Information. Reed thought after waking up the next morning, deep in thought as he stared at the ceiling.

  He looked to the pile of gold and silver coins atop a table in the room. He had money now. He had experience in buying and selling now.

  He looked back to the ceiling. If he chose to do nothing for years and relied on chaotic energy alone. How far would he have gotten by now?

  Taking a deep breath to organize his thoughts, Reed got out of bed, putting on the outer robes of his outfit.

  It was time he got himself note taking equipment.

  But before he did, he wanted to test the chaotic energy’s ability to give— or perhaps— to create knowledge. He wanted to visit the Blue Quilin workshop. He would buy some full sized sheets of paper and claim he was experimenting with different types of talisman. Then he would inquire where to get the special ink talisman needed.

  But first, after leaving the inn, Reed walked the path he had taken when he first left the shack in the slums, to the Great Pond Tailor.

  “Welcome. Oh! Welcome back sir.” Green Pond greeted as Reed entered.

  “Good morning, Green Pond.” Reed greeted back. The shop was almost the same, except the older woman was working on a set of white scholar robes with gold embroidering.

  “I mentioned last time that I wanted something with gold or silver embroidery. Do you have any pre-made, or will those take some time?” Reed asked.

  “Ah.. We don’t usually pre-make clothes with advanced embroidery. But…” Green Pond gestured to one of the mannequins, which wore something similar to what Reed was already wearing, except covered in golden embroidery.

  “After you mentioned it before, boss Lavender Stitch felt like making something red with gold embroidery.” Green Pond continued, gesturing to the old woman who momentarily glanced at the two annoyedly.

  “It would still need adjustments, but it could be finished in less than an hour if you’d like it done by today.”

  Reed paused for a moment and then nodded. “How much?”

  “S-sixty silver, sir…” Green Pond bowed again, not looking directly at Reed.

  It is a lot higher in price. Reed noted the girl’s reaction, narrowing his eyes slightly. It was 12 days worth of silver, 15 including paying for the inn. Fortunately, he had recently come into wealth.

  Reed nodded. Money spent to raise his apparent status wasn’t money wasted. He handed over the small box which contained 60 silver, which he had carried with him, the gold coins hidden in an inner pocket.

  Green Pond opened the box, exhaled heavily, then smiled, setting the box aside.

  “Please, just stand here for a moment sir! If you can take off the outer robe I'll take your measurements right away and begin adjusting.” Green Pond pulled the gold embroidered outfit from its mannequin, laying it on a table. Reed obeyed, hesitating a moment before taking off his outer robe.

  “This one is waist size. This one is chest size… Shoulder width…” Green Pond wrapped a bunch of string around Reed while muttering to herself.

  After a few moments, Green Pond spoke again. “Done, I have your measurements! Would you like to wait here or come back later sir?”

  Reed looked around. Since he didn’t want to go to the Blue Quilin Paper shop before getting his new clothes and he wanted to ask about ink and brushes before getting note taking equipment, he could only go back to the inn for now.

  “I’ll come back in an hour or so.” Reed responded, leaving the store.

  Standing outside, Reed fell into thought.

  Now… How do I know how much time has passed?

  ??????????????

  Back at the inn, Reed paced around.

  He seriously considered seeing if he could make a watch in order to tell how much time had passed.

  But as he paced around, he remembered that Halberd Moon was staying at the inn at the end of the street. He stopped for a moment and fell into thought. He had a trace of chaotic energy, so he could work on the mirrors— but, he wondered if Halberd Moon would be suspicious if he showed up with twenty mirrors the next day.

  Reed pulled out the scroll Halberd Moon had given him. The mirror specifications were all exact, claiming the tolerance simply needed to be as tight as possible, focusing light at precisely 6.666 kilometers.

  Reed read the specifications again, focusing on the distance.

  Suddenly, he realised another aspect of the chaotic energy’s knowledge ability.

  The scroll actually read “exactly 13 Li using the Golden Dragon Empire’s Dark Moon Provincial standard.”

  However, the wording seemed to conflict with his understanding of the language.

  He caught himself automatically assuming it to be 6666 meters without knowing exactly why.

  Reed paused.

  He mulled over the implications.

  It seemed there was a level of forced understanding from the chaotic energy. He hummed to himself, realizing he still needed to experience and study the language properly to understand the intricacies.

  “Hmmm…” Reed looked up and around the room— only to remember there were no clocks.

  Since he had no idea how long an hour would be, Reed willed the trace of chaotic energy into more mirrors, following the exacting standards on the scroll.

  The result?

  Twenty concave mirrors of precise curvature. Scattered across the floor around him.

