HEAT

Nick and I walk to the main building to buy supplies for the job. I think it is ridiculous that members of the guild have to buy supplies from the guild they work for. I get it, nothing in life is free, but we don't even get discounts. I think it is because the guild master is an Avatar of Chaos, so we the employees get screwed over like the customers.

Complaining about work aside, walking in Utopia summer afternoon is pure torture. The walk to the main building is about twenty minutes away from Blue Ink. Due to the overwhelming heat, it feels like an hour.

Each step feels like the building is moving away from us instead of getting closer. It's an illusion created by a mixture of heatwaves, mana, and Chaos Energy that hangs around in the air. Chaos Energy is a natural energy that is found in the Chaos Dimension and can be controlled and used by Chaos Acolytes. Every member of Millennium is Chaos Acolytes, minus Frankie and his older sister.

Since Nick and I are both Chaos Acolytes, we have some immunity to the illusions. It's not one hundred percent immunity, but we're not seeing purple dinosaurs in the middle of the parking lot.

Millennium is not just a guild, but some sort of weird mixture of a guild and a supermall. It has a bookstore ( I buy manga and American graphic novels there), a grocery store, a pretzel restaurant (I like it), a cinnamon restaurant (their food is too sweet for my tastebuds), and some ethnic restaurants that I have never been to. There's a bar too, but that's only for employees. Even though it's a bar, most of the teenagers that work for Millennium hang around there. It's a fun place to chill and talk to friends and watch a fight or two.

Most of the stores here cater to adventurers, they have five weapon stores, three magic stores, four armor stores, a specialty clothing store, and an item store. Why do items get only one store? I couldn't tell you, If I would have to guess, it's because the master wants to drive up the prices of the good items. You have the basic potions that heal physical injuries. Potions that replenish energy (some call it ki) and mana and potions that do both. The latter is popular among the pro adventurers, leaving the amateurs to buy different potions individually.

But as an amateur, you can't carry all of those potions in a normal bag. So you are forced to buy a magical bag with a larger inventory. I hope you are picking up what I am putting down. It's just a scheme so the guild can squeeze more money out of their members.

Nick and I manage to make it to the main building in under five minutes. We didn't run there, but we did walk a bit faster than usual.

"Do you think that chick back there was telling the truth?" Nick asks me.

"You're talking about the Phoenix Crystals?"

"Yeah, this is the first time I heard about them. Do you think she's telling the truth?"

"She is. I read about them while I was studying magic."

I don't mention that one of my past lives had searched for them because she needed to save her village from a drought that lasted for months. Her name was Aya and she was able to find them with the help of the Infinity and was able to save her village at the cost of her life.

I don't care about any of my past lives any more than a person doesn't care about their random ancestors.

"You think Frankie will let us get a wish once we find them all?"

I shake my head.

"We would have a better chance at playing and winning the lottery."

"I can dream right." Nick falls silent as he ponders what to say next.

We take the escalator to the second floor where the item shop is located. I hope they still have Elixirs, the potions that heal wounds and energy.

"Maybe we can use them without Frankie knowing we did it." Nick spits out.

"You're delusional if you think Frankie won't know about it?"

"How Yugi? It's not like he has eyes everywhere. He's not going to find out."

"Were you sleeping for the past eight years or something, Nick? Frankie always finds out, we shouldn't even attempt."

Nick scoffs and shakes his head. It's not like I don't want to use the Phoenix crystals, I just know that we will be stopped the instant we collect all of them. I don't know how Frankie will know, but he will and we would get in trouble. If I was allowed to use three wishes, I would wish for: every video game that was ever created, unlimited cash, and probably a big mansion to put all of the new stuff I will buy.

"What would you wish for if you got the chance?" I asked Nick as we reached the item store.

"Cash, cars, and a mansion."

"We both have the same wish, minus one thing."

"Great men think alike."

Frankie gave us a five hundred dollers budget to work with. That may look low, but you can get a lot of items with that amount. Unfortunately, they were out of elixirs so I had to buy normal potions and ether (potions that replenish energy), twenty each.

This is mostly for Gwen anyways, as Nick and I possess Ultimate Force. We can heal from any wounds, but it doesn't replenish lost energy. We have to rely on the old fashion way to do that, which isn't hard to do at all. Just rest after doing any physical activity and eat some food and you're good to go.

