Nate and Emily enter the shop just as I make it back behind my counter, the two of them having arrived a little bit ago but waited down at Nate's truck for me to open. Their outfits are the same as they were when they came in on Monday, though they both have empty reusable bottles clipped onto their hips this time. Nate's carrying a white paper bag in his hands as well, and I can hear the soft clink clink of glass jars tapping each other.

They're returning the bottles from the potions they'd bought on Monday. That's rare for a new Awakened.

"Hey, hey!" Emily rushes to the counter. "Guess what?"

"Emily!" Nate exclaims. "Don't rush him the moment you enter!"

"What?" I ask Emily.

"Our first Dungeon went super!" She answers. "There wasn't much loot there, but we got paid plenty for the job and loot! That let us get some new stuff! Look – we got the bottles you mentioned!"

"We were told we can return the jars and bottles that potions come in to shops," Nate says. "Is that right?"

"It is," I answer. "You can either get cash for it or a discount on your next purchase."

"We'd like to buy more," Nate tells me. "The job paid enough that we can get more, and we've got a call for another Dungeon in a couple of hours so we need to be ready for that."

"Good luck," I accept the bag from him. "What would you like to buy today?"

"Can we get-oh, your prices haven't really changed since Monday."

"If you looked at other shops," I say. "Many of them brew up small batches once every one to three days. Since I have a more limited stock, I usually brew up a single, larger batch of each thing once a week. They buy reagents more often than I do and their prices shift more regularly as a result. My prices only go up during the week if demand starts going up too much."

"Oh," he says. "We were wanting to buy 15oz of each potion, each."

"At which values?" I ask. "Were the 50 HP and MP potions fine, or would you like to downgrade down to 25 each until you get used to the amounts?"

I should have suggested the ones which restore 25 HP and MP on Monday over the ones which restore twice that, since newer Awakened can often drink too quickly and waste some of it. Because they were Rank 2, I'd gone straight to the one of a slightly higher value since they have more HP and MP to start with.

"We want to downgrade," he says. "We messed up a bit and wasted some of the potion we had."

"And that's 15oz of each for each?" I ask.

"Yeah," he answers.

"Yep!" Emily answers.

"Will there be anything else you'd like to purchase today?"

"Nope!" Emily answers.

"No, thank you," Nate says. "And thanks for the advice on Monday."

"You're welcome," I respond. "Let me grab those items for you."

"Can you fill up our bottles?" Emily removes one of hers from her belt and holds it up.

"For safety reasons, I cannot," I tell her. "I'll be back in just a minute with your order."

I head to the back of the shop and start measuring out the potions they've requested. None of the jars I have are designed for 15oz of liquid, they're either for more or less than that in set values, so I use one 12oz and one 3oz jar for each. Once they're all measured out and the order placed onto separate trays, I carry them up to the front.

"Please verify these are what you wish to purchase," I tell them, then grab another tray from under the counter and place it beside them. "And please place the jars you're returning on here, out of the bag."

While they confirm their potions, I slip on a pair of white gloves and confirm the jars they're returning are from my shop. Those have a slightly-higher return price than ones which aren't as I'll reuse them directly rather than drop them off at a recycling center or the shop they're originally from.

"Why'd you put gloves on to check them?" Emily asks. "Are you looking for damage?

"Emily," Nate says. "Don't pester him, and let him answer one question at a time."

"Have you gotten to the part about the Alchemists' War in school?" I ask.

"I haven't," she answers.

"Do people really do that?" Nate asks.

"Do what?" Emily asks.

"During the Alchemists' War," I explain. "It was discovered that you can get around the System's information windows in certain ways. One of them was contact poisons. If the alchemist is skilled enough, it can be invisible to the naked eye and even completely dry. During the war, they would brush the rims of potion bottles with a poison, or the lid of a jar with a contact poison which absorbs through the skin. Quite a few Awakened died before they wised up."

It's one of the reasons the war was as brutal as it was. The potion would read as being exactly what they were, then someone would go to take a drink during a battle and end up dead because of a potent poison they ingested or because of a toxin they absorbed through the skin. Magics within them could make the poisons quite potent as well.

"People do that to you?" Emily grimaces.

"No," I give her a soft smile. "But the reason the alchemists knew about it back then was because of one of the problems with their working conditions. They would be given a bunch of jars to clean and reuse, but had no protective equipment for themselves, so they'd be in contact with certani things. In a Dungeon, you can be exposed to all sorts of things, including spores from certain types of monsters. Those spores don't just end up on your body and clothes, they can end up on your jars and bottles as well."

I set down the last of the bottles, then hold up my hands to show off the gloves.

"These gloves have an enchantment to neutralize such things to ensure I'm safe and that nothing I touch with the gloves after will be contaminated," I tell her. "Not everyone realizes that they got something on their jars and bottles. Even if they do wash them, a lot of people don't think to clean the outsides of the jars and bottles. They just put them in a bag or a box, get treated for whatever ailment they're suffering, and recycle the containers or return them to a shop."

"So you wear gloves just in case," Nate concludes.

