Balthazar set up two tables next to each other off by a corner of the bazaar behind the counter, where he could still keep an eye on the front entrance in case any clients came in. On those tables he placed his "test subjects" in neat rows—an array of materials of different types and origins that he had been slowly collecting over the recent days and weeks, all meant for possibly using with his imbuing skill.

Bringing up his system, the crab checked his list of skills for the one he wanted.

[Imbuing]

[Skill - F tier]

[Requirements: 10 CHA, 8 INT]

[Cost: 15 mana]

[Absorbs a compatible held material, temporarily infusing its properties into your body to gain different bonuses depending on the type, quality, rarity, and amount of material used.]

"Alright," the crab said, putting on his Monocle of Exposition before clicking his pincers together. "If I can upgrade skills through usage now that I passed level 30, Imbuing should be a good one to try first. I can activate it on my own, and since it's F tier, it shouldn't be too difficult to rank it up."

The merchant pulled on an ingot of dark gray, dull-looking metal with difficulty using both pincers. It was his first test sample—lead.

"Oof, these really are way heavier than they look," Balthazar said with a huff.

He had used silver, gold, iron, and even steel. It only made sense to experiment with other metals and learn what other kinds of effects he could have. Lead seemed like a safe option, as the crab figured it would have somewhat similar effects to iron and steel, was relatively common to find, and—most important of all—was cheaper than most other metals.

"Alright, here goes," the crustacean said as he struggled to lift one end of the ingot into his pincer's grasp.

[Imbuing activated: Lead Ingot absorbed]

"Gahh!" exclaimed the crab as he felt his entire being tumbling back and the bottom of his carapace hit the floor with a heavy thud.

Balthazar immediately struggled to get back on his feet, but he found his body too heavy to raise, his legs too hefty to move, and his pincers too dense to wave around.

"What happened?!"

All of his chitin was now a dense and dull gray with a mild sheen to it. A rather ugly look, he found.

[Imbuing - Lead Ingot]

[Duration: 5 minutes]

[Effect: +3 physical defense. +20 magical defense. -10 speed.]

[Warning! You have lead poisoning.]

[-1 to Strength, Endurance, and Intellect every hour.]

[Delayed reflexes. You take 5 extra seconds to react to insults.]

[Crab or not, you can no longer swim and will instead sink like an anchor.]

[Everything tastes like spoons. Including pastries.]

"Noooo!" Balthazar cried out, five seconds after finishing reading the system notification.

With his mind growing increasingly foggier by the second, the crab strained to reach the crate of potions sitting under the table. His pincers felt massive and cumbersome, but he slowly managed to select and pull the right bottle from the box and pop its cork.

[Potion of Purification]

[Clears most forms of poison, intoxication, ailments, and nasty rashes over several minutes. Tastes like peppermint.]

"Blergh!" the merchant said as he finished downing the clear liquid.

For the next five minutes, Balthazar remained prostrated on the floor, feeling feeble and dumb, while the potion ran its course through him, fighting off the stacking effects of the poisoning, until the lead imbuement finally wore off.

"Ouch, what a shellache," the crab grumbled as he rubbed the top of his carapace with his pincer, which felt much lighter again. "I'm never playing with lead again, screw that!"

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After crossing the heavy metal off his mental list of things to consider for his imbuing skill in the future, the merchant spent a few more minutes letting the purification effects of the potion clear the negative effects off his body. After all the debuffs had subsided and he had taken a quick bite of apple pie to make sure it didn't taste metallic, Balthazar decided to move on to his next test subject—wood.

"Just plain old wood," he said. "Honestly, I'm not sure why I didn't try it before. This stuff is everywhere around here, and it's completely free!"

The crab picked up a plank of wood John had left behind after the kitchen was finished and looked at it. He didn't expect much, but seeing as he had already gotten results from a piece of magical wood in the past—Voidwood—he figured it was at least worth an attempt.

[Imbuing activated: Plank of Wood absorbed]

[Imbuing - Wood]

[Duration: 2 minutes]

[Effect: +1 buoyancy. +1 resistance to splinters. +200% weakness to fire.]

[Warning! You smell faintly of cedar.]

"I… I don't know what I expected," the brown crustacean said, staring emptily into the distance.

After two minutes passed—during which Balthazar made a conscious effort to stay very far away from the fire pit at the center of the bazaar—his regular gray chitin returned, and the crab reached into the potion crate again.

