It took six weeks to rebuild the building and get the equipment delivered. That there had been a building on the same site made the approval process much faster than it had been the first time around. It came together just in time for me to begin the process of preparing the fields.

  Like last year, the fields needed to be overturned, dragging the winter wheat with it. I amended the soil with extra fertilizer as I did. The ground needed time to dry from the melted snow before I could actually plant, so this was as good a time as any to make the soil as good as it could be. I’d skipped the step last year for the sake of time, but this year, I was going to do it right.

  The warming climate meant I could plant over two weeks earlier than farmers a hundred years ago. It was a boon I wouldn’t ignore. Though the plants took the same time to grow, planting sooner let me harvest sooner. Being first to market was an advantage I couldn’t turn down. Plus, I knew the weather already—in broad strokes. Foreknowledge had its plusses.

  Seeding wheat was much easier than carrots had been. Instead of planting it in specific rows, I spread it over the ground to let it grow. It was a grass, as grasses were dead simple. It also required less maintenance. I had to water it if the weather got too dry, but that wasn’t something I needed to worry about for several months. The wet spring meant I had more time to myself away from farming—outside of the need to spray pesticides now and again. With wheat, that meant by airplane rather than doing it through watering.

  “Eddy,” Dad said in mid April after I was done with planting. “Want to come with me to the flea market?”

  I almost said no without thinking. Then I remembered how much I’d upgraded Identify. It would be an excellent test to see it in action—and make up for the fact that I’d spent so much experience rashly. Yes, I needed to test skills, but I’d also let my anger get the best of me. It was those mistakes which would jeopardize everything I was working towards. Those purchases had increased the monster level yet again. I couldn’t afford to do that again, and hoped I could at least make up for it.

  “Sure,” I said. “Where is it?”

  “It’s about forty minutes away, over the mountain.”

  “Alright. When are we going?”

  “Now?”

  I shrugged and got dressed to leave.

  “Oh, do we have enough cash?” I wondered.

  “Plenty,” he said with a smile.

  I nodded.

  The flea market was held in and around a long, open building. Inside the building were more permanent shops, while outside there were tables covered by canopies and tents. Each stall offered a variety of items for sale. Anything from fresh fruits and veggies to things that would have looked at home in a garage sale.

  I followed Dad as he walked around. While I walked, I carefully looked at the tables I passed. When I saw something interesting, I tossed out an Identify to learn a bit more about it. Identify showed a lot more now that it had been leveled up. Where before, I might have seen…

  …I now saw…

  …or…

  That I could see what was fake at a glance was perfect. That would let me find something labeled as junk that held real value. I wouldn’t fall for a scam, either. Buying coins wasn’t what I was after. Those were more likely to be listed correctly—or if wrong, then it would not be in my favor. What I wanted to come across was art or jewelry. That sort of thing had a higher chance of being misidentified.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Dad stopped at a table with a bunch of tools. I watched as he looked through them before picking up a drill. It looked rusty to my eyes, but Identify said it was worth a fair amount.

  “How much?” Dad asked the man working the table.

  “Twenty,” was the reply.

  “Can you do fifteen?”

  “Eighteen.”

  “Eighteen,” Dad said with a nod, paying the man.

  I wasn’t sure if the slight difference was really worth the hassle. After all, the thing was worth closer to forty dollars.

  While he continued to browse that table, I looked through the table next to where Dad was. It had what I was looking for. That didn’t mean I was guaranteed to find a good deal, but it meant I had a chance. It was a jewelry stall shaped like a horseshoe, with the vendor occupying the middle and the items for sale along the edge. The jewelry was grouped by type—costume, silver, gold, and more. My best chance was to look in the costume section.

  I didn’t have enough chi to Identify each item. I would have to be more choosy with what I spent my resources on. Leveling up for more chi was not something I wanted to do, as I’d already gone too far without thinking. Better to save the experience and minimize the penalties if I could.

  My first target was a ring that looked a little too good. Well, it was the stone on it that looked better to my eye—a deep green that called to me. I couldn’t tell anything about the metal surrounding the stone other than it was supposed to be silvery. The price tag on it was five dollars.

