Metsuma wakes up in the Sleep Zone, in a room, sleeping on a bed, he looks around the room for a bit before seeing Cyra in the bed with him, still having her bra and panty on.
"W-WHY IS SHE–"
He thinks to himself shocked at the sight and blushing profusely, he jumps out the bed and sees that his clothes are on a chair in the corner, and he is wearing bunny pajamas, he looks under the pajamas and is relieved to see that his underwear is still there.
"「You're awake, finally」"
Cyra stands behind him, towering over him, staring him down like a predator eyeing down its prey, Metsuma is frozen in fear, unable to move and feeling the pressure of her glare behind him, he wants to run but he is unable to.
"H-hi, I see, t-that you're awake"
He says this while turning around and shaking in fear.
The perspective switches to Accelerant as he is playing with a yoyo and using his skill to make it move faster.
Thinking to himself, he flashes back to his past in the past world.
He thinks about how he had always studied in his isolation with the books that he requested, how he was always given paper as well to write the equations, and how he had always written his own original characters, living in his fantasy and wanting to be a super cool awesome guy that could get stronger with what he had and remembering that now being reincarnated into this world, he is finally able to to live the life he wanted.
He snaps back to his reality, looking at Bal.
"These cities are cool, so advanced, giant cities, floating cities, floating vehicles, giant towers, SO COOL!"
He thinks this to himself while looking at the digital map, moving it around, but he comes across a water area that is blurred.
"Huh, what's this, why is it blurred?"
He thinks to himself while trying to zoom in but being unable to.
"Bal, why is this spot blurred?"
Bal looks at the map and gives an uninterested face.
"That's the Bermuda Triangle, the place where The Bridge is."
"The Bridge?"
He asks Bal, intrigued by this Bridge in the water.
"You don't know that either, it's the most important and dangerous place in the entire world, it's the portal to Earth Zero, where the most dangerous of monsters and creatures reside as well as where...The 5 Disasters come from."
She says this with a serious tone and a serious and expressionless face, he takes notice of this and deduces that this place must be extremely dangerous.
"This place must be really dangerous to have that kind of expression, wonder if I can ever visit it?"
He thinks to himself while staring at her for a bit.
"You seem not to like talking about it, is there something dangerous or evil about it?"
He continues spinning his yoyo, waiting for an answer.
"You're right, I don't like talking about it, it's something that strikes fear into many, many have died due to it or even worse, lost any semblance to humanity, mentally, physically, or both."
He listens to her, taking every last bit of information, now knowing that this place is very dangerous.
"You make it sound like hell on earth on something"
He says jokingly, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"In a way, you could call it that, a lot of people do, but let's drop the topic please"
He says looking away into the distance.
"Sure, sure"
Accelerant thinks to himself about how unfortunate that she doesn't want to explain further but he doesn't want to push it as he feels that doing that will possibly ruin the trust between the two and he still sees her as a useful NPC to travel around the world.
The perspective switches to Metsuma right after the incident with Cyra.
"You didn't have to stand behind me like that, jeez."
Metsuma says, still freaked out by what happened.
"「I apologize for my rashness. 」"
Cyra says in her usual serious and lifeless tone.
Metsuma walks to the same spot where he first met the Shinigami, attempting to find her by looking around. After a while of searching, he turns around to see her right behind him and jolts back.
"WAAH, what the hell, why did you sneak up on me like that?"
The Shinigami smirks while carrying a Paper fan and fanning herself.
"Cry about it."
She says, mocking him for how easily he is spooked.
"Whatever, more important I need to ask you something."
The Shinigami raises its eyebrows in interest.
"Depends on the question, what is it?"
She said,
"You said that my right arm has some mysterious power, right, so do you know which section talks about unexplained mysteries or something, if it even has that of course?"
The Shinigami closes her eyes for a bit, thinking to herself, either trying to remember or just ignoring him, Metsuma just waits for an answer by playing with his fingers.
"It's actually in section 8, which is this section, but I don't know specifically where the information is so you're going to have to look for it yourself since people never really read those books since they're uninteresting to others."
He takes in this information, and while he is happy that it's in this section, he is a bit sad that he has to look for it and can't really rely on someone else for guidance.
"Damn, so I have to go on a wild goose chase basically, why can't this be easy."
After a bit of sulking, he remembers what Cyra gave him.
"Wait, the World Index, I could use it to find the section."
He excitedly takes the book out of his jacket.
"Thank goodness the book can shrink itself; I could have never carried this around with me"
He thinks to himself while staring at the book.
"Can you tell me where I can find the part of the library about unexplained mysteries of the world?"
He waits for a while before the book opens up and flips in pages once again, it stops and reveals [North-West from your Current Position] before once again snapping shut. He looks northwest but sees a very long way.
"That's far too vague, dammit."
Realizing the book wasn't that much help could only follow its instructions and start heading Northwest.
The perspective switches to Accelerant as they stop by a nearby food cart on the walk path.