  Reed picked one up, placing it beside the scroll. He was impressed by the scroll's professionalism. It even mentioned that the drawing was to scale, so he could hold the mirror above it.

  Despite the increase in complexity, there were still twenty mirrors. It reinforced that form didn’t matter, only the value of the base material. Imperial qi must be—

  Reed's eyes widened.

  Or— It was based, at least partially, on how well he knew the item in question. Just like how he theorized the knowledge ability worked. It was based on what he already knew.

  The revelation would explain why the spatial pouch failed completely, why he could create so many silver coins and mirrors, but only 5 imperial silver coins a day.

  Perhaps imperial qi wasn’t particularly valuable, but because he had no idea what it was or how to picture it, it cost more to fill in the gaps.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Reed began pacing around the room once more, placing all the concave mirrors neatly on the table.

  He went over his knowledge over and over again before stopping.

  Looking outside the window, he didn’t know if it had been an hour yet, but the sun hadn’t appeared to move too far.

  Shaking his head, Reed glanced at the bed for a moment before picking up one of the mirrors and one of the gold coins— just in case.

  ??????????????

  A few moments later, Reed was standing at the end of the street, looking at the towering 5 story building labeled, Cloud Feather Inn.

  Two blue robed guards stood at the front entrance, their gaze settling on Reed after he lingered for a few moments too long.

  Reed exhaled deeply, settling his nerves before walking forward. The guards didn’t stop him, but were eyeing him as he passed.

  Reed was slightly stunned after entering. The main hall was a kind of eatery, however looking up he could see the roof of the building, with countless balconies overlooking the lower floors. Moreover, despite the apparent smoke and incense in the air, the air felt cool and fresh, soothing Reed's nerves with every breath.

  “Sir. Are you here to stay the night or to eat?” A waiter quickly appeared in front of Reed.

  “...I’m looking for Halberd Moon.” Reed responded.

  The waiter seemed to freeze for a moment, before taking a step back. “P-please. Have a seat and I will go check.” The waiter said with a slight tremor in his voice.

  Reed watched the waiter hurry off. He wasn’t entirely sure about the different levels of status, but it seemed even in this place, which had armed guards and far more wealthy patrons than he had expected, Halber Moon was high up.

  Another waiter served tea to Reed while he waited, before quietly slipping away.

  …

  A few minutes later, the first waiter returned.

  “Sir, Red Haven. Halberd Moon is waiting for you on the top floor pavilion.” The waiter bowed deeply.

  Reed nodded, standing up and following the waiter.

  1 flight of stairs…

  2 flights…

  3 flights..

  Reed wouldn’t say he was out of breath, but he wondered how the waiter was practically gliding up the stairs.

  Reed looked up. Each level was several meters apart and took two or three flights of stairs to ascend.

  Phew….. Reed exhaled internally.

  7 more flights of stairs later and the waiter's face was twitching hard as they tried to maintain their smile.

  Reed pretended he didn’t see the waiters disdain as he got to the highest balcony floor.

  There were only a few tables on this floor, each beside large circular windows which overlooked the city.

  The floor was empty apart from Halberd Moon and a young female waiter nervously pouring tea for him.

  Reed took a moment to breathe at the top of the stairs, before approaching Halberd Moon. He sat down, almost collapsing into the seat, startling the female waiter while the first one’s smile completely broke and he revealed complete disgust on his face.

  …I’ve messed up somewhere… Reed realised. Though Halberd Moon didn’t seem phased at all… Or— he was much better at masking it.

  “It's only been a day. I hear you wanted to see me?” Halberd Moon smiled.

  Reed nodded, pulling out the curved mirror. “My friend felt inspired by the design. They spent all night on this attempt.” Reed explained— an excuse he came up with whilst pacing around in his room.

  Halberd Moon’s eyes widened slightly and he smiled a bit wider as he put his tea down to pick up the mirror.

  Turning the mirror around a few times, Halberd Moon grinned even wider. He looked like he was over the moon.

  “This is perfect.” Halberd Moon responded.

  The two waiters at the side suddenly became nervous, sharing a look with each other.

  “How long will it take to get ninety nine more?” Halberd Moon asked, pulling a massive box from his tiny blue pouch.

  “...” Reed tried not to react, but couldn’t stop his eye twitching as Halberd Moon opened the box half the size of a person and carefully stored the mirror inside. The box then turned into a blue light which returned to the blue pouch.

  “I don’t know just yet. My friend was dead as a log when I went to see him earlier.” Reed responded.

  Halberd Moon's expression suddenly darkened. “Someone killed him?” He asked, beginning to stand up.

