Precious Eggs

The next day...

--- Bear Paw Guild Hall

"So, you want to donate food to the people at the outer ring?"

"I guess so. I was planning on giving out chickens, but..."

Jay and Jessica were currently eating breakfast while they talked about Jay's plan in improving his Spirit Power, by promoting peace through donating food to the people at the outer ring.

"But what?" Jessica asked since Jay had a conflicted look on his face.

"I'm not sure if they would accept it if I gave them live chickens. As for butchering the chickens before I give them away... I don't know... something feels wrong." While Jay was drinking some water, Hellson suddenly spoke up.

"Says the guy who murdered a thousand chickens."

Jay almost coughed up the water he was drinking when Hellson said this.

"Please don't mention it again. My actions back then haunts me." Jay said to Hellson.

"If you're going back later through the inner ring's gates, just show your guild mark and the guards won't ask for payment." Jessica said as Jay stood up, preparing to leave.

...

--- Outer Ring, Bevelona City

"I should first explore the Outer Ring to get a better view of things." Jay thought to himself as he stepped out of the inner ring's gates and walked around the outer ring.

It was around noontime that he finished scouting the outer ring. The reason why it took him this long was because of beggars, drunkards, slaves, and even prostitutes that attempted to lay their hands on him.

There were four places that Jay took note of. It was the marketplace, the drunkards' area, slave pens, and the gambling dens.

"If I give out the eggs for free at the marketplace, I am sure that the people working at the stalls will cause problems for me.

If I give out the eggs at the drunkards' area, I am pretty sure an intense brawl will start over some eggs.

If I give out the eggs to the slaves working at the slave pens, the slavers will cause problems for me.

As for the gambling dens.."

Jay was having a hard time to choose where he should do his plan. In the end, he just decided to give out eggs to random people he meet while he went around the outer ring.

"I hope nothing goes wrong." When Jay thought of this, Hellson suddenly spoke up and reminded him of something.

"You might say that, but remember that you still have the Player's Curse."

Jay sighed when he heard this. Not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly walked towards two women in tattered clothing that were fighting over some bread.

"Hand it over Li. You know the drill."

"But I already handed over some Rubies to you earlier! My daughter haven't even had eaten anything for fuck sakes!"

Jay saw that the situation was escalating too fast, so he immediately created chicken eggs through the skill 'Chicken Storm.' Before the chickens could even pop out of the eggs, he halted their growth process, turning them into the regular eggs which is used in cooking.

"Hey there friends. No need to fight over a piece of bread."

The two women were looking at Jay as if he was a complete idiot. But they suddenly saw an egg on his right hand.

"Why don't you stop here and I can give each of you an egg?"

The woman who was holding a knife smirked as she looked at Jay and spoke up.

"And I suppose you want us to pay you? Get back to your own turf, you fucking trash of a noble."

Jay sighed in his thoughts as he continued faking a smile.

"Relax. I have a thousand of these eggs. I am just giving them away since my house is already full of them. So, do you want it or not?"

The two women was shocked when Jay told them that he had a thousand eggs. If there was one mistake Jay did this time, it was he did not know that egg was a luxury-type of food in Bevelona City. The reason behind this was because chickens were a rare commodity in the Utopian Region of Ashnakara, and of course, due to the rareness of chickens, eggs were also rare.

"A-A-Are you really sure about this my lady?" Li, the woman holding the bread, stuttered as she asked Jay. She was even trembling due to her excitement to taste an egg.

"Yeah, yeah. I also overheard that you have a daughter, so why not take three eggs?"

"WHAT?!!"

Even the lady with the knife cannot believe what Jay had just said. Jay did not even wait for them to calm down as he handed over four eggs. Three eggs to Li, and one to the woman with the knife.

"If any of your friends wants some, tell them to meet me here. I will be here until dawn giving out eggs." Jay said as the two women walked away with wide smiles on their faces.

...

--- Central Ring, Bevelona City

There were only five establishments in the central ring. Four of them are apartment-looking buildings that has three floors each were shaped into a curved pattern, circling around a tall and elegant looking castle at the center.

Right now, inside a room of one of the apartments, a tall and slender lady with long white hair was currently watching things happening in the outer ring through an Archive Formation. She was currently naked due to her just finishing some kind of training.

