This quest wasn’t fun — not for me. The last one made you think, sure, but at least it led to action. This one was the thinking. The riddles were the quest.
And I hated it.
The sad truth was, even if I hated it, I didn’t have a choice — the quest had to be done. I just hoped the next ones would be a little more… interesting.
I read the riddle again. There was a Marcus Garvey Street — or maybe Road — but I couldn’t remember exactly where it was.
My Mini Map only showed street grids and vague building outlines. Even with enchantment shards, I doubted any upgrade would make it into a proper navigation tool.
Then I remembered my Interactive Crystal Map — the one I’d transformed from a GPS device. Maybe that was my answer. If I could upgrade it enough, it might guide me there.
Thirteen rare upgrade shards sat in my inventory. Not much, but it was my best shot.
I took out my Crystal Map and a shard and touched them together.
It gave a great upgrade, just not what I needed at that moment.
Maybe I could improve my existing Crystal — turn it into a navigational tool, an information source, maybe even a directory of places in Bed-Stuy.
Out on the street, I kept my eyes open for a store that might help. A few blocks away, a jewellery shop caught my attention.
Didn’t those smartwatches have built-in GPS?
I found a few of them inside and chose the most popular, well-known brand. Still, it didn’t feel like enough, so I kept searching.
I found an electronic store a few blocks away. I hoped that I was walking towards the location of the second location.
The store was full of gadgets, but what to use. I needed it to be able to give me maps and navigation. Smart Watch -check.
Now for information to find out what welcome in another language has to do with finding… a hotel or guest house.
A sleek tablet caught my eye, along with a data card sitting beside it. Perfect.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I retrieved the mapping crystal and a transformation shard. My logic said that this is not an upgrade but transforming components to something new, hopefully.
Gathering everything together, I pressed the shard against them.
I was impressed, to say the least. The crystal had transformed into an oval shape, its surface a luminous blue that seemed to pulse softly with inner light.
How does this qualify as wearable?
I lifted the crystal toward my wrist, wondering if it would act like the smartwatch I’d used to create it.
As it neared my skin, the oval shifted — curving inward, reshaping itself until it partially wrapped around my wrist. The ends didn’t quite meet at the back, but it fit snugly, secure enough that it wouldn’t slip off.
What surprised me most was how comfortable it felt. The surface wasn’t rigid or cold; it was warm, almost soft and pliable, like it was adapting to me.
“Please show the location of Marcus Garvey road or street in relation to my position.”
The map showed me the Blvd, and it was honestly only a few blocks away, but I did not know where the next location is located on it. I read the riddle again and to my complete horror it said near Marcus Gravey Blvd.
Shit.
“Give me a list of the word ‘Welcome’ in other languages.”
My eyes narrowed as the list appeared, and a dull headache began to form behind them. How exactly was I supposed to solve that? Was the System expecting me to take every translation and look for a business that used one in its name?
There had to be hundreds — no, thousands — of possibilities. The list in front of me was clearly just a fraction of all the ways that single word could exist in the world.
It must be a B& B or an inn or something.
“Please give me a list of inns or B&B in Bed-Stuy and show them on the map.”
The locations and names appeared on my map. I looked for ones closest to Marcus Gravey Blvd first.
The first one could not be the right as it was just a woman’s name. The second one had an interesting name.
“Please give me the meaning of Akwaaba.”
“Well, there we go,” I muttered. “Looks like I’m paying a visit to the Akwaaba Mansion.”
I tapped the location, and the crystal responded instantly — projecting a thin, glowing path across my Map to guide me.
Walking past Kobolds who completely ignored me wasn’t getting any less strange. And something told me this was a temporary kindness from the System — not a new normal I should get used to.
The inn was housed in a beautiful old building. People who had lived in Bed-Stuy their whole lives probably knew it well, but I’d never even heard of the place.
“Let’s see what the System has in store for me now,” I sighed.