Finishing my iced coffee, I went towards the counter where Sharon, also known as Isaac’s wife and Lily’s mom, collected payments.

“Here!” I handed her the bill and she happily accepted. “Tell Isaac that I can solve everything. He just needs to trust me.”

She gave me a puzzled look and I flashed a bright smile. “It is a very small world we live in Mrs. Niles! Blaze should know that.”

“I…”

Not waiting for her response, I made my way towards the exit, but surely heard her thanking me from the bottom of her heart.

I walked down the street; opposite of the way Isaac went. With no definitive destination at the moment, I listlessly kept moving forward.

But my mind was not as free-spirited as my steps.

'With a little more push and pulls, Isaac will turn into a perfect pawn. Hehe…'

I chose Isaac because manipulating him and changing his fate would not affect the grand scheme of plot. Thus, I could use him however I want without causing any major problems.

Also, he was smart and capable, moreover, easy to exploit because of his history. 

Yes, it would take a little time for him to be on track but once he was in, I could do many things.

And with $13,000 I surely could survive a month or two, even three or four if used strictly. But buying potions and other weaponry was a dream now.

‘Training is the only way huh…’

I let out a defeated sigh. ‘It is what it is, Tim. Learn to accept.’

All this was for a better future. Thus, accepting everything was the only thing I could do.

I walked a little more and soon reached an alleyway in the shadows.

Pulling out my mobile I launched the GPS to find the most basic thing that was haunting my brain for the past half-an-hour.

I searched Dewdrop and surely the map took me towards a small town to the north, near the mountains of Evelin.

‘It really exists. But how?’

I could not wrap my head around the fact that some random town could spawn here out of nowhere.

'I'm a thousand percent sure that I didn't add any town named Dewdrop. It was just inside my mind. But now it is here. Like how?'

“I need to be there!” I mumbled sliding my mobile back into the pocket and getting outside the shadows.

“Hey, black cap!” Someone shouted from behind.

'Hm? My cap is black. Is he calling me?'

I turned around to satisfy my curiosity. A frail youth indeed was staring at me. He apparently had a small revolver in his hand though.

“What?” I asked the guy. 

He was a little shorter than me and wore the same cap as mine but backwards. His face was hidden behind a black mask and a pair of sunglasses.

“Give me your phone!” He raised his tone, pointing his gun at me.

Tilting my head to the side, I asked, faking a confused expression, “Why?” 

I knew these street-muggers as they were in this city by my will to make things more realistic.

“Because I said so!” This time he yelled and three men came forward, with the same getup as him.

“My fashion sense is always astounding.” I muttered to myself and one tall, muscular dude drew closer.

“What did you say punk?” He shouted, grabbing my collar, and pulling closer. His voice was a little more mature than the other one.

'So he is the older one. Probably their leader.'

“I said, why do you want my phone? Need to call someone?” I was taking everything casually because I was no in the mood to escalate the issue. And what more could these guys even do?

Beat me, strangle me? Give me a break!

They did not have the physical capacity to fight me, to a literal E rank guy.

I knew it because they did not leak any mana, like every mana user. Which suggested that either they were someone with high mana control aka heroes or just plain losers.

And heroes won’t do mugging so it was abundantly clear that these were losers who had no control over mana. So, the gun came into use.

‘Yeah, I am smart!’ I wanted to pat my back for this too obvious discovery but could not as this tall guy threw me inside the alley way.

'Geez, I wanted to solve this problem using brains, calculating the best way out. But seems like these guys have some other plans.'

That little guy stepped forward still pointing the gun. “Give me all you have or I will kill you right here, right now.”

“Come on man, I am poor, just like you. I don’t have anything.” I responded with a slight grin, sitting on the ground. ‘These guys are really amusing.’

“Shut up!” He screamed, hitting me in the face with the gun’s grip.

“Argh---!”

My head hit the solid cement as I let out a pained groan. Soon a trail of blood spurted out from my nose.

“Why did you do that man?” I said in a sarcastic tone, pressing my nose. The pain was supposed to be unbearable but for some reason my nose just tingled a little.  

‘Did he even hit me?’.

“Give me your fucking money or you die!” He yelled again, gripping his weapon tightly.

“Chill bro, chill!” I laughed lightly, handing him my purse.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” He punched me in the face, once again.

“Aaau---!” I groaned, but the smile never left my face. ‘These guys are really funny!’

“This is fucking 10 dollars. Where is the money?” That frail mugger held his gun on my forehead. “Tell me or you are a dead bitch!”

“I don’t have any money!” I replied coolly, raising both my hands. I seriously had no money on me.

“Give me your phone.” His tone went cold as his index finger caressed the trigger.

“Why… pfft…” 

This time I failed to control my laughter and in return a straight kick smacked my right cheek!

“That hurts!” I creaked pulling my face off the dirt. “That’s bad manners, you know!”

“Oh, you piece of shit…”

“Frank, don’t!”

One mugger lunged towards the boy who squeezed the trigger, directly pointing the barrel at my face.

Like some superhero, I raised my hand, manipulating the gravity.

Goal was to stop the trigger but my inexperience got the best of me. 

Bang–!

Next, I tried to pull the approaching bullet towards the ground, but its velocity was beyond measure and the time window was too short.

