As the energy in her body seeped into the atmosphere due to the characteristics of the Fallen Heart Domain, a faint trickle of energy entered her body from the tattoo on her chest.
'Capacitor!' Sarah immediately controlled the skill to stop supplying her with energy. It had a passive nature of storing excess energy and supplying it when the energy in the body was deficient but Sarah could still actively control it when required. It was just that she had to divert her concentration to control it, making her unable to do anything else in the meantime that might distract her focus.
She opened her pouch and noticed a steady stream of energy being drained from the Energy Berries stored in it. Sarah closed her eyes and concentrated on the tattoo on her chest. There was no energy being drained from her Dimension Box which housed many Energy Berries and after she had stopped the Capacitor from supplying energy to her body, it too was no longer affected by the Energy Drain.
"Ugh, this will make me suffer a small loss," Sarah muttered as she emptied the contents of her pouch. There were a total of 10 Energy Berries, Aluminium coins that totalled to 25 Pais, and a single One Rupi coin. The Energy Berries were slowly starting to rot as the energy contained within them was being drained while the One Rupi coin was also steadily losing its lustre.
The One Rupi coin was made from the Monster Core of a level 1 monster and contained a certain amount of energy imbued within it. The 25 aluminium coins weren't affected since they didn't possess an ounce of energy in them. The basic denomination was that 100 Pais equalled 1 Rupi.
People only used Pais for daily transactions. The cost of a cheap meal was 1 Pais while the cost of staying in a cheap inn was 3 Pais per day. Only merchants who transacted a large number of goods used Rupi and its higher denominations.
"I should somehow try to recover this amount from the sailors. But the question is, how do I make sure that they voluntarily hand over some money to me without raising any suspicion?" Sarah muttered in thought before ruffling her hair in frustration. This was beyond what she could think as she lacked the experience in many aspects.
Sarah continued to think for some more time before giving up on the thought. She didn't want to court disaster by acting beyond necessary. She was, after all, only a level 1 warrior whereas even the weakest of the sailors was a level 2 warrior not to mention the Captain that looked to be at the peak of level 3. She didn't have enough confidence to claim compensation from them and get out unscathed.
Even if she didn't have the conscience to not extort them, she still had to remember a point. After she reaches the shore, she would be all alone, without a strong backer. At that time, should she encounter any trouble, there wouldn't be a single soul who might step forward to help her. So, she shouldn't burn her connection for some money. She had plenty of it in the Dimension Box anyway. Her father's entire accumulation was in it so that Sarah could lead a comfortable life and develop herself.
'I should use this chance and form a connection with the Captain. Who knows, he might come of use to me in the future. I don't see any harm in trying to forge a connection with him.' Sarah thought as she flipped open a storybook. She didn't want to rush out without a plan. Moreover, she didn't have much to converse with the Captain of the ship, Strevor.
As Sarah continued to flip the pages of the storybook, she suddenly felt the energy from her body being drained again. She was shocked because the one unit of energy stored in her body was completely drained some time back. As she focused her senses, Sarah slapped her head in irritation. In her enjoyment of the storybook, she had lost control of the 'Capacitor' which immediately began to replenish energy in her body.
Sarah hurriedly stopped the 'Capacitor' from supplying any more energy when she discovered that her body was already filled to the brim. The rate of energy replenishment by the 'Capacitor' was very quick. After supplying her with energy again, Sarah noticed that there were now only 3 units of energy stored within the 'Capacitor'. If she lost control often like this, then she would fully run out of energy which might complicate her situation.
Even though she had many things in her dimension Box, without the energy to manifest a Dimension Gate, she would lose access to it.
'I should just consider this as my training.' Sarah thought as she continued to read the storybook while focusing a part of her attention on controlling the 'Capacitor'. There were many times where she lost control of her attention span which led to her 'Capacitor' becoming dry after some time.
Sarah let out a sigh of frustration as she lay on the bed and just decided to continue reading the book. She would just shamelessly ask the sailor stationed at her door for an Energy Berry later. Since an Energy Berry only cost a single Pais, the sailor probably wouldn't mind much about giving her one.
'Hehehe' Sarah lost track of the time as she giggled while reading the book. It was the story of a Donkey Princess that tried to invade the kingdom of Munchkin lions with her tyrannical strength only to have her plans thwarted by a Rat Hero. By the twists of fate, the Donkey Princess fell in love with the Rat Hero and turned over a new leaf.
On seeing her earnest efforts to mend her faults, the Rat Hero too found himself falling for her charms. Working together, they united the four major kingdoms under their rule and sought for a diplomatic treaty with the kingdom of Munchkin Lions. But, fearing the prowess of the two, the Munchkin Lions paid a great price to hire the miracles of the Great Sage that called himself the Rabbit Sage to curse their foes.
The diplomatic treaty was signed. But, on the day of their coronation ceremony, a curse was placed on them as the Donkey Princess turned into a bull while the Rat Hero turned into a Sparrow. In a span of coincidence, the four major kingdoms under their rule turned against them. The Bull Princess and the Sparrow Hero escaped to a remote frontier where they lived happily ever after.
Sarah finished the book as she felt vacant. The story was so enjoyable that she wanted to read more of it. She wanted to know what happened to the Munchkin Lions after their two strongest foes were removed from the picture. Did they conquer the four major kingdoms? What was the great price they had to pay to the Rabbit Sage? Sarah scratched her head as she pondered such questions and immersed herself in their world.
It was then, a knock sounded on the door that jolted her out of her trance. Sarah took a moment to inspect her appearance before jumping towards the door and opening it. She saw the familiar sailor clutching a tray in his hands. The sailor bowed towards her once before walking towards the table. He removed the old items and replaced them with the tray.
Making sure to not direct his eyes towards any place that wasn't the table, the sailor cleaned the floor on his way out after performing another bow towards Sarah. After seeing the sailor close the door shut, Sarah jumped towards the table and inspected the items laid on them.
There was a small basket of bread, a bowl of seasoned vegetables that were stir-fried in oil, a soup that had thick gravy and a bowl of fruits. She saw the fruits to be the same as the ones which were brought before while another small bowl was placed beside it. She opened it and found 5 Energy Berries placed within it.
'Well, this is good enough I guess.' Sarah picked up an energy Berry and smelled it. It gave off a sweet scent of nectar while it was packed with energy. Sarah also noticed that the energy within the Energy Berry wasn't leaking out. She carefully popped one into her mouth and felt the fruit getting digested in her stomach.
The rate at which an Energy Berry was digested by the stomach was 5-6 times faster than normal food but it still took a lot of time. Sarah didn't touch the food until then as she patiently sat on the bed. A trace amount of energy began to trickle through her energy pathways from her stomach as Sarah began to feel bored. She took another storybook and began to read it.
A long time later, the energy in her body was filled to the brim as Sarah noticed the energy not being drained into the surroundings. This validated her conjecture that the ship had crossed the Fallen Heart Domain and entered into the regular waters of the Hipsink River.
Sarah pulled out an Artifact from her Dimension Box and scanned the food with it before putting it back. She was done with her scan before three Ticks had passed which was how long the Dimension Gate could be materialised with a single unit of energy.
Sarah then popped another Energy Berry in her mouth and proceeded to consume her food. Once she was finished with them, she ate the remaining 3 Energy Berries and noticed the energy stored in her 'Capacitor' being replenished to 3 units.
'By tomorrow, I will reach the shore.' Sarah felt emotions that were part anticipation but mostly fear. She didn't know how she was going to survive from hereafter.