Buyer

Quills and ink were hard to work with and the results were always less than pleasant. So when Aunt Lyna expressed the idea of getting Dori a new teacher to learn calligraphy, it was less than a happy occasion for her.

Like her past well-behaved teacher, her new tutor was also a teacher at the local school. A scholarly man in his forties, with long, nice fingers.

During her first session with her new teacher, when she started getting respects points in volume, she threw away her annoyance. During their fifth sessions, however, she was ecstatic.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬

✌ Milestone Achieved! ✌

✯ Handy 101 ✯

🎉 Unlocked Potion: 🍾Hand-Precision Enhancer🍾 (50%)

♛ Respect Points: +50

🍾Hand-Precision Enhancer🍾 (50%)

[Cost: 10 RP]

[Effect Duration: 10 minutes (full)]

[Overuse Restriction: 20 minutes (full)]

[Hand Control: x4]

She had started taking notes whenever she earned new points, writing down the possible causes that might have triggered it. So far, she had pinned down that the points were more frequent and predictable if she focused on a task. It favored effort-accumulations rather than instances and eventually gave her a milestone. She still hadn't figured out an exact prediction model, but she guessed that instances were rewarded by achievements, like when she had kicked the pedo or made her father cry.

It was a start.

After a month of staying with aunt Lyna and her family, Dori was getting used to the new environment. Uncle Teros was a busy man who always left the house before dawn and came back near midnight. Nori was still in school while Hila was a trainee accountant. A shame, Dori thought. Hila was a quiet and a smart girl. If she went to the Royal Academy, she could do better. But she said she preferred a less stressful life and Dori respected that.

She was now allowed to go out. It was usually a stroll through the streets with her cousins for fresh air once in a while. She didn't cause trouble.

She had been assigned two more teachers, one for history and the other for number-manipulations, and a maid that taught her cooking and cleaning and taking care of the household.

Dori excelled in calculations. Despite the foundations and the theories being vastly different from her previous life, the ideas were generally the same. The had the concept of zero, natural numbers, fractions, debt values. There were models to calculate lands and mass, use of probability to determine future losses and gains of grain. Their knowledge of physics was weird and open-ended but the architectural knowledge was enough to build large towers and palaces.

She enjoyed it. Even with some glaring holes, she could see, people had figured out ways around those. She also wondered, in a world where people could do magic, how far her school physics or math could take her. She was a philosophy major and people here probably knew more about the materialistic world than her anyway.

But it was enough to earn another reward at least.

🍾Brainstorm🍾 (25%)

[Cost: 20 RP]

[Effect Duration: 30 minutes]

[Overuse Restriction: 8 hours]

[Data Procession: x4]

[Perception: x2]

It was fun when she had used it to freak out her math teacher. Amazed, the man even tried to persuade her aunt to let her attend a regular school, but in vain. "But she's the perfect academy material," she had heard her teacher argue.

The next morning, the teacher was changed, strengthening her resolve to run away before her name day. Three more months and she'd be nine, and probably a free bird. She knew the family wasn't as strict as it was being to her. The Head was probably behind it.

One more week, and she had started accumulating about a hundred points every day, surpassing three thousand, but no new features were unlocked. She figured the next ceiling was probably five thousand, or ten. Two or three weeks of hard work should be enough for the former.

But the additions slowed down after she started training secretly.

Her training was basically hopping around in her room as silently as possible, making her dizzy fast. She focused on doing a few yoga tricks to make her limbs more flexible. And she tried a few moves she saw at the den.

It was tiring at first but soon her muscles got used to it. She had figured out another useful feature of the combined effect of different potions. If she practiced after consuming a 'Nutcracker', the strength increasing effect somewhat spread across the rest of her body and the five minutes of intense flurry of movements equated to an hour-long regular exercise. And every time she took the potion, it replenished some of her stamina. Combining it with 'Brainstorm' resulted in finer control of her muscles, and a portion of that feeling stayed after the effects wore off.

Soon her body and mind were more responsive. She could feel the effects of the 'Spirit Energy Flow Enhancer' whenever she used one. Albeit it was very minuscule but it progressed.

Whatever points she acquired, she spent two-thirds of it every day.

There was a large mirror in her room and she checked her body every day. Two weeks of training had already started cutting her excess fat. She no longer looked as short with her slender limbs. She was close to five feet. A few more inches and she'd reach Nori's height.

Her consumption of food leaped, drawing a frown from her new family, but they didn't poke around. As long as she didn't cause trouble and her teachers didn't complain, she was good.

But then the two women came.

They were introduced as guests of the Leafheart family but when she heard their surnames, she knew what was up. Alicia Panrose and Gilien Panrose.