'Why the fuck I am even trying this?'

Splatter!

The bullet brushed past my forearm, leaving a shallow wound.

“Ugh!” I screamed, tumbling on the ground. “Son of a bitch!”

‘Fuck! It hurts, damnit!’

“Screw you, gravity management.” I cursed out loud.

Still, my rage driven words failed to stop the gunman. He quickly closed the gap and snatched my phone away from my side pocket.

“If you dare say anything to anyone… I swear to God, I will blow your head off.” He said, stomping his leg on my chest and pointing the gun to my head.

“Really!” I now grinned like a fanatic. I guess pain stimulated my anger a little too much.

“Why are you laughing, you piece of shit?” Shouted Mark, lowering his head and touching the weapon on my forehead.

“Because your time is up!”

My tone went grim as I smacked him on the face with everything I got.

Crack!

I heard something crack as the youth hit the ground with a thud. But the show was not over yet.

Rolling to my side, I got up and ran towards the tall guy who was still processing the situation.

Boom!

Not giving him any chance to react I punched him in the chest followed by a roundhouse kick to his rib cage.

‘Ugh!’  He groaned in pain, hitting the wall beside him.

Next, I lunged towards my final friend who was too eager to take me.

One punch came to my face but I dodged by swaying to the side, consequently countering a jab to his face.

My hand connected and he stumbled on the ground, just like his second friend.

“Kaboom bitch!”

Boom!

Channeling mana into my hand I punched him in the face directly, robbing him out of his consciousness.

“Trash.” I muttered scanning my surroundings and saw the second guy and Frank running away.

“Come on guys!”

I raised my hand and their steps halted in an instant. “Now get back here!”

I pulled my hand backwards, so did the duo, but not by themselves. I was employing gravity as focusing on large subjects was easy.

They skidded on the ground and soon fell on their butts when they got closer.

I lowered myself to match their gazes and extended my hand. “My phone or want me to blow your head off.”

I did a choking motion in the air and both their faces turned pale within seconds.

“So, what do you say now?” My tone was grim as before, and Frank clearly understood the severity of the situation.

Still out of breath he returned my phone which was in perfect shape except the screen was shattered.

Letting go of the grip I inspected my mobile for a second and put it in my shirt pocket.

‘I broke my own mobile.’ I sighed, tightening my grip around the two and lifting them in the air.

“Let’s not ever meet each other, ok!”

They frantically shook their heads and I smiled before throwing them towards the wall.

Smack!

They could not even cry as the slam was enough for both to lose consciousness.

‘The end!’

I gave the unresponsive trio a shallow bow and left with a pleasant expression on my face until I felt something dripping from the edge of my fingers.

Then it hit me.

“I need a doctor!”

***

I sat on the bench of the bus stop with an ice cream on my hand and a shade over my head. It was just outside the City Hospital where they patched me up for free.

‘Thank God I made medical services free around this world.’

Still, one high quality mana and health potion could have done the job but I was a broke ass. I had no money to spend unnecessarily.

I pulled my phone subconsciously, but soon realized it was useless. Screen showed nothing except a million cracks.

“Let’s hope it does not cost much.” I sighed, before getting up and making my way towards the mobile repair store, standing beside the twenty-story hospital.

Licking my ice cream, I stood before the door which opened automatically.

Technically it was not just a repair store but an actual store where they had everything related to hand gadgets.

Hundreds of mobiles were on display to attract customers.

I checked various mobiles but after reading their price I left them on their own. I had to save money for some things I needed in the future. And they were a hell lot expensive.

“Can you fix this?” I asked putting down my mobile on the counter and a technician took it.

He checked it for a bit and presented himself to me with a puzzled look in his eyes. “Did you drop it from a plane?”

“Not exactly, but some guy literally ran over it.” I let out an awkward laugh, still licking my ice cream like a child.

‘Man, this is good.’

“Oh!” The tech guy nodded. “I can fix it but I don’t think it will be the same as before. Screen, both cameras, sensors, battery, motherboard… everything is gone.”

I sighed again, dropping my shoulders. “So, it is fucked all over huh.”

“Yeah, I mean you are better off buying a new one than fixing this.” He grinned, typing something on his computer.

“See…” He tilted the screen towards me which showed a total cost of $876 for all the parts. “And a new Galaxy S21 will be around 920 dollars if we include insurance for a year.”

“So, I am fucked now.” I dropped my head down leaning on the glass counter. Only a bit of cream left on the cone that my right hand held lightly, fearing it would crumble.

“Not totally, we can give you a ten percent discount in exchange for your broken piece and the insurance cost can also be lower which can…”

The wannabe tech guy who now turned into a salesman began his speech and I listened indolently.

Whatever he said, me losing a thousand dollars was now set in stone. ‘I really hate those pieces of shits!’

But soon his blabbering stopped and I felt a slight tingling in my right hand.

“Huh--” 

I lifted my head to look what was going on and surprisingly a certain young lady with auburn hair was taking a bite off my chocolate cornetto.

“Wha-t are you doing, Anniliese?” Taken aback I stuttered.

Ignoring me she took another bite and it was a huge one even. Then she stood straight with an innocent smile on her face.

“Well…”