“Would you like to eat anything?” I asked. She gave no answer.

I shrugged and planted a skinny ginseng. I ate it, chewing through the bitter taste. It felt like chewing moth wings, except juicier. I walked to a picnic table I had set up. A volleyball-sized orange plopped down from above. I took a wooden knife and cut a small slit into its side. A few vines helped me squeeze the orange. Juice streamed out of the slit, into a mug I had gotten from the kitchen.

I picked up the wooden knife, which was sharper than any knife in the kitchen, and started cutting up the rest of the ginseng. Tilting my head back, I slipped a piece of ginseng into my mouth without letting it touch my tongue and downed it with a gulp of orange juice.

Who could’ve guessed these ginsengs would be so helpful? To think I had created the first ginseng to treat a broken leg. I was eating the things three meals a day now. I brought the knife up and stabbed my palm. There was no spike of pain, nothing but a pressure on my skin. I looked down. As expected, the knife didn’t pierce my palm.

You’ve created a new type of plant! What would you like to name it?

“Nosy Ginseng” has been named!

Experience required for next level has not been reached! Nosy Ginseng stays at level one!

I may have terrible naming sense, but I could learn from my mistakes. I wasn’t going to create an “Aieee Ginseng”. I’ve learned my lesson from the ancient tragedy of “Eerie Ginseng”.

You’ve created a new type of plant! What would you like to name it?

“Eyebally Ginseng” has been named!

Experience required for next level has not been reached! Eyebally Ginseng stays at level one!

I chuckled at my peerless cleverness and turned to see what Hui Ming was up to. She was now sitting at the base of the Prison Pineapple, eyeing me with suspicion. “Yell if you need anything.”

A wall of vines moved between us, obscuring me from her sight. I put a seed into the ground and a small flower poked its head out of the ground. The flower was one of the many plants I had Identified in the alchemy shop.

I emptied a small glass container I had found in the kitchen. It had been filled with some cheap spice. I pinched bits of pollen from the flower and transferred it to the vial. A few dozen flowers later, the small vial was full.

Taking the vial, I took down the wall of vines. “I’m going to be gone for a while, do me a favor and don’t try to escape.”

Hui Ming had no chance of breaking out when enveloped by the Twentytacle Trap or the pineapple. But she was currently only tied by some loose vines. Given less than a minute of free time, I had no doubt she would be able to break out.

I walked out of my yard and asked for directions to the nearest alchemy store. The nearest one was only a fifteen minute walk away. A sign above the door read “Blue Fire Alchemy Garden”. Shopping in a fantasy world? I wanted to jump in glee. I was living the dream!

It was a huge building, comparable to a small Macy’s. Multiple people wearing the same blue uniform patrolled the shop. “Excuse me. I’m new here, may I ask for some directions?”

“Hey.” He said with a frown. Rude, but perhaps comparing him to Macy’s employees was unfair. Maybe this world had different standards. “Tell me the place.”

“Does this shop buy ingredients?” I asked.

“Yes,” He pointed across the room, “Walk past this shelf of burn medicine and look right.” He skittered away from me as quickly as he could.

I followed his directions and ended in front of a tall woman wearing yet another blue robe, sipping tea. It seemed everybody in this sect wore blue attire. “I have some pollen from a Mist Lightning Flower, is this shop buying it?”

Although everybody wore blue clothing, they weren’t all the same. Some people had little patterns on their clothes while others had different shades of blue. The woman in front of me had a symbol of a tree growing out of a blue flame on her chest.

“Yes we are, sir,” she said, far more polite than the guy from before. She started talking in rapid fire, identical to that fast part at the end of commercials. “The Blue Fire Alchemy Garden accepts plants, ingredients, and anything related to medicine at below the market price. The price we offer is non-negotiable, and we retain full discretion for our pricing decisions. All conditions are void if an elder or somebody of a higher position intervenes.”

“Sure… how much would you take this much for?” I put the vial of pollen on the counter.

She almost choked on her tea. She took the vial, shaking and examining it. She took off the lid and put her finger inside. When she took it out, a couple pieces of pollen dust latched on her finger.

She tasted the pollen off her finger. “All of this is Mist Lighting Pollen?” she asked. I nodded. “I’ve never seen so much of in one place before,” she put on an unnaturally bright smile, “Where did you find this much Mist Lightning Pollen?”

“I, uh, stumbled on a couple in a forest,” I said(lied).

“Can you tell me where and in which forest? And of course, the alchemy garden will provide compensation.”

“Sorry, no thanks. So how much is the garden willing to pay for this much pollen?” I asked.

“I’m certain the sect would be willing to pay more than a hundred thousand shards for the location!” she said.

“No thanks. So... about the pollen?” I said.

“Right…” she poured the pollen into a different container and put it on a scale, adjusting one side of the scale until both sides evened out. “We can offer forty six thousand shards.”

“I’ll take it! Can I have it in silver jade slips?”

“Yes sir, are you sure you don’t want to sell the location of the flowers?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She took the pollen and walked back into the back of the shop. She came back with a box of jade slips. I peeked into the box. They were long rectangular slips of jade. Normally, jade was green with a couple spots of clear or white stone. In these jade slips, the parts that were normally clear or white were silver instead. The end product was a mix of green and silver stone.

The alchemy book I read had alluded to the currency of this world multiple times. By the time I finished the book, I had pieced together their currency system. The smallest unit of currency was one soul shard. It was also the base unit of currency. Everybody referred to prices in terms of the number of soul shards.

On top of that were soul stones, which were worth ten soul shards. Then came copper jade slips and silver jade slips, which were worth one hundred and one thousand soul shards respectively.

One Soul Shard = One Soul Shard

One Soul Stone = Ten Soul Shards

One Copper Jade Slip = One hundred Soul Shards

One Silver Jade Slip = One thousand Soul Shards

While I knew how the types of currency were worth compared to each other, I didn’t know what they were really worth. It might cost one spirit shard to buy a bowl of soup, but it might also cost a hundred. I couldn’t know.

I collected my forty six slips and began wandering the medicine shop. I was looking for a reference point to see how much a soul shard was worth. For example, if a cups were worth fifty soul shards, I would be able to guess the approximate price of a plate. Thankfully, It was a large store so it also sold many little things unrelated to medicine.

Problem was, two vials that looked the same cost completely different prices. One would cost five shards while the other cost fifty. They weren't the only ones. Two backpacks that looked only slightly different had totally different price tags.

“Noooooooo!” somebody screamed from across the room. It was a deep scream, although not brief. Who died?