Keeping customers entertained

' Stats '

<You have unlocked a merchant stats>

[Name: Emmet Quinn]

[Nickname: The devil's incarnate| White head| Red devil]

[Race: Human]

[Status: None]

[Intelligence 7]

[Charm 5]

[Perception 7]

[Persuasion 3]

[Awareness 1]

[XP 10/100]

[Earn +90XP to enter level 2]

' Pretty alright for a start, I guess, ' Emmet thought to himself as his eyes ran through the screen's display.

He then reverted gaze to the man who was preparing to leave.

"I hope you had a nice time, Sir Gilbert," Emmet said with a smile as he led the man to the door.

"My time was splendid. I mean, it's been a while since I stepped into a place where I'm not conscious of my appearance. I'll come again tomorrow and buy that mythical book. It was a great read," Gilbert spoke with so much excitement.

"All my pleasure," Emmet gave a gentlemanly bow and Gilbert went off the porch into the opposite direction.

Emmet straightened himself and a smile of satisfaction went across his lips.

"The devil sure is charming and skillful."

Just as he was about to return into the inns of the wooden shelter, familiar smog emerged from his ring and curled up on his left shoulder to form a black cat.

"I feel so much better," Liesl stretched and yawned.

"I earned my first customer while you were away," Emmet said and shut the door behind him before retiring to his desk.

"I can see that. You did quite well from the system's information," Liesl nodded, her large round eyes glistening with satisfaction.

"I am who I am for a reason," Emmet smiled and proceeded to cross his legs on the desk. "But there's something I thought about for some time."

"What's that?" Liesl walked down his shoulder and made her way up to rest on his crossed legs.

"How about we make something available to customers as a form of extra entertainment while they read? This entertainment will only be available to those who will be reading within the Archive," He explained.

"Speaking of extra entertainment, I do have something in mind," Liesl nodded. "Drinks are a sort of extra entertainment as well as food but I suggest something that would be more beneficial than those two. Ethereal Tea."

"What's an Ethereal tea?" Emmet raised an eyebrow in question.

"It isn't common amongst the six realms and is known to only very few people. However, this tea enables spiritual breathing to those who do not have the ability to cultivate spiritual energy through spiritual breathing," Liesl further explained. "In the 5th and 6th realms, spiritual energy is generally cultivated through performing body exercises, meditation, ability or skill training but in the other four realms, spiritual breathing is present and can easily be mastered. However, in the 5th and 6th realms, spiritual breathing is not present."

"So if we give customers the opportunity to drink this Ethereal tea. It will not only be entertaining but also help build their spiritual energy which will in turn build their bodies. Sounds like a great idea," Emmet slowly nodded in agreement.

"Yes," Liesl shut her eyes for a brief moment. "Spiritual breathing is one of the best methods to gather spiritual energy. It allows one to filter out the unwanted energy and allow one to take in the required energy at a desired pace. It also enables a quick cleansing within the body. The only thing would be that considering the customers are from the sixth realm, they can only drink the Ethereal tea once in 24 hours. Since their bodies are not yet used to spiritual breathing, they will be required to drink Ethereal tea only once a day."

"I see. Within library sessions no matter how long, they can only have the tea once in the day," Emmet said.

<You have gained knowledge of Ethereal tea>

"So this Ethereal tea, how do I make it?" He proceeded to ask.

"With the ingredients," Liesl simply answered.

[Ingredients for Ethereal tea]

<Transcendent water>

<Verve leaf>

<Phoenix feather>

<Unicorn's delight>

<You have been granted Transcendent water>

A fairly large jug appeared on the table, beside his legs. Beside the jug was an array of teacups lapped inside of one another.

"Why was I given only the water?" Emmet raised an eyebrow.

