It had been a long trek through the lower city, often called lower therisian. But honestly, the place was really just a ghetto, sadly I doubted rap would be coming from that place, only a bit of sorrow and PTSD for those who lived down there. I was "Fortunate" enough to be raised in Higher Therisian, not much better but a guard presence kept things calm and boring.

Therisian itself was not really an important target for the ruling monarchy, nor was it all that important to the mob of angry rebels. It was a small city, dotted about in ruins, and broken homes. Pretty much the Detroit of Lernom but with 90% less shootings, only on account of ya know guns not existing.... yet.

I still did not fully understand all of what was going on in this country mind you. Hard to get people to talk to a 5-year-old about politics and war, luckily I am an asshole, and so I just eavesdrop. From what I did gather Lernoms "Civil War" was really just a power play by the nobles, considering that the "scandal" did not really seem like the kind of thing that farmers who could barely feed themselves would care about. no, my money was on the nobles riling everybody up in the hopes of getting more power for themselves.

I walked past some guards, noting their enchanted steel armor glowing, and deftly dodged an attempt to pet my head. Seriously what the hell was wrong with people! Of course, my body came with downsides outside of having a weaker bone density, mainly people trying to pet me all the time like I was some damn pet.

The guards simply chuckled, and I noted them down on my blackmail to oblivion list. The guards had been increasing their presence in higher Therisian lately, though I had yet to figure out why. Certainly, something to look into for later. The part that was really strange was the enchanted armor, which suggested they were not mere foot soldiers, on top of their emblems being of the royal family. A crest with a golden sword.

I noted these details mentally for later, as I walked by shops many of the store owners came out to greet me, having known me my whole "childhood" due to my fathers' friendly nature, and the need to help anyone and everyone. I noted my favorite dwarf, poor souls that dwarfs were, they were at least fun.

"OI! where ya oft ta young lady, yer father be asking bout ya!" the dwarf said with a wink, knowing all too well I had been selling supplies in the lower city, a very dangerous act my father did not exactly condone.

"Hello, mister Roilgand" I replied politely, before handing him half my earnings, as the man was the only [Blacksmith] In the upper city, I often paid him half my earnings, in exchange for his help with my "projects" which currently happened to be a syringe. This world's magic had stunted its medical growth, because potions could deal with basically any illness or ailment. This meant that somehow the syringe had never been invented.

I wanted to test if potions worked better when entered the old druggie method, a needle to the arm. The old dwarf handed me a crudely designed syrnge. "Still cana recon why yer be paying me fer such a wee bitty trinket, but yer payin me an not be my place to ask." the dwarf said. I thanked him, and picked up some odds and ends for potion making, of course, I made Harold carry it all. Because honestly why wouldn't I make my minions carry my stuff.

Harold himself couldn't exactly complain, on account of being unable to speak, some accident when he was younger. I still tried to teach him sign language but it was "slow" going, still, I had faith. We made our way to an old mostly intact home, the exception being the big ass hole in the roof, but honestly, roofs were overrated anyways.

I opened the ancient-looking door leading inside, a loud creaking sound as the door protested to do its duty, mainly open. I noticed my father standing in the hallway, and immediately turned to Harold "uh it's men first right?" he just glared at me and I sighed. Time for a long boring chat with good old pops.

an hour later I was sitting on the floor crisscross style, my ears pointed downwards as Bordom had already set deep in my bones. "Kitty, you telling me you fell down another stairway?" Father said, his eyes were an odd shade of gray, and he had a graying black hairline, and shaved face. His cloak and leather outfit somehow stood out in the poor lighting of our abode.

"yep! stairs are really dangerous ya know, they sneak up on you if you aren't paying attention." I lied very unconvincingly which was completely part of my master plan to convince my father that I was a bad liar, and not at all because I knew he had some kinda truth-telling skill. All according to my devious plans.

"you do realize that the wounds are on your knuckles this time, and not your face right?" shit! he was on to me. My father sighed "kitty I know you want to make some extra money, and I know you have Harold. But eventually, it's not going to be bullies that try to steal from you. It's gonna be older folks, I just wish you'd stay in the upper city where it's safe."

