Okay, I think this should do nicely. Nothing too flashy, but still pretty fashionable. I shouldn’t stand out in this. I also took the time to neaten up my hair.

I was wearing a grey-collared white leather jacket over a black t-shirt, with dark blue jeans and red shoes. I’ve discovered that, outside of fancy outfits for special occasions, Nobles wear pretty normal clothes, the kind of outfits that’d be commonplace in my old world.

I mean, sure, the fabric is of a much higher quality than what Commoners can afford, but yeah, other than that, it’s not too unlike the clothes I wore in my old world.

I also took several spare outfits, plus outfits in bigger sizes, so that I’d be covered for the next few years or so. I couldn’t find shoes in my size, so the pair I was wearing was a little bit too big for me, but it fit well enough that I should be able to move around without much trouble.

Naturally, I took several spare pairs as well. Hey, might as well make full use of this opportunity, right? This is my first time stealing...gotta say, it’s kinda thrilling. Probably shouldn’t make a habit out of it though.

Alright, time to go. I snuck out of the back door I’d entered through and quietly shut it, before making my way through the alley. I’ll get to the main street and see if I can find a car or something to steal.

I know how to hotwire a car, so I don’t need keys. Well, to be clear, I’ve seen how-to videos on how to hotwire a car, but I’ve never actually driven one myself.

But it should be easy enough to figure out, I’ve played plenty of racing games in my old life, so...I should be good. Right? I’m, uh, suddenly starting to get a bit skeptical about this plan of mine.

Ahh, fuck it, let’s just go for it and see how it turns out. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll have to bolt. Okay, I’m at a main street.

I quietly sauntered out and blended into the crowd of passersby...good, it doesn’t seem like I’m standing out right now, no one’s staring or anything. Time to find a vehicle I can steal without drawing attention to myself.

Bingo! There’s a fancy looking restaurant up ahead, with a large car park, and several cars parked in it. There’s also some jeeps and motorcycles.

I’m tempted to go for one of the bikes, but a car is probably the safer option. In the event of a crash, a bike will be a lot more dangerous. And since I have no experience with either, I should go with a car.

I headed for one that was parked in the back, well out of sight of anyone on the street. I looked around to make sure that the coast was clear, before reaching for the handle and giving it a pull.

Oh, it’s unlocked, nice. I was afraid that I’d have to break the window to unlock the door, this saves me a lot of trouble. I’d rather not have to sit on a pile of broken glass, after all.

Now, then, let’s get started...time to put my photographic memory through its greatest test yet, recalling a random YouTube video I watched out of boredom several years ago, across two lives. Okay, let’s see...first I have to remove the plastic cover below the steering while.

"Manifest Soul Weapon: Dragon Whisker," I chanted quietly, forming a Magic Circle around my hand.

As my whip appeared in hand, I shortened it and stiffened it, slicing around the plastic cover to cut it off, being careful not to cut too deep and damage the wires.

The cover then fell off, and I set it aside on the passenger seat. That’s the easy part out of the way. Now for the hard part.

Okay, this red wire is the battery wire, the starter wire must be this yellow one, and...the brown one is the ignition wire. I really hope I’m right about this, otherwise it won’t work.

Alright, now I have to strip off the plastic casing around the wire. I once picked up a hobby of carving wood in my old world, so I’m good with delicate control over cutting.

There, that should do it. Next I’m supposed to twist two of the wires together, right? I think it’s the ignition and battery wires...I’m confident in my memory, but this is still really stressful, and I can’t help but doubt myself.

Okay, I’ve twisted them together. And now, to touch them with the starter wire...this is the moment of truth, here goes nothing!

"Yes...yes, yes, yes!" I exclaimed quietly in triumph and excitement, as the engine turned on with a rumble.

I took hold of the steering wheel with a grin, looking around at the car. I think I’m supposed to start at first gear and then work my way up depending on how fast I’m going, right?

Oh, it’s kinda tough to shift around...there we go, I think that’s right. I think the right-most pedal is the accelerator. Let’s push on it slowly, just in case I’m wrong.

Alright, it’s moving forward! I did it! I’m driving a car! How awesome is this!? Okay, calm down, gotta keep a cool head. Let’s slowly drive out of this parking lot, and then-...

