After slipping back to her original appearance at a street corner, the star courtesan returned to the Mercenary Guild and successfully obtained her second mercenary badge.
[Mercenary Brooch — Blackstone]
Attributes: Strength +1
Enchantment Effects: Soul Brand (Lv1), Information Storage (Lv1)...
Li Fei pinned the brooch to her chest — and immediately noticed that her attributes on the System Panel hadn't budged a single point.
"Didn't the Guild staff tell me I'd feel a surge of strength the moment I put this on?"
Li Fei stamped her foot. "I think I got scammed. I want a refund!"
When she'd registered her first mercenary identity under the alias 'Kaname Madoka,' the higher Sequence level had waived the processing fee entirely. But for her second identity, Li Fei had paid a full gold coin out of her own pocket.
"Transcendent equipment of the same type can't stack attributes, you know."
Bai Mengtian exhaled a lazy curl of smoke. "Otherwise the noble lords would have made themselves invincible ages ago."
"No smoking."
Li Fei snatched the cigarette from the corner of Bai Mengtian's mouth and ground it out under her heel.
The star courtesan wasn't actually addicted to cigarettes — she only lit one when the mood struck, savoring that hazy, decadent feeling of drifting smoke. And besides, she couldn't stand the smell of smoke on other people.
I smoke when I want to. Fine.
You make me breathe secondhand smoke? Absolutely not.
After Bai Mengtian's impromptu lecture, Li Fei quickly grasped the rules governing Transcendent equipment.
Attribute bonuses from Transcendent items of the same type could not stack — but enchantment effects could.
To illustrate: a sufficiently wealthy noble mage could purchase ten rings, each granting +10 Intelligence but with different enchantment effects, and wear one on every finger. After equipping all ten rings, their Intelligence would only increase by ten points — but every single enchantment effect would apply in full.
If multiple Transcendent items of the same type were equipped at once, the one with the higher rating would take precedence. If they were the same rating, whichever had been equipped first would be the one that took effect.
"That's completely unfair!"
Li Fei grumbled indignantly.
"Everything in existence is bound by its own laws."
Bai Mengtian smiled with an air of quiet profundity. "Apples fall to the ground. The sun rises in the east. Even Transcendent power is nothing more than a derivative of those laws — unless you light the Divine Flame, you can never truly defy them."
"Light the Divine Flame? What does that mean?"
Li Fei asked, curious.
"You'll understand once you reach high Sequence."
Bai Mengtian spread her hands. "It's not that I'm trying to be mysterious — it's that your Sequence level is still too low. Exposing yourself to knowledge from too many tiers above you, too early, carries genuine risks. You could lose control and end up as some kind of tentacled octopus-creature..."
"Hmph."
Li Fei didn't press the matter. She looped her arm through Bai Mengtian's and tugged her forward. "Come on. I need to go buy a staff."
...
Night had fallen. Loxibrook's Free Market had only just opened for business, and it was already alive with noise and color — a bustling, vibrant sea of activity.
Humans, elves, beastkin — vendors of every race had spread their wares across makeshift stalls lining the streets, hawking a colorful assortment of items that may or may not have been genuine Transcendent artifacts.
At the very center of the market, where the land was worth its weight in gold, stood a charming wooden pavilion in the old style. Above its entrance hung a sign rendered in flowing, vigorous brushwork:
Qin's Apothecary.
Many passersby paused at the door with hesitant, conflicted expressions — then turned and walked away without entering. Only a select few with a certain bearing and composure would lift the curtain and stride straight in.
On the upper floor of the apothecary, a young woman with ink-black hair and an embroidered gown sat with her chin resting in her hand, gazing out the window. She murmured softly to herself, turning over a few lines of verse that the one she admired had once recited offhandedly:
"My sash grows loose, yet I do not regret — for her I am glad to waste away."
"Having crossed the vast sea, all other waters fade; having seen the clouds of Wushan, no mist compares."
"If two hearts are bound in love that endures, why must they share every morning and night?"
