The moon hung low over the horizon, casting silver light across the steel and concrete landscape. Aress walked along a quiet overpass, his cloak fluttering behind him as neon lights flickered around his boots. Beneath the surface calm, the city pulsed with tension. He could feel it in the air—magic, danger, secrets.
Everything had changed.
He passed by a convenience store window and paused. His reflection looked like something out of a fantasy movie. Long white hair, obsidian armor gleaming faintly beneath a loose hoodie he had found abandoned on a rack in an alley. The sword on his back shimmered with a restrained menace.
People nearby gave him wary glances but didn't approach. Perhaps they thought he was some overcommitted cosplayer or a rogue guild dropout.
Aress walked into a narrow side street and leaned against a vending machine humming quietly beside a worn-down apartment. The machine blinked to life as he approached.
ITEM: MANA RECOVERY DRINK – 500Y ITEM: STAMINA BOOST SNACK – 300Y ITEM: BASIC HEALTH POTION (GUILD USE ONLY)
He scoffed. Even vending machines had adapted.
"Health potions in vending machines. What's next? Skill upgrades in capsule toys?"
He didn't need any of it. His internal mana pool could level entire regions. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a single gold coin from the other world, and with a flick of mana, transmuted it into paper bills that matched this world's currency.
An old habit. Alchemy was second nature now.
He sipped a mana drink anyway, more out of curiosity than need. It was sweet and fizzy, with a bitter aftertaste. Functional, but laughably weak.
As he wandered farther into the district, he noticed more signs of Earth's evolution. A group of teenagers practiced spellcasting behind a building, shooting small fireballs at target dummies. A girl floated a few inches off the ground, struggling to maintain her flight spell.
Aress's footsteps were silent. None of them noticed him.
He stopped at a towering bulletin board lit by enchanted crystals.
GUILD RECRUITMENT BOARD Open Raids This Week:
Sector 3: Slime Nest (Rank D)
Sector 5: Ruined Chapel of Bones (Rank B)
Sector 7: Abyss Rift (Rank A) Caution: Stampede Alert Active for Sector 12
His eyes lingered on that last line. A stampede.
Back in the other world, stampedes were natural disasters. Waves of monsters pouring out from unstable dungeons. Cities had been razed. Kingdoms had fallen. He never thought Earth would suffer the same fate.
But here it was, printed in glowing letters like a weather forecast.
Aress narrowed his eyes.
Behind him, a Guild clerk in uniform approached cautiously. "Excuse me, sir. Are you looking to register for dungeon access?"
He turned. "No."
"Ah, alright then. Just a reminder, only licensed Hunters are allowed beyond barrier zones. You don't look familiar… are you perhaps new to Tokyo?"
"Something like that."
She gave him a nervous smile and bowed slightly before backing away.
Aress continued walking. He needed information. He needed to know what happened over these twenty years. And above all… he needed to know what happened to Arkael.