"What the-...!? Hey, that’s my car!" Suddenly came an angry voice, as I spotted a man barreling over this way, fuming.

Uh-oh. Well, so much for slow and steady. I slammed my foot on the accelerator while shifting into third gear, the tyres screeching as I drove towards the exit.

The man jumped out of the way in alarm as I closed in on him, before I drove past him and out of the parking lot, turning onto the street.

Time to book it! I weaved past the other vehicles on the road, the sides of the car grazing some of them, angry yells being directed my way as I made a beeline in the northeast direction.

This must be what road rage is, they’re all so angry. Eh, it’s fine, they’re all stinking rich, so it probably won’t cost them too much to repair any damage I inflict.

I’m getting the urge to run over people on the sidewalk, like in GTA. Yeah, shouldn’t do that, bad idea. If I damage this car too much, it might end up stalling well before I’m at the gate.

I have to move quickly, I’m causing a real commotion here, and it likely won’t be long before the Knights are alerted. Or worse, word reached the gate and they increase security over there.

The outer wall is within sight now, but it’s still a fair distance away. At the speed I’m going at, I’d say it’s around...maybe another half hour or so before I reach it?

Yeah, there’s definitely no way that I’d be able to climb up that wall, it’s way too tall. And I don’t know how to fly yet using Elemental Wind, I should definitely work on that later.

But for right now, I need to focus on powering through to my goal as fast as possible, I can worry about what comes next after I’m out of the capital. And simply getting out through the gate isn’t enough, I have to shake off any pursuers than will likely come after me.

Don’t think too far ahead, just concentrate on moving forward bit by bit, inching closer with every passing second until I get there. I’ve come too far to get caught again now!

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning zipped past the right of the car, striking the side mirror and destroying it. I glanced at the rear view mirror, to see several motorcycles in pursuit of me.

Crap, are those Knights riding them? Damn it, already!? I then felt the car sink a bit at the back, the front wheels starting the go off-course...not good, I think I lost one of the back tyres!

Time to improvise...I focused on keeping the car as straight as possible, grimacing as the back window shattered in, as I formulated a new Spell in my head.

Gotta concentrate, ignore what’s happening behind me, don’t let it distract me...okay, it’s done! Here goes, I have to combine it with a technique called Distance Casting, which is tricky, so I have to be careful...Elemental Earth: Rock Wheels!

Woah, that’s taking a lot of Mana...I was manifesting bits of rock around the tyres and coating them in it, forming a thick layer of rock around them, with a bit of extra around the tyre that had been punctured, to even it out.

Distance Casting is a technique that lets the user cast a Spell from, well, a distance. It’s a high level technique, but since I was imprisoned, I had plenty of time to work on it.

I saved it as a trump card during my fight with Duralles and his family, but never got a chance to use it...it takes me a bit longer to cast a Spell when using Distance Casting, plus I have to focus hard so I couldn’t afford to try it.

From what I’ve read, the farthest someone has ever mastered Distance Casting with is twenty meters away from themselves. At the moment, I can only do so at a range of a little over four meters. It’s not much, but it’s good enough for now.

Anyway, back to the chase. I quickly swerved out of the way as a sphere of flames formed in front of me, before narrowly avoiding slamming into a pillar of earth that had been raised by the pavement.

As a wall of earth formed in front of the car, I reacted as quickly as I could to change its shape to a sloped ramp, driving up on it and getting a boost through the air, the tyres slamming onto the street as I landed, the earth I’d formed around the tyres cracking, before I repaired them as fast as I could.

The car’s moving a bit slower now after the tyres are heavier, but that’s fine...the Knights are catching up, but I won’t let them reach me so easily!

Elemental Metal: Makibishi Spikes! I’d come up with this Spell a while back, it creates those ninja spikes that are tossed on the floor. They’re not very strong, as Elemental Metal is my least proficient Dark Attribute Elemental Magic, but they should be good enough to puncture rubber tyres.

Sure enough, a second later, the sounds of crashes and tyres screeching rang out behind me, shortly before an explosion burst out, screams echoing out in its wake.

Wow, that worked great. I’m not seeing any more bikes in the rear view mirror, so I think that took out all of them, nice! Alright, I got past that obstacle. Let’s keep going...

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