[07:00 PM]

After having an early dinner and washing the dishes clean, Chloe went to the underground area to do Mana Breathing while I went out for a stroll.

My destination was Park Injun’s shop. I wanted to secure a set of [Party Bracelet] for Chloe and me. The Awakener Store sold them, but as usual, they sold them at a high price that was on the edge of ripping their customers.

The effect of every [Party Bracelet] was the same. It was sharing Mana that Awakeners got from the monster that they killed. The set of [Party Bracelet] had the same marking that made each set unique. Also, a set of [Party Bracelet] consisted of six bracelets, so each party had a maximum number of six people.

The Mana that was shared would be lesser the more people in the party. So if one were in a party of two, the Mana they got from killing a monster would be half of the usual. If someone were in a party of three, the Mana that they got would only be a third of the usual, and so on.

Usually, that would be enough for a normal Awakener, but I wouldn’t be satisfied. I had a perfect Enhancement material with me, Great Lich’s blood, and I was willing to make a bit of sacrifice in order to get stronger, even if it was a little.

Tinkle– Ring–

I opened the door of Park Injun’s store and announced my presence. “Are you there, artifact pervert?”

For some reason, I had a feeling that he wouldn’t be offended by my small joke, and I called him a pervert on purpose. The fake [Monalisa Painting] was still hung beside [Elizabeth Painting] on the wall near the table.

Park Injun was sitting on his rocking chair in his old man disguise. He was holding today’s newspaper in his hand. When I called out to him, he raised his head and frowned.

“You are quite rude, huh? So, what does this rude customer of mine want from me this time? Let me tell you; I can’t take information as payment for now.”

“I know.” I approached him while looking around the store. There was nothing that changed from the first time I visited. “I am here for a small item. Do you have [Party Bracelet] in your stock?”

“[Party Bracelet] is it? I do have it. But, why bother yourself with visiting me to get it? You can get that item at the Awakener Store.”

What was he talking about? Awakener Store? Was a store that ripped off its customers the best place that one could visit?

Seeing my expression that changed from my usual smile to a disgusted one, Park Injun quickly added.

“… or not. Hahahaha, what did you buy from them, and for how much?”

“… Introduction of Basic Magic. A hundred thousand USD.”

Park Injun looked at me while repeatedly blinking before bursting out in laughter.

“Hahahahaha! Y-You what?!”

I gritted my teeth in anger as I threw my face away and clicked my tongue._-.

“Tsk! It’s fucking useless. It only explained about how to use small Magic like creating a small fire and such. I still read it because it taught me how to use magic, but I will never buy anything from that store again.”

“Hahahahaha! Did you really buy that book? You can read it for free from the library!”

I turned to Park Injun after I heard his sentence. No, I must have heard it wrong.

“Excuse me, can you repeat what you said again?”

“Huh?! Ah, you can read the introduction to basic magic for free from the library located in the center of Los Angeles. You can even see the library from the front of this store. So you didn’t know about it?”

“I don’t.” I shook my head. “Those bastards!” My anger almost reached its peak because of the fact that I heard from Park Injun.

So that meant I just spent a fucking hundred thousand USD for a useless book that could be read for free in the library?

How the fuck I was supposed to know that! I never wrote anything about such a thing!

“Fuck!” I cursed loudly, and Park Injun just laughed it off as if it was amusing.

“Hahahaha. It’s been a long time since I laughed like this. You are too good, kid.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just laugh at it. Shit! I will fuck those guys later! I will empty their savings after I deal with that scammer!”

Due to my anger, I accidentally blurted out information that I wanted to keep from Park Injun. But fortunately, he didn’t react to it. Maybe he thought that the scammer was the one who operated the Awakener Store.

“Good luck with that, kid. The Awakener Store is a shop under Awakener Association’s authority.”

“I don’t really care. Do you think I care about the Awakener Association after I snatched Chloe from them?”

“Fair point. Well, you come here for [Party Bracelet], right? Let me get it for you.”

He reached out to the shelves behind him and moved his hand around. He pulled a metal box a few seconds later and put it on the table.

“Here. Check it. The password is 5223.”

I input the password of the box and opened the box after it was unlocked. Inside the box, six black bracelets were put in two rows. I took one of them and inspected it.

_____

[Party Bracelet #3171]

[Null Attribute]

Effect:

– Mana Sharing

Sharing a Mana gotten from killing a monster to other people with the same bracelet code. The effectiveness will decrease with more people in one party.

2 People: 50 percent Mana each person

3 People: 33 percent Mana each person

4 People: 25 percent Mana each person

5 People: 20 percent Mana each person

6 People: 16 percent Mana each person

_____

The name of the bracelet was written alongside the code that showed its set. Only a bracelet with code #3171 would share a Mana of the monster killed by someone who wore the bracelet with the same code.

“How much is it?”

“Fifty grand. No discount.”

I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket and transferred the exact amount of money to Park Injun. His bank account was saved on my phone, so transferring money was easy.

“Thanks.” I took the box and put it into my magic bag. “Also, Park Injun.”

“Yeah?”

