“Can I help you?” The snooty voice of a young man who was barely condescending to speak with her rang out in the empty space. It took her a moment to finally spot him, sitting as he was at the other side of the huge counter and reading a book. Books! Yay! I may not have the internet, but a library is almost just as good! She took a few seconds to admire the intricately carved stone desk. With a dragon soaring over a forest on the front, it was pretty impressive.
Smiling, she walked up and trilled cheerfully, “I’m here to read.”
Disdainfully, the young man questioned, “Is that so? Where’s your pass?” He had very obviously appraised her and found her wanting, and the condescension in his tone was thick enough to cut.
“Well, I don’t have one. Yet. So that’s why…”
“No pass, no entry, no exceptions.” He went back to reading, now completely ignoring her as she stared blankly at him. When he realized she was still standing there, he glowered at her with hazel eyes glittering contemptuously and imperiously ordered, “Leave.”
Her eyes narrowed. No one puts baby in a corner! She took her time to study him. Again, he could probably snap her in half. Thick, shiny chestnut hair that she was tempted to run her hands through was kept artfully trimmed to short scruff on his chiseled face. He looked like he was maybe a few years older than her, but the bored condescension was rather off-putting on an otherwise handsome face. He was probably academy, since that seemed to be the school du jour around here, and further witnessed by the muscles she could see defining his arms. He wasn’t a bodybuilder type like Raphael, but he was still cut. She sniffed and turned, while he went back to reading his book. In a show of unprecedented athleticism for her, she whipped back around and poked him in the forehead.
“Hey jerk, listen up. My name is Jade. Remember it, because I’ll probably be here often, and I’m going to make you regret dissing me.” He looked furious, and she dropped her hand before he could grab it, catching sight for the first time of the book he was reading. Completely derailed, she was surprised enough to ask, “Wait, is that book handwritten?”
Her utter surprise seemed to catch him off guard, and he scoffed at her. “What else would it be? Now leave before I hurt you.” She sneered right back at him and turned to leave as he muttered under his breath, “Peasants, always trying to show off. You probably can’t even read.”
Fuming, she mentally poked the new notification that had shown up when she’d jabbed him in the forehead. She kinda wished she jabbed him it a lot harder, and with the nail…
You have touched Lucas Solanell, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.
Choose a skill to siphon: Appraise, Archery, Light Magic, Perception, or Scribe.
Jackpot again! Putting it off for the moment and mentally minimizing the window, she paused as she reached the door and called back in a singsong voice, “Oh Lucas? I’ll remember this.” With him looking startled that she somehow knew his name, she opened the door and tried to waltz outside triumphantly.
Once the door shut, she awkwardly walked to the side to calm down. What was she thinking!? She could have completely blown her cover. Whatever, she’d just say she heard it from someone when she asked for directions. No one would ever know any differently unless they had been following her, which would be super creepy.
More importantly than that though… Books! She couldn’t believe they were handwritten, but that sort of explained the seemingly low literacy rate that was the divide between the haves and have-nots. That didn’t matter though. She was going to be freaking rich!
In her mind, she could just see it now. Jade’s Inventions…she’d work on the name, obviously. But it had just occurred to her that she could steal all the cool things from earth and make herself the richest merchant ever by reproducing them here. A printing press was first on her list. Okay, second, after sunglasses, and maybe soap. She couldn’t do anything as fancy as the laser printers, but she’d watched a documentary on the old printing press once and had the basic idea in her head of how it worked. She could do that.
She couldn’t do anything that required computers or an engine. Sadly, she had totally neglected that in her internet studies. Or anything that required knowing the chemical composition of stuff. So while she would love to make shampoo and conditioner, not knowing what the situation was here, that might have to be put on hold. She’d keep it on the back burner. Maybe when she raised her intelligence stat, she’d be able to figure it out with her heightened brainpower. She silently rued the fact that she’d never had focused learning like the other kids. When they expect you to die daily, they don’t put a whole lot of focus into educating you, so she was allowed to just do whatever interested her on the internet after she was taught how to read with a few schoolbooks. Her parents had helped her to start, but lost interest once her brother came along.
What else could she make? She’d noticed an ink and quill…that meant pens weren’t a thing either. What were the common things she used that would be awesome to make and sell here? She started mentally composing her list.
Sunglasses. Printing press and pens. Shampoo and conditioner, liquid soap, and lotion. Bobby pins? I wonder if those are a thing yet? As much as I would love to invent plastic, I have no idea what that would take. Artificial diamonds? Maybe I can do that with magic… What about food? Do they have stuff like cheeseburgers, tacos, and pizza? I could have the most awesome fast food restaurant ever. Mmm… I kinda want a burrito now. Maybe all those cooking shows Nurse Davies loved will actually come in handy… Oooh, watches! No more digging in your pocket for the time!
What else could I ‘invent?’ I don’t see anyone in high heels, but I think that’s one fashion statement I can live without. Jeans? What are jeans even made of? What about transportation? Everyone is walking everywhere… Cars are above my pay grade, but a bike should be pretty easy to reproduce. Rollerblades? Maybe make them like those shoes with pop-out wheels… I could make a trench coat fashionable, maybe. Depends on how cold it gets here.
Uhhh…what else…normal glasses? Are those a thing here? I haven’t seen anyone with them, but maybe if you raise your stats enough, you don’t need them? Is there such a thing as an automatic correction? Or do people just get healed? What about jewelry? I could probably copy some of that stuff… Probably better to wait on that until after I’ve met with the nobles though. They’re my most likely target for that stuff anyway. Oh, I could do glass beads though! Fake stuff for the win! What about dresses with pockets? Sharon’s dress had pockets, so maybe they’re already doing that right…
Whatever, that’s enough to make me rich forever.
She smiled and began to walk slowly through the streets and back towards The Green Dragon. If the academy thing didn’t work out, that was okay now. She had a plan. She was going to become the richest merchant this world had ever seen.
Oooh, newspapers. I will become the media queen! Might have to teach the peasants to read first though… Unknowingly, she had started to consider herself one of the upper crust already, even though she only had two silver leaves to her name.