The next day I went through my routine. There was no point in getting caught up in the combat training class, so I went straight to the market. I had to find the hunters area and pick out some materials suitable for my daggers. I had more experience making them, so it was only right that I’d use them to practice bonding.

  Once again, walking out of the academy, I could admire the many buildings. Something that didn’t strike me the first time was the fact that most of the buildings had glass windows. Small and with a lot of wooden framing as they were, it was still a sign of wealth.

  I walked quickly. The stares I had gotten used to the first few days had eased. ‘What am I thinking about? Am I missing the stares now?’ It was a natural phenomenon for people to get used to seeing me, considering how much I strutted around to go to the market and back.

  It was getting colder. Clouds were filling the sky, making the atmosphere feel gloomy as if the world was mourning the end of the warm season. Occasional carts with goods were coming from the market area, mostly vegetables and fruits.

  ‘This reminds me… I need to stock up too.’ Now was the season of harvest, prices were most stable now. If I waited any longer, I might miss this best time, and would have to buy at over price or even face empty stalls…

  ‘I’ll focus on buying monster materials. I’m all by myself I can’t carry all the food.’ I quickened my pace. By the time Magnar was out I had to be done with the monster materials purchases. That way I could return to the market with him.

  Slowly stalls started to come into view. ‘Wait… This isn’t right… Why are there stalls all the way here? The market was further away last time…’ My eyes settled on a stall with purplish fruits. My mind froze. Those were Corrin fruits… I hadn’t had any from last year.

  I approached the stall overseen by a big burly man. There were other kinds of fruits on display too, but only the Corrin were of interest to me. I bought ten for a copper. ‘Quite pricey…’ I took a bite out of one. I had no breakfast, which could be why I felt that these were so good.

  Corrin fruits had a sweet-sour taste that left behind a slightly bitter after taste. After the juices of the fruit settled a little, they turned into a rubbery layer. Saliva didn’t help, only the juices of the next bite kept that outcome at bay and away. The way their taste worked made it impossible to get tired of their taste.

  Each bite delivered full aroma. Only issue was the cough and discomfort that came after you stopped eating them. I kept walking looking around. I soon found what I was looking for, only it wasn’t where it should’ve been or where I expected it to be.

  ‘Bringing skins, bones, claws, furs and other such items to the market along with grains and the fruits of the earth… It seems the villagers came to sell their trophies and the results of their work from over the year…’

  ‘Well… here I am, but… I don’t even know what beast each thing comes from…’ So, I turned to the one thing that I had over everyone else. Perception! My greater shen! I focused it on the remains of the beasts, exploring their effects on aether. But I couldn’t stay long in one place.

  More stalls meant more people, more people, more traffic, and no one took kindly to someone just standing in the way. Even to move along to where I wanted to get, I had to squeeze past others. Suddenly an elbow came from the side and hit my head.

  ‘Fucking hell! Why can’t anyone pay attention to their surroundings?’ I swore internally as the person moved along and disappeared from my sight. But I didn’t have time to ponder, more legs, knees, palms and elbows were swinging about, and no one cared for the occasional unlucky guy that got hit.

  I moved along and approached the stalls where beast parts were displayed. Problem was that while near the stalls I wouldn’t be shoved as much, the owners and sellers weren’t happy with someone just standing there without buying.

  “Oi, kid beat it, no buying means no seeing!” and they’d shove me away. After some drifting, finding nothing noteworthy I reached a stall where a scaly skin was displayed. The aether around it felt more erratic, scattered, pulled from below and dancing above.

  It was what I could only call a fiery aura. I did not hesitate any longer and rushed towards it. I reinforced my body and shoved as much as others shoved me. Finally, I was closer. The scales were of a green color, too shiny to be old. Among them, red ones were spread in a pattern.

  Probably a special camouflage, but I did not care for it. I opened my mouth. “How much for this skin over here?”

  The tall man behind the counter looked at me with his one good eye. The other had a big scar going from his forehead over the brow and down his cheek over the lips to the chin. A tell-tale sign of a harsh wound.

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  “That’d be eight silvers.” His voice was thick, powerful, like the beat of a drum.

  “I’ll give you five for it.”

  “Eight. Kiddo, why would I give it to you for just that?”

  “Because it’s not worth what you want for it, or you wouldn’t be sitting here trying to sell it alongside vegetables and nuts.”

  “I can sell whatever, the hell I want, wherever I want! Now go away!” He pushed me, placing quite a bit of force behind the motion, but I didn’t budge.

  “The hell!?”

  “I would like to resume our negotiation.”

  “Fine! Seven, but that’s the lowest I’ll go!”

  “You don’t even know what you got. Six!”

  “Seven. Don’t push it or I simply won’t sell it.”

  “Then let’s meet in the middle, six silver and a half silver.”

  The man mulled over for a bit. He looked between the skin and me, then extended his hand.

  “Deal!”