Her eyes were like the ripples of spring water — as though she could look straight through the heavy veil of night and catch a glimpse of that woman's radiant, living smile.
Qin Zhihua had taken particular care with her appearance today. She had changed into her most treasured gown — one even her betrothed had never been permitted to see — intending to meet the one who had come to occupy her every thought. But Lady Gneia had delivered the news: the star courtesan was taking the evening off, and all reservations would be pushed back by a day.
"Ah... a day apart feels like three seasons."
Qin Zhihua lowered her gaze with quiet sorrow, and for the first time truly understood just how much longing and grief those eight words could hold.
Then her expression shifted — a flicker of anxiety crossing her features. Even the rarest of talents, a courtesan without equal across a thousand years, would need to feel something genuine in her heart before she could distill such deep, aching longing into so few words.
Unless... she already had someone she loved?
Just as unease began to settle in Qin Zhihua's chest, a gentle feminine voice broke through her thoughts:
"Zhihua — still thinking about that Miss Li Fei?"
A flush immediately bloomed across Qin Zhihua's face. "Sister-in-law, I..."
The graceful, richly dressed woman extended one finger and pressed it lightly against Qin Zhihua's lips:
"Zhihua. You have a rare and exceptional gift for alchemy. It was for the sake of your future that the family permitted you to come study in this frontier land."
"A girl alone and far from home — it's only natural to want someone to confide in. I have no wish to play the villain here."
"But don't forget — before long, you will be returning home to wed the Young Lord of the Kong Clan. Do not let yourself go astray. If you do, it won't just be the Qin family's reputation that suffers — the Kong family will be furious as well."
"Hm."
Qin Zhihua turned her head away and tugged the corner of her mouth upward. "I understand."
The betrothal had been arranged from the moment she was born — a contract between her family and the Kong Clan. In her early years, an extraordinary talent had caught the eye of a Master renowned across the Eastern Continent for her exploration of Eastern herbology, who had taken Qin Zhihua to the Continent of Enlos to raise and educate her.
Her Master was a figure of immense renown. Even the proud and tradition-bound Qin family had been unable to refuse her goodwill, and had entrusted Qin Zhihua to her care. Under her Master's patronage, the family's previously lukewarm business ventures on the Continent of Enlos had flourished within a decade, growing so prosperous that it now required several great sailing ships each year to transport the gold they earned.
Even so, the family head had never forgotten his eagerness to curry favor with the Kong Clan. He clung to the old betrothal and sent letters at regular intervals urging her to come home and get married.
The Young Lord of the Kong Clan was admittedly famous — brilliant in both scholarship and combat. But Qin Zhihua, who had barely met the man, could scarcely even recall what he looked like, and had absolutely no desire for the match. More to the point, in her eyes, that so-called young lord of poetic renown couldn't hold a candle to so much as a single strand of the star courtesan's hair.
With her Master's support, Qin Zhihua had delayed the wedding again and again — but the pressure had only grown heavier with time. A match made by parents and sealed by matchmakers was not something a daughter could easily defy, no matter how exceptional her talent in alchemy.
The meaning in her sister-in-law's words just now had been plain enough:
She could turn a blind eye to certain indiscretions — but when the wedding night came, propriety had to be preserved. Otherwise it wouldn't be the Qin family's name alone that was dragged through the mud; the Kong Clan would descend on them in fury and bring ruin down on everyone.
"Ah."
The graceful woman seemed to read Qin Zhihua's thoughts. She sighed softly and reached up to stroke the dark hair at the back of her neck. "I have errands to attend to this evening, so the shop will need you to keep an eye on things."
"Mm."
...
"A fragment of a divine weapon from the Age of Myths — only 300 gold coins!"
"A spell journal handwritten by the Undead Sovereign himself! Just 999 gold!"
"Pandora's Box — selling at a loss, come get it while it lasts!"
Moving through the lively, jostling market, Li Fei looked around with wide, curious eyes.
