[Send five tokens?]
Holding a small glittery card that resembled a credit card from his previous life, Eldric twitched his mouth while looking at the message.
He had to admit that this way of transaction was something entirely new to him.
The girl taught him that by focusing, he could make his card that would let him transfer tokens to anyone. However, he could only do this in the zone. He then touched his card with hers and made his payment.
After receiving five tokens, the girl left with a sweet smile on her face. As she walked away, Eldric was lost in deep thought.
Although he considered it a bit expensive, he believed that the five coins were worth the price. Without her, it would have taken him a long time to figure everything all by himself.
"I still have one hundred and ten tokens." Looking at his remaining balance, he hesitated on how to spend those coins. On the one hand, he was fascinated by the items in the shop and wanted to buy all of them, but on the other hand, he wanted to evolve his skill even further. And now that he had one additional skill, the number of tokens he needed was only going to increase.
"And I still need to learn more about Evolution." Everyone who passes the trial automatically goes through their first evolution. But what about the second evolution or further? Eldric had no idea about it.
Eldric thought about how the girl suggested he spend some tokens to get a personal teacher to answer all his questions. It was a bit expensive, but at least it would give him a goal to strive for. Otherwise, he would be like a headless fly, without any aim or goal.
"Forget it. I can always make more tokens, but it would be a loss if I miss something due to my lack of knowledge." Making up his mind, Eldric walked for a bit before standing in front of a large hall.
Making his way in, he was soon greeted by a young boy with a smile.
"How can I help you?"
Now that he had made up his mind, Eldric wouldn't hesitate or mind the expenses.
With a firm voice, he stated his purpose. "I am here to buy some basic information."
"Oh, I see." The smile on the boy's face grew even wider as he brought Eldric to an empty seat before sitting beside him.
"I see that you are a newbie here who wasn't able to get into a university or join any faction." Just like the girl he too pointed out these things about Eldric.
"Hmm..." Eldric wasn't surprised by this. After all, even a guide was able to tell these things about a newbie, much less an experienced worker in this hall.
"There are actually three options for one to choose from." With this sentence, he took out two small books from the counter behind him before placing them on the table, in front of Eldric.
"This first book here..." Holding a thin book that hardly had more than ten pages, he continued, "This book consists of the basic knowledge about this place and how things function."
"It will cost you ten tokens."
Eldric looked at the book but didn't speak.
"The second book here..." Holding a rather thick book which was almost four times the size of the previous book, the boy said, "This book contains everything that a newbie might need to know in great detail."
"The price is twenty-five tokens."
"As for the final option...
It is to hire a teacher to teach you everything and answer all your questions. The price is fifty tokens."
After listing all three options in front of Eldric, the boy went silent, waiting for him to make his choice.
Eldric on the other hand, was in deep thought. The moment he saw the first book, he wanted to buy it. Even if he spent ten more tokens, he would be left with one hundred tokens; a hefty sum to make his other purchases.
But looking at the remaining two options, he couldn't make up his mind. In the end, he looked at the boy in front of him and asked him. "Which one would you suggest?"
The boy didn't expect such a question but soon he picked up the two books and answered with a grave tone.
"Even though these two books contain some information, they do not contain everything.
If you can afford it, then go for the third option of hiring a teacher to answer all your questions. This way, you can not only solve all your doubts but can know more about your future path."
"Otherwise, you will have to explore it by yourself and go through many detours."
Listening to him, Eldric took a deep breath. By now, he had made up his mind. With his abilities, it won't be difficult to earn tokens. So, an investment of fifty tokens seemed like a wise choice.
"Let's say I go for the third option. Who will be the one answering my questions then? And what if the person didn't answer or answered me wrong?"
This was the only concern Eldric had. In case he spent the tokens and the other party refused to give him correct answers, then he wouldn't even have tears to cry.
"Please rest assured. Only the professors of the First-grade universities are eligible to give a private lesson here. You will not face any trouble."
"Hmm..." After thinking for a while, Eldric made up his mind. Accepting the request to pay fifty tokens to the other party, he was then given the time for his lesson. Which is today's night at nine in this same place.
After making the payment, Eldric didn't waste any more time and chose to exit.
