2 Outside

Deep night befell the world once again. Although most people associate this time of the day as the closest one can be to death, nature has its own ideas and functions. The forest was very well alive, maybe even more so than when sun still shined.

Occasional birds flying, insects chirping and predators lurking around, searching for prey to fill their stomachs. The weather was good, even though winter only ended and spring barely started. Sky was clear of clouds, and for the first time in countless years, Lucius didn't detest the visage in front of him at all.

His black and green hair danced slightly with every gust of wind that brushed past his face and his surroundings calmed down his mind. It was such a weird sensation. So many lifeforms all around him, living, hunting, surviving. For the first time in his immortal life, he felt strangely at peace and at the same time lost.

Revenge wasn't on his mind. He had long forgotten such petty action, as it wasn't worth even reminiscing about. He of course already had plans to restore his body to it's peak conditions, as right now it was barely stronger than a normal human body, if even that much. But beyond reaching new heights and gathering knowledge? He didn't have any aim.

He didn't know how much time passed since he was imprisoned, but if the Eternal Seal didn't slow down the time inside, then most people he once knew were probably dead. He felt lost, even more so than before.

Escape did cross his mind hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, but time passed and his hope along with his plans in the outside world got extinguished and forgotten in the long river of time.

"Well, maybe I should find a settlement first. I wonder what races dominate this region right now?" His senses were dulled right now and he could barely sense his immediate surroundings, nevermind feel what was happening beyond his line of sight.

He didn't mind though, as a small stroll could help him put things in perspective and maybe formulate some plan, even if it was hard to create one without knowing the situation. Maybe races were extinct and the world was managed only by nature and animals or maybe one god managed to eradicate all opposition, creating eternal Holy Kingdom.

Whatever the situation was, it was best for him to lay low, at least till he had basic understanding of the world and maybe regained a little bit of his strength. If he managed to regain even half of what he had before, then he could easily escape any misfortune, whoever may be on his imaginary tail. Well, maybe besides a select few...

With countless thoughts swirling in his mind, he didn't even notice how the surroundings started to slowly change as the forest became thinner and the wildlife started to slowly recede. The moon was still high in the sky, but he started hearing other noises besides the occasional cicadas and birds.

It didn't take him long to see countless bright lights in front of him. What was even more strange was that he didn't sense any magic from those, which confused him even more, because there was no fire nor smoke typical of basic torches. It wasn't too irritating to the eye and brightened most of the immediate surroundings, which was good, he guessed.

By the sizes of the buildings he guessed some humanoids lived here, which didn't help his situation. There was a really wide variety of human-shaped beings around the world, and those buildings could belong to any of those races and depending on who they were, his situation could go from decent to worst immediately.

But soon his doubts cleared up as he saw a pair of humans walking side by side on one end of the street. 

"Thankfully only humans. Although they do have some potential, at least they aren't that strong, nor can they use magic effectively. I'm amazed they managed to survive, but who knows, maybe only a few years passed since my imprisonment." Even though he said that, there was a doubt in his mind that that wasn't the case.

Yahweh most likely wouldn't waste his precious time or resources to create a special time-based prison for him. It would not only defeat the purpose of weakening his body and mind, but was also quite costly and hard to implement, especially for a God whose speciality lay elsewhere.

"Should I read the mind of someone? Although it can be dangerous with my current strength but if I manage to catch someone off-guard, then I can easily obtain all the basic information. I can only hope that this isn't some backward town that has no knowledge of the outside world." Lucius mused as he contemplated his next steps.

Although he was weak right now and physically he could barely fight against a human, he still had countless years of techniques and magic at his disposal. Most humans didn't have magic, as far as he remembered, so he should be fine.

He also noticed that humans covered most of their bodies in entirely different types of clothes now. Looking down at his naked body, he thought that he should also get something to fit himself in to not alienate local inhabitants. 

He looked once more attentively at the streets, finally seeing something he found to be more tasteful. 

"Let's hope it works." Lucius then summoned a magic circle under him, than soon enveloped him whole and the next second disappearing in countless sparks, leaving behind a fully black suit with black tie instead of a white one.

"Heh, so it does work. Let's hope it lasts long enough." What he used right now could be considered as parlor trick at best, as it was only a simple illusion spell, but the fact that magic even worked as intended brought him endless joy. With his current mana reserves, the suit should last for a few hours at best.

With this done, he finally took direction into the small town in front of him. Despite the occasional person walking on the streets, the town was empty. 'I forgot that humans mostly sleep at night. Should keep that fact in mind.'

He searched for some more obscure place and it didn't take him long to find a dark alley. What made him ease up was that there was already a person inside, which made his next actions easier. 

He looked up and down the sleeping man, noticing that he was weak, without any strengths and had also standard magic pool. Overall, an easy target. He didn't even have to bother with altering the memories, as he could simply read his mind and then leave.

He gently touched the man's forehead with his index finger, quickly absorbing vast amounts of information. What surprised him was that he didn't know or understand most of those things before. It was really a novelty.

After half an hour passed, he absorbed all the necessary memories.

'Truly, this gets more interesting by the second.'

He looked down at the man and contemplated if he should take all his belongings but soon thought otherwise. 'I can find someone else. At least he was somewhat useful.'

He didn't immediately leave the alley but instead went deeper inside. From the man he got to know a number of fantastical things, some of which he still struggled to absorb; he was even surprised that a normal human being had that vast amount of knowledge with their measly lifespan.

From memories, he understood that what he needed the most right now was local type of currency- here they were called Euros. With them, he could easily blend in and acquire some basic necessities to parade as a human.

Thankfully, there was quite an easy way to earn them and he was intimately familiar with it- exterting from other people. That was the reason he went deeper inside the alley, no longer fearing that someone could harm him.

He was surprised to find out that supernatural world is now hidden from the humans and that most of the world is populated by them. Which really eased up his situation, as he didn't have to fear normal humans.

Still, he was under no illusion that supernatural beings ceased to exist or were only 'stories'. He felt the magic in the air and even though his senses were dull, they still warned him about someone decently powerful being in this town. Someone he couldn't take on with his current strength at least.

As such, it was imperative to blend in with the current humans and acquire more information. When he managed to restore his strength a little bit, he could try his luck with the so-called supernatural beings. He was sure they knew far more than the normal humans.

After walking for a few minutes, his sight finally fell on a group of humans beating up another man. From memories of the sleeping man, he recognized them as local thugs who exerted money from others and because of that had an easy life. 

Now it was time for him to do the same to them.