"A fragment of a mythic weapon? Can I take a look?"
She stopped at a stall, holding her best friend's hand, and pointed at an irregularly shaped chunk of black metal, directing her question at the vendor.
"Of course! Let me tell you — this piece came straight out of the Ancient God's Path. People died left and right fighting over those ruins. I barely made it out alive myself..."
Tuning out the vendor's vivid and enthusiastic storytelling, Li Fei reached out and touched the supposed fragment of a mythic weapon — and a notification immediately appeared on her System Panel:
[Artificially Aged Illusion Stone Fragment]
[Description: The aging work is truly, spectacularly terrible.]
Li Fei nearly choked trying not to laugh. It was the first time she'd seen the system being snarky about something other than her own character evaluation.
She listened to the vendor's elaborate tall tale with genuine amusement, then winked at Bai Mengtian. "Isn't this basically Loxibrook's version of Panjiayuan?"
"Pretty much."
Bai Mengtian leaned her head against Li Fei's shoulder. "Every now and then you do find something real. Most of the time it's just entertainment."
"Got it."
Li Fei nodded.
"If you actually want to buy something legitimate, you're better off going to a proper shop."
Bai Mengtian gestured toward the brightly lit storefronts lining both sides of the street. "Want to head over now?"
"No rush."
Li Fei curved her lips upward. "Let's browse a little longer."
When you can see through everything with a system, browsing a street market is like having X-ray vision at a lottery booth. How could you possibly lose?
"Fine, I'll buy a Pandora's Box for fun."
Bai Mengtian pulled Li Fei along to another stall and picked up a bright golden-orange box.
"What's this? Let me have a look."
Li Fei ran her fingers curiously over the surface of the box.
[Pandora's Box]
Description: A box sealed by the Goddess of Fortune, Pandora.
"It's a mystery box of unknown origin — but they turn up fairly often in forbidden zones and ruins across the continent."
Bai Mengtian smiled. "Inside, you might find a priceless treasure. Or you might get a dose of calamity and misfortune."
"Oh..."
Li Fei nodded with an outwardly composed expression, while inwardly her thoughts were churning.
Even the system can't tell me what's inside a Pandora's Box?
The Goddess of Fortune on Enlos is named Pandora?
"There was this one lucky fellow who opened a box and had an angel pledge their loyalty to him. The two of them proceeded to live a rather... uninhibited life together afterward."
"Wait — you can pull a living being out of one of those things?"
"Mm. On the other end of the spectrum, some less fortunate souls have opened one to find a Demon Overlord, or mythic-grade equipment..."
"Hold on."
Li Fei cut in. "Getting mythic-grade equipment out of it — isn't that insanely lucky?"
"Ha. That poor wretch opened it in public."
Bai Mengtian let out an amused scoff. "Every grandmaster in the vicinity descended on his location at once. His house became a battlefield. Hundreds of miles of mountain and river were shattered, entire peaks were leveled, and the local lord couldn't even compile accurate casualty figures."
"The only silver lining, I suppose, was that aside from the grandmasters who fled in defeat, there were no survivors to count as injured."
Watching her best friend recount this catastrophe with the cheerful, gleeful expression of someone enjoying a particularly good joke, Li Fei fell into quiet contemplation.
How are you able to deliver that kind of absolute horror story with such pure, uncut delight?
It occurred to her: Bai Mengtian's Charisma was higher than hers — and apparently, so was her Morality score, in the downward direction.
Infuriating. I will surpass you. I swear it.
While chatting with her best friend, Li Fei wandered from stall to stall, touching and inspecting things with the system's help, searching for anything worthwhile. If it weren't for the jaw-dropping prices she'd seen on some of the genuine items, she would have already bought herself a Pandora's Box to test her luck.
"Defective potions — ten per gold coin, come take a look..."
