"Why the h.e.l.l is everything here so d.a.m.n expensive," I complained as we browsed along the market. h.e.l.l, even the cheapest swords cost at least 10 Gold.

Considering the quality, I wouldn't even buy it, even if it were down to one. Perhaps being spoiled by Master Urugane's weaponry isn't necessarily a good thing. Compared to his katana, every single weapon sold here are basically no different than lumps of sc.r.a.p metal. Then again, it wouldn't be a good idea to rely on my soulblade all the time, considering what Telara said. I really should get a weapon after all. But here's my current ouroboros cycle: I need a weapon to earn some money, but at the same time I need money to buy a weapon.

I turned to Lia and considered asking her to loan me some Gold to buy one. She noticed me staring and looked at me, "Hmm?" she asked with her baby blue eyes.

I broke eye contact with her, "Nevermind, nothing."

I guess I should try to find an alternative first before resorting to that.

We continued browsing, stopping by at stalls and indoor shops. Eventually, we stumbled across a shop. Its signboard engraved with depictions of herbs and potions. Lia's eyes lit up, and she walked in unhesitatingly. I smiled and followed behind her, ringing the shopkeeper's bell by the door.

"Welcome to our apothecary shop, is there anything I can help you with?" a man greeted us. He looked slightly younger than me, with grey eyes and brown hair.

"Is it okay if I looked around for now?" Lia said.

"Sure thing, Miss. Go ahead and take your time. Let me know if there's anything you need," he replied amiably.

"Thanks," Lia immediately went to the first shelf and started scanning their entire stock. Mechanically going through every item as if she were cataloging them. The man turned his eyes to me, and I pointed my finger to Lia, "I'm with her."

"Okay, Sir. I'll just be right there by the counter."

I nodded and decided to look around, as well. The shop's potions and herbs was neatly organized in each shelf, with a gla.s.s showcase in the center featuring some exotic ingredients I don't recognize. As my eyes wandered around, I can't help but felt that something was amiss. The uncomfortable feeling of being watched. I briefly swept the entire store with a glance, trying not to arouse any suspicions. The smartest thing to do when you're being watched is to pretend not to notice. I continued browsing while staying alert against any sudden movements. I pretended to browse along until I saw the price tag of the potions and winced. And I thought the price of the sword was absurd. 20 Gold for a disease curing potion? G.o.d bless Fleming for discovering penicillin! I frowned at the pricing, turning to look at the young man and widened my eyes in horror. There was a ghost beside him. An old, short, white-haired, bearded ghost! Sitting on the counter beside the man, unmoving, unblinking. I stared for a moment before the shopkeeper noticed me. "Sir? May I help you?"

I didn't reply.

"Sir..?" he called out again.

Lia walked right over and placed the shopping basket on the table beside the counter. The shopkeeper then took out the contents of the basket and laid it on a cloth beside it. Lining up the vials for checkout. I looked at them in awe; each ingredient is stored within a gla.s.s vial and sealed airtight with a cork stopper to prevent oxidation.

There was a movement from the old man, which startled me. Turns out he was just a regular old man. He then walked to inspect the vials while stroking his beard. "Not bad, young lady," the old man complimented, "Crafting your own potions, eh?"

Lia blushed shyly, "Excuse me, but do you happen to have any Norum leaves and Huasca roots? Oh, and some Pollipus pods too."

Both the old man and the young man lifted their eyes in surprise.

"I'm sorry, Miss. But we only have the Norum leaves and Pollipus pods. But even so, we still can't sell it unless you have a Physician or Apothecary license," the young man replied.

"Why not?" I casually asked.

"Because they're illegal. These ingredients on their own either makes a strong hallucinogen or a powerful painkiller. They're highly addictive too, that's why," the old man said.

"Oh."

"But despite its individual effects, if all of the ingredients were to be processed and blended together carefully, it could actually become a powerful concoction that packs enough punch to knock-out a dragon!" the old man said with vigor. "How in Veluri's name did you manage to learn to brew such a potion, young lady?"

"It-it was by accident!" she reflexively replied, as if denying a crime.

The room went silent, and we all looked at each other in bewilderment. We turned our gaze back to Lia, expecting a further explanation from her.

Unable to betray the expectant looks on our faces, she reluctantly continued.

"As part of our curriculums, learning how to brew a potion is one of the mandatory skills a Priestess must have. One time in cla.s.s, each of us was given a healing potion formula to master within a month. But due to the shortage of formula papers, I was the only person left without one. Since everyone was busy, I was told to head to the archives and have one copied for myself. I later went to the archives and found n.o.body there. So I went searching for it, and after a few hours, finally found an old formula lying around. I copied the contents and headed out to fetch some ingredients for the potion. But the storehouse ran out too. This time, I was told to harvest it from the garden myself. I asked the botanists for the ingredients, but again, she told me to harvest them myself. Since I had no idea how it looked like, I had to went to the library and study about them. After learning about its description, I set out to the garden once more, only to found out that the garden doesn't have the ingredients either. At the time, I had thought they had run out too. The next day, I asked for permission to venture out the forest to gather them. Eventually, I found all the ingredients and began practicing whenever I'm off-duty. By the time there were only a few days left, I noticed that most of my sisters had already succeeded in brewing them. Which made me frantic, because even though I had started a week late, I still haven't been able to successfully brew one - much less refine it. In order to keep up, I had decided to sacrifice sleep and practice whenever I can, which lead me to occasionally messing up and getting chastised for it. Finally, the day of the examination began. All of us were told to brew the potions on the spot and hand it over to the Bishop in charge of the exam. The Bishop had told us to use the ingredients from under the table and begin brewing with the provided apparatus. Due to the lack of sleep, I didn't really paid attention and took out my own stocks of ingredients. I then started brewing automatically in my half-asleep state. By the time I was done, all of my sisters had already submitted their potions to be graded by the Bishop and a some of the a.s.sisting Priestesses. I eventually finished, and walked forward to the Bishop to grade it. As soon as she received it, she then suddenly shouted at me, saying that I was a failure of a maiden who can't even get a simple potion right. I turned and saw the other examinees potions in horror. Mine was the only one with a different color. Compared to their scarlet red potion of life, mine was a deep shade of malevolent purple. I cried on the spot, having failed such a simple test after trying so hard. The Bishop saw my tears and for the sake of grading me, took a whiff," Lia sniffled. It seemed like remembering the events had reopened some old scars in her heart. Despite so, we hardened our heart and urged her to finish.

"And then? And then? What happened next?" we asked curiously.

"She fell unconscious and was out for a week."

The three of us burst out in laughter.