“If a boy named Zaiden comes here in the future, I hope you can help him. He’s an Archman.”

Park Injun’s eyes widened a little when he heard Zaiden’s family name. His lips curled up, and he stroked his chin.

“Hou… Archman, huh. So that’s why that old man took a disciple. And he unexpectedly chose you, who asked for a bow from me, to be his disciple. How amusing.”

As expected, the reason why Smith took a disciple was Archman’s family. Their swordsmanship was equal to Smith’s, so it was no wonder if he was related in some way to them.

Smith’s backstory was not too fleshed out in the novel, but he acted rather suspiciously when he heard about Zaiden, and he ultimately chose Ao to inherit his secret technique instead of the more talented Zaiden.

“There is another girl who studied under him beside me. There is nothing set in stone yet.”

“I know about that. Fine, I will help the one named Zaiden if he visits this store. Of course, that only applies if he pays for my help, though.”

“That’s enough. Thanks.” I turned around and walked to the exit.

“You’re welcome. Come again with more money next time!”

I raised my hand to tell him that I got it and closed the door behind me.

***

[08:30 PM]

I went home after walking around a little. Chloe had done with her training and was waiting for me in front of the house. She sat on a chair that she had brought from inside the house.

When she saw me approaching the house, she smiled and greeted me.

“Welcome back, Vincent.”

“Yeah, I am back. I got the bracelets already.”

“I see. When should we go to New York?”

“Hmm, I was thinking of going tomorrow at dawn. I need to enhance the bracelets to get a better effect.” I grinned at Chloe, and she nodded her head.

“Then I will order our ticket to fly to New York. Is first class okay with you?”

This girl… Asked whether the first class was okay as if she had never been sitting in an economy class. Was she mocking me?

In my entire two lives, I had never sat on a first-class flight before!

However, I still put on the air and nodded my head confidently.

“That’s alright. I will begin my work immediately in the underground area. If you want to sleep first, then feel free too.”

“Un. I know.” She pulled out her phone and raised it. “I will sleep later after watching some cat videos.”

“Cat videos? Alright.”

Unexpectedly, she had a cute side of her. A girl who watched cat videos was cute, without a doubt.

I caught sight of her smiling while looking at her phone before I entered the house.

‘She loves cats, huh?’

Closing the door behind me, I went to the underground area to enhance the bracelets.

“I hope to get a better percentage.”

I sat in the center of the underground training area as I pulled out the box with six [Party Bracelets] from my magic bag.

Even if there were six bracelets inside the box, their effect was shared. Meaning, if the effect on one bracelet was changed, the other’s bracelet effect would also be changed.

That was why I only needed to enhance one bracelet this time.

I took one bracelet from the bag and pulled out Great Lich’s blood from my magic bag.

The attribute of the bracelet was Null; I didn’t need to change it. I held the bracelet in my left hand as I infused Null attribute mana into it. The color of the Mana was blue, almost similar to the water attribute Mana.

My right hand trembled a little as I carefully tilted the glass with Great Lich’s blood. This was an expensive investment, so I hope my Luck would miraculously be triggered again this time.

A drop of Great Lich’s blood dripped from the edge of the glass onto the bracelet. As soon as the blood touched the bracelet, it shined brightly with white light.

The light didn’t last for too long, unlike when I was enhancing [Arash Bow], but a row of notifications that followed suit told me that the Enhancement process was a success.

[Party Bracelet enhancement was successful. The effect of the item has been amplified.]

[Party Bracelet turned into Party Bracelet +1]

My Luck was not triggered, but I was not panicked as the notification said the effect of the item has been amplified.

Calmly, I inspected the [Party Bracelet] in my hand.

_____

[Party Bracelet #3171 +1]

[Null Attribute]

Effect:

– Mana Sharing

Sharing a Mana gotten from killing a monster to another person with the same bracelet. The effectiveness will decrease with more people in one party.

2 People: 53 percent Mana each person

3 People: 35 percent Mana each person

4 People: 26 percent Mana each person

5 People: 21 percent Mana each person

6 People: 17 percent Mana each person

_____

The increase was just a little; it was not even worth mentioning. However, it was still an increment nonetheless, and I was quite happy with the result. It even increased the Mana we absorbed from the monster from 50 percent to 53 percent when we wore the bracelet, an increment of 6 percent in total.

“Good. It’s good enough.”

Maybe it was only 3 percent, but it would certainly be a good investment for the future. The effect wouldn’t show too much when we killed a small fry monster, but if we killed a high-rank monster, the effect of the increment would be tremendous.

“Next, I just need that item, and it will be perfect.”

The Artifact that I planned to recover tomorrow. It wouldn’t increase my strength, but it would be useful for a sharpshooter like me.

“Maybe I will look for a Dark Chameleon skin while we are at it. I don’t need a sword for at least two months, and Smith isn’t rushing me to finish the request, but there is nothing wrong with finishing his request a bit early. That way, I can get used to the sword before announcing my Awakening.”

I put the bracelet back into its box before stuffing it into my magic bag alongside the Great Lich’s blood. I stood up and dusted my butt.

“It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.”