3 Making Money

Another year and a few months had passed in no time while being Mordyn had been busying himself and he now was 10 years old.

Technically almost 11...or at least close to that since he didn't really remember his real birthday and just chose one randomly. Only his age was still somewhat lingering in his mind. Kinda biased amnesia in his opinion. Could just as well had kept the exact date inside this head.

But then again which kid remembers their own birthday exactly? Most of them would only keep track of their age.

Actually, to be truthful he chose a certain date to be his new birthday and that was the same day he had died in his old life. Makes things easier to remember and keep track of.

Interestingly enough while thinking about that, he also found out that he didn't wake up on the same day that he had died.

Since the calculation of time here was pretty much the same with twelve months and all that, it meant about half a year went by until his transmigration was completed.

Or simply it never had been the same time here in the first place.

Anyway, time sure flies by slowly as a child. The perception of it feels like a thick viscous barrier keeping you grounded at all times.

Or it could just mean that Mordyn became more impatient over the passing time.

At least he felt rather annoyed about the slow growth he went through. It felt like his childhood all over again. Meaning, not being able to even wait a single day longer to finally be grown up.

There were so many things adults tried to belittle you as a kid. The others also didn't help in that regard. But children be children, right? Not that growing up in the slums was anything to scoff at.

Whatever the case may be, now he and the others grew up a little bit. Each of them slowly took a role for themselves and started developing skills to match those responsibilities.

Well, they were still a far cry from being independent but they were coming closer each day to that goal. They had to do something after all.

Vi still acted as the head of the group since she was the oldest. And not by that much, mind you.

Yet, it seemed important...

She was just two years older than Mordyn, and less than a year older than Milo and Claggor. The youngest still being Powder at just 8 years of age. It just proved his first assumption when he first met them.

The pink-haired girl started taking lessons from Vander in fighting with her fists and slowly got more hardy and rough in her demeanor. Not that you would not automatically become like that after living as a street kid.

But she probably became like that to protect the others and inevitably it was a choice she seemed to have taken as her own responsibility to do so.

Mordyn just shook his head sometimes about her behavior always being to go through problems with her fists. She literally became some stubborn fool heading through walls with her head.

Continuing on there was Milo who was the most bad-mouthed of them all. He had a certain quirkiness to himself and dubbed himself the master pickpocket.

And a master of something else. That being bla-bla - he definitely was nowhere near such skill levels but could brag like a champ.

Of all the kids, he was the one Mordyn liked the least. That hedgehog-looking dude just didn't keep his hands to himself. Acid and all that? For a pickpocket, he had some shaky hands.

Also, he always seemed to try and make himself look better in front of the others while bashing the others. Mainly Mordyn and Powder because they were younger.

That fact alone was already going on Mordyn's nerves but even when telling him to keep it down, he didn't stop. Why would he, of course? He was older and all that crap.

It just continued on and led to a certain point where Vi could not stop Mordyn any longer from finally snapping in rage and beating the shit out of Milo.

This sounds hilarious at first how an 11 something-year-old gets his ass handed to a 10-year-old.

But that stunt got Mordyn a good beating from Vander after the foster father of them all found out how Mordyn ended up injuring not only Milo but also Vi that actually had tried to intervene.

Yes, he literally punched Vi bloody while being the calmest and collected one of the group.

Not only did he receive the shocked expressions from the others after realization hit them, but Powder also seemed to have shown him the cold shoulder after that incident for a while.

And the shock was mainly from knowing how strong he was while never having been seen fighting in streetfights until now. Mordyn seemed to always avoid conflict. So much so that the others had figured he was a coward.

Well, they were definitely wrong. Badly so even.

Powder's reaction of course was very likely because hurting her sister was something she definitely didn't take kindly to.

The little blue-haired and very gifted mechanic with a big imagination stopped asking him out to play and for a time even played pranks at him.

It was one thing for Mordyn having his peace, but Powder knew he would actually love that outcome, so she started being...slightly mean?

Mordyn could only sigh to that outcome and somehow managed to salvage his relationships with them after talking it through a few times. He was not a stubborn brick wall after all.

Well, he had to do it at some point after all with someone breathing down his neck as well.

Vander started feeling the disharmony becoming bigger between the lot and forced him to apologize.

That is by pulling him aside and talking with him man to man, you know? That annoying dad talk and all?

It seemed Vander was really not that angry about the fact that they quarreled but more about the fact how Mordyn hurt his own family that badly and still didn't try to mend this conflict.

