*****

"I'll give you two of 'em for free if you can meet the requirements," the old man grinned, exposing to her his jagged teeth.

Vermouth returned that grin and nodded without hesitation. "You got it, old man."

Hearing Vermouth's response, the old man grinned wider as he opened the small chest widely.

"What the!?" Vermouth stepped back and covered her face as the fluttering feathers flew before her, stunned by the scene before her. 

"If you want 'em, go and catch 'em!" The old man shouted as he laughed with his arms wide open.

From within the chest came a pair of scrolls with their own unique quirks. While one was fluttering in the wind within the building and littered with its feathers as it flew with its white wings, another was repeatedly disappearing and appearing all over the place every split second, making it hard for Vermouth to follow its movement.

"I'll give you five whole minutes! So go ahead and struggle!" The old man shouted once more, taunting Vermouth.

Vermouth overcame her surprise as her eyes narrowed at the scrolls moving and teleporting all over the place. The winged scroll was hitting everything as it flew in all directions at a speed Vermouth could not possibly hope to catch up to, both because she's slow and short. While the teleporting scroll was simply randomly disappearing and appearing everywhere.

From what she could tell, these quirks represent the spells within these scrolls. So in terms of which is better, and which she has a better chance of catching and the obvious choice here would be to…

"Go for the teleport scroll!" Vermouth excitedly shouted as she hopped to where the scroll was only to hit the shelf face first, the impact making her groan despite feeling no pain. While annoyed, Vermouth hurriedly got up and jumped for the scroll again, to then hit a basket on the floor.

Repeatedly, Vermouth spent half the time given to her just hopping and running all over the place, with nothing to show for it except for disheveled hair.

"You've only got two minutes left, young lady! Better get to thinking and moving!" The old man haughtily laughed as he watched her struggle in vain.

"I'm on it, old man! Don't bother me!" Vermouth said as she prepared to dive toward the scroll once more. However, upon realization, Vermouth stopped herself and looked back at the old man. "…Wait, thinking..?"

When the old man heard her words, he winked at her and gave the chest a pat. "A minute and a half left, young lady!"

"There's a pattern to it!" Vermouth shouted in her mind in glee.

 Vermouth observed the two scrolls as she thoroughly took in every detail regarding the two.

As the winged scroll flew all over the place, the teleporting scroll would seemingly try to follow it, appearing just a meter behind the winged scroll. Upon seeing this, Vermouth gave it a deeper thought.

"Thirty seconds!" The old man shouted.

Sometimes, the teleporting scroll would teleport on a wall and floor to either the floor or a basket filled with other scrolls.

"Ah!" Vermouth gasped as realization dawned on her. Immediately, she took off toward the winged wing not to catch it, but to wait for it to hit the wall and bounce off toward another direction.

"Ten seconds! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!" The old man started counting down as Vermouth made her way to the wall that the winged scroll was about to hit and stood under it.

"Four! Three!"

On the wall appeared the scroll and gravity took it to Vermouth's hand, which she immediately ripped in half in fear of it disappearing again, watching as the scroll turned into flames and entered her chest.

"TWO! Wha!? You caught it!" The old man shouted as he laughed loudly, clapping excitedly while hopping up and down like a child. "You even used it without my permission, haha!"

"I got it, old man! Where's my other scroll!?" Vermouth shouted gleefully.

"Haha! Unfortunately for you, you were supposed to catch both if you wanted both! Not just one!" The old man exclaimed with a hefty laugh, making Vermouth slightly deflate as she lost her excitement for a short moment.

Vermouth approached the counter and watched as the old man held out his hand, the winged scroll wildly flying around landing on it. He shoved it back into the chest and immediately closed it.

"You're the tenth person to ever catch one of these scrolls! But you're the second one to ever catch the teleporting scroll! You're even the first to figure out the pattern to it, so don't be so downcast!" The old man exclaimed.

This made pride rise from within Vermouth as she puffed out her chest. "Well, I guess I'm just built different!"

"That, you are, young lady. Congratulations on getting the short-range teleportation spell!" The old man clapped his large hands. "It allows you to teleport anywhere within your field of vision with a distance limit of fifty meters and has a cast time of half a second. It's the most powerful spell I've ever formulated."

"Wow, you create spells!?" Vermouth gaped in surprise to which the old man shook his head.

"I don't create spells, I formulate spells. It is to take one spell formula and further improve it. What you just managed to snag off my hands was a short-range teleportation spell with half the mana cost, half the cast time, and twice as much range as the original. It is one of my proudest works!" The old man pointed out before letting out a deep and hefty chuckle.

