Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Testing

What could I use poison on and not cry over the possible loss of it?

My hand went into my pocket, where I still had a pebble I picked up for this purpose on the street in front of the inn. Yeah, now that I think about it, the pockets weren't as useful here as they were on Earth when you had spatial tools. Even so, I thoughtlessly put the pebble in my pocket, and it never occurred to me to use the ring until now. I was still getting used to the possibility of storing things in a magically created space.

Anyway, I was much more worried about fabrics. People wore clothes, but because of my poverty, I didn't have much of them. That's why my eyes fell on my feet. I didn't plan on sacrificing shoes, but socks were a different matter. I've been wearing them for two days now.

I know, a year ago, I would have thought it was gross. I wore clean socks on Earth every day, but when something simple like clothes or hygiene is denied to you for a long time, you will change your priorities. I didn't need to wear clean clothes every day; I was excited to have some. I didn't need to bathe every day because I was happy to know that I could wash if I wanted to. Of course, it required more money that I didn't have. Not enough to be able to bathe every day. For now, it must have been enough for me to wash with the cold water from the inn's well.

To save money, I didn't even buy enough socks to wear a clean pair every day. So I took off my shoes and socks.

"eww" I grabbed my nose in disgust as I sniffed at my socks.

I must wash them tomorrow when I do the laundry at Broken Heart. I should have thought of that yesterday, but I didn't. Although I wanted and tried to return to everyday life as fast as I could, it was not as easy as I had hoped. Some things took time, such as getting used to having to do my own laundry.

"Stop whining, Korra," I scolded myself, back to testing.

I raised my tail to my face so I could sniff it. "Hmm, Apples. Nice"

(ding) You were poisoned.

Yeah, there was still poison between the tail hairs. So I wiped one of the stinky socks on my tail and sniffed at it again. I almost threw up. The smell of the sock wasn't so bad, but after the smell of the apples, it was as if sniffing a rotting corpse.

"Maybe I wiped them on my tail too lightly?" I wondered aloud.

I didn't smell the poison on them, nor did I get a system notification about my poisoning. Following thorough rubbing of the sock did not go without the resistance of the tail. He didn't like it, and I wasn't surprised. It wasn't pleasant for me either. I just hoped my tail wouldn't stink like my smelly sock.

To my delight, the result was the same. The poison did not stick to the cloth. Unfortunately, the idea that the poison could become a shoe deodorant was not possible. The poison did not kill the stench.

Putting aside the socks, I tried rubbing my tail on the various surfaces I found in the room. The poison didn't stick to anything, and since I knew it wasn't transmitted by contact, just by inhalation, I was relieved.

I didn't have to worry about causing mass murder, that if someone caressed my tail, they would die. If someone doesn't bury their nose in my tail hair and inhale the poison into their lungs, everything will be fine.

"Ehm" I coughed after my tail attacked me. He savaged my face with his soft hair.

(ding) You were poisoned.

Yeah, soft but deadly.

I stroked him carefully, whispering, "I know you didn't like it. I'm sorry."

I was not too fond of it either. I knew animals shouldn't be rubbed the wrong way. Now I knew why. It was quite unpleasant, sometimes painful, but necessary for testing.

However, the question remained, how was it possible that the poison was kept between the hairs of the tail? Why didn't I leave a trace of orange gas behind? Was this the natural state of my tail? Or the skill was to blame? I blamed the skill: skill and magic.

As I said before, I liked magic. That's why, to banish the boredom I had in the basement often, I practiced mana control. I didn't have the skill to do it, but I had mana. Nothing was stopping me from trying.

That's why I was able to control my mana now. I'm not saying my control was good, but I knew my tail consumed mana in a slight amount. But after [Heart of Magic] was added to my skills, my whole body consumed mana. It was a small amount that didn't bother me. Regeneration of mana covered its consumption with ease. However, the continuous consumption of mana by the tail could have caused the constant presence of poison in his hair.

So I had the solution right in front of my eyes, so to speak. It was enough to prevent mana from entering the tail, so I tried it.

"Tss," I hissed in pain that came with the absence of mana in my tail.

The pain did not come right away. It took several minutes during which I watched the disappearing poisonous mist in tail hair. It was a dull pain along the entire length of my tail that caused me to hiss and worry.

Why?

Because the most likely cause of the pain was the skill [Heart of Magic], thanks to which my body now required mana. I tried it on my hand, to which I denied all mana. After a few minutes, the same pain appeared. I could still move my hand, but my body was telling me in its way that something was wrong. I could see that something was awry with my own eyes because small dark spots began to appear on my hand. However, the spots of rot disappeared shortly after they appeared, healed by my regeneration.

It was a frightening display of the effects of skills and their downsides.