"Meh, tastes like grapes," he said, after swallowing a minor potion of mana in order to activate his skill again.

The crab skittered over to the next item on the table and a smile appeared on his face.

"Oh, yes! I was looking forward to this one."

Licking his mouthparts, Balthazar picked up a large slice of chocolate and cream cake that Madeleine had arranged for him. Moving his eyestalks around, he selected the imbuing skill once more and activated it.

[Imbuing failed. Incompatible material.]

The crab frowned, and his gaze went between the taunting words in his eyes and the delicious cake held in his claws a few times before he started hitting the skill activation option repeatedly in frustration.

[Imbuing failed. Incompatible material.]

[Imbuing failed. Incompatible material.]

[Imbuing failed. Incompatible material.]

[Imbuing failed. Incompatible material.]

"Bah, fine!" exclaimed the merchant as he dismissed the prompt and stuffed an indelicate amount of chocolate cream cake into his mouth. "It sounded great in my head, but it would have probably been a bad idea to imbue myself with cake. What if someone felt tempted to take a bite off me? What if I felt tempted to take a bit off me?!"

With cream all over his mouth, the crab finished the slice of cake and licked his pincers with the kind of messy indulgence that one only has when nobody else is present.

"Better off just absorbing these the good old-fashioned way—with my chewing skill!"

After gorging himself with cake, Balthazar moved on to the end of the table and sighed.

"I'm running out of ideas here," he said. "I mean, at least aside from spending a fortune on precious metals just for a test."

He grabbed the last item on his list, a smooth and rectangular white crystal that was almost entirely opaque.

"Salt," the merchant commented, staring at the rock in his pincers. "I don't expect much from it, but it was the cheapest way I could think of to find if crystals work for imbuing."

With a shrug, he activated the skill yet again.

[Imbuing activated: Salt Crystal absorbed]

[Imbuing - Salt]

[Duration: 3 minutes]

[Effect: Nullifies negative effects from low-level spells cast at you. Spirits cannot deal physical damage to you.]

[Warning! You taste slightly better to anyone who attempts to eat you.]

Sharp crystal spines erupted through the crab's chitin as it turned glassy and pale, until his entire shell bristled like a jagged salt reef.

"Hmm, those first two effects aren't actually too bad, although their utility is pretty limited." He narrowed his eyes on the text. "Can't tell if that last part is a negative or just the system mocking me."

Tentatively, the crab gave his claw a timid lick.

"Woah, I am salty!" he exclaimed. "I'd better wait here for the three minutes to pass, so nobody gets any ideas about throwing me into a soup cauldron."

Suddenly, a system notification appeared before the merchant's eyes.

[Through your creative and sometimes unorthodox experiments with the underestimated art of imbuing, you have reached a better understanding of this skill. Your imbuements now last longer, and you have learned how to imbue receptive entities other than yourself with special properties.]

"There it is!" Balthazar exclaimed with excitement after reading the breakthrough warning.

Quickly moving through his skills, he found the description for the upgraded version of imbuing.

[Imbuing]

[Skill - D tier]

[Requirements: 12 CHA, 10 INT]

[Cost: 20 mana]

[Absorbs a compatible held material, temporarily infusing its properties into your body or a channeled entity to gain different bonuses depending on the type, quality, rarity, and amount of material used.]

"Hmm, that's almost the same, save for the slightly higher requirements, the increased mana cost, and the added bit about imbuing channeled entities," the crab said thoughtfully. "What would even qualify as a receptive entity?"

Deciding to do a little more experimenting, the merchant went into his storage and returned with another salt crystal. Holding it in one pincer and grabbing the leg of the wooden table with the other, he tried to activate his imbuing skill while focusing on the piece of furniture instead of his own body.

[Imbuing failed. Incompatible target entity.]

"Well, damn. No table salt for me, I guess."

The crab pondered for a while, tapping on his chin with the tip of a pincer as his salt crust decayed back into his regular chitin.

"A receptive entity…" he mused. "What could possibly be a compatible thing to receive my imb—"

His eyestalks suddenly jumped as a thought crossed his mind.

"Wait, could it mean…"

Balthazar darted out of the bazaar through the back, calling out for his golem.

"Hey, Bouldy, where are you? I need your help testing something!"

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