Chapter 18:

Tokyo Center City

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The School is closed today.

For the past three days, Vinci attended School with no problems this time around. This was probably most credited towards Vinci’s practice match with Athan, which many students witnessed. Even some of the students from the other Classes left their Training ground just to observe their match. It seems like Athan whom Vinci had befriended was quite popular with the other student.

Moreover, although Vinci was bombarded with a few unexpected events, he did not forget about the Event he received on True System. But, since he felt that there was no need to rush, he decided to put it on hold briefly for the time being until an idea springs forth.

And recently, Vinci could someone watching him constantly from somewhere, and though the aura was faint, Vinci could easily discern the invisible presence because his senses were many times superior than a normal human’s. He was able to recognize that a spell was being employed on him. Tracking magic, at that. Though by whom, Vinci had a slight idea but did not dwell into the matter since if his hypothesis was correct and it was ‘that person’ who had casted a tracking spell him, then that means there would possibly be a chance when ‘she’ would come to him for a fight before he does so himself. Or he could use the unconsented tracking as a reason to outright attack her...but that would be too troublesome.

But nonetheless his decision to slowly take his time coming up with a strategy may have possibly been greatly influenced by his indolent nature. It was an inborn characteristic after all...

Anyways, after cruising through five days of School, the students now arrive in a rest period that spans approximately two days called “Free Time”. This short break from school occurs after each consecutive five days of attendance. They are free to roam the city in the Clan or simply stay home as they wish in these two days.

Vinci, who is now briefly free from school, decided to visit the city of the Rising Sun Clan named Tokyo Center. Although city names are often neglected due to the fact that there’s only one or two in each Clan, and most of them being insignificant, some cities would actually surface accordingly due to their importance, size and popularity.

And Tokyo Center is one of such cities worth mentioning.

In the Rising Sun Clan, this sole city that rests at the heart of the country is a valuable source of income and revenue. Since the merging of continents, many cities have been merged respectively, so many things normally found in other cities are instead all found in one.

Each year the Tokyo Center city rakes in several million SMUs for its source of popular shows known as “animes”, its attractive graphic novels known as “mangas”, and its unique culture. Although it is now the year 2500, many countries, or Clans as they’re called now, still retained much of their previous cultures and lifestyle. The only difference now is that people are not referred to as either Japanese, American, Russian, etc, but as “Citizens” in their respective Clan.

But the number one reason why the city known as Tokyo Center was so well-known is mainly due to its highly advanced technologies. It is one of the giants in the electronic and technology industries. Because of this, many people flock to this city to purchase the latest leading machinery in the United World.

As Vinci left from his house and began to walk in the direction of the city, he saw a long floating bus slowing down to a stop before a red sign.

“Ahh..there’s the bus...hmmm should I take it..?.....Nah, I guess I can just teleport myself there.”

Vinci stared at the bus as it sped down the road. In the United World, there are various modes of transportation. These include taking the bus, underground train, airplanes, boats, teleportation, and summoned familiars that are able to transport its master. All the machineries float in the air due to the unique material called “Skystones” discovered in the ancient ruins, which when imported into a machine’s core, allows it to levitate in mid-air while the stone acting as an almost endless supply of fuel. And as for summoned familiars, the details would be for another time.

*Zzzp!*

Vinci lightly floated down the ground after using his teleportation magic.

“Hooo...this place is quite large.”

The boy had arrived in the middle of a busy sidewalk as people hurried along the way. As Vinci began walking around the city in search of a building known as “bank” and another known as a “mobile shop.” Why? That’s simply because Vinci had come to the city in order to register for a bank account and to purchase the rectangular block called “cell phone.” He had neglected to cover these items at an earlier date ever since he arrived on Earth. But, after carefully thinking how when he actually began earning SMUs in this world, he would require some sort of item to store all the cash. Using his True System’s storage ability would be quite wasteful as he only wants to stuff the “essential” things that could come in handy during a dangerous situation. And so, he came to the conclusion of creating a bank account in order to store his monetary gains in this world.

Also, Vinci had thought that since he made a ‘friend’, he should probably get a cell phone as well. After all, it was one of those cultural phenomenons in current society where people are always trying to keep contact with one another and the best way to do that is to get the other person’s cell phone digits. He would be prepare if Athan ever asked for his cell phone number. Mm!

While walking around the streets, Vinci suddenly froze in front of a shop displaying a variety of colorful books.

“W-what...aren’t those the beings whom I’ve met from my previous conquered worlds?! But...how does these Earthlings know about them…no wait, this was included in the information I'd absorbed before...”

Although Vinci had absorbed nearly all the information related to Earth, he had stored many of them into the back of his mind to prevent over flooding. Otherwise, his brain would've "exploded" from the vast rush of knowledge...

And as such, the shop Vinci noticed was what one on Earth would refer to as an “Anime Shop.” The outlet featured many animes and mangas’ wallpaper outside the shop to attract customers. But the moment Vinci had caught sight of some of these images he was quite startled.

The beings he saw on these fantasy covers resembled closely with those that he encountered in the other dimensional worlds. Well, the monsters at least.

Interested, Vinci walked into the shop as he picked up a book titled “Craymore” and began reading.

