Zoe walked up to the front of the restaurant near the man in the red suit again.

“Hello, Lou said I could have a meal on the house?” She asked.

“Yes of course, take a seat anywhere you like and somebody will come see you shortly.” He gestured towards the dining area.

“Oh okay, thanks.” She nodded and took a seat at the nearest table to her.

A few minutes later a younger woman in a matching red suit came up to her table. “Here’s a menu, just wave me down when you need me alright?” She dropped off a sheet of firm brown paper in front of Zoe and took off to check on one of the other tables.

Zoe picked up the menu and looked through it. She suspected as much from her time in the kitchen, but there weren’t many options available for food. Grilled venison with vegetables or a meat stew made up the entirety of the dinner section.

The beverage section was much more diverse, however. Almost all of it was various different flavours of apple cider, though there was also apple juice and water available. Zoe browsed through and decided on a rawbi apple cider. She had no idea what that was, but it was free and she liked trying new things. The worst that could happen is she got a free drink.

When the woman who had helped her earlier walked by, Zoe waved her down. The woman nodded to her and held up a finger, carrying on to another table. A few minutes of chatting with them and the woman went into the kitchen then came back out to Zoe’s table.

“Hey, you figure out what you want?” She asked.

“Yea, I think I want the grilled venison with this rawbi apple cider, please.” Zoe said.

“Sure thing,” she said, heading back into the kitchen.

A minute later she came out holding a large glass mug filled with a liquid that had a slight pink hue to it, and placed it down in front of Zoe. “Here’s your cider. Venison will be out in a bit.”

“Okay, thanks!" Zoe tried to call out before the woman darted off to another table.

She grabbed the mug and took a whiff of it. The cider smelled sweet and tangy with a fresh, floral background that pushed the slight acidic scent even further back. She took a sip.

Strawberries, she realized as soon as the cider hit her mouth. The fruity taste overwhelming everything else in that moment. The cider had a pleasant astringency, her mouth puckering from the dry feeling.

It was delicious, she thought, excited to try the cinnamon spiced cider that she helped make in another month once it was done fermenting. She took another sip from the mug, enjoying the somewhat sweet, fruity aroma that flooded her nose.

Zoe had to force herself not to finish the whole drink before her meal came, trying to leave enough to enjoy as she ate. It was another ten minutes before the woman came out with her plate, leaving it at the table.

“Enjoy. You can just leave your stuff here when you’re done, I’ll come grab it when I have time.” She said, darting off to another table.

“Okay!” Zoe tried to call out again. It felt a little rude, but Zoe reminded herself that while she was eating here, she wasn’t a customer here. It made sense that the server would prioritize the other tables over her, it was nothing personal.

The plate in front of her looked underwhelming, at best. The venison looked overcooked and dry, with not a sauce to be seen. The vegetables looked delicious — colourful and fresh, but it was just a pile of raw vegetables.

She picked up her fork and knife, slicing into the venison. To her surprise, despite the outside looking as though it were burnt to a crisp, the inside was a perfect slight pink and dripped with moisture.

Zoe took a bite, the piece of venison ripped apart by her teeth with little effort. It was seasoned to perfection, with a peppery kick and a subtle cinnamon flavour. Maybe she judged it too soon, she thought.

She finished off her meal while she sipped on the rest of her cider and leaned back in the chair. Zoe didn’t pay attention to how much the meal cost, but it was better than what she normally got. Maybe it wasn’t the best paying job in the world, but she got a delicious meal out of it and a new skill. What more could she ask for?

The woman came back around and grabbed her dishes. “Hope you enjoyed! That rawbi cider is my favourite, personally.”

“Oh it was all delicious. Tell Lou thanks for me.” Zoe said, standing up from her chair and stretching.

“Sure thing!” The woman said, darting back off to the kitchen with all of Zoe’s dishes.

Zoe left The Rotted Apple and stood outside on the road, wondering what to do. The sun was set, so she wandered around town for a while as she waited for morning.

As she wandered around, she thought about her summer plans with Ash and Lila, and began to realize a problem. Now that winter was over, the snow wasn’t covering the town as much. And without as much snow covering the town, she wasn’t seeing any people walking through town clearing the streets. Which meant that she had no idea where to find Ash and Lila to ask them for an escort to their farm.

Could she just go ask people at taverns if they knew how to contact them? They came back to town to help out with the snow problem so they might be around somewhere, sometimes. Or maybe since winter was over, their farm would be too busy for them to spend much time here?

There was always the option of just going down the road on her own. She had much higher skills and stats than a normal level eight would. But then again she didn’t put those stats into vitality so its not like they actually made her any safer if she did get attacked. Maybe there was a courier system here, she thought. If she could send them a letter that would solve all of her problems, but she couldn’t remember seeing anything that stood out to her as being a post office or the like.

Something to ask Joe next time they spoke, Zoe noted. For now, she wanted to waste the night away and go see about finding a new job that might offer her something new.

Or, now that she thought about it, was that the best option? She supposed it wouldn’t be bad if she saw another opportunity, but the skills she would learn this way were restricted. Lou paid her to learn how to cook because she helped him make a product.

But who would pay her to learn how to use her knife? To learn how to dance? There was no benefit for somebody else when they could just pay somebody who was already a competent dancer or hire a blademaster.

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Maybe she could focus on the better paying jobs that she could get and then spend the extra money on classes, if those were a thing.

The night passed, and the morning sun began to rise on the horizon. Zoe walked around a while longer until she found a tavern with a job board.