Personally, Mordyn thought the old man was playing favorites with the girls. Especially with Vi, but that was another topic entirely.

And since nothing seriously bad happened, it dimmed down at some point after he accepted to apologize to them.

Well, maybe he actually was more stubborn than he thought he was...Not like he was at fault. Damn, he acts more like a damn brat now.

After the fight and apology, Milo actually started to talk less smack about him, knowing full well what could happen.

Well, in some way fear manifested in him and also slightly spread around in the group to some extent about how Mordyn could snap if provoked enough.

Vi on the other hand started to challenge Mordyn for boxing spars after he apologized. Intently trying to train him as well now after seeing his 'potential'

And he accepted those most of the time because Vi was actually a talented fighter herself that even he, with his rather above average streetfighting experience, could learn from and improve on.

Claggor on the other hand never really bothered about what happened and just took the peacekeeping as a given thing. He was the typical giant with a golden heart. And what could you expect otherwise?

He was also the guy that was most enthusiastic about food. And that was not to be put in a bad light.

Mordyn loves some nice cuisine and this fella was basically the closest you would come to get good food down here in the Undercity.

The giant always knew a nice place among all the trashy stands.

Speaking of the devil himself. Mordyn slowly managed to gain a good grasp of potioneering. A skill that was an extremely rare find here in Zaun where injuries happened rather easily.

Sure, there was Chemtech, and rumors about certain innovations popping up through that tech, but none of it could match the effects of even the smallest and cheapest healing dust that could be produced through alchemy, not to mention the health potions - that is at least for now.

Mordyn was not a foolfor believing no one ever came to dwell in the art of potioneering. After all, there was a Merchant that did sell them in the rift aka the game this world was based on. And obviously, someone had to make these advances in Chemtech.

So he firstly downplaying the value of his skills but alchemy still was not only just basic chemistry.

It was something of the Arcane. Magically combining different materials and transmuting them until completely new results came to light.

That in itself would not simply be the equation of a simple formula alone.

Then there was his rune-craftmanship that he started to get a grip of from his Red Book. His ability to draw exquisite runes enhanced the potioneering even further since through the arcane and collection of magic energies, even greater results were possible.

By the way, it was also the most basic rune formation that was now engraved in his alchemy table, that was the bare minimum to even start extracting the magical properties from his materials.

That all aside, currently, Mordyn was talking with Vander while the old man was smoking his pipe.

"So what do you think?", asked Mordyn and looked with his amber eyes intently at the man and waiting for his response.

"And you are sure this has no risky side effects whatsoever?" Vander tried to make sure nothing was fishy.

After all, what this brat of his was asking him currently was to open up a new market and spread what one could very likely discern as a new drug.

"Something that looks like ashes with the effect to heal the body over time after one had sniffed it? Not sure that sounds very believable."

"It just works as intended. I promise that much. Just try to test it out at least before you discard it." Mordyn was sure of himself in that regard. He made sure everything he made at least had the desired effect. Everything besides poisons of course.

The way of using the healing dust though was not something he had expected to be this way. Guess he should just throw out most things he thought to know about alchemy down the window.

"The people here are not your guinea pigs..." Vander frowned deeply now.

"It's not like that. It would also benefit most people here...But if you really don't want to do it, then it's fine...Let's forget about it." Mordyn sighed back and wanted to leave.

Vander just stopped him by pulling him back on his seat.

"So 50-50 is the split?"

"Whoa, old man. Are you trying to rip me off? That's basically slavery.", frowned Mordyn after hearing how much his surrogate father wanted him to share.

"I am the one giving you a free roof and all and then there is the thing about making sure everything runs smoothly..." Weirdly enough Vander suddenly entered merchant mode to barter around for profits.

"70-30 in my favor. That is as low as I go. Otherwise, we can forget the deal..." Mordyn stayed on that statement and would not budge any lower. Sure, he knew about how this works but he can't just throw away his profits out the window.

"Gee, you are one hard partner to work with. Alright, but if I hear anything funny about that healing dust, you will be taking responsibility. You know how this goes by now. So, what is the product called?"

"Good deal, old man! I call it Angel Dust." Mordyn took the old man's chunky hand and grinned brightly.

"What a name..." Vander sighed but also smiled back now. Though he felt that he gave in too soon now seeing this brat happy like this.

Finally, Mordyn would make some coin for himself now and start enlarging his knowledge that had been starting to stagnate because he was not finding any new materials that could be used.