41 - Rich Genius

Arielle held her breath at the last prompt and bit her lip.
She hadn’t thought that through.
She didn’t think the Orion spell would be of a high tier. Sure, the shape was unique, but there was really only one step and not that many essences involved, only two kinds. It had come together with some difficulty, but nothing she couldn’tovercome.
Or perhaps because the system didn’t recognize the spell form, it assigned it a higher tier than it should.
She waited as it calculated, heart beating in her chest. How on Earth would she explain this to Elric if she got the [Hidden Abilities] marker? What if he got in trouble again?
 
[Hidden Abilities] Not Indicated.
 
A wash of relief and exhilaration hit her. Now that she was out of the woods, she acknowledged the excitement she felt knowing that she hadn’t been dreaming after all. It was real! All her rewards were real and right there for her to take, and she’d also received a lot of XP that she could add to her system.
Of course, she wasn’t going to. That would raise too many questions.
It was still fulfilling to see how much she’d gained in such a short time. Her playtime with Heedy had been very productive.
What she was even more ecstatic about was the fact that she’d managed to break the spell on her first try. She really might be a genius.
“I’m a genius.” She grinned. “A rich genius.”
“Arielle?” The door of the privy opened and closed. “Who are you talking to?”
“No one,” Arielle said. “Just myself. Or perhaps a ghost that might be listening.”
“Let’s not talk about ghosts. It spooks me out.”
“Okay. And Lyra?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for telling me about Orion.”
“You’re welcome.” The door closed again.
She waved away all the points and the spells without incorporating them, focusing on the gems she had. The gold and the gems.
The question was, how would she use that in the real world? It wasn’t like she could buy things with bars of gold and elven gems.
She instantly brought out her messaging scroll and penned a message for her sister.
Ari: Celie. Is Brom there?
Celie: No, he’s gone off with the warriors on a raid. What do you need?
Ari: I can only ask Brom.
Celie: You realize that I will read it anyway.
Ari: Yes, but I want Brom to be there when you do.
Celie: Okay. I’ll tell you when he gets back.
Arielle closed the book as she stared at the screen again. She wondered whether she would continue to hold the gems in her spare inventory. Prince Elarys had seemingly advised against it, telling her that she could lose the gems if she kept them there for a while.
So she had to trade it as quickly as possible.
Once she had traded it for gold, she probably couldn’t put the gold in her inventory. There was usually a limit to how many you could hold there indefinitely, likely about a hundred gold coins.
Therefore, she would need to find somewhere to keep them.
Perhaps open a bank account?
She’d never had one before, and neither had anyone in her family. She wasn’t sure how to open one on her own, either.
She reopened the first page of the scroll.
Ari: Elric, how do I open a bank account?
Elric: You’re not selling charm scrolls again, are you?
She could answer that honestly.
Ari: No, I’m not. I’m simply curious for when I start earning an income.
Elric: Luckily for you, the age to open an account without parental supervision is fifteen, so you can do it yourself.It simply involves going to a bank you want to use, filling out their forms, and signing any disclosures necessary.Then shortly after that, you have your account.
Ari: Thank you for letting me know.
Elric: Of course. And whenever you’re ready to open the account, let me know, and I can accompany you. I can help you avoid the more predatory clauses and such.
Ari: Won’t you be too busy?
Elric: Always. But if you need me, I’ll be there.
Arielle smiled, warmth overflowing in her chest.
Ari: Thank you, Elric.
Elric: You’re welcome, Arielle.
She felt bad for deceiving him, but she told herself that it was better that he didn’t know. She would be paying him backfor his kindness sooner rather than later, with gold and perhaps other gifts.
She materialized some of the Elven gems in her hand. One of them was a blue and pink crystal, the other was a brown metal, and of course, the crystal that was nearly clear.
She beamed as they shone in her hand.
The privy door opened suddenly, and Arielle jerked, spun, and thrust her hands behind her as Lyra walked in.
Lyra paused, reading the expression on her roommate’s face. “What?”

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Arielle shook her head. “Nothing.”
“You’re acting weird.”
“Nothing is amiss. I don’t have an Elven cryonite hidden behind my back.”
“You don’t have…what?”
She shook her head again. “Nothing.”
Lyra ruffled her eyebrows as she shook her head. “Whatever.” She went to her bag and pulled out her book. But instead of sitting at her desk, she said, “I’m going to see the twins,” as she headed out.
Arielle ensured the door was closed before she brought out the glittering stones again. It tickled her skin, breathless excitement.
Something told her she was going to get so much gold out of this.

