When they finished, Trader laid her head on Cynthia's chest. They were both breathing heavily.

"This is the best job of my life." The elf said.

Trader laughed softly. "Glad to know I still got it."

"So, what about my day job? As nice as that was, I don't want this to be my only source of income."

"We didn't finish talking about your qualifications. What sort of magic can you do?" Trader asked, looking up at her.

"I don't do magic."

"Everyone does magic. I checked, the empire-mandated basic education covers mana manipulation, and drawing mana of at least one discipline."

Cynthia sighed. "Water magic. Mostly to clean myself. My house doesn't have plumbing, so it comes in handy, I guess. But that doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"You said it yourself, it's the literal bare minimum. There are actual children more powerful than me."

"The city library is public." The symbiote pointed out.

"Yeah, public to the rich. Or at least, to the not poor. You think I ever seen a book after I left school?" The prostitute refuted angrily. "Maybe you can afford to go there, miss licensed healer."

"I… I'm sorry. Fuck." Trader grabbed her head. "This is embarrassing."

"You're not the first rich person I slept with that despaired after they learned that poverty is a thing."

"No, I moved here specifically because I knew this isn't a well-off area. I wanted… to change something. But I see know that I'm really dense for someone who can literally walk in someone else's skin."

Cynthia was prepared to berate her again, but raised her eyebrows. "Wait, what?"

Trader realized what she'd just said. "Ah, fuck. You know what, I'll just show you."

Before the elf could protest, the parasite's body wrapped around her.

[Tah-dah.] Trader's voice in Cynthia's head said. Being an elf, this was something she was accustomed to.

[Huh. I guess it's no wonder you try to get in other people's business.] She commented.

Trader chuckled, but her heart wasn't really in it.

[Gods, I feel like such an asshole. I just strolled in here, as if my mere presence would be enough to fix other people's problems. It's not the first time something I did seemed like a good idea, and it ended poorly. Karrel could've died.]

When someone calls themself a terrible person, there is often an instinct to console them, to say "hey, you aren't evil!". Some people abuse this instinct to get sympathy.

Cynthia refused to say anything of the sort, for which Trader was grateful.

They simply laid there, two women in one bed, in one body, staring into the ceiling silently.

[I know what your job can be. You can be my right hand woman.] The symbiote said after a while. [Listen to my ideas. Point out when something is stupid.]

[I'd say this proposition itself qualifies. You've known me for one day.]

[I may be privileged and impulsive, but I'd like to think of myself as a pretty good judge of character. Besides, the bindings of debt are stronger than that of any marriage.]

[Ha, ha.] Cynthia replied sarcastically. Then she physically sighed. [You know what? Sure. My life can hardly get any worse. But! As your advisor, you will need to tell me every one of your dirty little secrets.]

[Of course. Over the breakfast, though. I really need sleep now.]

[Sure. You're gonna un-possess me, or are we sleeping like this?]

[Like this.]

----------------------------------------

Trader, Morgan, and Cynthia were sitting down, eating a soup made out of the day-old fish. There was a lot more talking than chewing involved, especially for Trader, who wasn't eating in the first place.

"So, how's the smith like in the bed?" Trader's new advisor asked. "He swore you guys didn't fuck, but I know how men are."

"We really didn't fuck."

"No way! Does he know what he's missing out on?!"

"Right? It makes me wonder what's so great about that dragonkin pussy."

"Guys," Morgan interrupted, "can you please stop talking about this sort of thing when we're eating? We should be getting to work, anyway." They quickly emptied their bowl.

"They're right." Trader stood up and bonded with Cynthia. She formed her head beside the elf's so she could still talk out loud. "Sorry, Morgan. It's the weekend, so what do you want to work on?"

Trader had decided that on the last three days of the week Morgan would decide themself what they wanted to learn.

"I want to understand true transmutation." The goblin replied.

"You aren't-"

"Skilled enough, I know. That's why I said 《understand》 and not 《do.》" They skipped their teacher's warning.

