Someone was making a ruckus in the village. Raishin was covered in white powder and looking for me. I was sitting in a tree covered in illusions and petting Nilah. It seems my [Flour Time Bomb] was a success. I felt like a villain looking down on a village petting my fox.


    Agnis! I know that you’re here somewhere!


    He is correct but what is he going to do about it? He broke into my house in his search for me. Does he seriously think I would chill at home after setting a [Flour Time Bomb] off at his house? I gently fell down to the floor. I don’t think I need to find ways to break my fall at this point.


    I had observed that Greg’s shadow tends to point west. I wonder if I should tell him. He often gets lost but his shadow acts as some sort of compass. Maybe all the shadow cats had this problem but I couldn’t remember Jusay or his mother getting lost. They were always accompanied by someone. Maybe this was on purpose.


    I was still trying to figure out how Raishin is defying physics with his race but maybe it''s just being otherworldly idiotic. We’re getting close to the age when we stop aging appearance-wise. I’m assuming that our strange racial traits will stabilize at that point. Just 2 or3 more years of getting lighter for me I suppose.


    Vinny used to say about it being as easy or easier to blow a spirit fox away than dandelions. I also remembered when I was carrying Norya after releasing her from her seal. It felt like I was carrying air or something extremely light. At least I’m not an anomaly in this. I was wondering. What phoenix traits have I missed? I remember that Xelia told me that she got faster and better at controlling fire. Also, her instincts on how to fly had gotten really sharp. Xelia was an excellent flier, Yuna less so.


    Another memory of when I briefly turned into a phoenix in Boshi town. I remember how hard flying was.


    I had arrived at where Greg spends his time nerding out. I confirmed that Raishin was nowhere near and dropped my illusions, took a bottle of liquid shadow vodka out of my dimensional pocket, and popped the cork off.


    Is that?!


    I heard rummaging and someone running to the door. The door flew open and Greg dove at the bottle in my hand. I let him take it.


    Oh, how long has it been! Oh sup, Agnis.


    What an addict… I have a question for you.


    Sure come in.


    I entered his house. Elliana was cleaning up the mess that was his house.


    Whoa, has Raishin been here?


    Yeah… he came here looking for you and turned everything upside down. But a flour bomb, eh? I can’t say he didn’t deserve that. So how is your new ‘friend’.


    Greg made air quotes.


    I don’t know what you mean by that. I’m too busy for that. I actually have another question. Do you think I have a heart of stone?


    I don’t know where Raishin has that from. You are neither afflicted by a petrification curse nor are you cold-hearted.


    Hmm thought as much.


    I made 12 shadow clones and made them abuse their speed to clean up Greg’s house.


    “Oh, thank you, Agnis!” Elliana gave a polite nod. I looked at Greg’s shadow. He had one ‘normal’ one and another one that was pointing west.


    Ok, another question. Has your shadow been talking to you lately?  I pointed at Greg’s abnormal shadow.


    No, it has been appearing for a while. I can hide it but my shadow has been silent since Boshi town.


    His shadow pointing west disappeared. I wondered if it is just a compass or pointing toward something that’s happening to the west but I’m sure he would know if that’s the case.


    So, you had a question?


    I told him about what Inna told me yesterday and linked it to the story Bellia had given us.


    Oh, alchemy! What a wonderful surprise! However… just as to how science is pushed aside by magic, so is alchemy. It is hardly practiced. It might go extinct in the next coming decades if not in the coming century.


    Hmm, that is concerning. didn’t you have an alchemy book at your home in Boshi Town? I think it was called the Magnum Opus.


    Ah the Great Work, yeah. I didn’t own that book, unfortunately.


    Glad I archived that. But from an alchemy standpoint, do you have an idea how to make this spirit vessel?


    I have no idea, unfortunately. What I know has mainly been used to concoct potions. However. There is an item in alchemy that can bend reality to its will.


    Like a 9t?


    I don’t know the specifics but it could do so permanently. But this is all myth. Many have tried and while they succeeded it was neither in the form they expected nor had the properties they thought it would have. Speculations have been made that some protocols were missing some key ingredients or key steps.


    I see so while it''s worth looking into, I will have to keep my expectations low.


    “Hmm, our family has some secret documents about spirits. I will see if it has anything useful.”


    Oh thanks, Elliana!


    Elliana smiled and got up. “Nobody is at the family sanctum right now so I will take a peek.”


