Jack's whole body ached.

Even though there were no serious wounds, the bruises all over his body were enough to drive him out of bed.

There was no trace of Jack's father in the house, so he just directly searched the kitchen for any food items that he could eat.

Bread in hand, Jack thought about what Cast had said to him yesterday.

Same time, same place.

Did the other mean the entrance of Jack's home or the place they first met?

Jack assumed it was the later.

He looked out the cloudy window, the sun was already high in the sky. Judging from its position, it was around noon.

Jack touched his hair in embarrassment, he slept for a long time. Since he began training with Kay he hadn't overslept this much. This also meant that he lost some crucial time that he could have used for further investigation in this 'Realm', now that he was able to communicate.

He glanced at the sky again.

His meeting with Cast last time was in the afternoon, so he could still snoop around the house for a bit. Maybe he would discover some hints to his identity and 'Quest'!

Plans set, Jack started looking around the house carefully.

There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except for a small box that was stuffed between his father's clothes.

Opening the box revealed a thick paper with a picture on it. After a short second he remembered that these things were called 'Photographs'. Fascinated by this strange invention of the past, Jack took it out of the box.

The picture on the photograph showed a couple with an infant cradled in the woman's arms. The man had one arm wrapped around the woman's waist, a broad, happy smile on his face. A loving atmosphere surrounded the family.

The longer Jack looked at the picture the more the man resebled his father. He was significantly younger in this picture and appeared a lot neater compared to his current looks. But the most strinking thing was probably the healthy left arm resting at the man's side.

What happened for him to lose his arm?

Jack pondered while continuing to look at the picture, his object of scrutiny changed to the woman. She was very pretty, even if the quality of the picture wasn't the best, her elegant features contrasted his father's gruffness.

For some reason he felt his heart aching.

But he brushed it off, there were several records of the body that the cardplayer borrows experiencing instinctive reactions. These things usually corolate to some kind of trauma that the identity experienced and acted like muscle memory.

Like when Jack acted as a bus driver, thanks to the identity's previous experiences he was able to adapt quite quickly. But this was pretty much it, as long as you didn't have at least some fundamental knowledge prior, even these 'reflexes' wouldn't help.

This only showed how realistic the 'Realms' were.

Ignoring the aching in his heart, Jack glanced at the infant.

That was probably him, right?

It was a strange feeling. A sense of disconnection and belonging welled up at the same time. Disturbed by this conflicting sensation, Jack flipped the picture around.

He found some writing but couldn't read it, instead he just stared at the elegant strokes for some time. His heart felt stuffy and he got the urge to touch the unknown writing...

Shaking off these strange thoughts, Jack put his attention on the only thing that still remained in the box instead.

Laying the photograph aside, he grasped the necklace gently.

It was a silver necklace with a delicate pendant in a familiar shape attached to it.

The pendant mimicked some kind of flower, with several small clusters of bluish-purple gemstones attached to a thin silver stick.

But no matter how long Jack stared at the pendant, he couldn't recall which plant this was supposed to be.

It was almost driving him insane.

A necklace with such a peculiar shape..., this had to be important somehow. Especially since he felt a sense of familiarity...

He made his decision.

He put the photograph back into the box and hung the necklace around his neck, hiding most of it under his shirt.

He would take it with him.

Although he realized that the risk of his father finding out about his snooping significantly rose with this action, he still wanted to have this possible 'Key Quest Item' near him.

Besides, he also didn't really feel like parting with the necklace.

Quickly closing the box' lid, he carefully returned it between the stacks of clothes and closed the small wardrobe.

After another short glance around the room, he left.

As he stepped out of the room, he looked through the window at the sky.

Unbeknownst to him a long time had passed, while he was looking at the box' contents.

The meeting time between him and Cast was already approaching.

Although, he still had some time, he first had to find his way through the city around him by retracing his steps, because he had no idea where their meeting point actually was.

Thinking of this, he secretly thanked his improved memory. If it was the him from before, he would have had no way of returning to that place.

The passive skill was pretty useful, even though it came with an unpleasant attachment.

He swiftly left the house and strolled through the streets. He wasn't particularly in a hurry, so he took his time looking around and taking in his surroundings.

Everything was new and interesting to him, this was also the first time he was able to freely explore the 'Realm' he was in.

The times before he was mostly forced to stay in an enclosed space, and as soon as he left these spaces he was...

Jack's smile and curious expression stiffened, he hadn't even finished the thought but he already felt like barfing and curling up in a corner somehwere.

Barely able to surpress his unstable mood, he quickened his steps.

Don't think about it.

He searched for a point of interest around him, incidentally he was just about to pass-by a familiar dark alley.

Jack cringed a bit, the scary man with glowing stick was not really something he liked to think about, but it was better than...

He firmly shook his head and forced himself to ponder about the whole smoke man situation.

The man clearly knew his father in some way and so, indirectly him. Although Jack and him had never interacted with each other before yesterday.

This situation became even more strange and puzzling when he thought about his position in all of this.

How did his father come to know that man?

He first assumed that it was because of debt, like the group Cast and him beat up last time. But that didn't seem right for some reason.

Also, why did he work with Cast in the first place?

The other had mentioned that he usually worked alone. Jack also wasn't really what you would consider an experienced fighter, which seemed to be a pretty big and important part of Cast's task.

Something about all this was definitely fishy.