Charlotte's complexion was a lot better. Seems like she used the money from the core properly.
We had been talking online since the day we met. She found it easier to express herself in messages, so I was able to get closer to her rather easily.
"Why did you call me?" She asked.
"A date," I said with an embarrassed smile. "There is a girl I wanted to invite on a date. But I was worried. I have no idea how to set-up a date. So, I asked the senior for help."
"Hoho, then let this senior help you." She proudly puffed her chest, trying to look like a dependable senior.
I almost burst into laughter. Her dating experience was the same as mine. Zero.
We went to the zoo, the aquarium, and other places. It was quite enjoyable.
"So, who's the lucky girl?" Charlotte asked me at the end of our makeshift date.
"Hehe, someone I met recently." I didn't explain further. Charlotte grinned and left after giving a few embarrassing pieces of advice.
"Did you find it?" Nutless appeared beside me.
I shook my head.
Charlotte's skill [Mischievous Luck] had its own set of rules.
If Charlotte, or anyone close to her, wanted something, they would receive an opportunity with their desired object as the reward.
However, the road to the reward would be many times more difficult, than it should have been, if the reward appeared naturally.
"I'll have to meet her a few more days," I told Nutless.
I wanted to meet Hanna through Charlotte's Talent.
Hanna was declared a Villain after the Academic Cell incident. She was originally a hired mercenary working on a short-term case with Mythos Cult.
After she failed and all Mythos Cult members, except her, died during the Academic Cell incident, she was declared a traitor to the Cult.
She should be hiding on this planet. This city, actually.
I wouldn't be able to defeat the whole Cult myself. So, I planned to have Hanna help me.
Her consent? Of course, she would refuse, even try to kill me since I was the reason for the failure.
But I had my ways.
It was evening when Charlotte left. I didn't return to the hotel where the students were staying. Instead, I visited the city library.
"Excuse me, where can I find books on herbs?" I asked the old lady on the counter.
She looked up from the book, stared at me, and continued to stare. It got awkward.
Another girl, a few years older than me, came to the counter while running.
"Huff! Huff! Grandma, I told you to call me when… huff! someone comes!"
The girl had vertical pupils, long ears, and her head was full of alive snakes, not hair.
She noticed my gaze, "I'm a Medusa."
I nodded absentmindedly. I had seen a lot of non-humans until now. But this girl was the first one who had such striking features. It caught me by surprise.
She showed me the section with the books on herbs.
The library was empty except for us three. No one visited the library in this day and age. It was a traditional library, only to show the planet's heritage.
I came to this place as books felt more comfortable for me. Old habits die hard.
"Hehe, jackpot," I grinned after a dozen pages in the first book.
The contents of the book, I understood them!
I had zero knowledge about herbs, or how to use them. All I knew was my surface knowledge from the game.
But now?
I could comprehend everything that was written inside the book. Like a genius. I absorbed the knowledge like a sponge!
"As I thought, the classes give more benefits since the world is now real," I smiled.
Metahumans trained their skills and grew stronger gradually over time.
I was different.
My growth came in spurts, using experience points to learn skills instantly. It wasn't consistent like others.
What about the knowledge?
I could create a subspace, [Magic Pocket]. But I didn't know the working behind it.
If another Metahuman had the same skill, they would know everything. How the subspace worked, its laws, relation with normal dimensions.
Only after having theoretical knowledge could they create a subspace.
I thought I would need to learn everything from scratch.
However, the book proved me wrong.
I could learn the knowledge faster if it fell under my domain.
The book was about herbs, related to my subclass [Apprentice Potioneer]. I learned it at an accelerated pace.
It wasn't the same for the history or geography book.
"Hehe, with this, I wouldn't have trouble creating Poison Blood." I started learning about Potioneering, herbs and anything related through the library.
"Coffee." The medusa librarian placed the cup on my table, then left.
"Qia accent?" I noted. Qia accent was common in the Seashore Galactic Kingdom and we were currently on Planet Palvos, a suburb of the Moretti Galactic Kingdom.
She called the old lady grandma. Was she a student in Seashore Galactic Kingdom and here on a holiday?
I shook my head, focusing on the book.
In the morning
I left the library to visit the Junkyard. It was quite late to say this, but I had insomnia. Zain had it too. I was stuck feeling sleepy after the sun was at its peak.
Junkyard was the name of the rundown market in the next city.
I went straight to the intended shop and fished out a parchment from the stacks of junk.
"How much for this?"
"500 Coins."
"50" I shook my head. Five Hundred Coins was too much.
"450" The shopkeeper lowered the price.
"40" I lowered my offer too.
"400."
"30"
"...390" He started to sweat, perhaps intimidated by my smile.
"20"
"...380. I can't go any lower!"
"10, I'll buy all parchment of this type."
