Oh come on

Arjuna let out a yawn as he walked down the city streets. It was still daytime, but the sun was slowly setting the edges of the sky giving off hints of red.

Arjuna stopped suddenly and looked up at the shop in frount of him.

[The Raven's Message]

That was what it was called and it was a quaint small shop with a rickety rock outside and black tiles on its roof.

The door itself was just labeled with the name of the shop and a small signboard that said open.

Arjuna pushed open the door and walked in entering a slightly damp room with dark tiled floors and stone walls. An elderly man wearing a long red robe and spectacles welcomed him from behind a counter.

Arjuna greeted him back and looked around the shop. It didn't really look like a real shop, at the very back where the elderly man and the counter were a cabinet full of potions stood against the wall. On the cabinet were some pink and dark green potions that Arjuna had never seen before and some rat skulls which Arjuna looked at the shopkeeper in slight suspicion.

On the very left was a small furnace with a pot of green liquid boiling on the top. The liquid's vapor literally was colored green and started to rise in the room. On the right was a table full of cluttered books and alchemy equipment and a bronze telescope pointing towards a window.

A small circular staircase that lead to a second floor that Arjuna didn't even see on the outside of the shop could be seen in the very back of the shop on the right corner behind the shopkeeper and the counter.

The red-robed shopkeeper watched Arjuna observe his surroundings with a glint of interest.

"what can I help you with sonny"

He asked with a gruff voice

Arjuna turned his way and asked politely.

"um, do you have Skeletal Bloom, Moss Blossom, Alpha Barberry, Piranha Aniseed, Shimmer Cabbage, and Urchin Tooth?"

The shopkeeper's eyes winded as Arjuna listed the ingredients that he needed most urgently. Most of the ingredients he mentioned were pretty rare and were only used in special potions. Any normal alchemy shop wouldn't have those, but well this one was a bit different.

"follow me sonny," The red-robed shopkeeper said walking around the counter leading Arjuna up the staircase.

Arjuna followed curious about what he was about to see.

They walked up the winding stairs until finally, the shopkeeper stopped at a dark room on the second floor or from what Arjuna had seen seemed more like an attic than anything.

The shopkeeper felt for some sort of switch with his left hand until finally the sound of a gear being turned could be heard.

Almost magically a quick row of torches laid on the sides of the walls lit up simultaneously. Arjuna opened his eyes and let out a huge gasp as the light started to illuminate what was in frount of him.

Crates of rare alchemy ingredients lined up row after row. It was everything Arjuna could wish for and more.

Arjuna's smile lit up the surroundings as he looked at the rare ingridents. The shopkeeper scratched the back of his neck.

"Usually I don't show this to customers, you seem to have a very special knowledge of alchemy, and also I felt something different from you."

Arjuna let out a happy smile, though the most likely reason was his charm stat he was still happy and walked through the crates picking out the ingredients that he wanted.

The shop keeper let out a small laugh as he watched Arjuna virtually dancing through the crates picking the best ones that he found.

"so sonny" he called out "what are you making anyways?"

Arjuna in his happy mood replied

"oh just the regular some health, strength and speed and a few more"

The shopkeeper looked at Arjuna with a bit of suprise. Only skilled alchemists could use rare herbs like those and be able to implement them into a common potion recipe like those. While it was risky to use the rare herbs, if it worked then you would end up with a potion that was many times better than with just the regular type of potion.

The shopkeeper looked at the black-haired boy in surprise.

"is this boy a skilled alchemist?"

The shopkeeper asked himself as he watched Arjuna

While he was happily taking his fill. A female voice could be heard from the stairs walking up.

"Boss Dykon? are you up there? haha you shouldn't leave the mechanism for the staircase open, somebody could come and discover.... "

Arjuna turned to see a female brunet with wide blue eyes staring at him with an expression of pure shock. She was dressed in a simple black dress with a golden pin on her chest. But somehow she seemed to overflow with elegance and confidence. She looked at Arjuna once, and then the aura of majesty and confidence seemed to dissapear.

"who... who are you?" She asked pointing a shaking finger at him.

The red-robed shop keeper walked in frount of her and slowly explained

"he is a customer, I'm just letting him pick out of the rare stock"

The brunet woman let out a sigh and said to the shop keeper annoyed

"Dykon, I'm supposed to have first priority on these ingredients, but you keep on giving it to some random people like this kid here...."

The brunette woman looked at Arjuna closely her eyes focusing on him for a few seconds. A perplexed expression started to slowly cover her face and when Arjuna looked at her eyes. He could spot a hint of the blue color of her eyes momentarily fade and instead light green pupils could be seen.

"why... why does he have his mana mark?" She muttered to herself quietly.

Arjuna's eyes widened when he heard what she said and he opened his mouth.

"Sni.. mhmm mphm"

The brunette woman covered Arjuna's mouth before he could say the gnomes master's full name. She crossed the distance between the two of them in an instant. She looked at Arjuna her eyes glimmering with a dangerous light.

"now, now" she whispered "don't go yelling out my colleague's names like that"

Arjuna's eyes widened even large as he realized who this brunette woman was. It was the one that Sninkkaakac had told him about, the person who he was supposed to meet. She was the entire reason why he had journeyed to the city of twilight.

The brunette woman turned around and grasped Arjuna's hand and quickly lead him away, Arjuna had a large number of ingredients in his hands so as she took Arjuna down she tossed the shopkeeper an entire gold coin. The shopkeeper looked at the gold coin in his hands and let out a sigh as if it was a daily occurrence.

Arjuna tried to put the ingredients into his inventory while the brunette woman almost dragged him over someplace. The be honest Arjuna wasn't really paying attention to where he was being led to. He was more focused on storing his rare ingredients and making sure he didn't damage any of them.

All that Arjuna could say was that he entered a building that seemed to have some expensive carpet and he heard the sound of people greeting the woman with mistress and madam.

It was around this time that Arjuna had started to finish putting everything away and was more prone to his surroundings. He was currently in what seemed to be a luxurious house.

He saw a red carpet with large white stairs that lead to multiple floors. On the very top on a banner, Arjuna could barely read something that said something merchant group.

The brunette lady was still leading Arjuna to someplace, and Arjuna felt her vice grip on his wrist as she pulled him towards a single room that was on the left-wing of the building they were in.

She opened it in a hurry and quickly ushered Arjuna inside. She closed the door and kept on peeking around to make sure nobody was nearby.

The room was a regular one much like the one Sninkkaakac had talked to them in. There was a single table in the middle with two benches on either side.

Arjuna didn't even need to look at her to know that he needed to walk over one of the benches. He quickly sat down making a quick check to make sure his precious rare ingredients were safe.

Finally, she looked at Arjuna and placed her hand on the table.

"alright tell me everything, who are you, why you have Sninkkaakac's mana mark, why you have a hint of the darkness element in your mana, why you have the mana of a dawn alchemist, and how you somehow got access to my secret stock of rare herbs."

Arjuna pursed his lips suddenly realizing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this quickly anytime soon.