After leaving, Kai headed straight for Kato Bakery. Although he had controlled his urges in the morning, after a day of hard work, he couldn't restrain himself any longer.
"Three blueberry muffins and two Danish pastries," he said. After ordering, Kai looked around but didn't see Alex. So he asked,
"Where's Alex?"
Hearing Kai's question, Alex's father, Mathew, who was sitting in his wheelchair, showed a helpless expression.
Before being forced into this dangerous world, he had worked at a corporate company. It paid enough to support both his son and his vegetative wife.
His wife had high hopes of recovering from her condition, and his son was about to enter college.
He had even developed a love for cooking and baking. Although life wasn't perfect, it was still good—something worth looking forward to each day.
But everything changed when they were dragged into this world.
After much effort, he found ways to keep his wife alive and discovered treatments that could potentially bring her out of her vegetative state—treatments that cost a fortune.
So, he worked hard every day, hunting monsters and running the bakery to gather enough money to help his wife recover.
But a month ago, everything changed again when his team encountered a pack of Silver Wolves.
He lost both his legs and suffered severe injuries, which quickly drained the funds he had saved for his wife's treatment.
Now, he could only run the bakery, which barely covered the cost of keeping his wife alive.
To make matters worse, his son had decided to hunt monsters to earn money.
He didn't want his son risking his life—what father would? But he knew he couldn't stop him either.
He felt utterly helpless, knowing he couldn't help his wife or protect his son.
"He's out hunting."
Hearing Mathew's reply, Kai sighed at their family situation. After paying, he quietly left.
Alex's family is both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. They are fortunate because the whole family is still together, and unfortunate due to their recent hardships.
There are many people in town who know nothing about their family members—whether they're dead or alive.
Even Kai himself doesn't know the situation of his own family.
Munching on muffins and pastries along the way, Kai returned to his room at the inn. After resting for a while, he picked up the books about [Herb Weaving] and immersed himself in them.
After three long hours of studying, Kai felt hungry. Looking out the window, he saw that it was already evening.
Tidying up the place, he headed out to get some dinner. After eating, he returned to his room and refined Ki for an hour.
[Ki: 149]
Then he slowly drifted off to sleep.
[Ancient Calendar: 10 April 0001]
Waking up the next day, Kai freshened up, ate at the inn, and then headed to work.
"Kai, come here quickly," Miya called out excitedly as he entered the shop.
Arriving at the front desk, Kai saw Miya going through a list.
"Here, look! The shipment finally arrived."
"Which shipment? You mean that shipment?" Remembering the delayed shipment of goods that could be exchanged for Honey points, Kai excitedly grabbed the list.
Going through it, Kai saw many good items, but one in particular caught his eye:
[Strength Potion (A): 1M points
Phantom Fruits (A): 2M points
Sun Essence (B): 500K points
Pill Spirit (B): 150K points
Knowledge Sea (C): 100K points
Broken Knowledge Sea (E): 5K points
Furnace (D): 80K points
Beast Flames (D): 150K points
Earth Flames (A): 5M points
Fire Stones (E): 1K points]
The item that caught Kai's attention was the Broken Knowledge Sea.
"How is a Broken Knowledge Sea different from a normal Knowledge Sea?" Kai asked Miya, as the price of five thousand Honey points was surprisingly cheap.
"Simple, it's broken. You'll never be able to progress with a Broken Knowledge Sea. But it's the main ingredient for making the Knowledge Sea Awakening Pill," Miya replied, still flipping through the other lists.
"Then do you think I can use it?" Kai asked hurriedly. Although he wouldn't be able to make progress, he could still use Soul powers.
"Use it? Oh, you mean using it as your Knowledge Sea? It's possible… but are you sure? Using another's Knowledge Sea already makes it difficult to make any progress. If you use a broken Knowledge Sea, then you will never be able to make progress. Your soul power will forever remain the same."
Miya advised Kai against his thoughts. As a Fairy, she knew the importance of the Knowledge Sea better than humans. Fairies awaken their Knowledge Sea automatically; in some cases, they need the assistance of a Knowledge Sea Awakening Pill.
However, in the worst cases, they can't open their Knowledge Sea even with the help of the pill.
So, they opt to use the Knowledge Sea of deceased Fairies.
However, a foreign Knowledge Sea will always remain foreign, making it ten times harder to make progress compared to one's own.
A broken Knowledge Sea means no progress for the rest of one's life. In rare cases, it can even lead to early death.
So, Miya advised against it. However, Kai, who finally saw a ray of light in the endless tunnel of darkness, wasn't willing to budge.
"Can I use it to perform Herb Weaving?" Kai asked again, ignoring Miya's warning.
"You can certainly do that. However, with your pitifully weak soul, how much Soul power will you be able to generate? Maybe extracting the essence of four to five herbs is all you could manage."
Miya answered truthfully. Although she felt she wouldn't be able to persuade the human named Kai, she still tried to warn him one last time.
"Good. Then how many Honey points do I have?" Kai asked excitedly as he handed over his employee card.
Kai was a human, not a Fairy. He didn't depend entirely on Soul power. He just needed it for Alchemy; for everything else, he had his Ki.
"Currently, you have 874 Honey points."
The details on the employee card were written in the Fairy language, which only a Fairy could read.
"Alright. And my brewing list?"
Kai had never really tried to actively earn Honey points. All these points had been earned over the last eighty days.
Taking the brewing list, Kai headed toward his Alchemy room.
"I get 1 Honey point per pill and 5 points per potion. It roughly takes two hours to make a batch of Basic Vitality Pills, from which I can get 16 to 17 points.
However, it only takes around an hour to make a potion, which can earn me around 10 to 15 points. But it's tiresome work."