His fists full of aura, Stark positioned himself for the battle against Daniel, and this time there would be no deathless duel or anything of the sort, it was all or nothing.
"I am going to kill you…" Daniel was starting to doubt his judgment now, the atmosphere around Stark was different than it was ten seconds ago for some reason.
But he couldn't let it show that he was hesitating, he was part of the Pridel family, one of the biggest ones in Fellarburg, if not the entire world.
Luckily for him though, someone came to stop whatever was happening: Lana Moonless.
"Stop whatever you're doing," she spoke with an emotionless voice, placing herself between the two.
"Oh my god, that's Lana!"
"THE Lana? From the Moonless family, the ones that own lots of businesses, guilds, and are all extremely powerful…?"
"I heard her father is called the 'Archer King'…"
Frankly, Lana would never stoop so low as to stop ongoing battles between people as she all considered that extremely childish, but for some reason… she felt like she needed to stop this one, and it's totally not because Stark is there, obviously!
"Lana, what are you doing?" Daniel showed his soft spot for the blonde-haired archer, unable to defy anything she said, both because of his obsession for her and because her family was stronger.
Stark, on the otherhand just looked at her with a neutral expression, it was as if his eyes were staring at her soul.
"That black-haired guy is done for… of course Lana is gonna side with Daniel!"
"It's business matter, that guy is cornered."
"I guess the weak really should just stay back huh…"
Lana really wanted to say something to Stark at that moment, not to criticize him or anything, just to make sure everything was alright, but seeing his expression and aura while looking at her, she switched her gaze and looked at Daniel.
"Aren't you tired of causing problems," she spoke to him, giving him a harsh look, completely different from her expression with Stark, "Seriously… I HATE men like you…" she groaned and began walking toward Stark.
"W-what the?" Daniel was astonished, he had not expected to be called out by Lana in such a way.
And honestly, no one did, they all expected her to lash out at Stark for being a nuisance.
'Well, she's going toward him anyway, so he is also getting it!' Daniel smirked again, ready to see Lana unleash another barrage of insults at him.
But… when she approached Stark, none of this happened.
She just grabbed his arm and took him away, toward one of the men in black.
They disappeared into the crowd before anyone could do anything, and everyone present to see the scene was left speechless, Daniel the first.
He had known Lana since she was little, falling in love with her the first time he saw her as a little girl, and their families were on good terms, so to him, everything was going well.
When they reached middle school, he relentlesly persued her, but she would always shrug him off, not even interested in him a single bit.
And it wasn't like she was making a bad choice: Daniel is a hypocrite, vowing his love to her but still sleeping around.
Just like that, the inspection kept going.
***
When it was Lana's turn to be inspected, the guards let her pass without checking anything: it was obvious, she was famous and her father was probably the boss of these guys, no wonder they didn't check her.
Stark on the otherhand was right behind the blonde archer, and of course, he was stopped like everybody else.
"Please show us the items you acquired, and inform us about what you did in the rift."
"No items," he lied, "And also, I am the one that beat-" he tried to speak about his achievements to the guard, after all Stark was someone who loved to boast.
But Lana came to interrupt them, "He is with me, no need to inspect him either."
"But miss, we were tasked to-" the guard was put in a tough spot, he had been given strict instructions to not let anyone that isn't Lana or from a big faction/family pass without a search
"This guy is my friend, is it so hard to understand or do you want me to tell my father about it?" she hated abusing her powers, but this time was a special occasion as she didn't want Stark to tell them about his fight with the boss.
"V-Very well!" the guard let Stark pass, "Next in line!"
And so just like that, Stark was allowed out.
The busses had already arrived by now, and people were leaving little by little.
"Welp, thank you I guess," Stark smiled before heading toward a half-full bus that was ready to take off in less than five minutes.
It was currently around midnight, and so all he wanted to do was take advantage of this ride to sleep.
He sat on a bus chair (with no one beside him), and yawned, he had been the one that probably had done the most things inside the rift, so of course he was tired.
'I just want to sleep…' he closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, he sensed a presence beside him, "…?"
He looked to his right, just to see Lana, "Do you have a crush on me or something? Why are you following me?" he asked.
"HUH? ME? There are just no other chairs beside this one I feel comfortable sitting on!"
Stark took a few seconds to notice many empty chairs in the bus, but just decided it wasn't worth it, and went back to closing his eyes.
Soon enough, he fell asleep.
***
(Many hours later)
The sun was starting to rise, casting its warm rays through the windows of the bus. Stark slowly stirred, feeling the uncomfortable stiffness in his neck and shoulders. He opened his eyes and sat up, blinking away the gritty remnants of sleep from his eyes.
They had finally arrived back at the Lotus Academy, and soon enough most of the people left the bus, greeted by their parents or other figures related to them.
For this special occasion, even Lana's father, the 'Archer King' went to check on his daughter, hugging her as soon as she left the bus, Stark right behind her.
"My little princess, did you do well?" he smiled, a proof that he really cared about his daughter.
"Of course I did, dad, I beat the boss!"
"THAT'S MY GIRL," he was extremely tall with blond hair and a beard, and lifted her up while spinning.
Stark wasn't interested in such a scene, and so he decided to go back to his hotel room as nobody had come to check on him, he had a rough day ahead of him as he wanted to sell his items, and maybe, just maybe, try to find anything related to that Domination Trial.
But right as he was about to leave…
"Wait, you," Lana's father shouted, and gestured for him to approach him, for some reason, he had the feeling that Stark was an important person.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
"Wait, you," Lucas, Lana's father, called out, he was able to spot Stark's aura thanks to his formidable archer eyes, and of course that's how he was able to spot people with high potential.