I listened and a part of me did feel bad, but I needed to set myself up. It still felt weird to me, having a parent that actually cared. But I had goals, and safety was well let's just say, it's on the very bottom of my list of priorities.

"I'm sorry," I said using my secrete weapon to get out of this mess, an adorable face! the power of tyrant children of every age. and mine was a far greater power, for my catlike features only made my adorableness an unstoppably divine force.

Of course, he relented to my unbeatable tactic "we'll talk more about this in the morning, you can go." and go I did, also we would not be talking about this in the morning, I would hide if I had to. I scurried up to my room which I shared with harold. It was really just what was left of the attic, we had placed old tattered bed sheets above where we slept, and what little roof remained I had placed my alchemy table under.

I set my bag down on the table, noting that Harold was already fast asleep, and begun to pull out some magical plants and animals. Potions themselves had to be made, the class only gave me the means and knowledge to do so. What I had gathered was that despite the magic properties, potions themselves were effectively still drugs. The stronger ones even had an addictive effect on them. Sadly I was not yet at that level.

I pulled out the syrnge and began mixing a cocktail of a minor strength, and minor healing cocktail. While it was easy to combine the two, many people's bodies simply rejected the substance. However, this was likely because people had issues digesting it. My hope was that by injecting it like a cocaine addict. I could keep the body from rejecting the substance.

The process was still long however, I combined Hercule Beatles, and Vital beans, in a mixture of mana sap and purified water. after about an hour a red and green glow began to appear. I quickly stirred the contents and poured them into the syrnge. Placing the Syringe above my arm. I know that experimenting on myself is probably a bad idea, but I mean since when did I make good choices anyways?

I injected, and immediately felt like vomiting as the potion coursed through my blood. but I didn't, holy shit it actually worked!

[Congratulations for your work on advancing medical science. You have gained two skills and leveled up the [Alchemist] class]

[Mad scientist] You gain +2 to intelligence when engaging in risky lab procedures.

[Chimerac potions level 1] You may now combine the properties of two potions into an injectable method, doing so however halfs the duration of the potion effect. Later levels will allow you to combine more potions together.

[Level up!] You are now a level 2 [Alchemist] gain +1 to mind and gain the class skill [Novice potion maker].

[Novice potion maker] You have now gained some mastery at the art of making potions. Potions take less time to make.

Hmm not bad, still was hoping for a bit more. But from what I gathered from others most didn't level up until around 10 years old. So I get to be to the child genius, yay! I took a quick look at my profile.

Name: Kitty Galern

Race: [Catkin]

Level: 1

Classes: [Leader] [Alchemist 2]

Personal perk: [Mastermind]

Stats:

Strength 9

Endurance 8

Luck 12

Mind: 12

Charisma 14

skills:

[People person] gain a passive +1 bonus to charisma, increasing by 1 for each level. And have a passive understanding of the mood of any group you are a part of.

[Group minded] people who join a party with you gain a passive +1 to their mind stat, you also possess a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of those within a party you are an active part of.

[Herbalism] you possess an innate understanding of plants and their uses.

[Craft: lesser potions] you possess the ability to magically refine ingredients in order to create magical potions.

[Mastermind] due to running a criminal empire in your past life, you gain a +1 to the mind stat when attempting to plan out any criminal activity.

[Mad scientist] You gain +2 to intelligence when engaging in risky lab procedures.

[Chimerac potions level 1] You may now combine the properties of two potions into an injectable method, doing so however half the duration of the potion effect. Later levels will allow you to combine more potions together.

[Novice potion maker] You have now gained some mastery at the art of making potions. Potions take less time to make.

Nice! I thought to myself feeling the potion enhance my strength, but only by a small amount. I also saw the bruises on my knuckles slowly disappear.... this would se-

BANG! I heard a crash from the other room silencing my thoughts. what the fuck was that, I knew it couldn't be my father, I could still hear him pacing downstairs, so who the hell was in the other room?