Chapter 43: Infuse Everything

  Papier Mache Blouse (Enchanted)

  Magic Item

  Grade: S

  Condition: 52

  Defense: 499

  Effect: +50 Strength, +50 Dexterity, +50 Agility, +50 Stamina

  Runic Enchantment: +20 Strength (Left Arm)

  Owner: Kirk

  “I don’t know if I’d say it worked,” I replied. “This says you only get the extra strength in your left arm.”

  “Is that so?” Leila took off her shoe. “If I apply it to this, will it increase the strength in my kick?”

  I examined the shoe.

  House Slipper

  Grade: F

  Condition: 76

  Owner: Kirk

  Analysis: A simple slipper.

  Info: Sew cloud fiber into the sole for added comfort.

  I frowned. “That’s odd. It isn’t runes or infusion. All it did was suggest ways to make them more comfortable.”

  “Does your skill ever recommend what you did to breakfast?” Leila asked. “Or did you decide to try that all on your own?”

  “Oh, right,” I said, realizing I hadn’t relied on my skill for that one. “Do you want me to infuse this?”

  “Do you think it will work?” she asked.

  I looked over the description again. “Well, this one doesn’t have any defense, so I don’t know what it’ll do. Do you want me to try?”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  So, I set to work. No sooner had I started than the slipper exploded, sending debris flying in every direction. I held my hands up defensively, happy the material was cotton and not egg for once.

  “It blew up,” I stated the obvious.

  Leila chuckled. “I see that. Are you okay?”

  I wiped my face just to be sure. “Yeah, I think so. Something like this happened earlier with eggs. It took me a few tries to get it right. I don’t suppose you want me to try again on the other slipper, do you?”

  Leila gaped at me for a moment before throwing her head back in laughter. Then, she surprised me and handed me the other slipper. “I guess I don’t need this now, so go for it.”

  The first thing I did was use Mimic to make a duplicate. Leila snickered and said, “That’s great, but only if you make me a second left foot.”

  “That’s right!” one of the girls exclaimed. “What’s the point of having two of the same footed slipper?”

  I sighed. “I guess I should have made a copy before I started. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Leila said, walking across the room and grabbing an identical pair out of a shoe rack. “We have plenty of those. You can have a pair, if you like.”

  “I would,” I replied, never one to turn down a free anything. “Let’s see if I can make this work first, though.”

  For the second slipper, I discovered it was unlike anything else I’d ever tried to infuse. With the light, infusing it served a purpose, and that swallowed up all the mana I fed it. The egg was delicate. While the shell rejected it, the yolk accepted a small amount of mana.

  The slippers didn’t even allow that, choosing to explode rather than accept my mana. Since I couldn’t force mana into the slipper, I coated the outside with it, letting the mana flow over it like water. To my great surprise, it worked.

  Comfy House Slipper

  Grade: D

  Condition: 99

  Special: Extra Comfy

  Owner: Evans

  I held up the slipper. “Well, at least one of your feet will be comfy.”

  Leila said nothing and slipped it onto her foot. She squished her toes in it and put on one of the other slippers for comparison. After walking around the table a few times, she nodded. “Yes. You have indeed improved the quality. Does it have any added stats or bonuses?”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  My cheeks burned as I answered in a low voice. “It’s extra comfy…”

  “Excuse me,” she leaned in to hear me better.

  I cleared my throat. “It’s, ahem, extra comfy. That’s what it says.”

  “Well, that it is” she said, throwing her head back in laughter. “Can you do the other one? It’s kind of odd walking on a cloud with only one foot.”

  “Can I try?” one of the girls asked.

  Getting an idea, I said, “Let me see the slipper again.”

  Leila handed them both to me. The first thing I did was make duplicates of the comfy one so there were enough for all the girls. Then I set to work on the other one. I still had muscle memory from the first one, so it was relatively easy to coat the slipper in mana. I finished in a fraction of the time. Then, I made copies and handed the original pair back to Leila.

  “Don’t you want a pair?” she asked.

  I looked down at my worn shoes. While Miss Spencer had stuffed them with cloud fiber, it was the one thing she couldn’t sew for me. Still, shoes were shoes, and slippers were, well…unnecessary in the life of an orphan. Then again, with my Mimic skill, I could make enough for all the orphans.

  “Sure, I’ll take a pair,” I said with a smile, thinking about how fancy all the kids would feel. “Most of the kids at the orphanage just have one pair of clothes, and that doesn’t include house slippers. It will be nice to give them all a pair.”

  Leila rubbed her chin. “You know, I might just have to pay a visit to this orphanage of yours.”

  I was forced to cover my mouth when I failed to suppress a laugh.

  Laila raised an eyebrow. “Is something funny about that?”

  “I don’t know,” I backpedalled. “They might think you’re there to adopt one of them.”

  She smiled. “You never know. I just might.”

  “Well, drop by anytime,” I replied, not believing for an instant that she was serious.

  “I will,” Leila said.

  “Well, I’m late for work,” I packed away my pair of slippers and stood up. “Thanks for the gold, and let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Don’t worry, I will,” she got up as well.

  Leslie caught up to me at the stairwell. “Oliver, wait.”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, noticing she was wearing the blue scale tunic. “You look great in your new armor.”

  A smile flashed across her face. “Um, do you mind if I join you? Leila said I can take the day off…to rest.”

  “Sure,” I said, waiting for her to catch up. “Have you ever been to the shopping arcade before?”

  She nodded. “A couple of times. Usually, with my parents, though.”

  We were just getting to the elevator when I remembered. “Oh yeah! I have a gold now. Let’s go to the auction. Do you know where it is?”