Standing inside his room, he looked outside the window only to see it was already morning. Checking the time, Eldric cursed for a moment before rushing out of the room towards the kitchen. After hastily preparing the breakfast and lunch, he ran to the shop.
As soon as Eldric began to run towards the shop, he could already feel massive changes in his body. Compared to before, his speed has increased massively. Just in a few seconds, he was able to cover the distance of more than a hundred meters. If he wanted, he could be even faster.
Even the usual tiredness that he would feel after running for a long time was missing today. Eldric felt like he had endless stamina and could run forever.
The distance that usually takes him half an hour was covered in less than ten minutes today.
Standing in front of his shop's door, he opened it and was greeted by the rusty smell along with the smell of polished wood.
Picking up the mop to clean the floor he was about to start his day when his eyes suddenly stopped while looking at the items for sale.
"Did I not get enough sleep?" Rubbing his eyes, Eldric looked at the items giving off a dim glow.
Putting down the mop, he took a step forward and picked up one of the items which looked like an animal's paw. Narrowing his eyes, he was about to turn it around to check whether there was anything wrong with it. But before he could do it, a small text suddenly popped up above it.
"Huh!?" It took a moment for Eldric to realize before he looked at the other placed item.
Eldric kept on looking at the numerous items placed throughout the entire shop.
"I can see their names." Eldric then tried to look around him, hoping to see whether he could see anything besides these materials.
But no matter how hard he tried to look at other things like the table, chairs, or the other normal things outside, he couldn't see anything. To confirm his guess, he even visited other shops. In the end, he concluded, that as long as it was material, he could see information about it.
"Is it because of the evolution?" This was the only plausible explanation for this sudden change.
But this thought didn't last long as after realizing that he could only see names and nothing else, he lost interest.
Throughout the day, Eldric kept on looking at the materials. Perhaps it was because of his rotten luck or the departure of the old man, but there wasn't a single customer throughout the day.
"Never mind." Eldric didn't care whether there were any customers or not. He might be a shopkeeper in name, but in reality, he was an employee. Regardless of the sale, he would receive a fixed monthly salary. So, he wasn't too keen on attracting more customers.
After dozing off the entire day, Eldric looked at the somewhat dark sky, stretched his body, and headed back home.
.
.
.
.
"Huh!?" Opening the door to his house, Eldric was startled by the sight in front of him.
On the sofa, a woman who seemed to be in her late twenties was sitting in silence. Her pitch-black hair was tied up in the shape of a bun with an exquisite green jade hairpin.
A few strands of her hair were loosely hung beside her ears which she would occasionally lift with her soft fingers and tuck behind her ears.
Wearing a loose white robe, one could only imagine the curvy figure inside.
Noticing someone's arrival, the woman lifted her head and turned around, looking at Eldric who just entered.
"...." As soon as she lifted her head, Eldric almost forgot to breathe. He had seen many beautiful women in his previous life, but the woman in front of him was just on a completely different level. Her beauty was so suffocating that Eldric was beginning to feel inferior in her mere presence.
He looked at her perfect face which seemed to be carved out from a piece of moon. Everything about her was perfect. From her eyes to her bright red lips. This all, coupled with a small beauty mark at the corner of her right eye enchanted her beauty even more.
Eldric kept on looking at her in silence before a sudden thought came to him.
"Wait... Aria?" Even though he hadn't seen her clearly before, how could he not recognize his own wife?
The woman didn't reply but kept on looking at him in silence as if wanting to see through him.
"You scared me for a second. I thought there was an intruder." Even though he was surprised, Eldric still spoke with a smile.
By now, he was used to her silence and these weird habits. Under her expressionless gaze, he walked inside the kitchen to prepare for dinner.
This silence lasted until Eldric came out of the kitchen with a few dishes. But to his surprise, Aria was already sitting there in silence while looking at him.
"Well... That's a surprise." Till now, she never left her room, much less have a meal together. Today for sure was a day full of surprises for Eldric.
As both of them began to eat, Eldric could feel Aria looking at him from time to time. Perhaps it was his misconception, but he felt as if the usually dazed eyes of Aria were filled with sharpness.
After finishing the dinner, both of them headed back to their room. While Eldric was filled with anticipation about the lesson he was going to take tonight, Aria on the other hand kept on looking at him in silence.
It wasn't until Eldric closed the door to his room that she took a deep breath as if making up her mind...