After dropping Becky off at her new home, we make sure she can operate all the runes without issue before heading back.

It’s a nice night out, so we simply take a slow stroll and discuss options for Colt.

“...So, if that Talent doesn’t work out we could also try getting a bunch of books and making a library. Then you might get a Fledgling Librarian Talent!” Smiling at him, he gives me a blank look in return.

“We live in a world filled with magic and you want me to start running a library. That sounds boring. What happened to us making a shop? Where are we going to put a library in a shop? We don’t have infinite space y’know.” He gestures animatedly as he talks, Becky gaining a storage Perk has really made him realize how much he wishes for one.

“Yeah, true. Bad idea. Though selling books someday might be nice if we made some instructional ones on magic or something.”

The rest of our walk home covers what kinds of things our shop will sell. We agree on a wide variety overall. It’ll be more functional as a general store than focusing on anything specific, especially with how varied my creation-focused Talents are.

“...Yeah and Adreanell can handle finances. We could even sell some of Becky’s clothes. As much as I hate to admit it, her sense of style is on point.” Colt glares back in the direction of Becky’s house as if she’ll be able to sense the compliment from here.

“Yeah, true. If I can teach her enchanting, she could make some stylish and functional armor.” We laugh as I open the door to the house, letting Colt in first.

The lights are already on, the branches keep themselves constantly illuminated unless Colt or I magically say otherwise with Floramancy.

Before we head upstairs, Colt stops in the alchemy room and comes back holding some various plants.

“I wanna try cooking with aspect crystals tonight to see if it’s possible, can you convert these for me?” He hands me one of each of the elemental bell peppers, a tonion, and a sprig of vitaleaf.

Moments later, I hand him back a multitude of colorful crystal orbs. We head upstairs and I decide to try and help him make dinner tonight.

“So… can I help?”

He glances over to me while chopping up vegetables with blades of wind. “Hm? Oh. Uh, sure. That chicken meat needs chopping. Careful though, it came from some kind of electric chicken so it might shock you.”

Over the course of cooking, Colt has to stop the aspect crystals from rolling off the counter several times. Eventually, he just stores them away in my bag of holding, fed up with them for now.

“That’s like the fourth time they’ve nearly fallen! This is why I wish I had a storage Perk, it would just be so convenient!” He grumbles as he takes out the vitaleaf crystals, putting them into the stir fry he’s making.

“Yeah, but you put it in that bag of holding no problem. I think you might be overexaggerating how much you need one since Becky got one… It wasn’t this much of a problem to you when it was just me, or even when we met Adreanell.”

Handing him the small slices of chicken, I grimace at the few electrical burn marks that are already healing on my hands.

“...That’s true. Becky just gets under my skin sometimes, y’know? What with her constant demands for food, but then she just lords that Perk over me because she knows I don’t have one…” He frowns as he flips the the contents of the pan a few times, bursts of light coming from it as the aspect crystals dissolve into the dish.

“Wow, I wasn’t sure if the aspect crystals would work, guess they do! As for Becky… she has a lot going on that she doesn’t let on about. She acts the way she does to deflect those around her from paying attention to all her real problems.”

“Wow, that was... really insightful, Lucas.” Colt looks at me with surprise.

“Thanks, I read something like that during psych back in college.” He frowns then, losing his admiration.

“Well, you may just be repeating a book but… it’s true, I’m letting her get to me too much just because she doesn’t know how to deal with her own shit in a healthy way. I don’t need a storage perk, I have a bag of holding and I have you!” He smiles at me, making me grin back.

“Well, dinner is ready!” He sets the pan back down to grab some plates to serve it on to. He stops suddenly, mid-reach for the plates. “...You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“What?”

He looks at me intently for a second before two of his system messages appear for me.

Level up! For working aspect crystals into your recipes to enhance the magical effects of your dish as well as improvising with imperfect ingredients, your Talent: Adept Chef has reached (20/50)!

For reaching your fourth Talent milestone in Adept Chef, you have been awarded applicable stat points to Dexterity, Endurance, Charisma, Insight and + 120 XP. In addition, you have been awarded the Perk: Personal Pantry!

“...Wow. You know just the other day I was thinking that The Construct has a sense of humor about things. Also, wait, what does it mean improvising with imperfect ingredients?!”

