—Cain's Speedy Thoughts— (200ms)

Cain: Sweet, so that's done… now for why I actually created this self dm

Cain: It appears Dresil is constantly reading my memories… Hopefully she doesn't slowly start to morph into me.

Cain: As for her reasons… Hmm… it doesn't seem like she has any ill-intent, my gut tells me it's even self-preservatory… but why?

Cain: Chances that my gut is wrong… perhaps 30%? Nah, conservative estimate is 40%. But this boi is almost never wrong as long as there's food

Cain: Wait… heck, my snacks :emoji with tear:

Cain: Welp… There's not much I can do since she hasn't really acted against me using this knowledge. I'd rather not suspect her over nothing and end up ruining the trust within our relationship…

Cain: Aaaagggghhhhh… I don't know what to do… Dresil hasn't given me a reason to be suspicious of her, other than the fact she's constantly reading my memories… Her body language, tone, etc. all point to somewhat forced actions, but otherwise sincere.

Cain: It's understandable since we've only met 4 days ago and yet she's acting like my maid/servant… Even though I kept telling her not to… :emoji sigh:

Cain: I hate this paranoid side of myself… there's also the chance she's reading my memories to better serve me, albeit, small…

Cain: I'll just give her a warning and keep an eye on her…

Cain: I don't mind that she's reading my memories; Rex and Bob are doing it too. As long as they don't bring up my embarrassing moments, everything's good.

Cain: I'm more worried she'll lose herself and slowly start to become me as she continues. Rex and Bob don't need to worry about this since they just look through events with memes and riddles.

Cain: Dresil seems to look through everything though including my thoughts… welp

Cain: Final decision: Give her a warning, and observe her behavior for further changes

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—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (15ms)

Cain: Sweet thanks, I'll treat you to something later.

Cain: Try not to read too many of my memories and thoughts and let me know as soon as you realize you aren't your usual self. Otherwise, keep up the good work.

Dresil: (is typing)

Dresil: (stops typing)

Dresil: Thanks, Master! :blush proud face:

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Cain, Jared, and Jacob walk the rest of the way in silence. Cain is busy taking mental notes of all the food stalls and their prices. Unfortunately, most food stalls were already closed or were closing so Cain could only get a few prices noted. It appears that most prices are under half a silver.

The group finally arrives in front of the Adventurer's guild. Jacob points to the blacksmith next door before heading in with Jared. Cain walks to the entrance of the smithy and peeks his head in.

"Are you guys still open? I've got a few questions." Cain asks wearily.

A gruff voice sounds from the back, seemingly getting closer with each second. "You're in luck, lad. We close in roughly 45 minutes, or whenever the sun sets. What can I do for you?" A dwarf emerges from the back room while asking the last question.

Cain walks into the shop, eying every piece of weaponry and armor laid out on the shelves, stands, and cabinets. Although the shop seems small, the quality of the goods appear decent. Even for Cain, who's used to seeing modern alloys, optimized for each task. Cain assumes based on the scale and quality of the shop, that the store specializes in custom orders.

He walks up to the dwarf, who is now sitting on a barstool behind the counter. The barstool is roughly the dwarf's height to ensure he appears eye level with the average human when he sits on it.

"So, what is it lad?" the dwarf asks Cain.

"Is there someone in this shop who made this?" Cain pulls out a semi-steel nail from his pocket that he stole from the carriage. The dwarf's eyes furrow, then he glares at Cain, sizing him up.

"I made it. Did the product this nail was a part of cause some trouble?" The dwarf tensed up when he answered. My disciple created this... I should take the blame since he has a bright future.

Staring at the sweat slowly forming and hearing faint sounds of hammering, Cain guesses the dwarf's intentions. "Relax, I was the one who improved the carriage and I was merely interested in who made this."

The dwarf's eyes widened in shock. "Y-you added those contraptions? Where did you learn such techniques from… The rental owner and some nobles were flipping out due to the smoothness of the ride. We could've made something similar but it would've compromised the wood due to the insertions… These bastard nobles don't let us use our alloys you see…

"They keep saying it's too expensive… You should've seen the shitstorm it caused. Ah, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself due to my excitement. I'm Orirdrumlin Embershaper. My disciple, Hundro Kegaxe, is the one who actually made that nail. He's been experimenting with alloys for a while now."

Cain laughed softly from the dwarf's rant. "I'm Cain. Can the dwarves not produce similar alloys or better mechanisms than what I saw on those carriages?"

"It's not that we can't, but that we're prevented from doing so. Those bastard nobles only want the cheapest option, even if these additions will get them more profits in the long run. I'm only staying here since this is an ideal environment to tutor my disciple, otherwise I would have long left this shithole." The dwarf spat several times in disgust during his speech and folded his arms. It was clear that the nobles were giving him a very hard time.

"I have some projects that may lighten your mood." At this moment, Cain uses the majority of his mana that was refilled recently and some natural mana to create 25kg of titanium and 5kg of aluminum. A fake dimensional portal was made to make it look like it came out of a storage ring. The dwarf's eyes widened in shock again as he attempted to keep his balance.

