When the buildings around the area grew less and less rusty, Magnus knew he was getting closer to his destination. Instead of rust and mud, it was the moss lining the walls and wet grass growing out of small crevices that became more prominent characteristics.
'The difference in status is showing,' He thought as he ducked into a nearby alleyway to switch from Klaris to his own body.
When Magnus reemerged, he caught sight of a number of animal-drawn carriages. Mind you, the carriages that he saw now weren't horse-drawn. Instead, they were pulled by what seemed to be some feline-equine hybrid. They had horse-like bodies with a voluminous mane and the cunning faces of cheetahs.
Their speeds as they galloped uphill were quite astounding. And they even did it with ease, as if the inclines were flatlands.
Magnus took off his muddy coat and left it behind in the alleyway. He wore his water-washed shirt and jeans, looking relatively decent in the midst of the people here. It was a place he didn't stand out in, which was thankful to have.
Aimlessly roaming uphill, Magnus eventually crossed a border.
"Welcome to Quarteridge..." He read out aloud as he craned his neck to look at the arch above his head.
Magnus looked around and suddenly realised the beautiful view in the distance. Thawsore could be seen as a massive brown splotch in the depths of some ravine while other parts of Quarteridge could be seen on the mountainside.
He finally had a view of how tall the mountain range he had appeared in was.
"It's halfway point has already gone past the clouds..." Magnus was so busy marvelling at the new sight before him that he almost missed a few words being spoken just a few paces away.
"Hey, look at that kid over there. What school do you think he's from?"
"Hush! He looks like a delinquent. Look at his clothes and his wounds. You don't want to get beaten up, right? Avoid him."
"Er- Okay, alright! Stop pulling. I'm coming after you."
Magnus' thoughts froze.
"Schools... So they do exist, just not in Thawsore. I thought Klaris was dreaming." Magnus muttered, secretly taking a peek at those who were talking about him earlier.
Two kids, one male, the other female, both around his age, wearing matching outfits.
They fit the look of students a hundred percent.
'That would've been a useful place to get an identity... But alas, there was an easier method for me. I wonder if I can find some Earthlings within those schools?'
Before he thought about it any longer, Magnus shook his head. He had goals he needed to achieve before the end of the second Trial.
He continued to look around more and discovered a recurring theme. What looked to be brand names kept appearing on posters being hung up.
There were several of these 'brands,' but the most prominent and most commonly found one was the brand of the Interstellar Trinity.
Using Klaris' memories, Magnus identified just what this brand signified:
"A faction. The owner of the Heaven-Touching Mountains. The only known faction to have breached the atmosphere to begin their explorations of outer space." Magnus muttered to himself as he entered one of the establishments under the Interstellar Trinity flag.
The signboard of this establishment read,
[[ Interstellar Auctions ]]
[[ Have anything you want from outer space? This is the place to go! ]]
When Magnus entered, he realised that the place was less of an establishment and more of an information booth. It was a place where people could join some special week-long auction for the masses.
Items would be sold if there were no more bids after a set amount of time or if the timer ended. The winners would then be able to collaborate with their nearest branch to have the item delivered to them as soon as possible.
Such a structure was made because the resources likely came from Peak City, where the Interstellar Trinity had built their headquarters. Not everyone could visit such a place given the ever-increasing price of living with every meter that one went above sea level.
Seeing such a fact, and feeling the measly wad of cash in his pocket, Magnus shook his head wryly and headed out. The clerk there gave him a confused look as he did, but he paid it no mind.
He thus continued his stroll.
Pet stores, general stores, repair shops, weapon shops, carriage dealerships, pocket world agencies, and many other types of shops went past Magnus' view. It felt like he was back in the downtown area of his home city. A city that he didn't see himself visiting in a long time.
He kind of missed that old place where he could run around with freedom, unafraid of being caught.
"Wait," Magnus spoke to himself as he realised what one sign meant, "Pocket worlds? What..?"
He took several steps backward and looked into the shop. He watched as a few armed youths entered the agency and then leave a few minutes later. In their hands was a peculiarly-coloured scroll.
Magnus' eyes gleamed, 'Could this be the place I need?'
In concealed haste, Magnus decided to have a look first. See if there was any reaction from the sub-Trial he was trying to find.
.
.
.
Tiring!
The sound of a bell.
Magnus found himself inside a room that made efficient use of all the space it was allotted. Maps filled the walls like a massive collage of posters, and holograms aplenty sprouted out of tiny boxes, filling the few tables inside the establishment.