"Correct," I move over to the register. "And to answer your other question, Emily, all of the jars and bottles I use here have a special stamp on them. It's hard to spot if you don't know what to look for and inspecting the mark itself will let you know it's from my shop. You can't forge it, either, as the System won't register it as legitimate."

"You mark them?" She asks. "How come? And how does the info window work? How do they make it so the System registers it as separate from the jar? And legitimate over someone's forging of it?"

"I don't mark them," I tell her. "The place which supplies them do. Different shops have different preferences on designs, glass clarity, glass color, and so on. The refund and discount is bigger if you return them to the shop they're originally from, if it has them marked. My jars and bottles might look like normal ones you can get at dozens of shops in the area, but the glass clarity is to my specifications, as are the magical compositions and enchantments.

"As for the marks," I think for a few moments. "That one, no one really knows. The System seems to be able to distinguish between legitimately-created objects and fraudulently-created ones. It's one of the reasons money for most major countries is made with magic paper."

"Because it's something the System can give information on," Nate says. "And will say if it's real or fake."

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"Correct," I say. "Makes it impossible to counterfeit as the System will call it out."

The coins and bills are also more durable and last longer as a result, reducing how much is needed to be produced to replace that which is taken out of circulation for damage.

"That is awesome!" Emily exclaims.

"Indeed," I chuckle a little. "Will the purchases be together or separate?"

"Separate," Nate answers.

I ring up the first order, then apply the discount from the returned bottles. Nate pays for his, then I ring up Emily's order and apply the discount for her returned bottles.

"Have a good day," I say after handing Emily her bag and receipts. "Good luck with the Dungeon run."

"Thanks!" She says. "Bye!"

"Bye," Nate says.

They leave and I take the trays to the back, bringing the one with the returned bottles to the sanitation station. Those are left in the bin beside it so I can sanitize them when I next do a batch of those.

I return to the front, pull off my gloves, and pull out a book to read. No one else shows up until about five minutes to noon. It's Ryan, and he's carrying a pair of white paper bags. The shirt he's chosen for today is green, and it hugs his body nicely.

An educated guess says that he's brought lunch again, which is kind of nice of him. However, I need to remain professional at least a little bit, in case he is here to return jars. I don't hear clinking so it's unlikely, but one never knows.

"Good morning," I greet him. "Here to make a purchase?"

"No," he holds up the bags. "I brought you lunch again, if you didn't have plans and wanted to eat together again."

He seems like there's something he wants to ask but is holding back. I'm guessing it's a more personal question and he decided lunch would be a good way to ask.

"Sure," I tell him. "I can meet you up on the deck again once I close up for the break."

"Alright," he responds. "See you in a few."

Ryan leaves, and I wait until noon to close and lock up my shop, then I meet him up on the deck. He's taken the same seat as yesterday and has one of the bags in front of him and the other at the seat across from him.

"Is it okay to ask about the worm?" He asks.

"Anything in particular you wanted to know?" I ask.

"I already know some about it," he says. "I've encountered one before and did a little research back then. They're mythical-level creatures, which is why they have the silver eye markings. I've never heard of one appearing in a Daily Dungeon before, though, and that place seemed too barren to be one for a craftsman."

Before opening up my shop this morning, I looked up lifeseed worms and while there weren't any records calling them that directly, I did find records of them. They're called "mythic fertility worms" in those and are said to occasionally show up as a friendly creature in Dungeons or in the wild. Despite being just worms and having no offensive capabilities, they're extremely resilient to harm and have been known to decompose people who are particularly persistent in attacking them.

The silver eye-like markings are because they're a mythical-level beast – all creatures of that level have silver eyes and those without actual eyes have eye-like markings instead. Also silver.

That little bit, I did know about. Mythical-level creatures sometimes show up in ancient tomes I read, such as the azulvitt fox.

I know Ryan well enough to know he won't share the truth with others if I give it to him, but I'm not quite ready to start telling people everything. Posting the image probably wasn't the best of ideas, but I wanted to share a picture of Mrow the way the Awakened I'm friends with share pictures of their kills.

"It was a Special Quest Dungeon," I tell him. "The worm showed up and started eating the goblins in there after I killed them. You can't really see it in the picture, but there's a spring of life water there. That's a better base for health potions than essence water."

Now that I think about it, less time may have passed between visits to it than I realized. Life water is mainly good or restoring a person's health, but it can also benefit plant growth as well. It isn't restricted just to restoring injuries, or it wouldn't be called "life water".

"That can't be all that was there, can it?" Ryan asks. "For a Special Dungeon Quest? Wait, you already got one of those? It's not even been a week!"

"I did," I chuckle. "And yes, there's more, but I can't quite talk about it yet."

"Yet?" He asks. "There's more to it?"

"Yeah," I answer. "But… it's difficult to figure out what can and can't be said yet."

"Alright," he says. "Let's eat. I got you lemonade again as I'm not sure what else you drink. Couldn't think of anything else you've said."

"It's possible I haven't mentioned," I tell him. "I do lean toward more fruitier drinks, particularly lemonade and peach-based stuff."

We pull our food out of the bags. It's another 6" sub from the same shop as yesterday, this one with a double serving of roast beef rather than having roast beef and turkey, this time with lettuce, pickle, and provolone cheese. It seems the onion was an issue yesterday, and I find myself smiling a little at the lack of it today.

