When I arrived at the guest room that was dedicated to me, the first thing I did was to check the walls to make sure there was no hidden watcher or something similar. Then, when I was convinced of my safety, I reached the System, and finally pulled one of the books I received.
The book on Tiger Fist.
I had two reasons for that. First, in an emergency, I could just throw it into the fireplace — which was raging to counter the intense cold that settled on the compound. I had another copy of it buried in the wilderness, so it wouldn't be a big loss.
Also, I wanted to see how much of a difference existed between Profound Middle-Grade and Mortal Low-Grade when it came to the same art. Maybe there were fewer moves, or they had some mistakes? Or, maybe it was just harder to understand?
As it turned out, none of these possibilities were the case. Not only did it contain the exact same move diagrams, but also it was followed by reasonable, easy-to-follow explanations that made it far easier to understand. Even with my talent, I was yet to decipher the other manual fully. The new book would barely take minutes to understand.
If it was my first day in this new world, and someone put the two manuals in front of me and picked one, I would have picked the one that was easier to understand. But, now, I was thinking that, it might not be just the tradition that made them write the other manual in complicated poems.
It would certainly explain why I felt the essence of Tiger Fist disciple in the arena was fraudulent.
Essence was truly a mysterious thing.
There was one benefit. It made them very easy to memorize — though I suspected my artificially induced martial art talent played a big role in it — so I pulled the other four books, practiced their Initiate moves and their first move of Muscle Reinforcement, and memorized the rest.
And then, burned all of them. Valuable as they might be, they were too dangerous to bring around.
I didn't practice them for long, and instead, I pulled the Initiate section of Snow Blossom Art and started reading it. It was more complex than the five books I had just burned, but it wasn't as complex as the hidden Tiger Fist manual.
Since Elsana was the one that allowed me to take it, I could study it openly. While the Initiate section was technically useless for anyone else, for me it had two advantages. First, it created a plausible excuse to ask some pointed questions to Elsana to leverage the System and turn them into super lessons.
Also, it would allow me to handle the Snow Essence much better … extending the duration of our fun without making her suspicious.
I kept the complete manual hidden for the moment. Since it was Peak-Mortal level, I was afraid it wouldn't be as easy to memorize. I kept reading the book until right before noon, before I changed into a new set of clothes. My wardrobe was filled with an excessive amount of outfits tailored for my size, but unfortunately, none of them triggered the System.
I told the servants that I wanted to see more of the city, and refused the offer of a carriage. Staying inside was safe, but I wanted to test and see if I could actually refine an essence pill.
The moment I left the compound, two people started following me. They were good enough that I wouldn't have noticed them if I wasn't looking for them. I wasn't too alarmed by their presence, as not only did they maintain a stable distance, but also they paid more attention to my surroundings than me.
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I assumed that they were bodyguards assigned by Elsana.
I could ditch them easily. All I needed was to take a sharp turn, ditch them, and change into another set of clothes from my Inventory. Unfortunately, it would be too suspicious to ditch them the moment I left the Estate, so I had to abort my desire to test my Apothecary skills. Instead, I would walk for an hour, maybe buy a few books, and then return to the estate.
It was a simple plan … so I was surprised when it hit a sudden hitch. The first problem I noticed was my hidden escorts. They were blocked by four people wearing ordinary gray clothes. And the second one was a broken vase on the ground. "How dare you bump into me. You're going to pay for it," the other party shouted loudly. Too loudly, like he was trying to convince the crowd.
It looked like a scam. Too much like one. Even before I noticed two people ignoring the commotion and walking toward me, I knew that it was a ploy to target me.
It looked like Lord Eirto, or his spoiled son, wasn't willing to wait until I left the city. I acted like I hadn't noticed my followers and continued to walk, then suddenly shouted while pointing to a blind alley. "Pickpocket!"
With that, I dashed into the alley at an ordinary pace, but the moment I was at the back alley, I started running much faster, relying on the nameless running technique I derived, even pushing the essence to my legs.
As I did so, I felt a mental barrier shatter. Another breakthrough brought me to the Intermediate Muscle Reinforcement realm. I bit my lips, trying to contain my desire to curse. The last thing I wanted was to have a breakthrough, but the sudden adrenaline rush still triggered it. Worse, I wasn't even concerned about avoiding them.
Just like that, I had a permanent reduction in the rewards I could collect. What a pointless disaster.
I still pulled a set of ordinary clothes from my inventory and changed into them, bundling my expensive clothes to bring with me.
"At least it gave me a chance to do some private shopping," I said even as I pulled a Mortal Peak-Grade savage meat dish from my Inventory and ate it quickly. It was delicious enough to savor, but I devoured it quickly.
After the breakthrough, my essence was depleted, and I wanted to replenish it.
Secure and rejuvenated, I started thinking about what to do. I could return to the estate safely … but I decided against it. Here, my established reputation as a coward worked to my benefit. No one would question when I said I was too scared to return immediately.
It might even make a few apprentices and servants pity me, which would be very useful when triggering the System. Particularly if I could swindle a few lessons on various topics in the process.
"But first, let's put a better disguise," I said even as I pulled a few ordinary grasses that grew on the roadside, their properties already clear to me. A flash of cold from my left hand, followed by a quick flash of heat from my right hand, turned them into a powdery dust that could be used as a poor cosmetic product to change the color of my hair.
Apothecary knowledge was no joke.
What I did was extremely impressive, but also wasteful. The amount of essence I had consumed was hundreds of times more expensive than the value of the poorly made cosmetic I created. But, under the circumstances, I was very happy to make the exchange.
Once I had changed my hair color, I started walking around the marketplace. I purchased a small cauldron, a mortar and pestle, and some common herbs that could be used to refine the lowest-grade essence pill.
The combined bill still hit above a hundred gold coins even though I purchased the cheaper options. Not the cheapest, but certainly not the expensive ones … there were some cauldrons that were being sold for tens of thousands of gold.
In addition, I purchased a saber. I wanted to practice Dragon Saber for a while, in case it turned out to be useful.
I also bought some better cosmetics and clothes, changed my looks to act like some kind of steward, and rented a small house in the outer ring of the city — though close enough to the main road to be safe — for six months, implying that it was for the upcoming visit of the master of my family, and I was sent ahead to arrange everything.
It cost me another three hundred gold, but it was money well spent. With that, I had an actual base in town where I could practice martial arts and medicine refinement.
I was tempted to add a forge as well, but I decided against it. It was too attention-grabbing. Instead, I purchased some cooking implements, purchased high-quality savage beast meat, and used the cooking skills I had learned from Marana to start a nutritious stew.
My cooking abilities were decent … but actually applying some apothecary techniques turned it into a masterpiece in terms of essence quality.
It was valuable enough to tempt the thieves.
Luckily, I had a loyal maid that would protect all of it. With that, I started walking toward the inn where she resided.