Years may have passed since he realized just how bleak the future was, but Braun still sighed at his hopeless future. Yes, he may like the struggle, but it should be in moderation. It shouldn’t be this bullshit that would drain him of the fun of adventuring in a fantasy world!

However, that’s for later. He was already eight years old and his sister was turning thirteen! She was about to become a teenager! Oh, sweet heavens, even his younger brother back on Earth hadn’t reached this damned age of puberty, where pimples start wrecking one’s face.

Braun shuddered at the struggle he had to endure during his puberty where his hormones ravaged his already average face. The amount of money he invested into skincare, optimizing his sleep, diet, and dealing with his oily face—no more, no more acne for this ever-evolving lad.

However, this did give him an idea.

Perhaps being an alchemist in the future would be a lucrative venture. Braun flew across the air, with his control over his mana akin to a limb. After years of training, mana might as well be a part of his body already, a level only achieved by those at Rare Class.

Of course, it’s also achievable if you’re at Uncommon Class and have Mana Control (Z), better if you also had Magic (Z) to go along with it.

Yes, Braun had already advanced his class to Jack of all Trades a year ago, after spending over six years as a Generalist to make sure no better job would land in his lap.

Perhaps he should have been wiser and chose other classes like Sage (Uncommon), Magic Smith (Uncommon), or Rune Master (Uncommon), but who gave a damn, right? He sure didn’t, and only his personal opinion mattered.

Jack of all Trades is awesome, and will forever be more awesome than those normy classes. Who would want to be a mage when they could be all?

Okay, maybe if he didn’t have his broken cheats and was a normal guy, he would have gone for the Sage route and become a transcendent wizard, but he had his hacks, so might as well enjoy the fun.

As a Jack of all Trades, he could learn every skill there could be learned under the sun… by a human. Whether it be martial arts, drug snorting, or vape tricks, he could learn how to do it, and be good at it.

The only problem here is that he could never be a master of it. Yes, he could reach Z rank in any skill, but since his existence is a Jack of all Trades, he couldn’t muster the same amount of power each skill holds.

An Uncommon Class Swordsman can cut through steel with S Class swordsmanship, while Braun needs to have Z Class swordsmanship to do the same. If he had to explain it, his skills were a skill rank weaker compared to the original classes, and that’s only the case after he had maxed out his class-specific Jack of all Trades skills.

Mimic (Z), Replicate (Z). With Mimic, he could attempt to imitate the skills of others, helping him master them easier, while Replicate endows him the power to replicate the supernatural abilities of skills.

A swordsman can cut through stone because of their swordsmanship skill. Without that skill? They’re just a physically powerful guy who can wield a sword half-decently.

That also reminded Braun of some of the god-awful swordsmanship some adventurers had shown. Braun was even confident that he could defeat some of those Rare Class sword wielders in a duel of swords as a Common Class due to the extreme skill gap, actual skill gap, one forged from battle experience.

Add in his Learning (Z) skill, and his unique skill Prodigy, and Braun’s learning speed had pretty much remained the same despite reaching a higher class which would have normally slowed down his growth. Many of his skills had already long reached S Class, with some even reaching Z Class, especially his magic skills.

Soon enough, as the boy flew across the town, he arrived at a distant fancy restaurant, the same restaurant where his Uncle Dwobug had treated the two children to some dragon meat back when they were still young.

He checked his clothes and inspected his gift inside his storage ring before landing on the ground. He fixed his hair and recuperated his mana. Glancing at the starry night sky above and enjoying the chilly air of the night, Braun grinned and stepped into the restaurant.

The restaurant was as fancy, no, it was fancier than before. More tables had occupied its large estate, with chandeliers illuminating the entirety of the place with warm yellow light. Many people dined at the luxurious restaurant, with all of them having one thing in common—they reeked of money.

Well, Braun couldn’t judge them since he too was smelling like money. Ever since he realized the wonders of zenithral power and how he could manipulate the development of a business, he had been secretly helping the family business grow like crazy from behind the scenes.

Eight years had already passed since his birth, and the shop was earning over a thousand gold coins a month! They were fucking rich. That’s the equivalent of earning a hundred thousand dollars a month back on Earth, cementing the family’s position as an upper-class household.

Just a casual look at Braun and one would see the various magical trinkets he wore. Earrings, pendants, rings, wristbands, he was covered in money.

He soon located the table his family had reserved for Mina’s 13th birthday, and found many familiar places.

His father, Delmore Dolus. His mother, Erna Dolus. His magical tutor, Eira Green. His dwarven uncle and his father’s business partner, Dwobug Ironhelm. And last of all, his dearest sister, Mina Dolus.

