100 Choosing a School

The upgrade had increased the size of the herb garden from two acres to eight acres. The expanded herb garden contained several new basic and mid-level potion-making herbs. The herbs reminded Jayde of the hemp sacks with Afeaso that she had in her spatial ring.

Retrieving the five sacks from her spatial ring, she handed them over to Isha. Bending down, Isha untied the sack, removing one of the flowers inside. Recognizing the flower in his hand, his eyes widen in surprise.

"An Afeaso," he said, "these are not native to Doha, but I have seen numerous requests for them on the inter-dimensional market."

"Really. That's great news" Jayde said.

Excited Isha said: "They are used in many basic healing potions. They not worth much, but with the time distortion increasing to ten days here to one day outside, we will be able to harvest every six days."

Happy to hand over the task of planting and selling the Afeaso to Isha, Jayde and Isha returned to the main hall.

Taking a seat on one of the couches, Isha bought up the topic of Jayde magical studies.

"I have researched the local magical academies in the Lower Realm, I think that the safest choice for you would be Damonia, it is located in the south near the city of Aeris."

"Why Damonia?" Jayde asked she had no knowledge of the college in her inherited memories.

"Damonia is ranked within the top three magical schools in the Lower Realm, but the most important fact is where it is located. Aeris is based in the south in the Ayon Kingdom, where the Freehold Clan has no influence."

"Hmm," Jayde thought that Isha reasoning made sense. It was too dangerous to take on the Freehold Clan yet, it was safer for her to lay low until she had the strength to defeat them.

"Which reminds me, did anyone respond to my request for contact lenses and hair dye?" she asked.

"Someone did, but I don't think they going to work for you now, the contact lenses won't cover up your pupils."

"What?" Jayde asked confused.

Surprised at Jayde's confused look, Isha conjured up a mirror. Holding the mirror up for Jayde to see her appearance he asked: "Didn't you notice how your pupils changed with the unlocking of the second layer of your seal?"

Jayde, stared are her new appearance in the mirror — shocked at the changes.

"I didn't know, after I contracted Yinxin we immediately returned to Doha" she mumbled.

Contact lenses aren't going to hide these eyes, she thought, I really don't look hundred percent human anymore.

"Isha what the f*ck is going on, why am I looking less human each time one of the layers is unlocked?"

Isha knew the time had come to give Jayde some information about her bloodline. Just enough to satisfy her curiosity.

"Most humans are not aware that many millenniums ago other races interbred with humans, this was before the wars and Doha was sundered. All the races lived in harmony with each other."

"How is that even possible?" Jayde asked, "Aren't humans and the other races different species?"

Shrugging Isha answered with a simple word.

"Magic."

"So Za'thul Freehold really has dragon's blood flowing through his veins?" Jayde had assumed that was just some fancy fairytale.

"Definitely. Not" Isha stated.

"But he has amber eyes, similar to mine" Jayde rebutted.

"Pfft, I can guarantee you they aren't real, either its a spell or some kind of artifact."

Surprised at how sure Isha sounded, Jayde asked: "Why are you so certain that his eye color is fake?"

"Besides you, I never sensed any other race's bloodline in any members' of the Freehold clan."

Isha answer confirmed one thing for Jayde, she had no blood ties to the Freehold Clan. Which raised the questions. Who was she? Where are her parents? And how did she end up with the Freeholds?

When she asked Isha, he informed her he had no idea.

"Does this mean as I unlock more layers my appearance is going to change even more?"

Most people would have been upset finding out that they were not hundred percent human, but Jayde had grown up in the Federation where she was never considered human, for her it was not a new concept, but rather comforting.

While not being upset about not being one hundred percent human, Jayde was anxious about not looking human.

"Maybe," Isha answered, "I can't speculate what is going to happen to you as you unlock more layers."

"Well can you at least tell me what species I am related too?"

"Er... not at the moment" Isha answered evasively.

Jayde caught Isha slight hesitation and his evasiveness. Another secret that he is hiding, she thought. Knowing it was useless to question him further, Jayde returned to the problem with her appearance.

Jayde pointed to her face. "Well do you have any suggestion on how I am going to hide this?" she asked.

"Of course," Isha answered nodding, "you will have to purchase modifications through the market."

Slapping her forehead Jayde shook her head. Why the hell didn't I think of that, she thought.

Jumping to her feet, Jayde walked over the inter-dimensional market screen.

"Activate Trading System."

The display turned on, tapping on the body modification section, Jayde read through the list. She had ignored the beauty modifications as they held little interest to her.

Seeing the numerous eye and hair modification, Jayde's eyes widen in shock. Who the hell would want goat or snake eyes, she thought, and at a cost of 1000 points.

Dragon eyes, demon eyes, finally coming to human eyes, Jayde selected human green eyes which cost 100 points. The hair section was just as bizarre as the eyes, with everything from snakes to tentacles. Navigating to human hair Jayde purchased human black hair for 100 points.

Deciding to change her skin tone as well, as the luminous look while striking made her stand out too much. She settled on porcelain skin for another 100 points. After her purchases, she only had a paltry 80 points left.

Once she confirmed her purchase, she walked over to the medical bay, climbed into the medical pod, and had the system modify her looks.

After the procedure, Jayde walked over to Isha as asked for his mirror. Inspecting herself in the mirror Jayde was satisfied that she looked normal. Her features were still dainty and she was still quite beautiful, but she would not stand out.

Even if I run into someone from the Freehold Clan, they will not be able to recognize me, Jayde thought.

With one thing to worry about, Jayde and Isha discussed Jayde upcoming assessment to enterDamonia. Jayde would have to leave to Aeris within the next three days if she wanted to make it in time.

The only left for Isha and Jayde to talk about was the potion to upgrade her dantian to silver. With one of Yinxin scales, Jayde was still missing two herbs but Isha assured Jayde that he would be able to purchase those herbs via the inter-dimensional trade system as they were only mid-level herbs.

Jayde retrieved the dragon scale from her spatial ring, then bidding Isha farewell she teleported to her cave.

--

Note:

You might have noticed that my writing style has changed a little bit. I have been studying lately, reading numerous books on creative writing. When I first started this novel, I was worried that people wouldn't like it, but after receiving so much support, I wanted to improve my writing.

Been a bit weird studying English again after 20 odd years, but I am hoping to give you my readers a better experience.

(@_@) only thing is that I now that over a hundred chapters to edit.