"Huff, Huff. Shit. Huff. I should Huff brought a water bottle. Huff... and the world says I've 1000 IQ. Fuck you!"
Quash murmured under his breath while he sat, basically lay, on a bench under a tree. He was sweating profusely. His olive green t shirt has turned dark green after being soaked.
He was extremely thirsty. Each drag of air felt like sandpaper scrapping against his throat. His heart was beating like it was on a suicide mission. Determined to kill him.
As for his lungs? He couldn't even feel it. Dude was long gone.
Quash had wanted to stop a while ago but he really wanted to test his limits. He ran for 20 minutes. With his pitiful Dexterity, he was no were near Usain Bolt or any Olympiad at matter. He estimated that they would be around 25 because 25 is the absolute human limit a person can reach.
But after running for 20 minutes, he felt like stopping but realised that he could still think clearly and Could go on a bit longer. But he was now regretting his decision. Because he nearly went to the territory of Saitama's Baldification training route. He didn't want to run so much that his becomes bald flash instead.
As Quash basically lay on the bench and was losing faith in humanity because there were many people with water and walking around with it in hand, but none cared to share with him even when they noticed he was dying.
But at the moment, a vendor was passing by. Like life had been kissed into his body, he sprinted towards the vendor and bought a water bottle and chugged it down. He bought another one just in case.
He then came back and sat back in the bench. Slowly enjoying the water. It was Grundleas water. 5 Geanod per bottle. The water was basically lake water. The water of the lake sweet in that natural way that makes one want to keep drinking it forever.
The reason Grundleas water is sweet is the reason it is sweet.
In other words, he doesn't know. But he does know that the water bottles that are sold are extremely clear. If not, the local government won't gave allowed it in. In the Grundleas lake, there are two types of water, the normal lake water, which is also sweet.
And the water that is coming out of the hole at the center. The reason why the world hasn't drowned yet is because the same amount of water goes back in. Keeping a balance.
The water comes and goes through the same hole. The situation down there is like mushroom cloud after a nuclear explosion. The cloud expands upwards while the vacuum created at the bottom sucks everything in. That's the cleanest visual of the phenomenon that is constantly happening.
And the trading companies pumps up the clean water and sells them. Other cities have oil ridge, Grundleas city has water ridge(bruh).
'What a marvelous creating if nature.'
He couldn't help but muse internally about the lakes mystical phenomenon.
Quash watched the vendor leave. He quietly marvelled the payment method of this world. There is no cash in this world. For environment's sake. All the currency is digital.
And there is only one International currency called Geanod. This currency is controlled by no one. Like Web-3 in functionality. Even the creators have no access. There is no central bank. Since there is only one currency, all the banks in the world are interconnect.
Making everything a giant bank together. Another cool part is he doesn't even need any phone or any devices to pay. One can use any device that supports payment and it is absolutely safe. They just need to use their finger print for the device to find the account then do iris scan. The irises are the password. Afterwards, just type the amount and done.
"Who ever made this system is a genuine genius. Respect."
Quash murmured as he stood up. He realised his limits and was now thinking of what to do. He didn't want to exercise anymore so he went home, washed up and took a cab to go to the mouth of the smaller lake. It was a 10 minute ride because there there is no straight road. The park blocked the road. Quash sat inside the cab as it waited for the traffic light to turn green.
All the cars are cover cars. Silent but fast. The city was very busy. Especially at this time of the year. People from all other the world comes to this place to sped their vication.
There are many reasons for that. This place has mountains people can hike, and the mountain range is inside the city so aside from falling to death, nothing else is there to worry about. A smaller lake for boating, swimming? This place has that too.
But the local government banned tourists from entering the smaller lake because of how much pollution they spread.
Another reason is that near the mouth, there is beach!
How cool was that?
Very cool.
The native people can enjoy the mountains, the sea all in one place. But finding a property to buy here is extremely difficult. The Geanod needed is astronomical. But there are no shortage of people to spend money. But there are shortage of people wishes to sell them.
The economy of Grundleas city is very dependent on the Grundleas lake. The amount of fishes and sugar that are daily exported is massive. Most of the native here are rich and established.
This place was not what is now a thousand years ago. When this lake was still relatively unknown and there were many superstitions surrounding it, some people came and dare to live here. His grandparents were on of them.
Yes. Grandparents. Not ancestors. His grandparents were dead. They die of old age. His grand father was 1,189 years old when he died. And his grandmother was 1168 years old. Heck, his own father was 157 year old when he died. And his mother was 105 years old. His parents married in arrange marriage. His father used to joke that he basically raised his own wife. And thinking back, Quash won't even blink if that was actually the case.
He has seen his grandparents. They were like him, lacking ambition. Where people were establishing themselves, they just lived their lives without much drama. They only had one son. His father. But they were strong people and very respected. Like protectors.
His father had the dream of becoming a hero, his grand father didn't stop him despite the dangers. His grandparents from his mother's side were ordinary people, they died long before he was born. His maternal grandfather lived 86 years and grandmother 90 years.
And because of all this, Quash is living alone after his parents passed away. Because he knew no existing immediate family members.
Not that he cared.
'Now that I think about it, my maternal grandmother might have actually seen me, huh.'
As he was thinking about his family history and how he could've been laying on a mountain of money if not for his lazy grandparents, he arrived at a clamours market place. With sea food being cooked in the street stalls, their assistants calling for customers while the customers chatted, took selfie or went to the bech. The sweet smell of the lake water mixed with the delicious food that was being cooked in the stalls, giving the scent an extra kick.
Quash used the screen embedded in the seat in fornt of him to make payment. He paid 30 Geanod and exited the cab. He was here to eat Grundleas fish in the restaurant and maybe take some sea food with him so he could cook later.
Grundleas fish was a fish unique to this lake only. It's flesh was natural sweet and the skin would caramelise without any external sugar. Adding some salt and other seasoning created a flavour that attracts people from all over the place.