That detention was..... sothing, Lucas thought as he left the classroom.
Ms Ocsol wasn’t just a strict teacher like he had seen in the ga. She actually gave a damn about her students getting better.
That made her both soone who could help him and soone who could cause problems for him depending on how things turned out.
Her picking up so easily on things could co back to bite in the ass when I beco a Villian but if I could sohow get her as an ally, her help would be good for to find out what’s going on with the tiline and what else had changed.
For now, though, I’ve bought myself so space to breathe. The threat of getting kicked out right away is gone, though it depends on keeping up a better performance.
That shouldn’t be so hard.
"Alright it’s ti for the next stop: the rchant’s shop to earn money for the Leklass fruits. Then, finally, I can start my career as Shadow." He said to himself.
---
The sun was going down as Lucas made his way back through the city streets toward the place where he’d made the deal for the Leklass fruits.
The old rchant, whose na he’d learned was Henrik, had agreed to let him work off part of the paynt by helping with so heavy lifting around the shop.
Lucas found the narrow building squeezed between a bakery and a leather store. The windows were dirty, and the doorway was so low he had to duck a little to get in.
A bell rang as he pushed open the heavy wooden door. The inside was cramped and ssy, with shelves going almost to the ceiling packed with jars, bottles, and cloth bags full of various alchemy ingredients.
The air was thick with all kinds of slls that Lucas didn’t recognize but figured he didn’t want to know about.
"Ah, you ca back," Henrik called from behind the counter. He was a skinny guy in his sixties with thin gray hair. "I wasn’t sure if you were serious about the work thing."
"I need those fruits," Lucas said. "What do you need to do?"
Henrik pointed toward a pile of wooden crates stacked near the back of the shop.
"Shipnt ca in this afternoon. Needs to be unpacked, sorted, and put away properly. So of it’s delicate: break anything valuable and it cos out of your paynt."
"Got it."
"Good. There’s an inventory book on the counter. Everything needs to be checked against the list and marked off. The storage system..." Henrik paused, looking at Lucas’s academy uniform. "You can read, I assu?"
"Yes, sir."
"Right then. Each shelf has labels showing what goes where. Dried herbs go in the climate-controlled section behind that curtain. Minerals and crystals stay dry on the middle shelves. Anything that glows, moves, or makes noise gets locked in the reinforced cabinet and call before you touch those." Henrik said.
Lucas nodded and got to work. The first crate had bundles of various dried plants wrapped in oiled cloth. The inventory book was written in Henrik’s ssy handwriting, but it was readable enough.
He thodically unpacked each item, checked it against the list, and took it to the right storage area.
The work was more difficult than just simple heavy lifting.
Many of the ingredients needed careful handling - so were fragile, others were apparently poisonous if you screwed up, and a few seed to have mild magical properties that made them react to touch or temperature changes.
"Careful with those Moonbell petals," Henrik warned as Lucas handled a particularly delicate packet. "They lose their strength if you bruise them, and they cost more than you’d make in a month working here."
Lucas slowed down, treating each item with more care.
Huh, you know what, this is actually pretty educational. I’m picking up alchemy ingredient knowledge that might co in handy later, and getting paid for it on top of that. This is the life.
After an hour of steady work, Henrik brought him a cup of bitter tea and sat on a stool behind the counter.
"So what’s a noble academy student doing looking for the Leklass fruits yourself?" the old rchant asked. "Most of your kind just send servants when they need sothing expensive."
Lucas had been ready for this question.
"Personal research project. My family doesn’t approve of what I’m doing, so I’m paying for it myself."
"Ah, family disapproval." Henrik nodded like he understood. "What kind of research needs Leklass fruits?"
"Strength training," Lucas replied.
"Fair enough. Though I should warn you that the Leklass fruits pack a punch. Take too many too fast and you’ll poison yourself. Take too few and you’re wasting your money. You sure you know what you’re doing?"
"I’ve done my howork," Lucas said.
I wonder how he’d react if he knew my research ca from a video ga. He’d probably look at like I was crazy and ask what a video ga was.
Henrik seed okay with the answer and went back to his own work . He was grinding sothing that slled really strongly of sulfur in a stone bowl.
Lucas kept unpacking and sorting. The second crate had mineral samples and crystals, many of which he recognized from the ga.
Mana-conducting silver ore, Fire crystals from volcanic areas, and what looked like pieces of Dragon scales, though he couldn’t be sure.
"Those dragon scale chips are worth a fortune," Henrik said, noticing Lucas’s interest.
"Client ordered them special from the eastern territories. Supposedly from a Red Dragon that died of old age way back. That makes them way more powerful for certain uses."
"What kind of uses?" Lucas asked.
"Armor creation and enchantnts, mostly. Dragon scales have natural magic resistance. A properly prepared scale can deflect spells that would slice through steel." Henrik’s eyes got a crafty look.
"Of course, working with dragon materials takes specialized knowledge. Not the kind of thing they teach at fancy academies. I’m actually one of the few in the world who can do it without reducing the efficiency of the scales."
Lucas filed that info away.
Dragon scale armor would be insanely valuable in the war with the Legion, but there was no way I could afford it or be able to pull it off right now.
The third crate was trickier. It had several items that glowed with their own light, including a jar filled with what looked like liquid starlight and a crystal sphere that humd softly when Lucas got close to it.
"Those go in the reinforced cabinet," Henrik said quickly. "Don’t touch the sphere directly. Use the padded tongs."
Lucas carefully moved the magical items to the locked cabinet, noting that it had several protective runes carved into the tal.
Whatever Henrik stored in there was serious stuff.
By the ti he finished with all four crates, almost three hours had gone by.
His back hurt from all the lifting and bending, and his hands were stained with various residues despite being careful.
But the work was done, and everything was properly cataloged and stored.
"Not bad," Henrik said. "Everything’s in the right place, nothing broken, ledger properly marked. You might actually have a future in this business if the noble thing doesn’t work out."
"Thank you, sir."
Henrik disappeared into the back room and ca back with the small cloth bag containing the Leklass fruits.
"These twelve fruits represent your week’s work. I’m giving it to you now instead of after the week is finished since I think you’re a trustworthy lad." He said.
Lucas took the fruits and was very happy inside.
"One more thing," Henrik said as Lucas got ready to leave.
"You did good work tonight, and you didn’t ask dumb questions or try to steal anything. If you ever need more rare ingredients, or if you want to learn more about alchemy prep... well, I could use reliable help, and you could use the education."
Wait. Did he use the dragon scale armor before as bait.
"I might take you up on that," Lucas said. "Though my academy schedule is pretty busy right now so I’m not too sure if I can yet."
"Academy won’t teach you half of what you need to know about the real world," Henrik said. "But I guess that’s your choice to make."
Lucas nodded and left the shop with only one thing on his mind
It was ti for Shadow to make his debut.
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