Colt blushes, stuttering his words.

“Well uh, you went a little too hard with the chicken and it’s just… shredded too much. The pieces aren’t consistent in size and they’re… a little too tenderized.” He scratches at the side of his head awkwardly, not completely meeting my eyes.

“Just say it, Colt. I’m a terrible cook.” Frowning, I stare at the ground in shame.

“You’re not a bad cook! You’re just not… uh… good. Listen… let’s just eat dinner, okay? It’ll still taste great I’m sure.” He quickly doles out servings for each of us onto plates, walking back into the common area and setting them down on the table.

Following him, I grumble a bit before smelling the food and my stomach growls. Taking a bite, he’s completely right, the chicken is just way too tenderized, making it uncomfortably soft in the mouth. The meat sparks with electricity as well.

“...Damnit, you’re right, I’m not good at cooking. Also, I forgot to take out the electric effect… sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, it gives um, unique flavor.” He glances off to the side.

After finishing the meal, both of us note that we feel incredibly jittery like we just drank several energy drinks.

“Damnit, it’s like an electric version of a stamina potion! This feels so weird, but I have so much energy!” Stepping in place, I can’t keep myself still.

“Well uh, you know what we could do to blow off some energy…” He glances around.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Well, we’re all alone finally so…” He blushes slightly.

Realization hits me. “Ohhhh, you want to spar now that the downstairs is available!”

He facepalms, hard, leaving a bright green mark on his forehead.

After an hour or so of roughhousing, the effect of the chicken wears off. “Jeez, why did that effect last so long?” We’re both feeling exhausted like all the energy was sapped out of us.

Level up! For employing new and creative uses of your magic, your Talent: Fledgling Mage has reached (44/50)!

Ignoring the message, for now, I pay attention to Colt.

“Turns out the main difference between Chef Talent and Alchemist Talent is that the magical foods have way higher durations as you level up the Talent… I think that’s just the tradeoff for how much less convenient most food is over a potion.” Colt is breathing hard, out of breath as well.

We collapse into bed, already dozing off. “Colt… let’s never have that magic chicken again…”

“Agreed…” His voice fades away as he falls asleep, exhausted despite his magickal body.

Sleep takes me quickly as well, and I have a fortunately dreamless night before waking up to the first hints of sunlight.

Stretching, my back pops a few times and I slide out of bed, Colt is already up, apparently. Walking into the bathroom, I look at myself in the mirror momentarily. Frowning, I trace my fingers over the mark of brimstone.

‘I wonder if Pasivier or Ilmarinen would know anything about this, I keep forgetting to ask, I’ve been so busy…’

Shrugging, I move on to my morning tasks. Getting all my business out of the way, I step out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam feeling refreshed.

‘I guess I really don’t need as much sleep anymore, must just be habit that I sleep as much as I do. I went to bed so late and now I’m waking up at the crack of dawn not feeling the least bit tired.’

Checking the kitchen, Colt isn’t in there so I walk downstairs. Peering into the alchemy room, he’s not in there either.

Walking outside, I check the perimeter of the house and find him on the southern side of it using a mixture of Geomancy and Floramancy to make a larger garden.

Looking on the wall of the house, there’s a tiny door for Lil P to use to get out to this garden as well.

“Mornin’ sunshine.” Winking at him, I stand next to the vine barrier he’s currently erecting around the garden.

“Oh, you’re up early. I decided we don’t have enough space inside, so I made this garden. We should be able to fit more plants now too.” He kneels down, planting the seeds into the ground by hand.

“That reminds me, I still have those slime eggs, I feel like I don’t trust keeping them in anything outside of a fairly thick glass tank, think you could make that for me? You’re way better at Geomancy.”

“Uh, sure, just let me finish up here. Where are we going to keep them?” He continues to dig in the dirt, the soil glows green every now and then with his Wild Magick. Lil P walks over to inspect the new crops.

“I’m not really sure, maybe the alchemy room for now? Hold on, while you finish the garden I’ll run to the Construct Shop quick. I wanted to see if it has a book on slime ranching. Oh, and could you call Pasivier with that crystal? I had something I wanted to ask him.”

He gives me a weird look but shrugs. “Sure thing, I’ll contact him in a second. See you soon.” He smiles at me and goes back to planting seeds as I run off to the Shop.

