Exploration

As the sun gradually rose from beyond the horizon, so did Lucius. He felt the warm rays of sun on his face and a slight breeze coming from the window he left open last night. 

After taking away all the belongings of thugs, Lucius found the nearby hostel that was still working and booked himself a room. Sadly, he got only money for a few days at most, but that wasn't a big problem for him. From the memories he acquired, he could already see numerous ways to exploit the system of this brand new world to get the currency he needed.

Robbing was one of the most easiest ways to do so. While being theoretically only at the same level as average human male, maybe a little bit higher, he could still use magic and he had countless years of experience. Knocking out a few strangers and brainwashing them wasn't that big of a deal.

He could also infiltrate the houses of others, which did in theory sound a little bit better, as it could make him a bigger profit, but it was also bound to leave more tracks, with magic or without it. After thinking about that, he left that option for the last to use.

Besides those options, he also had a way of working as a normal person. There were cons and pros in this plan. Besides the money, he could also get some sort of identity, making it easier for him to blend in with locals. Identity also gave him access to rumors, some less confidential secrets and relationships, which, although had a low chance of becoming useful, were still nice to have.

The cons were obvious, as he had to follow the rules set up by the society, as well as knowing that it wasted quite a lot of time. 'Although time really shouldn't be a barricade for me I guess.'

He really didn't mind taking it slow from here. Time was an obvious concern for mortal beings, people who had a lifespan of barely a hundred years and for whom every day was supposed to be and feel special. For him though, who had no written lifespan, time wasted on such trivialities was meaningless. If he got out of the prison, he ought to enjoy what the world has to offer, not just gain more power like a mad beast, afraid to be chained again.

This resolution didn't mean he got weaker though. Although he could afford to take it slower and enjoy himself, power was something you had never enough of. There were countless beings right now that could overpower him and easily subdue him and even if he reached his previous peak condition, he was sure that there were a few more that he had no chances against.

Power was still something he needed and maybe even wanted to some extent, but he no longer craved for it like a lunatic waiting to hear the voice of their god.

"Where should I start then?"

Lucius knew he needed a few things to make his identity more believable, but had no concrete way to acquire them at the moment. He was, as far as everyone was concerned, a person that didn't and shouldn't exist, so acquiring legal documents would prove to be problematic and could cause some hiccups down along the line. It wasn't something he couldn't fix, though.

A little bit of hypnotic magic could make him win every argument with legal officers, but there was also a risk. The memories he got weren't enough to really assume how deep has the supernatural world infiltrated this seemingly "normal" world. Most humans thought themselves to be at the top of the food chain, but the group of thugs last night confirmed his theories that it was but a well-constructed lie.

If some supernatural beings infiltrated the government, then someone, somewhere would either notice or piece together some irregularities or at least there was a chance of that. Not wanting to be hunted down again so soon without any ways to retaliate, he had to wait with his plans. For now, he simply wanted to acquire more knowledge and reveal the situation about the supernatural world and how it changed over the course of the thousands years he hadn't been present.

"So much to do!" Lucius could only smile at that. No matter what happened, at least here he had something to do besides going mad from boredom...

×-×-× 

"Thank you for visiting the shop! Hope to see you again!" The owner of the bookstore said to the strange man in front of him, who only nodded in response.

After making sure the young man left the shop, he whispered to his adjutant: "What a weird man."

The adjutant, a young boy no older than 17, perked up his eyebrow in response: "Why so? I didn't notice him being any special. At least he bought something from your dusty shop."

"He bought a lot of books, all of which were of different topics. Maths, history, chemistry and some more obscure books that have been here for who knows how long. You could look up most of those items on the internet. It just doesn't make sense." The man in his forties had a hint of confusion swelling in his eyes, "And besides, my shop is not dusty! It's still quite popular, so mind your tongue before I will have you clean it thoroughly once again."

After the last threat, the young boy shut his mouth and could only look through the glass door at the receding back of the young man. In the end, he just shrugged and continued reading his book.

×-×-× 

"At least they still have books in use." Lucius knew about the internet and it's massive amount of data that dwarfed anything he knew before. Unfortunately, he didn't have free access to it right now, so having books to read wasn't a bad alternative.

He would definitely use internet later on to get some more information about all the topics he was interested in, but he felt that there simply wasn't everything he wanted to know about.

He strolled through the peaceful town, marveling at every new thing and sight he saw on his way to the local cafe. Although he got information of most of those things from the memories, it wasn't really comparable to his own memories. The ones he extracted had no emotions in them and was basically only a bunch of knowledge one had to put to use. It was done so that he wouldn't get influenced by other people after extracting a lifetime of information from others.

Now though, he could see everything with his own two eyes, hear with his own ears and feel everything through his skin. It was a fascinating feeling. The Eternal Seal limited him in ways he didn't understand before and only now could he truly appreciate the feeling of freedom in its full glory.

Even something as simple as a car, an everyday triviality for people here, was a marvel of technology for him. It just fascinated him that humans advanced not based on magic, that at it's purest form was nearly omnipotent, but science, a power of nature and it's laws.

He was sure that other races helped them in some way, shape or form, but the ingenuity most likely came from the humans themselves. He had to admit, although they had weak bodies and really average magic capabilities, if any at all, the mind they learned how to put to use was different. Maybe it was precisely because of those weaknesses, flaws considered by other races and short lifespans that made them pursue something new everyday, bringing them to where they stand today.

It was truly wonderful feeling. He felt that humans, although so pitiful and weak, were capable of more than some other races combined. Maybe, if they gained some great opportunity, they would utilize it far better than others, bringing them to heights never seen of before.

'Should I invest in them? If they can already create so much with science alone, I wonder what they could do if they combined it with magic. I bet those almighty races, all those gods and whatnot would really become afraid. Maybe it's the reason the supernatural is hidden? Supernatural simply doesn't want humans to have a piece of cake that is magic and it's capabilities?' Lucius shook his head. It was still too early to make such groundless theories.

He glanced at one of the books in his hand. It was a red hardcover book, which although looked quite big and felt heavy had nothing but some ramblings in it. It was probably the reason why this book had almost no value and was on sale.

Lucius, however, saw a little bit more in it. He felt magic from this seemingly ordinary book. This magic was barely noticeable and almost unrecognizable from all the surrounding magic that usually floated around, but he only needed to touch it to feel that it had it. Although times had changed, he knew for a fact that book imbued with magic, no matter how small, had something to do with magic users.

'Finally something about the other side of the world.'