Inside an unnamed workshop, four people were currently in an extremely tense situation. At least that was what would’ve normally happened but due to a certain reason, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“Old man, how much are you willing to pay?” Cain waved around the Rank 9 sword in his hand and examined it in much more detail.
The mysterious old man felt that his very answer would change how the situation could unfold. From his experience, he had seen people act completely oblivious only to be a supreme expert who could decide the fate of countless lives. This was without a doubt a situation similar to it.
“This old man is called, Oisho. A personal guard of the Mistress of the Pavilion. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” Oisho bowed towards Cain and Harry before bowing to Garred.
“So? How much are you going to pay?” Harry stood up and casually interacted with Oisho. He wasn’t demoralized nor was he intimidated by the situation. Displaying a completely calm demeanor fitting a person of his status. “As Sir Garred said, my Master now owns it. I’m afraid that even you don’t know just what value it truly holds.”
Harry? You stupid disciple! Can’t you see this is trash?! Look here it says, Super Duper Weak! It even has a parenthesis saying that! Cain was completely furious at Harry for trying to cheat this obviously powerful powerhouse in front of them.
“Ahem, what my disciple wanted to say was that anything in the world has value. Like this sword, I believe that there isn’t anything worthless in the world.” Cain tried to ‘salvage’ the situation.
A supreme expert! Downplaying the fact that a Rank 9 sword is nearly worthless in his eyes! The very first Rank 9 sword forged on Earth and he doesn’t even covet it. The most powerful weapon that humanity has forged so far is Rank 7, a whole two ranks in between them! Oisho solidified the belief that this connection with Cain was more valuable than the sword in his hands.
“I understand what you are saying. As they say, there cannot be anything more valuable than friendship.” Oisho redirected his priority to trying to form a relationship with Cain instead.
No! That’s not what I just said! Old man, come on! Didn’t you want this sword? Come buy it! Cain was dying inside.
“Ahem, ahem. That is true, I suppose, but friendship cannot be formed out of nowhere correct?” Cain was trying to bring everything back.
“Exactly! Master only focuses on what’s valuable! A sword of that quality is too much! That’s why we’re giving you this-” Harry’s mouth was immediately covered up by Cain.
“Ah, no. What my disciple meant to say was that the sword is for sale. You still want it, don’t you? Unless… you can’t do it?” Cain wanted nothing more than to knock some sense into Harry but this wasn’t the time to do so.
Oisho recalled the flow of the conversation and finally understood what the supreme master in front of him was implying. A worthless sword and friendship could only mean one thing. Unless the Secret Pavilion could create a sword that has the strength of a Rank 9 then they could never be friends. If the Secret Pavilion couldn’t even forge something of this quality then there would be nothing of value here.
I fully understand what you mean, supreme expert. Oisho immediately walked away.
Oisho bowed in front of Cain and Harry, “I understand your intentions. I’ll relay the information to the Mistress of the Pavilion.”
“Sir Garred, I would like to welcome you to join the Secret Pavilion if you so wish to. Please enter one of the Mystic Pavilions in the city if you ever accept. We would welcome you with open arms.” Oisho immediately disappeared, not making a sound as he did so.
From outside, countless powerhouses appeared, all awaiting the news. Oisho came out and warned everyone, “The sword isn’t yours to possess. By the authority given to me by the Mistress of the Pavilion, anyone who dares push this any further would be hunted down and tortured. You have been warned.”
“Hah? Just you? A complete nobody?” A Rank 6 expert unsheathed his sword that was still reverberating in reverence to the Rank 9 sword. “What makes you think you can stop me?”
Oisho scoffed, “I needed to make an example. Fortunately, there are always blind fools around.” Oisho also took out his sword, a clean one-sided blade, seemingly crafted from the cleanest metal possible. The sheer sheen on it could blind normal people.
“A fight? Hahaha, take this! Last Fla-”
Step. Slash. Step.
The world seemed to have stopped for a brief moment. Everyone in the vicinity immediately gasped in a large amount of air as their hearts started beating vigorously. As Oisho sheathed his ever-clean blade, the head of the Rank 6 expert that went against his word fell down.
