“Hm mh hm~” Ria happily hummed, dancing with the orb in her hands “The first present Mia has ever given me~” she chirped, bringing the orb close to her chest and rubbing it gently “I almost don’t want to use it. Mia, can we take it home and display it?”

“No?” Mia tilted her head to the side; her sister was making it a much bigger deal than it was “Just use it.”

Rolling her eyes at her sister, who started mumbling to herself while hugging the orb with her cheeks puffed out, Mia went back to the tablet and went down the list. She only had 56 silver left after that, she’d have more if random beings she had never met stopped messing with her… but dwelling on that wouldn’t do her any good, she’d get to talk to them soon enough, apparently.

She scanned the list, looking for anything useful ‘Oh, swimming?’ that would be nice, would help her stop not drown… drowning sucks…it had become her least favorite way to die. ‘hm, maybe I shouldn’t be ranking them…’ she brushed it off, and selected the orb “Out of stock?!” her heart sank, but then she noticed the price.

“25 gold?!” she gasped, her hands slamming onto the table “Why? That’s more expensive than holy magic!”

“Ooh?” Ria leaned over, orb still in her embrace “Huh.” She trotted over to the group next to them, tugging on one of their shirts “Hey, excuse me?”

The man perked up, looking over her shoulder at them “Hrm?” the other members of his group looked over, curious to see what was going on.

“Hey, sorry.” Ria took a step back while giving a small wave. “My sister here wanted to buy this orb but it was out of stock, no biggie we would wait for more, right?” Ria then motioned to the price “But what’s up with that price?”

Mia shrunk back, getting away from their view of the tablet and more importantly, getting attention away from herself.

The man glared at Ria, who simply gave a smile, he then sighed and leaned over to view the tablet “…You two know where you are at right now, right?”

Ria nodded “in a skill orb shop, why?”

He shook his head “No, you are in Lexon, an Island.” He scoffed “Swimming is a highly valuable skill, duh, course it’s going to be expensive in high demand.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Ria gave another nod with a smile “Thank you~”

“…yeah, whatever.” He then turned back to his group, glancing back at them “use your heads next time, brats.” He said, no longer paying them any mind.

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Ria stood still, smiling wordlessly for a few moments before turning on her heel “And there you have it Mia.” She went back to her spot besides Mia and leaned up against the desk “Could have said it a bit nicer though.” She heard the man scoff again, but ignored him, instead started rubbing the skill orb against her cheek.

Mia shook her head “…thanks.” She went back to the list, a bit more aware of the group next to them now. Doing her best to ignore them, she continued, looking at all the weapon skills “Swords, daggers, polearms…”

“Halberds, scythes, sickles, shovels? Most are 50 silver.” Ria poked a few, checking their price “More specific and odd stuff goes into the gold range.”

“Hmm” she stopped looking and took a step back, Ria excitedly taking her place at the tablet. She was still unsure on what to do, should she still focus on weapons? Her magic was a lot more effective but she wouldn’t get the main thing she was after, the stat points from mastering… did she even need those?

Now that she had a bit more understanding, levels and complimenting skills might be the best way to go.

She crossed her arms, her head rocking back and forth. ‘If I just blasted that thing at a distance instead of fooling around with the trident… would it have been easier?’ her mind wondered to her ice weapons ‘I can make as much as I want to use for gaining experience, which is why I thought it was fine using a bunch but…’ she looked down to her open palm, imagining a block of ice in it without summoning any ‘need to experiment…’

Mia’s ears perked up, hearing the familiar clank of a skill orb being dispensed “Eh? Ria?” she looked at her sister, who fiddled with the slot before standing up, two skill orbs in hand.

“It was cheap.” She said, raising both in the air before absorbing both “Fire magic and kicking~ hee hee~” laughing threw her teeth with a wide grin on her face.

“Kicking?” Mia looked past her sister, seeing the orb priced at 2 silver “why kicking? What does it do?”

“Y’know when monsters get too close because you swung real wide?” Ria asked, grin still plastered on her face.

“…no?” Mia wondered what her sister had been doing to even be in that situation.

“Well, it happens.” Ria nodded, closing her eyes as she spoke pensively “People always tell me, leap back, but I just brought the hilt down on their heads or tried to knee them… kneeing less effective and my arms hurt like hell when I forced that maneuver. Now I can kick!” Ria pumped up her fists.

“Uh…” as long as she was happy? “Ok, I am done.”

“That’s it?” Ria asked, emphasizing the kicking skill orb “Sure you don’t want kicking?”

Mia shook her head “No, done for now.” She replied. She wanted to figure out her magic situation and how she would proceed going forward, and for that she needed to go into the haunt and fight some monsters. “Haunt now?” she asked, pointing to the door.

Ria shook her head “You have any idea how late it is? Tomorrow.” Ria scooped up her sister, who glanced up at her with an unamused look plastered on her face “Plus, we have not eaten all day.”

“Ah.” Her stomach kicked up after hearing that, suddenly starving “ok…tomorrow haunt?” her weakness would also be lessened more by then.

“Yup yup~” Ria turned towards the exit “I can finally show you what your big sis is capable of as well~”

Wondering what that would look like, Mia’s thoughts slowly drifted towards dinner, with a small hope that hopefully tomorrow she would recover enough to get out of her sister’s grasp.