Rauba sat upstairs, twiddling a small ball of flame between her fingers above a bucket of water. It didn't burn with as much intensity as Paley's, but she could move it smoothly from finger to finger now.
After a few rounds around her fingers, she'd lose her focus, and the flame would drop into the water. Paley advised her to use a bucket so that the cottage didn't catch on fire when she failed and dropped the flame. As she began to form another ball of fire, Bacha screamed downstairs.
Rauba rushed down after putting out the flame to see Bacha on the floor with a green projection in front of her. It came from the ring she found in the mana zone; it showed a plant, spinning with paragraphs of information hovering around it.
"What is that?" Adimia asked.
"It's the ring," Rauba answered and approached. Bacha stared at the projection. She could put her hand through the plant and the text, and they would stay the same. But she could interact with it through some small circles dotted around the hologram.
"See what that does," Reben requested for Bacha to press one of the top-most circles, which had left and right arrows in them. Bacha did, and the hologram changed to another plant, one she recognized, Retaxa, the mushroom herb with paralyzing properties she used to make Paley's Facimut Pulveris.
She pressed on one of the circles near certain parts of the mushroom. They had the symbols of magnifying glasses in them; they zoomed in on the parts and displayed more paragraphs of information on them.
"Is it some kind of analyzing ring?" Rauba asked.
"Maybe," Bacha tapped the ring, making the projection falter slightly, "This came out of nowhere when I tried to put some mana into it."
"Does it have every herb in existence?" Reben asked.
"No. I think It only has the ones I know." Bacha replied.
"You should go look for some new ones to see if they automatically register in the ring," Rauba suggested.
"Yeah..." She stared at it with awe, "What should I call it, by the way?" She asked.
"Ring of Chungus," Amasha suggested heartily.
"That's a horrible name. Call it the DoomBringer." Adimia said.
"I'd go for something to do with plants. What about Leaf?" Reben's suggestion happened to be the worst of them all.
"Those are all horrible." Bacha sighed, "I wanna ask Paley, but he probably wouldn't care much." She seemed almost depressed.
"What about Planteripedia? The Planteripedia Ring." Rauba said.
"That sounds great! Planteripedia." She smiled at the ring: her first step in becoming The Alchemist (what she wants to be called when she becomes an expert herbologist).
Jurie held Teerom's hand tightly as they strolled toward a giant shopping mall. It had two floors and a big wooden roof with big rectangular windows looking out to the sky. More people walked around the shopping district now, but it was nearly night, so they were still scarce.
Jurie let go of his hand and rushed over to the archway that led into the mall.
"Look! There are so many stores!" She exclaimed, looking at the shops lining the sides in awe. There were mostly clothing shops, with a few restaurants and other kinds of shops around.
"There are more on the second floor as well," Teerom added. The mall building had four corridors which made a plus shape. A giant spiral staircase was in the middle, where the four large corridors converged. The stairs led to the second floor, which was a path running along the walls. You could look down safely from there thanks to the glass railing.
"Let's go get mother and Paley." Jurie took his hand, and they began walking back.
Madella and Paley had just exited the musical instrument shop. The shopping district was on a simple and very long road, so Teerom and Jurie were tiny blurs in the far distance.
"So, you were going to say something back there," Paley said as they walked in the direction of the shopping mall.
"What?" Madella asked.
"Something related to me earning money."
"Oh, right. I-I was going to suggest monster hunting."
"Monster hunting?"
"You know, like hunting monsters and selling their parts. I'm pretty sure you can turn monsters into stones of mana. One low-quality mana stone is worth about one gold coin. But that's if you have a Refiner, and I don't think you'll have that." Madella explained.
"Where do I sell them?" He asked.
"Well, first, you have to register as a monster hunter at the town hall. Then, you can sell the monster parts in person. They don't hire young people, especially twelve-year-olds, so you'll probably have to show them some game first. You should also start with the weaker kind of monsters, so no going to mana zones to hunt, okay?" As Madella spoke, Paley began to question why she knew so much about monster hunting and put together the puzzle.
"Were you a monster hunter before?" He asked.
"Y-Yeah, how'd you know?"
"You wouldn't expect someone who knows so much about it not to have done it before."
"I see... Yeah, I was a monster hunter. When I was sixteenish, but, it was out of pure necessity. I didn't enjoy it at all." She fidgeted guiltily.
"Sure," Paley replied sarcastically. Teerom and Jurie came into view ahead, waving at them. They met up and started walking toward the shopping mall.
"That big building has a bunch of shops inside." Jurie pointed to the shopping mall in the distance.
"That's the Gouon mall." Madella said, "It's the only place in the area where you can buy foreign goods."
"You mean like food and stuff?" Teerom asked.
"And other things, like branded clothes."
They arrived at the mall and began exploring. Compared to the previous shops, the mall was blinding with all the lights inside. There were benches, fountains, and plant boxes running along the middle of the corridors.
"We've only got an hour left, so be quick," Madella said to Teerom and Jurie, who were going around and looking into every shop like kids. It was forty minutes to 9:00 p.m, so Madella and Paley had to go back soon to cook dinner for everyone.
"Can we stay for longer?" Jurie requested.
"No, it's dark out." Madella refused.
"Please?" Jurie gave her puppy eyes.
