Growth — Skills

We slipped away from the noisy search and didn't head straight for the inn where Kanisia was waiting. There was a stop we needed to make first.

"Oralisa."

"Yeah, Master! What's up?"

Oralisa, who hadn't unhooked her arm from mine for even a second, looked up at me with a sheepish, glowing smile. Her style had changed a great deal from the first time I'd seen her. Back at the request office she'd been wearing a gothic lolita dress, black stockings, and a black eyepatch over her right eye. Now she had on a sky-blue one-piece. A single change of clothes had transformed her from a gloomy otaku girl into a hyperactive, four-dimensional college student.

They say a woman's transformation is never a crime, but a change this drastic had to be guilty of something. Then again, Oralisa was pretty, so the judge would let her off anyway.

"There's something you need to keep in mind."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"From now on, while I'm staying in Baidu, your name isn't Oralisa."

"Huh? What does that mean? I'm Oralisa, though? I'm Oralisa but I'm not Oralisa? Why does Oralisa have to not be Oralisa? If Oralisa is Oralisa and you say she's not Oralisa, then Oralisa becomes someone who isn't Oralisa? But Oralisa could still be Oralisa, so you shouldn't say she's not, right?"

"...Aquaril, what is she even saying right now? Is this that Schrödinger thing or whatever?"

"...I don't really understand either."

Oralisa kept piling on incomprehensible logic with a perfectly serious face. My head was starting to spin.

Now I get why Pazniri dumped her at the request office...

The first time I met Oralisa, I checked her status window. She was a strong fairy — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠upper-tier even among others of the same rank. That alone had told me Pazniri must have felt some affection for her. Nobody raises a fairy that far without caring at least a little.

And yet he'd still stuffed a fairy that talented into a request office and left her there, which had struck me as strange at the time. I understood it now. A four-dimensional space cadet who launched into that kind of spiral every time she opened her mouth was the kind of partner anyone would start avoiding.

Of course, I had zero intention of doing the same stupid thing that idiot Pazniri had done. Oralisa wasn't a bad fairy — not the kind you stash in some quiet hole and forget about. A man like me had a heart wide enough and warm enough to embrace every last one of her flaws.

"Right... let's head over there first."

I took Aquaril and Oralisa into an empty alley, then met my second fairy's eyes and spoke.

"You're not Pazniri's fairy anymore. You're mine."

"Pazniri? Who's that? Kyahaha~! What a weird name!"

Watching Oralisa pretend she'd never heard of him, I could feel exactly how long she held a grudge. Ownership transferring to me didn't erase her memories of her previous Master. I'd already confirmed that through Aquaril. And yet she was claiming she didn't know Pazniri... which meant the resentment she'd bottled up toward him ran that deep.

She'd been hurt — left at a request office and never come back for. As his fairy, she'd forced herself to swallow that hurt. Now that she was mine, she no longer had any reason to. The choice she made was to erase Pazniri from her memory entirely.

A grudge that defies imagination...

I was never, under any circumstances, going to let Oralisa feel neglected.

"Ahem. Anyway — stealing another Master's fairy. You've never heard of anyone doing that, have you?"

"Ah? Now that you mention it, no. Master, how did you do it?"

"Because I'm special. And that special someone chose you. Which means you've become a special fairy too."

"Special...!"

Was becoming a special fairy really that wonderful? Oralisa's eyes sparkled like someone had pressed stars into them.

"But even a special guy like me can't take on the Witch Queen. In about five years I might be able to win, but right now? I can't beat her."

"Yep, that's right. Master's weak! And the Witch Queen is super strong! If Master fights the Witch Queen, the Witch Queen'll kill you!"

She's not wrong, but... that stings.

"So until I finish everything I need to do in Baidu, the people here can't find out you exist. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah... yeah! Wow, I understood that perfectly! Because Oralisa is smart!"

She doesn't understand a single fucking word, does she?

Still, Oralisa was good at doing as she was told, so I decided to trust her.

"For as long as we're staying in Baidu, I'm going to call you Litsha. Got it? For a while, your name is Litsha. Understand?"

"Okay! 'Cause I'm Oralisa the smart one!"

"I said Litsha."

"Okay, Litsha!"

Fuck. I've got a really bad feeling about this.

"Whoa... this place is actually lavish."

"Hwaaaah~! There's so much pretty stuff!"

The three of us stepped into a building and stopped short at the sight of countless goods laid out on handsome display. Aquaril didn't say a word, but the faint twitch at the corner of her eye told me she was just as stunned.

This was William's General Store, a shop that sold Masters everything they needed to clear dungeons. It also bought the byproducts, Growth Stones, and Skill Stones that Masters brought back from those same raids. The entire three-story building had been given over to the store, and the interior was even more extravagant than the facade. Polearms lined the walls in rows, and a magnificent suit of armor stood on exhibit at one end of the floor.

"Hwehng~ hweeehng~ Master, I wanna look around!"

"You're really worked up, huh? First time here for you too?"

"Yep!"

Watching Oralisa bounce on her heels, I felt a pang of pity. Just how little of a shit had that bastard Pazniri given about her?

Scratch that thing about Pazniri having affection for Oralisa.

