Chapter 11: City

"You are free to go kid."'Finally..' Michael sighed. He had been in questioning for the last 3 hours.

The questions he was asked were simple, something along the lines of 'Did that man hurt you?' 'Where are your parents?'

It seemed they were hell bent on Meph being a criminal, the way he acted gave that impression at the very least.

However his case will obviously get dismissed once they find out the body's identity.

After Michael sat through the boring questioning, he went out of the police station and headed over to the hospital, the buildings were not that far apart.

The hospital was at least a couple of times larger than the recovery center in his orphanage, he wouldn't be surprised if this was the only one in the city.

But it was not, wherever this place is located, is more advanced than his previous city.

By earth's standards, the place he used to live in could be considered very modern, however, the city he found himself in now was the definition of modern.

Flying cars, skyscrapers reaching the sky, holograms strewn around, ads playing and showcasing all sorts of never before seen stuff.

However, one thing had caught his eye in the many advertisements he saw.

It was a weird device that looked eerily similar to his previous world's VR headsets, however as the ad kept playing, it seemed like the person had been transported into another world, his body and all his senses were the same however.

The person suddenly started using skills, creating fireballs and sending them in random directions.

It then panned to the person fighting inside of what looked like a dungeon, however as he fought and was slashed, no blood came out, however, his body soon turned to particles.

The product was called 'Vivum's VR Headset.'

However, the next thing greatly shocked Michael.

'50.000 fucking dollars? Are they out of their god damn mind?' he grumbled with a sour expression. It looked interesting but he didn't have a single cent to his name.

Hm.. that could be interesting, you should get one before you go back.

'Well, who knows how much the ferry costs to travel to another continent..'

Michael was currently in the Artios continent, with his old one being Neutus.

There is one more continent, Daor, and it is located in the very far south, people avoid it because the monsters there are unbelievably powerful, oftentimes taking raid teams weeks to even hunt a single pack.

Raid teams refer to a party larger than 10 people.

The 3 continents were considered mega continents, one of them would be the size of his previous world's 3 biggest continents combined.

What made continental travel so dangerous however, was the fact that flying monsters could attack in the sky, and if you were to go by ship, a massive sea serpent could eat it in a single bite.

Michael did not know of any alternatives yet, though he was hoping to discover some during his stay here.

He walked inside of the hospital and noticed some kind of booth in front of him, it seemed the reception was automated by a robot.

'So now I am definitely going to have the normal hospital experience..' Michael thought back to the time he had to wait 14 hours just to get redirected to another sector. seaʀᴄh thё Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Michael went up to the booth and a hologram screen popped up, there were many options but he selected Doctor Consultation.

Suddenly a ticket appeared out of the booth, it read,

-----

Doctor Bryan

Room : 302

Position in queue : 743rd

ETA : 6 weeks

-----

Michael stared at the ticket, his expression crumbling 'Fuck...'

Can't you just go in through the entrance anyway? Act your age and it might work.

'And if they escort me back to the police? I think the streets are cozier than the police station's cells.'

Well then go do something, or just find another hospital, a shabbier one.

'Would there even be a shabby hospital in this city?'

A grain of rice can be f-

Michael quickly interjected 'Alright alright, I'll go look around if anything I'll walk back to the police station, get admitted into this city's orphanage or whatnot.'

The police said they would find Michael after the questioning was done, he wasn't sure how, but he was not curious enough to ask.

They casted a detection spell on you, as long as you are in the city, they can find you.

'That seems like a little much no?' Michael wondered. A detection spell on a mere child? What was he, a criminal?

An unknown child from another continent randomly swims ashore, I wonder?

Michael flinched 'That does sound weird doesn't it?'

Genius.

Michael shrugged and started walking. The streets were clean, extremely so.

The people that walked around didn't pay Michael a single glance either, even when he was wearing his odd looking robe.

There were bridges and tunnels for the people to walk across the streets.

Michael also noticed that despite all this modernity, there were also people setting up food stalls and all sorts of other stuff that he remembers from his old world.

He didn't know where he was going, he could have asked for directions from others, however, he wanted to enjoy the view, it's not every day you get to see a city like this.

Supermalls upon supermalls, all kinds of delicious food.

A rich person's paradise.

After about 2 hours of aimless walking, Michael found a bench and sat down.

So how about you ask for directions now?

'I will let me just take a quick break' Michael said as he got comfortable, even the benches were comfy.

What? Are you tired after not doing anything since you got here?

'You seem to forget that I entered the dungeon around 2 to 3 days ago, and I have not slept once yet, so yes, I am tired'

Just sleep on the bench then, you are homeless right now, after all, so act the part.

'Fuck off' Michael grumbled and decided to check out his status, he saw a few blue boxes appear when he was swimming, but he had no time to check them out.