Dori greeted them while gritting her teeth. Just when she was having some alone time, the two women came to leech off of her sanity.

Uncle Teros' house was big with an extra guest house adjacent to the yard but they occupied the rooms close to Dori's. She could feel the contempt in their, which enraged her even more. Her pride didn't allow to be rejected by people she wanted to reject.

"You are too thin. Do they not feed you properly?" Alicia once remarked during dinner. Dori received a lite kick from Hila, warning her not to rebuke, and she endured.

"Don't walk around in the sun too much. You'll darken your skin," the young woman had said while Dori was sitting on the balcony, enjoying the morning sun. She liked being kissed by the gentle rays that nourished her otherwise pale skin, giving it a golden glaze, and being schooled by Alicia made her only sigh. She apologized for spending her own time in her own way and went back inside to discuss stuff that was more interesting. Like how rewarding it is being a well-behaved woman in this world.

Dori poured in all her restraints to not argue, yet she felt like when Alicia left, the girl still wasn't satisfied.

Gilien was less intrusive yet more annoying. That one preferred scrutinizing her from afar, making her every moment more awkward. Whenever she was trying her hands in cooking, the woman would come closer and watch intently. She'd occasionally ask her questions, poked around with passive-aggressive remarks, probably to get violent responses.

Dori played along. She was earning a good number of points tolerating them and eventually earned a milestone, confirming her guess.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♫ ♬

✌ Milestone Achieved ✌

✯ Eye of the Storm 101 ✯

🎉 Unlocked Item: ??? (insufficient access)

🎉 Unlocked Potion: 🍾Tranquility🍾 (100%)

🍾Tranquility🍾 (100%)

[Cost: 15+30 RP]

[Effect Duration: 10 minutes (full)]

[Overuse Restriction: 20 minutes (full)]

[Pain Tolerance: x4]

[Perception: x4]

Tranquil Effect [ON]

[Cost: +30 RP]

[Focus: x2]

[Immunity to Psyche Invasions]

No matter how cordial she was, the two women didn't show any signs of endearment, so eventually, Dori started going about her ways. Training time was cut down with the women snooping around, distracting her whenever she was free.

They finally left after a month, leaving two more months until her supposed birthday but she celebrated early in her head.

Tranquility potion greatly influenced her training. She turned off the costly effect but the base 'pain tolerance' was enough to up her training by a notch. Unlike the marketed 'Soothing Tea Essence', her rewarded potions didn't have negative side effects of dulling her senses, on the contrary.

❀ ❀ ❀

She still hadn't figured out who to sell her potions to. Nori had given her the potions, saying that the potion was very pure but her aunt had no idea how much it'd sell for. No less than fifty gold, she was told, which made her ecstatic but she couldn't tell them she had more. Aunt Lilu was a viable option but she wasn't sure if she would keep her wealth a secret. So she finally took matters in his own hand.

She bought a set of male clothing, saying that she intended to gift it to Harbert. That evening, she went to 'sleep early' and closed her doors. Gulping a Spirit Energy Flow Enhancer, a 'Persona' and a Nutcracker, she jumped out of the balcony and sneaked out.

The Healer's Guild and the Alchemy Guild were close to one another, she went straight into the latter. Took her more than half an hour, but even after the Spirit Energy Flow Enhancer ran out, her disguise didn't fade away.

"Hello," she greeted the receptionist, then laughed at her now manly, yet melodic voice.

The woman was reading a book. She looked up to see 'his handsome face'. "Hello. How may I help?" the girl suddenly became very polite.

Dori felt good being appreciated for her looks, even though it was a fake persona. "Do you buy high-quality potions? I have some, not sure what to do with those." Dori gave the girl a smile she thought would be alluring.

It seemed to work when the girl returned the same smile. "We only buy sealed and certified potions. Who's the brewer?"

Dori paused, not knowing where to get a certificate. "Sorry, my potions are sealed but not certified. Someone gave me those as a gift."

The girl shook her head. "I'm really sorry. We can't buy potions that aren't certified by known brewers." She paused and probably taking a pity at Dori's 'handsome and crestfallen face', she said, "If the potions are still sealed, leave them here. I'll see what I can do."

Dori bobbed her head in delight. "Thank you. I really need the money. When should I come back?"

"You don't look like a local. Where are you staying?" the girl asked.

"I am staying at an inn near the docks," Dori said.

"Oh, plan on leaving Gurjua soon?" the girl started idle chatting, making Dori groan inside. But she needed her help so she played along.

"I might be staying here a few months. But it's really costly here."

The girl laughed. "River Gatri brings in many travelers, innkeepers rip them off. If you plan on staying for a few months, I might be able to help you."

