A strong shiver ran through my body as I peered through a small crack in the rocks.

Outside, the light was very limited and the air was extremely hazy. Dark mist shrouded the entirety of the chasm, hanging thickly like dark clouds, and through the crack, a bleak landscape of desolate rocks could be seen.

Howls and screeching noises wafted through the air towards me, from several sources both far and near, and just one look outside already revealed a few of the dismal creatures flying around.

The appearance of their dull wings in the midst of such a lifeless atmosphere, painted a vivid scenery of bleakness that added more misery to my current predicament.

I felt wronged.

As soon as the potion's effect ran out, I was struck by a terrible illness that wreaked havoc through my body.

All my amazing stats disappeared, and the fatigue from the last battle hit me at once like a sledgehammer, in addition to the persistent freezing sensation that refused to go away.

Everything ached everywhere.

It was like the tingling heat had been replaced with a cold of the same intensity, and as my body began to tremble, white clouds formed from my breath, and the icy feeling was so strong that my body became stiff.

Just moving became a chore and I was unable to undulate through the air like before, as if my normal flexibility had been suspended. My wings also stiffened, with one completely unable to unfurl at all.

I'd been hoping to get back to Sylrin, but with my body in such a state and with the likelihood of falling to my death, I was forced to settle somewhere closer to wait out the crisis.

Fortunately, I was able to heal the worst of my injuries in the seconds before the potion ran out.

Although Sensei's brew gave me a great boost in strength, the kickback was just as fierce if not worse and I doubt I'd ever consider taking it again.

Was this why you weren't supposed to accept drinks from strangers?

I found a secluded spot in the rooks and huddled in a tight curl in the nook as I tried to conserve what limited heat I could. Still, I was deeply uncomfortable as my shivering refused to subside.

I'd never felt this sick in both my lifetimes!

But then, the system dinged again.

〚You have killed LV11 Melior Tanlfeng!〛

〚You have killed LV13 Melior Azarone!〛

〚You have earned 140XP!〛

Oh?

This was the second set of system announcements I'd gotten since I settled here, and while the first had a lot more creatures, this one got me thinking. It was very likely these kills came from the creatures on the alcove that I had diced to pieces.

Just what kind of resilience did they have to persist this long?

And what about Sylrin?

I kept wondering if he was awake and looking for me, but with the valley outside being so quiet, perhaps he hadn't left the hideout yet. That's for the best anyway.

I'd long since taken out the dark rods the shadow creature used to stab me, and they lay harmlessly on the ground – exaggeratedly long after gorging on my stamina. Despite doing so, it didn't help with my trembling or the chill I was experiencing.

So this was entirely the potion's side effects.

A cold was perhaps the last thing I expected to experience as a fledgling snake, and it was so uncomfortable my [Pain Nullification] even went up again. And as long as my body was in this condition, it was impossible to get to Sylrin.

And yet, even with everything, I kept wanting to experience more of the potion!

I was appalled and ashamed all at the same time – was this a poison or was it a drug?!

While I blamed Sensei for not explaining anything, I recalled my shameless and reckless acts while under its effect and I realised I was also at fault. The meteoric rise in my stats made me feel invincible, so much that I did so many silly things and made a lot of wrong decisions.

Why did I piss off that shadow creature instead of escaping as soon as I could?

The memory of its dreadful scythe and its evil appearance made me shiver. If it managed to heal itself and come find me again…I wasn't sure if I could even dodge one of its attacks, and I would have to - if this dreadful detox session for [Sensei's brew] didn't kill me first!

Both endings were equally bad, and I sighed.

Why did such a great potion come with such terrible side-effects?

It was like Sensei refused to give me anything good!

«Are you still sulking?» Sensei asked, wholly unsympathetic.

"I'm not speaking to you."

I heard a chuckle, and I grew even more upset.

«Don't you want to know how long the side effects last?» The devil once again dangled his forbidden fruit in front of me.

But I suppose there was a price for that knowledge too.

Hmph! I was not taking the bait.

Unfortunately, when I turned my head to the side, there was an audible cracking sound like two icicles scraping together, that made me yelp.

W-Was it broken? Did I just break my own neck?

