<You have gained knowledge>

Each of them had decided to settle for a 2-library session which cost them 50 gold coins each, with additional 2 gold coins for the Devil Archive's special.

"Hope you come by again!" Emmet escorted the men out of the library. The cheerful look on their faces showed that they were satisfied with the services the red man had offered.

"That's a lot we made today. I can't even believe I would ever get to own such amount," Excitement glistened in Emmet's dark eyes as he spoke to Liesl. "312 gold coins! My goodness! I'm stinking rich."

"Earning such calls for spending. I hope you do realize that," Liesl chuckled as she licked the back of her paw.

"I do, Liesl," Emmet rolled his eyes. "Now that I think about it, this should go into a savings for the priced level 1 structure since I am yet to breakthrough to the second level."

"It's so nice to see you mature," Liesl shook her head in disbelief. 

Emmet scoffed after her. Did she really think he was that dumb not to know of some terms used on Earth?

"For better savings, the system grants you a storage space which is by far more reliable than using your pouch. I suggest you save the things you will need for the future in the storage space and leave the things you need in the present in your pouch," Liesl said.

"That sounds great," Emmet slowly nodded in agreement.

' Open storage space,' He proceeded to think.

[Storage space is currently empty]

"All I have to do is suggest the placement of 300 coins into the space and I'll keep the change, right?" Emmet turned to inquire from the cat who appeared to be obsessed with her majestic looking fur.

"Right," She replied.

' Place 300 coins into storage space.'

[300 coins have been placed into storage space]

[Current Storage space content: 300 coins]

[Would you like to add more things to storage space?]

Emmet stared at the message hard and long, trying to think of what else he could save in the storage space.

"I guess that should be all since I barely own anything other than myself and this old pouch," He sighed.

' No.'

Immediately after, the screen closed up.

"I just need 600 more gold coins in order to get that level 1 structure," He rubbed his chin.

"Remember that once you have over 5000 gold coins, 5000 gold coins will be retrieved by the system. In everything you do now, remember you have a loan to repay," Liesl chipped in.

"Can't it just be forgotten about?" Emmet's eyes glinted with plea and pride at the same time.

"Loans can not be forgotten on Earth," Liesl sighed. "Loans are something to be repaid. You are given on the condition that you give back but you can only be free from debt if you...well, die. However, if you have a family, they'll be burdened to repay but if you don't, your soul is free."

"Humans sure do a lot of crazy things," Emmet rubbed his temple and subconsciously blinked several times in a row.

"They are deemed normal in the society of humans and in the society of some other inhuman beings. However, it doesn't apply to every society," Liesl briefly explained.

<You have gained knowledge on loans>

"Ah I see," Emmet nodded. He was beginning to understood a few things he wasn't able to while growing up.

He never really went to school. His mother had only hired a private tutor for him and as such he was able to speak, read, and write. His private tutor had been quite the bravest person he had ever met then considering that fact that he was never scared of his skin colour.

The man seemed to be going through a lot in life that he didn't care if he were teaching the devil himself. Frustration and the love of money were two things that always told on him.

"I think we should get a sign now. This places looks alright for now and that's all I feel is missing," Emmet suddenly proposed. "It will help in signifying to customers when the Archive is opened for the day and when it's closed."

Liesl reduced to smog that travelled to his right shoulder. The smog swirled for a bit before it transformed into a black cat.

"Sometimes I wish you could become human," Emmet sighed. "You're getting fatter."

"Spiritual energy does a lot for me. You don't dare call my beautiful figure, fat!" Liesl slapped him across the head with her paw. The prideful nature of a cat always seemed to have a great effect on her whenever she took its form.

When she was a fox, she could be just as sly and cunning. Her green eyes would become a detector that stared through the soul of anyone as though it were glass. In her four forms, she displayed the traits of each animal while still retaining the trait of Liesl.

 As they were about to leave, Emmet's eyes glanced at the jug of Ethereal tea which caused him to halt in his steps.

"Now that I think of it, what would happen if I took Ethereal tea? Would it work for me just like anyone else without red skin," He asked, his lips twisted in wonder.

"It will work on you just like it would on anyone," The cat replied.

"Hmmm," was all he said and moved back to pour himself half a teacup of the tea.

In one gulp, the liquid went down his throat.

"Tastes..." His eyes narrowed to slits. "Like nothing but the after taste is like honey. Strange."

"I suggest you gather as much spiritual energy as you can before we set out. For someone like you who has never bothered to harness spiritual energy, I suggest you take your time and study the pace at which you can go. It will certainly help you a lot," Liesl suggested.

"If you say so," Emmet nodded and the cat jumped off from his shoulder while he made his way to the centre of the library.

Like he had seen his mother do during what she referred to as "meditation", he moved to sit in a lotus position.

"All you need do is steady your breathing," Liesl also moved to settle in front of him.

Emmet nodded and proceeded to close his eyes. His chest gently moved up and down as he inhaled and exhaled. At that point, he became more conscious of his breathing than he had ever been.

<You have gained knowledge on spiritual breathing>

<You have gained knowledge on spiritual energy cultivation>

"I see something," Emmet said, his words coming out gently.

 "What do you see?" Liesl asked.

"Two balls of flame. One bigger ball and one smaller ball..." His voice trailed off and his forehead creased.

 Liesl swiftly reverted to smog that immediately seeped into Emmet's body.

 In a dark void, two balls of flame stood beside each other with a little distance between them. The yellow ball of flame appeared bigger and its growth slowly increased. The blue ball of flame was smaller in size and its increased was much more slower than that of the yellow flame.

 Surprise took over Liesl as she stared at the burning flames.

 "Sire, you harbour both spiritual energy and cursed energy. For some reason, your spiritual breathing fuels the cursed energy than it does for your spiritual energy. Your skin seems to go beyond an ordinary sickness and has grown enough to form an energy inside of you..."