"This tastes good, what kind of chocolate is this again?"
Accelerant devours the entire thing within seconds, clearly enjoying the snack.
"It's homemade chocolate, it's especially tasty for mana users"
Accelerant looks at the old man in confusion, saying mana users as if not everyone uses mana.
"Doesn't everyone use mana?"
He asked the old man.
"Of course not, Mana is just one of the 2 Power Systems in this world"
Accelerant gets intrigued, hearing them call it a power system, just like how people call abilities in manga a part of a power system.
"This is common knowledge boy."
Accelerant looks down for a bit, rubbing his head.
"Well, I'm not native to information so if you could describe the power systems to me"
The old man signs, confused as to how someone doesn't know basic knowledge.
"There are 2 power systems in this world, Mana and Blessings, Mana is a versatile energy of our world, its power is determined by the type of user you are and how creative said user is with their mana, and blessings are self-explanatory, they're blessings from the gods above, giving human extraordinary powers."
Accelerant absorbs all this information, realizing that this world has much more to offer than he first realized.
"So, with mana, you can basically do whatever you want?"
He asked.
"Technically yes, but not really."
The old man said.
"There are 5 types of mana users and people are born into one of these 5 types, so they can only do so much with the type of mana they have, these types are: Amplifier, Transmitter, Developer, Emanator, and Manipulator."
Accelerant thinks about this information, seeing that this power system reminds him of a certain manga he read in the other world.
"Seeing as you didn't know the principles of mana, could you tell me, if you have, how you manipulated your mana so far."
The old man asked.
"Oh, um…I stacked my mana and then I was able to surround my body in it to use one of my skills basically"
The old man thinks for a moment, tapping his forehead, before looking up.
"That means you're a Transmitter"
Accelerant raises an eyebrow.
"A Transmitter?"
He asked.
"Yes, Transmitters can change the properties of their own or other people's mana to whatever they desire or surround themselves or other objects in it. Another thing they can do is connect their mana to other people's mana, the reason can depend on their skills."
The man explains what exactly Accelerant's type is and hearing this while he is intrigued that he now knows what he can do, he is a bit upset that he is quite limited in what he can do as well.
"I see, so the only reason I was able to do that was because I was a Transmitter."
He thinks to himself.
"Wait so then what about blessings, people can have blessings and mana so that offers even more variety of uses"
He says to that old man.
"Sign, no, people with blessings cannot manipulate mana to the extent of mana users, you are either born with a powerful blessing or born with the versatility of mana, no in between"
Accelerant now understands why they separate the 2 forces as a power system.
"So, you separate them because you can only use one or the other."
He said.
"Indeed, but the blessed can do a little bit of mana manipulation being physically enhanced but not to the extent an Amplifier can."
The old man says.
"Don't worry, I can tell that you're quite a smart one, that brain of yours is perfect for a Transmitter since out of all the types, Transmitters requires the smartest people to be used effectively."
The old man said, tapping the side of his head.
"Wait, Bal, are you a Mana user or a blessed?"
He asked Bal.
"I'm blessed by the God of the Machine."
She says, crossing her arms.
"Oh ho ho, I hear that blessing is quite powerful, is your body a byproduct of that blessing?"
The old man asked.
"No, it isn't, I made my body this way using my blessing, making it easier for me to use my power."
She responded to the old man.
"An interesting duo you have here, planning on taking the Adventure Exams together?"
He asked.
"Hmm, Adventure Exam?"
He asks while looking at Bal.
"It's an exam where people can become adventurers, which allows them to go to islands and places that are normally restricted to an average person without a license"
She responded.
"Cool, If I can, can I take the exam?"
He asked Bal.
"You can after we go to Kira City, I won't be with you for long after all"
She responded.
"Huh, what did she mean by that?
He thought to himself, wondering what she meant by that.
"Well, we have to be on our way now, thank you for the snacks, sir."
She said to the old man.
"Yeah, Old man, thanks."
Accelerant said.
"Alright then, have a safe journey"
The man waves them goodbye.
"That's some talent right there, he would be perfect for the association."
The man's form changes as his bald head is revealed to be a bald cap, revealing her white and black hair, her body gets much taller, her skin gets pale, and her body gets curvier.
"An interesting boy indeed, maybe he could give me a real challenge, I'll just have to wait and see."
Accelerant and Bal finally see Kira City in the distance after a lot of walking.
"Finally, we reached it, I can't wait to see what's there."
Accelerant says excitedly, shaking in excitement while still walking.
"Calm down will you, after we reach it, we are going to sleep"
She says.
"What, why?"
He asked, disappointed at this response.
"Aren't you tired from all the walking?"
She asked Accelerant.
At first, Accelerant felt nothing but soon the fatigue kicked in and his body was melting a bit from being tired.
"Wow, didn't know slimes could get tired."
He said.
"Yes, they can, so we will go to sleep after we reach it, okay?"
She said,
"Okay."