-Radiant-

  It was the day after the future vision, and our group had finally made it out of the regional Dungeon and was currently nearing the entrance into the waystation.

  The size of the regional Dungeon we just came out of was massive when compared to Earth, considering the fact that we had hiked about 400 km or so since we met up, but when I commented on its size the group looked at me strangely and said that it was actually in the smaller size range. I was quite embarrassed by my lack of basic knowledge despite my many years of experience, but in my defense I had almost nothing to do with Dungeons in the past. At most I had gone through one or two normal Dungeons. Though that excluded Tribulation Dungeons (as those were their own category in my mind), and the few normal Dungeons I had gone through weren’t Regional Dungeons.

  This just highlighted for me the unfortunate cost of my past life’s unhealthy obsession with Time Magic. But now it was going to be different! …Or it would’ve been if I hadn’t received that ominous future message. Now I had to somehow avoid the seemingly inevitable arrival of a decidedly unfriendly deity, as well as keep up a secret identity against the unending surveillance of the government, and those two things didn’t seem to mesh well with the plan to live a stress free life of exploration.

  But, according to the handy dandy manual from the future, I didn’t need to worry about the god/goddess coming after me for at least a week. So I decided to focus on the present and my current situation, rather than stress about things I didn’t know.

  That led me to look through the future manual for some kind of advice on what to do. And wouldn’t you know it, while looking through the future manual, I found that there was an assigned task, which was to explore the Western side of the waystation we were currently traveling to. All of the other directions of the waystation had apparently been explored already, and it had been found that nothing was worth going out of my way for in any of those other directions. That meant that it was my task to pioneer the Western side and get lost in exploration.

  As I was caught up in my own internal musings, Kané spoke up, “So are we going to go over the plan to get Mr. Noble here into the city?”

  We were nearing the gate with the guards now, and Minex responded, “Of course, but I was thinking that we could do that after we got into the waystation. Maybe sit down in a café and talk over some food.”

  The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement, but I spoke up, “Well, while you guys are doing that, I think I’ll explore a little bit.”

  They all seemed surprised, and Minex asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to be there for the conversation? What if we decide on something that you’re uncomfortable with?”

  I shook my head, “I’m not worried. You guys don’t seem like the types to take advantage of someone that’s down on their luck.”

  They all seemed to straighten up a bit at this praise, but in reality I didn’t really trust them because of anything I myself had observed. I mostly said this because the future message already told me what they would be talking about, and as such there was no need for me to be there for the conversation. It was much more efficient to use this time to explore a new area.

  “Well if that’s the case then we won’t stop you. Just make sure to meet up at… let’s say the center square, at three o’ clock.”

  I nodded, “No problem, sounds like a plan.”

  We got into the Waystation easily, since the guards at the gate were there to defend the gates, not stop people from going in or out. And even though the guards checked the group and found an extra person, they didn’t pay me any mind and just waved us through into the waystation. Hopefully that meant that everything in this beginning stage of my journey would be smooth sailing, though I didn’t want to tempt fate by saying it out loud.

  When we walked through the gate in order to get into the waystation, I could feel the currents of mana flowing through the wall and into the sky, and I could vaguely feel a magical barrier curving up into a dome; probably to keep aerial creatures from picking up snacks. Once we got inside, looking around, the waystation was almost like a mini city, with many different businesses and housing.

  In addition to the buildings, I was surprised to see a large variety of races walking around. There were Beastmen and Beastkin, Elves and Aeth, and even a few Demons walking around.

  The surprise must’ve shown on my face, because Yesemio asked, “Surprising?”

  “Huh?”

  She said, “Well you just looked surprised as you looked around at everything.”

  I nodded, “Ah, yes, I guess I was surprised. Tallen doesn’t usually have such a wide diversity of people.”

  She took on a contemplative look, “Mmm, you’re right, but I guess adventuring tends to draw in the more fringe types of people.”

