The park wasn't very crowded.
Shawn found a spot to sit down, behind him was a large banyan tree with a broad canopy. He wasn't very knowledgeable about trees, but could recognize the nearby maple and cypress trees. Not far away was a flowerbed fenced in, with a square in the center paved with marble slabs. In the distance, a huge nameless monument stood on the steps.
There were young people relaxing and dining, spreading a white cloth on the green lawn. They looked like a group of university students.
Dorne City has three universities, which is quite impressive. The nearest one is Caesar University, basically considered a noble school.
There are restaurants nearby.
Shawn's lunch was a piece of pan-seared fish fillet paired with lemon, and a vegetable salad drizzled with olive oil. The taste was hard to describe, eating greens wasn't his habit, it cost him 11 dinars, which wasn't cheap.
However, the restaurant offered a complimentary cup of red tea with milk and white sugar.
Too sweet.
Shawn was unaccustomed to drinking it.
After strolling around the Park District, Shawn headed straight for the docks and factories, listening to the distant roar of steam whistles. He sat on a bench, gazing into the distance, lost in thought.
The Wharf District was quite dirty and messy.
But this place had the feeling of street life, with crowded streets, hawkers selling their wares, people coming and going. Although the city hall dispatched people to manage the area, the shops along the way still displayed their goods, taking up a bit of the street. The market was bustling with people, and those with average living conditions would specifically come here to buy daily necessities since the prices were much cheaper. Various fruits and vegetables piled up along the sides of the market, indicating that the locals had a decent living standard.
Shawn picked up three tomatoes and looked up, asking, "How much?"
The owner, an elderly woman in her fifties, was a bit surprised to see Shawn wearing such formal attire at the market and raised one finger, saying, "1 Seth."
The purchasing power of one coin was still acceptable.
On the other side was the livestock area, and from afar, one could smell the manure of cattle and sheep, as well as the faint scent of blood from slaughtered animals. Shawn glanced at the mud mixed with cattle and sheep dung on the ground and turned to leave.
He still had over two thousand nine hundred dinars on him.
This was a large sum of money.
The bulletin boards next to the Wharf District were plastered with job announcements. Formal workers were quite in demand, with salaries of about 300-400 dinars per month. Other temporary labor generally had low incomes, with laundry women earning only 100 dinars a month, barely enough to make ends meet.
The local food was quite basic.
Many small shops on both sides of the market sold food, some without even a place to sit, offering vegetable tortillas for 3 Seth, a stew with added meat for 5 Seth, and minced meat pasta for 7 Seth, which was closest to Shawn's taste as it somewhat resembled Italy's pasta from his previous life.
The cuisine here was somewhat similar to Italian cuisine.
Dock workers would spend approximately 1.2 dinars on a meal.
Formal workers here were considered relatively affluent.
"Sir." A patrolling officer noticed Shawn, unsure if it was a policeman, possibly a deputy position, dressed in a worn-out uniform, holding a police baton. He behaved very amiably towards Shawn, politely saying, "This isn't the place where someone like you should be."
"Watch your wallet."
When Shawn took out his wallet, he seemed to attract some malicious glances. He noticed this slightly and nodded politely, "Alright. Thank you."
Dorne City was indeed a bustling metropolis.
To the left of the docks was a low, chaotic Old Town District undergoing urban renovation. Due to cheap rent, many outsiders lived there, with monthly rent around 20-30 dinars. To the right were new row houses, generally three-story small buildings, mostly inhabited by people with stable jobs.
Shawn felt he was being watched.
"The gang?" Shawn's brows furrowed.
The docks were places teeming with mixed individuals, and he had exposed his bulging wallet when taking money at the market, which might have caught someone's eye.
A middle-aged man with a big beard, a young man wearing a beret, and a skinny little boy.
Shawn didn't want to stir up trouble.
He turned around, ready to leave the Wharf District, but just then, a sudden ringing sound followed, and a crowd of people appeared in front of his vision.
This was the intersection of a three-way street.
The time was 12:05 PM.
It was just the time when dock workers got off work, a large group emerged from the shipyard port side, and some itinerant vendors without fixed stalls were also heading towards the Wharf District because the factories here had a one and a half hour lunch break.
Patrol officers had driven them off in the morning, so itinerant vendors were rare, but now they were allowed to set up temporary stalls to make some small money. Most of these small vendors were children and women, and the items they offered were mainly food. Dock workers typically solved their lunch nearby.
Noon was the time when the place was most crowded.
Shawn sharply sensed something amiss, because only the bearded middle-aged man was left at the market corner.
They were going to make a move on him!
Shawn gripped the umbrella tightly in his hand, which seemed more like a decorative item with a bit of a British-style habit. In Dorne City, you only needed to carry an umbrella during the rainy season.
He maneuvered through the crowded people, planning to leave while vigilantly scanning the surroundings, searching for the other two individuals.
It should be a gang of pickpockets.
The crowded streets made Shawn's movement slow. At this intersection, two streams of people were heading towards the Wharf District, making Shawn, who had just reached the corner, feel somewhat at a loss.
Suddenly, as Shawn was weaving through the crowded streets, he felt a touch on his back. He turned quickly and saw a young girl with an apologetic look on her face, holding a basket filled with hard, dry black bread, a few pieces of which had fallen to the ground.
