As Hunter's eyes adjusted, he was already bombarded with the sound and smell of a city. The city's noise washed over him as he entered: chatter, footsteps, and even the occasional argument. It felt familiar.

  The strong smell of sweet, sugary foods mixed with fried foods encompassed him. He looked around, and along the now twelve-foot road were dozens of food stands, all with different and more exotic foods than the last. He recognized some, like pies, smoothies made with weird fruits, and pancakes.

  Hunter thought back. All growing up, he would have pancakes. They were perfectly fluffy, and with butter on them and syrup, they were… ok. Honestly, he never really cared for any kind of breakfast food.

  Their wagon continued being pulled, and Hunter wondered if the Lorid knew where to go. "Better than I do, at least," he thought. They pulled them toward more developed buildings. Each storefront had a unique look, with smooth curves around doors and adjacent glass windows.

  Each building had a sign out in front stating its purpose. Hunter saw a ball of yarn on one, a bird on another, and even a striped triangle with ears.

  Derick walked up behind him and started speaking, scaring him. "It's not massive, but it's pretty big. This city is a gateway between three major cities and has a fork right in the middle."

  Hunter tried to see the intersection but couldn't spot it, so he turned to Derick and asked. "So, is the city a giant triangle?"

  Derick turned, pulling a map out of his inventory, and said. "See for yourself self. It's a really weird shape. It used to be more of a diamond with only the two roads entering through the southwest and southeast sides, but when Radir was founded to the north, that town's population blew up; they founded the city over a large mana well, so the city of Radir quickly became the forefront of research."

  Derick laughed before continuing. "The merchant's guild here in town didn't want this town to become obsolete with them building new roads bypassing us, so they offered to build a road meeting up with the other two inside this very city, so to do that, they demolished the top half of the diamond-shaped wall and expanded it to a shape of a square with the road coming from the wall to the north."

  Hunter looked at the odd shape for a few moments before asking. "Why didn't they just go around the city and connect to one of the roads to the south?"

  Derick chuckled before answering, "This city at the center where all the roads meet is one interesting building. A building that makes a lot of money from the people who come through. The merchant's guild, actually, that is where we are headed."

  Hunter studied the map and noticed three large plots—two buildings and a garden-like area. "So it's one of these buildings?"

  "Yup," Derick said, indicating to the two buildings first. "You really can't tell the difference from the map, but this building is the Adventurer's guild, and this one is the Researcher's guild."

  Hunter looked back and forth. To him, they looked identical—at least they did on the map. "How do you tell them apart?" he asked.

  Derick scoffed. "Well, that much is easy; the one with pillars all around and beautiful architecture is the researcher's guild."

  Hunter waited for him to continue, but he didn't elaborate, so he asked, "And the Adventurer's guild?"

  A grin played on Derick's face. "Oh yeah, the adventurers guild, well, it looks like a brick."

  They were coming closer to the middle of the city, and so were new shops; they had large glass showcases showing off their wares. Hunter saw beautiful and sparkling swords and shields adorned with gems and armor glittering with golden fabric.

  "Wow," he said. "Those must be expensive."

  Derick frowned, looking in the indicated direction. "Stay away from shops like those. Any flashy armor will get you killed; the simpler, the better."

  They pulled up to a massive botanical garden. Hunter had only visited the one near his home once, but this one was only a little smaller.

  They passed the garden and pulled their wagon to the side, where hundreds of different stalls were. People crowded the road but quickly moved out of the way of their cart. Hunter spotted some other Lorids in their stalls, all with slightly different colors. Louie pulled the wagon into a stall and laid down.

  Derick hopped down, patting Louie on the side. "Nice job, buddy, I'll get you a treat." The creature let out a warble as it started vibrating.

  Derick started walking away, so Hunter followed. He knew how easy it was to lose sight of someone in a crowd, especially if the person you were following was only four feet tall.

  They finally made it to the entrance to the botanical garden and entered. There were much fewer people around now, so Hunter was able to appreciate the sights. They walked on a wooden pathway with trees lining the path and perfectly trimmed bushes lining the side. To Hunter, the air felt cool and pleasant.

  The sound of the busy city vanished as they went farther. Manufactured waterfalls burbled along a stream that met up with the path and ran along it. They walked through arches of vines before everything opened up.