She had grown into a beautiful young lady over the years; she was tall, had an athletic frame from years of smithing and consumption of dragon meat, and had the air of an expert.

Observing her status, Braun smiled proudly.

[Name: Mina Dolus]

[Class: Magic Smith (Rare)]

[Skills: Smithing (C), Hammer Mastery (C), Magic (D) …]

She had grown a lot and had already reached Rare Class, a feat very few achieve at such a young age. With such a rate of growth, she could easily pass the entrance exam of the royal academy.

In two years, she’s going to leave. Braun sighed at the thought before proceeding the observe the status of everyone else.

[Name: Delmore Dolus]

[Class: Artificer (Epic)]

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[Skills: Enchantment Magic (C), Magic (C), Runes (C) …]

After years of intensively working for the shop, Delmore had already breached into Epic Class and had become a great artificer. Even in the capital of the empire, he would prove to be a valuable asset, a first-class artificer.

[Name: Erna Dolus]

[Class: Chef (Rare)]

[Skills: Cooking (S), Knife Mastery (S), Tasting (A) …]

Her cooking had only gotten better with time. Perhaps if papa had bought more dragon meat, then Erna could have already become an Epic Class chef!

[Name: Eira Green]

[Class: Aeromancer (Epic)]

[Skills: Magic (B), Mana Control (B), Wind Magic (B) …]

[Unique Skill: Free Wind]

Seeing the progress of his mentor had been tear-jerking. The eight-year-old boy still remembered back when his teacher was still a Rare Class Wind Mage, a young brat who was still messing around with life.

Now, she already appeared like an elegant woman of class and power. Her face had considerably matured from her younger disposition back in the days, yet the same teasing smile remained on her face.

[Name: Dwobug Ironhelm]

[Class: Magic Smith (Epic)]

[Skills: Smithing (A), Hammer Mastery (B), Magic (B) …]

[Unique Skill: Fiery Intuition]

Uncle Dwobug was still Uncle Dwobug, but damn did he get wide. If no height, get wider instead. Perhaps years of eating dragon meat had made the dwarf partly draconic just like the boy, but his muscles were just popping.

“You’re finally here!” Delmore was the first to notice his son.

“Sorry!” Braun rushed to him, his long, black hair swaying with each step. Just like his sister, he had opted to tie his hair into a bun on his back. Strands of hair draped down his face, complementing well with his naturally handsome features. Perhaps it was because of his perfect, ever-evolving genetics, or the draconic influence coursing through his veins, but boy was he good-looking. “Finishing my project took a lot longer than I expected.”

“Heh, there you go again, procrastinating.” Eira taunted.

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Braun rolled his eyes and quickly sat down on his chair.

“Good, we’re finally all here!” Erna smiled. While she may have been exhausted over the years managing the family business, the accumulated wealth and class advancement had done wonders for her face. She appeared even as young as Eira despite the age difference.

Delmore had also appeared far more handsome than before, especially with the beard. Damn, Braun had to commend his father for growing out his beard. It was like witnessing a looksmaxxer grow from average to downright dilf material.

Ugh, Braun couldn’t wait to grow out of his child phase and become a handsome chad… or maybe an androgynous hot stuff. He doesn’t mind fooling around with all genders, or all species for that matter.

Maybe he could even add fucking every species in this world to his bucket list… No, no, no, that was a dangerous line of thought. Braun shook his head, but inwardly, he pushed that idea to a neat corner in his mind; food for thought.

With his presence on the table now present, the dinner party can finally start. This was just the first part of a night full of fiesta, as they still had the singing party back at home, the ride across the entire region with magic, and a whole lot of other stuff.

Perhaps Braun could even gaslight his father into letting him drink alcohol despite his age. Teenagers can drink alcohol, so why can’t an Uncommon Class Jack of all Trades do the same?

Heck, his physical stats were already half-step into Rare Class, which is the equivalent of a Level 2 Super. If not for his underage body, he’d already have a supernatural level of strength and vitality. Alcohol would barely make a dent in his constitution.

“Before we eat!” Delmore stood up and waved his hand, summoning a metallic hammer forged out of starmetal, with complex runes and Epic Class enchantment added onto its already masterfully made frame. It hummed with power and floated in the air autonomously. “Here is our gift.”

Barely able to make out the magic infused into the hammer, Braun could see that the hammer can not only be mentally manipulated by the owner without mana, but could also passively enhance any item it strikes with enchantment magic! Essentially, it’s the perfect tool for a magic smith!

