Third person POV
A few days later, it was time for Russell to take a nice break from his bus driver work. So, the young bus driver from Fort Right took his friends, including Nathan, Adrian, Alder, and Cassius, for a picnic in the Zale Valleys' plateau off from a town called Taykar De Et Bonde, in the Province of Haki. Taryn couldn't come with them because she had work to do as a royal spy. And so, at that plateau with a short drop to a ravine that is also very shallow, all of them are having a good time, unwinding from life's duties and obligations. Nathan took some pictures of him and everyone in the picnic with his ability to archive this happy bonding time in the form of paper photos. The young reincarnated photographer then tucked these photos into his pants pockets.
"Man, being a prince was hard…" Adrian said to them, expressing his hardships of studying as a prince to the Southern Plains, "…responsibilities are a pain in the butt."
The adopted prince then munched on his bread with strawberry jam on it.
"Yeah, it was?" Russell asked back.
"Yes, it was," Cassius replied on Adrian's behalf. "Sir Adrian was doing his best to handle and learn such duties. Anyways, how's your lightning magic, Russell-san?"
"It's good," Russell responded back positively. "I also worked on my Metal Manipulation ability, too."
"Wow, so both of your Secondary abilities are very useful after all. Like that time you used that to tie Brygida up?"
"Yeah, with lamp posts, but luckily, I managed to fix them back to their normal state after she got arrested."
"Well, it seemed that you trained well."
"Yes, and my current level now is Level 39."
Adrian and Alder were amazed.
At the same time, Adrian is now C-ranked and at Level 16, while Alder was SS-ranked and at Level 42.
"Woah...amazing!" Adrian commented.
"You progressed well, my friend," Alder added.
"Thanks," Russell happily replied back, before taking a bite of his slice of whole wheat bread with a slice of smoked ham.
Azalea and the others then shared their stories of leveling up and other, tiny, nitty-gritty adventures, especially with Russell, to make this picnic outing more memorable and enjoyable.
But shortly thereafter, a bell was ringing from the forest northwest of their picnic spot, catching their attention. "What was that?" Alder asked.
"A bell?" Kelly added.
Thinking about that while looking in the direction where that sound came from, Russell stood up and went there on foot.
But then, the young man of the Renad race found the source of the bell sound: a bell held by a young adult, a man with white loosed hair and green and purple eyes, who wears a commoner's clothes and carries a Styrofoam of ice cream with wafer cones and ice cream equipment and tools. That person was Jan Husten, a reincarnated Filipino ice cream vendor. "Ah, hello there!" Jan noticed him from afar. "Want some ice cream?"
Seeing the Styrofoam box Jan was carrying on his shoulder, Russell was surprised and now losing ground with reality, ran towards him to buy a cone of ice cream.
"Oh, okay, what flavor do you want?" Jan asked him positively.
"What flavors do you have available?" Russell asked.
"Any flavor, like chocolate, cheese, ube, or even hazelnut."
Russell thought for a while, and then he responded back, "One cone of cheese ice cream, please."
Jan did so with his S-ranked ability, Ice Cream, which allows a user to get and make ice cream of all kinds and types, getting that cone of cheese ice cream in his Styrofoam box, before giving it to Russell. "Okay, that'll be 3 silver coins, please."
Russell got some silver coins from his wallet and gave it to Jan. "Here you go."
Receiving the payment, Jan gave him the cone of his ice cream. "Thank you. Enjoy!"
After receiving his ice cream, Russell suddenly realized something is off…
"Wait…" Russell said while holding his ice cream.
Then, the young Renad was shocked: that person who sold ice cream to him recently was in that world instead of the real world.
The sight of the Styrofoam box had placed him in a whirlwind of memory lane of his previous life.
"Eh?!" Russell responded to him. "You're here, too?!"