“I don’t get it,” Jenna said. “Aren’t you the bloody headmaster of the Sect or whatever? Can’t you just order them to give you the ingredients you need?”

  “It doesn’t work that way,” Billy replied. “These rules are built into the very design of the dungeon. They granted me credit because I’m the Headmaster, but they made it clear that I can’t receive more until I’ve paid my dues.”

  “So you got a fourth-rank ingredient just to test what you could do with it, and you had to use your Instant Lab ability to create that pill you gave me,” Jenna concluded. “Basically, we used a fourth-rank ingredient we haven’t paid for to obtain a third-rank one.”

  “Well, to tell the truth, the fight was not going well,” Billy defended himself.

  “This Everlush Root seems to enhance any alchemical creation based on human interaction,” Bob concluded after examining it. “I think my Bartering skill could be classified as social interaction. Maybe I could use this ingredient to gain some Bartering perks. I haven’t used them much since that incident with the trooper.”

  “I wonder why,” Jenna muttered dryly.

  “If I use Alchemy to obtain some powerful bartering perks, perhaps I could turn their own contribution points system against them,” Bob suggested.

  “I don’t feel comfortable with this,” Billy said.

  “We are in the middle of a war, Billy,” Jenna reminded him. “The fate of two worlds is at stake, and one of them is ours. Alchemy is the only advantage we have against these Imperials. We must do whatever it takes.”

  Bob spent the rest of the morning in the lab, attempting to extract as much magical essence from the Everlush Root as possible. Meanwhile, Jenna consulted with Dignity and her adoptive mother. Billy assisted Bob with the lab work, and he found that this did indeed speed up the process somewhat.

  Two hours later, their efforts yielded results: four small medicinal pills, designed explicitly with Bob in mind, lay in the palm of his hand. They were true works of craftmanship, and their designs disappeared from Bob’s skill screen as soon as they were completed.

  They were no longer Bob’s perks; they became autonomous powers.

  However, these four pills had been designed with Bob’s skill system in mind — they would work only for him..

  Medicinal Pill of the Silver Tongue (Tastecraft 3): Taking this pill while attempting to activate a perk based on social interaction will instantly complete the perk. It will not work on perks above rank 3.

  Bob had already devised the three perks he aimed to complete.

  Glib Tongue (Bartering 3): For every minute spent bartering, you can transfer a point from the Mind Stat to the Spirit Stat. The ability will attempt to convert this into as many points of the Persuasive Spirit Tertiary Stat as possible, converting into Charismatic (secondary stat) or Spirit if there is not enough of a foundation for Persuasive to be built on. The stat points revert to their normal distribution as soon as bartering ends.

  He had to make several adjustments to ensure the design was accurate. He realized he couldn’t focus solely on Persuasive; a solid foundation of Spirit and Charismatic points was needed to support it.

  His second perk was a straightforward spiritual attack meant to make clients more receptive to his offers.

  Let Me Show You How It Works (Bartering 3): The more you converse with a potential client, the lower their mental defenses become. This functions as an insidious Spirit attack.

  Bob planned to use both perks alongside Irresistible Offer, a bartering perk he obtained during the final wake, which let him talk to clients for hours.

  The third bartering perk he created was based on the principle of convergent skill trees.

  Appraise Value (Bartering 3): By looking at it, you can determine whether an item for sale has low or high commercial value. Requires knowledge of Truth Reveals Itself (Truthfinding 3)

  This one would be invaluable for what he wanted to try.

  For his last perk, he decided to upgrade an oldie.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Unexpected Comeback (Bartering 3): During negotiations, the user makes an unforeseen and out-of-place proposal based on a daring idea that suddenly emerges. There is a 1% chance the deal will fail. If it doesn’t fail, the outcome of the negotiations is determined by the Mind stat, not the Spirit stat.

  He first tried the perks on some students milling around the Sect. These individuals appeared quite young and naive, and Bob felt guilty about taking advantage of them. However, he didn’t want the Sages to catch him popping pills into his mouth while negotiating with them. Trying the perks with the students would be far less risky.

  He found the students fascinating. They all looked very similar and had cookie-cutter personalities, but Bob's keen senses detected how they had evolved even after just a few minutes of social interaction. It resembled how Citizens initially developed when mingling with Experientials. Essence not only empowered Essentials, but it also helped them cultivate genuine identities.

  Thirty minutes later, he had three additional Bartering perks, four fewer medicinal pills, and had acquired IOUs from five different students, totaling 83 contribution points. All it had cost him was a broken watch, which the first student he conned—a thin, straggly young man with long whiskers—found to be a curious memento.