I had a sinking feeling, and all of a sudden the fury I held back spilled out to the forefront in a tirade of heated words that let Sensei know exactly how I felt.

But instead of refuting them, Sensei calmly agreed to everything. «Yes, I should've mentioned the side effects. Yes, you feel cheated. And yes, I'm a terrible system. Anything else?»

"Y-You."

I was stumped.

Shouldn't he be ashamed instead of agreeing?

«Surely you didn't think such an increase in power would come without a price?»

I refused to say anything else and simply let the silence stretch.

«You really don't want to know?» Sensei insisted.

"No." I scoffed.

Like the potion, I was sure this cold would end after four minutes or so, ten at the maximum.

Since he wasn't reacting to my provocation, it felt fruitless to continue arguing. Still, after saying the things I wanted, I felt relaxed enough to wait.

As the minutes went by, I got several kill notifications that increased my experience points to an absurd degree. When I checked my stats, my points had accumulated to a staggering [6500], and my eyes went wide in wonder at just rich I was right now.

Would I ever finish spending them?

My bad mood quickly went away as I assessed the system store like a kid in a candy store. But what I saw made me want to scream.

In rage!!!

--------------

Skills:

[Infernal Miasma: 1500XP] [Mind's Eye: 2000XP] [Bloodlust: 1000XP]

[Dark Wave: 2500XP] [Paralysis Venom: 400XP] [Legacy: 5000XP]

[Captain's Mark: 500XP] [Glossary of Aeon: 3000XP]

--------------

Items:

[Sensei's Brew: 2000XP] [Sensei's Brew [Improved]: 3500XP]

[Detoxification Potion: 500XP] [Healing Potion: 500XP] [Elixir of Truth: 500XP]

[Balakrys Tonic: 1500XP] [Blood of Giga-Yvsskra: 1800XP] [Tonic of Disillusion: 1000XP]

Experience Points: [6500]

--------------

What the hell?!

"W-Why is everything so expensive?" I gasped in shock and disbelief.

Sensei chuckled. «I thought you weren't speaking to me.»

I ignored his remark.

"Improved Sensei's Brew is [3500]? And Normal is [2000]? You fraud!!" I fumed in anger.

Wasn't the price too much? How was I supposed to afford all that?

«Hm? What's wrong with it?» Sensei chuckled.

"It's too much!" I snapped. How expensive!

At this rate, I would go completely broke soon.

[Sensei's Brew] wasn't the only attraction either, I saw some interesting new skills and potions that I wanted to try, like the [Balakry's Tonic], the [Tonic of Disillusion] or even the [Blood of Giga-Yvsskra]!

But only two of them had the explanations of their effects displayed below them, like Sensei didn't even care to conceal it.

--------------

[Blood of Giga-Yvsskra]: Contains the blood of a creature known for its long life span.

Effect: It will temporarily increase the HP of the user by 200% for 3 hours.

Limit: Since the creatures have disappeared for centuries, there are only 10 bottles left in existence.

Latent Effect: It will permanently increase the user's HP by 10% for every bottle.

--------------

[Balakry's Tonic]: The supreme grandmaster of Droisak's last brew of potion.

Effect: It will temporarily increase the magic and mana of the user by 200% for 3 hours.

Limit: This is the last batch of potions recovered from the grandmaster's solitary tomb, with only 7 bottles available.

Latent Effect: It will permanently increase the users magic and mana stats by 10% for every bottle.

--------------

They were both rare and very effective, yet this shameless system priced them below his own improved [Sensei's brew].

I was beyond shocked. Was he trying to say the potion of a Grandmaster and the blood of a rare creature were inferior to his potion?

What a narcissist and greedy system!

Sensei tutted. «What are you upset about? You have more than enough points to spare, so don't be stingy.»

Me? Stingy?

"How about you don't increase the price of something I already bought before!"

Did this system not care about its own credibility?

Sensei replied in an amused voice. «Consider the first one as a sample, you have so many XP points now, you can afford the real price. There's no use hoarding points anyway, so why not let me free them off your "hands"?»

He sounded just like a swindler.

I only just got rich and he was already trying to scam it all away from me.

Wasn't he bullying this poor snake?