"There's the money for the gig." Shura put a pouch of shinecoins on the table.
Adam took it and tossed the pouch up and down in his hand a couple of tis, and then nodded.
"You aren't planning on counting the coins?" Shura asked with a smirk.
"I already did." Adam stored the pouch's contents at his interface and closed it imdiately afterwards.
He then rose from his seat, bid farewell to her, and headed to the door.
"If you're interested, there's a Mad Marbles tournant happening by nightfall." Shura said. "The prizepool is at 10,000 shinecoins. The entrance fee is 1,000."
Adam glanced at her and then opened the door. "I'll have to pass. I am not that good at that ga; I would just waste my ti."
"Alright, but if you change your mind-nightfall." Shura then returned to her paperwork. After leaving her office slightly richer, he went to check the quest board briefly, but it looked like all the interesting quests had been taken as there were only so minor fetch quests left.
Since there weren't any quests for him, he left the tavern and waltzed through the bustling city square while trying to find out sothing to do.
He then noticed sothing that took away his attention-around a fountain of shimring water, sitting cross-legged on mats while a bald-headed monk preached about sothing. 'A ditation session?' Adam looked interested and approached the sight.
The nearby pedestrians avoided the area, knowing that it would bring bad fortune if they bothered with anyone's ditation.
There was one empty mat, and Adam decided to sit on it, crossing his legs..
"Welco, young one." The bald-headed man approached him, his hands hidden by the sleeves of his orange robe.
"Hello." Adam replied and lowered his head slightly to bow.
"Are you aware of the art of ditation?" he asked. "I can teach you if you don't."
"I know." Adam said. "Is this ditation boosted by sothing?"
"Yes, young one." The bald-headed monk revealed an amulet. "Amulet of Golden Buddha. It increases the efficiency of your ditation by fifty percent."
"Okay, are you a wandering monk?" Adam asked while closing his eyes.
"Yes. Yes, I am," the monk replied. "I'll be gone by tomorrow. I'll continue my journey to spread wisdom and peace."
"Mm..." Adam nodded and then entered deep into ditation.
He asked such questions because the wandering monks had the ability of increasing the effects of ditation.
The ditation helped to calm one down, enhancing their focus and clarity of mind. However, it also helped with Kiryoku and Magick, which was Adam's main focus for now. 'With this ditation enhancent, I can push both of them closer to the third level.' In his mind, the waves of the lake cald down, mirroring his own internal state. However, slowly, yet steadily, the lake started to grow bigger as if there were a waterfall nearby, filling the space with its roaring sound.
At the sa ti, his mind began to expand and open up to new possibilities.
While using his Kiryoku now, he was able to feel the auras of hundreds of people near him, but slowly, he started to be able to sense the emotions and intentions behind each aura.
Slowly, the amount of aura's he was able to sense went from hundred to two hundred, then three hundred, and four hundred.
He was nearing the third level at rapid speed!
However, at that mont, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and his eyes popped up.
"Young one, what a deep ditation..." The monk was impressed.
He hadn't seen anyone other than monks being in such a deep state that they would be blind to the surroundings.
Adam, surprised, saw that the sky was dark and the street lamps were already lit up.
The city square looked empty as there were only a few pedestrians moving by.
"How long was I ditating?" Adam asked.
"Ten hours," the monk said. "I am sorry that I had to stop you, but in your current state, if I hadn't, you might've continued ditating for days."
"It's fine..." Adam stood up from the mat, bowed, and then started heading back to the rcenary Street.
He could feel that his Kiryoku and Magick had improved, but there was one more leap he had to take before reaching the third level.
However, he could feel that he was closer than ever before.
'Even I am impressed by my current rate of improvent. In my past life, I was stuck in the second level of Kiryoku and the third level of Magick, yet I am about to surpass myself in Kiryoku and reach my previous peak in Magick.'
Adam never thought of himself as a genius, but he was able to reach great lengths with his re C-ranked score in his past life.
No one thought he would reach as far as he did, but he did, and it looked like he could've reached even greater lengths if he hadn't died.
Now, his speed of improvent made him excited but also made him wonder.
How was he able to learn them so easily?
He was expecting a bottleneck, but it never ca-it was like his level of talent had increased with his regression.
While training in his past life, he always arrived at the bottleneck after bottleneck. It was why he stopped properly training Kiryoku, as he couldn't break through the bottleneck.
Now there hadn't been any bottlenecks!
'I heard that S-rankers rarely ca across bottlenecks.' Adam walked down the dimly lit streets and chuckled. 'I do look like a real S-ranker, don't I?'
...
With the computer screen glowing in front of him, Adam used the mouse and browsed through the internet.
After finishing his ditation session, he returned to Crimson Hounds headquarters and logged out before Alia again visited his room.
He knew that she was planning to do so, as when he returned to the headquarters, he found Knoxx, Alia, and the rest playing so cards.
When he caught Alia's gaze, he felt a chill run down his back, and he believed that she was
going to try sothing again.
Thus, he ran away back to the real world.
'Gang war raging in Red Thread... Monstrym's borders closed because of epidemic... Oldland's military on high alert... What a ss.'
Adam read through so of the news stories that were circling in the dark web, and when he read through them, he felt like the world was indeed a dangerous place.
The dark web mostly consisted of news about warfare, political unrest, and other negative
events happening around the world.
Knock, knock.
Adam clicked off the dark web and opened the door to find Alice standing there with a smile
on her face.
"Alice, what's up?"
"I saw light coming from under your door and heard a mouse clicking." Alice curiously peeked towards the computer. "Are you busy?"
"Not at the mont, what's wrong?" Adam let her in his room, which was pretty crowded because of the VR pod by the corner that took quite a bit of space.
Alice nervously fidgeted her fingers and said, "Tomorrow is a school sports day, and parents are at work tomorrow, so they can't co, but I was wondering if you want to co."
"Hmm, what do I need to do there?" Adam asked out of curiosity.
"There're so events that are team-oriented, and I need soone to participate with, if you
want to."
"Mm..." Adam nodded. "It sounds like fun; count in."
Alice's face bead with excitent, and after reminding him to wake up early, she left to
prepare for tomorrow.
Adam collapsed on his bed, and murmured. "Sports, huh."
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