"F*ck, take it, dammit!" The shopkeeper nearly cried, saying it was the first time someone overwhelmed his poker face.
The parchments were [Experience Booster].
I brought 20 parchments. Judging by their size and color, 15 among them were 20% Experience Booster while the remaining were 50% Experience Booster.
They were created by [Cartoonist], a budding Genius.
These parchments increased the growth rate. But the growth rate wasn't apparent for others, unlike me.
People labeled these parchments as paper with doodles. They called the Cartoonist a Con-artist. The rest was history.
I continued meeting Charlotte during the day and the library at night.
Third Day
"Those bastards!" Charlotte hit a home run. She didn't stop and gripped the baseball bat angrily. "What do they mean that they don't need my help!? 'A competent enemy is better than an incompetent ally'? F*ck their mothers!"
I closed my ears.
Charlotte wasn't happy. Her teammates had left her here while they went to complete the Academy tasks.
She was seething with anger, unaware that her teammates did not leave her by their own will.
They were bribed – by me.
The money came from Liam's credit card, of course.
There was no news of Hanna yet. I had to do everything to keep Charlotte with me until I found Hanna.
"B*tches! They just want to spend time with the guys!" Charlotte roared.
I vowed to make sure that the truth wouldn't leak. Or it would be my head that was flying, not the balls – baseballs.
Suddenly, the system screen popped up.
[Poison Resistance has reached Level 3.]
Poison Resistance leveled up?
But I didn't use the experience points…
"The skill leveled up manually," I said in a daze.
I was poisoned. With a lethal poison, at that.
…
Next Day.
I couldn't find the source of the poison. Since I didn't know what kind of poison it was, I couldn't buy an antidote either.
Only the one who poisoned me would know that.
"Nutless, can you hack into the surveillance and check the footage of past days?"
"Negative. My main body is too far away."
Even knowing the answer didn't make me any less disappointed.
Nutless' main body was the Stellar Academy Planet. He was quasi OuterGrade, a step away from reaching OuterGrade rank.
He was strong. But I couldn't bring the planet with me to fight.
The Nutless inside my Echolink was an avatar.
As a mechanical lifeform, Nutless could make copies of himself. The farther these copies were from the main body, the weaker they became.
He was a mid Grade 3 at this distance.
Forget Omniscient Eyes, he couldn't even hack the surveillance right now. The best he could do was assist me in battles and control the Fireforge Gauntlets.
I met with Charlotte. The poison was worrisome, but I couldn't give up locating Hanna. My best choice was to multitask.
"Senior, let's go shopping today!"
We entered a high-class potioneering shop.
I bought ten healing potions, eight stat-boosting potions, and four mana potions.
There was no need to buy more. The space inside the Magic Pocket was limited. And I didn't want to carry potions in a bag.
I paid for Charlotte too – with Liam's credit card.
We visited the weapon shops.
"Sorry, sir. We don't sell our techs to unlicensed customers." The clerk refused to sell us Genius tech or normal tech weapons.
Anything that was created by Genius' was called Genius techs. They used supernatural energies as their source, unlike normal techs, which worked on science.
We could bond with only a limited number of Genius tech, I wasn't going to buy them in this shop.
But it would be a problem if we could not purchase normal tech weapons.
"We are students of Stellar Academy." Charlotte showed them our id.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. This is our store's policy."
The clerk remained adamant, breaking my dream of wielding an antimatter gun and energy shield.
Fortunately, we could buy cold weapons.
I bought 12 throwing knives and a gladius, a type of shortsword. Both made of Gallium Alloy, priced at a total of 900,000 Coins. They were the best the store had.
Charlotte didn't buy anything.
'I'll go to the underground market tonight.'
I didn't give up on buying tech weapons. Cold weapons worked best if you had a skill matching the weapon, which I didn't.
We visited a cafe in the evening.
"I'll be back." Charlotte stood up and approached the waiter. "Excuse me, where is the washroom?"
I drummed my knuckles along the table.
The poison was lethal enough to level up my skill. However, I was fine. It had to be in a dormant state within my blood.
If I had to guess, whoever poisoned me, planned to activate the poison when they attacked me.
But who did it? And why me?
"Also, it has been five days, and I've yet to find Hanna." This didn't make sense when I was using Charlotte.
Could Hanna have told the Mythos Cult about me? That I foiled their plan at the academy?
I shook my head. Chances were high that they attacked Hanna before she could leak my information.
If they knew about me, Mythos Cult would have finished me by now. I was in the open for the past week.
'This attack doesn't feel like Mythos Cult's doing. Someone else is responsible for it.' My thoughts raced.
Nutless appeared before me.
"Master, I have good news and bad news."
"Good news first."
"I found who poisoned you."
"And?"
"It's Charlotte."