"Huh? Who is this new kid?"

The lady saw Jay who was just handing out eggs casually to the poor folk. She even saw him giving out not just one, but a couple of eggs to lucky individuals.

"I told those idiots to quickly bring over the egg merchants to me. It has been so long since I had those delicious eggs for breakfast. Just who the hell is this brown haired kid?!!"

The lady was infuriated to think that the thing she was craving for was now in the hands of the poor folk at the outer ring. In the past ten days, there haven't been a single egg available in the city, and now, this happened.

"Shit. Everyone else must have already seen this! I better hurry up and secure all those eggs!"

Just like what this lady had in mind, almost everyone in the central ring saw what was happening at the outer ring thanks to the Archive Formation placed in their rooms.

Not even wasting a second, a lot of women dressed in golden robes rushed out of their rooms and all of them had one goal. To get those eggs!

...

--- Outer Ring, Bevelona City

"Hellson, how's my Peace alignment looking?" Jay asked Hellson while he kept creating eggs and giving it out. He did not even bother checking if someone came to him for a second or third time, he just kept giving eggs away.

"99 percent. If my calculations are right, you gain one percent for every egg you've given so far. But the moment it reached 98 percent, the increase rate slowed down and it reached 99 percent when you've given out ten eggs."

"I see. But does something look strange to you? Everyone was rushing towards me impatiently a while ago, but now, they are all lined up in an orderly fashion." Jay wondered about this as he kept giving out eggs to the poor women.

"Yeah. You probably did not notice it, but a thin bluish mist started to appear around a small area where you are right now. Everyone who enters the mist turns passive for some reason."

"Wait, blue mist?" Jay suddenly remembered something similar that happened at Evergreen Forest, when he was raising his Evil alignment. He remembered that he saw a red mist around him the moment he went out of the mind room after the chicken slaughtering event.

"I get it. Whenever I raise my Spirit Power alignment, a mist with the effects of whatever alignment I'm increased covers an area around me. I suppose that if I stop, the mist also vanishes."

Jay decided to test it out after he finishes giving out eggs until dawn. Then just as he was about to continue doing so...

"Everyone, please move away from the egg merchant. By the order of the 'Gourmet Mistress,' everyone must hand over the eggs they got. In return, we will give you a few Rubies and some bread."

A group of the city's guards suddenly passed through the line and encircled Jay. Leading them was the tall and slender woman with white hair. She was now wearing a fitted golden robe that residents of the central ring usually wore.

"Huh? Just what do you mean by this?" Jay frowned as he looked at the woman in front of him who was acting haughtily while the guards moved out and collected the eggs from some of the women.

"What do I mean by this? What else? As the Gourmet Mistress, I find pleasure in eating food, especially eggs. Besides, what are you even doing giving out such a rare commodity to these poor sods?"

Jay sighed and wondered if the woman in front of him has a brain problem. To quickly resolve the issue, he thought of a great idea which would benefit everyone, including the poor women he was currently giving eggs.

"Can you please stop ruining my charity work? If you really are that desperate for eggs, just meet me later during the night. I am currently staying at a place called the Bear Paw Tavern."

The woman frowned with what Jay said. It was as if he did not care who she was.

"Listen here girl. I am the Gourmet Mistress. How could you even set me aside for your charity work? How rude!"

"Look, I don't give a..." Jay was about to curse at this 'Gourmet Mistress,' but he suddenly saw a lot of women wearing the same golden robes coming towards him. What's worse was there were even thousands more people flooding out of the inner ring's gates. He did not know if they were also heading towards him or just going to watch whatever was happening.

"As expected of our one and only gourmet." A lady with short brown hair and face paint said as she approached Jay and the Gourmet Mistress. She was one of the women wearing the golden robes.

"I thought you were busy hunting in the mountains. When did you arrive back here?" The Gourmet Mistress said as she fist bumped her.

While the women in golden robes chatted among themselves, Jay sighed and wondered if this was another effect of the Player's Curse. Since he was already at this point, there was no choice but to use drastic measures.

"Did all of you come for some eggs?" Jay shouted loudly to get the attention of everyone.