    We will bail you out if you get caught but still be careful!


    Elliana waved and left.


    So how far have you gone with her?


    You sound just like Raishin. Just like you we have not gone beyond the borders of the village.


    That’s not what I meant… Have you looked at her as a potential love interest?


    Huh? Elliana is just a friend, why would I do that?


    I facepalmed. At this point, Greg will stay single forever. I will just leave it at this. Elliana is doing great so far. I will only assist her if Greg is being unreasonably difficult. I got up.


    Right, thanks for the information. I will need your help to make this thing if it involves alchemy.


    Greg got up and showed me to the door. Sure, also, you might want to avoid Raishin for a bit. It seems your bomb went off the moment he would in his words ‘get lucky’. Your house might also be a mess.


    Oh, in that case I will stay low for quite a while then. Cya! And give Elliana a chance!


    I went into stealth, covered myself in as many illusion layers as I could and snuck around to see what was going on with my house. The door was still open and I sensed an enormous mess in my house. Yup, not going back there for a while. I did however leave a clone behind to clean up.


    Time to sneak out of the village. I don’t have a destination though...


    How about I run west and see what city I would find first? Sneaking out of the village was a piece of cake. No village can hold me!


    I followed the river upstream and spotted a village only 1 minute away from the elven forest!


    Well, it’s 1 minute of supersonic running. I don’t know how long a human would take to get here. Maybe half a day or something. Travel distance and time have no meaning for me.


    I stopped. Is that because I’m a 9t? our specialty is foxfire, illusions, and spatiotemporal magic and cheating. Are time and distance irrelevant to us because of our spatiotemporal affinity?


    I arrived at the village and looked around. It looked way better than Fahjin. It did have some street rats as usual it also had some slaves… I have to remember that this is normal in the north of this continent. I went into the first store I located.


    Excuse me, what are the spiciest peppers in existence, and do you sell them?


    “We don’t sell Scoville Nightmares here but they might sell them in Xet near the confluence of the rivers."


    Ok, thanks.


    I activated my eyes and spotted a city not too far away and reached there in 8 minutes. My comfortable running speed has gotten faster. I have never tried to go at max speed but that might be a bad idea.


    I had to wait in line to get inside the city. I wonder what this was about. It has been a while since I had a check up to get into a city. Maybe something strange or bad had happened.


    “Reason for visit?”


    I want to buy some Scoville Nightmares.


    “Reason?”


    I like spicy stuff.


    “You do realize that many have died trying them out right? It is not for the weak.”


    Hey can you keep a secret?


    “It isn’t suspicious, is it?”


    So, there is this petty bitch that’s stalking me and sending her followers after me. I need something to keep the followers at bay.


    “Oh, dealing with a crazy ex? Yeah, I know that feeling. In that case, go to the southeast of the city, there is a small shop behind the big bakery. It sells blue Scoville nightmares. They are 10 times spicier than the red ones. Nobody should get into trouble because of crazy exes…” The guard seemed as if he was recalling a bad memory.


    I don’t have any exes so I can’t relate but I will just go with it.


    I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you. And hey, things might get better for you.


    I pressed a 10-silver coin in his hand. It was useful information and I can''t imagine being a city guard having a good salary.


    “Wow, thanks!” I nodded at him and entered the city.


    The city looked quite strange. There was a lot of metal and steam. I had noticed before but the air is bad here. I connected to the air leyline currents and created a small [Counterswirl] around me to not get poisoned. Air this bad must be poisoned right?


    Everyone was just breathing like it was normal. Those tall walls this city has must be keeping most of this bad air inside.


    This would be a nightmare for any nature or wind-related race. I also didn’t want to stay here for too long.


    It took me a while to locate the bakery and then the small shop. I don’t understand how people can live here. Everything looks grey and the same, the air is bad. From what I could tell the inhabitants were also not that nice and there were slaves everywhere. I had observed several instances of slaves working at high places and falling to their death or taking a blast of steam from one of the many pipes running through this city and getting cooked alive. This city is terrible. I would put this on the list for [Meteor] candidates.


    It’s a new list and Xet is currently the only one on the list, although… Itris also got added to that list.


    I entered the small shop and saw one slave at the door and another one moving boxes. The slave at the door greeted me and I nodded back. I could easily break these slave seals but I will probably turn this whole city into my enemy. I will get my Scoville Nightmares and then get out.


    I am looking for blue Scoville Nightmares.


