Whilst Iza was sleeping Seth had found a jewellery shop and had sold a couple of the gemstones. He didn’t want to unload all of them at once as that was too suspicious, but he would sell a few to each shop in the local area and over the past few hours that was what he was doing.

For his troubles, he had gained another 75 gold coins and needless to say, Seth was now a rather rich man. His money bag was getting rather heavy and so he needed to start spending.

A house and hideout were the largest priorities, so Seth went to the City Sect of Babylon and looked at the available houses. He looked for around 30 gold but found that house prices were far higher than what they were in Darter. It seemed land cost gold per square metre.

He ended up buying a nice flat on the top floor of an apartment building. It was only the 5th floor, but Seth wanted a view, and this came with a good one.

He paid upfront to a very happy salesman and asked if they had any more tucked-away locations. After seeing a few cottages, Seth asked for a more city-central area and after a while of searching Seth found a contender.

He always loved the hideout of the Darter Deck of Madness’ in Darter and Seth wanted to make something like that. So what he got was an old bunker just inside of the wall limits. It was an odd case where the walls had expanded above it and the entire topside was ruined.

That is why no one bought it, as it needed so much work. Seth was no stranger to the thing, so he bought It for the price of 100 gold and walked out of the City Sect with 2 deeds to 2 properties.

Seth was tired as the night grew dark, so he headed to his new home, inside a nearby modern apartment building. Obviously, it wasn’t perfect, lighting wasn’t provided by anything, but the sun and the kitchen was empty, but Seth still liked it.

Seth thought about transferring the goods inside but decided to do it the next morning, his back was aching, and he was oh so tired.

As tired as he was he wanted to see one thing first, so he stepped out into the balcony to see the city at night and what a view he saw.

Lit-up streets, glowing a warm orange; the sound of horses pulling carriages, their hooves hitting the stone road with a distinct clatter; the rows of houses lined like army soldiers, their order a result of meticulous city planning; and the stars and moon illuminated it all with a blanket of soft white light.

Seth smiled as he stared over the city, it was his new playground, and he was going to have a lot of fun. Tomorrow the aim of the game was not playing it was just a simple mission of exploring. For targets, for food, for equipment, Seth needed it all and with that plan in mind, he climbed into his new bedroom to find no bed.

Seth's smile faded, `Of course, it’s a new house. Would a store be open at this time of night... nah, the floor will do.`

So tired of the events that had passed Seth finally slept in a warm house for the first time in 2 months and his snake? Seth left him in the carriage...

When Seth woke up to hear the screams of people on the first floor he immediately got up in shock. Was it a fire? Seth quickly got dressed and ran downstairs hoping that his new property wouldn’t be burnt to ashes before he could even get a bed.

As he looked through the gate into the street he saw several people trying to capture, his snake!

Seth quickly stopped them by explaining it was his pet and thanks to Ouro calming down a bit the situation rather luckily unfolded without any issues. Seth was upset at himself for forgetting his own pet, but he bribed the mythical creature using his favourite food: ranked mice.

After the bribing was over, Seth got himself a breakfast at a new restaurant. It was a full Historion special so bread, bacon, sausages, hash blacks and beans. Mushrooms were much more toxic in this world as they evolved stronger toxins to avoid getting eaten by highly evolved beasts. 

After finishing that meal off with a bit of morning Bubbletop he was ready to get an idea of what Babylon was all about. He had heard good things, from people like street vendors and the like as they daydreamed of moving up in the world and going to the big city.

Seth wanted to see if it was all talk or truly a haven like they said it was. Seth had been located in an area that was around the upper middle class but in Darter, it would have easily been on the upper end of the scale, but this was a new area and people were obviously richer.

Seth wanted to see the best of the best and worst of the worst, so he went to the slums first.

Classes allowed for many to escape from poverty and if people got a job and worked their ass off then they would likely have a home. It may not be nice, but it was better than living here.

Drugs did exist in Seth's new world, and it seemed to lower people who were already suffering the most. They simply had little chance of escaping; it was a game rigged for them to fail.

Were the rich prosper, the poor despair and here was a good example of despair. The slums weren’t located inside the great wall, they were instead located inside a smaller wall on an outer layer of the city. Seth had entered the wrong side to see it but now he could, and he could only frown.

The roads were dirt, people slept by the side of the road and not a single sign of prosperity was to be seen. How could a world blessed with a system and classes come to this, Seth hadn’t seen the slums in Darter he had just assumed they were better, yet they seemed worse.

How?!

It made no sense to a privileged Seth and so he could only wonder why these people stayed where they were. Seth had to find out, his mind refused to accept a vague answer. He thought this world better than his last and yet they seemed all too similar for his liking.

So he asked, set two opposite chairs he had found by the side of the road, abandoned, and sat people down to ask them questions.

“Why do you not work?”

“Why do you live here?”

“Where are your parents?”

Seth was answered, mainly because he offered payment to those that did, but, still his mind was saturated with answers to questions he needed answering.

They were abandoned, that was the simple answer. Society had failed them, and gangs appeared to replace it.

Drugs had clearly done the most to them and were the main answer as to why they were there, Seth thought maybe magic could fix addiction and he found out that it could. Many here dreamed of a certain spell called Complete Recovery and many more which did the same thing and yet the churches had locked those spells behind paywalls.

Occasionally, they would do a run of the slums and heal those that they could, but some fell back in and the people who could cast the spells simply didn’t want to. There was no incentive, the Queen couldn’t care less about the stain on her city, so they were abandoned. It certainly did not help that many were Evil classes, which only enlarged the idea that what they were doing was right.

People here also fell from a dangerous addiction to gambling and instead of using money, they used their own class. Rerollers were their names, and they were essentially hoping for a good class. With each reroll their odds grew slimmer as their talent dimmed and their future faded. Some would stop there and take what they got, but others continued with the false hope that maybe, just maybe they would get Grandmaster class.

Was it their fault for taking drugs, not resisting addiction or was it society's fault for ignoring them and leaving them for dead? Seth did not have an answer, he was no genius, he was just a man who feared death and wanted to experience life.

The cold day made their lives a living hell and snow was just the last straw. Many died from hypothermia, starvation, and illness, and Seth wanted to not do any of them.

He left the slums and learned a lesson that day on some fascinating things. He felt sadness for those who couldn’t enjoy life while they had it and maybe in the future he would try and make a change.

Seth had seen great suffering, now he was going to see great wealth.

Castles the size of many of Seth's apartment buildings sat next to each other and gates that had more gold on them than inside the money pouch that Seth had in his pocket. This was wealth to a degree Seth hadn’t seen before.

The Queen's palace was another thing altogether and since it was a tourist destination Seth got to see all the sights.

The buildings were large, decked out in gemstones and had expensive windows for every room, These were the people who ruled the city and thought themselves higher than humans.

Annoyingly classes and levelling began a key difference between Earth and this new world. Bill Gates was still human and if he fought a single other human he may still have lost yet here, if the Queen fought 10 thousand

normal humans, then she would still win.

It was a key difference in worth that made egos grow larger and equality crumble into impossibility.

Seth had seen enough rich and poor for one day, so he decided to visit his hideout.