One thing I seriously missed from my old world was the internet. If this place had an equivalent then I wouldn't need to stumble upon people or ask around for classes. I could actually look up what was a decent place to sell poison and much more importantly, I could look up what class unlocks people had documented over the years and what were some of the more powerful kinds of insectoids on the planet. But since I had no internet, I could do none of that without a visit to the archives, and that was another 300 crystals per month for the first floor only, and I knew that anything actually advanced or dangerous was on the upper floors. Point is, there was no way for me to have known about the Emporium and other things that someone with my classes should know about and that was a problem. And I did NOT need more problems. Medea’s bottleneck was already going to be a pain and in all honesty, just cutting it off when we had shared instincts and thoughts felt like amputating a part of my own mind now. A part of my mind that I was now going to force to endure some kind of terrible poison from something called a Nightwing Amphisbaena.

  ‘‘Maybe I was selfishly asking for validation or even castigation, but I had to ask

  That didn't help.

  With the implications of churning in my mind, I went to the Eastern end of the Upper Gerankir Bazaar and instead of going up or down, I just continued onwards to a square. Devan had given me directions but I had to use Divination a couple of times to actually find the correct place. But before that, I took a detour to a bookstore in the bazaar. Sure it was not the Archives but I was not going to have Medea injected with poison without any preparation. 8 crystals for a second hand paperback with a cracked spine, dog eared cover, and ripped pages loosely stuffed back in.

  “Amphisbaenae, Hydras, Sheshas, Orochis, and other Polycerebral Serpents.”

  Finding a secluded corner to read was not hard and I skimmed over the Amphisbaena section while ignoring the other parts. Amphisbaena were one of the weaker Polycerebral serpents or multiheaded snakes and could even evolve from certain regular venomous snakes. A Nightwing Amphisbaena was a sea snake that had two heads and massive pitch black soft fins that emerged from the base of their skulls and ran down their length. They were not even truly multiheaded but rather just had a single brain in their conjoined body and two sub brains in their heads. Apparently even octopuses had something similar with their tentacles. And then it went on to talk about how Amphisbaenae can evolve into true Polycerebral serpents that were significantly stronger. Very fascinating but the book didn't really tell me anything interesting about their venom.

  It would have just looked like a normal if somewhat small mansion and estate from a distance if not for the crowd milling around it. The estate had a wall of stone around it with pitch black plants snaking and growing on it. They didn't look like nettles to me but more like thick vines with spiky leaves that coiled like snakes. There was a singular break in the wall flanked by a man and a woman in black robes. The whole estate was sunken into the ground and the metallic staircases that were everywhere in Gerankir led down to it, but I could see a floating bridge above me that was connected to a tower in the estate. That bridge then led to an upper floor. Gerankir was tiered like that, even within what was known as Upper Gerankir.

  It gave me the affirmative and I walked up to the entrance. Another wall of nettle and stone rose up from the ground to bar my way. This new wall however had a slit on it.

  “Hello. Do you have a membership card?” The woman asked and I blinked in surprise at how polite she was with a full smile and all. That was kind of depressing, wasn't it? That I was more used to people being openly hostile or just uncaring instead of being helpful.

  “Uhh no, this is my first time here.”

  “I see. That's not a problem at all. How do you want to get in, crystals or do you have a referral?”

  “Neither actually, I will take the venom endurance thing.”

  “Excuse me, are you sure that you want that, 3000 crystals aren't all that much if you think you have what it takes to survive the trial of the venom.” She leaned in and I could see that her robes had the same plant patterns as the actual one that climbed the walls in a deep red on them. The red was almost invisible from the distance amidst the glossy black that matched her hair and lips.

  “Well, I was told that my pet can take the trial instead.” If not, if Devan was actually senile, or just messing with me then I was screwed.

  “Yes, it can. But first you have to agree that you are taking the trial of your own volition and that the Emporium isn't responsible for any damages to life or property that occurs as a result of it. Is that fine with you?” I nodded. Turns out that the information was correct after all.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Alright then, follow me. I'm Shiena, by the way. What's your name?” After introducing myself, Shiena and I made some small talk as she led us to a small building that was closed off by a separate section of the wall.

  “Uhh, before that. I was told that Medea here will almost certainly survive it without issue. What do you think?” I still couldn't help but ask that like a sucker but I was anxious about its safety.

  “Officially, as an employee of the Emporium, I cannot reassure you of the safety of the trial. But.” she winked at me. “As a poison mistress myself, I it would be very painful but otherwise completely alright. But you didn't hear that from me.”

