A few boring days went by, nothing new happened to Seth and he only played with Augie. Seth spent a lot of time in the garden and he showed Augie a lot of magic tricks he remembered from Earth. Over time, the castle grew more and more excited. Time went by faster than Seth would have ever thought and soon enough, it was Augie's birthday.
"Hurry up Seth, the carriage is about to leave!" Arthur was yelling to Seth over the commotion. Hearing his father's words, he picked up his pace and hopped onto the carriage. Seth had grown a lot over the past two weeks, his stats had more than tripled and he became a Higher Human.
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Seth Berner
Higher Mortal
(ascended strength soul)
total: 998,807,135
Intelligence [30,077]
Body Strength [332,120]
Vitality [54,855]
Soul Strength [772,360,825]
Luck [7,000]
Magic [32,153]
Magic Regeneration [31,879]
---
Seth felt that he wouldn't be too much weaker than a Peak Mortal now as he had the strength of one. He should be able to protect himself from harm if it comes his way. Augie had grown a lot as well, he was much stronger than when Seth had fought him. Augie's growth had increased a lot since then, Seth had no idea why though.
The trip to the city was uneventful, Arthur was trying to keep the trip low-key. It took almost three hours to reach the city, most of which was spent in silence. Seth had to entertain himself and his brother with his small shows of overused magic tricks. Arthur and Elizabeth both watched Seth's tricks for a while but they seemed to have seen them before. Seth wondered what the outside world would be like.
The carriage slowly ground to a halt, the horses were unhitched and led away. The royal family stepped out of the carriage with elegance, they had reached the town. Seth was surprised by the town, it was a lot more technologically advanced than he had assumed it would be. Everything was very steampunk-like and there were even rudimentary steam cars driving down the streets every once in a while.
Seth Inspected most of the people he saw on the street, they were very strong. Seth didn't see a single person that was a Lower Mortal, this town was very strong. Seth even saw a few Higher Mortals walking around, they even looked like ordinary people. This actually made a lot of sense because these people lived on the strongest world, it wouldn't be called the strongest if they were weak. Seth then thought of Augie, why was Augie so weak then.
"Hey, kids! We are selling some fresh taffy, just two coppers a piece!" A burly man waved at Seth and Augie with a warm smile on his face. When Seth Inspected him, he found that although the man was only a Mortal, he had a Strength stat of over 100000. This was an even higher difference than Seth had and he even had the Strength talent. Seth shivered, this world was scarier than he thought. Arthur and Elizabeth both noticed Seth shiver, but thee mistook that he wanted to try some taffy. They brought Seth and Augie over to the burly man's shop.
"Hi, can we get two pieces of taffy please?"
"Ah, for these two young men! Have an extra, it's on the house." The man smiled as he placed three pieces of taffy on the counter.
"Did you make these all by yourself?" Arthur struck up a conversation while he was fishing in his pouch for four coppers.
"Yes, I make a fresh batch every day! You're in luck because I just finished this one!" The man had a lot of energy, Seth grew more suspicious of him as time passed.
"That's good for us, have a great day!" Arthur found his coppers and placed them on the counter.
"Thank you, have a good one yourself!" The man grabbed the coppers from the counter and smiled as Seth and co walked off with their taffy. Seth looked at the taffy with suspicion and Inspected it, it was just a normal piece of freshly made taffy. Seth waited until Augie put one in his mouth before trying it, maybe he was just on edge and overreacting. The taffy was sweet, just like how he remembered from years ago. Seth had never been able to afford more expensive candies like fresh taffy.
The burst of hidden memories washed over Seth, days when he would go on walks with his parents and buy large blocks or taffy to eat for dessert for the next week. Seth smiled, it was a genuine smile, the first in many years. Seeing Seth and Augie's faces, Arthur and Elizabeth both smiled and glanced at each other. Seth savored his taffy for almost thirty minutes, just holding it in his mouth without chewing it.
The family spent almost three hours walking through the city and snacking on candies and cheap street food. They visited some parks, old buildings, and even went to a zoo. Most of the zoo animals were just bigger, stronger versions of animals from Earth, but Seth was still entertained. Most of the customs and technologies were a lot like Earth's, they were a lot less advanced though. There was even a roller coaster that was powered by magic, it was the single most impressive thing Seth had seen all day.
After walking for a while, Augie got hungry and they looked for a place to eat. Arthur found a restaurant that served delicacies, it looked very expensive. When he sat down to look at the menu though, Seth noticed that all of the dishes were common dishes from the US. There were hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, there was even ice cream. Seth grew a little suspicious about the world, what if there are others like him? What if other people reincarnated and kept their memories just like he did?
