Assistant
"Yes. I would like to offer you a position as my assistant.", Ivan told her and then pulled out his business card. He had gotten them when the system had given him the title 'Pill refiner' not long ago.
<< Title: Pill refiner (F)
You are now a qualified pill refiner. Work hard to become better.
Assistants:
You have 1 free assistant slot.
Unlocks F grade herb store.
Unlocks F grade pill store.
>>
The description didn't tell him much but there was more information available.
<< Wiki: F grade herb store
The F grade herb store is one of the stores provided by the system for crafters. There you can buy F grade herbs, which you can then use to refine pills. These herbs can only be used by you and cannot be sold to others.
>>
<<Wiki: F grade pill store
The F grade pill store is one of the stores provided by the system. There you can buy and sell F grade herbs. The pills sold can only be used by yourself and not be given to anyone else. You can also only sell pills that you have crafted yourself.
>>
Ivan had checked out those stores and their prices were very bad. It was much cheaper to buy most herbs at the herb stores controlled by other humans. The pills to were much more expensive and the buying price was lower as well. As such the stores were only useful for those rarer herbs, that couldn't usually be found in any stores.
<<Wiki: Pill refiner assistant
The official pill refiner assistant will be able to work with the herbs exclusive to the refiner. The system will also mask the assistants magical signature during work, with that of the refiners.
Pills refined together with one's assistant will count as refined personally.
>>
The thing that Ivan was interested in was the masking of the magical signature.
The magical signature of the one working with the herbs would subtly influence properties of the herb. So if someone besides the refiner worked with the herbs, it would lead to a decrease in the efficiency of the pill and an increase of the difficulty for the refining process. Only if the refiner was intimately familiar with the magical signature of the other person would he be able to compensate for these differences.
As such, the masking of the magical signature was a huge help, when refining a large number of pills, since the preparation could be done by something else, drastically reducing the work the refiner had to do.
Anyway. After he had gotten the title, an option had appeared in his inventory to take out this business card. It was designed by the system and was provided free of charge. It displayed not only his name and contact details, but also his pill refiner rank and couldn't be forged. Not only that, he had read that it would automatically update the information as well.
After he had given the card to the woman, she relaxed slightly. When she had taken the card, the system had confirmed his status as a pill refiner. Still, she felt bewildered. Why would this man, she hadn't met before want her to be his assistant?
"Why would you want me to be your assistant?", she didn't try to be shy and directly asked him the question.
Ivan only thought for a bit and then decided to answer honestly. "I don't know. It is just that I feel like it will work out." He knew that saying it like this wouldn't sound that serious, but it was the best he could come up with. After all, he didn't know why he was attracted to her. He only knew that it wasn't the attraction one would have for the other sex, but something deeper.
Seeing him answer like this, the woman relaxed even further. Sure the answer didn't sound great. It was kind of a stupid answer, but it showed his sincerity. Because if he wasn't, then he never would have answered her like this.
"Then what do you offer?", she then asked. After all, if she were to become his assistant, she would have to live on what he was paying. It was a job like anything else, after all.
Ivan was stumped when facing her question. He hadn't thought about his decision, so he hadn't thought of her payment either. He didn't even have a clue as to how a pill refinement assistant was paid. As such he could only shrug his shoulders and say, "How about you make a proposal and we can then talk about it?"
"Huh?", the woman was surprised. Wouldn't normally the employer make the offer? How come it was now her that was supposed to make the offer?
She too had no knowledge as to what the usual payment was. Thus she could only tell him the things she was in need of.
"Then how about lodging, food, and other necessities as well as you teaching me about pill refinement?", she asked hesitantly. She didn't think that there was a problem with the first few things, but him teaching her was something he just might not accept.
He was surprised, when he heard, what she wanted. It was much less than he had expected. It was just that lodging might be a problem. After all, he was currently living in Lara's house and didn't have any real estate by himself. Of course, he also had the room at the alliance, but that wasn't a valid option in this case.
*Should I buy a house?*, he silently asked himself. Maybe that would be a good idea. He could then create his own pill refinement room there as well as a laboratory. Something he was hesitant to do at his home. He felt that work and living should be separated. *I wonder how expensive something like this would be?*
He looked at the woman who looked at him with an expectant stare, waiting for his answer and got an idea.
"Do you know of any house I could buy, which has a big garden as well?", he asked, once again shocking her.
"No, I don't.", she shook her head. Because she had never earned much money, there was no reason for her to know something like this.
"Then how about you find one for me and you can then live there.", following that he explained to her his thought about making it something like his workplace. She got the idea and promised him to look for something suitable. But only after they had signed a contract. She didn't want to do this work and then realize that it was for nothing.
With the help of the system, it was easy to sign such a contract. The contract stated, that Ivan would provide her with food and lodging, as well as some necessary clothes. Besides that, he would teach her pill refining and provide the herbs needed for the process of teaching her as well as a small amount for her to practice with. This just might bite him later on, but for now, he was very willing to provide them. In exchange, she would first look for a suitable house to create a workshop. After that, she would take care of it as well as the herb garden. Besides that, she would help him prepare herbs for pill refinement.
Both sides were very satisfied with the contract and parted happily. Ivan had to go to school, while she went to look for a house.
During their talk, he had found out her name as well. She only had the first name Arina, since she was an orphan and the orphanage that she had grown up in, didn't give their children a family name. This made it easier for them to later enter a family.
As for the money for the house, even though he didn't really want to, Ivan had no choice but to use the card, his wife had given him. He would later make sure to pay her back in some form, but for now, it was the only way.
Now that he had gotten Arina to be his assistant, he would have the time to check out why his spiritual sense reacted so strongly to her.
He slowly continued on until he reached the entrance of the school. Meeting Arina had reminded him of how weird their school was. It was a low-grade school in the slums, but there was a teacher like Miss. Klein teaching in it. And not only her. He got the feeling that some of the other teachers weren't normal either. Then there was the woman who had explained to him about the hard reset back then.
Arina had gone to a school in the slums as well, but her school had neither a pill refinement teacher nor a forging teacher. And it was seen as a normal school. So what was this school, that had both, besides many other specialized teachers?
*Well, whatever. Let's just be happy that I'm attending such a great school.*, Ivan pushed back that matter and entered the school grounds.