Are you an idiot, or do you seek death?

I had no idea how much time had passed… That is, before I rushed down the stairs, too excited to wait for the lift to arrive at my floor, and got out of the apartment building. 

Somehow, in my passion, I failed to account for the many windows in both the corridors and the staircase of the building, only realizing just how late it was when I walked into the bike-holding area. 

"Ugh…" I stopped for a moment as a simple realization struck me. 

'That shop… It's likely closing by now or it's already closed, isn't it?' I thought, looking up to the already dark sky with only fleeting remains of the light of the day. 

'With my speed…' I took a moment to calculate, 'by the time I reach the district, it will be proper night…'

I stopped for a short moment… Only to grit my teeth and free my bike from its restraints before turning it around and jumping on it. 

'Whether it's closed or not… I guess there's only one way for me to find out!'

The clerk's suggestion to go back if I had some questions about the mana crafting only loosely stuck in my head. 

Back at her shop, I was too busy trying not to fall for her fairy-like charms to think about whatever words her sweet lips were producing. 

Nevertheless, whether she was serious or offered those words as a courtesy alone… She still offered to help me out if I had any questions!

And after what could only be called a disaster back in my room, I certainly had some questions that I doubted my manual would have any answers for. 

The disaster I spoke of… Wasn't all that big or permanent or even dangerous. In fact, the worst that could happen… was an angry call from the landlord if anyone bothered to snitch on me. 

After all, it went without saying that because of me, the power went off in the whole-ass apartment!

Even though all it took to fix the problem was a quick flick on the circuit breaker located right by the entrance to my place… The effects this momentary burst of power had on the second device that I produced during my meditation… 

'At the very least, I now know what's going to happen if I try to use that thing as carelessly as I did,' I thought, going back to the moment when the QI in the air grew so thick and dense, I actually struggled to move an inch!

Thankfully, with the power in my apartment breaking and this thick Qi quickly dissolving in the air, I didn't end up trapped in my own place for life, turning this scary experience into… well, just that, a scary yet momentary experience. 

And now, as I biked down the dimly lit roads of the city, I couldn't stop thanking my own sense of reason that made me leave that dangerous device back home. 

In fact, I didn't bring my fancy circuit either, worrying it was something an amateur like me shouldn't be able to produce. And so, with just the first circuit I've constructed somewhat secured by bubble wrap inside of my backpack, I continued to bike to the cultivators' district. 

The road took me less than a quarter of an hour to conquer. Still, those fifteen minutes were just enough for the sun to fully retire for the day, giving way for the moon to claim supremacy over the sky. 

Upon arriving, despite the dark, I simply went through the motions again. 

Secure the bike in the holding area. Pass through the barrier at the border of the two worlds… A feat that somehow became all the easier after what I went through back at my own place. 

Rush down the roads, hoping that the shop I was in just half a day prior would still be open. 

'It is at times like this that one hates just how much cultivators refuse to accept the blessings of technology,' I thought, recalling the empty page on the map app that mentioned nothing more beyond the location and the name of the shop. 

No contact information, no opening hours, no photos, no link to their website… nothing. 

Just an address and the name, as if it would be a great dishonor to that clerk or whoever actually owned the place to make the life for their customers easier!

And so, with nothing but hope pushing me forth, I rushed through the main street of the cultivators' district, ignoring the weirded-out stares of the fancily dressed cultivators when they encountered a civilian-looking me with some pitiful shadow of mana to call my own. 

I rushed and rushed, and when I took the corner… 

The clerk from before! She was still there!

She was busy closing the shop's doors… But she was still here!

"Hey!" I called out, unable to properly modulate my voice after rushing with all my might and for no reason. 

Startled, the fairy-like girl turned around, tracing the direction my voice came from… Only for her face to first tense up and then turn ugly as she appeared to have recognized me. 

"Didn't I tell you?!" she groaned through her gnashed teeth as her face grew slightly darker and quite openly displeased. "It's not my problem if you throw your money around, but I'm not going to offer you a damn refund if…"

"Wait, what?" I stopped in my tracks… Only to nearly fall on my face when I attempted to stop as suddenly as I just did, with the momentum of my approach nearly making me stumble and fall down directly on my face. 

Thankfully, all the physical training I've gone through back at the institution, allowed me to moderate and then stabilize my breath quite quickly, saving myself the issue of trying to correct the clerk while desperately fighting to restore the proper working order of my lungs. 

"No, that's not it!" 

After successfully stopping the girl's rant before it could fully develop, I energetically shook my head… Before bending forward, I rested my hands against my knees to take just a little bit more time to rest and regain my breath. 

"Then what is it?" The girl's face grew even darker… But in her eyes, deep down at their bottom, I could see some faint sparks of curiosity. 

After all, if I wasn't here for a refund, then what else would make me rush here so hard, that I would fail to maintain my composure out of physical exhaustion alone?

"Questions!" 

Realizing that there was only so much attention this girl was willing to offer before she would just roll her eyes and hurriedly leave, I made sure to be as concise and precise as I could. 

"You told me I can come back if I have any questions, didn't you?" I elaborated when my first call ended up without an answer. 

"Wait, did you rush back all the way here from wherever the hell you came…" the girl's face took a turn as she gave me a slightly startled look while her eyes jumped all over my tired figure. 

Then, FINALLY, her expression melted and softened a bit. 

"Ha-ah…" she sighed before shaking her head a little and sending her long, brown, slightly curly hair into a spin. "What do you want to know?" she asked with the face of someone who resigned themselves to their fate.

"Oh, just one moment," I hurriedly asked, only to lower my bag from my back before quickly opening it up and fishing out the crude device I constructed. 

A quick inspection of the thing later, I've confirmed it managed to survive my desperate rush without any major damage, with just some parts of the tape coming loose in the process. 

"This thing," I've raised the crude device up as if to make it more visible for the girl, "can you tell me what you think about it?"

For a moment, I just stood in place, my hands reaching out to present my circuit to the girl… 

Only for her face to grow slightly darker when she saw the quality of my produce. 

"This thing…" she muttered, clearly struggling to find the right words not to kill my motivation while giving me an accurate assessment of… well, of how fucked I was. 

And yet, by the time she took a step to take a closer look, her face changed. 

Then, with her expression freezing as her eyes grew serious, she rushed up the last few steps that separated us only to reach out and grab my hands as she lowered her eyes over the device. 

"This thing…" she repeated herself, too focused on my creation to even pay attention to this fact. 

And then, as if nothing at all had happened, she raised her face and revealed the same kind and welcoming expression she showed when I first saw her over the counter of her shop. 

"Don't talk and follow me," she spoke with a smile even more lovely than the one I already saw… Only to turn on her heel and move right back to her shop's doors. A moment later, she unlocked them and pushed them open, only to grab my wrist and pull me inside. 

"Just a little longer," she whispered as she… forced me deeper into the shop while turning back herself and closing the door behind us before spending well over a few seconds securing all the locks the doors of her shops came equipped with. 

Then and only then did she take a deep breath and turn around, her face now all serious. 

"Are you the one who made this?" she asked, her voice flat as a loli and as emotionless as a tree. 

"Yeah," confused, I nodded my head. 

Strangely enough, despite how weird of an encounter as it was… I felt no danger brewing. 

"Then listen to me very carefully…" the girl spoke… Only to bend down as she covered her face in her hands and cried out, "Are you an idiot, or do you seek death? Because I find no other reason for you to flaunt such a thing out in the open!"