One nap later, and I was out and about in the streets of Ftheran city. Everything was new and exciting, and I soaked in the sights like a sponge.

The first thing to hit me was the architecture: Defying the boxy, rectangular norms I was used to, the buildings which lined the streets were more free form and geometrically diverse.

While most of the roofs were domed, some of the walls curved in or out with others having divots, protrusions, and textures running across their length. Instead of lending the area a hectic or chaotic feeling, however, the features somehow all meshed together beautifully. It was as if the architects had optimized not for space efficiency or ease of construction, but simply to catch the eye instead.

Material-wise, the structures weren’t built from wood or bricks, but rather from the same continuous, smooth material I’d seen on arriving. Color-wise, there was a large variance amongst the buildings, but the dominant palette seemed to consist of dark tones alongside a deep, emerald green.

Even the road I stood on was foreign to me. Instead of the standard dirt or cobblestone that I’d expected, it was paved with a gray substance that was laid out like snake skin. The material had a bit of grip to it, almost rubbery in a way, but was hard enough that I could hear a clack each time I brought my foot down.

Between the buildings, people rushed about, haggling with vendors and ducking into stores. Large wooden signs sat at each building’s base proclaiming what they sold with colorful paintings.

With a start, I realized that I was quite pale in comparison to everyone I saw. The lightest skin I saw was a deep bronze, with the standard tending much more towards darker browns and umbers.

Taken together with the fact that I was gawking at every building and still wearing forest shadow clothing, I stuck out like a sore thumb. On the bright side, that made it fairly obvious what my first stop should be: clothing.

After a bit of searching, I found a tailor who — though looking at me strangely — was kind enough to explain the monetary system to me. While I was hardly rich, as it turned out, the Elder had gifted me more than enough for a set of clothes.

I ended up with a set matching the dominant color palette of the city: a short-sleeved emerald blouse and a pair of black pants with a bit of stretch to them. Annoyingly, they lacked any good pockets, but with the dimensional pouch at my side, I begrudgingly accepted that wasn’t the biggest priority.

“Where to next?” I hummed to myself. I passed store after store, now feeling much less out of place in my new clothes.

The decision was soon made easy for me as the street spit me out into a massive, bustling plaza, far busier than any other part of the city I’d come across.

The plaza was octagonal, with roads heading off from each of its eight sides. Around its perimeter, a flurry of vendors had set up shop, shouting to passersby as they peddled various baubles and street cuisines.

In the center stood a sizable park, perfectly clipped grass and densely packed trees adding to the liveliness of the area. I spotted a few couples strolling through the greenery and even a man jogging through the park, and for a split second, I could have convinced myself I was back on Earth.

Then the details flooded back in — the diffuse blue glow from the mana in the air, the unknown material of the roads and the buildings, the unfamiliar scents — and the moment passed.

Speaking of scents though, something smelled heavenly.

Didn’t you just wake up from a food coma? I waved the thought away. My appetite had soared upwards since I’d started being more active. Plus, with the nap, the walking about, and the stop to the tailor’s, it was already nearly evening.

My Perception boosting my sense of smell past the level of a blood-hound, I easily followed the scent to one of the stalls. It took me considerably longer than expected, my freakishly strong nose having picked out the smell from across the plaza.

A plump woman stood at the stall in question, a slew of vaguely magical-looking cooking apparatuses behind her. She caught me staring and called out.

“Get over here! Come, come!” she beckoned. “Do you see yourself? You’re so skinny and pale, people are going to think you’re a skeleton. What do you want? Let me make you something.”

I chuckled and made my way over, still unsure what she was selling. “I’ll take whatever you like best?”

The woman pointed and gave me a knowing look before turning to her makeshift kitchen and whipping me up some food. In no time at all, she was done, handing me a steaming plate of two thick pancakes.

Think I accidentally just got a third breakfast instead of a lunch or dinner. Well, no complaints here. I was a firm adherent to the “breakfast can be 24/7” school of thought, and I had no qualms with what I’d been served.

The vendor watched expectantly as I took my first bites and smiled knowingly as the flavor hit me full on.

“Good, right? If you have any skeleton friends, you bring them to me, okay? I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

With a smile, I nodded, thanking the woman before digging into my gifted bag of coins and paying.

Instead of eating on the go, I figured I’d enjoy the central park. I ventured into the greenery until I found an unoccupied bench and then attacked my meal with gusto.

As it turned out, one of the pancakes was sweet, filled with a mixture of cream, honey, and jam. The other went the savory route, chock full of cheese, some bacon-esque meat, and something slightly coarse that reminded me of grits.

The pancakes themselves had a touch of a corn taste to them, and altogether, I couldn’t decide if I was reminded more of English muffins or arepas. I shoveled bites from both into my mouth without pause, enjoying some of the flavors that had been sorely lacking from my forest shadow cuisine.

