"Damn that old man" Kairos said to himself, head turned towards the sky, looking for an answer in them. What does he know about me? Does he think I haven't tried to improve myself before? Does he think that throwing me into the path of the army will solve all of my issues? I'll fucking show him, that's what I'll do.

But first, time to take care of those fucks that can only attack me in a pack, goddamn worthless scavengers.

Pulling out a notebook, Kairos glanced over the ingredients list for a potion that he had copied from a recipe in Prikan's attic when he was over another time-- a recipe for a potion called Shadowfire Elixir, that while not causing any physical damage to its target, would provide for an anguishing mental experience that would take days to subside, with the target hallucinating the experience of flames overtaking their body until the experience wore off.

Fight fire with fire, right?

As he entered a shop known for selling the scraps from experiments , Kairos glanced once more over the list. Moonlight Orchid petals, Essence of Emberwood, Shimmering Mistscale, Stormcrystal Powder, and Voidroot Extract.

With a shrewd smile, Kairos approached the apothecary's counter, his face covered by a thin black gauze, presenting a fabricated story.

"Shopkeep, I need to hunt some hogs in the forest and want to test out a new potion-- I need--"

"Bleh, don't bore me with the details, look through this book to see if we have the material and write down its name and how much you need"

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Kairos smirked under the gauze-- he knew that this shopkeep, compared to the others, cared not for what was bought in his shop and preferred to make things as easy as possible for himself.

Writing down the ingredients, the shopkeep barely took a glance at the ingredients he had requested before before adding up the total cost for the total amount of ingredient. For the first time since Kairos had entered the shop, any sort of emotion entered the shopkeeps face. The shopkeep looked at his numbers again, adding them up twice, then thrice, then a final fourth time.

"109 silver pieces. Or one royal silver. Are you sure you can pay for all of this? There are consequences and I will track you down if you try and pay me with fake coins even if you did the laziest job at hiding your identity boy."

Damn, what? What is this recipe? 109 pieces ?? That's my fathers yearly salary, how the hell am I meant to have that amount of money?

"What? 109? That outrageous! How about 80?" Kairos exclaimed with incredulity.

"No negotiation. There's a price that comes with the convenience of me not looking at what you buy. Or did you think that level of convenience came for free? You can go to the outpost of the royal house nearby and see if they have your materials there, and it'll most assuredly be cheaper. But I hope you don't mind a whole number of-"

"Fine, give me two days. I'll come back with the money"

In response, the shopkeep threw his head back and laughed. "BAWAHWAHA. Damn, this is the most engaging conversation I've had with a customer in a minute. Do you think I'm stupid? No one in this city, especially not someone your age who needs to go to me to buy product, is gathering a royal silver in a day. Tell you what though, this shop is a huge pain to clean and keep safe at night. Work everyday and overnight for three years and I'll give you the ingredients you want for your troubles."

In response, Kairos snorted and left.

"Even if I don't know who you are, don't try coming back here with fake coins boy! I'll recognize you. Offers still on the table to work for me!"

I guess we turn to Plan B, Kairos thought.