Mark woke up the next morning breathing heavily. You could hear the full and heavy breathing across the room. Sweat could be seen drooping down from his face and his sweaty polo shirt. The cause? Probably a nightmare. Probably a dream about the thugs beating him up. Who knows?
After a few moments, Mark stood up. He walked towards the bathroom with his head drooping low. He opened the bathroom door, but strangely, a shadow was cast inside the bathroom. Mark immediately looked up and saw a shadow with a terrifying face. Bloodshot eyes with horns sticking out of its forehead while some piece of flesh is hanging on it. It smiled so widely that the flesh is ripping out already while its needle like teeth filled his mouth that looked like it was ready to devour him.
But just as it appeared, it disappeared without a trace. Mark looked around hastily to check if the creature was still there. He turned all the lights on immediately, afraid of meeting the abomination again.
Mark then proceeded to the bathroom and splashed water to his face to wake him up. He then did his business in the bathroom before coming out of it half an hour later.
Standing naked, Mark dried himself with a towel and walked towards his cabinet containing his clothes. He walked to a wall and touched it, and his cabinet appeared. He picked up some clothes and wore it. He wore a black jacket and a white waistcoat. He then wore his underwear and socks before wearing white pants. It's his generic attire, most of his clothes are like that. While some clothes are long-sleeved polo shirt, he consider those as pajamas.
With pain that still stings him from time to time, he walked out of his apartment and walked towards the store that he frequents.
When he walked out of apartment building, a blast of cold air flew past him. It was certainly 5 A.M. as the sun barely went up yet. But what Mark saw was not an empty street with empty stalls and some people cleaning their front doors, but instead a bustling market full of life and a booming economy.
Fun fact but this city is one of the 10 economic cities in the Kingdom of Torsak. Because of that the Kingdom has placed lots of its efforts here in this city. This was one of the things that went up to Mark's mind yesterday.
How can a bunch of thugs able to extort money from people without the authorities taking action?
As Mark walked towards the Boss's store, he passed by a store selling steamed buns. It was the one he frequented. The price of their steamed buns vary on the time you are buying. Their prices range from 30-40 copper if there is literally no one there, and whenever the number of people buying their steamed buns reach over a hundred is when they raise the price to 50-80 copper.
One can say they make the best steamed buns in the city. A year living in this place made Mark quite knowledgable about it, but definitely up to par with tourist guides. Those guys can make small talk out of seeing something, even someone buying food can be a topic.
There are about fifty people buying steamed buns, and to get a steamed bun, one must wait in line.
*sighs*
"I guess I have to wait for an hour. Luckily I went out two hours earlier than expected." Mark inwardly told himself. An hour of waiting is not bad, considering that it is still 5 A.M..
Mark looked around. He noticed that they replaced the usual plant at the front door, it has flowers now, and the leaves are green. He liked the yellow color of the plant, it fits well with the wallpaper of the store. "But I guess they had to change the plant to a live one."
He also noticed the owner's pet bird by the door. The bird isn't for show only, it is both the line keeper and the order officer. It shouts the clothes of the person next in line so that they can get their steamed bun. But even though its as small as an arms length, it is powerful. Apparently it already reached Level 8 of the Warrior stage. It can definitely settle fights in the store.
He also noticed a new table and a few chairs by the side. The store's customers had to sit on the chairs to line up, and the bird will call them depending on the time they arrived. That is how smart the bird is, it can talk and fight.
It is rumored that the owner of the is a beast tamer, a powerful one at that. Maybe that is where their ingredients come from. Maybe that is why their steamed buns are so good. But it's not Mark's right to talk about that.
Actually, talking about rights, Mark has read a book about it before. Apparently people like Mark have Authority level 2, a worker's authority. They are given a certain amounts of rights and they are not allowed to talk about someone more than 2 levels ahead of them. Of course, people who don't show their credentials are considered level 0 in Authority, or Anonymous. They have certain rights too, just lesser than level 1 authority, which are given to people with no work.
Suddenly, the bird talked, or more like, shouted. "Guy with the blue shirt and red pants, black hair and---"
"Coming!!" A man immediately shouted back and ran to the counter and ordered his steamed buns.
It has already been 30 minutes of Mark waiting. He already got bored but still tried not to check the internet.
*door opens*
Suddenly, a girl walked in the store with a few guys at her side and back which looked like guards. The girl walked towards the counter and grabbed the steamed bun on the man's hand and asked,"How much?"