"Am I really going to be forced to go back home and tend the family vineyard?"
Marcus parked his electric scooter and strolled toward the beach.
Looking at the boundless and infinitely beautiful Mediterranean sea before him, he felt no excitement.
When he wasn't working, Marcus had occasionally visited the beach near the Côte d'Azur Resort a few times.
The sea, the waves, the sand – each time, they would thrill Marcus, a person from the landlocked regions of Central Europe.
However, Marcus's mood today was not as wonderful as the scenery here. There was only one reason: Marcus was unemployed again!
Having graduated from a mid-tier polytechnic university, he couldn't find a good job in today's society where graduates were as numerous as grains of sand on a beach.
Later, he and a few classmates, by some strange coincidence, came to this unfamiliar Mediterranean coastal city to make a living.
Over two years, Marcus had been a sales representative, a waiter at a bistro, and even a delivery driver for an online marketplace.
This morning, he was once again reported for no reason, and the delivery station manager took the opportunity to fine him three hundred euros again. This was already the third time his pay had been deducted this month.
After desperately arguing his case to no avail, Marcus finally decided:
"I'm not doing this anymore! I'm going back to my hometown to tend the vineyard!"
In fact, the two classmates who came with him had already given up and returned home half a year ago.
Only he, stubborn as he was, remained, working like an ox.
Finally, he couldn't keep going either.
He thought about how he had been busy ever since he arrived in this coastal city, and he hadn't truly experienced its beauty.
Since he was preparing to head back, Marcus decided to enjoy himself here for two days.
At least he could brag a little when he returned. Otherwise, if someone asked: You worked in a Mediterranean resort city, what was the sea like there, and what about the seafood?
At least he could give a decent answer.
Marcus bought a grilled bratwurst from a snack stall by the roadside and slowly walked onto the Côte d'Azur Resort beach.
The cool sea breeze brushed his face, bringing with it the salty dampness of the seawater. It also slightly released the suppressed emotions in his heart.
"Every time I feel sad,
I look at the sea alone,
Always thinking of friends walking beside me on the road,
How many are waking up..."
Marcus carried his shoes in one hand and the bratwurst in the other, eating and walking along the shallow water on the beach, humming a song.
He put the last bit of bratwurst into his mouth, looked around, and was slightly disappointed not to see any beautiful women in bikinis. There were quite a few tourists with children, though.
Marcus walked barefoot, leaving one footprint after another, slowly moving away from the crowd.
Feeling the salty air carried by the gentle sea breeze, he gazed at the distant, faintly visible fishing boats, and some unknown seabirds on the distant horizon flying high and low.
Marcus's mood improved. He couldn't help but squint his eyes and shake his somewhat throbbing head, as if wanting to shake off all his recent misfortunes.
"Forget it! I won't think so much now. Things will work out in the end! At worst, I'll go home and work hard!"
"Ouch~"
It turned out that Marcus, not paying attention, slipped on something with his bare feet, and his body instantly lost balance.
"Ah~" He cried out and fell heavily onto the sand.
It was quite a fall, making Marcus grimace in pain.
He couldn't help but want to see what exactly had caused him to fall.
Upon feeling around, he pulled out something hard, and to his surprise, it was an egg-sized black stone.
"Hiss~"
Marcus immediately felt a burning pain in his lip; his teeth had hit his lip when he fell.
He subconsciously touched his lip with his finger.
"Bad luck! It's bleeding."
Looking at the blood on his finger, Marcus was a bit speechless!
He turned his gaze to the culprit, feeling that the stone subtly exuded a mysterious aura.
But after looking at it for a while, he couldn't make anything of it.
Unconsciously, he switched the black stone to his other hand, wanting to see if there was anything special on the back of the stone.
The blood on his finger was absorbed as soon as it touched the stone. Immediately after, Marcus felt a palpitation, his whole body went cold, a strong sensation of dizziness came over him, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness, falling onto the sand.
The stone in his hand also transformed into a ray of light and drilled into his glabella.
About ten minutes later,
"Hey, hey, hey! Young man, what's wrong with you! Wake up!" Accompanied by the shaking of his body, an urgent voice sounded in his ear!
Marcus struggled to open his eyes and found himself lying on the beach, with a lifeguard in a red and yellow uniform squatting beside him.
Although only about ten minutes had passed, Marcus felt as if several hours had gone by; he was weak all over and utterly exhausted!
"Are you alright, young man?"
"Thank you, sir!" Marcus struggled to stand up and moved his limbs a few times, "I'm fine!"
"Good that you're fine!" the lifeguard said with a serious expression.
"You'd best go to the hospital for a check-up! Young man, if you're weak, it's best to avoid going out to play too much. Although there are many beautiful women on the beach, it's not good to look too much! Young people should learn to exercise restraint!"
Marcus awkwardly rubbed his nose, a little doubtful about life, and thought to himself:
"What's going on today! My body used to be fine! Why would I faint? Could I really have a hidden illness?"
After thanking the lifeguard repeatedly, Marcus remembered the culprit: the black stone.
He looked around but couldn't find it anywhere.
He looked up, and in a daze, he felt the sea calling to him and a sense of closeness.
Marcus involuntarily walked towards the sea, and when his feet stepped into the seawater, all the cells in his body emitted an unparalleled excitement.
He looked closely and couldn't help but be greatly surprised!
He could actually see the scenery at the bottom of the sea in the distance. Unknown schools of fish swam at the bottom of the sea, crabs, sea urchins, and various mollusks crawled around the reefs. Everything was clearly visible, it was so marvelous!
"This... what's going on?" Marcus couldn't believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and blinked repeatedly.
Every time he focused his gaze, the scene at the bottom of the sea would clearly appear before his eyes.
So close, yet so far; everything was clear at a glance!
"It's amazing! Truly incredible!"
Suddenly, Marcus remembered the novels by fantasy authors he had been reading since university.
As a seasoned fan of epic fantasy and science fiction novels, he had read countless excellent books about reincarnation, magical systems, superpowers, and magical artifacts.
"I... I've gained a magical artifact, I have superpowers!"
Marcus became more and more excited the more he thought about it. If this was true, his destiny would be completely different.
Even if he just used this superpower to find fish schools for commercial fishing, he could become a wealthy entrepreneur.
"Hehehe... I think I'm going to get rich!"
"I need to study this carefully, to figure out what's going on!"
Looking around, there were quite a few people playing nearby. Marcus thought for a moment and walked towards the outside of the Côte d'Azur Resort beach.
It was too crowded and complicated here; he needed to find a secluded place to test it out properly.