"D-did you just make those ingots from mana?!" The dwarf questioned in disbelief.

Cain sighed while modifying the dwarf's and his disciple's tag to tag everyone they meet. During the first "d" the dwarf pronounced, multiple sound proof magic circles were set up to prevent the rats from finding out what was being said. "Guess I can't keep it hidden from you... I expect you to keep it a secret and you should know what happens if either of you tell anyone."

"Of course. What do you want us to do with these ingots then?" The dwarf inspects each one carefully.

"15kg of titanium will be for you to forge a weapon with. Any weapon is fine, but I recommend you forge one that requires all of your skills. In the future I'll be requesting parts that are complicated to make. 10kg of titanium and the aluminum will be for your disciple to make alloys with. Tell him to try and get the best combination. If you need more materials, let me know. Show me the best you can do so I know what projects to request in the future." In this later sentence, Cain installs a magic circle on the desk with spatial properties.

"I'll use this magic circle to send the materials to the shop. If you look on the back of your left hand, you'll see a magic circle forming. You can use this to contact me wherever and whenever. Keep in mind, if I'm asleep, I may not answer right away." As Cain finishes his short speech, a young, tall male with short blond hair exits the back room.

"Master, what's this weird magic circle that just formed?" The young lad asked.

"Well, good luck. Let me know when you're done by using those circles to contact me. It just needs some mana to function. You can also move the delivery circle anywhere, you just need to touch it and drag it to the desired spot. I've got stuff to do, so I need to head out." Cain says while leaving the shop.

"Hahaha! Finally, something interesting happens in this lackluster area! Thanks young lad!" Cain waves his hand behind his head as he walks out. The dwarf enthusiastically begins explaining everything that has happened to his disciple.

—Dms: Dresil and Cain—(30ms)

Dresil: Master, please come quickly. Some annoying flie-er, adventurers are disturbing us…

Cain: Oh? I thought you would have taken care of them by now.

Cain:

Dresil: Pffft. Since the Master decided to not attract attention, I didn't do anything; and something is fishy. By the way they are acting, they seem to have been hired to do this.

Cain: Ya… About that… Looks like we'll have to show off some as a warning. I still plan to keep most of my abilities hidden until I learn more about this world though.

Cain: Hmm… Just sit tight for now. I'll use this chance to send out a warning, then I'll show off a little more during the duel to send a threat to all current and future enemies.

Cain: I think at most, I'll use 10% of my mana or prowess in public.

Dresil: 10%? Isn't that too small, Master?

Cain: What are you saying? I could create a black hole with that much mana if I didn't care about the protection procedures.

Dresil: "It's easier to destroy than create," or something like that?

Cain: Yep.

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

Cain quickly enters the guild to see a group of 3 burly men pestering Dresil and Veronica. He surfs through the crowd and walks up to the party's large, circular table to sit down. The table is filled with food, the majority being meat.

Before Cain can sit down, Dresil jumps towards Cain's chest, almost knocking him down. "Master!" She exclaims, receiving a head pat from Cain. "How do I look?" She asks, showing off her dress.

"Hm… Spin." Cain strokes a nonexistent beard with one hand while twirling a finger on the other hand. "Looks great, the brown trim and variety of green surprisingly go well. Reminds me of your bark. Especially this light green in the front, it matches your hair. "

—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (10ms)

Cain: Wait… are you not uncomfortable? The fabric here is rather rough.

Dresil: Nope! I reformatted the fabric so it's closer to your clothes now.

Cain: Huh… Can you do that to my blankets in the inn to make them softer?

Dresil: Of course, Master!

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Cain sits down, only to be immediately pounced on by Dresil again. She sits on his lap with her arms around his neck, laying her head on his chest. Her legs hang off the side of the chair.

Across from Cain is Jared. On Jared's right is Jacob, with two people's worth of space between Cain and Jacob. On Jared's left is Victoria followed by Veronica. There is about one person's worth of space between Veronica and Cain.

"Ohh, you're back? We didn't know what you liked, but according to your familiar we just ordered a lot of meat." Jacob reports once Cain sits down. Cain gives a nod of acknowledgment before stroking Dresil's hair.

"What's up with you? Were they that bad?" Cain asks her while she burrows her face into his chest. She hums in approval, silencing the party who was leisurely eating. Jared shivers slightly in fear, Jacob's back is slowly drenched in cold sweat as his face pales. Veronica's face stiffens, almost portraying the betrayal she felt.

Everyone but Victoria seems to have misunderstood who "they" was, or at least why else would there be no reaction from her? Seeing that they misunderstood who "they" was referring to, Cain speaks up.

"Relax, I'm not talking to you but those dogs on the side there. Are you sure this is ok though? I thought you guys were tight on funds." He states while slightly heating up the air around Jared and providing a cool breeze towards Jacob.

Guess they're still afraid of me… Well, it's to be expected. It would be weird if they weren't scared of what I can do or if they already got used to my presence when I've only been with them for less than a day…

Victoria gives a slight nod and says, "Don't worry, we used your card for this."

Aww… I thought I was getting free food. Well this is expected I guess...