“Please, sir, there has to be some way we can come to an agreement,” Nicholas said, pleading with the man across the counter. It was a shorter and well-built man with a face free from hair. Several scars lined his arms, and a tough attitude scared away weak-willed people. In most ways, he seemed like a more advanced version of Nicholas, but this man wasn’t an adventurer. He was similar to Nicholas in the sense that his class didn’t align with his appearance.

“Look, books are expensive. We don’t have enough to be given to every random person.” Sean, the merchant, said. The conversation they were having had gone on for a while, but his customer was insistent on the idea of taking a book. It was ridiculous. Paper was already expensive to make. Ink hard to come by given the town’s location. The lack of nearby nobles meant that there was a limited supply of high-quality goods, books included. Giving away such items for free was unfathomable. Simply promising to return it was an idiotic thing to blindly trust.

“Then, how about a down payment on the cheapest book?” Nicholas asked. His proposal was the best he could do. Clearly, begging was not going anywhere. Books in this world were too rare to simply give away, so he thought putting down some money as insurance was the only option. It’s not as if libraries existed in this world. Buildings dedicated to books were probably reserved for royalty. Nicholas would have to be a world-renowned hero to enter a place like that. At that point, he should already know plenty of powerful spells.

“The cheapest book here is twenty gold pieces,” Sean said, crushing his customer’s dreams without hesitation. Although, it wasn’t completely the truth. The cheapest book was priced closer to ten gold pieces, but Nicholas showed no signs of retreat. Sean believed giving a ludicrous number would drive the nuisance away. Unfortunately, he got the exact opposite reaction.

“Can I see it?” Nicholas asked. Curiosity was painted across his face. It was an innocent look that expressed sincerity. He’d gotten good at using such a face. After begging for long enough, one finds the best ways to generate a bigger profit. Of course, he planned to stop using such tactics the moment he could. Everything would change when monster hunting became more profitable. At the time, slaying a single slime was difficult, so he needed to pull every underhanded move he knew to gain an advantage.

“Give me a moment,” Sean replied. He couldn’t understand why someone would want to see a book, but he obliged. He couldn’t say no to such a pathetic face. Besides, it’s not as if the boy could afford it anyway.

“Okay. He’ll come back. I get him to open the book. I use [Observe] and unlock whatever new skill is in it. Let’s go!” Nicholas plotted behind his fake face. From the information he was told, most books were written by mages. That meant that the contents were related to magic in some way. More often than not, the book would contain instructions on certain spells or magical concepts.

“Here. This is a book on mana control and conservation.” Sean said as he placed the book between the two. He didn’t see the point in showing it to some non-magical peasant. Even if Nicholas purchased it, he’d probably have trouble comprehending the contents. Magic was not for the faint of heart. It was incredibly difficult to master the most basic techniques, and spells required more mana than most peasants generated in a day.

“Can you open it so I can be sure?” Nicholas asked. He kept the facade of an ignorant country bumpkin. It was easier to roll through the conversation if his opponent thought he was an idiot. Sean would probably do anything to get rid of his customer at this point. Nicholas just needed to see inside the book.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Sean said, trying his best to shut down the interaction. This peasant was being ridiculous at this point. He had no reason to see inside the book. What was the point? To see if Sean was lying? He had no reason to lie. Even if he did lie about the contents, Nicholas didn’t have enough money to purchase the book and be swindled in the first place.

“Please? Just humor me for a moment.” Nicholas pleaded with the merchant. He needed to see inside the book for the plan to work. Everything hinged on opening the book. Worst case scenario, he’d smack it open and apologize later. He would do anything to see a single page. Several sad faces and grumbling later, Sean cracked.

“Very well,” Sean sighed. It was easier to show the inside of the book than to shoo away the customer. He took a deep breath to calm himself and opened the book to a random page. What was presented didn’t matter. The scheming man knew what he was doing and immediately acting upon the opening.

“[Observe],” Nicholas mumbled underneath his breath. He felt the skill activate, but it didn’t respond immediately like usual. Panic set in when he thought something was wrong. Every fiber of his being tensed as he thought of what to do next. Thankfully, Genesis took no time to ease the stress.

“SKILL [OBSERVE] HAS LEVELED UP.”

“Awesome! That means I get more information. Just in time!” Nicholas thought to himself. He was glad nothing was wrong. In fact, he was ecstatic. An increase in level meant the skill was more useful. This was bound to come in handy for future missions. Nicholas got ready to use [Observe] all the way home to increase its level again. Things were finally starting to look brighter. His opinion of the Genesis Program slowly rose. One could even say he was accepting his new life. Until the skill finished its work.

“OBSERVATION COMPLETE. TARGET IS A BOOK. TARGET IS BROWN. TARGET CANNOT BE READ DUE TO LACK OF THE SKILL [LITERACY].”