"I see, that makes sense," Vermouth replied. "Then, do you have any more superior spells like this one?"

"No, these two are my only successful formulations in the last three months. It is actually harder to make a superior spell out of a weak spell than a strong spell." He explained.

This got Vermouth confused because shouldn't weaker spells be easier to upgrade? And this made her ask, "Why?"

"Quite simple, young mage," the old man replied before he started explaining. "A stronger spell has a longer and more complicated formula, there's a lot to work with and change. While a weaker spell has a much shorter formula so there is a lot less to work with and change. When you formulate and improve a spell, you don't take or add into the formula, you just change it. Change the flow of mana through the spell, or change the position of the symbols on the magic circle. Otherwise, you'll either break the spell or make it do something else entirely."

"I see, I see," Vermouth replied, thinking. "Is it possible for me to learn how to do that?" She ended up asking.

The old man grinned widely. "Now that's a nice question, would you like to learn under me? I've been meaning to get a disciple but no one has caught my attention so far. Surely the owner of a lost skill would be the best candidate, right?"

This got Vermouth's undivided attention as she glared at the old man cautiously, to which he responded with a smile and a knowing glare of his own. "A lost technique, Totemist. You really should get an appraisal block, young lady. It's a wonder how no one has discovered your skill just yet, kinda impressive. I'll even give you a superior one if you become my student."

"Wait, really?" This got Vermouth to lower her guard a little as she looked at the old man before her. "But why would you do that?"

"Why, simply because I wouldn't want my future student to be targeted by the wrong people, why else?" The old man shrugged before leaning back and relaxing on his chair. "If I'm, no. If we're doing this, might as well do it properly."

"I appreciate the thought, but what would you want in exchange?" Vermouth asked as her eyes narrowed at the old man, glaring cautiously.

The old man grinned ominously and spoke up. "Simple, I want a copy of the skill's formula, what else? It's not every day that you get to study an ancient technique, is it?"

"Unless you can guarantee that you'll never disclose or share it with anyone, even after your death, then I'm never trusting you with the details of my skill," Vermouth replied, still glaring at the old man.

"Oh that's easy, I have a few Essence Contracts at the back, we could write one up," he replied before he pointed at the door behind the counter with his thumb.

"Essence contract?" Vermouth perked up at the unfamiliar term, questioning, "What's that?"

"It's a magical contract that involves the soul, what else?" The old man explained with a haughty tone. "Those who sign an Essence Contract must absolutely adhere to their side of the deal, otherwise there will be heavy punishment. Destruction of the soul isn't too farfetched when it comes to Essence Contracts."

"I see," Vermouth replied, lowering her guard and attentively listening. "But what if someone steals your research and learns my skill? Will you be punished for that?"

"Not at all," the old man waved his hand dismissively. "But Essence Contracts aren't that simple compared to a normal magical contract. If we add a clause that will destroy any documents containing information regarding your skill upon being seen or touched by anyone except for you and me, then that guarantees that it will never be leaked to anyone. The contract can destroy souls, what's a few documents against that?"

"I see… but you're being oddly cooperative, old man," Vermouth replied, releasing the tension on her shoulder she didn't know she had.

"What can I say, this old man is a curious person. This benefits you as well, why cause I'm sure I'll be able to make some adjustments to your skill that will make it more powerful." He explained and grinned.

"Fine," Vermouth relented, convinced enough, "I'll be your student and you'll teach me everything you know when it comes to formulating and creating spells. In exchange for that, I'll share with you the details of my skills and the formulas for it."

"Great!" He shouted as he gave the counter a loud smack. "I'll get the contract prepared in two days, you can come back to me after that and we'll sign the contracts. Well, if you're still up for it by that time, that is."

"I see, then I'll be leaving after I buy some spells," Vermouth said before turning around and looking at the scrolls scattered all over the place. "Say, where are your offensive spells stored? You really should put a label on these."

Right when she said that, the doorbell rang and two players entered the shop.

"It's on the shelves, just go see for yourself what you need or want, I don't have the time to arrange these things, let alone label them," was the old man's dismissive reply before resting his head on one arm.

"Got it, thanks," Vermouth replied and approached the shelves, ignoring the other two players in the room looking through the scrolls with her.

Vermouth spent the next dozen minutes looking through the spells, carefully evaluating each one she unrolled. In the end, she decided to buy only two more scrolls, for utility and crowd control.

