A Peculiar Tech Tree

"It was surprisingly easy to adapt to."

During the lunch break, after parting ways with his two seniors, Falan consciously began massaging various parts of his body.

After all, as a "modern" person, Falan knew very well that if someone suddenly took on a workload beyond what they were used to—

—and failed to properly ease into it, they would definitely wake up aching all over the next day.

Falan did not want to lose this hard-won job in this world just because his frail body could not handle the strain. He truly needed this job to survive.

"Come to think of it, Senior Luo En and Senior Fafna both left first. I'm the only one in the shop."

Left alone to watch the restaurant, Falan could not help muttering to himself. He had only joined yesterday, yet the owner and the two seniors of this restaurant called the Golden Ring trusted him enough to leave a newcomer behind alone.

Then a voice sounded behind him. "Luo En and Fafna both live nearby. It's perfectly normal for them to go home and rest during lunch break. Falan, why don't you go back to the attic and rest too? To be honest, I'm still not used to having another person around."

When he turned around, he saw that it was the owner of the restaurant, leaving Falan somewhat embarrassed.

He had been thinking that people in this other world trusted others far too easily, only to realize that he was the fool. Luo En had not failed to notice him at all—his cheap boss had probably been staying in the restaurant from the very beginning.

"Um, hello, Boss. Is it really all right to leave you here alone? How about I keep you company?"

"No need. I've already heard Luo En and Fafna's evaluations of you. You'll be working at my restaurant from now on."

Hearing that, Falan watched as the owner silently walked to the counter, sat down, and began calculating something.

Was the boss's true identity something like an accountant? Falan could not help feeling puzzled, but quickly dismissed the thought.

After all, as an outsider, judging the systems of another world through stereotypes was a sure way to suffer.

For example, when he had first started looking for work, that very habit had caused him to run into walls everywhere.

Perhaps in this world, most bosses simply handled accounting work themselves!

Just as Falan stood there hesitating, the boss waved a hand and shooed him away.

"Don't stand there. Can't you see I'm busy? Either go back to your attic and rest, or take a stroll on the street. You keep pacing around there, and you're already interfering with my work."

"...Yes..." Since he was still unfamiliar with Orario and did not have a single coin to his name, Falan had no intention of wandering the streets. He returned to his room in the attic, having moved in only yesterday.

But the attic had originally been a storage room and had not been cleaned at all. Whether for the quality of his future lodging or simply because he genuinely had nothing to do, Falan began tidying up his room.

The moment he opened the door, a gust of wind stirred up by it swept out, along with a great cloud of dust.

Falan could not help coughing. When he had moved in last night, he had not noticed anything in particular and had merely thought the place was dim. He had not realized there was so much dust. By a "modern person's" understanding—

—living in such a dusty room for long would make even a healthy person easily fall ill.

"Looks like I really need to clean this properly."

In the attic that had once served as a storage room, he found a vacuum-cleaner-like device embedded with a Magic Crystal. Falan quickly began cleaning. With a light push of the Mage tool in his hand, the dust covering the floor was wiped away, leaving him quite astonished.

He could not help marveling at how strangely specialized this world's tech tree was. In fact, he had noticed it on the very day he had transmigrated here.

On the surface, this was clearly a medieval Western society, yet it lacked neither streetlights nor vacuum cleaners.

What made all of this possible was the unique energy of this world—the Magic Crystal.

Adventurers obtained them by entering the Dungeon and killing monsters. Aside from a small number of high-grade Magic Crystals used to forge weapons, the rest were used everywhere, making life more convenient for the people of this world.

"In a sense, it can only be called a feature of this world." After all, so many adventurers entered the Dungeon every day to kill monsters. To the people of Orario, Magic Crystals were merely cheap energy sources that were incredibly easy to obtain.

Otherwise, without electricity developed through an Industrial Revolution, this world's tech tree could never have flourished.

In truth, Falan doubted whether this world could still undergo an Industrial Revolution or unlock technologies like electricity when it had an endlessly obtainable energy source like Magic Crystals. Magic Crystals were simply far too easy to acquire.

"Of course, all I can do right now is be a good waiter."

After all, he had to make a living. Did he think he would become amazing the moment he transmigrated, like other transmigrators?

Sorry, but Falan had long understood the truth of the world. How could rising to greatness after transmigrating be so easy?

Take him, for example. He had started out as a starving, freezing beggar, and simply staying alive had been difficult enough, let alone anything else. He was already grateful to have found a job willing to take him in. As for the rest, that could wait until he was able to support himself.

After an afternoon of cleaning, aided by quite a few convenient household tools similar to vacuum cleaners, Falan turned the dim storage room, once full of old dust, into a clean room.

Naturally, he also organized all the items inside properly. Although this was now his room, it was also the Golden Ring's storage room. Falan would not truly treat it as his own home simply because he had moved in.

To the people of the Golden Ring, he was merely a newcomer who had just arrived from elsewhere.

Having the arrogance of a transmigrator was an extremely foolish thing.

Once he had finished organizing his room, Falan quickly went downstairs. Smart as he was, he wanted to leave a good impression on his cheap boss, even if it was only the slightest, most insignificant impression.

After all, if he wanted to survive in this unfamiliar city, Falan had no other choice but to do this.