  Leslie pointed back the way we came. “It’s back that way, just past the admin area. I’ve never been, though, so I don’t know how it works other than needing the gold to get in.”

  “Let’s check it out together,” I suggested, offering her my hand.

  She looked at it for a moment before taking it. “Sure, let’s.”

  Together, we marched back into the guild hall and past the administration offices where Beth and Sam got their visitors’ passes. Near the back was an ornate set of double doors with a man with a twisted mustache standing guard. He peered at the pair of us as we approached.

  “Identification, please,” he drawled.

  We both supplied them, and he took a long time before returning them to us.

  “You may enter,” he pushed the doors open so I could pass. “But she cannot.”

  “What?” I balked as Leslie let go of my hand and backed away. “Why?”

  “If you need to ask, maybe you shouldn’t be here either,” the man said, barely suppressing a sneer.

  “It’s my black mark,” Leslie said, her voice quivering. “Go ahead without me. I should probably get back to my training.”

  I wanted to hurt the man. Instead, I glared at him, unable to form words. Leslie looked up, and I noticed the tears in her eyes. That shook me out of my stupor.

  “What the hell is wrong with you people?” I snarled. “You know that black mark doesn’t even come from her? Well, I’ll tell you something. My products will never be in your smelly auction house.”

  I grabbed Leslie’s hand and stomped off, not bothering to wait for his reply, though I thought I heard him mutter. “good riddance,” under his breath.

  When we got back to the elevator, she gently removed her hand from mine. “You know, Ollie,” she began tentatively. “You need to stop overreacting every time someone mentions my black mark, or you’re going to end up with one of your own.”

  “Good!” I said, perhaps a little too forcefully. “Maybe I want one.”

  “No, you don’t,” she replied, but she was laughing, and that made everything better.

  We were about halfway to the shopping arcade when Leslie spoke again. “So, if you aren’t going to use the auction house, how do you plan on selling anything? I hear the arcade is good for some things, but the best items all go through the auction houses.”

  I sighed, regretful that I couldn’t at least see how the auction house worked. “I don’t know, but I’ll find a way. A better way.”

  She kissed my cheek and skipped off ahead, whistling a tune I didn’t recognize. I lost myself in thought, daydreaming about the glorious day I’d invent a flying car that would put all those snobs to shame. When we got to the lake, Leslie waited expectantly by the bush.

  I grinned, having a feeling I knew what was going on. “Would you like to do the honors?”

  She frowned. “Uh, well, you see, the other times I came here, I was with my father and he, you know, did the thing.”

  “Did he, now?” I chuckled. “Try stepping on that rock. Yes, that one there.”

  “This one?” she confirmed as she placed her foot on the rock.

  When the lake dropped away, revealing a set of water-slicked stairs, she stumbled and nearly fell in. I caught her hand and pulled her to me.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled, pushing away and composing herself.

  I half expected her to be awed by the shopping arcade the way I had, but she just chatted with me as we entered the hall. “I can’t wait to meet this Mr. Yu and Miss Drips you’ve been talking about.”

  “Yeah, they’re both awesome, good people. You know, the kind they give black marks to.” Leslie scowled at me, and I held up both hands placatingly, quickly adding, “I’m saying you’re awesome!”

  She planted her hands on her hips. “You better be. Now, which way do we go?”

  “Miss Drips is down that aisle,” I said, pointing to the closest one. “Don’t you want to shop first? Maybe we can find you a new bow or some armor.”

  She shook her head. “No thanks. My bow is a hand-me-down from my grandfather, and you said you were going to make me armor.”

  While I wouldn’t admit it, I was disappointed as I always liked to window shop on the way to Mr. Yu’s kiosk.

  He looked up when we arrived. “What’s this? You brought company today.”

  “This is Leslie,” I replied. “She’s my friend and an adventurer.”

  “Ah, yes,” Mr. Yu smiled. “This is the friend you told me about, Leslie Berkshire. I knew your grandmother, Beverly. Fine woman she was.”

  “I’m afraid I didn’t know her very well,” Leslie admitted.

  “Well, you’re the spitting image of her,” Miss Drips said, appearing out of nowhere, as was her way.

  “This is Miss Drips,” I introduced the old alchemist. “She runs the shop around the corner.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Leslie said with a curtsey.

  “Guess what I did,” I said, not waiting for anyone to reply and taking duplicates of the omelet I created out of my bag.

  Mr. Yu didn’t miss a beat. He snatched the plate and proudly announced, “Excellent, you brought breakfast.”

  “That’s not all,” I replied just as his eyes widened when he took a bite. “I used your technique on them.”

  He gaped at his plate while Miss Drips took a bite of her own. “Are you sure this is safe to eat?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Everyone at Miss Aires’ restaurant had some, and none of them got sick.”

  “And Miss Kirk,” Leslie added helpfully. “She tried some too.”

  “I must admit, this is not what I taught you the technique for,” Mr. Yu said as he forked another bite of eggs, before continuing with a mouthful of food. “However, I must admit, tinkering with food is very tasty.”

  “What kind of work do you do for him?” Leslie asked when I removed the barricade to let her behind the table.

  “Well, last time he wanted me to make something out of a box of junk,” I explained. “Then he made me power a light using my mana. That’s how I learned the infusion technique.”

  Mr. Yu stopped eating long enough to chastise me. “You failed to make anything useful out of that box of valuable items. That’s a skill every good tinkerer must possess.”

  “I think I need to watch you do it more,” I replied. “You know, to get a feel for how it’s done.”

  He grinned. “Well, it just so happens that you’re in luck. I got a fresh delivery of this junk, as you call it, and already have a few good ideas.”

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