"I'll buy these two, they're called Chain Stun and Lumina Flare," Vermouth placed the two scrolls on the counter and the old man lazily unrolled them and gave them each a look.

"Your total comes to 34,000 Rof. 20,000 for Chain Stun, and 14,000 for Lumina Flare," the old man says lazily. 

Vermouth places the coins on the table and rips the scrolls, the flames entering her chest. "Is this how you usually are?"

"Kinda. Everything outside of learning about scrolls and spells bores me," he explained.

"My name is Vermouth by the way, may I know yours?" Vermouth asked politely.

"Gregory," He replies, he then reaches under the table and takes out a scroll before tossing it to Vermouth who catches it easily, giving him a questioning look. "It's an appraisal block skill scroll, I gave you one just like I said I would."

"I see, thanks. It was nice meeting you then, Gregory!" Vermouth cheerfully acknowledged as she exited the building, the bell ringing behind her.

Now outside, Vermouth decides to give her skill interface a look after she uses the skill scroll Gregory gave her, looking at the new entries.

Nodding in satisfaction, Vermouth heads next door to the Skill Scrolls shop. Her time there wasn't as eventful or long as her time in Gregory's shop. Unlike him, the nice lady there actually arranges and labels her merchandise. Unfortunately, however, she only found one skill she found useful in there. The rest she either already had, or wasn't fit for her class. She bought a passive skill that increases all her stats by 50 each though. Unfortunately, it wasn't upgradeable as it didn't have levels.

The place was slightly cramped due to players, so Vermouth promptly left after paying for her scrolls.

A moment later, Vermouth heard a small pinging sound. In the corner of her sight, she saw a small symbol of a thought bubble, which meant someone had sent her a text message. Promptly opening her main interface and scrolling down to messages, Vermouth saw the name "Bela" highlighted by a small red dot.

"From brother huh, so he's finally online…" Vermouth mumbled to herself as she opened the chatbox, reading his text message before typing her reply.

With the conversation having ended, Vermouth closed the interface, looked up, and let out a sigh. "How is he going to arrive here in ten minutes when it took me double that even though I was closer?

"Guess I'll go find get a room in an inn while I wait for bro," Vermouth mumbled to herself as she began walking, opening her map and following the road to where the local inn was. "I wonder if I can take a nap while in-game?"

Not long after, Vermouth entered the local inn and was greeted by the pleasant smell of food lingering in the air. "Right, I haven't tried eating in this game yet, have I? I forgot to eat my dinner from that previous inn I was in, I think I also forgot to return the key! Welp, that's for later, first is food."

Walking toward the counter, Vermouth greeted the bald and bearded man attending to the counter. "Hello, How much for a room for one night and a meal?"

"Hm?" The man hummed and looked down at her, giving her a friendly smile. "That would be 1,900 Rof. 1,200 for the room for a night and 700 for the meal. Would you like that meal now or later?"

"Now, please," Vermouth replied.

"Got it. Go find yourself a table, I'll have a waitress bring your meal to you along with your room key." The man waved her off as he turned around and entered the kitchen behind the counter.

Vermouth complied and found a neat table for one sitting in solitude in the corner of the building. Taking a seat, Vermouth patiently waited for her meal as she played with balls of magic missiles, making them fly in circles in between her palms.

A minute later, a nice black-haired lady brought a tray to her table, with a sizzling hot steak on an equally hot metal plate. On the side was a small pitcher made of wood, holding the sauce for her steak. Following that, the nice lady placed a cup of water and a pair of keys on her table before speaking, "Here's your meal, dear. Enjoy," and left.

"Meat, just what I want right now. He didn't ask me what I wanted, but he somehow knew. Now that's good customer service," Vermouth praised before pouring the sauce on top of the steak, sizzling as it touched the hot metal plate. Vermouth picked up the metal knife and wooden fork and began cutting into her steak.

But before she could take a bite, a small pinging sound made its way to her ears. Curiously, Vermouth scrolled through her main interface and saw that someone messaged her. It was, of course, her brother, saying he had arrived. Vermouth gave him a short reply and told him she was in the local inn about to eat.

Done with that, Vermouth stabbed at the cut-off piece of steak and brought it to her mouth, enjoying the tender and juicy meat.

As she was enjoying her meal, a tall figure overshadowed her. He was like a hooded grim reaper, his body all covered in dark garments. 

"Enjoying your meal, Ver?" The deep but familiar voice made Vermouth realize who it was immediately.

"Br- I mean, Bela!" Vermouth exclaimed. "You really came in ten minutes! How?"

*****