“With his body aptitude, he reached the peak of body tempering in less than a month!”

  “Seriously? So did he get to Qi Refining?”

  “Ha! Here’s the fun part! His spirit aptitude was so poor that he couldn’t enter qi refining in a lifetime! He marched up to the town lord's residence and demanded an explanation for being poisoned!"

  “Pahahaha! Are you serious!? He actually thought he was being poisoned since he couldn’t enter Qi Refining?”

  “I’m not lying. He actually thought reaching the peak of body tempering meant anything. He got beaten good by the two guards at the gate. Beat him till he was black and blue.”

  Reed listened to the surrounding conversations. The amount of questions he had seemed to pile up endlessly.

  After lazing around the past 3 days, he had 2 traces of chaos energy and 4 silver. So effectively 14 silver if he needed.

  “Excuse me, waiter.” Reed called to the waiter as he passed his table.

  “Yes, customer?” The waiter, the same one who had greeted him the first day, bowed slightly as he turned to him.

  “Do you know anywhere selling good paper and writing instruments?”

  The waiter paused unusually. “I do. Out of curiosity, do you not carry items in your spatial bag?”

  A spatial bag… Reed narrowed his eyes imperceptibly.

  “...No.” Reed answered slowly.

  “I see.” The waiter stopped bowing before pointing out somewhere. “Roughly that way, close to the city lords mansion there's a paper workshop. Try looking there.” He continued, before turning and continuing without saying anything else.

  Reed watched the waiter go. It was a rather abrupt exit. The tone change was subtle too. But Reed couldn’t help but feel the waiter's opinion had changed when he denied owning a spatial pouch.

  So I need a spatial pouch to command status as well? Reed wondered. Or, could it be an accessory like clothes which changed one's perceived wealth and status?

  Reed sighed deeply. He had learned all he could from eavesdropping on conversations in the inn’s diner. He unfortunately couldn’t put off going outside if he wanted to learn more about his situation.

  ??????????????

  The main street was as crowded as the last time Reed had waded through it. However, he quickly found the crowd thinning as he headed the direction the waiter had pointed.

  By the time he could see a large plaque reading ‘Town Lord’s estate’, Reed felt vastly out of place, his robes concealing his shivering figure.

  Only a handful of people were around, all of whom sported intricate jade fans, golden hair pins or precious metal embroidery. It was far beyond what Reed had expected for a paper workshop. Surely paper wasn’t that rare and valuable?

  Reed began rethinking his plan to get some note taking materials. However he could feel the gazes from the few people around all focused on him. Turning back now would probably be making a fool of himself without gaining anything. If nothing else, he had to at least gain something— Even if he was made a fool of in the end.

  Separated from the expansive walls of the town lord’s estate by a wide road, Reed saw the Blue Quilin Paper Shop on the corner of the T intersection. Glazed azure tiled covered its roofs while a combination of dark and light colored woods accented the redwood Reed had noted of other wealthy buildings.

  There was also the uncomfortable stare of the two guards in front of the town lord estate, both staring at Reed intently.

  A bell sounded as Reed pushed through the workshop's doors, escaping the guard’s gaze.

  Inside, the interior was immaculate, with a bright polished wood floor accentuated by walls and a roof made of a much darker wood.

  “Greetings sir. Are you looking for talisman paper, paper for formation diagrams or animated paper for technique books?” A single clerk behind a counter asked, smiling through clearly gritted teeth.

  Talismans? Formations? Reed reflected on the people he had seen in the area. This was clearly a place for the rich and powerful. His current clothes didn’t fit. Just like the tailor. Reed realised.

  “...For Writing and personal notes?” Reed asked after a moment. He wanted to flee, he may very well be kicked out. But he had already crossed the threshold. He would try getting the most he could out of the situation.

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  “A funny joke sir. But we only sell spirit paper.” The clerk said without a hint of amusement, his smile becoming even more strained.

  “I see. How much is that then?” Reed asked.

  “1 silver per page. Bundles are all groups of 12 with a slight discount of ten per bundle.”

  So expensive!!! Reed thanked the long, loose sleeves of his robe for hiding his trembling hand.

  Reed looked around, resisting the urge to run out of the store and boldly stepping forwards towards the counter. He saw what appeared to be a talisman hanging on the wall, besides which seemed to be a roughly A4 sized page. “Do you have precut talisman paper?”

  The clerk's smile became slightly less strained, but he still seemed grumpy as he reached underneath the counter and pulled out a small stack of blank paper, cut to about a sixth the size of a page.

  “Same price as the pages?” Reed asked.

  “Precut talisman paper is sold in bundles of thirty six for 5 silver a bundle. No individual sales.” The clerk emphasised the last sentence.

