“Caw, caw!”
As the morning sun rose once more to dye the land a warm orange hue, Rob woke up with groggy eyes and a dopey mind. He stretched his arms and legs, yawned, and slowly stood up with a grunt.
It was Saturday, meaning five days had passed since Rob had started all over again in the world of Tyr in this new body. After the needless gamble he had done in the evening of Monday, and successfully winning, his luck had fallen to an all-time low of D Rank.
Even though he had worked hard for five days straight and didn’t stop stealing luck for every moment that he could, even from his parents and the bakery, the random customers entering the bakery, he had only increased his luck by a measly 20 D Rank.
While twenty times stronger than the luck of an average person, it was nothing but a speck of dust to the grandness of S Rank luck. That’s still a far-off goal for Rob, a distant achievement that would perhaps take years with normal stealing.
But Fortune Stealer did have great progress. I can now steal up to 12 F Rank per minute from, siphon luck from 8 different sources, and increase my range to 6.3 meters. On average, I’ll gather up to 58k F Rank Luck after ten hours inside the school and in the bakery.
For less than a week of progress, this is pretty significant.
I might reach 25 F Rank per minute by the end of this month, although progress does get slower the stronger Fortune Stealer becomes. Every rank higher, the slower the progress would be. Although the number of people I can steal from, and the distance is easier to raise than the luck siphon rate.
With no school to attend to since it was Saturday, Rob walked down the stairs and was met with both of his parents in the dining room, busy to the point they had bags under their eyes, and his father’s majestic beard was distressed and fuzzy.
After the deal with Melvin Dolton and having signed the contract with the Dolton heir, Vivia Fortune, and Herve Fortune - Rob’s parents - had been suffering in joy over the piles of paperwork regarding the expansion of their business. Not only that, but with the Opportunity successfully taken, the bakery’s luck had boomed up to B Rank, and with time, would continuously rise alongside the luck of the Fortune family due to the strange and mystical connections of luck between different entities - including a bakery.
Rob’s eyes shone with bright light as he thought, Connections… Luck sure is a strange concept.
“Good morning…” Rob yawned and grabbed a cup of water, poured water into it, and gulped it down in one breath.
“Good morning, honey,” Vivia Fortune said in an exhausted tone, and she drank some of her warm coffee to reinvigorate herself with energy.
“You guys want me to bake a fresh batch of bread this morning?” Rob asked, grabbed some slices of bread, and walked up to their stove to whip up a grilled cheese sandwich.
“Sure, sure.” Vivia yawned and rubbed her messy hair.
Hmm, I can feel it, Fortune Stealer should be strong enough by around lunchtime.
As Rob ate his quick breakfast, he went back to his room to grab his towel and took a shower to clean his body. Then, he walked down the stairs, wearing a simple white linen shirt and pants, and entered the bakery.
He flicked on the lights, went behind the counter, and grabbed his apron inside the kitchen.
Rob then walked up to the sink, washed his hands, grabbed a bowl, and an assortment of ingredients while preheating the oven to a certain temperature in preparation for the upcoming baking.
Whisk whisk.
He cracked some eggs, poured milk into flour, chopped garlic, added dashes of salt, and many more steps for various pastries and baked goods.
Chop chop chop.
Mix mix mix.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh.
He flicked open a small flame and grabbed a random pan. Opening a pack of sugar, he poured it into the pan along with water, charring the sugar into a deep brown color, and slowly made a simple syrup mixture.
Rob walked up to the fridge, opened the freezer, and pulled out a container containing pudding created last night. As he waited for the syrup to cool down by a bit, he pulled the cups of pudding out of their containers and placed them on top of different plates.
The syrup finally cooled down. Rob grabbed a spoon from a nearby table and scooped out a spoonful of syrup.
He dripped the syrup mixture atop the plates of pudding, causing it to jiggle by a bit.
This was only one of the various foods Rob had to process in the morning with high efficiency, but to him, this was a cakewalk.
His journey to become a Supreme Existence can simply be described as perilous and full of danger. If he didn’t strive for maximum efficiency and vied for every single second to live a second longer, he would have already died and faced an unfortunate death.
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His various titles such as the Devouring Darkness and Betrayer of Humanity weren’t just for show. Those titles represented what kind of evil acts he did in his lifetime, and what kind of person he was, and is.
Hmm, this syrup is a bit too sweet for my taste. Maybe I’ll add in some lemon zest later to give it a sour oomph. If I had C Rank Luck, then this “too sweet” problem wouldn’t even happen in the first place since it would just magically fix itself with a random reason.
Gambling really is bad. Now I have to suffer the consequences of my stupidity. Rob wore an indifferent smile. This was just a slight inconvenience, nothing life-threatening, and if it didn’t threaten his life, then it wasn’t a problem. As long as he was alive, any annoyance can be solved with enough time.
After finishing all of his tasks for the morning, Rob Fortune placed plenty of baked goods and pastries on display, while fixing the chairs and tables, before finally flipping the sign on the door which read ‘open’.
…
Annabeth Auburn walked through the crowded streets of the Royal Capital of the Vizwel Empire, her light brown eyes gleamed with joy as she gets to enjoy a nice relaxing weekend after a strenuous first week at school. But, her expression turned sour as she soon saw a bakery in the distance with the words Fortune Bakery written on the sign on top of the door.
