“Imissed you too, Beakwing,” I said as I hugged my griffin. Apparently he was waiting outside the door, even whining every now and then, worried about my condition. I considered just walking with him, but the griffin, a natural conqueror of the skies, insisted that we take flight. “Wolverine, Cheetara, come.”
Cheetara hopped onto my shoulder and my wolf took his place at my side. Milia and the apprentices mounted. The hero’s party were already walking, but I took Maxus.
“You’re a rogue,” I said. “It’s time to put that to use.”
He shrugged. “Fine with me. If it means getting rid of these goddess-forsaken prices, count me in.”
Iris gave me a pleading look, but I only waved at the party.
“Consider it training,” I said before we launched into the air.
Upon arrival, we let Harmony run to her father’s house to make the request.
“Do you mind going with her, Maxus?” I asked. He nodded and disappeared like a true rogue. “Damn, that’s badass.”
While she was away, I couldn’t help but notice something strange about the mana circulating through my body. It felt a little denser, perhaps balanced and less foreign. I think I actually had more control of it than ever.
The adaptation of the new spell book didn’t end there. I took in the system prompt I opted to ignore earlier in favor of interacting with the others. Rather, it was a red prompt that minimized on its own.
[Congratulations, you’ve successfully bonded with D-ranked spell book, Yukihara. The magic of all your classes, including your third and final, increases! You can now wield a special form of lightning magic, known as blood lightning, when the spell book is active. It can be added as a Flavor, enabling the lightning element to seep into even non-combat potions. Have fun with the trial and error!]
[You have been tempered to withstand poisonous blood lightning! A trip through that hellish attack shall not go unrewarded.]
[New special potion listing added, Potion of Blood Lightning. You can now share a little wealth with anyone that consumes this liquid. Limited lightning and blood lightning immunity. This could also be used as fuel for future devices unlocked in your MMABS. Your third apprentice will be thrilled!]
Elated, I checked my stat sheet one more time to see if the third class had appeared. Even though it was a long shot, I also hoped that maybe my class rank had increased from this.
Nate
Class: Potion Maker. Secondary class: **Divine Master Magician** Third class: Unknown.
Magician rank: 8th realm of the Lesser Dragon.
Class rank: Established.
Ability: Can make up to SSS and divine-grade potions.
Power: Crushing Strong.
Defense: Emboldened Steel.
Dao of Creation. Rank: Divine. Stage: Awakening. This is an early stage.
Physique rank: D.
Abilities:
-Super Skill: Ultimate Identifier. [Ability to identify everything, including its quality, ranks, people, so on.]
-Dragon Magic Burst. (Evolution of Supreme Magic Bolt.)
-Blood Lightning.
Secret Abilities:
Domain Claiming.
Blood Lightning Tempered.
Potions Unlocked:
[Current self-use potions: Health, Energy, General Medicine, Speed Booster, Sleeping.]
[Special potions: Night Vision, Mana Core, Water Breathing, Masking, Eagle Sight, Shadow, God Flame, Summoning, Blood Lightning.]
[Utility potions: Lighting.]
[Misc potions: Flavors.]
Special:
[Heaven’s Tears. Item grade: SSS. Item quality: Extraordinary. Effect: Rapidly heals and also repairs damaged mana channels within the body.]
There were definitely some changes, such as having a D-ranked Physique. This felt somewhat insulting, like the system body shaming me for existing. I’d have to look into the meaning behind the stat line later.
I also wondered how the fuck I would pull off making my first divine-grade potion. If I were a betting man, I’d assume there to be a quality or grade even beyond this. Not that I had any evidence for such a thought. Yet. Clarity for operating in this class came to me the more I practiced. The system was a dick. It’d let me get struck by lightning before rewarding me with any hints. Since I chose this life, I’d welcome the challenge… begrudgingly. My apprentices were coming with me for the ride.
I… needed to rise from being a low-ranked shopkeeper to competing with a Matriarch, a sect queen with boundless resources. Obviously, doing that fairly wasn’t possible, so I’d have to cheat.