  The wall fell when she placed a hand on it and we stepped into what looked like a small office. An older man with greying hair wearing the same robes as Shiena waited for us there.

  “Is this the trial taker?” He squinted at me as if he was not sure if he was seeing correctly.

  “Err, yeah. My pet will be the one actually enduring it though!” My response was quick as I was afraid he would give me the poison if I didn't clarify it right now. He grunted in acknowledgement. “Alright, take a seat then. Just put a single point of mana here after reading this waiver.” The thing was similar to what I had used back when I was signing up to kill slimes and the document was only that the Emporium was absolved of all consequences of the trial. Surprisingly simple and without any loopholes or weird obligations. Now that I thought about it, it made complete sense. The Emporium was for high end poison classers, antagonizing anyone was idiotic.

  I signed it all and the old man pointed a finger at Medea.

  “Shall I do it now?” Dea agreed and so I did the same. A black shape extended from the man's finger and pierced Medea before retracting. From my seat, I could see Medea's shell around the puncture turning red and flaking and rising, like some bizarre sped up video of a flower blooming. Medea hissed as the flowers slowly spread outwards.

  Even without a voice, I could tell it was struggling to speak. Fine, sharing the pain was the least I could do. I reopened the floodgates and reeled back as a sense of burning ran through my body. One part of me was staring at my knuckles that were gripping the table so tightly as to become white. And then, as soon as it came, the sensation lessened and a new notification replaced it. Cold BloodedPain ToleranceFrigid MindKnife User Calcified Mana Empowerment,

  The flowers kept blooming but they were slowing down, until eventually they stopped and the flaky red shell started to slough off with a slimy web-like substance pushing itself out of cracks in the shell. Medea had done it, it had survived.

  Medea said before I could ask if it was alright. Alright. If it was confident then I was not going to stop it.

  The old man agreed to repeat it in exchange for a stinger-full of the newly synthesized venom when it was done and so the process began anew. This time it went much faster and it didn't hurt as much. And not only that, Medea had managed to integrate the venom into its stinger. I could see a third venom sac forming, this one bright red.

  The old man held out an arm after rolling his sleeves up and Medea pushed its stinger in and began to pump in the venom. Black veins formed on his arms and he hissed but then they receded back into pale skin.

  And with that, I was handed a card made of something that looked like glass but felt like iron to touch. It had a small bead of Aetherite in it that could be activated by my mana. That was my ticket to actually entering the emporium. Maybe it was because this was the first time I was actually in something I'd call a high end establishment that was actually intended for its patrons foremost, but I was rather comfortable with the treatment compared to the visibly fake smiles and dour guildmistresses.

  “Perfect. We are done now. Do you want me to show me around the Emporium?” Shiena asked. I didn't see any issue with that.

  In the short few minutes that I had taken for the trial, another guard had replaced Shiena and once again the wall barred my passage when I approached. A single point of mana in the card made it glow green and I inserted it into the slot on the door. I flinched back as the door lit up when glowing green lights spread out from the slot and covered it entirely. Then my card was spat back out and the door disappeared into the ground again, revealing a surprisingly smooth road that went into the estate.

  “Is it always this much of a show?” One of the other guards laughed.

  “Nah, this is for the first timers only. That meant that your card is recognized by the Emporium from now on.”

  “Alright. Follow me now.” Shiena called out, somehow already inside the estate. I jogged behind her; carrying Minidea like a small cat. The poor thing was still a bit wobbly on its legs.

  After stepping through, the first thing I noticed were the multiple greenhouses that lined both sides of the path. Beyond them I could see even more greenhouses and even other buildings.

  “These greenhouses are where we grow and store our poison plants. We have one of the greatest collections of toxic flora on this side of the central sea. You can even take parts of the plants there for credits.” Shiena explained once she noticed where I was looking.

  “Credits?”

  “Basically, you get credits contributing to the Emporium. You can exchange them for Aetherite, anything we grow here, or even skills.”

  “Wait, what do you mean skills?”

  “I'll show you. Don't worry. Needless to say, there's good reasons to stick with us even when you are a master poison mage or whatever.” She chuckled. Before us, the road split into a crossroads with a fountain at the center. The path straight ahead led to the mansion. Shiena turned to me.

  “Where do you want to go first?”

  “I think I should probably sell this venom first before doing anything else.”

  “As you wish. It will probably not be worth much compared to what your pet can produce now, but everyone started somewhere.” And we turned left, into a building that was smaller compared to the central mansion but still large and still in the same ornate neoclassical style.