I had several options for solving my problems I could think of.

First, I could get rid of [Heart of Magic], which bonus was phenomenal but currently unnecessary due to my inability to use magic. I tried to exchange this skill for another, after all I haven't gained a single level in it yet. As a result, I didn't have to worry about death due to lack of mana, but that didn't stop tail mana consumption. As I found out from this experiment, [Heart of Magic] was not the culprit, but [Tail of Poison Empress] itself. Skill made the tail mana requiring a body part like [Heart of Magic] did with the entire body.

Hence this was not a solution to prevent the uncontrollable creation of poison.

The second option was to get rid of [Tail of Poison Empress], but I didn't want to give up the fight so soon.

That led me to the third option, which was to learn to control this skill better. But I had no idea if that was possible at all. Was it possible to control skills like that? Maybe Mr. Sandoval could help answer this question. But if it was possible, I knew I would not learn to control it right away. It will take a lot of training and time.

I looked with a sigh at my tail, which was satisfied after receiving mana again.

The fourth option was to exchange one of the skills for [Pain resistance] and ignore the pain caused by a lack of mana in my body. But I would rather eliminate the cause of my problem than its consequence.

The last fifth option that came to my mind was to cut off my tail.

A very painful and bloody solution that I didn't like at all. I was also afraid that I would have to cut him off every day because of my crazy regeneration. No thank you. Even if I had the skills to suppress the pain I feel, I wouldn't do that.

"You don't have to worry, little one," I whispered to my tail, trying to catch him and caress him.

The little rascal disobeyed me, avoiding my embrace. "Come to mama."

Without realizing it, I started chasing my tail around the room. It took me a while to catch him, but I collapsed laughing on the bed when I succeeded.

"That was fun," I chuckled at my foolishness, glad no one saw me.

However, I could not deny that after those serious thoughts, it was a welcome distraction. I was no longer surprised that the dogs liked to chase their tails because I liked it too.

As I lay in bed, I decided it was a good time to go to sleep.

However, I went to bed with a vision of gaining levels. When I pressed my tail to my chest, whose hair was full of poisonous mist again, I had doubts about my sanity. Who would normally go to sleep expecting cardiac arrest during the night? I wasn't crazy, or so I thought.

If the poison had a different effect, if I had suffered in agony before my death, I would have thought differently. But the previous night was as quiet for me as few before, unaware of my poisoning. I would not have known that this happened without the system notification, which I read this morning.

Even so, I hesitated as I wanted to bury my face in the soft hair of my tail.

"Hmm." I muttered as I smelled apples.

(ding) You were poisoned.

"Shhhh" I know, I told the system.

But why wasn't I poisoned as soon as I buried my face in the tail yesterday? Now I knew that in order for the tail to form poison, it needed mana. So after I chose the skill, it probably took a while for the poison to form in such an amount that it could poison me.

The only thing that still struck me as odd was the poison's strength, which seemed to be quite weaker than when I inhaled the thick mist in the training room.

But it didn't matter now because I could feel the effects of the poison coming. Full body exhaustion appeared, numbness and fatigue overcame my mind. Maybe this wasn't such a bad way to fall asleep, I thought before closing my eyes.

…

"Ouch," I muttered, reaching for my sore spot.

A very unpleasant pain in my thigh, which I soon found out was caused by a pebble in my pocket that I left in it, accompanied my awakening.

"Fuck!" I cursed and threw the pebble on which I didn't even try the poison in the opposite corner of the room.

My little burst of emotion didn't relieve my pain, but I felt better, wanting to stay in bed a little longer. Without an alarm clock, whose function was not in the system either, getting up in time was difficult. But I had to.

Until I rinsed my face with cold water from a well in the morning, my mind was as foggy as it had been yesterday before I fell asleep. I was never a morning person, but the last two mornings were extreme. Of course, I attributed it to my poisoning. I wasn't tired, slept all night. It simply took me a while to be able to concentrate.

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Anyway, this time, I checked system notifications before sitting at a table in the inn.

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) You were poisoned.

…

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) Never-Dying reaches lvl 13

(ding) You died.

(ding) You were poisoned.

(ding) Tail of Poison Empress reaches lvl 6

Next…

(ding) You were poisoned.

…

(ding) Tail of Poison Empress reaches lvl 7

…

(ding) Never-Dying reaches lvl 16

"Wow, only once," I said in amazement when I realized that my heart had only stopped once during my sleep.

[Never-Dying] fought the poison in my body much better this time. It kept up with the pace at which the poison destroyed my nervous system with only one wavering. Still, that meant my death. I did not blame the skill for it, but myself. I didn't have [Poison Resistance] to resist the toxin in my body. This skill would dampen its effects, or completely resist them, making me immune to it. Without it, the poison in my body was raging in full force. My unusual regeneration only repaired the damage it caused, without having the ability to eliminate poison from my body or dampen its effects.