“Hmm...although the names are totally different, the monsters described here are strangely accurate to those with which I encountered...’Yoma’...beings that feed on human flesh huh...although there weren’t any ‘humans’ on Archipelagian Sphere where I encountered them, they were quite vicious. Especially on that small island-like region, man, it couldn’t even be called a ‘world’ at all...probably a failed sphere? Hmm...whatever, it’s over anyways. Man, even though I saw these kind of stuff from the Internet I absorbed, seeing it in reality was different story...”

Vinci placed the book down as he surveyed the shop.

“‘Dracula’...’werewolves’...’kraken’...’yokai’...’demon lord’...’ten-tailed beast’...their descriptions on the abilities and strength are a bit off though the depictions are quite on point hmm…these humans, aren’t they quite frightening to be able to discover these creatures? The Internet I took in only talked about people called "authors" making up these 'stories' and 'characters' from their imagination... I wonder if they know how to travel between dimensions then? Hmm...but there's no record that indicates such progress on Earth's history so far.....ehhh, how conflicting! I guess it was the right choice to first observe this world before taking action mmm! mmm!...”

The boy closed his eyes as he nodded to himself. After looking around some more, he left the shop and again, started to pursue his original destination(s).

***

After searching around for a while, Vinci finally found the building with sign “Bank of the World” at the front.

He entered the building and proceeded to a desk where a smiling female receptionist waited.

“Greetings, how may I help young sir?”

“Eh, I want to register for a ‘bank account.’”

“Most certainly, sir. To set up your account, may I please inquire if you are a student currently attending School?

It was clear for receptionist to see that the customer before her was a child, but it was a different matter to ascertain if he was a student or just another young customer. Thus, the question was to answer this.

“Ah, yes. I am attending Arena Academy. (not like I could say any other ‘school’ haa..)”

“Alright. May I see your +Arena device?”

“Hm? Oh, sure.”

Vinci pulled out the black rectangular block and handed it over to the lady.

The bank clerk looked down to examine it for a while before looking up with a fresh cheerful expression on her face.

“Alright, thank you for your cooperation. Since it is now certain that you are a student, we are able to directly connect your new bank account to your +Arena device. This will be convenient when paying for items and if you want to deposit any SMUs, you may simply teleport it over to our bank using our bank’s teleportation system. This is linked up directly to your +Arena as well, and should not consume any of your SP. Also, because you are a student, there will be no initial fee for setting your bank account, nor any interest rates, and of course, neither will there be monthly maintenance charges. You will be able to use your bank account completely free of any charges. Will that be fine with you?”

“Oh? What does this have to do with being a student, miss?”

“Ara? You don’t know? Students are given special privileges because they are recognized as the rising cores of the next generation. And since there is only one school in the entire continent, students are often exempt from being charged by anyone. They can practically do purchase whatever they desire in their respective Clan -- completely free of charge. After all, each one of us do desire to be remembered by some of the students that would naturally rise in fame over time…”

Noticing the lady’s embarrassed smile, Vinci understood.

“Ahh...I see, thank you for enlightening me.”

Now, seeing that there’s no reason to reject such a convenient offer, Vinci easily accepted. The lady then took his device and went to a room behind her. Several minutes later, she returned with Vinci’s gadget.

“Thank you for waiting! We have successfully incorporated your bank account into your +Arena device. You will now be able to use and deposit your SMUs at anywhere anytime. Thank you for choosing us!”

Vinci thanked the lady as he received his device and left. Although any bank would have been fine with Vinci, it was by pure chance he found the ‘Bank of the World’ to create his account. But, of course, he wasn’t going to tell that to the kind lady. So he left.

Next, Vinci arrived at a mobile store, Wireless Dial. And as if to confirm the bank lady’s explanation, the moment Vinci showed the store owner his +Arena device, the proprietor told him that there will be no fees to his phone usage and on top of that, his +Arena could be customized to install functions similar to that of a regular phone. The owner said that it would make the +Arena closer to something called a “smartphone” or a device where one can call from a touch of a finger on the screen. With almost the same anticipated process, the owner took Vinci’s +Arena to the back of the store and came out a few minutes later with his new device now equipped with the function of a phone. When Vinci opened his +Arena’s screen, at the center there was now a small rectangular button on it with the image of a telephone labeled “Phone.” Beside this icon to the right, there was the usual rectangular button with the picture of a two swords crossing each other, creating an ‘X’. This was the button, labeled “Battle”, used to initiate a match with another student by simply clicking on it and typing in the student’s name, though Vinci has yet to even open the app itself for practical use. It was ‘just a hassle’ in his eyes, after all, to fight meaninglessly.

Once again, Vinci thanked the owner before proceeding out of his store. After looking around a bit more and seeing that there was nothing else to do, he decided to end his adventure and embark home. The sun was lowering and turning orange by now.

“Hmm...seems like +Arena is quite a versatile gadget huh..but how come the School didn’t tell us it could be linked with many other functions…could they have wanted the students to find out for themselves? Ahhh, whatever! At least I was able to finish what I came here to do..”

Vinci quietly mumbled to himself as he activated his teleportation spell and a blinding light engulfed him.

Once the light settled down, Vinci found himself at the heart of his home, the living room. Although it was not yet nighttime, with his long journey in trying to find his destinations, Vinci began to head towards his bedroom.

Outside, the sky quickly became a dye of night blue as ‘lamp posts’ set up around the neighborhood began to lit up one by one...