"Jurie, I don't think we-" Teerom began, but Madella interrupted him. "Fine, but you better be back here at 10. Paley will pick you up, right?" She looked at Paley.
"Sure," He replied.
"Deal!" Jurie said.
"Let's go and get everyone some new clothes." Teerom continued walking. They explored the ground floor but found that every clothing shop was too expensive, so they walked up the spiral staircase to see if they could find anything cheaper on the second floor.
Tucked away in the corner, they found a shop which had cheap but stylish clothes. It was a large shop stacked with clothes on the walls and scattered hangers. Most of the clothes were relatively modern-looking, with only a few tunics here and there. But even those tunics lacked the medieval look.
Jurie took a blue shirt and faced Teerom, holding it against her front.
"Do you think this would suit me?" She asked.
"Anything would suit you," He replied.
"Oh, you're just saying that to make me happy." She smiled.
"That suits you." A woman in a pale green pencil skirt and jacket approached. She was one of the helpers in the shop, "But I think this would suit you better." She pulled out a violet dress with a cyan strap. "The purple and blue should contrast your beautiful blonde hair nicely. Want to try it on?" She spoke monotonously, but Jurie was blown away by her expertise.
"Sure," She nodded.
"Follow me. I'll send someone to help you two out." The woman said and left with Jurie.
"Well, guess it's just me and you, then," Madella said to Teerom.
"Where's Paley?" He asked.
"He went to check out some clothes for everyone."
Paley walked along the walls, trying to find something that suited him.
"Do you need any help, boy?" A female helper approached him, and she had the biggest, colossal breasts he had ever seen. They were so big that he forgot to reply and just blankly stared at them, wondering how it was even possible.
"Um, hello?" She bent down, making them hang slightly. Paley's eyes followed them until she snapped her fingers in front of them, "My eyes are up here. Now, what can I help you with?"
"Why're they so big?" He asked boldly.
"Why, you're a rude little boy." She wrinkled her eyebrows in frustration.
"Sorry... I was looking for some clothes for me and my family," He answered.
"There we go. Come on. I'll help you out." She walked him to a corner section, where she picked out two sets of clothes for him. Linen, beige pair of pants with a simple buttoned white shirt for the hot seasons; and thick black jeans with a jacket for the colder seasons.
"Let's try them out on you," She took him to one of the changing rooms behind the counter, coming into the changing room with him.
"Are you meant to be here with me?" Paley asked as she closed the curtain and put the clothes on mounted hangers.
"Of course. I need to make sure my customer is satisfied." She faced him toward a large mirror embedded into the wall. He sighed and took rugged his shirt off.
"Nice abs," She commented sneakily. Paley looked at himself in the mirror and found that a six-pack was faintly visible on his skinny body. He worked out mainly for strength, but now he wanted to do it more since it made him look better.
"Thanks," He changed into the summer clothes first and liked them a lot. The color and the shape fit well with his looks and body, making his facial features stand out more.
"Quite blessed you are. So young and so cute." She said, complimenting his face. Paley didn't have much care about it, but he had an incredibly attractive face. She made him try out the other clothes. The black jacket and jeans suited him well, contrasting his bright red eyes, and complementing his pitch-black hair.
A clumsy young man with a thin beard walked over to Teerom and Madella. He wore round brown glasses and thin gloves.
"Hello, hello! Leila said you wanted help?" He asked.
"Yeah, we want to pick something out. Both of us." Teerom explained.
"Perfect. My name's Hugo by the way," He shook their hands and took them to the left of the store.
"You have a very manly frame, uh... What's your name?" He asked as he walked.
"Teerom."
"Yes, Teerom. Do you work out?"
"Yeah, with my little brother," Teerom replied.
"Oh, I see." Hugo walked to a hanger where there were a bunch of shirts.
"Something tight-fitting on the top and slightly loose should keep you nice and cool and make those muscles pop." He teased and put a white shirt against his torso. "Hmmm," He thought. "This won't do." He hurried to another set of hangers.
"Aha! Tight but comfy." He handed Teerom a similar white shirt, but it was made of a thinner material and had a tighter neck.
"Now to find you a pair of trousers and the young ma'am something to suit her beauty," He grinned and they continued. Teerom ended up getting a thin pair of light green pants. Madella got herself a simple outfit; a white blouse and dark brown high-waisted dress pants. They tried them on and came out to find Hugo delighted.
"Teerom!" Jurie called out. Teerom turned around to see her in the dress. He thought she was stunning.
"How do I look?" She asked, squirming adorably.
"You're stunning." He said.
"You're stunning too," She replied, smiling. Again, Teerom's heart could barely take it. Jurie noticed Madella trying to hide behind Hugo. "Wow, mother... You look beautiful." She complimented.
"Thanks, Jurie. But it's a bit revealing, is it not?" Her outfit only revealed part of the middle of her chest.
"Shall we go see Paley?" Teerom suggested and they made their way to Paley's changing room. The woman who was helping him came out of the room.
"You must be his family. I gotta say, he's one handsome little boy." She commented, noticing that Teerom was trying to look anywhere but her boobs. "Though, he has no manners." She mumbled under her breath.
Paley came out in his beige trousers and white shirt (he was filthy drippy), shocking everyone silent.
"Let's get some clothes for everyone else." He fixed his sleeve and joined them.