One Step Ahead

"Are you going to buy it?" asked the middle-aged woman who owned the shop.

The woman couldn't hide her surprise when she realized Seth wasn't messing around. He would buy any hoverbike available at the merchant, no matter the price.

Seth continued to stare at the shopkeeper's woman with a look of firmness in his eyes. There was no doubt in Seth's decision.

"Who are you?" asked the mysterious man beside Seth, continuing to look at Seth with both eyes narrowed, curious.

"Mind your business, stay out of mine!" complained Seth, returning the mysterious man's gaze cynically.

Realizing Seth's attitude that seemed to intimidate him made the mysterious man choose to leave the place. Although he had gone far away, he occasionally turned his head back, trying to watch Seth from afar.

"Are you sure you're not being rude to him?" asked Mia, curious.

"In a world like this, curiosity can be a deadly weapon to kill you. The most important lesson you should know is not to share any information with strangers," Seth said.

He often gave Mia such advice, whether it was to be cautious or survival advice. However, Seth mostly advised her on how to react to things.

"But what if that person needs the information? Are we going to be silent and not answer them?" Mia asked.

"That depends on who you're talking to. I'm just saying it to a stranger, not someone you know," Seth replied.

"You don't exactly trust people you know, let alone strangers," Seth continued.

"So, sort out the people who have the right to get important information from you. What I have taught you during this journey is something that will become public knowledge six months later," Seth said.

Mia's eyes opened wide. If what Seth said was true, it meant she had learned the knowledge earlier than her timeline. However, a strange thought came to Mia's mind after hearing Seth's statement.

"How did you know the technique would become known publicly in six months?" asked Mia, both curious and suspicious.

"I studied the behavior of the people I met. They're still struggling with food supplies, fighting over their bellies," Seth explained.

"If the food supply runs out, they'll consider using their GP. That's the time when there will be a lot of theft by murder," Seth continued.

"Just my guess."

The conversation between Seth and Mia was interrupted when the middle-aged woman who owned the shop came from the side, carrying a powered-up hoverbike. It appeared to be flying above the ground, with the help of four propulsion engines on each side.

"This can accelerate to a speed of 300km/h. Compared to a normal bike, it's faster and more practical," the woman replied.

Seth has ridden a hoverbike before, precisely when he met Jonas. His experience with Jonas made Seth understand the functions of the hoverbike.

Mia could only stand speechless, with her mouth gaping in disbelief at what she saw. By using the hoverbike, they could travel far across the states in America.

Seth's eyes were drawn to the side, to the place that was used to recharge the hoverbike's power. He saw the blue bar only showed three strips from the original ten strips when fully charged.

"Three strips. You should have fully charged the plasma before giving it to me!" Seth complained.

"Plasma is sold separately. What plasma do you want? Blue? Red? Black?" the woman asked, showing a glass drawer filled with dozens of different colored plasma bottles.

Among the three plasmas she was selling, only the blue plasma had a larger number of bottles, about 33 plasma bottles, while the red plasma totaled 20, and the black plasma totaled 9.

"Give me three blue plasmas!" said Seth.

According to what was written on the menu, one bottle of blue plasma cost 200gp, so Seth had to spend 10,600gp to buy the hoverbike and three bottles of blue plasma.

The woman smiled widely. No one should threaten a merchant if they were reluctant to deal with the Skywatchers. She took out the three blue plasma bottles and gave them to Seth.

Seth immediately used one plasma bottle to charge the hoverbike. He put the bottle into the available slot on the right side near the hoverbike's power indicator strip mark.

One bottle could only fill five strips, so he needed a half bottle to fill it to the full. Seth sighed softly, the high price he had to pay to get to the big city quickly.

"Now, it's your turn to pay," said the middle-aged woman, smiling at her circle detector.

"You're a sneaky shopper!" complained Seth.

"I prefer to call me clever," the woman retorted.

The sensor in the detector successfully detected Seth's identity, then deducted the man's GP, leaving only 5000gp in Seth's attribute. The woman shopkeeper had gotten the GP from Seth and thanked Seth for his kindness.

Seth stepped closer to the hoverbike, turned it on, and climbed aboard. Mia looked confused at first, but after Seth explained to her, she could finally sit on the hoverbike's back seat.

Just as Seth pulled hard on the hoverbike, Mia gasped and reflexively hugged Seth's body tightly. The man sped through the city streets, flying above the useless cars.

"We can fly?" asked Mia, gasping in shock.

"Sure. The hoverbike is powered by a propulsion engine, just like an airplane's. However, it has a certain height limit," said Seth.

"Like what?"

"I think in the 300-700ft range," Seth replied.

"Can this thing help us cross the ocean?" asked Mia, curious.

"Of course not, it's really dangerous," Seth replied.

Seth and Mia continued to fly above the city sky. People who saw the black hoverbike gasped in surprise, thinking the person riding it was an alien. Seth smiled lightly, his heart laughing at the innocent expressions on their faces.

"They seem to be watching us," Mia replied, looking down and seeing the survivors stopping their steps just to witness the rare moment.

"Of course they are. It's too soon for someone to have a hoverbike in the early weeks of the Realms of Tentative," Seth said a little proudly.

"We don't have time to take care of them. We have to go to New York immediately to prepare something," Seth explained.

The man had not previously told Mia where he was going. The girl only knew Seth was going to a big city, having no idea that the big city was New York.

"New York? What will you do in that city?" asked Mia, curious.

"Joining the floor quest."