Nate Sullivan
Class: Potion Maker. Secondary class: **Divine Master Magician**. Third class: Unknown.
Magician rank: 2nd realm of the Saint.
Class rank: Established.
Ability: Can make up to SSS, divine-grade potions, and blighted potions.
Power: Low World-breaking Strong.
Defense: Low Absolute Titanium.
Dao of Creation. Rank: Divine. Stage: Awakened. This is a middle stage.
Physique rank: C.
Primary quest: Purpose. Progression: 38%.
Shop Rank: D.
Heavenly attunement rank: E.
Lord Ruler Select as Raider; Friend of the Kingdom of Merridon.
Thankfully the Wingstons wanted to settle down and rest, so the hero’s party ended up leaving early. Hector and Rose were still unconscious. Something about them felt off, but when asked, they didn’t explain anything, the depression engulfing the family like a cloud. Mandi rode with her eldest siblings, eyes nearly teary, Opal floating at her side, attempting to comfort the girl. She muttered something about getting Howie to help.
Anzu, who also came with us to Kyushu, left to explore, Chenzu tagging along to explain his grandmaster plan of ranking up the town a second time. I suspected he wanted to invite the woman on a date. Hopefully, she wouldn’t blast him into space. Seriously, why the maid outfit?
I clasped hands with Alexander and while the others assumed I treated him like adult, so he’d fit in, they were only half right. Alexander still held the memories of his former life, making him an adult in my eyes. The only reason why he didn’t drink, perhaps to toast for the passing of an old life, was because he wanted to mold a body capable of handling my training. His own words.
Yomi the Pirate King… was my goddamn apprentice. Questioning this turn of events wouldn’t be happening.
And speaking of apprentices, I was nervous back in Wingston, wondering if the system planned to drop the ball on me, force events in a way that would end up with the Lord Ruler’s psychotic brat and Titus’s two students in this town, working under me.
Thankfully, even the system had standards.
Milia walked over to me. “You should rest. I’ll make dinner today.”
“Sure, but before I do so, there’s something you need to see,” I said. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I think this world’s deity has it out for me. That, or maybe it’s something far beyond our understanding, perhaps a mechanism within the planet itself. It rewarded me for not dying to the Lord Ruler.”
Harmony, Alexander, and Lucas were around to hear me, as well as the pets. “It’s like the dungeon rewards, but for the world out here.”
“What are you talking about?” Harmony asked.
“Watch,” I said. Cheetara hopped onto my shoulder, her eyes curiously staring at the spot I aimed a hand at. Everyone stared at it. I wasn’t sure if they could see the hologram outline of the chests.
I confirmed to the system that I wanted to place the two B-ranked chests. A confirmation chime echoed in my head. Poof! The chests appeared from a puff of white smoke, reminding me of a ninja movie.
Okay, maybe an anime called Naruto. My sister loved that show. She used to smack me in the back of the head for making fun of the kids that ran with their arms backward. I ended up allowing her to convince me to sit down and watch it with her. Great show, the fighting was intense, but I still found the running impractical. No, my sister didn’t imitate the run either. She was slightly older than me and had a little kid of her own.
“Wanda’s rippling ripples of her… What’s going on?” Harmony asked.
“An opportunity to spend contribution points,” I replied. “But after Mandi gets back. There’s a chest I need Opal to open for me.”
“You have more chests?” Lucas asked.
Milia laughed. “Even during my adventurer days, I’ve never seen this.”
I grinned, recalling some of the many stories Milia told me. But for some reason, she found my mundane tales from Earth more interesting. I left out any mentions of technology, but it was as if she knew. That or she was simply the sharpest person on the planet. Probably both. Her feat, swiping Gwendolyn and escaping without a single person witnessing her, would make even a master thief smile. They believed that only I could travel through the shadows. They thought little of my companions.
I opened the first B-ranked chest. The item suddenly floated out, which almost made me flinch. I analyzed the blue sparkling scarf.
[Scarf of the Nexus Tide. Item rank: B. Item quality: Superior. Wearing this scarf makes you completely immune to the chill of winter. It also provides infinite warmth.]
“Milia, could you reverse engineer this?” I asked, handing her the scarf. I told them the description. It had the same shade of blue as Harmony’s hair and she couldn’t keep her eyes off it. “How bad are the winters here?”
“A lot of cold and snow,” Milia said. “As for duplicating this, it won’t be easy, but I’ll try.”
“Tell me the materials you need, I’ll get them,” I said as I opened the second B-ranked chest. “Unless you’re looking to spend a contribution point on that, Harmony?”
Harmony shook her head. “It’s cute, but I’d rather save my points for other things.”
“Come on, something more exciting than a scarf,” Lucas said. Cheetara nodded in agreement. I looked at the kitten.
She meowed, as if saying, “Well, he’s right.”
I laughed. A long combat staff made of unfamiliar wood floated from the box, landing in my hands. It looked like something one would see from any martial arts movie set in ancient times, aside from the white wood with red streaks decorating it.