The jobs for offer here were much the same, but she saw a new one at this tavern that she didn’t recognize. Ren on Eerie road needed mana. Three thousand mana, for a silver coin, posted on the board with a red pin.

Zoe wasn’t sure how much she regenerated, never having taken the time to calculate it. But from what little she did have drained from using locks, sinks and other random utilities, she knew it to be pretty good. It was worth a shot, at least, so she went to ask the bartender where Eerie road was.

According to them, Eerie was the next street over and Ren lived in a small stone house on the corner. Zoe made her way over and knocked on the wooden door at the front.

A man, just a few inches taller than Zoe opened the door. He wore a pristine black suit and white gloves, his dark black hair pulled back and tied in a bun.

[Worker - ??]

“Hello?” He said, looking at Zoe with a quizzical expression.

“Hi, are you Ren? I saw you posted a job for mana? I’m not sure how it works but I have the meditation skill at least.” She said.

“Yes I am. Have you ever charged a mana orb before?” He asked, looking above Zoe’s head for a moment.

“No, what’s a mana orb?" Zoe asked.

The man oozed annoyance and frustration, though his expression showed none of it as he smiled at her.

“Mana orbs are a sphere made of mana infused glass. If you fill them, I will buy them for one silver per three thousand mana plus the cost of the orb.” The man said.

“And where would I get the empty ones?” Zoe asked.

“Any enchanting shop should have plenty of them.” The man said, his smile betraying the ever increasing annoyance he was feeling.

“What’s the closest one to here?” Zoe felt a little bad for pestering him so much, but she was here to help him, kind of.

“Troy’s Knickknacks is about a ten minute walk down that way,” he pointed down the street. “Or you could go to whichever other you prefer.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll be back when I’ve got a bunch of mana to sell you then. How long is that job going to be posted?” Zoe asked, backing off into the road a little.

“It’s been up for the last four years and I don’t intend to take it down. I will buy all of the mana you can provide.” He stepped back inside and closed the door behind him.

Zoe started walking down the road towards Troy’s Knickknacks, wondering what he used all the mana for. It seemed like an easy, well paying job so she couldn’t be the only person interested in selling him mana. Maybe that would change when she figured out how much three thousand mana actually took to regenerate, but she was only level eight.

Although, she had much more mana regeneration than a normal level eight too. But even with all of her bonuses she wouldn’t outperform somebody at level twenty or thirty without them. Ren must be burning through tens of thousands, or maybe even hundreds of thousands of mana every day. And for what?

She didn’t think Ren would be very interested in explaining it to her with how annoyed he was at her asking the few questions she already did. Maybe she’d give it an ask anyway after she sold him a bunch of mana just in case he got too fed up and stopped dealing with her.

Troy’s Knickknacks was nothing like she expected. It looked like a log cabin from north eastern Canada and looked out of place among the floating crystal buildings that surrounded it. Maybe that was the point, she wondered?

Zoe walked in, and the inside was much more magical. Translucent blue shelves floated in rows, with a massive wooden log at the back acting as a counter. A middle aged man with a long brown beard that reached down to his belly stood behind the log, smiling at Zoe as she entered.

[Mage - ??]

“Greetings!” He called out to her.

Zoe walked up to the counter and smiled back at him. “Hi, I was told you sell mana orbs here?”

“Indeed we do! Charged or empty?” He asked, reaching under the counter.

“Empty, please. But how much does a charged orb cost?” She asked.

“We charge fifty copper per thousand mana with a minimum quantity of ten thousand.” The man said, pulling up three identical empty glass spheres.

“Do you buy charged mana orbs?” Zoe asked.

The man laughed, “Another one helping out that Ren fellow?"

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“Plenty of you folk come here wondering the same things. No, we don’t buy charged orbs. Before you ask, Ren’s prices are more than fair, and I don’t know what he does with it all.

“The orbs are fifteen, thirty and sixty thousand mana capacity, and cost two, four and ten silver respectively.” The man said, pointing at each orb as he went.

Zoe checked her bag, eleven and a half silver left. If she bought the sixty thousand orb, she’d make twenty silver profit off of it and get some good meditation training too. The only question was, would one and a half silver be enough to buy food while she charged it?

She could get several of the smaller orbs, but one big orb was a lot more convenient to carry around and less likely to break. She decided to take the risk. Worst case scenario she could just sell the orb when it wasn’t filled, probably. Zoe grabbed a silver star and five silver coins from her bag, placing them on the wooden log counter.

“I’ll take the big one, please.” Zoe said.

The man’s eyebrows raised a bit, and he seemed to feel a little guilty.

“We do have larger ones as well if you would like.” He said.

“No, just that one’s fine with me thanks!" She said, smiling at him.

He took the silver coins and put them in whatever storage item he was using, then handed one of the orbs to Zoe.

“Thanks for the business, please come again for all your enchanted needs!” He said, putting the two other glass spheres under the counter again.

“Actually, how do I tell how filled this is?” Zoe asked.

“Identify will tell you the current quantity, just remember the maximum for this one is sixty thousand.” He said, smiling at her.

“Okay, thanks very much. Have a nice day.” She said, leaving the store and focusing on the orb in her hand with her identify skill.

[Mana Orb - 0]

Zoe pushed a little of her mana into it, watching as a tiny speck of translucent blue appeared inside, floating around. She identified it again.

[Mana Orb - 5]

She smiled, putting the orb in her bag and making her way to Kaira park. Zoe planned to do a lot of math over the next couple days.