  I was correct about the metal being an imitation of silver and that the stone was of better quality. It wasn’t a huge win, to be fair. At best, I might triple my money—and that was only if I took it to the right person. Didn’t seem worth the effort, so I moved on to the next one.

  I checked several rings, pendants, necklaces, and more. There were a couple of mislabeled ones like the ring, but they didn’t seem worth it. We moved on when Dad was done haggling for more tools.

  After dropping off what Dad had bought, we returned to the flea market to keep looking around. Although I was getting bored, I didn’t mind too much. Being out and away from the farm for a day was what I had needed more than I cared to admit. So, for another hour, Dad and I wandered around.

  “Dad, can we get lunch?” I asked after I couldn’t take it anymore.

  I hoped eating something would be the end of the day out. There were quests I needed to complete. Plus, I was really bored.

  “Uh, sure,” he said. “I think there’s a really good ramen place here that’s only open weekends, like the flea market.”

  “Oh?”

  “I heard about it from the same person who told me about the flea market.”

  I nodded.

  “Let’s go have some then!” I said enthusiastically.

  Dad laughed and let me into the building. Inside—amongst the more permanent stores—was a small ramen shop that had two tables and four chairs in it. Maybe it was the time of year—or maybe we just got lucky—but there was an open table waiting for us there. I sat in one of the chairs and looked up at Dad.

  “Whatcha want?” he asked.

  “Tonkotsu, if they have it. Otherwise shoyu.”

  “Uhhh, I might forget what those are, sorry. English, please?”

  “Pork broth or soy sauce, basically,” I said.

  “Alright,” he said awkwardly before walking to the counter.

  I tuned out his conversation with the chef—it was just a one-man operation. I hadn’t had good ramen in a long time, so I was looking forward to having it. It smelled great, but it still came down to taste. My mouth was watering by the time Dad came back with two large bowls of ramen.

  “Here you go,” he said. “They had the kind you asked for that started with a ‘t’. I got one, too.”

  “Awesome! I can’t wait to—”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue jacket that reminded me of the arsonist. I stood up and raced to the door. The coat looked the same, and the man wearing it looked similar enough that it might well be the same person. I couldn’t be sure without investigating, so I frantically looked for a skill that would let me find where the guy lived.

  I immediately leveled it up to level 5—that would give it enough range—and cast it on the man. The last thing I did before returning to Dad was to Identify the man. His name was Jacob Weaver.

  “What was that?” Dad asked when I sat back down.

  “Thought I saw the arsonist,” I said.

  “Are you sure it’s him?”

  I shrugged.

  “I see. Well, let’s enjoy the ramen before it gets cold, yeah?”

  “Yup!” I smiled.

  I was excited to be having ramen. The momentary chase of the suspected arsonist did nothing to diminish that. I split the chopsticks and dug in. The noodles had just enough resistance to be interesting, and the silky broth filled my mouth with great flavor. And that was before I even tried the pork! That was melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

  “Whatcha think?” I asked.

  “It’s good,” Dad said. “Better than the package, for sure!”

  I laughed.

  “It’s pretty good,” I agreed. “Hard to make the packaged stuff when you know what ramen should be like!”

  Dad and I slurped our food down quickly. As good as it was, there was no way in hell I could finish it. There was only so much room in my little stomach. Try as I might, I just couldn’t put any more of the food down. I pushed the bowl away and groaned.

  “Eyes bigger than your stomach?” he teased.

  I groaned again. He laughed.

  “Well, it was delicious,” he continued. “Let’s go see more of the flea market before we go.”

  I grunted and got up to follow him. Waddling around with a full stomach was not pleasant. I hoped he wouldn’t continue shopping for too much longer. I was wrong, of course. It ended up being another two whole hours before he finally relented and let us return home for the day.

  I checked the tracker on Jacob. There was still some time before it would disappear, so I would need to figure out where he lived and pay it a visit. I hoped I would find out that he was the one who did it so I could get my revenge. The whole incident angered me to no end.