    The old wrinkly man raised his grey bushy eyebrows and stared at me from behind his glasses.


    “I don’t sell them, they are illegal.” I sensed deception but if they’re illegal then that makes sense.


    Look here, nobody has followed me here. I understand that this might be suspicious to you, an unknown man just coming in asking for illegal wares. I have a reliable source that has provided me with this information. I need something to keep the followers of my crazy ex away.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    “I see, so my son has sent you, come with me. My slave has confirmed that you are alone.” The slave at the door nodded.


    I followed the old man to the back. It was just a small room but there was a strange door at the end of the room. The old man walked over to a shelf and put on a gasmask; he handed me one. I put the gasmask on and he then handed me some thick long rubber gloves that extended all the way up to my upper arm.


    How spicy are these things?


    He opened the heavy metal door and we got into a very small room. It seems the room we wanted to go to needed a double door. Some liquids sprayed on us and my eyes told me it had the properties of potions that give heat resistance. It also acted as a pain killer.


    I am starting to get a bit scared now. How many kings of Jarn can this pepper kill?


    We got inside and the room was quite large. It had 12 boxes on shelves at the side of the room. The left shelf had 9 red boxes. The other shelf on the right had 3 blue boxes. We walked over to the blue boxes. He tapped on a label. It said 50 silver per pepper.


    He opened the blue box and took out a dark blue pepper the length of a hand out of the box. It looked fine to me. The pepper had a quite beautiful color but I assume that one bite sends you to the afterlife. He then showed me the contents of the box. My eyes told me that this box contained 826 peppers.


    He gave me a wooden board. It had something written on it. It said that the odor these peppers release when they are damaged will cause severe irritation of the eyes and nose. Inhaling too much can give a burning sensation to the throat and cause coughing, and possibly vomiting.


    These peppers aren’t damaged but it is better to avoid any risk. The shopkeeper pointed at a row of small dimensional boxes that he will sell because bringing these peppers out in the open is a bad idea, to which I agree.


    It also said that it is hard to describe how spicy this pepper is but that death is a likely outcome when consumed and if not, extreme and excruciating pain for the next 2 hours, extreme bowel cramps, and a fiery exit that makes you wish the pepper had killed you on consumption.


    When used, a dilution of 10 million is recommended. This will put it on the scale where it will be useable as regular pepper, albeit a spicy one. It also says that under no circumstances will the owner of the shop be held responsible for deaths related to my purchase. It then asked me how many peppers I would like to buy.


    This is more than I could ever wish for. This might be my strongest secret weapon yet. Although it is breaking the rules by being highly offensive. But it is still a consumable so I think it barely passes.


    I wrote down 826 peppers and pretended to take gold out of my dimensional box to show him I already had one. This old man just earned 413 gold. He was shaking. He wrote something on a wooden board.


    “Are you sure?” I nodded.


    I wrote on the board and asked him if I could also take the box. He nodded. I guess seeing that much gold made him not care about being a box poorer. He gave me a container to put the box in. I put the container in my dimensional pocket.


    We moved back to the small room between the double doors. We got sprayed with the same liquid again. And stepped into the safe zone.


    “Thank you! You have no idea what this much gold means to me!”


    Don’t worry about it. Just make sure to treat your slaves well, they are people too.


    “I understand the concern but these two have attempted to rob my store and kill me, this is their punishment.”


    I inspected the old man. I didn’t sense deception. It is not on me to decide whether this system is just or not so I nodded and left.


    I got met with bad air and I started to cough. I genuinely felt like I was choking and getting poisoned. I used another mini [Counterspin] to give myself some fresh air. This city sucks. I decided to get out of this shitty place as soon as possible. I tried to navigate toward the big walls but none of these streets made sense so it led me away from the walls.


    Which asshole turned this city into a maze? I was about to just teleport out when I heard a commotion. I followed the noise and saw a big square not too far from my location. A lot of people seemed to have gathered there.


    Curiosity got the better of me so I joined them. I found myself at a slave market and got unpleasant flashbacks and I was about to leave when I saw a familiar face. Jyno was bound in chains and stripped to his underwear beside several other elves but also humans.


    This explains why he hasn’t returned…


    I sighed. How am I going to do this? [Meteor] will kill Jyno, and so will [God of Thunder]. Maybe I should just buy him and set him free? That’s the most peaceful option. But what about the others?


