On his way back to the inn, he stopped at a bakery.
"Four chocolate muffins, please."
"Kai! Haven't seen you all morning. Where have you been?"
A boy working at the bakery walked up to Kai and asked.
"Don't ask. I went to work early, hoping to finish early — but out of nowhere, the owner increased my tasks."
As Kai complained, the boy packed four chocolate muffins for him.
"Enough about me. I heard you've been going hunting recently.
Alex, I don't doubt your abilities, but you should think about your parents. If something happens and you get injured, who's going to take care of them?"
Kai advised Alex, fully aware of his family situation. His mother had been in a vegetative state since a car accident back on Earth.
To make matters worse, just last month, his father lost both legs while out hunting monsters.
"I know. I have to take care of my parents... but it's not easy earning five gold coins a month running the bakery.
If I don't do this, I'll lose my mother," Alex replied in a low voice.
"Sigh... If you need any help, you can come find me anytime."
Saying so, Kai paid for the muffins and left the bakery.
Munching on the muffins, he arrived at the inn and headed straight to his room.
After resting a little, Kai took out a book titled [Principles of Herb Weaving] and began reading.
For the past two months, Kai had been doing his best to learn Herb Weaving. Every ounce of free time he had was spent trying to decipher the skill.
For alchemists, this skill was crucial—it was the line that separated true Alchemists from amateurs.
However, the problem was that the [Herb Weaving] skill used by Fairies couldn't be learned by humans.
The reason was simple: they used different energy systems.
Humans used Ki, while the Fairies, who oversaw the management of the Ancient World, used Soul Power.
Soul Power could be easily manifested into the world, while it was extremely difficult—and dangerous—for a human to bring Ki outside the body.
The moment Ki left the body, it would begin to disperse into the air, potentially leading to death.
To use [Herb Weaving], Kai needed to overcome two challenges:
First, bringing only a small amount of Ki out of his body so that he wouldn't endanger his life.
Second, controlling the Ki once it was outside.
Knowing the risks involved, Kai had been reading every book on [Herb Weaving] he could find, hoping for inspiration.
Unfortunately, up till now, he hadn't come across anything useful. But he still hadn't lost hope.
After reading [Principles of Herb Weaving] for two hours, Kai began to feel a little hungry. He put the book down and headed out to get some food.
"Should I eat at the inn or try some street food?" he wondered to himself as he arrived at the inn's dining area.
"Welcome! What would you like for dinner?"
As Kai entered, a Fairy flew toward him with a cheerful greeting.
"I'll have the usual," he replied, placing his order before finding an empty table and sitting down.
"Hahaha! Today was great—we not only killed an Elite Monster but also found a bronze Treasure Chest. I think this was the luckiest day this month. Though transporting the body was a real hassle."
"Maybe we should pool our money and buy a storage bag. At the rate we're improving, we'll be able to hunt low-level Elite monsters easily in a week."
"Let's wait for the Boss to arrive before deciding anything."
At a table across from Kai, three men around his age were discussing the day's spoils.
"We barely survived today. If it wasn't for the new kid, all of us would've died."
"Like you're one to talk. It was your idea to attack the Silver Wolves."
"My idea was to attack the cubs that wander off. But who would've thought that the moment we set foot in Silver Wolf territory, we'd be attacked by a whole squad of Elite Silver Wolves?"
"Stop it, you two. It doesn't matter whose fault it is. What matters is that we encountered a squad of Elite monsters and survived—as a team."
To Kai's right, another group was busy arguing.
"Have you heard? On the other side of Talif Mountain, there seems to be another town."
"I heard that the Scarlet Party went hunting on Talif Mountain and had an accident. They were stranded on the mountain for days.
Although I don't know the details, it seems they encountered a powerful Elite monster up there, and to avoid it, they had to climb higher up the mountain."
On Kai's left, gossip was ongoing.
Seeing and hearing all this, Kai thought to himself,
'Maybe I should also go hunting.'
Kai had never set foot outside the town since arriving in this world.
He had seen many of his friends leave the town, only to never return.
The fear of losing his life before he could reunite with his family kept him from becoming a Hunter.
But in the past three months, a lot had changed.
Although the Dark Forest outside the town was still terrifying, much of it had been explored. Now, everyone knew which areas were safest for their level. The fear of the unknown had been greatly reduced.
Best of all, people were working together. It wasn't like before, when encountering a powerful monster meant certain death.
Now, every Hunter carried a Call Stone—a device that worked much like a radio. If someone ran into danger, they could call for help from nearby Hunters.
'Should I try? Maybe this way I could gather enough funds to hire an assistant.'
As Kai was lost in thought, a Fairy brought him his food.
Snapping back to his senses, he looked down at the meal—and at the Fairies around him using their Soul Powers.
A sense of envy welled up in him.
'If I had Soul Powers, I wouldn't be struggling with [Herb Weaving] so much.'
Kai didn't dwell too much on the thought and instead focused on his food. After eating, he paid and left.
Back in his room, Kai once again spent about two hours reading [Principles of Herb Weaving].
After that, he slowly drifted into sleep.