  I shook his hand, then counted the coins and handed them over while taking the skin.

  “What are you even going to do with it? To be fair, I’ve never seen a kid your age interested in these before, unless they are something cool looking.” He asked while eyeing my hands as they rolled up the skin.

  “I’m a blacksmith, this skin looks like it had an obvious aether aura, which could help me learn my own bonding method without much struggle. What type of beast did you get it from?” I asked curious.

  “It was some snake beast… I don’t know anything about it, hoped you’d know something about it at least since you were so eager to buy it.”

  “Unfortunately, no. I’m just a first year at the Academy, it’s going to be some time until I find anything out… Have a nice day and good selling!” I said as I was getting ready to dive back into the swarming crowd.

  More time spent in a stampede of people, and I managed to buy half a skeleton of a beast. Not literally half, it wasn’t cut in two or anything, just by an estimate half of the bones. I was particularly interested in the tail bones, the ribs and the femurs. It cost me three silvers.

  The bones had a concentrated aura that rippled outwards slowly, or rather it shook occasionally. The bones felt heavy, they were, but the feeling they gave was heavier… The reason was the aether interaction, the mind could only register the reaction as a rocky hill.

  I already was pretty overloaded at this point, just with the bones and the skin. Not by weight, but by the volume. Too many things to hold and I hadn’t brought any sack with me. I wanted to return but the sea of people had gotten even denser.

  I tried to move between the people, but the bones were getting in the way, and I was garnering a lot of hostility. Someone was shoved towards me. Luckily, I reacted fast enough. Their chest was pressed against a sharp ended part of a rib.

  As the woman was about to fall over me and get impaled, I kicked her. A kick with the sole of my feet, fast and solid, powered with aether but controlled in intensity. Due to the impact, she was pushed back against the people who shoved her.

  In the freed space, I didn’t linger. ‘Fuck it! I can’t carry all these through the crowd!’ I crouched, gathered aether at my feet and jumped up high. In midair I gathered aether again and jumped once more, reaching the roof of a building.

  I started running over the roofs towards the academy. The roof tiles clattered under my feet. My skin boots were good enough to not break the tiles outright, but if I continued like this. ‘Damn it… I got to be more careful…’

  I slowed down, coordinating my feet to move fast but not hit the tiles. It was hard because I had to gradually lower the foot as I stepped forward and push off only once my other foot made the next step. I couldn’t hop and couldn’t run properly.

  I got close to the academy walls. ‘Here comes…’ I jumped down, brought aether to my feet and did a second jump midair, slowing my descent. Then a third jump and after landed with a squat. I continued along the wall until reaching the gates. The guards there, already familiar with me let me pass quickly. I rushed to the tower, then went back to the market.

  By midday I had spent a total of two gold coins and had obtained some crystalline antlers, a lizard hide and a some serpent fangs. ‘It’s up to me now to make these worth their money…’ Magnar found me examining the antlers closely.

  He was sweaty and stinking, an acrid smell of dried sweat rehydrated by fresh sweat.

  “How did it go?” He asked seeing me silent.

  “We won’t know until I succeed making something with these… Please go shower and change, you stink, stink like a chicken coop that wasn’t cleaned for a week in the summer.”

  “As if it’s my fault!”

  “Just go…”

  Magnar used my shower. The smell lessened at the very least.

  “Why here? Isn’t the school one better?” I voiced my discontent with him using my water like that.

  “It is, but if I was reeking as badly as you said, I wouldn’t want to be walking around campus like that.” He answered shooting back at my remark.

  I shrunk my neck and raised my hands in defeat hearing his tone. “Fair enough…”

  “I’ll be back soon.”

  “Sure, we need to go to the market, I just realized I got no provisions for winter. I need to stock up on coal, lumber and food.” I explained the workload to him.

  “That’s fine, it’s not like I’m buying the stuff for you, and even if I was, you always take cheap or worth it stuff… I saw the others flaunt a golden watch today. Bought out of the money they get monthly from their parents.”

  “So?”

  “That isn’t even making anything back.”

  “It’s an investment. By knowing how much time it takes to do something in a way, you can change to try to compress that time. Keeping track of time helps you maximize the value you get from a portion of time. I doubt those guys thought farther than it looks good, but the watch does have a use.”

  “… You just make me feel like everything’s got a use now…”

  “Because there are very little things made, that don’t. However, the value of a thing comes from being used as intended, that guy wasted money on something he can’t make use of. You find out where he got it from. It’s a good investment for later though.”

  “Alright… I’ll go change.”

  “Go.”

  Magnar returned soon. We both went for the market. Winter was coming, and for the first time since I arrived in this world, I would be facing it on my own terms. I wasn’t about to let myself eat at the Mess Hall the entire time.

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  ?? Author's Question:

  We got a taste of the local cuisine with the Jyun (spicy cherries) and Kinth (creamy earth fruit). Which of the fruits Cato bought would you actually want to try?