The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 5: Ascent

"Station: Ascent #4. Arrived!"

As the train sped by me, I left the underground station, finding myself on a street in a medieval-like city, devoid of any cars and with brick streets and stores made of wooden planks.

Taking in every detail of the city, I noted the clear lack of space, with every street so narrow that two people side by side couldn’t even fit.

Additionally, it seemed there were no zero intersections whatsoever: Once you entered the street, you could only go forward or backward.

There were no left or right, with the walls of each store and house touching each other.

For example, the street before stretched north and south for miles with no end in sight.

It seemed the only way to switch streets...was to take a train to another station.

In large contrast to Vael’s skyscrapers that practically touched the sky, the tallest building I could see was barely four times my height with a whopping three floors.

The streets were largely empty, quiet to the point where I could hear the crickets around me.

It was...eerily silent.

Of course, this was simply a residential district of Ascent, not the main city center, yet I couldn’t ignore how the entire area felt like one big trap.

Heading north, I eventually found a store with a potion bottle sign and entered the ominous alchemy store.

However, before the door could even shut behind me, a raspy and infuriated elderly voice sounded.

"Peril, I already told you I’m not selling you any potio-"

As the lady behind the counter turned around, her expression immediatly transformed as she awkwardly coughed and said.

"Ah, a customer...Sorry, I don’t see many of those around nowadays. What are you looking for?"

Taking a moment to examine the small store, with no furniture beside the wooden counter that separated the lady from me and barely enough space for me to stretch my arms, I smiled and answered.

"A potion of swiftness, two rabbit potions, and a night-seeing potion."

Before she could respond, I flashed her my smartwatch, which was displaying my ID Card.

"Ah...a hero."

Mundane humans had a cap on potions to prevent them from misusing them.

Nodding her head, the lady turned around and vanished into a door that lay behind the counter.

A few moments later, she emerged with three vials: the yellow for swiftness, the green for rabbit, and the purple for night-vision.

Examining the vials, I asked.

"Only one rabbit?"

Shrugging her shoulders, the lady said.

"That’s all I have. It’ll be 300 for the three potions."

Nodding my head, I handed her cash, leaving me with 400 dollars remaining, and asked while she verified the bills.

"Do you by any chance have a map of this area?"

Not even looking up as she put the cash in a drawer, the lady sighed before replying.

"I wish we did. These streets all look the same!"

Hearing her answer, I groaned and added a purple Memory potion to my order, reluctantly handing the lady another 100.

For the one-hour period after drinking a memory potion, the drinker would essentially have a photographic memory with increased memorization skills.

Unfortunately, the side effects of the Memory potion were quite severe, essentially turning the drinker into a zombie with no brainpower right after the usage time of the potion. So, unfortunately, it couldn’t be used to cram for exams.

As I grabbed the four potions and turned to the exit stores, the lady seemed to read my mind as she warned me.

"Remember, The Grove recommends drinking a maximum of one potion per week. Any more and you could face life-lasting side effects, even if you’re hero.

Nodding my head, I warmly smiled and answered as I exited.

"Of course, I make sure to keep at the very least a two-week gap between drinking these!"

Thankfully, with that, she didn’t question me any further.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped onto the street, unscrewed the cap of the pitch-black vial, and gulped down the memory potion.

Pausing, I noticed a boy standing across the street, his eyes wide open in awe as he watched me.

Before I could even say anything, he immediatly sprinted away.

"..."

In the next second, I shamelessly unscrewed the three other potions and drank them all at once.

My legs surged with energy, making me feel as if I could run a marathon in mere minutes.

My entire body felt as light as a feather, and my surroundings became clear as day despite the partially black sky, allowing me to memorize every detail of my surroundings.

Without skipping a beat, I sprinted throughout the narrow streets before me, memorizing everything meticulously.

I looked through every store’s window, scanning every shelf and piece of furniture, and easily memorized the exact structure of the store’s exterior.

Simultaneously, I used a 3D Art application on my smartwatch to rebuild the district in its entirety.

I looked like a madman, alternating glances up at the city and down at my smartwatch while constantly sprinting forward, taking deep breaths in and out.

It only took me four minutes to reach the end of the street I previously couldn’t even see the end of.

Then, as if it were normal, I leaped into the air, easily clearing the two-story building to my right, landing right onto the next street before continuing to run and build on my smartwatch.

...

...

...

Feeling my thoughts start to slow under the night sky, I immediatly found a nearby lodge and rented one of the two rooms available on the second floor.

Lying on my bed, I sighed and projected my smartwatch onto the ceiling.

There, right above me, lay an exact layout of the district of Ascent I had arrived in. Every single house and store’s interior and exterior were perfectly replicated

It had only taken an hour to complete the district.

"WAIT!"

Screaming loudly to wake myself up as my last moments of consciousness drew to a close, I slowly got off the bed and grabbed the tie off my neck.

Insurance plan...I had to make one in case anything happened.

Opening my room window, I hung the tie above the window so that it now hung outside, swaying in the breeze.

Sinking back on my bed, I reached for the smartwatch on my wrist once again.

But, before I could even examine my masterpiece, my eyelids forcefully shut, trapping me in a world of darkness.

"..."

Ren had survived something like this once...right? So, surely, I could!