking would damage the horses but they did feel a drop in acceleration so Seth feigned a slip. But, as Seth was falling, he found himself falling closer to the mark, in less than 2 seconds, he found himself to have fallen onto the boy.

"Argh, sorry mate. I fell on yah and you seem to have hit your head. This should fix it". Seth's swift hands dipped into his pockets as they produced his staple medicinal products, `damn these things are handy in a pinch` Seth thoughts as his hands moved towards the target's head.

Feeling around the guy's head with a medicine-covered cloth, he covered the target's head as though he was applying medicine and, whilst he was distracted, Seth's hands slipped into the guy's jacket's pocket and out came... nothing.

Looking with more enthusiasm, he activated his latent ability to its maximum, his hands moved like spectres as they rummaged through the poor lad's pockets.

"Oi stop blocking mi view." The kid said as his hands moved to take off the cloth that Seth kept pressed against his forehead with the bottom falling below his eyes.

With milliseconds left, Seth's hands moved at untold speed until he finally found it, the necklace!

Moving it into his pockets, Seth took a deep breath. He had done it. Taking the cloth away Seth took the appearance of resignation as he moved away from the guy, not forgetting to hand back his clothes.

The kid, mildly annoyed, shook his head but grinned on impulse seeing the silvery clothing enter his sack.

"Oi everyone get out and stand in line." Said the Coachman, after he had a little chat with the Knight.

Lining up like lambs for the slaughter, the kids shuffled along until a neat line of 21 was present in a field.

The Knight was a large beer-bellied man. A large hunk of iron was hung over his shoulder, and its blade thirsted for blood. Yet, for some strange reason, his eyes were a beautiful shade of green and whether Seth knew it or not, he let down his guard a bit seeing such contrasting images.

"Alright!" Said the Knight, "I have been sent a notice that a Demon has awakened in the local awakening centre. For those who don't know what that is, it's essentially a really evil person with about any class known to man so we could be talking about a King or even a demonic Cleaner." Laughing at his joke, the mood settled, and people became more light-hearted.

"Now I'm sure none of you are the demon, I mean surely he would pick a higher-class cabin fitting for such a figure and I personally agree, these demons are known for their endless greed. So, think of this as a procedure. Now get ready as I check your ID necklaces."

Moving from person to person they took out their badges and he looked up and down and nodded in approval, those that passed went back to the carriage.

Seth was at the back of the carriage so was at the end of the line, his target was earlier in the queue but luckily, he did not seem to check if he still had the ID necklace, probably assuring himself that he still had it.

The Knight moved from person to person as he checked the ID necklace and moved on. Seth's mind during this was even more stressed as he thought of how to get out of this situation. `What was he checking` was the main goal he needed to answer but no obvious answer came.

Photographs weren't a thing so the only thing in the ID was the name and a fingerprint, so he checked the name and found it to be Isaac.

Finally, the Knight came to Isaac, and he moved to get his necklace out when he noticed it wasn't there.

The Knight saw this and smirked slightly as his hands moved like thunder and right when Isaac was about to say he couldn't find it, his head was already in the field next to them. His headless body dropped, and the Knight said amply, "Did I not tell you to come prepared, stupid peasants? I was being so nice as well. Though I must admit the experience was a nice gift, now you better be ready, or you'll be next."

The Knight grinned far too much as his facial muscles twisted into an inhuman smile.