It was right about then, while I was sitting serenely in the midst of nature while enjoying good food, that the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I recognized the sensation immediately.

Someone’s watching me.

Wait. Wasn’t that… kind of normal though? I was a distant traveler sitting in a public place. Just because someone was looking at me didn’t mean they were out to get me. Probably.

Still, that didn’t mean I wasn’t curious.

Trying to look as casual as possible, I slowly shifted on my seat as if to take in all of the nature around me. Turning about, I caught sight of the sensation’s origins.

Mostly expecting to find some random curious citizen, it thus came as no small shock when I instead found a shimmering cloud of mana. It floated next to a tree, about twenty meters off.

It made no move, even as my eyes passed over it. After a few seconds in my field of vision, the mana resolved into a blurry figure. They were wrapped from head to toe in a black cloak, their face too shadowed for me to make out. I attempted to analyze them with God's Eye, but all I got was a notification: Target is Obfuscated.

"Uh, hello? I can see you, you know. What is that, some sort of invisibility spell?" I idly wondered if I could only see them due to God’s Eye, or if my freakishly high Perception would have been enough.

Evidently startled at having been seen, the spy bolted, running from me without a word. Seemingly incompatible with the fast movement, their invisibility dropped.

“All right, yeah, in retrospect probably shouldn’t have said anything.” Should I sit tight, or chase them? Eh, what the hell. Might as well chase them if I can. As it stood, the idea that someone invisible was spying on me on my very first day in the city was concerning. I’d feel a lot better if I could catch them and figure out why.

Still holding the last few bites of my meal, I sprung up from the bench and shot forward, trailing the cloaked figure.

What I didn’t realize until I got going, though, was how fast I was. Hitting level 5 had netted me a solid 3 Dexterity, and then the Lesser Boon I’d gotten for becoming a settlement owner had raised it another 3. Considering how recently both of those had been, I’d never really found the time to give my new stat bump a test run.

In fact, had it not been for the increases to my Perception and my processing speed from Intelligence, I was fairly certain that I’d have been going too fast. I narrowly avoided splatting myself onto a few trees as I picked up speed. I passed by a few casual park-goers, mentally apologizing as they let loose surprised yelps.

Unfortunately, however, my quarry was considerably faster.

It was infuriating in a way, to be leagues faster than I’d ever been in my entire life and still come up short. I put some extra oomph into my run, chugging through my stamina at an unsustainable rate.

In a matter of moments, I broke out of the park and into the plaza proper. Spotting the cloaked figure farther down the street, I gave chase.

After breaking through the ambling plaza crowd as politely as I could manage, I made it out onto the streets, and the chase began in earnest. I continued behind the spy as they led me on a not-entirely merry goose chase, nearly shaking me off with each turn.

While my Dexterity was just high enough to keep them in sight, however, my Endurance was taking a hard hit. With lungs and muscles burning in sync, I started to lag behind.

The distance between us began to grow larger and larger, until finally, they ducked into an alleyway.

By the time I made it to the alley’s entrance, they were gone.

Damn. I bent over, panting from the exertion. That… didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.

Belatedly, I realized I was still holding the remnants of the pancakes I’d bought. They were deformed, having been squeezed tightly as I’d chased the spy, and my fingers were now covered in cream and grease.

Double damn.

Well, no sense in wasting them. I shoved the last few bites into my mouth, and the pleasant taste did wonders in brightening my mood. Not having a napkin, I conjured up some water to wash my hands.

The water still hung there in the air when a door to my side abruptly opened. A woman stepped out, doing a double take as she saw me.

“I hear someone huffing up a storm outside, and I end up finding a water mage looking all kinds of sweaty and flustered. You just finish having some fun, or did you want a drink so badly that you sprinted right over?”

She was perhaps a few years older than me, hair falling down to her shoulders in tight curls, pastel-colored tattoos covering a large portion of her dark brown skin.

Skin that was, quite notably, frighteningly smooth. Either she had some incredible skin care routine, or much more likely, I imagined, she’d been dumping a fair few points into Charisma. On a whim, I focused on her.

Nadja: Level 8, 170/170hp

“Um. Sorry. A drink? Is this some kind of a bar?” I let my spell fizzle out slowly, dropping the ball of water to the ground.

“Sure is. Just opening for the day too. Why don’t you pop in and I’ll fix you something? I’m sure a sweaty water mage has a few good stories to tell.” She beckoned to me as I flicked my hands, trying to air dry them faster.

Well, this wasn’t exactly an expected turn of events, but my goal today had originally been to explore. If I wasn’t going to catch the spy, why not stop and have a drink? Gods knew with everything that had happened in the past week, I needed one.

“I guess I will then.” And with that, I followed her into the bar.