His daughter was the same, which was how she knew if someone only wanted to speak to her because they had ulterior motives, and also able to gouge their strength that way.
Stark was one of the few people that were actually genuine and strong, so he decided to call out to him.
"Oh come on," Stark rolled his eyes, he didn't want to get involved in such a matter, and so he did the thing he thought was best in this situation: run away.
Anybody else that was called by the Archer King would of jumped in joy since it was an opportunity to get closer to the big boss and his daughter, yet Stark just wanted to rest and sell his items.
"Hahahahahahah~" Lucas laughed, he of course had the speed to catch up to Stark instantly, but didn't bother to do as it was more interesting this way, "He seems to be important to you, Lana!"
"H-Huh?" she didn't understand how her father could see that, and she visibly blushed at his remark, "W-well… just a friend…"
"A friend is more than enough for me, finally someone that can understand you, I feel like he is gonna achieve great things!" and so the two of them climbed inside a luxurious car that had been waiting for them and took off.
***
Stark went to his hotel room, which was only around ten minutes away from his middle school, Lotus Academy.
He arrived in his room, and it was the same as ever, thankfully they hadn't given it to another person as he hadn't come back for an entire day because of the 'Class Showcase'.
He took his wallet with him, it contained his credit card, debit card and student card, which would probably make things easier for him.
His phone was also on a table beside his bed, and out of frustration, he grabbed it and decided a few pass-codes.
[1234… INCORRECT]
[2024… INCORRECT]
[0000… INCORRECT]
'…' he thought for a few seconds, and an idea came to mind as he took his student card in hand, 'Even in my previous world, my phone code was the same…'
Stark's birthday was the 21st of May, and so that meant…
[2105…]
And surprisingly, it actually did work.
'Holy shit, the FBI needs to hire me!' he was proud of himself.
But not wanting to waste time, he took his wallet and phone with him and left the hotel room.
He had done his research beforehand, and so instead of taking his time to rest or go back to the library to acquire information, he hailed for a taxi and drove to the biggest classifier trading district in all of Fellarburg.
It took him only 20 minutes since he was close to the center of the city he was in.
"Thank you for the ride," he thanked his driver and exited the car, now standing in the bustling trading district of Fellarburg.
It was around 7am in the morning, yet hundreds of people were coming and going from different buildings and talking to one another.
The buildings around him had massive neon signs hanging above them, advertising various items and services that could be bought and sold at their respective establishments.
Stark walked past the familiar sounds of negotiations and deals being made, his heart pounding with anticipation.
Soon, he arrived in front of the biggest building of them all, and the one that attracted the most people.
"Classifiers Trading Association," he mumbled, and guessed that it was probably the right place to be at.
He entered the building, leaving the bustling streets behind him, he frankly didn't enjoy the noise too much as he would much rather stay in silence, something he had inherited from his past and calm life.
Inside, he found himself in a massive lobby with a high ceiling and bustling with other classifiers who were here for the same purpose as Stark.
All over the place, holographic screens could be seen advertising items, equipments and weapons that could be useful to people.
Feeling a bit lost because of the sheer amount of people, Stark stopped for a few seconds to observe his surroundings.
Thankfully enough though, a woman in a stylish suit approached him with a friendly smile, "Welcome to the Classifiers Trading Association, sir, how may I help you today?"
Her attitude, posture and entire posture had probably been rehearsed hundreds of time to make her seem as friendly and professional as possible, and even Stark couldn't deny that it was working.
"I'm looking to sell some items i've acquired inside a dungeon recently," Stark explained, smiling back.
"Oh~ very well, please follow me to one of our special rooms and I will call a professional appraiser to evaluate the prices."
The receptionist didn't seem very interested in him based on her expression, after all, the 'Classifiers Trading Association' was mainly interested in buying items and weapons that were from higher classed rifts, and Stark's appearance screamed "hey I just started my life as a classifier".
'Low level items' were also appreciated since they could be bought for cheaper and were a good way to start your journey, even more so when they had perks, but it was just that, they were just temporary until you could acquire better loot as your level got higher.
The woman took Stark to a reception room, and inside of it, sitting on a couch, was a middle-aged man with glasses and a soon-to-be balding head.
He was enjoying a cup of coffee while using his phone, probably just waiting for his next customer.
And so as soon he saw Stark, he switched his attitude and went into 'business' mode.
Stark sat in front of the man, neither of them exchanging a greeting as they knew they were here for one thing: trading.
'Spatial Inventory,' Stark with a blank expression opened the void that stored his items, which appeared beside him and surprised the man.
Then he thought about the items he acquired in the rift, and suddenly, he was able to grab them.
He pulled out the [Low-Level Magic Staff] and the [Ice Bow], placing them in front of the table.
"What a weird… skill?" the man stared, confused.
"Don't worry about it, just check these items please," Stark smiled, staring at the man with his deep aura-filled eyes.
The man nodded and began to examine the items.
After a minute or two, he put the staff down, then spoke, "the staff seems of bad quality and only of common rarity, we are ready to offer 53,000 rher coins for it."
Rher coins are the currency of this world, and yes, that stupid god of fate actually named the money after himself.
"Hm…" Stark thought, but was satisfied enough with the first price even though it was extremely low, possibly because it was one of the lowest rated piece of equipment there was, "I accept."
"Very well," the man grabbed the staff and put it beside him, then immediately began inspecting the bow, which interested him much more.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
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