My pockets were twenty-five copper heavier, which was a pain. Despite the coin's small size, twenty-five was a large number, and it weighed down my robe pocket. If anyone looked at me, they would see a section of my robe bulging out, the stitching in the leather somehow holding one. Perhaps I should have spread the coins out to my multitude of other pockets, but I did not like mixing like that.

If I have one of something, I want all of them in one place. I can't stand it not being in one spot! It just pisses me off!!

But I digress.

I flipped a copper in my hand, studying the small coin. On one side was a jackalope, a rabbit monster with stag horns. On the other was a strange circular design that I had heard people call Leviathan's Wheel.

It was a new day, and I was walking my short little legs over to Enchanter’s Emporium. A pretty popular store for adventurers I heard. I walked through the threshold into the store and my mouth fell open in amazement. It was a fairly large store compared to the small town that housed it. A multitude of expensive-looking items were left out in the open, propped up on small stands or pedestals.

I tried to reach for an amazing-looking dagger, with a black blade, gold threaded through the hilt, and a blue jewel set in the pommel. When my hand got close, it suddenly veered away.

Well, that was… Odd.

“Interested in the dagger, are we?”

I looked up to see a slim man with a twirly mustache, wearing a ridiculous top hat.

“I see you’ve never had an encounter with anti-theft enchantments before, have you? Well, no matter! Although I do think that dagger is quite far out of the price range of the little miss alchemist.” The man twirled his mustache like some supervillain in a comic. “What can I help you with today?”

“Stones.”

“What kind of stones? Levitating stones? Space stones? Skipping stones? Golem eye stones? Grey stones? Drago-”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Levelling stones! Third tier. How much?”

The shop owner suddenly had a fancy cane in his hand, pulled from where I can only assume was his ass. He twirled it around for a bit before it made a *Thunk* sound as it hit the floorboards of the shop. “Third-tier levelling stones. Quite the rare commodity. I did wonder where all those stones the town's dear alchemist bought went. Quite the little piggy aren’t we? Oink! Oink! Oink!”

Wha!? This bastard!

I opened my mouth to respond, but the man spoke before me.

“Ten Silver.”

My retort died in my throat from shock. Ten silver!? That’s ridiculous! And I made sure to make sure the shop owner knew it! “Ten silver!? That’s ridiculous!”

The man simply shrugged his shoulders. “That’s the going rate. And it has been for decades. Why don’t you just go hunt some monsters? Oh. Wait.” The man held up a hand to his mouth. “I forgot you’re a squishy alchemist. Well, I guess you better get brewing little Miss Alchemist. Tata now!”

The floor beneath my feet seemed to move, and I found myself right back at the door. I turned around and went to take a step inside to tell the man off, but my foot just got moved right back to the door threshold as soon as it made contact with the floor.

“Fuck!”

I left the building behind and walked back to the Glass and Copper Cork. On my way back, I made sure to pick up the items on the list Galdgleer had given me. On my back was some sort of wooden box backpack with a multitude of drawers in it. I made sure to fill the drawers with the various items on the list.

Irons shavings. Mirror pine heartwood. A bottle of goat blood. Some bread. Just regular shopping trip stuff.

…

It was the dead of night. The town was silent, save for the distant sounds of the occasion moo, or baa from farm animals.

I was happy. In just five more days, it will have been six months since my last bloody system ritual. This meant I would be able to add some points to my mana stat and begin making potions! Then I will really begin raking in the dough!

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Plus, I had just bought my first tier three levelling stone. All that time, just to get one levelling stone… Maybe I’m not so happy? It took way longer than I thought to be able to buy this stupid marble!

I could have perhaps hunted some tier three monsters and hoped for a levelling stone to drop. But I was weak! I had almost died fighting a Gnome the first time I went to get a head for Donny. And believe me, I was just as shocked to find out that that little devil was this world's equivalent of a Gnome! The little bastard had uncorked me like a bottle of champagne!

No, fighting in this world was suicidal without skills. Plus, I had access to alchemy skills thanks to my knowledge and Gladgleer teaching me all that boring shit. Plus, the mana pool!

Apparently, the mana resource pool was rare. Like, super rare… Among commoners. Nobles on the other hand, because of course there’s fucking nobles, have mana comin out their ass.