With the remaining money, we bought some Emergency Food Rations, also known as EFRs. EFRs are food rations that adventurers use when they are in the field. They come with a complete meal consisting of a main dish, side dish, dessert, bread or crackers, cheese spread, peanut butter or jelly, powdered beverage drink (sports drink is the worst), utensils, and a heating pad that uses alchemy.

It comes with accessories as well, but I won't dwell on those. It comes with 24 varieties of meals, but they are all gross in my opinion. The best of the worst is the spaghetti and meat sauce followed by the pizza.

I reach out to grab a few packs but Nick stops me with his voice.

"Don't grab that kind! Get the spicy beef!"

I don't want to argue so I did what he suggested. But I was able to sneak some spaghetti packs when Nick was not looking.

Ten minutes later, we returned to Blue Ink, where Barbara and the others were waiting for us in the front office.

Gwen looks at us and frowns.

"Damn, I should have asked you to buy me a new magic book. I heard that Ruby just had the latest shipments of Astrology and Summoning."

Ruby is the owner of the store Charmed which sells the latest magic books.

"Why didn't you just call me?" I ask.

"I forgot my phone."She says casually.

"How did you forget your phone?" Nick asks.

"I don't know, I just did," Gwen says aggressively.

I didn't ask any follow-up questions. When Gwen gets aggressive and you get on your bad side, fists will fly.

"Are you sure this will be Ok?" Barbara asks Frankie. She looks like she is going to die of a heart attack any time now.

Frankie lets out an audible sigh before he responds.

"Look, Barbara. I understand you have concerns about them being children, I really do. But I trust these kids with my life more so than the other Holy Knights. You are in great hands, Ms. Crown."

"It's not my safety that I am concerned about. I just don't like the fact that kids are doing dangerous jobs, Holy Knights or not."

"That's fair, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's not illegal and they are trained."

"If you say so," Barabara looks like she wants to continue to voice her opinion on the matter, but holds her tongue.

I think that she has a point, having children become adventurers is dangerous. You wouldn't believe all of the things that I saw and experienced. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, and he's a drug kingpin that killed his own family.

Nick and I placed the EFRs in the trunk of Barbara's car. The summer sun made touching the surface of the car painful. I am pretty sure you can have a full breakfast on it. Gwen walks right next to me and slaps my shoulder.

"Guess who gets to hold the business card?" She says with a smug expression on her face.

"Well, it is your turn with it."

Gwen scowls because I didn't give her the satisfaction of playing her little game.

"Asshole."

"I try," I bow to add insult to injury.

But I came to regret it immediately. Not because Gwen will hit me (she didn't) but because it was not as funny as I thought.

Gwen didn't say anything, but just rolled her eyes and got in the passenger side of the car. Great, now I feel like an even greater tool. Whatever, there's nothing I can do about it. I am the last one to get inside the car, the backseat burned my back and I think about using Infinity to cool it down. I decide against it and just take it. Barbara was suffering from the heated seats. She nearly jumped right out of her seat and cursed all the while.

She noticed none of us locals were in pain. "How are you guys not in pain right now?"

Gwen shrugs her shoulders. "It's only 200 degrees, it's not that hot."

Barbara shakes her head in disbelief.

"It must be true when people say Utopians are insane."

"Well, you're not wrong there," Nick says.

Let me explain something about Utopian weather. Utopia is rich in mana and many mages come from all across the universe to study magic. This is because many Avatars of the Ancients live here for one reason or another. However, this harms the environment. The summers are way too long than anywhere else on the planet Gaia, probably on any planet really. Not only are they long, but they also get abnormally hot.

The highest record heat ever recorded went as high as five hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Normally that would kill any living being at those high temperatures, but Utopians are cursed by the Fire Ancient so that they can adapt to those extreme heat.

Then there's the Utopia winter, but I rather not think about that right now.

Moments passed and we are currently; driving on one of the highways of Utopia. I will be honest by saying that I have no idea what highway this is, since I can run faster than the speed of sound and can fly, using the highway is redundant to me.

Barbara gave Gwen the Magitek so she can keep her eyes on the road. It might be an old model because it doesn't have a voice or a.i. She probably bought the cheapest model she could afford if I had to take a guess.

All of the windows are rolled down to let the car cool down. Barbara has the ac blasted to the coldest, but it did jack all with the heat.

I pull out my phone from my pocket to text Daisy. I tell her that I am on a job and I will probably be away for a few weeks.

Before I put my phone away my phone vibrated. I don't even have to look at my screen to know that it was Daisy, responding to my text.