  The wooden pathway ended, and the trees and bushes stopped. In front of them was a massive yard of different flowers leading up to a large closed-off gazebo with doors on each side.

  Paths led out from the gazebo, cutting lines through the flowers in 8 different directions. To their left were all blue flowers, the aroma smooth and fresh. On the right were bright pink flowers, a strong, sweet smell wafting from them.

  Derick and Hunter finally reached the gazebo. Derick turned to him and said. "After you."

  He entered, and Hunter's mind spun. What he saw in front of him made no sense. The gazebo, although large, must have been twenty feet long and the same height. In front of him, however, was what looked like a giant mall.

  The floor was now made of polished marble. The building was filled with people, but they all looked weird. Not how they dressed. Although people wore a mix of colorful, flowy, and bedazzled clothing, some wore full suits of armor, but that wasn't what stuck with Hunter as weird.

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  What really confused Hunter was how beautiful everyone looked. Everyone around looked perfect. People were able to use makeup in his world to simulate perfection, but this was something else. It almost felt like he had again entered a new world.

  Hunter felt out of place. Although he felt comfortable with his appearance and had been popular in the past, was there any competition compared to people who looked even more beautiful than celebrities?

  Hunter's mind spun, and he felt nausea set on. Derick spotted this and led him over to a bench.

  Hunter sat down, looking at the ground and trying to take everything in. "What is going on?" he muttered to himself.

  Derick smiled kindly. "It is probably because of the folded reality. The larger it is, the more it messes with your head, but you get used to it after a while."

  Hunter rubbed his eyes, "Why didn't they use all that space where the garden was? Aren't they wealthy enough to buy a lot of land?"

  The bald man shook his head. "That is exactly why they went with the folded reality: to show off their money."

  Hunter felt his nausea start to lower, so he looked around. The ceiling was over a hundred feet up, and large white floating balls gave the room ample light. The mall's length stretched hundreds of feet in each direction, eventually curving off as if the building were a large circle.

  Along the walls were large shops. Hunter saw a few armor shops, and just like Derick mentioned, the colors were more muted and dull, but these stores had many more customers, especially customers who looked ready for battle.

  Hunter felt his nausea subside, so he stood up, and they started moving again.

  They returned to the entrance, and Derick walked up to a tall man sitting behind a counter. The man had a perfect tan and dark brown eyes. His skin was silky smooth, and he gave them a perfect smile as they walked up.

  Derick returned a white but less perfect smile and said. "I'm here to drop off a shipment; the name should be Derick."

  The man tapped at a flat piece of stone in front of him, outlined with gold trim tapped at the piece of stone. "Got it." He said. "Are you fine with our normal handling of the product?"

  Derick affirmed, and the man smiled again, saying, "Thanks for your business. You will be unloaded before you return. May I interest you in our food court or inns before you leave? After such a long journey, I bet it would help calm the nerves."

  This made Hunter grin. "They even try to up-sell you in this world, at least that is familiar."

  To his surprise, they didn't leave after thanking the man behind the counter; instead, they walked around the building until they found a walkway that went more inward.

  In the center of the building was a large food court. Hunter could see and smell what must have been thirty of forty different stalls. Derick led them to a very simple shop. The shop looked as small as a food truck with only one person working it. It had a simple straightness to the structure and a description of each food out front.

  The foods were all called hidden gems, and each had a few different ingredients. Hunter couldn't make out what any of them were, so he asked Derick for help.

  Derick glanced at the board for a few moments before saying, "Just get what I get. I promise it won't disappoint." Then he walked up to the stand and ordered for both of them.

  The woman who ran the stand caught Hunter off guard. Like everyone else around, she was beautiful. She looked like she was in her thirties, but something felt off. There were no wrinkles on her face or a hunch in her back, but how she looked around, examined people, and talked seemed like she could have been his grandma.

  The woman tapped on another of those stone tablets and said it would be done soon. Derick and Hunter sat down at a nearby table.

  Hunter, now sitting, felt as if all the blood was rushing to his brain. He felt the need to find answers to some of his now even more numerous questions, and he asked, "Why are people so beautiful?"

  Derick drew his mouth in a line and seemed to think hard before explaining. "Before we get to that, can you send me your stats?"