---

Arielle met up with her teammates the next morning and copied all the notes that they had accumulated.
Riorke had focused on the inscriptions on the wall upstairs, drawing some of them until he got bored and started doodling.
Lacey had written down a detailed account of one of the stories Professor Woden told while they were there. It was a story of a half-melted cauldron, and the lore behind it was that the cauldron had once been a man who cursed the Unmaker after his daughter had died of a severe and sudden illness. He’d cursed all the primordials, but only the Hollowed Priest had appeared before him and told him that in seven days he would turn to dust if he did not recant his words.
The man didn’t recant, hence he had indeed become dust, but it was a sort of hard, metallic dust that had then been forgedinto the cauldron.
The cauldron had then been used by a powerful mage to craft powerful potions, until one day, something had gone wrong, and the potion had melted the cauldron, destroying the soul of the one within.
That seemed like an unfair conclusion, but Arielle supposed the Primordials and their disciples weren’t made to be fair.
Cuthbert had written a short passage that seemed to be in another language. He said he’d copied it from one of the tombstone plaques on the third floor.
Cedric had noted that the temperature of the room got colder the higher they climbed, and he suspected there was a temperature-regulating system in the building. Arielle wished she had gone with him, so she could see what kind of essences would be used to create such a system.
Or was it simply that the Vacu concentration got thicker on the higher floor, which led to the elimination of heat and everything else?
What would it feel like on the highest floor?
“I wouldn’t know,” Cedric said. “Woden wouldn’t let us go there.”
Godfrey had noted a pair of eyes he’d seen carved on a pillar somewhere, and they were directed at a separate wall that appeared different from the rest. He’d also drawn some more symbols and written things in a language that apparently no one could translate, according to Woden.
The meaning has been lost with time.
Arielle lingered on the eyes.
Could it be the same eyes that she’d felt watching her? Now that she knew her memory of events was accurate, she hyperfocused on that aspect once more, wondering what exactly had happened and how she’d ended up in Elfheim in the first place.
She recalled how it was said that Vacu dominants typically went mad or met with unfortunate fates.
What if there was some truth to the idea of a curse? What if the more you used Vacu or even just studied it, the more you began to have otherworldly supernatural encounters that would drive a sane person mad?
However, the rest of her teammates didn’t seem to have the same problems.
When she’d asked them, “Did you feel like something was watching us while we were there?” they’d simply given her odd looks and shook their heads.
So perhaps it was just her. Perhaps it was because she was more sensitive to essences than they were, or because she utilized Vacu more in her spells.
Perhaps she had drawn the creature’s attention as a result.
But what was this creature? One of the disciples? A primordial? Or something else entirely?
When she went to her room, she wrote out the symbols neatly in her book and tried to use a [Quick Translate] and [Deep Translate] spell on it.
It didn’t work.
The translation spells only pulled from existing languages according to the system. So a lost language would not count.
Perhaps there was a spell she could use to discover the intent of the words by ascertaining the writer’s mind when they wrote them.
She would likely need Professor Valeria’s help with that.
She would also need to figure out how to approach the question of Elven essences that were not on Earth and the possibility of breaking an Elven oath. Those weren’t things she could just outright ask Professor Valeria or even Professor Woden. She would need context first. She would need a reason to inquire about it.
She should go to the library first and find out everything she could about elven essences.
Hours later, she found not much.
At her stage, there were books about elven culture, elven tales, and elven treasures, but nothing about elven magic or essences.
As she returned to her room, exhausted from her research, she thought about what she would do once she had the funds.
First, send some gold back to her family and buy Celie her birthday present.
Pay Elric back as well. Then what?
She couldn’t buy an entire library of books; that would be too suspicious. Probably.
She couldn’t do anything excessive at all. She would spend it slowly, and maybe invest most of it in her future.
Finally, when she opened her book, she saw that her sister had written in there: Brom’s back.
Ari wrote quickly.
Ari: Hello, Brom.
Brom: Hey, Ari. You had a question for me?
Ari: Do you know anything about elven gems?
Brom: Not much. Why?
Ari: No reason. How many coins would a gold bar create?
Brom: It depends. How big is the bar?
Ari: About the length of my palm and a half the width.
Ari: Hmmm. That might be anywhere from twenty to thirty gold pieces.
Excitement quickened her breath. That was a lot of gold.
She turned the page to Elric and said:
Ari: Elric, I have a question.
It took him till the end of the day to respond.
Elric: What is it?
Ari: I was learning about elven gems in class and was wondering, hypothetically speaking, if I was ever allowed to complete a quest in Elfheim, and received a cryonite for it, how much would that earn me in gold?
Elric: I don’t want you to think of that, right now. You are very skilled, but the odds of that happening without you having good connections are rare.
Ari: I know. I was simply given an assignment, and I want to complete it.
She swallowed. It was a lot easier to lie in writing than it was in person. Still, she didn’t know if Elric believed her until he started penning down his response.
Elric: Well, ever since the elves closed down three of their access points, the prices have skyrocketed. Negotiations are underway, but a cryonite should be at least a thousand pieces of gold. Maybe two.
Ari’s jaw dropped. Her heart raced. She was too shocked to even ask about the other two gems.
A thousand pieces of gold were an adamantine. Ten mithril. She currently held at least that. much in her inventory.
That was more than the chiefs in her village.
It was more than some of the Greenfinger Clan Chiefs, too.
It was likely on par with the wealth of some of the noble families at Erynwall.
She’d never even imagined that much gold in her life.
Her hand nearly shook as she wrote.
Ari: How do I trade the gem for gold?
Elric: They can only be sold through official channels and only to the appropriate people, so they can be regulated. This is assuming they were obtained legitimately, and the source is accounted for. Unfortunately, some black market varieties have been popping up here and there, and part of the Ministry’s job is to get rid of them when they do.
Arielle’s happiness dimmed. She had gotten her gems legitimately, but couldn’t talk about how.
Ari: I see. And where specifically are these black markets?
Elric: Is that an assignment question as well?
Could she get away with saying yes? Probably not. No professor would give her an assignment on the locations of the black market.
Ari: No, I’m just curious.
Elric: It’s better if you don’t know.
That was frustrating.
But she needed to find out where to sell her ill-gotten gains, one way or another.