"Ah. Very well, then."

[Would you mind if I 《puppet》 you for a bit?] The symbiote asked Cynthia. [You have history, so I don't want to traumatize you further.]

[It's alright.] The elf assured her. [The main reason I hate it when the fae does it is because it gets me into trouble, and it doesn't understand 《stop.》You aren't going to stab anyone, so it's fine. Plus you're paying me. That's important, too.]

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

[Great. If you want a break, let me know.]

"Okay, let's turn on the furnace." Trader said out loud. "We're making some gold today."

"Yes!" Morgan pumped their fist.

"Now, true transmutation is complex, expensive, and difficult. This is for the better, actually, as anyone that's capable of turning lead into gold is usually patient and wise enough to understand that getting filthy rich off of it is quickly going to collapse the economy. It has happened once or twice, regardless." The alchemist started. "You've done basic transmutation, transferring properties of one material into the other. You understand how it works."

Morgan nodded. "Every substance has essences that result from its physical properties and its cultural weight." They recited their earlier lesson.

"Why the second?" The question was just as much a refresher for Morgan as it was for Cynthia's benefit. Trader wouldn't waste an opportunity to mend gaps in the elvish woman's magical knowledge.

"Because magic at its core is the mind forcing its will on reality. Consensus determines how magic works; the more people believe something, the more it works that way." Morgan overexplained, catching on to the symbiote's intentions.

"Great! So, to make gold, we have to precisely know its properties and essences. Can you guess what they are?"

The goblin scratched their chin, thinking.

"Gold is a noble metal, highly resistant to chemical reactions. It's also conductive, both to electricity and mana. It makes for good lightning rods and mana circuits. Something mister Karrel has a lot of use for. Gold is also very soft for a metal, and pretty dense. Did I miss something?"

Trader smiled. "Great job. Your analysis skills are on point, as usual. You forgot one important property, though: it's pretty."

"Isn't beauty subjective?" Cynthia butted in.

"Think back to what Morgan said earlier." Trader patiently prompted.

"Hmm… properties are determined by consensus… oh, so since most people think gold is pretty, it became its actual magical property."

"Yep!" Trader confirmed. "Some cosmetics even contain gold essence to make the user magically more appealing. We won't be making those, though. You understand better than me that this is not the market for luxury goods."

"...What are the properties of water?" Cynthia wondered. It was difficult to say if she was thinking out loud or genuinely asked for the answer.

"Well, as it relates to your magic, its cultural implications are a bit more important than for the purposes of alchemy. It's about sixty-forty instead of eighty-twenty for natural and magical, respectively. Unless you are using conceptual magic, which almost exclusively is about what water means to people rather than what it actually does."

[This is too complicated for my tastes.] The elf complained silently.

[That's just because I presented multiple options. If you narrow down on what interests you, it's going to be much simpler to grasp.]

"Okay, then I think I want to know more as an elemental water mage." Cynthia decided after a few seconds.

"Morgan, are you alright with a little detour?" Trader asked.

Morgan shrugged. "You don't talk much about other disciplines of magic, so I'm actually a bit curious. Can we set up the athanor while we do this, though?"

"Of course." The blue head on Cynthia's shoulder nodded, and Trader steered their shared body to the alchemical device.

"As a broad overview, water magic's greatest strength is, as one might suspect, its fluidity. A hydromancer can steer a devastating wave to crush the enemy's defenses, and then let the same wave pour over their allies to heal them. Because there are no perfect strategies, though, its main weakness is usually raw power. Body magic is better at healing, generally, and there are more devastating attacks one can levy than a concentrated jet of water. Those can be somewhat remedied by mixing in magic from other disciplines. The most famous fusion school is cryomancy, where fire magic is used to turn water into ice."

"Wait, how can fire make water freeze?" Cynthia asked, bewildered.

"This is a common misconception. You see, the classical elements of fire, water, air, and earth are a bit in the category of 《lies for children.》"

"What are you implying?" The elf asked with a hint of irritation. Her lack of education was a sore spot for her.