Going close to full speed, I arrive at the Shop within a few minutes. There’s a group of people around it all navigating their menus. Approaching the storefront myself, the menu appears.

‘You know, I haven’t really explored this shop much… let’s see what it has.’

Checking through several tabs and menus, most of which are alphabetized and decently organized, I realize just how much this Shop truly has to offer.

‘Dear god, it really does cover just about anything a person could need for a Talent, doesn’t it? Is that a frisbee? Huh, guess it is. Oh wow, they stock bags of holding too, that’s convenient.’

Overall, after about half an hour of just sifting through tabs and dropdown menus, I realize just searching like this I’ll never know the full contents of this Shop, even if everything seems low to mid-tier in terms of quality.

No quality goes higher than “high” in the shop, seeming to be the upper limit.

‘I can definitely make better potions than this shop has to offer, even if they’re only medium quality the numbers are higher. With a little practice, my weapons could be better too. It at least sells some decent ingots though. I still need to check out what Adreanell bought for me too.’

Searching the menus once more, I find the Skill Tomes tab finally. ‘Woah, these are really expensive.’ Mentally searching, I try to find a few of my own Skills such as Mooring or Watery Grave to no avail.

‘Guess it doesn’t stock every skill, most of these look more basic. There’s Acid Arrow… oh and Acidokinesis. Woah, that’s way more expensive than Acid Arrow, 100 Gleams? Sheesh, Skills aren’t cheap.’

Looking for Pyrokinesis, it’s “affordable” compared to Acidokinesis but it’s still 15 Gleams. ‘The basic ones are easy to learn anyway, but I guess some people might want shortcuts. That reminds me…’

Looking into my hold, I find my lightshaft crystal. ‘I still have one of these, I gave the other to that Cartoonist kid Charlie. Let’s see if-’

“Hey, Lucas!”

Recognizing the cheery voice, I turn around and see Adreanell.

“Oh, hey, Adreanell! Didn’t expect to see you here, how are you and Cassandra liking your house?”

“It’s great so far! Cassandra loves her brewing room, she’s making candies like crazy! She got Refining Touch! She told me to tell you! Hey, what’s that?” She points to the cylindrical teal crystal in my hand.

“Oh, a lightshaft crystal. I got it while we were… clearing out Portland. It’s kinda like a magic flashlight. I was just about to see if I could learn light magic from it.”

“Ooooh, can I try it?” She looks giddy, so I hand the crystal to her first. Turning to look at my menu once more, it’s like a flashbang went off as bright flash of light causes everyone in the vicinity to yelp.

Turning to Adreanell in surprise, I shield my eyes from the light. “Adreanell! Can you turn that off?!”

“Oh, sorry!” The light dies immediately. She realizes everyone is staring at her and blushes. “Sorry everyone, first-time light magic user…”

She gets a few dirty looks before everyone simply returns to their shopping.

“Adreanell, how did you learn that so fast? That was wicked quick!”

“I don’t even know, something about Photomancy just feels natural to me.” She shrugs, holding her hands a few inches apart and making smaller, controlled orbs of light the colors of the rainbow.

“That’s some impressive control. Oh, and Photomancy? You got Elemental Dominion I take it then?”

She smiles wider. “Mhm! Got it last night after some sparring with Cassandra. I almost had a stomach ache after eating all of those healing candies…”

“That’s great news, the mancy skills are super useful.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited. Anyway, what brings you here? I was just coming to pick up some stuff for the house myself.” She brings up her own menu and begins to browse, making a few taps. The purchases are likely going directly into her vault.

“Oh, I got these slime eggs as a drop at one point, so I was gonna try my hand at slime ranching, I was hoping the shop would have an instructional guide, but I got distracted and forgot to look. Thanks for reminding me!”

Turning back to my menu, I finally focus toward finding a slime raising manual. With a mental command, the Shop shifts and I find what I’m looking for.

“Awww, baby slimes? Can I come over later and see? Those sound adorable!”

“Yeah, sure, you just head home first and drop off your stuff. Cassandra can come too if she wants.”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you later then!” She jogs off, finished with her own shopping rather quickly.

Looking at the trading menu once more, I glare at the golem for a second and try to haggle. It goes a little better this time and I manage to purchase the book: Slime Ranching and You: A Guide To Not Be Assimilated By Your Livestock for just 13 Glints.