A few likely customers were being served at the moment, and Magnus felt like a little eavesdropping was in session as he looked around.
"540 dollars for a single run? Why has there been a jump by an entire hundred overnight?" A voice said, exasperated. It was the voice of a woman who had an authoritative aura that Magnus could feel without looking at her.
It was similar to the feeling he got when the principal of his school was shopping at the same time he did— they were just there… but for some reason the air in the area had changed.
"The Otherworld Trials have begun once again." A store clerk said, her tone as cold as ice. "Resources are going to grow scarce these coming months, but their potency will be all the more wondrous. It only makes sense to increase entrance fee prices. If you don't like it, you can ask another faction if you can enter theirs."
"Tsk," The authoritative woman clicked her tongue.
Just as Magnus thought that the woman would go and ask for the manager to dissect such a price increase, the woman folded.
"540 it is."
Smack!
A wad of cash was placed on the nearby table, and then disappeared only to reappear in the clerk's hand. The authoritative woman's mouth twitched.
"Smart choice, Miss Saebringer." The clerk nodded.
"If not for the Trinity backing you, do you think you can use such a tone at me, little girl?" The woman called Saebringer scoffed.
"This is my neutral tone. I'm sorry if it offended you." A small smirk appeared on the clerk's face as she spun around to grab a pink-coloured scroll out of thin air.
'So flamboyant with her Blessing...' Magnus was amused. If only he could do the same, the entire world would soon be assimilated into the Hivemind and every object would be multiplied.
"Hmph," Saebringer received her Scroll and then turned around to leave, together with her armed companions.
The group left the clerk who was waving at them with a kind—yet somehow arrogant—smile.
"As for you," The clerk suddenly turned her frozen gaze at Magnus.
The latter felt a chill.
"Ah, I was just looking around, I'm sorry for any disruptions." Magnus quickly turned around, happy with the information he received and bolted out of the establishment.
"You—" The clerk froze in her tracks. She didn't expect the orange-haired Magnus to run like that so suddenly.
She sighed as she whispered to herself, "I still haven't been able to hire anyone, Boss. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong."
.
.
.
Oblivious to the clerk's sorrows, Magnus had reemerged onto the streets of Quarteridge.
"I might have found what I need!" He muttered excitedly.
The idea of pocket worlds was such a special concept that the sub-Trial just had to be centred around it.
"Now I just have to find out a way I can access them with the money I have..." Magnus began thinking, 'The clerk lady mentioned that that Miss Saebringer could go to a different faction. I'm assuming that means that there would be more than one of those agencies available.'
Looking for a cheap Pocket World to visit sounded like the way to go.
It was at that moment,
"Cheap Pocket World available to be accessed! Come one, come all! A newly discovered world has been found with an initial danger rating of 3 stars!"
Magnus raised a brow.
'So convenient...' He narrowed his eyes, 'So... Suspicious.'
He decided to first duck into an alleyway and change into Klaris. Masking his face, he approached what was a booth from where a man was yelling out his lungs.
He stood a ways away, joining a small crowd that had gathered.
Everyone was simply watching, similarly suspecting something fishy as well.
Magnus realised something.
'I have another chance to try out my acting!'
It was beginning to become his most recent obsession. Hiding behind Klaris' masks sounded like fun given the suspense of getting found out.
"Come on, people! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity! Step up and grab an Entrance Scroll right here, right now!" The man at the booth continued advertising while Magnus prepared his mind.
Thus, trying to look even more suspicious than the booth selling Pocket World Entrance Scrolls, he stepped forward.
.
.
.
Seeing a man break the earlier formation with confident strides, the crowd and the man at the booth all spared him a glance. With his mask and dreary appearance, he looked like a dirty assassin who would kill with just a few dollars.
It made the man at the booth gulp.
John wasn't expecting his first customer to look that scary. He spotted many traces of combat on the man before him. Cuts and bruises bled through the cloth the man wore. Blood dripped from what seemed to be a lost finger.
John felt chills when his eyes met the assassin-like man.
'Should I really have taken this job?' John questioned his most recent decisions as he watched the assassin man open his mouth in slow motion.
.
.
.
"Since no one wants to act,"
Magnus growled and sent a piercing gaze to all the bystanders, making several of them step back in wariness.
"I wanted to stop wasting our time."
He then transfixed his gaze unto John, who had yet to speak up about his Entrance Scrolls again.
"So tell me, where did you gain access to this... cheap, unexplored Pocket World of yours?"