The bus arrived at the next stop after about  ten minutes, and the handful of passengers slowly shuffled out, muttering a word of thanks to the bus driver as we passed.

As I got out of the bus and stood near the stop, I considered where I should actually go now that I was here. I figured there were about three options for places with people that I could just go to and not be out of place.

First was going to Richard's Supermarket, which was about a street and a half away.

Rejected. 

Even on a weekday it was probably full of people doing their shopping, and I didn't want to deal with that right now. Also, it would probably make me look annoying to go and walk around at a place I wanted to apply to. It felt like something I would only do if I was super desperate to work at a supermarket, and they'd probably look down on me for it, right?

Second was the church directly across the five lane street from the bus stop. It was called "The First Church of Oort" and, according to Mile, was some sort of pagan star cult or something. 

They had service Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, apparently, so there were an unusually large number of cars in the lot.

That said: Hell no.

Finally, there was the mall. One street in front of me was the Lonestar Mall, a large indoor mall that was about all a suburb city could need or handle. On a Thursday morning it probably wouldn't have many people, and those that were there would probably be limited to some fellow NEETs, some teenagers playing hooky and getting high, and a couple of miscellaneous folks.

Of my options, it seemed like the best, or maybe only, choice.

"Hey! Conor!"

Fig floated in front of me, having rematerialized her clothes after I repeatedly asked her to while on the bus.

No matter how invisible she is, it's just awkward to have her naked all the time, and the idea of having to walk off the bus with a boner made me want to die.

"What's up, Fig?"

"There's someone with some crazy mana in the church over there! I can feel it super clearly all the way across the street!"

"... wait, that sounds terrifying. Is that terrifying?"

"Hmm. Well, if it was Mile, I could only feel her mana in the same room. If it was you, I could maybe feel your mana from about halfway across the street."

"So, I should be worried?"

"I mean, they don't feel scary or anything?"

"But if they wanted to do anything to me?"

"They'd probably squash you like an ant!"

"... could you say that less enthusiastically?"

"Nope!"

"Right… okay, note to self and Fig: avoid the church."

"Wait! Hold on!"

"What?"

"They feel super strong and maybe a little crazy, but I can also feel that their mana could help me get super strong!"

"Like, if I used Corruption on them?"

"Yeah!"

"But if I mess up and they can tell that I'm trying to use Corruption on them, they can probably obliterate me, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Nope!"

"Oh, come on! At least keep it in mind for when you get stronger." 

"Yeah yeah, sure, let's just go anywhere else for now."

"Scaredy cat."

"What was that expression about curiosity and cats again?"

"Bleh."

Wanting to avoid a bad end, I immediately turned around and started walking towards the mall, any sense of social anxiety or reluctance to be out and about suddenly dwarfed by the knowledge that there was someone right behind me with strong magic and possibly a chance of becoming hostile.

After a few minutes of walking and occasionally turning around to make sure an evil wizard wasn't about to end me, I came up to the entrance to the mall and quickly passed through the automatic doors and into the air conditioned interior. It was early spring, so it's not like it was especially hot out or anything, but there's something special about the cool dryness of a building kept at seventy five degrees by an air conditioner.

Thinking about this, I walked aimlessly into the store, not entirely sure of what I was looking for or what I would do.

After checking around to make sure nobody was in earshot, I decided to see what Fig had in mind. 

"Hey Fig."

At my call, she floated from my side and hovered just in front of me.

"Hmm?"

"So what exactly did you have in mind here?"

"Well… Nothing really!"

"Nothing? Really?"

"Really! Nothing!"

"I… then what am I here for!?"

"I mean, to look around?"

"For what, exactly?"

"I don't know! Someone with a mana that seems useful, someone you can practice on, something worth taking over? Be creative with it!"

"... creative."

"Yeah! I'm your skill, right? It's ultimately up to you to use me in the right way!"

"But I don't… whatever, let's just look around."

"Right!"