As it was on the street, this Rank 6 expert’s body stained the clean pavement with his blood. The worst part of it all was that no one else dared move after that. Whether it was from fear or respect, no one dared do anything else.
“What are you youngsters waiting for? Scatter!” Oisho sighed and looked back at the nameless workshop. “I wish that supreme expert hadn’t been offended. Hehe, if he saw some kind of potential from that move then I might get a few pointers from him.”
Cain tried to come out of the workshop in a hurry when he saw what transpired. He immediately felt the back of his skin shiver. After Oisho finished his move, he looked back and they made eye contact.
Harry who was earlier happy-go-lucky also saw this scene, “Master… are you going to die? He just made eye contact with you!”
“You unfial disciple! You doomed me!” Cain shook Harry. “We need to skip town! Fast!”
“Uh oh! We need to tell Helena and Nue!” Harry finally recalled that they were now as weak as chickens. A single sneeze would probably kill them.
“You tell them! I just risked my life just now! Let’s get out of here!” Cain and Harry dipped as soon as possible.
Garred was star-struck ever since earlier, “Secret Pavilion… me?” He had been daydreaming for far too long. He knew that being in the Secret Pavilion would mean that he had the backing of one of the most terrifying existences to date.
Although he should feel more confident about crafting a Rank 9 sword, he felt something off. A feeling that came from Cain, something that inspired him to continue, to fight on, to go beyond his limits. There was something about Cain’s aura that made it so that he could push through his current limits.
Garred wasn’t lying about being the greatest blacksmith in his world. He truly was able to craft blades forged from dragon fire and the like yet he fully relied on his equipment to do so. He had managed to find the greatest blacksmith’s tools in the other world yet he was far too weak to currently use them.
The techniques he used were genuinely his and the personal improvement he underwent was genuine as well. In the end, despite relying on tools he acquired from another world, he still persevered and developed his own talents.
He managed to create an unbelievably powerful weapon using his own hands. For Garred, a person who only made Rank 5 weapons and armor to suddenly create a Rank 9 weapon out of nowhere it was absurd. It was at this moment that Garred finally understood, he wasn’t teaching them. They were teaching him.
“S-Sir Cain, thank you!” Garred looked up and finally saw that those two sets of people left 1,000 Low-Quality Mana Stones where they stood. “You… you are too kind… I promise you. I’ll one day create a Rank 9 sword on my own, no! I’ll create a transcendental sword based on my own efforts!”
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Meanwhile, the people he was thanking were currently on the run. They were completely scared and afraid of what would happen if they stayed a single moment later.
“If… if only Master was at his peak then you would’ve been able to keep us safe!” Harry was panting very heavily as he ran behind Cain.
“Keep you safe? Helena was keeping me safe! I’m not good with fighting people!” Cain was running as fast as he could.
Harry’s eyes narrowed for a little bit before turning back to panic, “Let’s just ask Nue to deal with them! I’m sure they can handle her!”
“Nue can’t even properly hold a sword! What do you she can do against that guy? He just stepped and he died! There wasn’t anything freaky like that in your world… was there?”
“I have no idea, Master! I was too busy running behind you to know!”
“Argh! Helena! Save us!!!”
Cain and Harry very ‘quietly’ ran back home. They rushed inside their small store and immediately screamed out, “Nue? Helena? Where are you guys?!”
“Master, I think they’re in their rooms. Do you think we should knock on their doors?” Harry suggested.
“Mmm, I think it’s safer to wait out here while risking getting killed by that guy.” Cain accurately explained. “As they always say, choose the lesser evil.”
Harry looked upstairs and back at the very grim-looking outside, “Good call, Master. We wouldn’t suffer as much. It would be a quick and painless death.” Harry recalled back in the otherworld when Helena would torture people when they got on her bad side. As for Nue… it’s far too traumatic.
“Oh, would you like some tea before we die?” Cain offered. “Black tea or my personal creation?”