Dori looked at the girl. Young, probably in her twenties. Raven hair, blue eyes, pale face; that pointy chin reminded Dori of her previous lover, Elisa. She couldn't blame the girl. Dori herself had once fallen for the same persona in her previous life when she was a teenager. Dark brown hair, curly, lite-blue eyes, and a killer smile. She remembered the charm.

"I'm really short on money, not sure I can afford any places other than those inns," Dori tried to dissuade the girl.

But the girl didn't get the hint. "Don't worry. I know some people. It'd be cheaper. And I also know the city like the back of my hands. If you want, I could show you around."

Dori didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Thank you." She didn't what else to say that wouldn't offend the girl.

"Come back tomorrow. I'll ask one of our quality appraisers. Did your benefactor give you any details on the potions' effects?"

"The blue ones help spirit energy flow, the green ones increase focus. No side effects. The guy who gave me those said the potions are of very good quality." She handed her two 'Spirit Energy Flow Enhancer' and four 'Brainstorm'.

The girl looked at the potions dumbfounded. "These kinds of potions are meant for Immortals. Who gave you these?"

Dori realized she might have fucked up. She immediately made up a story. "I helped an old man during my journey and he gave me those as a farewell gift. Are they expensive?"

"I don't know." The girl admitted. "I've only heard about potions like these but never seen one. If they are really of good quality, you might get a lot."

Dori bowed her head, "I'll be very grateful. I'll come back tomorrow at this time." She didn't give the girl time to start another thread of conversation and walked away after bowing once more. If her cousins or her aunt came to check her health, she'd be caught.

It was harder to sneak back in and she almost got caught when she leaped over the walls to find a guard just missing her by the corner. She then grabbed off the ledge on her balcony and went back inside. Changing her clothes again, she jumped onto the bed.

She suddenly remembered that she hadn't asked the girl her name and didn't tell her 'his'.

The next morning, she woke up before the dawn, really, really hungry. She didn't have the heart to wake her maid from her prized sleep, so she poked around in the kitchen.

From seven in the morning to ten, she had her mathematics teacher. From midday to two, she had history memorization. In the afternoon, an hour of calligraphy. She sneaked out after dusk when aunt Lyna was busy with her usual gossip sessions and Nori with her school-tasks.

"The guild master wanted to meet you." the girl said when she greeted the receptionist, giving her a fright. Then she remembered the guild leader was in 'Body Refinement' realm and wouldn't be able to probe. "Why?" she asked.

"The potions are really good and he was curious. I told him that you didn't know the brewer, so he didn't insist."

"Oh. I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name yesterday. What should I call you?" Dori asked.

"Call me Reima. I'm from Bergnum family, apprentice brewer under Master Litta. What's your name?"

"Zain Norm. Apprentice traveler." Dori remembered aunt Lilu's words. "I thought girls didn't want to be brewers."

Reima laughed. "Who says? A quarter of our brewers and their apprentices are female."

'My aunt said,' Dori thought. "So, can my potions be sold?"

"Yes, if you treat me to a meal." the girl smiled.

Dori felt kind of bad.

"I will, but I might have to starve. How much will I get for the potions?"

"You are really fussy about money. Come to my house sometimes, I'll treat you. You are a guest in Gurjua, we can't let you starve."

Dori was speechless for a second. This was the first time she'd seen such an assertive girl in this world. "I'll thank you then."

Reima handed her a paper. "Take this to the merchant guild and you can directly exchange it for money. Carrying a thousand Aures would be cumbersome."

A thousand gold coins, Dori felt really excited. Her best approximation had been four or five hundred Aures. Each gold piece could last her a week if she could count and bargain.

"Come, I'll treat you to a meal," she offered Reima.

The girl laughed. "I'm on duty."

"Looks empty anyway. Ask a replacement for an hour. I'll pay."

Reima looked at 'him' incredulously. "I don't take an hour to eat though."

"Then show me around." Dori no longer felt guilty. The girl knew 'he' was a traveler and if she was still interested, it wasn't probably for any long commitments. Besides, she wouldn't be seeing her again, a meal and a walk wouldn't hurt.

Despite her months and months of linguistic training, Dori still had her old accent. But Reima probably thought of 'him' as a foreign traveler anyway. They were so full, they spent an entire hour inside the restaurant, talking and laughing and arguing. The girl was fun to talk to and quipped too often.

When Dori escorted her back to the guild, she promised to visit her for a home-cooked meal, with fingers crossed behind her back.

The restaurant they chose was really fancy and the meal cost her five whole Aures. Dori still had ten Aures that her mother had given her before leaving and once she cashed in the thousand Aures worth debt bill, she'd be rich.

Time for the next set of preparation.