A week passes by. I more or less explored all parts of the town. There are more than a dozen artisan shops in town. All them have stands in town square and have workshops within the city walls except for the tannery. Tannery is the only workshop that is located outside of the town. I arranged several contracts with local shops for various alchemical services and established a steady income. In the local words, "I have kept my purse well-fed." My alchemy is now at level 9, but I seem to be stuck. 

* Insufficient knowledge fed to <Alchemy> skill. Unable to upgrade <Alchemy> to next milestone. 

Level 10 is a milestone that unlocks intermediate Alchemy. It seems that I cannot gain it through grinding the same experiences. I have been seeing this error for a couple days now. Since then, I have tried to create many new inventions ranging anywhere from gliders to painkillers. Nothing seems to satisfy the system's knowledge requirement. What is worse, is that I learned from the town folks that there should be a racial skill that I can train to improve my stats on. I check my race menu on status screen:

* Race: half blood (human and ???)

<empty>

I don't have any racial skills, and what is with the (???)? I know that I am using my old body, so I should be fully human unless world travel contaminates my DNA. Either way, I am at a dead stop.

On Sunday, I visit the church. I make sure to skip the morning sermon; I am not religious towards the gods of this world, and I am still uncomfortable with large crowds. Priest Abbot is surprised by my visit...and yes I also learned that the "pillow" is in fact just some homemade stale bread. To keep with my own promise, I donate some of my extra earnings as repayment. 

When I exit the church doors, I hear a crisp upbeat tune with children's laugher... and of all people, I see Katherine leading a bunch of kids and strolling past the church. I almost did not recognize her at first sight. She is not showing any horns, tails, or wings. She is wearing an innocent summer dress with a straw hat that is just wide enough to block out the sun from reaching her bare arms. 

She is skillfully blowing on a leaf to create a simple melody. While the music is on, the kids would circle around. Whenever the music stops, she would pat the kid in front, and the kid would need to exit the circle and follow behind while the game continues. A succubus baby sitter...this world is sure crazy.

Katherine notices me and speaks, " I didn't expect there to still be people here at this time. We are taking a stroll and about to head back to town square. Want to join?"

"Sure" I join in, "I rarely see you outside of the guild, do you take care of kids often?"

"Only on Sundays. Families spent the entire morning in the church and will need rest of day for chores, and preparation for Monday market open. Many of them do have the time to take care of the little ones. I have been helping every week for awhile," says Katherine.

"I always thought kids are more rowdy. I am kind of surprised you can handle so many."  

"My charm don't just work on men you know." she laughs and pats on a kid wondering too far and continues, "jokes aside, I do get a few nasty ones. I would sent the misbehaving ones back home. While the rest play with me, they would get to sit home and watch their parents doing work for the rest of the afternoon. Kids learn from negative experiences fast."

It is the same town, and I have walked the same path many times in the past week, but today feels relaxing. Katherine would blow out various tunes and each one seems to be associated with a different game. The kids seems to know the games inside out. Occasionally, Katherine would tease them by changing tune mid game, and half of them would frantically scramble to finish the current game while the other tries to start the new one.

On the way back, we visit each of the cottages to bring the tired kids home. Katherine would receive small gifts from family, biscuits, snacks, and cheese. Katherine says that usually she carries them, but since I am here, I get to do the honors.

"Hey, this isn't the path towards the guild, do you have another residence in town?" I ask.

"There is...one more place to visit."

We walk towards a cottage in the south east corner of the town. It is beyond the workshops and right next to the wall. It is a plain looking cottage and seems reasonably well-maintained by the town standards. A simple wooden plate with the word "orphanage" hangs on the door. Katherine gently knocks on the door. A woman in simple robes opens and greets us.

"Hi Katherine, how was your trip?" says the woman in robes

"Hi Eldove, the trip took a bit longer than expected. I am here to drop off the snacks." Katherine replies, and gestures to the sack of gifts from the town folks.

"Thank you Katherine as always. It is nice to see that you have company. Do you want to play with the kids before leaving?" says Eldove as she receives the sack of gifts from me.

"It is getting late. I will visit tomorrow when I take break from guild work." replies Katherine, and she grabs my hand before waving goodbye to Eldove.

"It is nice to see such a cute side to you, Katherine." I remark.

"Is it cute enough for you to start buying sexual fantasy from me? I have been looking to get some fresh vitality for awhile" Katherine nudges at me playfully.

"ah, about that...I am stuck on leveling up on alchemy. I have been unlocking new knowledge like crazy in the past few days, but the system keeps on telling me that I do not have discovered enough knowledge to reach level 10. In addition, I don't have a racial skill to level up stats." I explains to Katherine.

"I may be rude to ask, but did you try to feed your alchemy skill?" Katherine looks at me quizzically.

". . . do you mean literally feeding the skill?"

"Yes. Exactly what the words mean."

"No...I don't think I quite understand?"

Katherine takes a breath, and explains "concentrate on your alchemy skill and imagine that it living ball of light. Now slowly think about each knowledge as a picture and pass it to the light."

I close my eyes, and follows Katherine's direction, and start mentally passing knowledge to my imaginary friend Alchemy. A small part me thinks Katherine is just pranking me.

* Class <Alchemist> completes milestone and reaches level 10

* You can now create intermediate alchemical constructs

* Class <Alchemist> uses up saved experience and reaches level 15

"Looks like you figured it out. For detailed check on race and status, I will have to do it tonight. The System blocks sharing of detailed status. We can bent that rule within the realm of dreams." Katherine waves me goodnight and leaves me puzzled.