It had been a day since they had been kicked out for the mysterious update and after an ominous, and not at all helpful message from Revenant telling them to ’Not get involved no matter what’ Valerie had decided to do some extra work to kill time.

Bai Yin had been called away unexpectedly. In fact she had been waiting outside for Valerie when she woke up to tell her of this summons from her old master, the Old Man Monarch. Percy’s Father.

She did not know what the summons was for, only that it sounded important and that he seemed a little stressed. So Valerie let Bai Yin go. Not just out of the kindness of her heart, but because now she could use her as a spy.

There was no doubts about Bai Yin’s loyalties, as it was a little creepy how loyal she was now that she was a Thrall, but it meant that she would rather rip out her own heart than betray Valerie. In fact she would do exactly that if she was asked.

Since she was alone, Valerie had been trying to make some scrolls, but it was turning out to be harder than she expected. There were two types of scroll, disposable and reusable, although a reusable scroll was often called a talisman as it was written on something more robust, like stone. It wasn’t required to be stone, it was just easier to keep a stone on you and in good condition than a piece of paper, even if they operated on the same basic principle. A disposable scroll could easily be stone too, it was just not as cost effective.

In the end, regardless of what you were making, the process stayed as ’Find your material and write out the spell in its entirety’.

That meant everything, from the details of the spell, to the magical enchantment and even the pathways the mana should follow. Even more, it did not take the form of a simple paragraph of text, but the form of a magic circle that was populated with much more runic symbols than Valerie had ever used before, and that was just for one spell.

Describing these details and constructing the pathways through these certain geographic lines and shapes that were taught in certain text books in the Tower of Mystica. Text books that Valerie had copied into her Grimoire.

However it was an incredibly precise endeavour. Even a few millimetres of difference in the length of a line or an imperfection in a circle could massively change how the spell behaved, or even cause the spell to collapse and harm the user.

Plus, since scrolls were supposed to be able to be used by anyone, that meant that she had to use mana infused ink through the entire process. Her crystal pen took care of that part of the process, thankfully, but it was still a drain on her reserves.

The only difference when it came to a talisman was the material could withstand the magic without being destroyed and that she would have to add a way to recover the mana spent, such as a mana collecting rune that she did not yet know.

Valerie finished the line that she had been drawing, before placing the pen down and wiping the beads of sweat from her brow. She was completely exhausted, and her stomach was starting to growl.

At the sound of her stomach Beans, who was curled up next to her, raised his head and perked up his ears, before placing a paw gently on her arm as if to say "Let’s go get food."

Valerie couldn’t help but laugh, pulling him from his spot and onto her shoulders as she stood up. Although she mostly subsisted on blood now, the same could not be said for Beans. After coming to her world, the little Shadow Demon had discovered a love for pigging out on her food, and in truth so did Valerie.

How ironically cruel it was that now that she could afford the good food, that she found it all bland and disgusting without a helping of blood on it. However if she instead shared Beans senses, she could taste it all through him.

Whilst she was out, she could also send Lilith the ’Essence of Sin’ that she had brought back, so that she could use them to power level her Aura in this world the same way that Valerie power levelled her Source.

It would cost a little bit extra to use a same day drone, but it was nothing with her new fortune. It would be a simple amount to... pay...

Valerie’s face fell as she realised a crucial error that she had made, and cursed herself for her stupidity, before adding another destination to her outing before all the others. The Bank.

Since her high end bank account, the one that required a life threatening loan to start up, required certain protections and encryption in the transfers, Valerie had let Bai Yin keep control over it for the moment. She was the one that could do the paying through her cybernetics. Valerie did not have cybernetics to do the same. Only an old, out of date smartphone that could not have the technology to carry out the transfers.

So before she could do anything else, she needed to go to the damned bank and get a secure transfer device.

At least, since she was alone, she could use this as an opportunity to stretch her legs. Taking her time hobbling through the streets with a cat on her shoulder and a cane in her hand, looking like some crazy witch lady, all whilst she mentally drew magic circles in her mind in an effort to perfect them. Also like a crazy witch lady.

Thankfully she did not have to wait too long at the bank. They were all smiles and welcome platters when the millionaire walked in the door, unlike the last time. Now she had six figures, she was someone at least worth paying attention to. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The bank rep talked her through the different options of physical transfer devices, which were used for those who did not want to get their cyberware hacked.

There was a sub-dermal chip, which was not happening, as well as a ring or a small cube similar to the one that she had used when she was selling her loot.

"I like the look of the ring. Simple, less likely to lose it, and I can always keep it on me. Plus I feel like my hands have been looking a little empty." Valerie said with a soft smile, glancing at her bare hands compared to the reps, which were covered in glamorous rings and bracelets made to match her chrome, cybernetic fingers.

"Oh, I’m sure you will be getting another ring on there in no time," The Rep said with a coy giggle and a playful smile that was almost convincingly genuine.

"If you just wait a moment, we can take your bio-data and set up your-"

BOOOOM!

The entire building shook as the front doors exploded, and flew across the open plan lobby, before slamming into the marble receptionist desk. As for the receptionist behind that desk, they trembled in horror as they stared at the twisted door that stopped just a hairs breadth from their fear stricken face.