Weibai walked down the street, wandering aimlessly.
Since he had won a considerable amount of prize money from the Chef God Competition, he was in no rush to find work.
After walking around for a while, Weibai unknowingly arrived at the entrance of a shop.
Raising his head in confusion, he realized this was the Adventurers’ Guild of Labia City.
From time to time, a few adventurers would brush past him, looking like they were in a great hurry.
“This is…”
Weibai watched those hurried adventurers, a sense of familiarity washing over him.
‘Should I go in and take a look?’
The thought surfaced in his mind naturally; he felt an impulse to enter.
However…
‘Forget it. I’m already retired. I’ve already pressed my thumbprint onto the Retirement Contract.’
He had already made up his mind not to be an adventurer anymore.
This had nothing to do with him now.
With that thought, Weibai turned and left the Adventurers’ Guild; he had no reason to stay there.
But before he could even take two steps, a raspy and somewhat piercing voice rang out beside him.
“Hey! Hey, hey, hey, young man! Do you want to see our latest product?”
Weibai turned to look.
Leaning against the gate of the Adventurers’ Guild was an old man wearing a tattered cloak, supporting himself with a cane.
The old man was currently beckoning to Weibai while shaking a bottle of Magic Potion in his hand.
“Young man, this is the invisibility potion I just developed! Do you want to give it a try?”
The old man approached with the glass bottle in hand, and in an instant, a foul stench rushed toward Weibai.
Smelling that stench — which was like the odor of a rotting sewer mixed with the scent of dead rats — Weibai was nearly overwhelmed.
He took two steps back and covered his nose and mouth.
‘How can this old man smell so bad?!’
Furthermore, that Magic Potion of unknown origin clearly looked suspicious.
He had no intention of dealing with someone like this.
Frowning and saying nothing, Weibai hurriedly walked a few paces in the other direction.
To his surprise, the old man actually chased after him, persistently following behind Weibai.
“Young man! I feel like fate has brought us together. Just take this potion!”
“This is the top-tier Magic Potion I spent my entire life refining!”
“Young man! If you miss out, it’ll be gone for good!”
Hearing the old man’s incessant chattering, the irritability that had been temporarily suppressed in Weibai’s heart surged once more.
He impatiently brushed the old man aside to free himself from the badgering.
“Sir, I am not interested in your potion. There is no need to keep pestering me; it is quite off-putting.”
Weibai kept a straight face, doing his best to suppress his emotions as he spoke to the old man.
“Young man, this potion is one of a kind. Just take it!”
As he spoke, the old man moved toward Weibai again.
“Sir, I have said it many times, I don’t need it.”
Weibai wanted to say more, but he felt a weight in his hand as a bottle of transparent Magic Potion was thrust upon him.
“Young man, it doesn’t cost any money. Just take it and use it yourself.”
The old man stuffed the Magic Potion into Weibai’s hand of his own accord.
Just 1 second before Weibai could lose his temper, the old man turned and vanished into the crowd at the entrance of the Adventurers’ Guild.
‘Is this old man crazy…?’
Feeling the weight in his hand, Weibai frowned.
His impression of the old man had hit rock bottom.
He wouldn’t touch anything given by a stranger, let alone something from a crazy-looking old man.
Who knew if this thing was poisonous?
Weibai turned the Magic Potion over and over to examine it before casually tossing it onto the ground nearby.
The expected sound of glass shattering did not happen.
Instead, the bottle hit the ground with a *clatter* and rolled several times.
‘It didn’t break?!’
Weibai looked at the glass bottle rolling on the ground in slight surprise.
After thinking for a moment, he picked the potion up again.
Then, he used the “Identification” skill of his Pendant.
[Identification]
Name: Unknown
Attributes: Unknown
Effect: **[Perfect]** Invisibility
Quality: Unknown
Seeing the string of “unknowns” before his eyes, Weibai’s eyelid twitched.
‘This really is a shady mystery product.’
He knew nothing about it.