"I'm sorry, sir." The girl apologized hurriedly.
It seemed like she had been bumped, causing her to stagger and spill some bread onto the ground. Concerned about the food getting stepped on by passersby, she quickly crouched down to protect and pick them up.
The young girl was dressed in tattered clothes, and these foods might be an important expense for her family for the day.
Shawn instinctively wanted to help, but suddenly became alert, and in an instant stretched out his right hand, reaching directly towards a young man who slipped past him like a loach. Yet just then, another slim figure bumped into his left shoulder, and before Shawn could react, he felt someone touch his pocket.
A remarkably agile right hand extended out like a butterfly among the flowers, holding a sharp, specially made blade between the index and middle fingers, quickly cutting open the pocket to take Shawn's wallet.
There are thieves!
Shawn grabbed an arm that was somewhat frail. The person seemed a bit surprised and uttered a sound of surprise, flipping the palm instantly. Shawn felt a slight sting, and by the time he reacted, the wallet from his pocket had already been taken.
Right in front of him, two thieves cooperated in stealing his wallet. When he wanted to search for their figures, the two had already vanished into the crowd like loaches.
Shawn's palm had no wounds, just a slight numbness.
"Shadow Sequence, Wanderer." Shawn frowned; he hadn't expected to encounter other Transcendents so soon.
After advancing to become a Transcendent, Shawn's physical qualities and senses enhanced, though not to the extent where his movement speed was almost imperceptible like the Butcher; however, it wasn't easy for ordinary people to get close to him.
If not for that final sting, Shawn wouldn't have been able to confirm the Transcendent's identity, merely thinking he encountered a highly skilled thief.
Primitive Magic Power surged within Shawn's body.
This implied that the opponent had just used Supernatural Power, and during direct confrontations between Transcendents, they can instantly recognize each other's identity as all Extraordinary Abilities have a slight resonance when activated.
Transcendents of the Wanderer Sequence have extremely agile skills; Shawn's Casting Sequence couldn't keep up with their speed at all.
"Is it the Magician's Hand?"
Shawn recently supplemented his General Knowledge of the mystical side, having read only half of the Twelve Mythical Paths, which included the Wanderer, Assassin, Phantom, and Ghostface of the Shadow Sequence. The opponent shouldn't be a high-sequence Wanderer, otherwise, Shawn wouldn't even have had time to react.
Real-world Transcendents are very rare, mostly without formal inheritance, typically gaining a trace of Extraordinary Power by coincidence.
Shawn, who started with Lady Herath as a mentor guiding him into the mysteries, belonged to a very rare inheritance lineage.
"After the world's essence was seized."
"All Supernatural Powers were locked, and most of the Twelve Mythical Paths were opened by Otherworld souls."
"Because Otherworld souls possess unique talents."
"At first, they stole back part of the Extraordinary Essence from indescribable horrors."
Some Otherworld souls naturally possess Extraordinary Abilities; even their arrival expanded the paths in the Bizarre Realm's mythology from the initial five to the current twelve Mythical Paths.
After advancing in the Wanderer Sequence, Transcendents essentially resemble an Assassin's Creed.
.........
(PS: I've been publishing for almost half a year, and there's still talk about being stolen. So, Futu will explain properly.
A mage around level 2 facing two Wanderers about level 2-3, which are thieves.
The agility of thieves is above 15 points; those with Half-Elf blood might reach 16-17 points, which means being agile enough to leap over rooftops, akin to characters from Assassin's Creed.
With two thieves attacking from front and behind, if it's a confrontation, the low-tier mage would be dead; backstab sneak attack would be a certain kill.
Early on, few professional paths can compete with thieves. Within a half-meter assassination range, a low-tier mage's only chance to win is having powerful Curios, casting spells in advance, and firing in advance, all while having to hit due to the thieves' high agility, AC, and reflex evasion.
The protagonist thought it was an ordinary thief and planned to escape, not wanting trouble.
But they were thieves, professionals; they steal from ordinary people as they please. This agility at least equals half of Dolso's level, training into an Assassin's Creed-like killer.
It's constrained by real-world laws; they still have the mentality of ordinary people. With stronger psychological resilience, thieves would have long become assassins.
Even if a teacher is a Demigod, and your teacher a Magic God, it won't change the situation where a low-tier mage is oppressed early on.
Mages graduate at level five; reaching the Third Ring is needed to go out, early on meeting two thieves without a gun is suicidal.
Just stealing a wallet, and two thieves placed in the real world could assassinate a president.
Even being stolen can't be accepted; the protagonist is extremely foolish, you underestimate thieves too much. If you're an ordinary person, they steal in front of you, you wouldn't even see it.
Stealing your wallet means they could take your life; thieves could inherently, backstab sneak attack isn't fake. Let alone mages, even Warriors would be instantly killed by a backstab critical strike.
But they are just ordinary people from the real world advancing, only seeking wealth. Successful theft leads to such arrogance, snatching right in front, not allowing the fat sheep to escape.
You underestimate thieves too much; Soron at level 2-3 was rampant in the Wharf District. Eliminating a gang single-handedly is trivial.
Finally, to add, high-tier or even legendary thieves following rules could steal even the Full Body Armor you're wearing, meaning stripping you bare without you reacting.)