“Hey Milia, have you sorted through that idea of yours?” I asked. “For spirit coins and such.”
Lucas and Chenzu looked at her, curious.
“Is it possible to obtain them, outside of a dangerous dungeon?” Chenzu asked. “Because I’m going to have to deliver the bad news of saying it’s not unless you’re crazy enough to make it happen.”
Milia huffed, placing her hands on hips. “Wanda’s bottom, I’d think you’d be more learned than this, bard. It is possible to obtain them outside of dungeons.”
“Oh?” Chenzu said. “Enlighten me. And I’ll play you a song of despair as we travel through the dungeons, dodging the creatures of hell.”
“A friend of mine, a lamia, may know where to find a tower,” Milia said. “Keep this information under wraps. Don’t go running your big mouth before I can confirm things.”
“Still mad about that comment about being more worried than my mother, I see,” Chenzu said, laughing as he dodged Milia’s vine.
“You are so irritating!” Milia said.
Seeing this side of Milia was actually quite funny to me. Lucas looked weary, an indicator that he had to put up with the two fighting the entire time I was out. Hopefully my fiancée wouldn’t butcher my damn farmhand. Running a farm by yourself with inexperienced teenagers was like trying to win a Dark Souls game without dying. It’s not impossible, but it is quite painful.
“To think you’d suggest something that is just as dangerous as a dungeon,” Chenzu said.
“Tower?” I asked. “Can someone explain this to me?” I had a hunch, but I needed to confirm things.
“By the look in your eyes, you’ve kind of got the idea,” Chenzu said, smiling. “A tower is basically a dungeon, perhaps a super dungeon in some instances. You climb floors instead of descending, and the higher you get, the more rewarding it becomes.”
Lucas’s eyes lit. “I’ve heard of one tower, called Powerhouse’s Gambit. Master Nia said no one’s ever made it past the fourth floor. Despite there being just thirty. Many say it’s extremely difficult.”
Before we could discuss things further with Milia’s insane idea, the sound of the hero’s party approaching caught my attention. I waved them over.
Harmony returned with the mayor moments later and, after we explained everything, he reluctantly agreed to send servants to fetch them. Maxus followed.
This would be their only warning, of course. The modern equivalent of one single apple in this place was roughly twenty fucking dollars. Or sixteen pounds. Thankfully, we had our own garden, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for the common citizens.
Now the apple was a weird example, as I assumed in this world, it was somewhat of a luxury good. However, in Wingston, the same type of apple cost the silver and copper equivalent of only three dollars.
“I sure hope they’ll do the right thing,” Ronica said cheerfully. “They certainly don’t want anything bad to happen to them.”
I glared at the twerp, but she only smiled innocently.
“I cannot believe the hero’s party is still in our town, despite the current predicament,” the mayor said. “Ramon Thunderblade, Kelvin the Blizzard Sword, Iris the Heavenly Bow, Nuwa the Goddess Healer, Maxus the Darkness, and Ronica the Phoenix Magician.”
The hero’s party looked quite unhappy hearing their titles spoken in an overly enthusiastic manner. Ronica groaned.
A few minutes later, the servants returned with six men in fancy robes, obviously nobles.
“Unfortunately, Sir Mundane says he’s too busy for any meetings,” a butler said. “He said some colorful things, grumpy and unpleasant as usual.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, my voice upbeat, doing my best to hold back the grin as I could practically sense Maxus doing his job. “He’ll be there. Take us to a good meeting room, Sir Mayor.”
The mayor didn’t get my drift until he took us to a private room in his workplace. There waiting for us at a large round table were Maxus and a terrified man in fancy purple and gold robes.
“Ah, good afternoon, Sir Mundane,” I said in a chipper tone. At this point, I figured the mayor already knew about my magic from his daughter. Tom too. That or they had suspicions despite never seeing me cast a single spell in my life.
Still keeping the façade, I decided I’d let the hero’s party do the heavy lifting and intimidating. “I hope we’re not interrupting your day too much, we just have important matters that cannot wait, as they concern the fate of the town. You’ve lived here for some time, have sons and daughters that enjoy the company of friends here.”