Seeing that even the Pendant could not detect what was inside, it was clear the old man could not be trusted.
However, this was also the first time Weibai had seen the Pendant identify an item as “unknown,” so he was naturally curious.
After considering it, he didn’t throw the potion away.
Instead, he stuffed it into his pocket, thinking he would bring it back to examine it.
As he was putting the potion away, his hand brushed against a ring-shaped object in his pocket.
‘What’s this?’
Weibai didn’t remember having anything shaped like a ring.
Confused, he pinched the object and brought it before his eyes to see.
It was a ring.
Upon seeing it, Weibai remembered.
Taurani had stuffed a ring into his hand earlier.
For certain reasons, he had taken it off and hadn’t worn it since.
Weibai gazed at the ring, then felt the heavy weight of the potion and gold coins in his pockets.
He decided to put the ring on.
Setting aside whether the ring was useful, even if it wasn’t, as long as he didn’t rely solely on it like last time, he would still be safe with the Pendant.
Most importantly, this ring had a storage function.
The Space Magic within could hold many items for him, so he wouldn’t have to walk around with every pocket stuffed to the brim.
After sliding the Concealment Ring onto his pinky, Weibai tried injecting a bit of Mana into it.
He successfully managed to store the Magic Potion and some gold coins inside.
“It worked. This is much easier.”
Weibai stood up, feeling that his pockets were no longer heavy.
—
He continued walking down the street.
Before he knew it, the sun had begun to set.
The evening breeze of the dusk felt very comfortable to Weibai.
After walking all day, Weibai was also getting hungry.
He looked around as he walked, trying to see if there was a snack street nearby.
Labia City was much more prosperous than Karven City, so there were naturally more shops.
Weibai found a store with almost no effort.
‘The Green Salad Shop?’
Looking at the sign at the entrance, Weibai found it quite novel.
‘Why is the name of this shop so strange? Might as well go in and take a look.’
With this thought appearing in his mind, and since he was already famished, Weibai didn’t hesitate and walked straight into the shop.
Upon pushing the door open, he was greeted by the sight of very few customers and a young girl with pale green hair dozing off behind the counter.
Weibai didn’t speak to wake her.
Instead, he observed her carefully.
Besides her green hair, the girl didn’t seem to have any other notable features.
She looked quite ordinary.
If her hair were dyed black and she was thrown into a crowd, Weibai doubted he would be able to recognize her based on her looks alone.
She was a very simple, plain girl.
At that moment, a customer who was eating noticed Weibai and kindly woke the dozing girl.
“Yawn—”
Having been woken up, the girl let out a sluggish yawn.
After rubbing her eyes, she looked around.
Soon, she discovered a young man standing in front of her.
“Um, hello. Would you like to order?”
The girl stretched lazily, pulled a menu from behind the counter, and handed it to Weibai.
“Hmm—”
Weibai looked at the food on the menu and then ordered the salad he used to love most.
“Just this, please.”
The girl glanced at the dish Weibai had ordered, then called out casually toward the kitchen.
After receiving a response, she pointed toward a dining table.
“The salad is being prepared. Go over there and wait for a bit. It’ll be brought out to you when it’s ready.”
“Alright.”
After a brief reply, Weibai walked toward an empty seat.
After glancing around his surroundings, he pulled out a chair and sat down.
Seeing Weibai take his seat, the girl at the front desk let out another tired yawn, rested her head on the table again, and went back to sleep.
Seeing that she was fast asleep once more, Weibai stopped paying attention to her.
He took the Magic Potion and a Haila fruit out of the Concealment Ring and placed them on the table side by side.
The transparent potion inside the glass bottle refracted rays of seven-colored light.
As the liquid moved, the multicolored light rippled continuously.
Meanwhile, the crimson skin of the Haila fruit reflected the lights of the restaurant, looking fresh, succulent, and even more delicious.
“I managed to get so many things in a single day.
But really, what are these things?!”
Weibai looked at the two items on the table.
He didn’t understand the function of either one, or even if they were safe to eat.