Li Fei glanced sideways at Bai Mengtian. Her perfectly attuned best friend read the look instantly and explained:
"Potion-making is a precise and deeply sophisticated discipline. Even the most skilled alchemist, working under ideal conditions, can't guarantee every single batch comes out perfectly — defective batches are inevitable, and they can affect both potency and introduce all sorts of unexpected side effects."
"Some defective potions are only slightly reduced in effectiveness, with minimal side effects. Destroying them outright would be wasteful, so they get sold at a discount to buyers on a tight budget."
"Of course, the actual potency of a defective potion is impossible to assess in advance. You won't know what you've got until it's in your system. If you're lucky, you might get a nearly perfect potion at a fraction of the price — or even one with effects beyond the standard formula. If you're unlucky... hehe."
"In my professional opinion, Pandora's Boxes are all well and good for a bit of fun — but if you really want to gamble, defective potions are where the real action is."
"I see."
Li Fei nodded and delivered her verdict: "The risk-to-reward ratio is so bad, not even a dog would touch them."
The words had barely left her mouth when her fingertip brushed against one of the defective potions by accident.
[Tier-I Soporific Potion (Defective)]
Potion Rating: ?
Effect: Renders the target unconscious for 12 hours, while keeping their mind fully awake during that time.
She gave it an absentminded glance — then, with the spirit of someone hoping to stumble upon a hidden gem, she linked fingers with her best friend and continued deeper into the Free Market.
"Hm?!"
Li Fei suddenly froze. Realization hit her like a jolt — her foot, mid-step, came to a complete stop.
Bai Mengtian walked straight into her shoulder and jabbed her in the side with an irritated finger.
Li Fei yanked open the Shop Panel and scrolled through its contents at speed, quickly locating her target.
[Waking Dream]
Potion Rating: New Moon
Effect: Renders the target unconscious for 4 hours, while keeping their mind fully awake during that time.
Price: 999 Wealth.
Li Fei: (⊙ｏ⊙)
She had been window-shopping the System Shop's wares for ages. Most of it was far beyond her budget, but she checked in regularly out of habit — a kind of wishful browsing that was almost meditative.
Among the vast selection of potions — combat, medical, poison, and otherwise — a certain category of pink potions had long caught her eye.
Waking Dream, for instance. A potion that induced sleep paralysis — that liminal, helpless state of consciousness trapped in an unresponsive body — was something the star courtesan had already imagined no fewer than a hundred uses for, whether applied to a guest or, in certain philosophical moods, to herself.
Which was precisely why, the moment she'd read the defective potion's description, the connection to [Waking Dream] had fired in her mind immediately.
"Excuse me — how much for your defective potions?"
Her heart pounding, Li Fei turned back around and did her best to affect a casual, disinterested tone.
The vendor, suddenly graced with two customers of extraordinary beauty, lit up at once. "Fifteen silver coins per bottle, or one gold coin for ten."
"Hmm... let me pick a few."
"Ah, no point picking, miss — they're all defective."
Whether it was Li Fei's overwhelming Charisma or simply the man's own honest nature, the vendor leaned forward with the earnest concern of a man who felt genuinely obligated to warn her. "Even a proper alchemist would need considerable effort just to assess them — and the result still might not be accurate."
"Close your eyes, point at one, and call it fate — if luck's on your side, great; if not, well, you die and that's that."
"I'd like to pick the ones with the prettiest colors."
Li Fei pressed her lips together in a small smile. The vendor's heart stuttered to a stop. He was utterly lost in the shimmering, luminous depth of her gaze, and couldn't manage another word.
"Not even a dog would touch them, not even a dog would touch them, not even a dog would touch them..."
Bai Mengtian draped herself over Li Fei's shoulder, parted the curtain of her hair with a fingertip, and murmured the words into her ear in a soft, rhythmic chant.
"Woof."
Li Fei's cheeks went faintly pink. She let out a small, quiet bark, then went right back to carefully selecting her potions.
A markup of several thousand times over — Li Fei would happily sell the rope to hang herself with if the profit margins were right. A little thing like dignity? Absolutely no concern whatsoever.
____
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