The fact that my regeneration won tonight over poison, I attributed to the higher tier [Never-Dying] reached, along with the levels that the skill had. Thanks to that, it was much stronger than the night before. My only death and a delicious breakfast lifted my spirits immensely.

I sat down in a good mood at the table in the inn.

It lasted until I found out the price of the katana in the smithy I visited.

"Did you say three gold?!" I asked the blacksmith in disbelief when he told me the price of the weapon.

He snorted. "Look, a katana is not an easy weapon to make. If you don't like it, it's your problem, but I can't go lower with the price!"

"How much does an ordinary sword cost?" I asked, struggling to be polite.

"Considering how you look, you can't afford it either," the blacksmith commented on my appearance.

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "What do you mean?"

"That a half-terran like you doesn't have enough money to afford weapons in my smithy," he said, punching the counter. He then smiled slightly and continued, "I can sell you the cheapest sword, the most ordinary one my apprentice has made, for ninety-five pieces of silver."

"Oh," I sighed with my ears down.

"Look, lass, people who buy weapons have enough to afford them. I don't need customers like you here!!" the blacksmith growled.

"What about the two-handed sword?" I asked, anxiety overwhelming my heart.

He looked at me like I was an idiot. "Are you kidding me? For you? Two golds thirty-five silvers."

"It's that expensive?" The blacksmith's words surprised me.

"Why not, iron is not free, and it takes a lot to make a longsword. Is that all?" He asked.

It wasn't. "What's the cheapest weapon you have here?"

"Arrows, two coppers," he grinned.

This man was unbearably rude. This remark of his was unnecessary. I was eager to tell him something, but instead I stood with clenched fists, outstretched wings, and tail at attention.

"Funny!" I said. "How much would combat gloves cost?"

"With protection only on the knuckles, nineteen silvers. Do you want them?" He asked.

Even though it was less than the prices of other weapons, it was still out of my reach. My whole hoard consisted of just over 14 silver pieces.

So I was forced to refuse. "No, thank you."

I left the smithy without saying goodbye to the owner. He didn't deserve it.

Unfortunately, even the second forge that I managed to find was no cheaper, although their approach was more accommodating. The reality was that I couldn't afford a weapon, let alone armor, and enter a labyrinth without these two things, seemed like suicide.

Even though the word "suicide" has often been on my mind lately, I didn't plan to become food for the monsters in the labyrinth.

After visiting the smithies, I was in a terrible mood, but the atmosphere in the library immediately lifted my spirits. I couldn't help but feel like I was in another world. Technically, I was in another world, but the library was another world in itself.

I took a deep breath to let the magic of the place calm my nerves.

"It's you, miss Grey," said the librarian, who appeared between the shelves. "I was wondering when you would come."

I smiled. "Nice to see you too, Mr. Sandoval."

"So what will it be today? Are you looking for a specific book, or will we continue our conversation from yesterday?" He asked.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, Mr. Sandoval," I apologized once more.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I didn't want to keep you from your duties," the librarian said.

I was relieved that he wasn't upset about my quick departure yesterday.

"You didn't. I should have watched my time more. At least everything went well," I said, scratching my head nervously. "Could I have a moment of your time, I've been thinking about what we talked about yesterday, and I have a few questions."

"Sure," the librarian nodded, pointing between bookshelves. "Follow me. There's one nice place where we can both sit down. I have a few of my own questions for you too."

"Oh," I paused for a moment but then followed the librarian.

My curiosity was stronger than my fear. I also wanted to know what Mr. Sandoval wanted to ask me what I could know, and he didn't. The librarian led me to one of the large library windows, under which was a table with two armchairs. Instead of the backyard view I expected, I looked out the window at the vast meadows beneath the mountains.

Mr. Sandoval smiled when I looked at him questioningly.

"Magic tool," He explained to me, sat down, and pointed to a chair opposite him. "Thanks to it, you forget for a moment that you are in the middle of a busy city."

It was something similar to the screens I saw in a few sci-fi movies. Probably the cheapest looking in the form of a kind of blind in Back to the Future. However, I wasn't sure if anything like that really existed. I mean on Earth. Still, the picture outside the window was alive and really gave the impression that the library stood in the middle of the meadows.

I sat down in a chair, but finding a comfortable position on the armchair with wings and a tail was difficult. It was a daily struggle for me. Even in Broken Mug, where they had a few stools, it was sometimes a problem when all of them were occupied by terrans. It was even more challenging to sit in this leather armchair.

"So what questions burden your mind, miss Grey?" the librarian asked after I finally found a way to sit comfortably in the armchair.

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