    I don’t think I have a strong moral compass but that feels wrong. I will attempt to buy him and if that goes wrong, I will just kidnap him and drop a [Meteor] on this city. Too bad for the slaves but death is better than living in slavery indefinitely, I think.


    A small screen told us, the audience, what types of useful traits these slaves have. I left the other slaves to their fate but came into action when it was Jyno’s turn. I had noticed that elves were quite popular so this would cost me. This is probably the first time I’m actually happy that I’m rich as fuck.


    I bought him for 18 gold. This is insane. Jyno’s face which seemed to be in pain and despair had relaxed the moment he noticed that I was bidding for him. I took a cloak out of my dimensional pocket and put it over him.


    It’s ok now.


    “I am so glad to see your face.” He started to tear up but tried to stay strong.


    “Is there any way you can save my group?”


    3 elves had been sold before Jyno and one was currently being auctioned off.


    I can’t do much for those that have been sold but I can buy those that have yet to be sold.


    More tears filled his eyes and he gave me a friendly hug, probably to hide his tears.


    “Thank you… and sorry…”


    It’s not your fault.


    I won the next elf for 16 gold. The problem was, that they kept the elf chicks for last. The elf dude that I just bought thanked me after Jyno explained the situation to him.


    The battle for the first elf chick was fierce. My deep pockets won though. 54 gold for the first one. 68 for the second one and everyone went all in for the last one.


    All I''ve been doing is save some elves but I was getting a lot of nasty looks. I also had to extend my [Countespin] to the elves. This made them look happy around me which pissed off the stinky citizens even more.


    Can I go one day without making enemies? The last chick got bought for 136 gold. Today was quite an expensive day. All I did was go and buy peppers…


    The chick that I just bought hugged me and now that the auction was over, all eyes shifted to me.


    “Hey, not cool man leave some for us too!”


    “Don’t you know the etiquette of not buying up all the special goods?”


    I tried to stay calm. Don’t snap back. I always make enemies when I do. I took out another cloak and covered up the last elf chick. I am now the ‘owner’ of 5 elves. Why does the Igrini Kingdom suck so much?


    I might have to tweak my [Meteor] to turn into Igrini Kingdom size when I get the chance and just wipe out the whole country. Nothing good ever happens here. Was what I thought as I interrupted several magic casts aimed at us.


    “Hey, asshole! Don’t ignore us!”


    Ok, I will stop ignoring you then, happy now?


    “Give us that blonde elf there!”


    How about I give you nothing and you go home? Come on guys, patience isn’t something I have in an unlimited amount.


    I walked away with the 5 elves. Please let this be over.


    “Yeah, that’s not going to happen, buddy, you look quite weak. We will be taking those slaves off you.” The crowd agreed and surrounded us.


    I have to ask Greg if I have a curse that makes me get into trouble. This is ridiculous, I take 1 step outside and trouble finds me.


    Right, I will advise you to fuck off while I’m still asking this nicely. I cannot understate how much you’re going to regret pissing me off.


    “Try me!” The crowd and this vocal bully started to fling spells at me so I just used [Eternal Winter]. I made a couch out of frost and sat down on it.


    So, elves, how fast can you run?


    “We don’t want to be a burden but we are quite weakened,” Jyno spoke up. He was right. They seemed to have been treated quite poorly.


    Hmm, purple slave crests, I haven’t seen that one before.


    All the elf chicks had purple crests. I looked at the guys. They had crests I recognized. It then dawned on me what the implications were.


    Right. I get the picture. I am not going to destroy this city, yet, but it certainly has earned its spot as #1 place to [Meteor].


    I got 5 tails out and grabbed them.


    “What are you doing?! If the humans find out you will be worse off than us!”


    Well, that’s why they won’t find out!


    I took out all my [Flour Time Bombs] and spread them over the square. I unfroze and abducted the 3 elves I failed to buy and teleported to a tall building nearby and undid the [Eternal Winter]. To the angry humans, it just seemed as if I had suddenly disappeared because [Eternal Winter] halts their consciousness.


    The time bombs went off and the whole area was covered in a cloud of flour.


    Have a taste of my new skill [Dust Explosion]!


    I shifted my stance and sent a spark at the cloud of flour which ignited it and created an enormous explosion that took out the plaza and the surrounding city blocks. A plume of fire rose up and I jumped up and rode the shockwave to the edge of the city that carried us over the wall. I started using [Hurricane Path] and headed back for the elven forest.