Harry sighed in relief, “Fortunately, I’ll be hydrated before I kick the bucket. Your personal creation please, Master!”
“On it. Would you like a side of numbing poison or just bland?”
“I think I’ll have numbing poison please, not particularly a fan of pain.” Harry sat down as Cain started to brew some coffee.
As they were showing off bright faces, their inner turmoil was far too chaotic to be expressed in words. All of a sudden, the ring on the door sounded, showing that someone entered the store.
“We’re home!” Helena sounded out as she dragged Nue by her collar. When Helena came to the inner area where the living space was, she saw two numb men melting into the couch.
Nue sniffed something and immediately shouted out, “Poison! Don’t worry, Cain, I know how to help you!” She immediately came up to Cain and sat on his lap. She stared into his eyes with a shimmering glare, turning her static golden eyes neon. Small particles suddenly started to appear before Helena karate chopped Nue on the head, knocking her out for the third time that day.
“What dumbassery did you go through this time. Explain in ten words or less.” Helena casually went and checked that the tea these two buffoons drank was coated in numbing poison. She took a sip and commented, “Oh, you’re getting your skill back. Anyways, go on.”
Cain felt his body again and was left with no choice but to face Helena head-on, “A guy is going to kill us…” Cain thought for a bit more. “Skip city now.” Cain felt satisfied with his answer.
Helena felt a headache coming on, “Let me guess, it’s a guy named Oisho.” She had seen this so many times that it felt intentional.
Cain does something, impresses some kind of bigshot, and gets me out of trouble. I really want to ask if he’s actually dumb or just playing dumb but it’ll ruin the fun of it all. Helena continued sipping the poisoned drink as she ruminated.
Cain nodded immensely. Harry also heard this and tried to move his body to no avail. Letting it blend into the chair even more.
“Let me guess, you thought that he’d go after you so you guys drank numbing poison so you wouldn’t feel pain when he does the deed.” Helena pieced in the clues once more and sighed.
“These little…” Helena clenched her fist. “Alright, what did you do this time? Fess up.”
Cain meekly took out the Rank 9 sword from his storage and showed it to Helena. “We didn’t do anything! Well, I didn’t do anything at all! See, that old man was actually a big shot and Harry had to butt in and try to give this piece of junk to him. That must’ve offended him so greatly! He even looked at me when he killed someone! Scary!”
And there it is like clockwork. Helena took the Rank 9 sword up her hands and couldn’t decide if she should be angry or impressed.
On one hand, Cain somehow managed to acquire a Rank 9 sword this early on. It was basically cheating at this point. On the other, she was getting sick and tired of Cain acting as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Helena smacked Cain in the face and sent him flying back. Fortunately enough, Cain built this place when he had all his skills available essentially making this an impregnable fortress that could also act as a moving war fortress.
Other than his body feeling really sore, none of his bones were broken since Helena controlled her strength properly.
“Okay, so this is what’s going to happen. We’re going to put this up for sale and I’m going to negotiate the price. While I do that, you three go upstairs and stay in your room unless I call for you. Is that understood?” Helena, despite looking the youngest one out of everyone held the most authority.
“Yes, ma’am.” Only Cain managed to answer since Harry couldn’t move his body and Nue was knocked unconscious. Cain was dragging both Nue and Harry upstairs when Helena suddenly shouted from downstairs.
“Oh, leave Nue by the outside of her door. Don’t enter it, she did something weird and I don’t want to deal with it right now.” Cain heard this and unquestioningly followed her words.
After bringing Harry and Nue to their respective places, Cain went inside his room and immediately vented.
“Damn that, Helena! Doesn’t she understand that we’re feeble right now?! Must be nice to be strong the entire time! Hmph!” Cain vented out his feelings. He felt completely slighted that Helena didn’t understand his struggles.
“System, they keep using that power thing! Add that in the status window for me!”
[Reanalyzing… complete]
[Host: Cain Ex
Power Level: Super Weak
Cultivation: Rank 0
Mastery: Apotheosis Crafter - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1
Body: None
Points: 125,250]
“See! Isn’t this unfair? Rank 0! Completely nothing!” Cain sat on his bed and crossed his arms. “Tch, what’s Helena’s status window?”
