What he had done in the world of Profound Toxin had been a victory — there was absolutely no doubt about that. But there was something he hadn’t quite thought about.

Trying that again out here in the real world was utterly terrifying. Yes, it had certainly hurt badly whenever he had failed in there, but what if that pain was caused by something that would be fatal out here?

How the hell was he supposed to know? There wasn’t exactly an instruction manual for this kind of stuff he could consult. To be sure, he had asked Heath, Michael, Sonja, and Olivia if they had had any experiences similar to being pulled unwillingly into a strange world. They hadn’t, as expected.

For a while he had considered asking Atla about it as well but had quickly decided against it. Recently, it felt like he had gotten a clearer picture of her personality and mind but there was still a lot about her that was difficult to see through. It felt too risky to go to her with this even if she could shed some light on it.

He sat on a stool in Eik’s Excellent Elixirs in front of his cauldron, staring into the bottom of the black metal vessel. He’d been experimenting with a few things for the past few days since getting out of the world of Profound Toxin, doing whatever else he could to put off attempting the fusion in the real world.

It could be the next step forward in his progress but he was afraid of leaving behind Olivia with no living family. While they were not related by blood, they had long since become closer enough to consider each other siblings.

Heart racing away like a galloping horse, he swallowed and put his hands on his chest to visualize the movements of the forces inside his body.

Both Profound Toxin and the Ak’ki responded readily, jumping into proper positions with little complaint. Alright, everything was ready to begin.

Ignoring the beads of sweat running down his forehead and taking a deep breath to stabilize himself in the moment, he cautiously and ever so slowly began to spin each cluster of energy around its own axis, increasing the speed gradually as he maintained concentration.

Giving them more than twice the time to reach an appropriate acceleration than he had in the world of Profound Toxin, he set them in orbital motion as well, this too starting especially slowly. He had to grip his shirt tightly to keep his hands from trembling uncontrollably.

Like before, he let the two forces go at their own pace at which they accelerated even further without a loss of control. Once they reached a point where they became a blur, Eik took another deep and calming breath as he prepared himself for what he had to do.

It was impossible to know what would happen next.

With sudden tension, he m—

“Mr. Magnasen! Mr. Magnasen, are you here?” Robert Barnes, Eik’s new assistant, shouted as he barged through the door with not a care for other people’s frayed nerves.

Overcome with shock, Eik tumbled off the stool and onto the floor in dramatic fashion where he rolled into the wall with a mighty roar as he desperately tried to regain control of the two churning masses of energy lest they collide rampantly inside him.

Gawking at what he had wrought, Robert’s face was a mask of anxious confusion while Eik’s was tightened into a grimace of distressed focus as if he’d just chugged a shot glass full of lemon juice.

“Wh— I, uuh… I-I’m sorry, Mr. Magnasen! What’s going… on?” he stammered as he watched the spectacle.

A good dozens seconds later, Eik came out of it with mind and body seemingly intact.

“Fuckin’ hell, Bob! I told you to be careful! Do you not remember me telling you that a single wrong move with stuff like this could literally kill me?” Eik hissed, still lying supine on the floor, legs of jelly refusing to support him whatsoever. “Should I also tell you what happens if I do die, hm? You’d best believe you would be out of a job, mate!”

“My deepest apologies, Mr. Magnasen!” Robert uttered with a quivering voice, offering the deepest of bows. “In my haste to report, it slipped my mind! Are you alright?”

Grumbling to himself for a few moments, Eik rolled over onto his side to get an arm under his body. “Barely. It nearly scared the shit out of me — and that’s not a metaphor, Bob! I almost shit my pants!”

“I’m so sorry! It won’t happen again, I swear!”

“Uh huh,” Eik muttered as he pulled himself back onto the stool, still practicing deep, calming breaths. At least the ingredient mixture was still intact. “So, what did you want to tell me, anyway? Something important, I’m hoping.”

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“Imperative, I would say,” Robert said with an intense nod. “I believe your stolen supply of potions is being unloaded on the market as we speak.”

“What?” Eik exclaimed and rose to his feet. “By who?”

“Well, that’s exactly the problem. It’s not just one merchant. “I checked most stalls and stores and I found at least five sellers.”

“That many? They would sell stolen goods in broad daylight? That’s an insane thing to do!” Eik questioned.

“I know some of these people, Mr. Magnasen, and I highly doubt they would dare commit theft against you, if I’m honest. Many of these merchants are old and barely F-rank. And they’re kind people.”

“So what then?”

Robert chewed on his lip. “I made some inquiries and it seems like they all bought the potions from someone recently. Someone who spoke as if he was a representative of the creator of the potions. Mr. Magnasen, there are many desperate folks in this city, and the opportunity to get in on the sale of something as rare and extraordinary as your potions is one few would let pass by.”