Accompanying the sub is a bottle of lemonade, a small baggie of grapes, a bag of pretzels, and a thick chocolate chip-and-caramel cookie.

"The official numbers won't be out until Sunday, as usual," Ryan says as we eat. "But they've noted another drop in Dungeon spawns this week."

"It's still dropping?" I ask.

"Down twelve percent from this time last week," he confirms. "The bureau's already noted a little bit of unease from the public over this, since so much of society relies on magical materials. It's too dangerous to try setting up mines for ores, for example, and they'd still need to supply potions and gear for the Awakened who protect them."

Large-scale farms for reagents aren't viable as many magical plants have specific conditions they grow under. That means acquiring other magic materials to create those conditions if cultivating them rather than harvesting them in their natural areas, and constantly resupplying said materials. The other option is setting up a farming center in the natural area, which would require constructing walls similar to the ones which protect this city.

That would require acquiring the materials used for those, protecting the builders as they worked, having Awakened on standby at all times in the farm in case of a monster attack, and so on.

Some magic plants are easier to grow and we do have farms for those within the city's walls, but most of the farming buildings and ranches are devoted to the more mundane stuff everyone uses. It's cheaper and easier to set those up as less magic is required for them.

Even then, there's still a degree of magic involved in running them, especially the crop farms. Our society does run on magic, after all.

"I didn't know about unease starting to rise," I tell him. "None of my customers have mentioned it, though I do also have fewer than before as a result of the dryness. They're not being called as often and some are taking breaks rather than heading outside of the city to hunt. Is the bureau trying to take any measures?"

"Some," he answers. "But they're not quite sure what to do. There's no record of an actual Dungeon drought but it looks like we're going to enter one. If this keeps up, they're estimating that Dungeons will stop spawning entirely within a couple of months.

"If that happens," he holds up his baggie of grapes. "The price of even things like these will start skyrocketing. Sustaining the scale of production needed to supply the city will be pretty difficult."

Demand for magical materials will increase as well, so Awakened craftsmen will be encouraged to do their Daily Dungeons and sell the excess goods. I'm basically secure because I can keep acquiring more, but that will definitely affects other.

The worst-hit hunters will be the weaker ones in lower Ranks. They're less-able to handle the wilderness than stronger ones and those of higher Ranks.

"What about you?" I ask.

"I'm pretty secure," Ryan shrugs. "I make plenty already and have a large savings account and I'm able to venture pretty deep into the wilderness to get more materials. Am going to do that after lunch, actually – there's a mines about a hundred miles north of the city that generates earth magic crystals. A group of us are heading there to clear out the mine's monsters, and our porters will handle harvesting the crystals and remains while we do that."

While we can't set up our own mines, we can repurpose monsters' caves and mines by slaying its current residents and harvesting. The initial bulk of what they harvest is usually within the first few hours, then they've basically taken all of the monster remains and magic crystals present.

An Awakened can only keep watch and fight for so long before they need to rest, and that means getting another group to take over. That increases the cost for protection, especially if you're calling upon a group of Rank 5s. Staying longer than five or six hours will increase the cost more than the earnings, so they rarely last more than five or six hours at the mines themselves.

All of which makes a short, quick expedition the better option than a longer one.

"You're leaving this afternoon?" I ask. "Not earlier today? Wouldn't that give you more time to return before sundown?"

"We're going with Rank 5 porters," he tells me. "It's a group we've worked with before, and they're pretty efficient at harvesting magic crystals and monster remains. We're taking two dozen transports and are expecting to return with them filled after three hours in the mines and surrounding areas."

"That's impressive," I say.

"It won't be enough to supply the city too much," he says. "But that particular mine network grows earth magic crystals at a rate of about six times what the monsters in it can harvest. It's been about two years since the last time anyone tried to harvest from it, so we're expecting a large haul."

"Earth magic crystals?" I ask. "With the Dungeon drought starting, I can see why those are wanted."

Earth magic crystals buried in the ground replenishes nutrients to the soil and boost the growth and bounty of nearby plants. They're used in making fertilizer and in the crop buildings. While I don't know exact numbers on this sort of thing, I do know that the haul Ryan's talking about could probably help supply the city with food for at least six months.

"Good luck with that," I tell him. "Hopefully, another city hasn't set their sights on it."

"That's why we want to move today," he says. "We're closer to it by far than others, but everyone is suffering. We want to lay claim to the crystals before another city gets it into their head to come this way. We might all be part of the same country here, but the cities still prioritize their own supply over that of others."

Which has led to civil wars in various countries in the past. The United Cities of America is one of the few countries that's more than one city – most cities are independent of each other. Even with us being one country overall, each city still needs to prioritize themselves over their neighbors and allies.

"I wish you the best of luck," I tell Ryan.

Our conversation switches to other topics after that until it's time for me to head back downstairs to my shop.

"Good luck with your hunt," I give Ryan a kiss. "Make sure to stay safe."

"Will do," he warps his arms around me as he gives me a deeper kiss. "Enjoy the rest of your day."