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He turned around to see what kind of piece of crap he was in compared to the city below the mountain. Small, entirely made of wood, leaning, no foundation, old, decrepit—there were plenty of words to describe whatever this was.
"Hah, no bother. I'll just find somewhere else to sleep; anywhere would be better than this. I'll build the damn thing myself if I need to."
Pushing the thought aside, he checked what was directly below the mountain.
No spikes, nice! It's cartoonish how many times that's happened to me… Though it would be funny to ragdoll into them again—ugh, no, that just brings back bad memories.
Thankfully, he knew it was time to test his body's strength before doing anything else. Still, he wasn't about to leap off without checking first.
I feel... a bit off. Weaker, maybe. Better safe than splattered.
He scanned the forest for anything solid enough to hit and spotted a tall rock hill in the distance.
"Perfect."
He took a stance, lightning crackling and pulsing around him—then vanished. A sonic boom echoed behind him. The ground split and scorched beneath his path; trees flattened. The shack? Obliterated. All that remained were a few lonely planks.
He came to a stop in front of the hill.
"Six seconds slower than before. That's… not the greatest to know for speed. At least I'm still fa—"
Sniff Sniff
He looked back at the aftermath of his 'run.'
"Haha. Seems I'm forgetting basic precautions, huh?" He raised his hand and spoke, "Reverse."
The terrain began to shift; time itself rewound. Even the shack returned.
Once finished, he noticed it took more energy than usual.
Concerning, but makes sense. Since space and time are connected, if space laws are stronger here, time laws will be as well.
I should look for a way around this in the future.
To him, the increased cost was negligible but could be an issue later with more powerful runes and abilities.
He faced the rock and placed a "Hidden" rune around himself and the hill.
It's pretty big, about the size of a mall.
Normally, not even 10% strength would be needed, but with this added feeling of weakness, it probably around 40-50% needed to destroy this.
Once he gauged the strength needed, he took a martial stance, prepared to strike—and then thrust his fist forward.
Another sonic boom followed his movement, and his fist struck the rock.
BOOM.
The rock shook from the impact.
Crack.
Crack.
Crumble.
It began to break apart from the shockwave. All that remained were two separate hills with a large cavern between them.
He looked at his work. "Well, that confirms it—I'm weaker. A lot weaker here. Usually, that much strength would destroy a city, not just carve out a cavern and leave it crumbling."
He paused, then used "Reverse" again on the rock, restoring it to its former shape.
I really need to deal with that increased cost in the future.
He also removed the "Hidden" rune he had cast over the area.
He looked at his fist, feeling nothing from the contact and seeing only a bit of dust that cleared off.
I should head into the city. Information is what I need right now—an unknown world, a world labeled as doomed, yet so high-tech. That's a bad combination if I've ever seen one.
He remembered the school ID he found earlier.
"Guess I also have a school to find."
He walked toward the edge of the cliff and didn't stop even when he reached the end, resulting in him just walking off.
Once the ground grew closer, he used—
"Feather."
—and landed lightly and softly on the ground.
He approached the low wall around the city. It seemed more like a cornering barrier than anything meant to keep people out. He used a rune to hide his body from sight and leapt over the wall, landing in an alleyway on the other side.
Removing the rune, he peeked out to see the busy street. His eyes glanced upward at holographic billboards, showing all sorts of advertisements.
Seems capitalism is as "prosperous" as always, huh.
He kept looking for a city map, pamphlet, anything, and found nothing.
Well, no phone or anything. The old-fashioned way it is—ask for directions.
He stepped out of the alley and walked down the road, scanning for anyone kind enough to help.
He spotted an elderly couple on a park bench a little ahead and thought, They're the type who would answer.
The woman noticed an unknown man approaching—curious about his purpose.
"Excuse me, miss. Can you tell me the directions to Chiba High? I'm a new student starting today and can't seem to find it," he asked politely.
The old woman nodded and glanced at her husband, who was sleeping. She frowned before turning back to him.
"Of course, dear," she said, gesturing left. "Just follow the path to the crossroads and turn left. Repeat that a few times and you'll see the school. It's hard to miss."
Thor thanked her and continued.
Along the way, he was surprised by the technological disparity between his world and this one. Some things were ahead—like the commercial use of civilian VTOLs: small and compact. But in other aspects, like vehicle transport, they lagged behind. Grounded cars, trucks, and lorries still dominated, compared to his world's cheap, easy-to-mass-produce flying vehicles. Hey, at least theirs were electric.
He finally arrived at the school gates where a guard stopped him despite the uniform.
"I'm going to have to stop you right there, young man. I've never seen you around before, and I know everyone who enters these gates," he said, patting the gate.
Thor reached for his student ID and handed it over. "I'm a new student starting today—I got a little lost and had to ask for directions."
The guard raised an eyebrow. "You don't have a phone? Lost it or something?" he joked.
Technically, I did. "Yes, actually, I did," Thor replied.
"Fair enough," the guard nodded. "Make sure to get a new one soon—you'll need it at this school, especially."
After some back and forth, the guard returned the ID and let him through.
He looked at his computer email. So it wasn't just an error—there really are two new students.
Thor looked up at the Chiba High School sign and sighed.
"School, the place I hate most. Boring, mundane, outdated, and above all else—not a fun place to be."
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A/N:
Another rewritten chapter that became shorter after removing bloat and unnecessary info. Cleaned up a few bits here and there.
Also google docs has terrible formatting when copying the entire chapter sometimes. Weird.
Ciao