  Hunter mentally opened his stats in front of himself and mentally urged the translucent screen to hover in front of Derick. The screen slowly, as if through honey, glided to and through the man.

  Hunter let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding, "This takes a lot of concentration he muttered."

  Derick heard him, however, and said. "All you should have to do is think that you want to show your list to me, and I should be able to pull it up."

  Hunter did so, and it was much easier this time. The screen reappeared in front of him and Derick. Derick jumped a little when it appeared, as if he were not expecting it.

  —————————————————————————————————————————————————————

  Stats:

  Strength:

  19+1=(+1 Hard-worker)

  Durability:

  16+3=(+1 Hard-worker +2 from achievements)

  Agility:

  21+0=(-1 Sloth +1 Hard-worker)

  Intelligence:

  10+4=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Good Liar +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey)

  Wisdom:

  11+3=(+1 Hard-worker +1 Daydreamer +1 Prey)

  Level 13

  XP 235

  ————————————————————————————————————————————————————

  Then Hunter noticed a feeling in his head that was only now making itself known. He let it appear.

  —————————————————————————————————————————————————————

  Achievement unlocked: Bloomheart.

  ————————————————————————————————————————————————————

  Hunter didn't see any more description of what it did, and it didn't show up on his stats list. Before he could dive into more of what that meant, Derick coughed, surprising himself and Hunter.

  Hunter looked at him in confusion, and Derick coughed a few more times before elaborating. "Are you sure you aren't hiding any stats or achievements? This is nothing."

  Now Hunter felt horrible. What he had worked so hard for was nothing? His face fell into a frown, and his heart dropped as he responded, "This is everything. What did you expect? I just got here. "

  Derick seemed to think for a while before responding. "They aren't great, that's for sure, but hopefully, you have a lot of potential left, now for how people are so beautiful," he leaned in, indicating for Hunter to as well, and whispered.

  "Nobody is supposed to talk about it to stop people from getting themselves killed, but once you reach a certain level or stat amount, you can grow stronger. Some people can hit this point, others can not, so this information is kept secret."

  Hunter thought Derick was pulling his leg, so he looked at him nonplussed, but Derick continued. "You know the person behind the shop that we just went to? Well, she used to be an adventurer about fifty years ago. Growing stronger increases your lifespan, too."

  Hunter's mind flooded with new information: "People get to grow stronger, and this causes them to become beautiful and age slower?" He thought this sounded great, but then he remembered Derick mentioning how far behind he was and felt a pit grow in his stomach: "Is there a limited amount of time for you to grow stronger?"

  A ping of heat and pain racked his neck, and he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. "Too much, there is too much happening." Everything fell out of his grasp; the little bit of control he thought he had was ripped away.

  "DERICK! YOUR FOOD IS READY!" The screamed word broke him from his downward spiral. He breathed evenly, willing himself back to the present. Derick stood up and retrieved their food.

  When Derick returned, he sat a plate in front of Hunter. The food looked like a large ravioli. It had a breaded exterior with a golden tinge from being cooked.

  Derick, before digging in, started speaking unsurely. "Hey Hunter… I understand we didn't start off well, and I apologize again for that. Seeing your stats has reaffirmed something I wanted to ask you. You see, I used to be an adventurer—well, kind of. My parents wanted me to be an adventurer."

  Derick stopped himself from getting sidetracked. "What I wanted to say and ask is, I can help you grow stronger. Would you like to travel with me?"

  Looking off into the distance, Hunter was caught off guard by this and had to run through the conversation in his head before responding. "I would like that, thank you."

  Derick's uneasiness vanished, and a grin spread on his face, he said. "Great! Any more questions?"

  Hunter shook his head, feeling his hunger gnaw at him. He looked at a utensil that was handed to him. It had a serrated edge but looked like a spoon. He sawed through the edge of the breaded ravioli, and the sauce started leaking out.

  A white sauce flowed out. Hunter finished cutting the piece and put it in his mouth. Smoked beef, spicy with a nice earthy undertone, filled his mouth. The sauce was slightly sweet, and there were flakes of a green leaf with a peppery taste. It was like a calzone but unlike any he had ever had.

  He looked at Derick. "One question, how is this food so good?"