As I walked the empty street, I tossed the levelling stone up in the air and then caught it before it hit the ground. Deciding to get it over with, I popped the stone in my mouth and swallowed hard, feeling the smooth ridges of the damn marble scrape my throat, all the while trying not to barf. After a few retches, and slamming my hand on my chest to pump myself up, I managed to get it down.

Seriously, why couldn’t they be just the tiniest bit smaller?! I mean, I was never the greatest at swallowing pills, but this is ridiculous!

In an alley off to my side, there was a crash, followed by the yowl of a cat. Then back to silence.

Fucking cats! Can they not sleep at the same time as humans? You would think that evolving next to humans over many years would cause them to sleep at night, and not run around like crazy!

Back at home, I climbed up onto the roof and slipped into the window as usual. When my feet hit the floorboards, instead of my usual elegant roll, I slipped.

My ass hit the ground hard, causing a loud thump once again. I stayed still for a second, straining my ears for evidence of the geezer waking up. When nothing greeted me but silence, I put my hands on the ground to push myself up but encountered a slimy floor which caused me to slip again.

Damn it! Did that fucking geezer grease the floor to mess with me?

Walking on all fours to ensure I didn’t slip again, I made my way to my room. Once inside, I took out my own little miniature lantern. Fumbling around in my box of drawers, I finally found what I was looking for.

Taking a bit of white stone powder, I opened up the top of my lantern and sprinkled it inside. The powder reacted with the small crystal contained inside, and the crystal began to glow in a white light.

I swung the lantern over to the greasy floor and paused.

It was red. The floor was red. Lying along the wall was Gladgleer's body, bundled in that plain brown robe of his, blood slowly dribbling out of a puncture in his back.

No. No, no, no, no, NO!

I quickly scrambled over to the geezer and put my hand on his neck, checking for a pulse. I waited and waited, hoping that I was just missing the spot. But hearing no breath, no rise and fall of the chest, and his eyes staring sightlessly at the wall, it was certain. He was dead.

His body already stiffening, I saw a strange red line crawl up his face and into his eyes from under his skin. When the red line made contact with the eyes, it suddenly twisted into itself and the eyes popped like a pair of juicy grapes. Then the red line continued on its way to other parts of the body.

My mind began to fry itself like an egg on a pan. I couldn’t think straight. My eyes darted from one spot to another, and it felt like the annual monarch butterfly migration in my stomach. I wanted to barf.

*Slap*

I stared at my hand in shock!

My wandering eyes quickly hardened and focused. I needed to get out of here! Whatever Gladgleer was caught up in, I might also be a part of. Maybe someone found out about the pool compound. Or perhaps the geezer was secretly a drug producer and got on the wrong side of some gang, although I doubt it.

I made to stand, but something caught my eye. Peeking out from under Gladgleer's tightened fist, was a piece of paper. I pulled myself closer and pried his fingers up, the early stages of rigour mortis already setting in made it a bit difficult, but I managed.

Reading what was messily scrawled onto the paper with jagged handwriting, my eyes widened.

It worked! The pool compound works!

Perhaps he had tested it on himself after he had been stabbed when death was already assured and he had nothing to lose. After all, there was no way the Geezer would leave me in charge of his shop when I didn’t even have a real alchemy skill yet.

Acting fast, I rummaged around in Gladgleer's robe for a bit before I found what I was looking for. A key. Taking the key, I headed over to a spot in the floor and pried up the floorboard. Under the floor was a metal box. I pushed the key into the keyhole and twisted until I heard the click of the lock. I removed the key and grabbed the handle to pull the safe door open.

Inside were a few stacks of silver, some papers, and a potion I had never seen before. I grabbed the silver and shoved it in my pockets. I looked at a few of the papers before concluding they were worthless to me. They were just general expenses and tax calculations. The potion I grabbed carefully, and put it into my wooden box backpack, into one of the drawers. I didn’t know what it was, or even if it was an explosive, but I thought I might find a use for it later. It was in the safe after all, so it must be good.

Done with the really valuable stuff, I began to grab some tools for alchemy. Including a small cauldron that I strapped to the top of my box backpack with some rope. I also looted a fair amount of herbs and minerals I thought would be useful.

When I had finished looting, I crumpled up the tax/expense papers and threw them onto my straw bed. Rubbing some Chare and Magan between my fingers, I lit the papers on fire. Then I left, letting the shop catch flame. By the time the emergency bell began to toll, I was already outside town.