"Sorry, lies for children is the process of teaching someone a false, but good enough framework in order to introduce someone into a topic. Despite being disproved, the four elements theory is easy to grasp, so it is still taught on the basic level. The four elemental disciplines are, in reality, broader than that. They are more interested with the states of matter than that matter's composition. Earth magic doesn't just mean conjuring rocks, it concerns anything solid. Water is liquids in general, and air is all the gasses. Fire concerns energy, creating and removing it. So cryomancy uses fire magic to remove thermal energy from water, making it colder, and turning it into ice."

"This makes so much more sense!" Cynthia groaned. "Why are they still called the old names? Why am I a water mage and not a liquid mage?"

"Again, the archaic framework is intuitive and useful as a starting point. Nearly every civilisation starts off believing the four elements are all that makes the world. This also makes the magic related to the classical elements easier to learn, so most energy mages are in fact conjurers of fire." Trader explained, then grimaced. "I've said《element》too much. Doesn't sound like a word anymore."

"This gives me so many options… where should I even begin?" The elf scratched her head.

"Follow your heart." The symbiote suggested. "I know, doesn't sound helpful, but it's genuinely the best advice. By its very nature, magic that you find interesting is what comes the easiest, and what will be the most powerful. One of the small mercies in this world is that you can never have magical talent in something you find boring. You know, I was planning to go to the library later today. You will come as my assistant, and you can look around for something that interests you. Now, the athanor is ready, so let's go back to true transmutation. There is a lot of loss of mass if we are going to turn lead into gold. Most of the properties are there, but in much lower quantities, so the conversion ratio is about ten to one, volume-wise. First, we're going to isolate…"

-

There was not much currency regulation within the Drexian Empire. Most of the time, it was enough that a coin weighed a certain amount, as there were many cases where artisans would use the money's raw material in their work, and then melt what the unused surplus back into coinage. On the first glance, it seemed incredibly easy to exploit, but there were many easily available tools these days to measure the metal's true composition. It wasn't so much that you paid someone a gold coin, you paid a "coin" amount of gold. The same went for the lower denominations of silver and then copper.

This meant that the freshly transmitted gold would only have to be poured into a cast, and it was immediately legal tender. After a few hours, the trio earned a total of twenty three and a bit gold coins, without taking into account the cost of raw materials, and tau required to run the athanor.

[I gotta figure out a way to produce tau myself.] Trader thought to Cynthia. They were now making their way to the city library.

[My… previous employer always complained about tau prices. The lamps were creating a great atmosphere, though, so she couldn't really get rid of them. What even is this stuff, anyway?]

[I ran multiple tests on this liquid, drank some, experimented more when it was inside me, and the best description I have for it is that it's liquid pure mana. How is it stabilised, though, I have no idea. Especially since I'm not an arcanist, so materialising mana is something I have no experience in.]

[It's kinda reassuring that you don't know everything.] Cynthia admitted.

[Well, I'm only sixty.] Trader shrugged. [Gods are mostly, well, gods, because they had so much time to learn. What's a few decades of studying if you're centuries old?]

[How… how long do you plan to live?]

[I'm planning to not die, ever. Whether that means godhood depends on what the future holds. There are several degrees of apotheosis.]

[Apo-what?]

[Ascending beyond mortality. I have a bit of theoretical knowledge, but it's better to ask Isabella. She has first hand experience.]

[Yeah, right, I'll just ask the demon you're pals with! About how to become a god! Do you realise how far from normal your life is?]

[That's why I hired you to ground me. Oh, we're here. I hope that cute guy is working today. He gives amazing head.]

[Is he better than I am?] Cynthia genuinely wondered.

[Hm… no, not quite. But he's up there. Top ten in the city, I'd say.]

The former(?) prostitute laughed out loud, to the confusion of a few passersby. [You've slept with more people than I have. And I've been with the third of the city.]

[Not quite third of the city. I'm making my way through the list, though.]