Eik narrowed his eyes, lips pursed in thought. “Who was it?”

“None of them knew. The person wore a hood apparently.”

“A hood?” Eik repeated, dumbfounded. “That’s the most stereotypical back alley deal I’ve ever heard of. Why did they think what this guy was selling was even legit?”

“Apparently an E-rank merchant was one of the first to be approached by this individual and he tested its legitimacy himself. Word has spread since then.”

Eik sighed and sank back onto the stool, massaging the bridge of his nose. “Still… This is ridiculous,” he said and went to grab his coat. “I have to see this with my own eyes. Let’s go, Bob. Good work.” It was unfortunate but he'd have to delay the experiment just a little bit longer. Even though the thought if it alone terrified him, excitement was a close second. He couldn't wait for it and he would definitely get to it tomorrow!

Breaking out into a smile, Robert followed his new employer out the door. There was a spring in his step as they made their way across the garden. The decision to change jobs was the best he had ever made.

***

The central marketplace of Forest was the undisputed hub of the city. Ever since Forest had grown into a sizable settlement, Eik had enjoyed coming here because it almost made it feel like everything was normal. The bustle of activity made him feel at ease, somehow.

He followed Robert through the throng. The young man seemed to be greeting a new person every few seconds as he navigated the place.

“Could it be that you know everyone here?” Eik asked as Robert high fived an older man in overalls who was manning a stall overflowing completely with apples, pears, lemons, bunches of grapes, as well as several other fruits that had appeared almost out of nowhere when the world changed.

“Not even close, Mr. Magnasen,” he said. “It’s just that I have been coming here with my father since I was a little boy. I used to run around from store to store while he went around and did business. I have been behind the counter serving customers of a good portion of the stall in this area. The shopkeepers were always kind enough to allow a little monkey like me to play great merchant with their customers. I always loved that.”

“Ha! That sounds pretty nice,” Eik mused. “Your father sounds rather successful to me. How did you end up working for a jerk like Darius Kerman instead of going into business with your old man?”

Robert was leading so Eik couldn’t see the expression on his face but the way his posture drooped forward gave Eik the answer before the guy ever opened his mouth to say anything. “He was… killed. It’s already a few years back now so I don’t know what I’m still sad about. I was always interested in business so when I scored a job with a big name like Mr. Kerman, I thought I’d hit the jackpot.” He walked a little slower while he spoke.

“But you’re not wrong when you call him a jerk. The man is a total ego maniac. He actually doesn’t care about other people. He somehow managed to avoid getting himself killed and even carry his wealth and business acumen over into this version of Earth. And Merchant Lord Greggers basically has the exact same story as far as I know.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Just because we have all lost people we love doesn’t mean that you aren’t allowed to grieve. That’s your privilege. If it’s any consolation, I was never a rich guy and I’m still not. I’m just some guy so please help me a lot from now on.”

“Will do, Mr. Magnasen!” Robert said, turning around to look Eik in the eye, a smile breaking through to the surface.

Eik was beginning to realize that he might well have struck gold in hiring the guy. “Call me, Eik. And by the way, why does everybody call him Merchant Lord Greggers? It’s kind of cheesy to go by a moniker like that.”

Suddenly Robert’s jaw began to churn desperately as he was obviously trying his damndest to hold in a laugh. “Well, I think it’s because he doesn’t like his real first name.”

“Why, what is his real name?”

“It’s…” the young man tried, barely able to keep it together. “It’s Charlotte.”

Eik couldn’t believe his ears. “That loaf of bread was named Charlotte all along? Are you kidding me?”

“No, it’s a poorly kept secret. On the few occasions where it has been brought up, he apparently insists that it’s actually Charlotto, which is supposed to be a masculine version. But one of the servants once found his old ID card from before the world went to shit and swears it said Charlotte.”

“That guy gets funnier every time I hear about him!” Eik laughed.

“Anyway, here we are,” Robert said and turned a corner. The store was not a stall but rather a dilapidated hut with a door hanging loosely on a single hinge. It was the kind of store where the hero of the story would go after experiencing a humiliating defeat, expecting to find nothing but garbage items only to discover, to his great shock, that there, among the trash, was hidden an unimaginable legendary sword that would have brought anybody with the knowledge to use it to the peak of power.

Well, the inside of this store was exceedingly ordinary, even with the shoddy exterior. But there was indeed a rare item among the rest of the wares, although it was displayed prominently on the countertop.

There, placed on a particularly clean and tidy spot was a vial filled with dark purple liquid. Like a blooming cloud of smoke it swirled inside the container.

There was no doubt about the authenticity of the product. He’d been nose deep in the stuff for weeks so. A few of the vials were different from the ones he used but that was definitely Eik’s potion for sale.