Practice

Draig had returned and turned in his completed Quests each only paying around five gold pieces but as he was a Soloer and not Guilder he didn't have to worry bout the Guild Fees that most of the Chosen would have to face allowing him to keep it all for himself. However Draig would be parting with his gold quickly as he wished to experiment with his stolen trait and thus he would be buying various ingredients necessary for his potioneering.

However the youth would come to find that the prices for him were rather inflated still, he hadn't been successful in buying from the civilian shops because they had refused him service which was fine. So with that said and done he had gone to the Chosen's inner District for his needs, it was to be understood that each district could be seen to be split into two different parts. Inner and Outer district, where the civilian side could be seen with a sub district right on the outskirts of the stronghold of Humanity.

The stronghold itself could be likened to the size of a country with how humanity had expanded through the decades allowing for a greater number of chosen and thus more troops to expend in order to expand.

However with Draig he had entered one of the Guilder shops and instantly recognized the looks of disdain being thrown at him but still they couldn't rightfully refuse him service due to the words of Zarra from the week prior. However coming up to the desk he found that the listed Prices weren't very accurate if you were a Vampire.

"The sign says the Mother's root is only one gold piece for a bundle" argued Draig as he couldn't believe he was being extorted like this.

"Yeah and I'm telling you it's a misprint, there's a new tax making it three Gold pieces. If you don't like it you can go somewhere else" stated the man behind the counter. He seemed to be a retired Guilder from the way he carried himself and the numerous scars along his body.

"What's the tax for" asked Draig narrowing his eyes waiting to hear the response.

"It's a mercy Tax, in other words a mercy for even letting you walk through those doors. So you can take it or leave it" snorted the clerk.

"Fine give me two bundles and the other things I had asked for" grunted Draig causing the clerk to smirk as he rung it up for three times it's worth.

Draig grabbed the ingredients and set the gold on the counter before turning away promising to never come to this shop again, he would just use his knowledge from the acquired trait to collect his ingredients next time he entered the Beast lands.

Walking through the streets he realized he had run into another problem, he didn't necessarily have a place to go. He had been roughing it on the streets until he was taken in by Zarra and the mage had provided him a place to sleep in order to keep him close for when he had the time to train the youth.

'Damn.... it'll be impossible to get an apartment now' thought Draig as he had in fact spent most of his gold in the shop.

'The people on the outskirts of the District seemed friendly enough maybe one of them will house me until I can get more gold' wondered Draig as he decided that would be his best bet if he wanted to find somewhere to sleep.

Unknown to him far away on the mountain side Zarra was sitting in front of a particular grave with a crystal ball in his hand showing the Vampire.

"See, he's grown up a good bit since the last time I visited. You wouldn't believe the trouble I've had to stir up already just because the people can't accept him yet but listen Eliza, I promise that I will make sure Draig comes to be seen as a hero. After all what kind of man would I be if I didn't look out for his interest" spoke Zarra as he caressed the headstone in longing.

The mage seemed to stare at the crystal ball a bit longer before he opened a rift and stepped through it disappearing from the site.

With Draig however he was finding that his search was coming up with negative responses though it was said kindly and he couldn't blame the people as it would be uncouth to let some stranger into your home out of the blue.

Draig continued to search around until he came across an old rickety looking farmhouse on the very edge of the Districts outskirts perhaps only five football fields away from the entrance of the Beast lands.

'Doesn't look like it's occupied, it'll do anyways' thought Draig as he entered the farmhouse and saw it was truly unoccupied. The building looked like it was on the brink of collapse but still it would still give him the privacy he wanted and would allow him to practice his Potioneering in peace.

Draig was quick with tearing out a sectiong of the floor revealing the dark earth underneath before taking the broken floorboards and building a fire where he sat a cauldron on top.

'Let's see how far our superiority goes my brethren' thought Draig as he began to add the ingredients and stir them carefully, it was to note that unlike the Alchemists in the Guilds Draig didn't prep the ingredients merely tossing them in as they were which was a vital difference along with the ingredients themselves.

Draig then began to do the next step which was funnel his mana through the stick he used to stir it and bring out the maximum potential of the plants inside to make it as potent as possible, this would ensure that nothing was wasted and it would automagically cause the formation of the potion where as the Guild's alchemists would wait til the end to use their mana to bond the ingredients effects instead of bringing out their full potential.

Soon a wonderful aroma began to fill the farmhouse and Draig smirked as an ethereal red glow began to take place in the cauldron bringing a look of gratification. He had only done this to see if it was as simple as merely taking the trait and being able to use it at the capacity of it's original owner and now he could see that was in fact the case.

'Let's see how that Mercy Tax works now mortals' chuckled Draig as he began to bottle the potion while smiling successfully.

It would always be a fact the potions made by goblins were more potent and also more effective than that of humanity's and now it would seem someone had unlocked the secret but would it bring trouble or fortune.