One Last System

'The drift is relatively stable,' I thought, coursing through the air at high speed.

The snake of the highway appeared far off below me, serving as the only guide towards the direction I should take.

So high in the sky, there was hardly anything else I could follow. Used to orient me with the sun while being on the ground made it quite confusing to the same while above the level of the lowest clouds.

'It seems like I can keep going for a little bit further,' I thought, scanning the area from my elevated position.

All of this was the result of three days and nights I spent figuring out the details of the rocket science that could apply to this world.

The idea of using rocket propulsion was simple. Push at something, and it will push against you with the same force but an opposing vector. This was one of the formulas that I learned back in the middle-school and never came to forget about.

My flight path suddenly broke when one of the formations responsible for my stability malfunctioned.

'Mage's tower,' I invoked, quickly tracing the error while freefalling towards the ground.

I wasn't worried about plummeting to the ground. I had more than enough formations that would save me from any damage if such an unfortunate scenario were to occur.

What I was worried about, though, were people taking notice of me.

'The mana burned right through the stone,' I quickly identified the source of the problem. 'I guess the stone itself was just of a poor quality,' I thought, biting down on my lips while carving another stone to replace the faulty one.

It took me less than five seconds to fix my flight and regain the attitude. But my mood was just as bad as it could get.

Right after I finally stocked enough resources to be able to use my Mage's Tower in combat, I reached another blockade.

Now that I have grown, the amount of mana flowing through all my formations increased exponentially. And although this process only began, the simple pebbles I would pick from the side of the floor was quickly losing their value as the formation stone material.

For now, only the lower quality stones continued to fail. But as I continued to grow, it was only a matter of time before even the proper stones would give up under the tremendous stress of the current of my mana flowing through it.

'Hopefully, those stones will last for...' I thought, only for my attention to shift when I noticed the first real change in the lands below me.

Or rather, the lands that I could just see from my elevated position. And at the same time, the lands that I would reach in just a moment!

'Fuck!' I screamed out internally, applying all the breaks that I could.

That was the one problem with the rocket magic.

The only way to break midair was to apply the acceleration in the opposite direction.

'Slowly, calmly,' I muttered to myself, trying to find the golden ratio of deacceleration.

If I were to be too slow at slowing down, I would barge right into the air above the city.

And I wasn't interested in this kind of extremely high-key entrance to the place!

But then, if I lost my speed too quickly...

Then the law of inertia would make me experience a g-force far greater than anything my body could handle!

'Slow down,' I wished in my head, finetuning the amount of mana I supplied to my reversed explosion formations.

It was a pretty delicate job, forcing me to adjust several different barriers at once. After all, while making a formation that simply exploded was easy, making a set of formations that would turn the power of explosion into the power of propulsion was actually a pretty complex task.

And right now, by meddling with the output of a single formation within, the one responsible by the power of explosions, I put the rest of the elements under unorthodox stress.

'Here we go,' I thought when I neared the ground.

And then, just as if I was jumping down the street's curb, I softly landed a small distance away from the highway.

I finally neared the Tuxi Outerpost. This was the place I could see out in the distance. That is unless I somehow fucked up the directions... but it was a possibility that I didn't dare to even consider.

I quickly shook the coldness and droplets of rose from my body before hurrying towards the highway.

As I was already pretty near the settlement, the road was bustling with people.

'Isn't it strange?' I thought, surprised by the amount of traffic in a place still quite a distance away from the city.

The crowds on the highway here were far bigger than the crowds within the city of the lower headquarters itself!

I joined the crowd without the slightest care in the world. It was way too big for anyone to pay any attention to my appearance. The only thing that made people notice me was my pretty bad looks.

But what could I do?

A month deep into my journey, I would be hard-pressed to find a place to shave or fix my clothes, even if it was high enough on my priority list for me to attend those matters.

'No,' I thought, shaking my head as I moved towards the city in the distance. 'Those kinds of things I can take care of once I settle into the city,' I thought when I finally approached the gate.

For a moment, I expected some trouble from the guards. After all, just like I observed a second before, my looks weren't the most inviting. In fact, it would be a challenge to differentiate between my current self and some kind of beggar on the city streets!

Thankfully, as soon as I flashed my Auction House sourced ID, the guards allowed me to pass without any trouble.

It seemed that they were too busy being bored with their job to care any more than absolutely necessary.

And just like that, I finally arrived at the Tuxi Outerpost.

'So this is where she lives,' I thought as I walked through the main street of the city.

I instantly directed my steps towards the auction house. This was the only place that I could go right after arriving in a foreign land. And just like back in the lower headquarters, finding the location of the auction hall didn't pose any challenge.

"Hello," I said the second I entered the premises. Yet, there wasn't any reception desk right at the entrance, to my surprise.

Rather than that, the second I entered the building, an entire array of looks came my way.

'I guess I really don't fit this place in my current state,' I thought before clearing my throat and approaching the first employee that I could find.

"Excuse me," I started, hoping to get the annoying part of the conversation over as soon as possible.

"If you want to beg for money, you won't get a single penny," a man replied, dismissing me from his thoughts the second he laid his eyes at my unkempt appearance.

"On your knees," I replied softly. "Or you won't find any employment in this place again," I stated, just loud enough for everyone in the surroundings to hear it.

This was the simplest way to go around it. I would have to find some time later to apologize to the man for using him like that.

"What seems to be the problem?" another official appeared as soon as I raised my voice in a single tone.

It appeared as if my small ploy paid off.

"I came here to exchange what I hunted," I said, pulling out a storage ring.

In this place, situated right on the edge of the Tuxi lands, the value of a storage ring was far greater than it would be back at the lower headquarters.

That's why flashing this single item alone was enough to get the attention of the staff of a local auction hall.

"Sir, is that all you wish to do at our humble establishment?" the girl that took over the job asked.

Even though there was no open change to her attitude, I could feel how her aura changed now that she confirmed my wealth.

"As you guessed, yes," I nodded my head as I replied. "I need fresh clothes, someone to help me clean up, and a room," I added, a smile appearing on my face.

"Something tells me that I will spend quite a while in this city," I said, moving my eyes on the female employee. "I hope conducting business with you guys will be a pleasure!"