Skimming the book quickly, I find there’s actually a special food I can purchase for just 5 Sparks that is completely unattuned. Perfect for me, seeing as I have no clue what element I want the slimes to become.

Lastly, there’s actually a small slime pen I can buy with specially made curved walls to prevent slimes from getting out. Buying it, I check my hold to find that it’s a tiny box. ‘Huh, must fold out or something.’

That purchase brings me down a whole Gleam, making me wince and hope that slime ranching is profitable and worth it overall.

Heading home with all my purchases, I arrive to see an impatient looking Pasivier.

“Young Lucas, how grand it is to see you.” There’s a slight edge to his voice as he bows but he’s clearly maintaining a level of politeness.

“Oh, sorry, Pasivier. I lost track time looking at the Shop.” Scratching the back of my head, I laugh awkwardly.

“...Of course. Well, what did you need me for?” He peers at me, clearly somewhat curious.

“Uh, first. Colt, could you make a small side room off of our main room? I don’t think there will be enough space in the alchemy room. Oh, and set this up in it.” Taking the small slime pen box out of my inventory, he looks at it oddly but nods and walks off.

“...Anyway. Pasivier, back when Colt and I were in the dungeon… We fought this brimstone seastar.”

“Ugh, those terrible smelling devils?” He sneers at his own memories of them.

“Yeah, they smelled awful. But my thing is, I got a weird drop from the one we killed. Have you ever heard of a mark of brimstone?”

He looks at me with more interest now. “I have not, may I see it?”

“Uh, sure, but we’re gonna want to go inside for this.”

He seems confused but accedes to follow me into the house. Upon entering, he looks around. “So this is the house Colto- Colt built. Passable work… I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, but anyway. Mark of brimstone. Here, look.” Pulling my shirt up, I show him the black triangular mark with the plus sign attached on the flat bottom of it.

“How curious. I’ve never seen a drop that brands itself on one's skin. Magical tattoos exist of course, but those are much more intentional… and sometimes volatile. Have you experienced any sorts of effects from this?” He leans in closer, running a glowing finger over the mark.

“I haven’t had anything weird happen to me since getting it, no. It’s just kinda… there. It hurt like fuck when I got it though. It’s like it seared itself into my very being.” Rubbing at the mark myself, I remember the pain I went through upon getting it.

He eyes me for a moment before stepping back. “Lucas, would you mind taking off your shirt? I’d like to perform a relatively non-invasive scanning spell.”

“Uh, sure. Hey, Colt! I’m taking off my shirt for Pasivier, are you okay with that?” Grinning at my intentional bait, Colt yells back in confusion.

“You’re what!?” He rushes into the main room, having been distracted by building the slime pen room before that.

Laughing, I go to explain further. “Remember when I got the mark of brimstone?” Pointing to the symbol on my chest once more, Colt nods.

“Well, I decided to ask Pasivier about it, now he wants to do some kind of scanning spell.”

Colt eyes the starry purple Fae critically for a moment. “Sure, that’s fine. No doing anything weird to my boyfriend though, Pasivier.”

Pasivier glares in return. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Colt. Right then, Lucas.”

Colt nods to me and stands back to watch.

Taking off my shirt, I store it in my hold. Pasivier holds his hands out in front of him and various starry constellations float around me. My body lifts into the air momentarily and I feel strange, probing energy seep through my skin.

About a minute later of Pasivier keeping me afloat with a look of deep concentration, he lowers me to the floor lightly.

“Well, that was uncomfortable. Did you find out anything?” Feeling at the mark once again, it doesn’t seem that anything has changed.

“Not as much as I would have liked. The mark appears to be branded to your soul, however. Remarkable soul, by the way. You wouldn’t happen to have Shaper’s Soul, would you?”

Feeling strangely flattered by the compliment about my soul, I nod. “I do. What do you mean branded to my soul though?”

“Useful Perk, that. It’s no wonder your skills with creation-based Talents are so high for your level. As for the brand. The mark of brimstone is not only branded on your body, but it reaches your soul as well. Just a mark, it appears to not be affecting anything otherwise.” He prods at the mark once more, his fingers and eyes glowing once again.

“So it’s not harmful then?” My concern lessens and I can breathe a little easier than I have while he was inspecting it.