“Are… are you a magician too?” he asked, still trembling, eyes nearly wild.
“I’m just your humble potion maker,” I said, though the men reasonably seemed unconvinced. “Your wife’s a big fan of our energy potions by the way. She’s even fine with the lower grades.”
He looked as if he wanted to frown or lay down an insult, perhaps call the guards to throw me in jail for disturbing his precious day, but we all took a seat. Maxus and Kelvin surrounded the noble. Iris blocked the door. And while some of the younger nobles believed themselves to be able to get through the elf due to her slender frame, they’d be in for a rude awakening if they tried.
“Let’s get to the point,” I continued, dropping the fake cheerful attitude. “End your money-making scheme and let the prices of the town fall back to normal. We’re trying to fix Kyushu, but the more you force the shop owners to push up the prices, the faster you drive people away.” One of them opened his mouth, preparing to deny his involvement. “Don’t bother trying to lie your way out of this, nobody’s stupid. Kelvin, show them what will happen if they decide to do things the hard way.”
The dark man shrugged, pointed a finger at a painting on the wall, then closed his hands. Suddenly, the room grew quite cold and before our eyes, it was enclosed in a thick block of ice. Instead of falling, it hovered over to Kelvin, stopping just a few inches above the man’s palm.
“If you think we’re bluffing, try us,” I said coldly, which actually made Nuwa look at me. “If I wake up again and some grocer tells me to pay many silvers for a goddamn apple, I’ll come for you myself.”
The block of ice exploded, though that wasn’t my intention. I didn’t know releasing even half a percent of my killing intent could have such an effect. The more one learned, I supposed. You know, I considered glaring at the hero’s party who were perfectly fine with letting me do the talking. For Ramon, Ronica, and probably Nuwa, they were roughly in their early twenties. But Iris, Kelvin, and Maxus were adults at least in their thirties, no younger than late twenties. Where was the assertiveness?
They appeared to be content with following my orders, which kind of annoyed me. It was as if they’d silently declared me party leader.
They were going to be very disappointed when they finally realized that my apprentices would have my full, undivided attention. I long considered Harmony’s debt clear, never paid her less for working at the shop. Milia’s proposal was due to spotting the blue-haired teenager’s massive potential, even before I considered such a concept.
“Now gentlemen, this is your last chance. I’ll be sure your Lord Ruler sees your names and images on the paper he reads while taking his morning dump. Whether you’re alive to explain yourselves will be another matter.”
I held up my hand, waving away the incoming goody-goody protest of Nuwa. I didn’t have time for her naïve way of dealing with things. They wouldn’t listen to the mayor because he seemed weak, despite being a soldier for most of his life. The man probably wanted to do something, but without their funding and cooperation to supplement the lack of government assistance from the Lord Ruler, he hadn’t had a choice. Let the minor nobles run wild like miniature warlords or the town suffers, the guard goes unpaid, the last of trade vanishes, and the town falls from an F-rank to under. Dead. Perhaps reverting to being a village first, before taking the big bite. The nobles knew that they held the town in a vise grip, as their words became bolder and nastier. This was what I waited for.
“Kyushu is nothing without us,” one of the noble men said. “Our money holds it up, keeps it from sinking into a pit of sticks and mud. You don’t have the right to speak to us this way. In fact, I want all of you to kowtow, beg for forgiveness, and maybe I’ll pretend like today never happened. I’ll bed your daughter for compensation, too.”
Before the mayor’s eyes could widen, I had already punched the man through the wall.
“I’ll kill anyone that touches my apprentice,” I said coldly. The lights flickered. “That kind of behavior is garbage and unbecoming of men who should be mature enough to run a goddamn household. We will not have bandit culture in this town.”
The mayor bowed to me and then, as if seeing his daughter being verbally humiliated like that woke up the soldier within, he barked an order, voice no longer kind as before. “Guards, throw that scum in the slammer. Contact the kingdom soldiers to take him to trial for threatening and endangering a civilian. Tack his numerous scams on that paper. Send a notification to his family and a firm warning.”