[Name: Helena
Power Level: Super Weak
Cultivation: Rank 5
Mastery: (Hidden)
Body: (Hidden)]
“Wait, didn’t everything reset? Didn’t I have this unlocked already? Why can’t I see them?” Cain was surprised.
[Target ‘Helena’ has become too strong for the host to see through.]
“This…” Cain was speechless. Nevertheless, he grumbled. “Can’t you just change the Power Level at least? It’s demoralizing seeing Super Weak all the time.”
[The basis “Helena” cannot be changed for the host but it could be changed for everything else. Would the host like to switch on another basis?]
“I guess that’s better than nothing. Let’s use that old man, Oisho as the basis then.”
[Name: Oisho Irigo
Power Level: Average
Cultivation: Rank 7
Mastery: Sword Strike - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 5, Flash Step - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 9, Sword Intent - Basic Mastery Lvl. 1
Body: Constitution of the Sword]
“At least that’s better for now, I think? Although I’ll still be Super Weak, at least I can gauge the danger when I’m looking at something else.”
“Alright, system, what’s Helena’s status now?”
[Name: Helena
Power Level: Incalculable
Cultivation: Rank 5
Mastery: (Hidden)
Body: (Hidden)]
“Incalculable? What does that mean?” Cain felt something odd rise up his spine. A certain unease that shouldn’t happen.
[Incalculable is given when the target is either too weak or too strong given the basis. A Power Level is only given when there is a reasonably small chance from either side winning.]
“Haha, so you’re telling me I had a chance to win against Helena back then? Haha.” Cain laughed himself.
[Correct.]
Cain wanted that to be a joke but now he just felt bad, “I had a chance before but not anymore. The gap has grown far too much. I’ll be happy to not be beaten that badly anymore.”
“Then what about Harry?”
[Name: Harry
Power Level: Incalculable
Cultivation: Rank 1
Mastery: Apotheosis Crafter - Unmastered, Seduction - Cannot be Mastered
Body: Luck’s Beloved, Bane of All Women - Cannot be Removed, (Hidden)]
“Looks about right… oh! That party system is working great too!” Cain was extremely pleased that Harry learned his skills. “It turns out that he really is learning from me. And what is this? Cannot be mastered?”
Cain finally decided to give Harry some slack, it turns out that it really wasn’t his fault after all.
“Now for the last member of our party, Nue.”
[Name: Nue
Power Level: Weak
Cultivation: Rank 1
Mastery: War Deity - Advanced Mastery Lvl. 4
Body: The Abomination from the Stars, Insatiable Appetite (Debuff) - Cannot be Removed, (Hidden)]
“That looks about right.” Cain carefully looked at everything and saw that it made perfect sense. “Insatiable Appetite can be removed? She didn’t have this before… I’ll try to work on that in the future. I guess it’s time to be a better chef.”
Cain jumped on his bed and looked straight above him, “Now to plan for the future. I have to increase my skills, oh, I need to learn a cooking skill so Nue gets to eat and get that debuff removed. I should probably start learning the basics. I’ve been relying far too much on the system and I need to be like that guy Garred, he’s been working to better himself for so long. If I want to be an independent person like him… I need to start… learning for… myself…”
Cain’s thoughts eventually stopped as his mind tired out. Without Endless Stamina, he could finally sleep in peace, something that he hadn’t had in such a long time.
A knock on the door could be heard as Helena opened it up, “Cain! It’s time to eat dinner… oh, you’re asleep.”
“Is Master joining us?” Harry seemed to have gotten the poison out of his system.
“Food! Need calories!” Nue raised her hands up in the air. “Sustenance!”
“Shush!” Helena placed a finger on her mouth. “Let him rest, he deserves it. Let’s just tell him the good news tomorrow.”
“Ooh! About him getting-” Helena shut Nue up by merely looking at her. “R-Rest… yes…” Everyone looked at Cain sleeping soundly and collectively decided to let him be. “Good night…”