Early morning Austin would have woken up early but he overdid himself yesterday so he was sound asleep dreaming beautiful dream kids his age would dream. People don’t have control over there dreams maybe it’s cause of his teen age hormones or his longing to experience it again. But very unpleasant sound woke him up shattering his dream land. ‘Austin.. Austin..’ He tried to hold on those dreams but with each call of his name the dreams disappeared from his mind and memories.

“Wake up kid it’s already time for opening the shop I let you skip morning training for today.”

He closed kept his eyes closed hoping to get back to his dream world but how can he have such luxury. Mark kept taking and calling him, it was really loud unpleasant so Austin couldn’t really hold himself back. “SHUT The FUCK UP..” If it was an alarm clock it would be smash on the wall next second never to work again but unfortunately it was Mark. The blankets were removed instantly along with other cloths and a bucket of water flew straight for Austin’s face. It did hit the bulls eye but not a single drop fell on Austin, water was all on the ground and wooden bucket’s blunt end was slammed on Austin’s face.

“ Oops looks like I also need to do some mana control training sorry kid are you alright?”

That warm wake-up call worked perfectly bringing Austin to his senses. “Argh...Save your fake sympathy for your self boss you almost broke my nose. why are you so experienced at removing clothes? Just what was your previous occupation?”

Austin looked around finding himself in shop again. ‘how did I reach here didn’t I sleep on the roof?’ he scratched some substance from his body like dried gum. ‘oh is this the impurity the body expels in cultivation novel? Why is it white?’ he stared at Mark, picked up his cloths checked his knives and some coins he had which were both missing. He looked at Mark again who was staring and waiting for him to ask his questions.

Getting Austin’s attention towards him self mark began to explain everything himself. “last night you came here hanging from the maw of the panther spirit of spirit tamer who came here few days ago. Since you were connected to her previous case she must have followed you out of suspicion when you were jumping around like monkey but instead she ended up taking care of you by bringing you home safely. She even scolded me for giving you money for drink can you believe that? Your grand entrance with spirit tamer shocked me so much that I almost blew up the whole shop with grade 3 scrolls.. no maybe that would have destroy 1/4 of the city.”

‘fuck impurity and my wild imagination it was dried saliva of the panther. Thank god it was not what I imagined..’ putting his wild imagination aside Austin understood what Mark said but that didn’t explain everything. “where are my knives and coins boss?”

“Oh the knives are in the drawer the cat sniffed it but I guess the poison you applied when I killed cultist destroyed the trace of blood that belonged to 2 metre tall giant so you are safe. As for the coins you didn’t have any.” Mark said it with straight honest face making Austin doubt him even more.

“sigh...I see.” Austin knew that Mark has stolen his money and if he asks Mark might just blame the cat so the money was gone. But he dogged a close bullet this time with luck so few coins were easy to forget. There was something else he was curious about.“ what is a spirit beast boss?”

“You ask too many questions save that for later for now go and open the shop oh and take this I will now work on batch of potions so don’t disturb me if it’s not important .” Mark gave Austin a paper which he didn’t even open and pocketed with sleepy half opened eyes.

Austin went down but didn’t open the shop the alchemist will be busy anyway so why shouldn’t he uses that time in most efficient way. He went the counter arranged books like a pillow and sat down in comfortable way trying to fall asleep. He was in a trance where neither he could fall asleep nor stay fully awake. ‘yesterday I was on steroids and now I feel like an old man on his death bed. What is wrong with this body.’

But his peace was short lived some adventures were outside the shop knocking on the door. With no other choice Austin opened the shop and started his busy day. For some reasons the position selling business was running really well just when was in such state. After few hours he was back to his normal self and could move his body normally. He meditated for a while confused at state of his core. The energy he collected painstakingly for so many days was half gone. He was feeling very angry and not so happy at the surprise he got. ‘what the fuck happened? Why is my core back to this state again? I need to talk with Mark about this.’ He went up but stopped in his tracks remembering words Mark said and started walking again. ‘My core is very important matter.’

Inside the alchemy lab Mark was siting on a chair with his hands wet in blue liquid and broken glass tube in the floor explaining Austin his situation calmly. “It’s called mana misrule. A state in which you tap into the energy from core’s central zone which is there for core’s stability and growth. You probably squeezed it out and transferred it in your body knowingly or subconsciously for temporary empowerment... In other words buff which is mostly used by warriors and some mage branches. It requires a good deal of concentration to activate this state. It’s a surprise that you managed to activate it even if it was by mistake but if used too much the core may even degrade ranks so be careful about that in the future.”

‘hmm mana misrule so that was the secret of my energy...’ he didn’t remember how he tap into core’s central zone but main issue was not that. It was Mark who had extended his hands with open palm towards Austin staring straight into his eyes with expressionless face. With a sith Austin payed 3silvers for the blue colour that painted Marks hands, clothes and the floor. Remembering every information Mark gave him and grieving his 3 silver he walked down back to shop. ‘why did he had to work with mana regeneration potion just when I came in?’

“Kid.. Did you take a look at the piece of paper I gave?”

Again that annoying voice called him and Austin turned back using his full concentration to keep his expression still. He never cared what he was called but hearing it time and again and the warm good morning he experienced today it was starting to get on his nerves.

“ah I will go for your ingredients shopping later boss..” Austin turned and started walking again only to stop with wide eyes at Marks next words.

“ It’s a aperients mage’s magic spell that you asked for..”