She felt her stomach churn and flashes of memories replayed in her mind of the rude and crude person known as Rob Fortune. He was incredibly arrogant, with no hint of respect for the teachers at all and even for nobles with high prestige. He spent most of his time alone in crowded areas, reading books or munching on some snacks in boredom.
If Anna had to describe Rob after five days of observation, she would have to say he was a talented pig with no social life.
But he would say that he chose to have no social life because everyone else is just beneath him! Even Leo Regulus was ignored by him! Argh, why did the gods have to make that guy talented that he can even beat someone like Leo Regulus so quickly?
This is too unfair!
As she cursed inwardly, she unknowingly found herself inside the bakery out of pure habit and was met with Rob’s bored eyes.
“Good morning, dear customer.” Rob smiled lightly, and with a flash of golden light appearing in his eyes for a split second, he watched as the bakery’s luck explosively went up from B Rank to A Rank in a single moment!
A Rank Luck was equivalent to being born as the heir of a dukedom, it was the same level of luck as a Duke!
“Ugh, it’s you again.” Anna rolled her eyes and walked up to the counter. She ignored his presence and instead focused on the various sweet desserts and pastries that could crave her sweet tooth.
Hmm, do I get some pudding? But that would mean I’ll have to spend more time with this guy! Although I haven’t finished reading that book yet… As she struggled to choose what action she should take, Rob silently stared out of the window and smiled lightly.
Another person was already coming in, a familiar face that belonged to a familiar customer. He moved his gaze toward the shining luck of the bakery, with a long line full of human-sized gold coins with cartoonish arms and legs.
Uehehe. Rob snickered and caressed his chin, hiding his devious smirk underneath his hand, and thought, Fortune Stealer has transcended the limitations of stealing indeed. It can even modify a bakery’s luck into such a bizarre form.
Not only that, the more customers and money this bakery earns, the deeper its luck foundation becomes. Once I connect my luck to it, it would mean that the wealthier I am, the more luck I would have! With Fortune Stealer, I can specifically attract loyal customers with deep pockets to become usual customers here, allowing my wealth to expand without worry!
Greeting the customer as usual, Anna seemed to have been pressured by this newcomer and finally came to her decision.
“A cup of pudding… and two pancakes. Add in some strawberries and blueberries to the pancake.” Anna hurriedly gave her order to Rob with a demanding tone.
“That would be 2 silver and 35 copper,” Rob said with a yawn and stretched out his hand.
“Here.” Anna stretched out her hand and dropped three silver coins into Rob’s hands.
“Damn, you really ain’t giving me a good time here.” Rob clicked his tongue, opened the counter with great familiarity, and swiftly pulled out her change and passed it onto her. He was a bit annoyed by the coins already since he has to count each coin one by one in such an inefficient manner.
With her order set and done, Anna didn’t even bother to say thank you and instead walked up to one of the various bookshelves in the bakery. She easily found the book she hasn’t finished reading and sat down on a nearby table to finally finish this damn book that has been bugging her mind for a while.
After taking the next person’s order and looking out of the large glass window near the entrance of the bakery to only then be greeted by more people in the distance, he moved his body with finesse to deliver the two’s order.
A plate of pudding, some pancakes, drip some syrup, add in some fruits, and that’s one order done.
Three slices of Eggy Bread (basically French Toast), drip some more syrup and a chunk of butter, add in some fruits, and also a cup of cold lemon tea. That’s order two finished.
Is this even a bakery at this point? It’s becoming more like a cafe, a book cafe!
We really need to hire new workers at this point. Sigh, but that would take some time. I’ll just wait for Mama and Papa to deal with this problem later. Let’s hope it won’t take too long.
As he served them their morning meal, Rob walked back to the counter, took the orders of the new customers, and slowly dealt with the morning rush of extravagant spoiled brats and noble kids.
By the time the rush ended and he gained a bit more free time, it was already near lunch!
Rob munched on some bread, and drank a bit of tea, before promptly walking up to the door and closing the bakery for the morning.
Mama and Papa will deal with this in the afternoon, meaning I’ll have plenty of free time!
Time to grind my luck, that is!
But before that…
Rob shifted his gaze to the middle of the bakery, and stared at the glowing bakery in the middle of the air, with a long line of golden coins walking into the bakery.
He stretched out his hand and tapped the edge of his index finger on the bakery, with his eyes glowing brightly in a golden light.
Finally, Fortune Stealer is strong enough to connect my luck with this bakery! It’s time to restore my luck to its previous glory!
Activate, Luck Connection!
From the tip of his fingers, a golden string of light stretched out, which then slowly vanished into thin air, and the luck above his head in the form of Rob surrounded by noble kids started to glow and grow, expanding in size and turning more solid from its previous incorporeal state.
He breathed out a deep sigh, and felt his luck grow over a hundred times stronger!
If D Rank Luck was a normal person’s luck, then C Rank Luck was above average and would ensure a person lives a comfortable and smooth life without much problem.
With his luck back to normal, Rob slowly walked out of the bakery with a subtle grin on his face, and he muttered, “Luck, luck, lucky!”
“It’s time to steal the luck of some spoiled brats!”