"Transcendent water can only be found in the upper three realms and as such, it would pose great difficulty for you to go in search of it," Liesl explained. "The other ingredients can be found in the market. Transcendent water is a special kind of water that enables the spiritual effect of the Ethereal tea. Using normal water with the other ingredients will not be able to create the Ethereal tea. Transcendent water is what makes the difference."

[You have received a new quest]

[Acquire the ingredients left, required for Ethereal tea]

[Reward: Mystery reward]

[Time limit: 1:30:05]

Another notification followed immediately.

[You have received the recipe for Ethereal tea>

A brown piece of paper appeared in his hands.

"We should head out now," He said and carefully took his legs off of the desk, in a bid to ensure nothing would break.

The local market was quite a rowdy place that exuded the usual hustle and bustle of every local market. Stalls lined up at either sides of the market and sellers did everything they could to make sure they made even as little as a gold coin from their goods.

"Emeria is really a merchant city," Emmet muttered as his eyes took note of his surroundings.

' Life has always been the same. The quest for surviving is what will never fade no matter how many times technology advances,' Liesl's voice rang in his head. Since Emmet was going into the market, he felt it was best for the shape-shifter to retire to the ring on his finger.

He had never been in a place like the market before. Mother had never let him into busy places and the market had been number one on her list.

' You can find both the Verve leaf and phoenix feather at an Apothecary,' Liesl said.

Emmet nodded and made his way in search of an Apothecary. Considering the fact that he had gone into the market and he wasn't ready to deal with stares, he had made sure to seal himself away in a hooded cloak, black gloves hid away his hands, and black boots kept his ankle away from view.

His face was also kept hidden behind a full face mask that only allowed his eyes to peep through.

Nevertheless, finding an Apothecary wasn't hard and soon, he stopped by a stall owned by a young man.

"I am in need of a Verve leaf and Phoenix feather," Emmet began, a little worried as to if he was doing things right.

The seller quickly reached for a corner and returned with the required substances which were neatly wrapped in what appeared like foil paper.

"That will cost you a 50," The man said as he slid the items over to Emmet.

"That's a lot for such substances of little weight!" Emmet exclaimed.

"Hey!" The man scrunched up his face in annoyance. "Such things of little weight yet great value wouldn't be sold at low prices. If you aren't buying them, don't waste my time."

Emmet stared at the wrapped items for a while, contemplating whether to buy or leave them. He looked back at the seller who still had an impatient look stamped on his face and the urge to shove the items down the seller's throat seized him.

"I'll take them," Emmet took the items and placed them into his pouch. Afterwards, he carelessly slid 50 coins over to the man.

' Even when I'm all covered up, he still has no regard for me,' Emmet sneered in his thoughts.

' Merchants can be quite rude some times especially when they are too serious and invested in their work. By the way, I see you have no idea of what haggling is?' Liesl replied.

' What's that?' Emmet could not hide his expression of confusion.

' Haggling is when you involve in price negotiation with the seller. He probably took advantage of your willingness to buy at whatever cost the items were,' Liesl explained.

' Shit! You should have told me earlier that I could haggle things out with him.'

Soon, he was able to buy the Unicorn's delight from a spice store.

"All set," He sighed and began making his way back into the direction that led to his Archive.

As he was walking, he felt a sudden yet swift movement go across his waist. Instinctively, that triggered him to halt in his steps.

"You must be a thief," A voice came from above and when he traced it, his eyes met with a feminine figure who stood on the rooftop of a house that stood at a side.

She was dressed in classical black leather clothing that somewhat made her appear in the light of an assassin. Dangling from the grasp of her long silver moving hair, was something overly familiar to him - his pouch.

Her hair was alive?

"A thief calling me a thief is crazy. Hand that back now!" Emmet's forehead creased in annoyance.

Suddenly, smog emerged from his ring and swiftly travelled over to where the girl stood at the rooftop.

For some reason, a smirk etched on the her lips and just as swift as the smog's movement, so did whitish smog also emerge from the girl's hair causing her hair to turn black immediately.