[Staff of the Lost Path. Item rank: AA. Item quality: Extraordinary. Both a combat staff and a magical tool. Enhances casting. Killing anything with this staff will absorb the prey’s blood. When enough has been added, you may enable Blood Aura. This will enable you to extend your staff for up to twenty yards. It will also automatically block tiers 1-3 magic attacks, but cannot block tier 4, 5, or grand-tiered. You may use the blood to make non-consumable potions. These are however consumable by vampires.]
This staff felt like an S-ranked item. Then again, its failure to block magic that mattered could be the reason why it didn’t qualify. It was an S-ranker without being an S-ranker. Seriously, a staff like this would catch damn near all of my enemies off guard.
Then again, I hoped to spend more time with family and crafting, not fighting.
“I’d love to buy that, Sir Nate!” Lucas suddenly exclaimed, his eyes glimmering. Unfortunately for him, Harmony shouted that at the same time.
“We’ll see, though I wonder if Mandi could make use of it with her fighting style,” I said. Harmony’s pouting and Lucas’s crestfallen expression that never left that staff made me chuckle. Cheetara let out a quick meow and a few more as if giving her condolences. Or poking fun of them, I wasn’t sure.
“Honestly, I may keep the staff for myself, due to its potion option.” I held up a hand. “But I don’t mind sharing. Milia’s probably going to give me a brutal lesson on how to properly use it.”
“Of course,” Milia said, folding her arms. “I would be a quite sad to watch you hurt yourself.”
“Hey,” I said, laughing. “I’ll have you know, I actually used a combat staff before. A bamboo staff, actually.”
“Oh? How long ago?” she asked.
I cleared my throat and answered quietly, “Ten years.”
Everyone burst into laughter. I cleared my throat again, loudly. “Anyway, let’s move onto the next chest. We have quite a bit to go through.”
The B-ranked chests also included some gold, which disappeared into my storage ring. Opening the first A-ranked chest, a ring floated out. I immediately took Alexander’s hand and slid it on his index finger.
[Ring of Partial Restoration. Item rank: S. Item quality: Superior. The wearer of this ring has their magic or core partially unsealed. That is, if they had a core in the past. The wearer can still train their bodies, increasing their realms to overcome the reduced power. This does not fix broken cores or pathways, so don’t try to exploit it. This is a gift from Wanda.]
“You may want to thank Wanda,” I said to the tearing-up kid. His magic was very weak, but good enough. Training would fix him up in a jiffy.
Milia smiled at me. “What would you like to say to Nate, Alexander?”
The man in the child’s body offered his hand, grinning. I took it, shook it, and patted him on the back. Milia sighed, but judging by the look in her eyes, found my treatment of Alexander amusing.
I made a mental note to convince Alexander to tell the others, before Harmony and Mandi got any bright ideas, like treating him like their kid brother. Yomi wasn’t a pervert, just a depressed man secretly wishing for his lost wife.
He talked about her a lot when we hung out. However, he had no longing to return to his pirate days. He expressed how he didn’t want to leave, that he could work at the shop forever, as long as I was here.
The other apprentices said similar words, but honestly, I just couldn’t see what they saw. Especially for the teenagers who should be itching to see the world. They were young adults. Then again, this world didn’t kick out their eighteen-year-olds right away, except to jobs, academies, sects, or family businesses.
What a convenient ring.
Wanda, you’d better not be talking shit about my apprentice, I thought. He’s not useless.
Alexander could almost be the mascot of this shop, an expert in sales, and someone I respected. Yomi would be someone I’d have a beer with and talk shit about my job, the supervisors that treated their employees like shit, and my ever-increasing unpaid overtime schedule.
Not in this world, of course. Running the shop with Milia felt unreal, incredible. Perhaps what she saw in me was what the others saw.
I wasn’t something impossible like love at first sight, and we both started flirting at the exact same time. It only intensified during that month, before we realized we were adults, not teenagers, and started dating. Or courting, as this world called it.
Only courting by law in this world came with the expectation of marriage months later. But didn’t have to happen. We could call it off and leave at any time. However… I felt like we’d been married already and almost a long time.
I still wondered why I never felt insecure or carried other typical emotions that would’ve hurt the relationship. Milia and I did get in a few stupid arguments, which either ended with us laughing, making out, or agreeing to disagree.
It felt like trying to convince stubborn royalty with Milia sometimes, but she was very easygoing and either came around or allowed me to come around upon realizing my idiocy.
In other words, the relationship was actually healthy, though I suspected she took out some of her annoyance when she trained me.
I opened the second A-ranked box, eager for more helpful loot. A gold grail emerged from it, and I immediately handed it to Milia. It was too fancy for my clumsy hands. The box appeared to be made for her.
[Grail of the Holy Forest. Item rank: AAA. Item quality: Extraordinary. Activate to increase the power and defense of the holder and their nearby allies. The boost lasts for one day, perfect for a dungeon dive. If the holder of this item has an affinity with a forest, the boosts are increased significantly. Any liquid added into the grail will be purified if the holder applies mana. This will also work on poisons.]
We were finally getting to the good stuff now. Three chests remained. The S-ranked platinum chest, a pink Lover’s chest, and Pixie chest.
Luckily for us, Mandi and Opal were just returning.