  The two attendants started shivering and even Reed felt himself shaking uncontrollably. He realised his mistake instantly.

  Reed quickly responded. “No! No! It was just a metaphor!” He corrected himself. “He was just asleep after working all night. So I didn’t get to ask.”

  The world went silent.

  “HAHAHA!!” Halberd Moon suddenly laughed, before he sat back down. “I see. I see! I’ve never heard such an interesting expression before. So deep asleep there like a dead person! Clever!” He took another sip of his tea.

  Reed and the two attendants let out a collective breath.

  “Apologies for the confusion.” Reed apologised.

  “It's quite alright. I was amused after all— Here.” Halberd Moon passed ten gold coins over.

  “T-This is too much, sir.” Reed responded.

  “Ah, who cares. Consider it an advanced payment for you and your friend. And tell me how long you think it will take.”

  “It… Shouldn’t take more than a hundred days for all hundred mirrors.” Reed responded, struggling to maintain his smile. He didn’t know what it was, but Halberd Moon seemed to become more unnerving every minute. He kept the gold coins and stood up.

  “Thank you for your generosity. We’ll take it as an advanced payment for the first 5 mirrors then.” Reed, about to turn around when he caught the two waiters bewildered glares.

  Reed paused for a moment, then thought back to his last major transaction. He realised he’d always been bowed to. He realised he might have missed something important, but since Halberd Moon didn’t say anything, it was too awkward to go back and try anything, so he forced himself to ignore the two’s gazes and rushed down the 10 flights of stairs as fast as he could without seeming hurried.

  A few moments later, after leaving the Cloud Feather Inn. Reed stood outside among the constantly moving crowds.

  He took several deep breaths before looking at the sky.

  His conversation with Halberd Moon hadn’t taken that long. He still felt like it hadn’t been an hour yet. However he realised he needed to learn a bit more about the bowing culture, so after looking around, he took a deep breath and headed to what had appeared to be an artisans district near the Jade Merchant Guild.

  ??????????????

  “Thank you for the purchase.” A gruff man covered in ash, bowed slightly.

  “A pleasure.” A plain, white robed man now holding a sword bowed back, cupping the sword between both hands, before the two parted.

  At another place a man in embroidered silver expressed interest in an almost pitch black wooden hairpin. The brown robed seller bowed deeply, thanking the customer. Then, the man in silver embroidered clothing passed some money and took the hairpin without bowing, while the seller remained bowing even after they left.

  Reed watched multiple interactions like this from start to finish. He had begun to notice the pattern.

  When two people of equal status made a transaction, they would bow to each other.

  When they were of unequal status, only the lower ranked person bowed.

  Moreover, It seemed to be only based on apparent status since he couldn’t hear any muttering about the other person's name.

  Reed realised —at least one of— his mistakes when meeting Halberd Moon.

  Looking to the sky, Reed finally felt that about an hour had passed. So he headed back to the Great Pond tailor.

  ??????????????

  The bell rang as Reed opened the door.

  “Ah……. You’re here!” Green Pond turned around, greeting Reed. Reed raised his eyebrow slightly, then realised the problem.

  “It's Red Haven.” Reed responded.

  “Red Haven!” Green Pond smiled. “I just finished adjusting the robes. Please. Try them on.”

  Reed nodded, taking the set of clothes from Green Pond and going behind a curtain into a small change room.

  When he came out, Reed found the old woman, Violet Stitch, also waiting and froze for a moment in surprise.

  “Not terrible. But your needlework still needs more work where the embroidery meets the seams.” Reed heard Violet Stich speak for the first time, before she turned and went back to the embroidered white scholar robes he had seen her working on before.

  Reed, on the other hand, felt the clothes were even better than the modern products he was using too. Is this the beauty of tailor made clothes? Reed wondered, before glancing at Green Pond, who had a wide smile and seemed to be off in her own world.

  “Is that considered high praise?” Reed asked.

  Green Pond snapped back to reality and nodded. “Anything not terrible is good!” She exclaimed.

  “I think it fits perfectly.” Reed complimented as well, before bowing slightly. “I’ll be off then.”

  Green Pond bowed back before they both stood back up and Reed left, now fit in bright red robes with white accents, gold embroidery and trimmings all across it.

  The crowd, which he still had to push through, now parted seamlessly around Reed.

  The change in perception made Reed smile slightly. The exhaustion of the day fading away as a renewed vigor rejuvenated him.

  Seeing the sun was still up high, Reed decided to continue with his plans at Blue Quilin Paper shop without waiting for the next day.