It reads: What!? But I already made plans to hang out later!

I reply: I'm sorry but it sort of just happened. Can you just cancel?

She replies: It's not the fact that I can cancel my plans. I just hate unexpected events.

That makes sense, Daisy is an Acolyte of Order after all.

I wanted to respond to her but I honestly don't know what to say to her. Luckily, I didn't have to because there was a car flying through the air directly at us. Due to Ultimate Force, my reaction time is beyond that of most humans, maybe even Celestials.

In my point of view, the car is stopped in time. It is barely moving an inch if at all. If I wanted to, I could run a thousand laps around Utopia and the car wouldn't even move a centimeter towards the car.

I glance over to Nick, who is seated on my right. His attention is on his phone, laughing at something. I can handle this on my own, so I decided not to tell him. I unbuckle my seatbelt and step out of the car. Normally, I would fly into the pavement, but I used Infinity to keep me stuck to the ground, like an insect sticks to walls. While still in motion, I grabbed the car and placed it safely off the highway. There was nobody inside, which is good because now I can figure out how a car was sent flying through the air in the first place.

I ran all around town until I found the source. Downtown Utopia, particularly the business district, was in complete mayhem: buildings were on fire, smoke filling the air, and people were running for their lives. I don't have time to question who or what is doing this. I run around until I find the cause of the chaos.

It is a monster in the shape of a really buff guy. His skin is gray and he has a volcano for a head, it even has smog coming out of it. Around his wrist are gauntlets in the shape of volcanoes and he even has a small volcano on his back. I can be wrong on this but I think he loves volcanoes. I'll call him Volcano-Man.

He hasn't noticed me yet, as he is busy firing at buildings and some people attempting to flee. I saved them before they were hit by the fireball and placed them at Utopia park a few blocks away. I hope I didn't disorient them too badly.

I return to where Volcano-Man was, still failing to notice me. So, I pick up a rock and throw it at the back of his head.

"Ow!" he shouts as the rock makes contact with his head. Honestly, I didn't expect him to feel it.

"Did you just throw a rock at me?"

"Do you see anybody else around?" I ask?

Volcano-Man looks around the area to really see if anybody else was around. Is he dumb or something?

"No," Volcano-Man says in a low voice. I think he is trying to intimidate me.

"All I see is you."

"Mystery solved," I say in my trademark monotone voice.

"You think you're pretty smart?" He says, pointing his silly volcano gauntlet at me. Which I should add looks really silly.

"I did manage to get all A's on my report card this year."

"Mother fucker!" He fires a fireball at me.

I have two options here: I can dodge it or I can tank it. Each option is viable and will knock him off his game. But since I don't want volcano ash in my face or lungs, I decided to go with the first option.

I sidestep out of the way. But I left a statue of me in the place I was just standing so the fireball won't cause any more damage or hit a bystander.

It's a direct hit that causes a small explosion. Smoke and debris fill the block, but it is a perfect time for me to head back to where I was. I can hear Volcano-Man laughing as he thought he hit me. For some reason that is oblivious to me, a lot of villains always laugh when they think they won a fight.

I clear the smoke by releasing some of my energy. Volcano-Man stops laughing as he sees me unharmed.

"Impossible!"

"Not really. I just dodged it."

"So what you're basically saying is that if I hit you with my lava balls, it would kill you?"

"No."

"How about you prove it?"

"No."

I close the distance between us in an instant and hit Volcano-Man with a single punch. He explodes into a million chunks. With that sentai monster taken care of, I can now repair the city.

I close my eyes and reopen them. The world is now all red and the buildings have become nothing more than black silhouettes. I am in the world of Infinity and within it, I can do virtually anything I want.

Since I don't have a god complex, I don't use this power for selfish reasons or individuals, only for the benefit of others. Time began to reverse before Volcano-Man's assault on downtown as if it never occurred in the first place.

It only takes seconds for me to complete my task, but it feels like my head is about to split open. Whenever I use Infinity for long periods, it always messes up my body pretty badly. Most of the time I just get debilitating headaches.

After I stopped using Infinity, I sat down on a bench to recuperate. Thanks to the Ultimate Force I inherited from Frankie, it shouldn't be too long before I am back on my feet.

I hear the sound barrier breaking and see Nick stop on the dime right in front of me.

"What the fuck did you do, Yugi?" Nick says.

"Um, what?"

Why did you leave the car while it was driving? You caused us to crash!"

"Oh."