'Status'

+---+

Name: Michael

Age: 9 years old

Race: Human

Class: Healer [Common]

Level 11 [550/11000 EXP]

Titles:

Ruthless Combatant

# Raise all your damage by 10% when facing enemies at least 30 levels above you

-Stats

HP: 576/576 [+50] / Regen 71 HP Per Hour

MP: 876/876 [+50] / Regen 121 MP Per Hour

STR: 50 -> 56

END: 58 -> 71

AGI: 47 -> 51

INT: 120 -> 121 [+10]

CHA: 16 -> 17

-Skills / [Skill Merging]

Hand to hand combat [Level 5 971/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive]

# Increases STR by 5% when fighting using only your hands

Discipline [Level 7 1000/3500 EXP] [Uncommon] [Passive]

# Mental magic has a 7% reduced effect on you

Shooting mastery [Level 6 0/3000 EXP] [Uncommon] [Passive]

# Any kind of projectile has a 6% increase in velocity

Greater Heal [Level 1 200/500 EXP] [Uncommon] [Active]

# Heal your target / Restore 600 HP

Cost: 20 MP

Purify [Level 1 150/500 EXP] [Rare] [Active]

# Purify the target, curing all diseases and illnesses

Cost: 100MP

+---+

Michael was left shocked, if he was going by his previous pace, this kind of stat increase would have taken at least a couple of months, though he was able to achieve this in a day of swimming?

Don't try to use normal logic, this world and your body are both different, fundamentally and all.

'I understand that, but should they still go up this fast?' Michael couldn't help but ask, it was unnaturally unnatural even by his standards.

You trained with such intensity where you could die, your adrenaline was at its peak and so was your focus, do you seriously think that and running laps around a stadium are the same? Don't be foolish.

Michael frowned, but decided to not argue with the system 'Right..also why am I not getting any EXP towards my normal level when my passive skill EXP increases?'

As unbalanced as the system already is, if that was a thing, your level would increase too fast at the start, oh and you would have neglected your healing skills as well.

'Why are you so sassy today?' Michael asked while smirking. Though the answer he received was a little unexpected.

I am preparing you for your next interaction, there were a couple of people following you since you got here-oh there they are.

As the system said that, a single person with shabby clothing walked towards Michael, before kneeling down and bowing.

"O child of the gods, please bestow upon us your blessing!"

'What?'

Play along with him, you might get some money so act magnanimous or something.

Michael inwardly sighed, he didn't want to be a fraud, but he also didn't want to sleep on the streets.

He stood up and walked up to the bowing old man, trying to stand him up "Get up sir, there is no need to bow in my presence, what troubles you?"

Bullshit skill generated, rarity Legendary.

'Are you out of your mind? Also did you just cuss?' Michael asked, showing slight surprise at the fact that the system swore, ever since first meeting it, it had never cussed once.

However the system chose to ignore Michael, leaving him to deal with the still bowing man.

"No! How could I stand in front of someone of your caliber!" The old man dismissed Michael and went back to bowing.

"Sir, stand up, if you don't then I will leave." Those words seemed to startle the man as he immediately stood up.

"Speak" Michael demanded in an authoritative tone, not acting like a 9 year old child at all.

"Y-yes..the healer we had in the slums disappeared, and now there is no one to help us.." The man explained, looking with puppy dog eyes at Michael.

'I can see where he is going with this..'

"So you want me to become the healer in charge of the slums? What's in it for me?" Michael asked. He would go, however if they want him to heal the slums for absolutely free, then...

The man flinched slightly "O-oh..we gave the previous healer offerings, mostly money in exchange for his help, would that be okay?" he looked at Michael with hopeful eyes.

'Good enough for me' Michael flashed a small smile, however in the eyes of the the man, he looked like a smiling angel of hope.

"That would have to suffice, lead the way"

That cheered the man up and he started walking, with Michael right behind him.

They walked for a couple of minutes before going down into what looked like the subway station, though it appeared abandoned.

'Am I about to get robbed?' Michael couldn't help but think. It did seem a little suspicious, especially when the man said the slums needed his help, yet took him to a subway station.

They walked down the stairs and jumped onto the tracks, moving even further forward.

After another couple minutes of walking, Michael began seeing some lights around the corner and instinctively flinched, he thought it was an incoming train.

However, the old man did not seem phased as he kept moving forward, turning a corner to the left.

Michael was right behind him, and the moment he turned the corner, his eyes widened.

He stood on what appeared to be a cliff with shabby stairs leading down to on the left.

However that was not what shocked him.

In front of him was an underground city, one that seemed to span tens of kilometers wide. Though most of the buildings were in tatters, it looked like some sort of battle happened here.

The old man turned back to Michael with a small yet sad smile "Welcome to the Vivum slums."