  “Huh, I would’ve thought that adventuring was something that everyone would do equally, considering the fact that it’s an occupation with a wide diversity of skill sets.”

  Minex looked over after hearing our conversation, and said with a look of pity, “Hah, no. Most people don’t really see the need to risk their lives doing an Adventurer's work. Most people just go through the bare minimum necessary for living life.”

  I said, “Hmm, you know, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve seen many Humans older than 200.”

  Minex said, “Yep, most Humans are content with living a peaceful and simple life and dying at a ripe old age of around 200, rather than risking their lives to possibly live longer. And there are a large variety of reasons why other races might feel the desire to become an Adventurer, but I think the biggest reason is that it pays a lot of money.”

  Yesemio shook her head, “No, while I do agree that it pays a lot, I personally think that they become Adventurers for the community.”

  I said, “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

  Mage cut into the conversation, “Let’s put this conversation aside for now. We need to talk about the details of our getting you into Tri-Heart City while we’re here, and you said you wanted to explore right? Well we’ll all go to a café and meet back up at three.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  I said, “Sounds good to me.”

  Mage was right, I had a task to get done. So we went our separate ways, which meant that I was on my way to the West side of the Waystation. Hopefully there will be something interesting in this last corner of the Waystation, otherwise this time would be better spent going over the future message.

  -Break-

  Walking through the main streets of the Waystation, I couldn’t help but notice that this was more like a sub-city. There were all kinds of businesses and establishments, with all sorts of people walking around and interacting. The only thing that differentiated it from a normal city was the fact that there weren’t any children to be seen. I guess it made sense, considering its proximity to a veritable danger zone, but it made the atmosphere of the place feel serious with a hint of danger beneath the surface.

  This hint of danger was part of the reason that I was wandering around the main streets. If I were in a real time loop situation (according to my own arbitrary definition), then I wouldn’t have to give any thought to my safety, but my situation wasn’t as freeing as a real time loop.

  I still have to be careful and discreet. If I were to accidentally get caught up in a dangerous situation and die, then that would still be the end.

  Not only death, but I also had to be wary of my identity and activities as well. My identity because if I was caught by the government, then I was unsure of if I would ever escape again. And keeping watch of my activity was just as, if not more, important than my identity, since I had to limit the amount of Karmic weight I had; just in case I failed and ended up needing to send back another future message.

  And all that would be made so much easier once I had a secure identity. There were various reasons why having a secure identity would decrease my Karmic weight gain, but the biggest reason was because other people’s reactions to me would be filtered through the fake, but secure, identity. The details were somewhat complicated, but the most important thing to understand was that the more real the fake identity was, the more Karmic weight would be absorbed by the fake identity rather than myself.

  So I needed to obtain a secure identity as soon as possible. Though that would have to wait until I was in Tri-Heart City, hence my current wandering while waiting for the appointed time to leave for the meetup.

  I wasn’t exactly certain what it was I was looking for as I explored the streets, but I was enjoying the sights, smells, and sounds of being in a place with lots of people once again. It was calming, and comfortably distracting, allowing me the time to decompress and take in everything that was happening to me.

  A few hours into my baseless wandering and listless thoughts, I eventually came to stand in front of a large and intricately decorated building, which I could immediately tell was a temple of the gods with all of its religious symbols and decorations.

  It wouldn’t be too long until I needed to head back to the center of the waystation to meet back up with the group before we left. So I decided to take a break and just lean against a building across the street from the temple. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh as I looked across the street with a complicated look on my face.

  My calming journey through the waystation had allowed me some free time to think and go over some of the future message while I was walking, and I was also curious to look through the logs of the previous explorations through this waystation that had taken place. While looking through these logs, I came to understand that the task of exploring the waystation was just a ruse to get me to take in my situation and come to terms with the future message and its complications before heading into the city, and it had done just that.

  Nearing the end of my journey through the waystation, I had gotten over the mental dissonance and disconnected feeling I was having since yesterday, and finally felt ready to tackle the upcoming problems and challenges. After all, I had essentially already gone through them multiple times.

