Chapter 49: The Sage

“It’s true.”

As soon as the words were out, George watched Gima in silence. Her expression remained normal. As time passed, a look of confusion naturally appeared on her face. She asked, “George, what’s wrong?”

She looked just like a real child who wanted to go out and play.

George finally spoke. “Be safe. Come back before the bell tower strikes for the nineteenth time.”

In other words, before seven in the evening.

“Okay.”

A smile appeared on Gima’s face. She turned and ran for the door. “I’m free!”

“Wait.”

George called out to her. Gima stopped and turned her head.

“You forgot your backpack.” George held up Gima’s pack and handed it to her.

“Okay, thanks.”

Gima took the backpack, eagerly pushed open the door, and slammed it shut behind her.

“I’m off,” she said, her footsteps thudding down the hallway as she ran.

The innocent smile didn’t leave Gima’s face until she was out of the inn. She patted her flat chest and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

I almost thought I’d been found out… That performance just now should have fooled him. The damn virgin probably thinks I’m just a little girl who’s so eager to play that she forgot her bag.

Gima headed straight for the Fellen Brothers Bank, pulling her hood low to avoid the gazes of passersby.

Her eyes stung a little; the cosmetic contact lenses she wore had shifted. Gima blinked a few times, shedding a few tears, and felt a little better.

Along the way, eyes would occasionally fall on her. As she passed a dark alley, the stares of a few loitering hooligans were so intense they felt like needles.

It meant that she was the target of their greed.

Gima immediately grew vigilant and walked toward a more crowded area. She didn’t relax until the prickly feeling was gone.

In a place with good security, they wouldn’t dare to do anything too brazen.

Gima wore an inconspicuous hooded robe. The robe was wrapped tightly around her, and her folded wings were pressed uncomfortably against her back.

I’m already dressed like this and I’m still being targeted. When will I be strong enough to show my wings and tail without a care in the world?

Gima’s desire for the potion ingredients grew even stronger.

She walked along the white stone road, crossed an intersection, and came to a place where she could see the Fellen Brothers Bank in the square. A familiar sign came into view: “Miracle Potions.” The storefront was still dark and poorly lit.

It was in this shop that she had ordered the potion ingredients last week.

Gima pushed the door open. A wind chime tinkled, and a wave of licorice and a heavy, fishy smell assaulted her.

Gima pinched her nose, only getting used to the smell after a moment. She looked inside the shop. A bright, bald head was exceptionally conspicuous in the dim light.

The unscrupulous bald alchemist was sitting behind the counter, head down, motionless.

It was like the beginning of a horror movie, where the person sitting there was actually long dead.

Gima activated her “Eyes of Desire.” The seven-colored aura naturally appeared around the bald alchemist. She didn’t let her guard down, looking left and right. Seeing no ambush, she finally relaxed.

She had been worried that the bald alchemist had remembered her eye color, seen the bank’s bounty, and was waiting here to ambush her.

“Anyone here?”

She walked to the counter and called out.

“Yes~ What is it?”

The bald head slowly lifted, revealing a face with swollen, dark-circled eyes and a pale complexion. It almost scared Gima. In less than a week, the healthy, strong bald alchemist now looked like a pile of medicinal dregs.

“What happened to you?”

“Me? I’m fine, I’ve recovered.” He recognized Gima. “It’s you? The cute little girl, I remember you. Ever since you left last week, I suddenly couldn’t get it up. That bitch from that day even extorted a hundred gold coins from me. If I didn’t give it to her, she’d go around telling everyone and ruin my good name.”

“A seller of aphrodisiacs has no good name to begin with.”

“I bring happiness and hope to my compatriots suffering from unspeakable diseases. I’m clearly as noble as a white-robed angel, yet you all look down on me.” The bald alchemist continued, “I gave her the money and started treating my illness. I used all sorts of precious medicines, but nothing worked. I was short on cash, and you know what happened? That shameless woman came asking for more money, this time for two hundred gold coins! What does she take me for?”

For a rare moment, Gima began to sympathize with him. It seemed she had gone a bit too far, teasing him in reverse several times. Was it six times, or seven?

“So, have you prepared my master’s ingredients?”

“There are still a few days left in the week.” The bald alchemist said, “I spent a lot of money the past few days.”

Gima expressionlessly extended her little finger, preparing to give it a flick. Let him taste the bitterness of abstinence again.

“Haha, I’m just kidding.” The bald alchemist suddenly laughed.

“If I hadn’t turned the tables and won against that bitch, your master’s ingredients would have been delayed a few more days. Of course, I ignored that bitch, and she went around badmouthing me. It got to the point where my esteemed clients demanded I prove myself. But at that time, I really couldn’t do it, no matter how much medicine I drank. Do you know how I turned the tables?”

Hearing that the Nightmare potion ingredients were ready, Gima’s mood brightened. She played along and asked, “What was it?”