"Of course we did. We wouldn't come to this filthy place if it weren't for you egg merchant." Another lady in golden robes replied to him.

"Fine, fine. We can do this in an orderly manner. Since I'm not sure how much eggs I have in stock left, this is what I am going to do and I hope you all cooperate.

In the morning until noon, I will do my charity work here in the outer ring so please do not disturb me. During the afternoon until nighttime, come find me at a place called the Bear Paw Tavern. And if possible, please pre-order the amount of eggs you want before going to me."

"Pre-order?"

Everyone who heard Jay, may it be the women in the golden robes, the poor women, or the random people from the inner ring, they all wondered what this was.

"Just find a piece of paper and write down the amount of eggs you want. It does not matter as long as it is less than a thousand eggs. After that, just hand the paper over to me and you can collect your eggs the next few hours or something." While Jay was saying this, he felt a bit stupid since he should have asked them for Rubies. But since he was doing all of this to increase his Peace alignment, he decided to just give out the eggs for free.

...

All of that commotion ended during the afternoon, and Jay was already too lazy in handing eggs over to the poor women in the outer ring.

"Hellson, how much is my Peace alignment rating?"

"201 percent. I've counted up to 200 eggs, but it is still not increasing."

Jay sighed and wondered how the hell was he supposed to reach 9999% in his Spirit Power alignments. The situation he was in right now was the same thing that happened with his Evil alignment, which was stuck at 201%.

"Everyone, please come back tomorrow. I still have other matters to attend to." Jay shouted and dispersed the crowd that was lined up in front of him.

"I wonder if someone in the Bear Paw guild could help me distribute the eggs since it is not beneficial for me already." Jay thought to himself as he went back to the Bear Paw guild hall.

...

--- Bear Paw Guild Hall

"What the hell was that?!!"

The moment Jay entered the guild hall, Jessica suddenly grabbed him by his shirt and shouted at him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me! I know what happened at the outer ring earlier. Everyone in the guild knows what happened earlier!" Jessica looked as if she was out of breath while she scolded Jay.

"Huh? I told you I will give out some food..."

"Where did you even get all of those eggs?!!"

Jay was a bit disturbed why giving out eggs caused all of the commotion earlier. Even now, he was wondering why Jessica was scolding him.

"What's wrong with the eggs anyway? Don't tell me it only the rich can afford it." Jay made a random remark, not knowing that he was actually correct.

"Duh! It has been weeks since eggs have been available in the city! What else do you expect?!!"

"Eggs are that precious?"

Jay was shocked and sighed as he remembered how he did not ask the gold robed women for Rubies.

"I am probably the worst businessman out there. Oh well..." As he thought of this, Jessica released him and sighed.

"Hey, by the way, I am planning on asking someone from the guild to help me sell the eggs while I practice using my Spirit Power." Jay said and hoped Jessica would help him since she was probably the only one he depended on in the guild.

"Oh? Interesting." Vex, the blond haired lady who was usually sleeping, suddenly woke up and approached Jay.

"So, how much should I sell it for and how will we split the profit?" Vex immediately asked Jay while her eyes looked as if they were twinkling brightly.

"Alright, I'm out of here." Jessica said as she returned to the bar counter and continued her maid work.

"I will leave the selling price up to you. As for the profit, I want 20% of it."

"Just 20 percent?" Vex was surprised that Jay did not ask for more. This was the first time she saw such an 'innocent' girl.

"Yup. Do you have a... large container?" Jay was about to ask Vex if she had a storage ring, but he remembered that spatial storage was not known to Ashnakara.

"How large do you want it?" Vex asked.

"Something that can hold at least a thousand eggs or so." Jay said casually.

"A thousand eggs? Hahaha!!! You must be joking with me! You just gave away at least a thousand of eggs earlier. Don't tell me you have another thousand with you." Vex laughed and thought Jay was just joking with her.

"Well, the number of eggs doesn't really matter because I can create eggs out of thin air." Jay said as he created two eggs from both of his palms.

When Jessica and Vex saw this, their jaws dropped and their eyes opened up widely.

"A gold mine! Holy shit!" Vex blurted out as she looked at Jay as if he was some kind of 'egg' goddess.