It also has size-changing runes, weight-changing runes, and a whole lot of other quality-of-life magic added to it. It was nothing short of an Epic Class masterpiece. Only a Legendary Class artificer or blacksmith could hope to outclass such a powerful tool.

Mina’s eyes shone brightly as she grabbed the hammer and hugged it to her chest. Stars formed in her eyes, and she squealed in joy.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She was barely able to keep her calm and resisted the urge to run to the forge and test out her new hammer.

“Enjoying our masterpiece?” Dwobug grinned, proud of his own work. “I had used the highest of quality of star metal for that hammer and spent weeks forging it. I spent hundreds of gold and more just on raw materials alone.”

Sigh, truly the perks of being rich. When rich, you’ll be friends with rich people as well.

Braun truly had to commend his new family in this fantasy world, unlike the mediocre one he had back on Earth. Even without zenithral power, based on his assessment of his father, the Dolus family shop would have eventually reached an economic boom and raked in that cash.

For that, he was grateful for their perseverance in funding his every whims and wishes. Truly, being a spoiled brat is the best. He could have any tutor he wanted, have any equipment he needed, and use money on his various projects.

One of which is his gift right now.

A pair of earrings rose to the air, both forged from Frozen Iron, a material Braun had grown fond of because wearing trinkets made from frozen steel was quite pleasant. Imagine having a constant source of coolness all over your body without having to use runes or enchantments, now that was great.

If he could, Braun would like to create clothes made out of similar materials. He could already imagine the profit he could make if he were to mass sell those clothes during summer.

As Mina grabbed the silver earrings curiously, she put them on and was immediately awed by their effects. Her vision morphed into a 3d illusion, one full of guidelines and schematics. Observing the hammer, she found a series of runes she could transcribe, enchantments she could pick, and the synergies they would have with one another.

“Smith’s Earrings!” Braun introduced his wonderful creation. “With these earrings, you have access to a whole slew of schematics of weapons, armors, runes, enchantments magics, and their synergies! It’s a whole library packed into a tiny metal!”

“How?” Mina asked, shocked by the earrings’ effects. While she may not have studied as hard in the field of runes, she still had enough knowledge to understand just how impressive this was.

“I’m a genius.” Braun shrugged his shoulders. “Literally.”

“You and your unique skills.” Eira rolled her eyes.

Indeed, Braun was a recognized [Genius] by this world, as suggested by his unique skill. With insane synergy with Prodigy, Braun was becoming more and more like a hero already with their insane growth speed.

If left unattended, almost all heroes could reach Transcendent Class with enough time, just a step away from the throne of the divine. The fact that no new gods had appeared since the start of the current era only served to prove the existence of a conspiracy for Braun.

It’s not that hard to reach divine class, and a transcendent was already immortal. Given enough time, they surely would have mastered their class, yet after a thousand years, no new divine has ushered.

“Jeez, my gift pales in comparison to you all.” Eira rubbed the back of her head as she took out a green blob from her bag—a living green blob.

“A wind spirit?!” Mina stared at the cute green blob with star-struck eyes.

“Yes, a baby wind spirit.” Urged by the aeromancer, the green blob flew around Mina with curious eyes, before a strange bond formed between them. “And you are now its partner.”

“My very own familiar!” Mina carefully grabbed the wind spirit, staring into its eyes with the dotingness of a mother.

“Wow, isn’t that slavery, teach?” Braun mocked from the side.

“I adopted it from a wind spirit. It’s perfectly legal.” She showed the documents as proof.

“And you’re giving it to a child?” He pointed at Mina.

“She’s almost an adult by some of this world’s standards.” Eira shrugged her shoulders and gave the documents to Erna.

“Ah yes, an adult.” Some of the human cultures of this world still consider fifteen to be an adult already, but through reforms in the Pendragon Empire, eighteen slowly became the new adult age used by mankind.

“Don’t be a killjoy, Braun.” Eira taunted.

“Sure, ignore the political implications this has, who am I to care?” Braun inwardly groaned at the strange political climate of this world and the way different cultures of different species interacted with one another. Never did he consider a spirit selling their babies to humans for money to be a thing, but alas, capitalism exists.

Oh wait, we’re a capitalistic family. Braun stared at the plentiful food on the table, paid by the money of many hard-working adventurers and the hard work of many store clerks and managers. It was only natural for the Dolus Magical Shop to become a brand, and they had already set up many stores across Limen.

As he bathed in the luxury of capitalistic society, the dinner proceeded as usual.