'What the fuck is wrong with him?' Stell looked slack-jawed as he saw Felix throw the bread at a random stranger.
"What are you doing?" The stranger froze in place before glaring at Felix.
"Oh, sorry. It slipped." Felix apologized with one eye closed.
The black-eyed and black-haired stranger, dressed entirely in black trousers and a t-shirt, just glared at Felix. How could he believe Felix's apology when he saw Felix purposefully aiming at him?
Resisting the urge to beat Felix up, the black-haired man coldly snorted and walked past Stell and Felix.
"Isn't that rude?" Felix commented.
"What? You throwing bread at him isn't rude, but him snorting and ignoring you is?" Stell mocked.
"Of course, it is rude." Felix nodded, acknowledging his mistake. "But must he fall down to my level?"
Stell facepalmed.
"Anyway, why did you throw the bread at him?" With a curious voice, Stell couldn't help but ask.
'This fellow is weird.'
"Because I felt like it." Felix grinned. Stell felt like he shouldn't deal with Felix too much.
With a sigh, he decided to give him a last chance. "What are you planning on doing? Will you go and play a game or explore the city?"
"What will you do?" Felix didn't reply immediately.
"I guess that I should explore. I need to know how to trade my achievements or what they exactly are. After that, I should find a place to stay and some food." Looking at the dirt road under his feet, Stell sighed.
Only then did he realize that the new world might not necessarily be more interesting than Earth. He still had to find ways to feed himself and a roof to stay under.
'The only difference is that now I can play some interesting games and become stronger.'
He knew there was a path, but he was uncertain about how to proceed
"I'll follow you. I am also curious about the city." Felix finally gave his answer.
Lost in thought, Stell only softly replied. "Suit yourself."
As they traveled, Stell continued making a plan.
'First, I should get five epic achievements. After that, I'll unlock the rarest affinities.'
Stell didn't completely understand the professor, but he made assumptions based on the professor's words.
There are three ranks of elements. Of course, that meant that there are three ranks of affinities.
The first was a common rank. Stell guessed that the weaker elements didn't need a really strong achievement to unlock. It probably included elements like Earth or Fire.
The second was a rare rank. Although Stell couldn't guess what elements there were, he guessed that the elements were more useful and strong.
Finally, there were epic elements. The only ones Stell could think of were Time and Space. However, it somehow didn't make sense to him. It was as if he made a mistake.
'I don't have enough information. It's useless unless I learn something useful.' After a while, Stell abandoned his thoughts.
Returning to the present, he found himself in the starting square. It was located in the easternmost part of the city.
Ignoring new people who appeared, Stell decided to explore the northern region.
On the way to the starting square, he found many fantasy shops. Blacksmiths, Alchemists, Auction houses, you name it.
Felix patiently followed behind Stell, occasionally making strange comments.
Stell noticed that Felix displayed childlike curiosity. His need to see and experience anything interesting transcended Stell's understanding. It was as if Felix had been in jail his whole life, finally released.
"Wow, isn't that butterfly beautiful?" Felix asked Stell as they passed a butterfly with cosmic patterns on its wings.
As Stell looked at the butterfly, he became mesmerized. It was as if he looked at a galaxy itself.
"It truly is." He blankly murmured.
"Should we catch it? I like it! I feel like I might regret not catching it." Felix's eyes followed the butterfly that passed them by.
"Suit yourself." Stell ignored him. Felix's childlike curiosity and his element of randomness made Stell abandon all thoughts of making friends.
"Ahh!" Felix panicked as the butterfly was about to fly away.
"Noo! I need a net!" He yelled as he followed the butterfly.
As if the gods themselves heard him, a person with a net meant for bug-catching appeared in front of Felix. Bumping into him, Felix couldn't follow the butterfly anymore, letting it run away.
"Are you okay?" The burly man that appeared asked Felix, reaching out with his hand to help him stand up.
"I am. No, I am not. Wait... Ah, never mind. I am sorry for bumping into you." Scratching his face, Felix replied. Then, he caught sight of the man's net.
"Hey, can you give me that?" He asked as he pointed at the net.
"Sure. Consider it as my apology for making you fall." The burly man replied.
Stell watched the whole performance with wide eyes. 'Did he just use a wish?' He couldn't help but speculate.
After bidding the man farewell, Felix returned with a net. Noticing Stell's strange gaze, Felix couldn't help but ask. "What?"
"Did you just use a wish?" Stell inquired.
"Um... My system didn't say anything, so I guess I didn't. Wait, how do we use the systems again?" As Felix thought of that question, he closed his eyes and thought of the system.
"Nope. I still have five slots." A few seconds later, Felix continued.
With a strange glint, Stell's impression of Felix was overturned. 'This guy is really lucky. Wait, now that I think of that, what were the odds of finding bread in the middle of an empty street in a city of exiles? Especially since everyone here is new.'
"Were you hungry by any chance when you arrived here?" He asked with a weird voice.
"Here? Do you mean this planet? Yes, I was. Why?" Felix tilted his head slightly.
Stell's eyes lit up. That's the one. That's a damn protagonist! If he needed anything, he was bound to find it
"Hey, do you want to team up? This is a strange new world, and there may be many dangers here." Suppressing his excited voice, Stell looked at Felix.
"I just happened to lack friends here." Felix grinned, making Stell shiver slightly, wondering whether it was Felix's luck that brought them together.
'Wait, he may not necessarily be a protagonist. He is in class B, not class S... Well, I'll assume that he is one. If that's the case, maybe the things he did aren't so random, like that black-haired person.'
While Stell was lost in thought, Felix stumbled upon a group of kids playing hopscotch.
"Eh? Even kids are exiled? Where are you from, little girl?" Felix asked a girl who just threw a stone.
"Earhth." The little girl answered with a smile.
"Earth? What?" Stell got confused before realizing something. 'Maybe I am not the only one exiled. Maybe there are more. Maybe... The whole Earth is exiled...'
The more he answered his own questions, the more new questions arose in Stell's mind. Left with more inquiries than answers, he decided to stop dwelling on it.
"Really? I am from Earth too!" Stell commented as he approached Felix and the little girl.
The little girl looked startled as she quickly hid behind Felix's leg.
With a wry smile, Stell pretended as if he hadn't said anything.
"Hahhahahah! You are scary. Ahahahhaha!" Felix's contagious laughter made the little girl giggle slightly.
With a smile, Felix left the girl to play with her friends. Stell and Felix decided to explore the northern part of the city with heavy hearts, understanding that once the kids realized it was almost impossible to meet their parents, they would break into tears.
Felix and Stell soon grew tired. They located the nearest 'Achievement Exchange' and pressed their palms on a black stele to trade some achievements for gold coins.
In the process, Stell realized that his best achievement was High-Tier Rare Rank. Just two tiers lower than an Epic Rank.
He had another Rare Rank achievement. Although Stell knew that tier didn't matter much, he still felt depressed knowing that his next best achievement was low-tier. What was worse was that the rest of his achievements were only common rank. He had no intention of using his slots on common rank achievements.
"Should we find a rentable place, or should we play a game?" Stell asked, half curious about the games.
"Play a game!"