  Though the other content contained in the future message also helped boost my confidence immensely. There were so many different things that my past selves had researched and discovered over their loops before being captured, and now it was all in my hands waiting to be devoured and integrated.

  Just thinking about all the ways to increase my strength is giving me goosebumps.

  However, just because I was ready to tackle my problems didn’t mean I was going to do everything possible to improve my strength.

  For example, walking into the temple in front of me to get a Class. Maybe if I didn’t know about the mark on my soul I would’ve walked right in and gotten a Class in order to increase my strength. And I could imagine that Radiant zero must’ve done exactly that before even heading into the city.

  Which, thinking about it now, is probably why the Western side of the waystation was left for last to explore.

  As I was going through these thoughts, someone in a dark cloak hiding their figure came up alongside me. Obviously I was wary of such a mysterious character, but we were in a public place with lots of people around, so there wasn’t a reason to be too wary of them… But just in case, I fired off a simple divination spell to confirm whether or not the mysterious figure was hostile towards me. Thankfully, they weren’t.

  However, they had some sort of countermeasure that made my divination come back with an overload of useless information, and if it wasn’t for my ability to deal with overloads of information I wouldn’t have gotten anything from any divination directed towards the mysterious figure.

  But the overload of information wasn’t a problem for me, and with my successful divination I didn’t feel threatened by the mysterious figure, and just let them stand there looking at me while I calmly stared back at them with a questioning look.

  A modified sounding voice came from the dark hood saying, “Hmm, good wizard sir, you wouldn’t happen to be Classless would you?”

  This wasn’t at all what I was expecting them to say, and I was caught off guard by their blunt question, so I didn’t immediately respond.

  “Hehe, don’t be so shocked, good wizard sir. I happen to have a good eye for these sorts of things, and I just happened to notice you while walking by and had the urge to ask.”

  I hurriedly regained some of my composure, “And what’s it to you?”

  They raised their arms up in a placating gesture, though their large sleeves hid anything that would give away any of their features, “Now, don’t be so defensive, I was just curious as to the reason. A Human such as yourself going without a Class is very rare indeed.” Their hood turned to look over at the temple, “Not to mention the fact that a Classless person is standing here looking at a god’s temple with such a disdainful look on their face.”

  I didn’t realize my look was so jaded, but I said, “Listen, I try not to discriminate based on appearances, but you’re giving off a sort of shady vibe. So if you’re wanting me to talk to you then I’m not currently feeling like I should.”

  “A cautious one, I like that.” They nodded, “To answer your doubts, I would say that I’m part of a group of people that are somewhat opposed to some of the gods around here. I’m not saying we’re opposed to all gods, but to say just a little, there are some things that should be changed in regards to some of them, if you know what I mean.”

  “Well, I can’t say I’m opposed to your words.” I scratched my head in contemplation, “But I’m afraid that I’ve got to catch a train back to the city soon, and I need to meet up with some people in the center square before then. I regret not having more time, but maybe we could talk some more if we were to meet again.”

  “Ah, I wouldn’t want to keep you from your schedule, good wizard sir. But if you would wait just a moment I can give you something that would help you get in contact with me.” Seeing that I didn’t say anything to the contrary, they reached into their cloak and pulled out a pen and small notepad and started writing something on it. After quickly writing, they ripped out the paper and handed it to me saying, “If you’re interested in meeting up and talking some more, then just follow these instructions. If anyone asks, just tell them that you’re looking for DarkStar. If you tell them that then they’ll be able to get you into contact with me.”

  I took the paper and glanced at the list of instructions on it, and was about to tell the person goodbye, but when I looked up they were nowhere to be seen.

  I raised my eyebrow, “What a strange person.”

  I shrugged as I put the paper into my spatial bag where it led into my Internal World. Maybe I might look for them in the future, but for now I put the strange conversation aside and started my walk towards the center square.