  The moment of truth had arrived. He entered the nearest shop, which belonged to the Master of Pills. He casually examined the items inside, identifying two pills and three ingredients with high commercial value. These items seemed to flash red when he first looked at them, likely due to the influence of Truth Reveals Itself.

  Of the five items, only one was within his budget: a pink pill that slightly boosted physical resilience for one hour, currently priced at 120 contribution points. After forty-five minutes of haggling, he finally convinced the exasperated Sage to sell it to him for 83 cp.

  The only thing that soured his day was when the Mistress of Experience attempted to sell him his own watch—a mysterious memento from another world worth at least 3,000 contribution points, an incredibly lucky find from one of her most talented students.

  Bob envisioned his own watch, flashing outrageously red in his mind’s eye.

  Why, that thieving, two-tongued, whiskered weasel! he thought, recalling the scruffy student who had initially bought it from him.

  After visiting the other five shops, he traded alchemical compounds and ended up with items worth a little over 500 cp. Not bad for a first day, Bob thought.

  Jenna did not share that impression as the Losers had a frugal dinner later that night at the Grandmaster’s lodge.

  “Bob, that is not fast enough. At this rate, it will take us years to gather the resources we need to train the Beli and arm ourselves for the war. Elariana and Dignity can’t commit troops; they are tied up restoring order in Madison. And let’s not forget that the ultimate target in this invasion is Babylon itself. Postulants will attack it sooner or later. If we want to accomplish anything in Belona, it will be the Losers and the Beli we can train as Players.”

  “Jenna, these alchemical Sages are equivalent to 49-rank Avatars; they have strong spirit stats. I can’t just go in there and swindle everything from them, even with my Bartering perks.”

  “Besides, this mountain is huge. I spent most of yesterday running from one shop to another; I can’t simply go any faster.”

  “Okay, Bob, I think I see the problem,” Jenna conceded. A smile suddenly lit up her face. “Oh, Bob, I have just had the most wonderful idea,” she exclaimed, happily clapping her hands.

  “Yes?” Bob asked warily.

  “Tomorrow, you and I are going shopping.”

  Bob woke up at the first light of dawn, only to find Jenna already waiting for him near a wagon. It was clearly designed to be pulled by a large animal, probably a horse or even an ox.

  “Climb on, sunshine!” Jenna cheerfully told the confused Bob.

  “And the horse?” he asked warily.

  “You mean Billy?” Jenna glared, her voice taking on a dangerous tone.

  “No, of course not,” Bob hurriedly replied. “I mean the animal that’s going to pull this cart.”

  “Oh. You’re talking to her,” Jenna said. She moved in front of the cart, grabbed both handles, and started pulling it with such strength and speed that Bob nearly fell out.

  They reached their first stop ten minutes later, and this time Jenna went with him. While Bob began his bartering routine, she casually held onto his arm and pumped him full of Spirit points. When they left, nearly everything of value that the poor Sage of Potions had in his shop was packed into the cart.

  Jenna retook hold of the cart and ran like the wind, pulling a frightened Bob and their precious cargo to their next destination. After two more shops, the cart was so filled with valuable items that Bob couldn’t stand inside it anymore, and Jenna had to give him a piggyback ride.

  “This is so humiliating,” Bob complained, his face flushed with shame.

  “You can always run after the cart, you know,” Jenna replied. “Just train up some athleticism perks and such,” she suggested. Bob fell silent.

  That night, the Grandmaster’s lodge was filled with all the alchemical treasures that had been for sale just hours before.

  “We’d better make good use of them,” Billy said to them. “The dungeon will need months to generate more.”

  That night, before going to bed, the Sage of Pills brewed himself a calming tea. It was the only brew he could afford now. He looked wistfully at the empty shelves in his shop. Big things were coming.

  He remembered the Grandmaster’s dao companion pulling a car three men would have strained to move up the mountain slope at the speed of a hunting cheetah, piggybacking that blasted Skillmaster with his thrice-damned silver tongue.

  He had swindled everything from him, including that beautiful watch he had won from the Mistress of Experience during their afternoon match of that delightful new game, Bounty.

  As he prepared to go to bed, a sound raised his alarm. He peered carefully through the window and beheld the Grandmaster himself on all fours on the grass, grazing on the grass, with an expression of contentment on his face. He did this at night, when he thought no one could see him.

  Suddenly, the Grandmaster discovered him. He neighed in alarm and ran away, jumping gracefully over the fence on all fours.

  The Sage of Pills was wise in the ways of destiny and magic. This could only mean one thing: the Age of Man was at an end.

  The Age of the Horse had begun.