In the streamlined compartment of the mana-rail, raviel found himself staring at the outside scenery as the vibrations of slight static-mana buzzed below his feet, a faint holograph stirred, as the holographic display shimmered in front of every seat showing the travel route;
[Hapshere—> Velora-district —> Asterlane Central —>....]
Raviel then leaned back in his seat, seating comfortably on the soft padded seats while watching the outside scenery from his window showing the vanishing streaks of green and vanishing skyscrappers, while keeping his elbow lazily on the armrest,
"What a gorgeous view"
It's almost like—
Until a group of girls in their uniforms behind him with tablets in their hands were whispering far too loud to be discreet,
"Is that....his real hair colour?" one said half in awe,
"Still those sparkly eyes–"
It's really unfair isn't it,
Raviel sighed and took deep breaths without paying attention to those comments, just then the mana rail passed through a bridge high-up above a clear blue-lake below with streaks of blue now illuminating the window with the sun's rays,
Pulling his wrist up, he tapped on Arctic till it flickered with a yellow hologram and then out of curiosity he tapped on the icon with a "⟁" symbol on it,
Light flashed, before pulling out his account balance: [Balance: 500,000 Zen]
Raviel blinked once, then twice and then thrice for a triple confirmation,
"Whoa.... that's a lot of zeroes" he muttered with a little shaky breath,
He leaned back again, now crossing his one leg over the other with a slight smirk tugging at his lips,
"So the old raviel wasn't just rich but extravagantly rich, so— it seems"
He was happy now, as one of his major problem: MONEY, had been taken care of as Zen was the currency of this world, as he remembered that 50,000 Zen could buy you 3 over-the-top super luxurious cars in his previous world, such was the importance of these zeroes,
The rail sped forward with its hum echoing in the nearby surrounding as the announcement came,
"Approaching Hapsphere-station, please check your belongings and may you have a pleasing experience for your next journey"
The mana-rail slowed and hissed softly as it stopped at Hapshere station, Raviel stepped on the platform which now attracted various visitors and passengers alike, as in the centre of the station a large cherry blossom tree was planted with its pink petals fluttering in the wind, it looked heavenly...
He adjusted his hoodie as he came out of the station and went towards rows of shops until he passed through dozens of shops weaving through people and road-side stalls, he then founded a shop which was two storeys and displayed a neon coloured text in it's display,
"Awakened Gear — Discount available"
Affordable and reliable!!!
Raviel quickly entered the shop without any second thoughts, though awakened gear was not cheap but he was not going thrifty either,
The shop was neat, with cold air blasting through the coolers and rows of gear were stacked in perfection, for potential buyers,
"What are you looking for, Lad?", a voice broke through the silence, raviel turned to see, thinking about a old-fatass man handling the store like in those games he played when he heard the voice,
But when Raviel turned to see the shopkeeper, he was shocked—
As it really was a old grumpy looking sack of bones talking to him in his raspiest voice,
"I want a full head mask" raviel said, his tone blunt leaving no room for questions,
The shopkeeper nodded and then took out a mettalic box and opened it in which there were different kinds of mask,
But one mask caught his eye, as its shiny black matte surface caught the light with two vertical slits for eyes with a full head coverage,
"Damn this brings trauma, though it looks cool"
Raviel too it out and held it in his hands and then the shopkeeper's voice trailed behind him,
"This ones a C- rank with inbuilt voice modulation and full head coverage with minimum durability but best for whatever you are going to do.." this one cost's 2000 Zen
Raviel without asking any questions paid the amount by tapping his watch on the pad and walked out of the store,
—————————
I'm going to meet him... he repeated to himself, the man who he was planning to make a deal or in simple words scam-off, was infact the infamous—
Black market broker: Chico, who was a legendary figure because of his connections across continents even with the other races,
But that person's account was frozen.
As at this moment the Black Market overseers and superiors were purging out traitors and N.U.A agents, for him everything was shut down, his account frozen, No trade, No deals basically he was in dire need of money,
His thoughts drifted towards the reason, as his daughter not his real one but the one he had rescued from one of the death-zone's when he was on an item retrieval mission, the novel didn't mentioned about how he saved her,
But he raised her like a real loving-father, but she was suffering from Mana congenital neurovascular disease which in simple terms was the cruel mixture of cancer and asthama, caused due to her comming in contact with corrupted mana which slowly killed her piece by piece,
And he in desperation tried to find ways to fund for her surgery for it's removal, but by the time in the novel when the MC– saved her by paying for her as he had no problem as he was the heir of one of the four main founding families, by that time she had already lost her vision, hearing and ability to speak, but then also her father opened every doors for the mc and his companions in the black-market with connections to repay the mc, who had done it purely out of goodwill, just becasue it was the right thing....
But this time Raviel wanted to seize his first pawn and use his desperation, to survive in this world without anything special given to him.
Unknowing to Raviel, he himself didn't knew what he had just spoken now or what changes had occured to him mentally since transmigrating.