With that out of the way, I began walking through the mall, checking around the stores one by one.

Restaurant, Jewelry, Clothing store, we passed by place after place without anything sticking out in particular to either of us.

"Hmm, her mana looks like it could help you get a new skill, maybe?"

Fig gave that evaluation for the dozenth time as we walked by a high school girl reeking of cigarettes.

Unfortunately, I could only use my skill twice per day, meaning that I didn't feel like I could afford to waste it on some random teenage girl I might never see again just for the sake of maybe getting a new skill.

Which brings me to the most major oversight of this trip: even if we see something useful, what am I supposed to do about it?

Corruption was still weak, and couldn't alter a person a lot at once. It could also only be used on a person once per day. My mana pool was also inadequate to just go around using it indiscriminately and hoping for the best.

As of now, I still have Mile, Noitte, and Season at home to corrupt, and Luce who comes every other day, in other words I just don't have the leeway to go around using my limited uses of the skill on strangers. 

As I was thinking, Fig suddenly stopped in front of me, causing me to bump into her and send her flying slightly forward.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Fig. Didn't see you stop."

"Well, whatever, look at that!"

Ahead of us was a shuttered storefront that I think used to be a clothing store.

"Okay? What about it?"

"What do you mean 'what about it'! It's a storefront you could rent! The possibilities are endless! Doesn't it spark just a teensy bit of fantasy in your heart?"

My own store… employees under my control… repeat customers I could hypnotize… okay, maybe a little, but…

"I don't know how to run a store, have nothing to sell, and don't have the money to rent it anyway."

"Geh! How dare you dismiss fantasy so easily! Besides, you do have the money!"

…

Technically, I do. 

When my father passed away he was making decent money and had pretty good life insurance, and every penny of it was left to me. It's one of the reasons I was able to live as a NEET for so long. Technically I could live on it for several more years as long as I kept my spending under control, and given that he also left me the house, that's not too hard.

If I really wanted to, I could probably easily sign a contract to lease the store for at least a year or so, and as long as someone competent runs it I might even make a profit. 

That said…

"I'm not interested in running a business or anything, I'd rather just keep the money and live comfortably."

It's obviously easier to just hold onto the money and live easily. Using the money I had budgeted and losing it because I couldn't run a business would mean that my safety net was gone, and that just seems irresponsible.

"Aww!"

"Besides, with Mile insisting on paying the taxes and the utilities, and me starting work in a couple of days, why would I bother with something that troublesome?"

"To make a cool and sexy store!"

"Probably not in a mall."

"Hmm…"

Although Fig seemed dissatisfied, we continued our trek, occasionally pointing out people with notable mana or businesses that might be fun or useful to control as we went, until finally we reached the back of the mall.

"Honestly, Fig? That felt like a waste of time."

"No way!"

"Way."

"We got some useful information!"

"Like?"

"Well, we saw some useful people, including two store clerks that we could come back and find at any time."

"Assuming they don't quit or get fired and that I show up frequently enough to actually make progress."

"You sure know how to put a damper on a parade."

"That's… not an expression…"

"Anyway! We also saw that shuttered store that you might be able to do something with later."

"I already said-"

"And! We found out that someone weird that might be useful is over at the church."

"Someone dangerous who I want to avoid is at the church."

"Bleh bleh bleh!"

As we talked, I trekked back through the mall, grabbing lunch along the way, and sat back in front of the bus stop. The next bus was about five minutes away, so I wasn't at all worried about the wait.

If we were going to talk about things I was worried about, it would probably be the sense of threat I now imagined radiating from across the street as the quiet church building sat there, completely unrepresentative of the powerful mage apparently inside.

Despite my concern, the bus arrived at the usual time with no incident whatsoever.

As I got back on the bus and handed another five dollars to the driver, I briefly thought "what are the chances I ever run into whatever is in there?" before I quickly shook my head and tried to dismiss the thought.

It would be best not to jinx something like that, right?