I sat back down, allowing the surrounding lamps to resume their normalcy again.
“Thank you, Nate,” Harmony whispered at my side. Milia squeezed my arm, a look of pride in her eyes. I honestly didn’t feel like I had done anything special. But I guess not everyone could punch someone through the wall and still look like the good guy.
Damn, as a potion maker and shopkeep, the last thing I should be doing right now was solving a problem with my fist, but here we were. Okay, fine, no one minded. Even the other nobles seemed unconcerned.
“We’re not as idiotic as him,” Mundane said. “You’ve made your point. Give us the chance to fix this.” He couldn’t hold the calm façade, as the panic oozed from him like invisible radioactivity. He also sweated and his eyes seemed to be on the verge of tears. “The scheme wasn’t my idea, but Graxem had a point. We voluntarily shouldered the cost of running this town. To make back some of our investments, we tacked on our fees through every purchasable item in this town. Who cares if some people leave? There would be no town without our money.”
“I think the town will be fine with taxes alone, for now,” I said. “No need for your dirty fees, they’re way too excessive. You brought them down a bit. The rumors of guys looking into why and blaming me were already spreading. Just know, any assassin you send will guarantee your death along with them. My pets don’t hold back.”
“This is unreasonable!” Mundane snapped. “Why should I pay anything to this town if I’m not going to profit? If the Lord Ruler doesn’t want this place, let it go under for all I care.”
He glared at me but averted his eyes as I stared back.
“If Wingston stops by to collect taxes for the region, then who’s delivering the mayor’s pay?” I asked.
“Other than my upfront pay, I’ve only received a few sacks of gold before Wingston delivered a notice from the royal treasurer asking me to wait for one month,” the mayor said. “I have enough gold to last and keep things going, but no new news from Wingston yet, even after all this time. My letters received no reply. I had a trip planned for the capital but can no longer afford to be gone for the month or so that it would take.” He sighed. Harmony tried to comfort her father to no avail. “Honestly, I was never qualified for this job. The Lord Ruler placed me here, hoping that this would serve as some kind of gift for being a captain in the army. But no salty veteran wants this. Still, it paid well, helped me take care of my family, pay for my daughter’s lessons. If the Lord Ruler wanted to replace me, and allow this aged man a proper retirement, then by Wanda’s curvy bottom, I would jump at that chance.” He gazed at the nobles. “This ends now, effective now under the law of the Lord Ruler. Unreasonable markups will be banned from Kyushu.” He turned to me. “You spoke as if you have a plan to make our town less dependent on this scum.”
I glanced at Mandi. She cheerfully nodded.
“As a matter of fact, I do have at least one,” I replied. “I can’t raise the rank of my shop when the town is in this state. However, in light of recent events, Gwendolyn and I became friends somehow.” Seeing the surprise on the nobles’ faces, I continued. “Yes, Lady Wingston. She’ll be here in a week to visit. I think she’ll be more than happy to not only lend us some assistance, guide us on reviving the town, but she can send a message to the treasury in your stead, demanding answers with her stamp on the letter.”
“She’d really do that for us?” the mayor asked, eyes wide and filled with hope.
I decided not to state that he’d be the one in her debt, not me. Not that he had anything he could give to someone like that.
I considered offering some of Andros’s gold toward the town fund but changed my mind. Fuck that.
Without a way of knowing where that money would go, I’d be just funding a black hole.
“I’m still not getting involved with your politics,” I said, chuckling. Some of the hero’s party snorted or shook their heads. “I’m not qualified either. Maybe tell the Lord Ruler to send a professional to assist the mayor.”
Suddenly, two guards burst into the room. Wolverine barked, causing them to flinch and almost trip over themselves. I strained not to laugh. Cheetara meowed smugly.
“Mayor Rue!” He passed a red letter to the balding man. “It’s a letter from a court magician.”
“A red message of displeasure,” the mayor said, pale. “Help us all, Wanda.”