  “Well, I should practice talisman making anyways.” Reed rescinded. “I’ll take a bundle.”

  The clerk was silent for a moment, narrowing his eyes at Reed. “You must be quite confident in your skills to only need one stack.”

  Are the talisman actually magical? They must be. Is he implying they can fail? Reed realised his attempt at salvaging the situation was failing. He should have just booked it after the clerk's first sentence.

  “I am, but you're right. It is a bit arrogant of me. Two bundles then.” Reed responded, reaching into his robes where the two traces of chaos energy formed into 10 silver coins out of sight in his robes inner pocket, placing them on the counter.

  The clerk stopped for a moment, his eyes widening slightly, Reed noted, as he doubled down even at the cost of bleeding money.

  “...Y-yes sir, my apologies." The clerk answered after a moment, seemingly startled.

  Did… Did he just buy the bluff? Reed wondered, amazed at his own audacity to pull such a thing off.

  The clerk put another bundle of talisman paper on the counter and Reed swept the two bundles up, purposely narrowing his eyes as he left the money on the counter, almost storming out of the workshop.

  The bell rang once more as he left and Reed maintained his composure until he finally reached the more populated part of the main road.

  “Hahhh! Haaah!” Reed barely caught himself falling as he suddenly let out several heavy, ragged breaths. The disdain of the clerk, the looks from those wealthy people, the glares from the guards. He felt his heart beating wildly. Not to mention he remembered the counterfeit issue only after walking out.

  If the chaos energy created coinage was considered counterfeit… And the clerk saw through it and yelled after him… Reed didn’t want to imagine being chased down by those two guards. They didn’t look particularly tough beyond their armour and spears, but for some reason, looking at them had made him tremble uncontrollably before.

  Even here though, Reed forced his composure once more as he felt some gazes on him, walking step by step back to the inn. He hadn’t even managed to accomplish his original goal of getting some proper paper and writing utensils. Just a bunch of paper scraps. Or spirit paper scraps… Talisman paper? Reed wondered.

  ??????????????

  Standing in front of Middle Bridge inn, Reed hesitated a moment. He had wanted note taking paper and utensils, but the clerk had pointed him to some high class talisman- Formation- Animated paper magic shop.

  Was it on purpose? Reed wondered.

  Is there a way to check…

  A moment later, Reed realised he could, entering with a slightly renewed poise.

  “Evening, waiter.” Once again, Reed greeted the same waiter who had first guided him to his room.

  “Evening, sir. Did you end up finding what you were looking for?” The waiter asked, not bowing like he had when Reed first arrived.

  “I did. I found some talisman paper to work on later. But I was looking for note taking paper and fresh writing implements. Talisman paper was for a few days later.” Reed answered, narrowing his eyes purposely like he did when leaving the Blue Quilin paper shop.

  “I, I see. I’m glad you found what you needed sir.” The waiter took a step back, averting his eyes while bowing slightly.

  Reed stared, almost glaring at the waiter for a moment before walking past him.

  It was on purpose. Reed concluded. He felt like the waiter seemed too nervous just then. Even if I was almost glaring, that shouldn’t be enough to make the waiter suddenly start bowing again. Right? Reed wondered as he escaped into his room again.

  ??????????????

  Inside, Reed collapsed onto the bed, burying his face into the pillow before going limp.

  He had made mistakes.

  Trusted the wrong people.

  Worn the wrong clothes.

  Gone to the wrong place.

  He hadn’t imagined that the waiter would try to screw him over just because he said he didn’t have a spatial pouch. He didn’t even know if that was the reason. Then there was the place. He should have turned back the moment he noticed the change in clothing. He should have guessed that in a world with magic and formations or whatever, that a paper shop in such a high end area wasn’t normal.

  Reed flopped over on his back, pulling one of the pieces of talisman paper from its bundle. It was a yellowish colour more than white. A blank scrap of yellow paper.

  Reed felt indignant and gripped the piece of paper with both hands, trying to tear it. However, unlike the paper he was used to, this so-called talisman paper required effort. It took nearly all of Reed’s strength in order to barely tear part of the paper.

  Blue fire crackled at the tear for a moment, startling Reed as he half dropped, half threw it across the room.

  Reed waited a moment in shock, watching as the blue crackle disappeared as fast as it had appeared.

  After an uncomfortably long time, Reed stepped towards the piece of paper, picking it up. Suddenly, it tore incredibly easily, practically falling apart in Reed's hands.

  “...” Reed was silent for a long while. He thought he had accepted the existence of magical powers in this world, with the strange self locking door and token. But now he realised he was being naive. He was nowhere close to accepting it completely. Even if he liked the idea of magic in his head, reality was a different matter. He had no teacher, no knowledge and no foundation of which to actually understand this magic.