He hadn't given her a shred of it. He'd raised her as a combat weapon and nothing more. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠How dare he treat my fairy like that.

Oralisa isn't a combat weapon, she's a goddamn cocksleeve, you miserable bastard!!!

Ah. Wait. That's not it.

"Aquaril. Take her around and look at stuff. And if you see a sword or a suit of armor you like, buy it. It's on me."

"Yes. Thank you, Master."

"Waaah~ This is so fun!"

Oralisa had been hopping in place, and the instant I gave permission she grabbed Aquaril's hand and bolted for the back of the store. I would have worried if she were alone, but I'd sent her with Aquaril, who had her head on straight. They'd be fine.

"Ah, excuse me. I'd like to buy something."

"Yes, sir. What can I help you with?"

I approached a clerk who had been straightening a display. I'd already walked the entire first floor after sending Aquaril and Oralisa off, and nothing I wanted was down here.

"I'd like to buy Skill Stones. Do you have any?"

"Ah — Skill Stones are up on the third floor. The first floor is weapons and armor, the second is monster byproducts, and the third is where we trade Skill Stones and Growth Stones."

"Got it. Thank you."

"Not at all. Please enjoy your shopping."

The staff training was as polished as you'd expect from the most famous general store in Baidu. I returned the clerk's bow and went straight up to the third floor, just as he'd said.

"Wow."

I couldn't help the sound that left me when I arrived. The floor looked like a jewelry shop — every kind of stone sealed behind clear glass, all of them either Growth Stones or Skill Stones.

...I want them.

Greed surged up without warning. If I cleaned this place out, I could raise my stats by a pretty satisfying amount.

Easy. Hold it in. Right now I need to stay invisible.

The streets below were crawling with the Witch Queen's Masters and soldiers, all of them hunting with blood in their eyes thanks to the mess I'd made the night before. Try to rob this place in that climate and I could easily get tagged as a member of last night's snake bandit crew.

I forced the rising greed back down and approached a middle-aged man whose hair had receded over half his scalp.

"Excuse me. I came to buy Skill Stones."

"Of course, sir. Which ones are you looking for?"

"A Heal Skill Stone, a Wind Arrow Skill Stone, and a Firefly Skill Stone."

Oralisa had joined the party to provide supporting fire from the rear, which meant I had to fill the holes we still had. What we needed was a Healer who could patch allies up and a Mage who could throw magic from the back line. So I wanted Heal, the basic Healer skill; Wind Arrow, a wind-element spell; and Firefly, to light the dark of a dungeon and keep a raid moving.

"Understood. And what level of Skill Stone did you have in mind?"

"Could I see the prices by level?"

"Of course. Would you take a look at this?"

The middle-aged man held out a pamphlet. The prices per Skill Stone level were printed in neat rows.

Unlike Growth Stones, Skill Stones came with a level attached. Swallow one and you learned the skill at that level on the spot. Take a Level 10 Heal Skill Stone and you walked away knowing Level 10 Heal. The higher the level and the higher the skill's grade, the more it cost. Obviously.

Holy shit.

I clicked my tongue the moment I saw the numbers. Expensive didn't begin to cover it. All three of the Skill Stones I'd named were Common grade — the lowest tier — and the high-level ones were still astronomical. A Level 1 Heal Skill Stone ran eight hundred thousand Gold. Level 2 was 1.6 million. Level 10 was a full eight million. And that was the cheapest grade on the board. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The next tier up, Advanced, started at 1.5 million Gold for a Level 1 stone.

"Wow. That's pretty steep."

"It is, isn't it? I'm afraid it can't be helped. Same as Growth Stones — demand for Skill Stones far outstrips the supply. We have no choice but to price them this high."

Supply and demand. When demand outruns supply, the price goes up. I knew that perfectly well — I'd even finished college in my last life. Knowing it didn't make the numbers sting any less.

"Are the Skill Stones actually in stock at every level listed here?"

"They are. If we run out of something, we pull it from the pamphlet immediately."

"Hmm. Then I'll take all three at Level 10."

"Yes, sir. One moment, please."

I decided to buy all three as Level 10 stones. Honestly, grabbing the cheapest Level 1 versions and grinding the skill levels up myself would have been far more cost-effective — but our party wasn't in a position to care about cost-effectiveness. Every one of us was three-star. How much good was a Common-grade, Level 1 Heal supposed to do? Sometimes you had to spend even when it hurt. This wasn't waste. It was an investment.

"Here you are. You're in luck, sir. This happens to be the last Level 10 Heal Skill Stone we have."

"Is that so?"

While the clerk had been away I'd already pulled twenty-four one-million-Gold bars from my inventory. I traded them for the Skill Stones on the spot. What was there to hesitate about?

I swallowed them then and there. The Skill Stones melted into liquid the moment they hit my tongue, same as Growth Stones.

Status window.

A glance at the window confirmed all three skills had taken.

You normally lock the last skill slot to your ultimate, but... it can't be helped.

Most people put the strongest skill they had — their ultimate — in that final slot. I wasn't in a position to be picky, so I'd slotted Firefly instead.

My ultimate is Firefly... I suddenly feel like a complete weakling.

Ah... well, thanks, I guess?

I'd picked up three skills and the reward was three hundred thousand Gold. It felt pathetically hollow.