Rin smiled slightly as the door closed behind her back. She took a moment to think as Luna was an experience she wouldn’t forget for a while.

Maybe it was a mercy to give such a large amount of money to the frail girl. But Rin shook her head, ridding her mind of the thought. It was important to her as something so fragile... such a tender little thing reminded her that the world wasn’t kind. Those with strength would rule, while the weak would suffer. It was the natural law of survival and Rin knew that.

In the past, she didn’t have any morals, she lived by her own rules as one of the strongest entities. Rin could care less about the people she killed, the families she’d destroyed. After all, what could they do, tickle her? Yet seeing some of the lives of the people in Rellea. No... witnessing. Witnessing how people such as Emma and Luna struggled to get by caused a shift to occur within herself. Somehow, resetting to level 0 had allowed her to know compassion.

Although, the girl knew it deep down, that compassion was meaningless. Even if she wanted to deny it, a world governed by strength would always be too cruel. Maybe she herself was lucky, being granted the gift of strength, the ability to sway the worldview at a whim. But what was the purpose of it all? She had still faltered in the end, standing no chance against an enemy so powerful. So why? Why did she feel such a need to find her own purpose?

‘For what purpose...?’ she thought, glancing down at the silver ring graced upon her finger.

[Twilight Rose]

For what purpose dost thou seek? Astera.

Perhaps if there was another world out there, a place without the administration of the system. Someplace where all were equals, would something as fickle as compassion be meaningful. However, such a thing could only be the wishful thinking of the weak. With their current reality, something of that scale would be impossible.

Yet as the girl walked through the streets of the free city, she couldn’t help but sigh as a shadow crested across her visage. Thinking about morality and such principles would do her no good. It never worked in the past. She didn’t know how to love, how to provide. It was all... meaningless.

Therefore, her creed remained the same. She existed for herself, and only herself. That had been her way of life for centuries, nothing could change it. And if finding her own purpose meant regressing back into the life of slaughter and murder.

Then so be it.

 

****

 

Arriving at the auction house, Rin swiftly headed into the building and immediately walked towards the elevator. What she was looking for were supplies for a dungeon run. More specifically, anything that her abilities wouldn’t be able to provide such as healing and antidotes. As the tales as old as time always said, it was never a terrible idea to be too careful.

With the knowledge from the last visit to the auction house, Rin knew the third floor was the area for any general items and stepped out of the elevator.

Waiting for her outside was a plethora of employees along with a number of customers. They walked across the floor, doing exactly what she herself was there for. Buying stuff.

‘Potions first,’ she thought.

Rin walked over to a sector of shelves where the scent of herbs was prevalent. Her eyes wandered the area as she saw a number of glasses lining the shelves. All were filled with the same red color, although their hue and vibrance varied greatly. Those that sat on the bottom shelf were darker in color, while those sitting right on the top, were near translucent.

Reaching forward, Rin grabbed one of the glasses from the middle section and brought it up to her nose. She took in its smell, wafting the scent to her nose before activating her identification skill.

[lvl – 20 Minor Healing Potion (16% Purity)]

Rin looked at the system screen and noticed the white border surrounding the potion’s icon, signifying that its grade was indeed of a common rarity. Immediately, she frowned and moved to place the item back, although in the process the potion’s price tag was revealed.

‘1 Gold.’ she thought. ‘Isn’t this a scam...’

After all the money she had spent the day before, she didn’t know if she would have enough for all her supplies. Right now, all that remained in her inventory was 18 gold coins and 61 silvers.

‘Better safe than sorry,’ she sighed.

Dissuaded from the prospect of suffering an injury too large to heal, Rin placed the common potion back onto the shelf and reached for one of the glasses at the top. Doing the same and inspecting the item.

[lvl – 20 Healing Potion (36% Purity)]

The potion’s size itself was slightly larger, and the liquid was a little purer. But, the most important thing was that its grade had increased, the icon’s hue had changed to a light green meaning that it was classified as an uncommon item.

However, the price tag of the uncommon potion was tripled compared to its former. Rin suspected it was due to all the people coming into the city, hence the inflated prices. But it also served as a reminder of how important a competent healer was. With someone like Alana, most minor injuries could be healed in mere moments, both effortlessly and free of cost.

“3 golds...” she muttered. “Talk about inflation eh.”

In the end, Rin decided that she wouldn’t need any more than a single potion. After all, her allocation of stats was primarily agility based, meaning that she wouldn’t get hit often. And if she did, she knew multiple ways on how to mitigate the damage suffered.

Continuing on with her shopping, Rin walked around the shop and collected a couple more necessities. The following included.

[Bandage x 10]

[Gauze x 10]

[General Antidote (20% Purity)]

Rin looked at her list and was satisfied with what she had prepared, for medical purposes at least. Other things like provisions weren’t an issue as long as she could kill monsters due to her innate title of being able to consume mana cores—something that she had obtained in her past and carried over.

Although, the thought quickly reminded her of something. Her stomach. Quickly gathering the remaining mana cores she had received from the ice forest dungeon, she popped them in her mouth for a quick breakfast.

‘Could be worse,’ she thought and gulped down the orbs.

Honestly, Rin didn’t think that they were too bad. It was just that in the ice forest dungeon where it was her only source of food, they had quickly become stale.