Seth kept that thought in the back of his mind as he ate his hamburger with a milkshake. It was Augie's birthday, this was no time for thinking or worrying. Seth never could really stay focused for the rest of the day though, his mind kept drifting back to the thought of others like him. Seth and Augie ran around the city, looking for new things. They went past schools and small houses, they reached the residential area. They walked around the neighborhood, they probably didn't see any kids because it was a school day.
After walking around the area for a few minutes, Augie shouted in delight, grabbed Seth, and ran towards a park in the distance. The park was relatively big, it even had a playground in it. Augie had been there before, he had been looking for it when he saw the houses and schools. Augie and Seth played on the playground for a while. It took almost fifteen minutes for their parents to reach them.
"Guys, don't go running off."
"Okay, dad." Seth and Augie spoke in unison, rolling their eyes at each other as they did.
"Boys! Don't roll your eyes at your father!" Elizabeth told them off sternly, but she had a slight smile on her face. Seth and Augie just nodded and went back to racing each other down the slides. Seeing their children having fun by themselves, the couple let them be and went on a stroll through the park. Seth and Augie didn't seem to notice the absence of their parents as they didn't even skip a beat when speeding down the slides.
"Hey, Sethy!"
"What?"
"We should try to jump off the swings and see who can get the farthest!" Augie smiled brightly, seeming as sweet as possible.
"No, we shouldn't. That's a bad idea, what if we get hurt?" Seth refused, he knew a few people that had broken bones by doing this. He had even tried it himself and twisted his ankle.
"It will be fine, Sethy!" Augie showed a knowing smile on his face.
"No, no it won't!"
"I've done it before! I haven't even hurt a toe!" Augie reassured Seth, he hadn't been able to see how far anybody else could fly because everyone else was always in school or at home.
"Fine, just this once." Seth sighed, he didn't really want to jump because he felt like he could hurt himself. Seth knew though, that he wouldn't be able to hurt himself. He was a Higher Mortal, after all. Seth was probably strong enough to take a 50. cal round without any damage at this point.
Seth and Augie walked over to the swing set, they both hopped onto the swings at the same time and started swinging as fast as possible. The two boys swung as fast as they could for almost a minute before Augie suddenly jumped without warning. He flew almost 20 feet, clearing the slide in front of him. Seeing how far Augie jumped, Seth didn't back down. He jumped almost 100 feet, leaving the playground entirely. Seth still landed on his feet and as lightly as a feather.
"What!? How did you jump so far?" Augie was amazed, he thought he had flown when he jumped.
"I just jumped as hard as I could." Naturally, Seth didn't jump as hard as he could. If he did, he could have probably reached ten times the distance.
"Wow! Sethy is so amazing!" Seth's face turned a little red at the praise, he rubbed his pudgy nose.
"No, I'm really not that good. You could probably do the same thing easily."
"Let's do it again, again!" Augie jumped up and down, Seth only nodded and conceded. The brothers continued to swing and jump a few more times. Augie's longest jump was about 40 feet, but Seth's high score completely trumped that of Augie's at a massive 150 feet.
"How do you jump so far? Tell me Sethy!" Augie pleaded for Seth to give up his secrets. Seth adamantly refused, leaving Augie to wonder about the way to increase his jumping distance. Augie and Seth got bored of jumping off the swings and decided to race each other around the playground. The two ran five laps before taking a rest. Seth won, of course, he beat Augie by two full laps.
"Why are you so fast?" Augie panted as he spoke, he had fully sprinted when he had seen Seth overtake him.
"I don't know. Maybe you will grow up and be even faster than me!" Seth tried to encourage Augie, luckily it worked. Augie was satisfied and stopped asking Seth about how he beat him so much.
Seth suddenly heard a loud crash, he saw a drunk old man stagger over to him and Augie. The drunkard was mumbling something under his breath, even with Seth's hearing, he couldn't make out what he was saying. As the drunkard drew closer, Seth started to feel as if something was off. He couldn't tell what was wrong, but he felt in his heart that something was going to happen. Seth tried to Inspect the drunkard, it was all question marks. As soon as he Inspected the man, he appeared in front of him.
Seth's eyes widened and he yelled out, the drunkard splashed a red liquid all over Seth and Augie and yelled what sounded like "happy birthday" to them. It wasn't wine, Augie screamed in pain and immediately fainted. Seth felt a burning pain wash over him, he felt like he was being burned alive. Seth's eyes were wide open, they were being burned more than any other part of his body. Shouts rang out, through the clamor of the attack on Seth and Augie, Seth fell unconscious.
When Seth woke up, everything was dark, he tried to open his eyes. His eyes were already open, Seth couldn't see anything, not even elements. He was blind.