    My flour supply took a hit so I need to remember to buy more flour.


    “This isn’t wind magic? What is it?”


    I briefly explained what Dragonvein was. The eight of them explained how they were investigating the appearance of a strange monster at the edge of the forest when they got ambushed by a group of 50 or so slave traders. The slave traders had hired a lot of adventurers so the eight of them, 15 at that time had fought them off. 7 of them had died.


    It was 15 vs.112, they had gotten it to a point where it was a 7 vs. 29 but as I already know they had eventually lost and gotten captured. I didn’t want to sound insensitive so I didn’t ask about the strange creature they went to investigate but that was more interesting to me.


    A lot of them have appeared recently and it''s bothering me. Something is happening that we don’t know about.


    Neia, please find Hourai fast. I don’t want to deal with all this bullshit…


    Using [Hurricane Path] was considerably slower than running at over Mach 3 so I had to land and we set up a camp near the river. They suggested making a boat and letting the river carry us to the forest but that would be too slow for me. But I will tell them tomorrow that I will be running.


    “So, you are the new inhabitant of our village, we haven’t had the opportunity to meet you before we had to investigate.” The elves introduced themselves but there were too many names I only know who Jyno is.


    I’m sorry but I’m terrible with faces, or names. Or remembering stuff.


    “Yeah, it took him 4 days to remember my name…”


    Anyways let me see those slave crests.


    I gestured to the elves that I had stolen from their owners. I had intentionally left their necks frozen.


    You probably realize why I have left your necks frozen but it’s probably still uncomfortable.


    I easily hacked into its structure. Overwritten the part that decides the owner of the slave and unfroze the crest. I then took 1 minute for each elf to remove it. I then removed those from the elves that I owned, setting them free.


    An elf guy gave me a polite bow. “Thank you so much, words cannot describe how thankful we are.”


    Just use that thankfulness to make sure you don’t ever get caught.


    “How can we repay you? You paid 136 gold for me…”


    You don’t need to repay me but if you really want to do something put in some more effort in getting your numbers up. Especially you guys! Men of other races are lining up to get with an elf chick! Stop being so passive!


    “We will do our best.”


    That’s what I want to hear! Now I don’t know any healing magic so you guys have to figure that out.


    The elves started to talk to each other and apply nature energy and elvish magic to each other. I sat on a rock and looked at the crescent moon. Maybe I should just accept that trouble will always find me. The longer I''m here on the Mainfloor the better I understand why mom had created Hourai.


    I wonder what''s going on in Hourai. Are they ok? Do they know they got moved to another dimensional coordinate? How much time has passed for them? What if a million years have passed when we find it? That would be worse than only a few seconds. I have spent more time without my family than with them. How should I react and act around them? I don’t even know a lot about them because I was so young when we got kicked out.


    Will they be the same as I remember or is cruel reality going to demonstrate that it might not be as a happy moment as I thought? What if Hourai was the bad guy.


    I pondered about it. I can''t imagine my mom being the villain in this but I don’t know anything about what had happened during the invasion or what led up to it. How will I confront my mom if she is the villain? Would I join her? I certainly can’t fight her. Or what if that invasion was somehow my fault? A lot of things seem to have been my fault lately.


    Maybe it is a good thing if I go extinct…


    “Hey, Agnis are you listening?”


    No, I wasn’t. what did you say?


    “I do appreciate that you were there to save us but what I was asking was… what you were doing in that city? If I remember correctly everyone had been ordered to keep you inside of the village.”


    What do I tell Jyno? That I snuck out to buy some peppers, to then blow up several city blocks?


    “And how did you get here so fast actually? It takes almost 2 weeks to get from the forest to that city.”


    Uh I wat investigating something for the spirit vessel! And well I’m super-fast, you will find out tomorrow.


    I heard splashing and giggling in the distance. The chicks had gone to bathe in the river. None of these guys seemed interested.


    This race is doomed. I’m slightly interested but I’m perfectly fine in controlling myself. I wonder if I should force these guys to peek, maybe something will awaken in them. I think Raishin would be better suited for coaching them in this. I can’t believe he is actually useful in this situation.


    How am I going to have Raishin do that? He is probably still upset with me. I had some chatter with the guys when the chicks returned and it was time for the guys to take a bath. The ambiance became quite uncomfortable.


    They were talking softly to each other but I’m a fox and have good hearing. They were talking about me. I decided to curl up in my tails and sleep.