Stepping out of the cigarette factory's main gate, Lino stretched.
Regarding the exam that had just ended, he had a few thoughts he wasn't sure he should voice.
He felt that whoever set the exam rules must be a real genius.
When the first exam ended, Lino realized he hadn't failed to finish the paper because he was incompetent, but because the test itself was physically impossible to complete.
What kind of decent person uses an entire question bank as a single exam paper?
He really didn't know what they were thinking.
"Lino, remember to report in the day after tomorrow. Don't forget," Amy called out as she walked out the gate.
Lino nodded. "Thanks for the reminder. I'll keep it in mind."
Amy stopped. She stared at Lino, lost in thought, a complicated look in her eyes.
"What is it?" Lino asked, puzzled.
Did Amy figure out that he had held back during the second exam?
"Come with me. I have something to tell you."
"Alright, lead the way."
The two of them avoided the other students and made their way to a relatively quiet alleyway.
Amy pursed her lips, looking conflicted. She hesitated for a long time before speaking.
"Um... becoming an apprentice requires paying tuition..."
"Oh, right." It dawned on Lino. He had completely forgotten about the tuition fee.
The original owner of his body had come from an utterly destitute family. If his father hadn't worked so hard and lived so frugally, he would never have been able to afford the academy in the first place.
And now, that father had passed away.
To outsiders, it must have seemed highly unlikely that an impoverished teenager like him could afford to pay tuition.
But was that really the case?
Lino figured he could probably use the money from selling mushrooms to cover the fees.
Meanwhile, Amy watched Lino ponder and mustered her courage to speak.
"If you don't mind, I would like to sponsor you in my father's name. You can just pay me back the tuition once you have an income in the future."
"Huh?" Lino froze.
Amy nodded forcefully.
"Yes, I'll sponsor your apprenticeship. That's all it is. Don't overthink it; I'm simply doing what is within my power. I don't want to see someone who could make outstanding contributions to the Imperium fade into obscurity over a lack of money. You should spend your time and energy on a more valuable cause."
Lino drew in a soft breath and carefully studied the girl in front of him.
He gradually realized that, aside from her beautiful exterior, she also possessed a noble and pure soul.
"Thank you. I won't drown you in words of gratitude, but rest assured, I won't let you regret sponsoring me."
"Then it's settled. Report in as normal the day after tomorrow. I'll make the arrangements in advance. I'm leaving now—see you then."
Amy turned and hurried away, her footsteps quick, like a rabbit trying its hardest to suppress its inner joy.
Perhaps in her heart, offering help in a time of need was far more satisfying than taking first place in an exam.
Lino chuckled silently and shook his head, unsure of how to feel for a moment.
He steadied his mind and set about executing his survival plan.
With the problems of food and water resolved, the next step was to secure clean air and move into safer housing.
Since he was already near the cigarette factory, he could look around for a suitable place.
Right, he also needed to buy materials for cultivating Milk Mushrooms for his trade with Lai Ya tomorrow night.
For the ordinary mushrooms intended for trade, Lino planned to water them with the free wastewater available to the residents of the Lower Hive.
The sample-grade mushrooms were for his own consumption, so he would continue to freeload the pure water provided by the system.
When trading tomorrow, he'd also need to ask Lai Ya if they could switch to a different currency.
Walking down the street carrying hundreds of ration cards made Lino feel like countless eyes were staring at him. It was genuinely unnerving.
...
...
Time flew by as he searched for a house and cultivated his mushrooms.
By evening the next day, he returned to the same alleyway bordering the Ruins Zone.
This time, Lino arrived at the trading spot a dozen or so minutes early.
By his feet sat four sacks stuffed with mushrooms.
After a brief wait, Lai Ya arrived.
She had her face covered with a black cloak and a scarf, leaving only her deep purple eyes exposed.
"Sorry, I'm late."
"No, I just got here early," Lino said, shaking his head. His gaze shifted past Lai Ya to look behind her.
Deep within the dark recesses of the alley, two faint red points of light hung in the air, resembling a pair of glowing eyes.
"That's my companion, Da Zhuang. He's a rat-skin," Lai Ya explained simply.
The eyes hidden in the shadows moved forward a few inches. Their owner revealed half of his body at the boundary between light and dark and bowed toward Lino.
He was indeed a rat-skin.
He stood about one and a half meters tall, his skin covered in dark brown fur, and his facial features resembled those of a mole.
On the Imperium of Man's list of xenos, the rat-skins were prominently featured.
However, they had not been exterminated.
Aside from their ugly appearance, rat-skins had a lot going for them.
They were gentle and emotionally stable—only slightly less so than a capybara—and they thoroughly enjoyed farming.
As long as outsiders didn't destroy their fields, rat-skins were more than happy to interact with humans.
"Hello."
Lino waved in greeting to the rat-skin.
"Hello, human." The rat-skin waved a claw before retreating back into the shadows.
Seeing the xeno speak human words, Lino froze for a second, but then it clicked.
This was the Warhammer world, after all. Wasn't it completely normal for xenos to speak Low Gothic?
Lino lifted the sacks by his feet. "Check the goods first, Lai Ya."
"Alright, give me a moment."
Lai Ya carefully inspected the delivery.
The two parties quickly concluded the transaction.
Lino received a solid six hundred ration cards, while Lai Ya grabbed the sacks and walked over to Da Zhuang, having him carry the four bags and head out.
The forty kilograms of mushrooms made Da Zhuang squeak with joy.
He used a rope to strap the bags to his chest and back, and in no time at all, he vanished into the darkness of the alley.
Lai Ya took off her backpack, placed it on the ground, and unzipped it.
A faint milky-white glow emanated from inside, illuminating Lino's face in stark white.
"These are the Fluorescent Spores you wanted. Since most of them are relatively small, I caught a few extra. There are sixty-two in the bag in total."
Lino crouched, pulled the bag open further, and activated his system's fungus analysis function.
[Name: Fluorescent Spore]
[Analysis Result:]
[A peculiar planktonic fungus. Over 90% of its internal space is filled with air. Its luminescence originates from metabolic processes.]
[This fungus is extremely toxic, to the point that no contaminating microbes are capable of corrupting it. Do not touch it directly with your bare hands, or the area of contact will permanently lose all sensation and function.]
They were indeed poisonous, and highly toxic at that.
Lino frowned.
Lai Ya hastily asked, "Are you not satisfied? I can catch some more for you."
"No, it's not that. I'm just thinking about how to remove the toxicity of the Fluorescent Spores." Lino waved dismissively. He stood up and passed the sack slung over his shoulder to Lai Ya.
"Take this. It's the final payment—three kilograms of sample-grade mushrooms."
Lai Ya hugged the sack of mushrooms to her chest and probed tentatively, "Do you still need Fluorescent Spores? For just five kilograms—no, just four kilograms of sample-grade mushrooms, I can guarantee you a fresh batch of Fluorescent Spores every two days."
Lino rubbed his chin, his eyes drifting to Lai Ya's forehead as he observed her mutated features.
"Hmm... It looks like the area covered by the scales has actually shrunk a bit."
"Yeah, I feel like it's getting better too." Lai Ya touched the scales near her hairline, her eyes filled with hope.
Lino smiled. He decided to pass on the kindness that Amy had shown him.
"Since clean food combined with medicine actually works, I'll provide you with sample-grade mushrooms long-term. In exchange, you'll do something for me. Don't worry, it's nothing illegal."