“I don’t believe so but I can’t be sure. This is most perplexing. Do let me know if you have any sort of symptoms in the future.” He brings his hand back and the purple glow fades from his eyes.

“I can do that for sure. Thank you, Pasivier.”

“Yes, yes, you are most welcome. Now, I have much to do today and I must be off.” He snaps and disappears in a flash of yellow and purple light.

“...Is he always this… abrupt?” Looking at Colt, he shrugs.

“That’s Pasivier for you. He’s… interesting. Anyway, I just need to make the roof, but the space for your slime pen should be ready.” He gestures toward the new addition to the main room.

Just then, the door opens and Adreanell and Cassandra step in. Adreanell looks between me and Colt, noting my lack of shirt mid-sentence. “Hey, guys! I am so ready for some slime ranch- ...Is this a bad time?” She blushes slightly.

“Oh. OH. Nah, Pasivier was just checking out this mark. He did some weird inspection magick.” Shrugging, I reequip my shirt.

“Oh, Pasivier is Colt’s mentor, right? Is that mark special? I thought it was just a tattoo or something.” Cassandra glances at the mark suspiciously.

“Uh, apparently it’s branded onto my soul or something? And yeah, Pasivier is certainly… something.”

“Wait, branded on to your soul? I didn’t even think souls existed! Oh, also, Adri forgot to return this and ran off with it. Here.” She hands me the lightshaft crystal.

Stowing it away, for now, I shrug and begin moving toward the slime farm. “I don’t know, I don’t wanna worry about it anymore. Pasivier said it seems harmless, so I’m gonna go with that. Now, who wants to farm some slimes?”

Adreanell runs ahead, excited to begin.

Colt hands the box containing the slime pen to me once we enter the room. Inspecting it to figure out how to set it up, I get a description.

Tier 1 Slime Pen (Stored)

Quality: High

Traits: Containment, Slick Walls

Description: This containment cube stores a slime pen within it. Simply will it to assemble then set it in the spot you wish for the slime pen to be set up.

‘Huh, that seems easy.’ Focusing on wanting the slime pen to be set up, I place the cube on the floor. In a flash of light, the box opens up and the contents spread out, increasing in size as they do.

The end result is a simple metal-lined tank with curved walls pointing inward, making a sort of dome shape with a hole in the center. There’s a small glass trough on one side for water as well.

Checking out the walls quickly, I note small enchantments around them. Adreanell silently groans while I cross-reference them with my enchanting book, but I determine that they’re simply runes to make the glass walls slippery so slimes can’t escape the pen.

Finally, I take the two gray, squishy slime eggs out of my hold. Setting them in the pen, I pull out the book to figure out what my next step is when two identical notifications surprise me.

Egg detected in slime pen. Please designate a name for your slime.

“Oh, it wants me to name the slimes.”

“Ohmigosh can I name one? Pleaseee?” Adreanell tugs on my shirt excitedly.

“That’s fine with me.” With a mental focus, I allow her to interact with one of the slime naming messages.

“Your egg looks very squishy… so your name shall be… Mr. Squishels.” She taps the confirm button and to our surprise, the egg glows slightly and immediately hatches into a small, gray slime.

On the pen itself, a menu lights up indicating pertinent information about the slime such as hunger and saturation, listed under its name.

“Well, if that one’s name is Mr. Squishels… then his friend will be named… Jello.” Chuckling, I tap the confirm and the other egg hatches as well.

“They’re hungry… do you want to feed Mr. Squishels, Adreanell?”

Her eyes practically sparkle. “Yes! Absolutely!”

Handing her one of the bland-looking gray spheres from the slime food carton, she looks at it with disgust. “Lucas, this doesn’t even look remotely appetizing.”

“Well, the book says slimes love them, who are you to judge?”

She frowns but kneels down with me. We both bring a food pellet near the slimes. They slowly move over, engulfing the food pellet quickly once they’re in range to extend a tendril of slime.

Congratulations, Lucas Creo! Due to successfully rearing your first neutral slime, you have obtained the Talent: Fledgling Slime Rancher (1/50)! As a bonus for gaining the Talent, applicable stat points have been applied to Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma, and Insight.

Looking at Adreanell, we both gasp in excitement. “We’re slime ranchers!”