“A divine medicine.” The bald man smiled and continued:

“I drank it, and a few minutes later, I was immediately cured. I immediately agreed to my client’s request. The client ordered a woman for me. I said, one isn’t enough, I need three, and bring that bitch along too. In the room, she had a look of contempt on her face. I immediately showed her what’s what, fighting from morning till night. The client was stunned, and immediately bought a large bundle of medicine from me, and even introduced me to others.”

No wonder you look like a pile of medicinal dregs.

“So what exactly was that medicine?”

“Ta-da! This is it!” The bald alchemist pulled out a palm-sized, flat glass bottle, half-filled with a golden oil. He placed it on the table and said, “The divine medicine made from the left testicle of the Demon Lord Kima.”

Gima’s face visibly darkened.

“As everyone knows, left for men, right for women, so the left testicle is the essence of the essence, containing the Demon Lord’s own endless energy and desire.” The bald alchemist lowered his voice and said, “They’re all fighting over it. I specially saved this for your master. After your master uses it, he’ll surely dote on you even more. Hehe, only five hundred gold coins. I only save it for generous customers.”

Gima’s face was like ice. She pointed her little finger at the purple aura symbolizing lust on the bald alchemist, flicked it, flicked it hard, flicked it with all her might. Her little finger twitched as if having a seizure, flicking and flicking and flicking. The energy in her body drained away like a deflating balloon.

She didn’t stop until her little finger was about to cramp.

“What’s wrong with your finger?”

“An incurable congenital disease. It twitches whenever I hear something unpleasant,” Gima said, rubbing her little finger. “Where are my master’s ingredients?”

“Hold on, I’ll get them for you.”

The bald alchemist bent down, preparing to put away the divine medicine. He looked at the medicine in his hand that had brought him back to his “manly glory” and suddenly felt it was worthless.

The three questions of a sage popped into his mind:

It just drives everyone to do the same boring piston movement. What’s so good about sex? Why do men and women all like it? I... actually wasted precious time on something like this?

He shook his head and put away the divine medicine. He rummaged through the cabinet, then took out a black wooden box and placed it on the table. It was tied with a silk ribbon.

“It looks like a birthday present for a little girl.”

Gima said, taking out the prepared money bag from her backpack. It was heavy; a thousand gold coins weighed twenty pounds, and she had to carry it with both hands.

I must have been ripped off by this bastard.

The bald alchemist leaned over, picked up the bag with one hand, and placed it on the table. The pleasant sound of gold coins colliding echoed in the shop. He opened the bag, and his bald head seemed to shine a little brighter in the light of the gold coins.

He looked up and said, “Your master is truly generous.”

Gima’s heart was bleeding. This was half of her current fortune. She now only had nine hundred and eighty-nine gold coins and twenty-two silver coins left.

Gima stood on her toes, took the box, and opened it. Inside lay a shriveled piece of jerky, black, like an elephant’s trunk. There was also a completely green herb, without a single trace of withering, its roots intact. Staring at the herb, she felt a wave of drowsiness.

Gima shook her head to clear it. She checked the ingredients in the box. Besides the tapir’s nose and the whole dream grass, there was also a flat metal bottle. She twisted open the lid and smelled a strong smell of alcohol. The remaining sleepiness in her mind instantly vanished.

There were also fresh chili peppers and a small bottle of ginger oil.

Gima nodded. It was all there, and it looked real. Although she had been ripped off, the other party seemed to have guaranteed the quality.

“How is it?” the bald alchemist said with a smile. “I guarantee it’s all good stuff.”

“Mm, let me borrow your alchemy equipment.”

“You?”

The bald alchemist looked Gima up and down, his gaze lingering on her tender, slender fingers, which had not a single mark on them. “Go away, alchemy equipment is not your toy.”

As a Demon Lord, of course I know how to make potions. Otherwise, what if someone tried to poison me?

“My master wants a potion, and I know how to make it,” Gima said. “Don’t tell me you took so much money but were too lazy to wash your alchemy equipment?”

He said, “You can let me do it. I’m an old hand.”

“No.”

“Just don’t blow it up.” The bald alchemist said, pulling open a door. Gima walked in. She followed him to the back of the shop, to a room that looked like a kitchen.

It was a crude, earthen stove, like one you’d find in the countryside. On the stove were several ceramic pots of various colors, a grinding bowl, and glass beakers and test tubes. A leather bellows, very old, looked like it had been borrowed from a blacksmith’s shop.

Gima stood in front of the alchemy station, feeling as if she were about to cook a meal.

The bald alchemist bent down and brought over a bag of charcoal, handed her an oil lamp, and picked up an hourglass. “This hourglass is for one minute. Don’t break it.”

“You can go now.”

“Don’t be so secretive. Call me if you can’t handle it.”

The bald alchemist said, closing the door. He hummed a happy tune as he went to count his gold coins.

Gima placed the charcoal in the stove, lit some weeds with the oil lamp, and ignited the charcoal. While the charcoal was burning, she picked up a kitchen knife and opened the system.

Although she could already recite the formula from memory, she still read it carefully, afraid of making a mistake.

“I hope I can succeed and survive the advancement,” Gima muttered to herself, raising the kitchen knife to cut the tapir’s nose.