At that time, Adam didn't know, or realized what happened. He only knew he's in some foggy world, in some vague vision that represented something. He can't move, no, it only gave him vision of something. An old man, which he can't see the face, but he's sure it's an old man. The old man was lying down, some shards of an object beside him, near his head. Blood flows, coming from his head full of wounds.
It's a corpse!
Adam's eyes snapped open, the morning light going through the window, directly hitting his face. He could see the familiar ceiling of his room, one which he had been used to see for mamy years. However, right now it looked strange, looked new, as though the ceiling had changed a lot. However, it was still exactly the same, there was nothing wrong with the ceiling.
Adam could feel the muscles on his legs hurting so bad. It seems that the intense minutes-long sprint he did last night. Now he can finally understand why the ceiling felt so strange. It's not that it truly changed, but his perception, itself, warped and changed into something new. His perspective had widened after what happened yesterday, specifically that strange and horrifying black robed individual that chased him.
Thinking of that abomination made him wonder where it was right now. He managed to escape its deadly grasp, but could others do the same thing? Adam shook his head and just sighed, removing the blanket covering him and got out of his bed. There's no point of thinking any further about that. There was, of course, a lesson he learned yesterday. To not stay up late outside.
The world is fundamentally rules by Arcane and it's an absolute inevitable law. With this world's billions upon billions of population, there was naturally a massive amount of Arcanists among them. Things like that black robed individual might be a rather uncommon occurence in the town, but it was not that rare. In fact, if one goes to bigger towns where there's a lot of Arcanists residing, this was probably a common event. Although not a lot of Arcanist are living in this small town, chances are that Adam would probably encounter things that will leave him a cold corpse. He has no choice but to be careful.
As Adam looked through the window, he felt as though he actually forgotten something. He can't seem remember it, but there's definitely something that happened after he returned home.
"That's weird," Adam mumbled as he stretched out his arm, the pleasure from it immediately invading him.
Whatever. Adam just shrugged it off and threw it to the back of his mind. If he can't remember it, then there's probably no point of delving deeper into it.
---
An hour and half had passed and right now Adam was in front of the academy's gate. He could see the muscular guard beside the gate staring at him intense which made him laughed to himself pathetically.
"Damn it, I am actually really late." He didn't realized it but he actually woke up 2 hours later than his usual waking up time. It seems the intense running last night which filled him a lot of adrenaline left him extremely sore and exhausted to just sleep like a pig. Even now he can still feel his legs giving out a painful feeling.
TAP!
He tried to slap his thighs and legs with a bit force and he can feel the soreness in his muscles. It seems that if he wanted to increase his endurance and pain tolerance, he must be disciplined and go through a series of physical training. In addition, Adam also has horrible stamina, and if his adrenaline didn't took over yesterday, he might've been left exhausted and get caught by the black robed man.
"Anyway, I should just probably go home now." Adam mumbled before making a final glance at the muscular guard. He knew that this guard was so strict that he won't even let a teacher in if he's late. He admired that person's faith to his job and even more so he respected it.
But now because of that he has no choice but to skip one day entirely and just go home. After all, what can he even do? Go to the workshop?
"That's actually not a bad idea," Adam said to himself, his voice soft and weak, that even a cat's sound might overwhelm him. And so, just like that, he decided to visit his father's workshop that is placed right beside the most populous part of the town, the plaza.
---
"Buy now! Buy now! Spirit Amulet only for 120 Uzco!"
"Reverse scale from a legendary dragon. I'm doing you folks a favor and will just sell it to you for 1000 Uzco!"
"…"
By saying that the plaza was the most populous part of the town, it was not an exaggeration. Adam could see a lot of people walking by, either leaving or entering, buying some items from some dubious vendors, and some people just here to join to fun.
Upon seeing this, Adam curved his lips slightly, forming a smile. He remembered his childhood, whem he's holding his father's hand as they go to his workshop. He encountered a lot of people in this plaza, and became acquaintance with most of them. He wondered if they still recognize him, as he's rarely visiting this place since his father's disappearance.
"Hello boy, you should hang out with us. Maybe, have some fun." Some random old hag with thick makeup suddenly popped in front of him, saying such provocative words which made Adam slightly nauseous.
What the fuck? Who in the right mind is going to accept these grandmas? But when he stared just a distance away, where a lot of similar old hags with thick make-ups are formed into a circle, he noticed a lot of embarassed men entering their tent.
"There is no way—" Adam's mouth twitched. "Are they dumb?"
"What do you think boy?" The old hag in front of him continued her provocative approach, tugging his sleeves which made him further nauseous.
"No, no." Adam hurriedly denied. "I am not interested in doing such things thank you!"
After saying that, he ran away again, even though his legs are still recovering.
"Hey!"
Adam can still hear the old hag's voice from the distance but he didn't looked back as he continued running.
BUMP!
"Ouch!"
Adam hits something, or someone, while running which made him stumble and fall. After a few moments, Adam stood up again, rubbing both his hands against each other to remove the dirt. Then he stared at the person he hit. It's a girl.
"Hey, are you okay?" Adam said, his voice laced in concern. He held her hand and helped her stand up, making him see her face.
"Wait, aren't you—" Adam furrowed his brows but then the girl interrupted.
"Adam?"