Regardless, Rin had gathered all the things she needed for the dungeon and headed to the front counter to pay. Although a slight feeling of reluctance persisted within her.

‘This place is going to bleed me dry...’ she sighed.

Rin already knew what the total was going to come out to be. But all she could do was stand in the queue with a forced smile.

And soon enough, it was now her time to pay.

“Hello, young lady. What can I do for you today?”

[Warrior – lvl 39]

The voice came from a demi-human, a fishman with gills and webbed hands to be exact. He sported a dredged hat which wasn’t odd considering his race’s nature, although it did look a little amusing.

“Just these please,” Rin said.

Taking the items into her hand, she placed them onto the counter as the fishman started to run up the bill.

“10 Bandages, 10 rolls of gauze, a common antidote, and an uncommon healing potion,” the cashier listed the items and looked upwards. “Correct?”

“Yes. That is correct,” Rin confirmed.

The girl started to bring out the required amount of coins, counting them as she went before she was interrupted by the demi-human.

“Hey...” he spoke, tapping the counter as Rin’s gaze lifted from her inventory screen. “By any chance, are you registered to the adventure’s guild branch of Rellea?”

Confused, Rin wasn’t sure what to make of the fishman’s question as she tilted her head to the side. She was indeed registered to the guild, thanks to Merial and Jamie. But she didn’t see any reason why the auction house’s employee would need to know that information.

‘Although,’ she thought. ‘It wouldn’t hurt right?’

Written on the adventurer's card was nothing special, it was simply a brief overview of her identity. With that thought in mind, Rin quickly nodded in response, and soon, she would come to know that she wouldn’t regret the decision.

“Ah, it must be your first time here then,” the fishman said with a gurgly chuckle. “You see, at this auction house. Citizens of the city receive a discounted price every time there's a big event like the festival coming up.”

“A discount?” Rin asked, intrigue setting into her mind.

“Yeah. Apparently, the locals actually suffered from the influx of people while the outsiders took advantage of the sudden increase in economy. So, to help out our people, the auction house proposed a discount to the city residents,” the cashier explained.

Taking in the information, Rin brought a finger to her lips.

“Hmm, I see,” she said. "Is there anything I need to do?"

“Yes, all I need to do is see your adventurer's card or any other mode of affiliation you have with the city.”

‘Never thought this would come in handy,’ Rin thought, bringing the item out from her inventory.

Adventurer’s Card

Name: Rin

Surname: Unknown

Rank: E-

Class: Mage

Affiliation: Rellea

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Height: Unknown

Weight: Unknown

Eye Colour: Blue

Hair Colour: White

Rin’s eyes panned over the card as she confirmed most of the information to be true. There were a few outliers such as her age and ranking, but the credibility didn’t matter too much to her. It was better that the guild had less information on her.

However, Rin didn’t like it. Something felt wrong with the card being as it was. Just looking at her new name written on the metal was enough to make her feel like an alien. That everything was already set in stone, that her former existence of Valerie was just... gone.

“Hey, lady,” the man said, interrupting the girl out of her daze. “You alright?”

“Huh...?” Rin looked up, seeing the concerned look in the cashier’s eyes. “Y-yeah... sorry.”

Turning the card over, Rin passed the item over to the cashier as they skimmed over the details.

“E- rank hm?” The demi-human said as his eyes softened, “I’m sorry dear. Things must be difficult for you.”

‘What is this guy on about?’ she thought.

Rin already knew that Jamie had set it that way so she wouldn’t garner any increased attention. But with the scenario placed in front of her, it had only achieved the opposite.

“You see... I used to be the same rank myself back when I was an adventurer," he said, eyes raised to the ceiling as his voice turned somber. “And life... life was hard indeed. There wasn’t a single party that would take me and...”

The fish proceeded to tell the entirety of his pitiful life as an adventurer while Rin could only stare at him, deadpan.

“Hey! Hurry up you will you!”

Rin heard a loud booming voice echoing from behind her. It seemed like this conversation was dragging on just a little bit too much.

Looking past her, the cashier raised a hand. “Sir! Sorry for the inconvenience! Sir!”

The demi-human then turned back to the white-haired girl as he leaned in close.

“These people, they’re always in a rush. Rush this, rush that. Don’t you just hate people like that,” he whispered in a voice that implied for her to agree.

Rin remained silent.

And that silence only continued until the fishman’s visage started to crumble.

“Well,” he pulled away, passing the card back to the girl. “Everything checks out. If you ever need anything, you can always ask me as a fellow E- ranker. Don’t worry, I’ll be here. Every single day.”

The fishman started to package the items, placing them neatly into a plastic bag before handing it over to the girl.

“What about the money?”

“Ah... don’t bother,” he said, a grin spreading on his lips before he pointed towards himself with both webbed thumbs. “It’s on me.”

He continued to stare at her, his eyes boring into her skull as a shiver ran down her spine and resulted in her promptly leaving the scene. Rin could even sense the man’s lingering gaze on her back, following her every step until she finally made it into the elevator.

‘Was that... fish trying to flirt??’ Rin frowned. ‘Loser much...’

For a girl swimming with no concept of love, she had done well to avoid being reeled in as an easy catch.