Seeing as he dragged Ivy through the door behind the counter, I calmly watched it while Analyzing everything that looked like it could be a weapon.

For example.

[Flame extending scope]

[Creator: Sharon Meraki]

[Flame Beam (D): A scope that can be attached to any weapon that forces the output into a beam of flame.]

[Wind Gale Marble set]

[Creator: Gerard Meraki]

[Whirlwind (F): Marbles that explode into a fierce gale when shattered.]

[Shadow Silk Expanding Hair Net ]

[Creator: Sloane Raven]

[Sticky trap (F): A net woven with sticky shadows that is hard to extract yourself from.]

[Yin Yang Beam Lipstick]

[Creator: Sloane Raven]

[Blind(F): A lipstick in a charming shade of red. When twisted to the right, it will fire a beam of blinding light. When twisted to the left, it will fire a beam of blinding darkness.]

[Bottle of Regenerative Rotting Oil]

[Creator: Slime Meraki]

[Tasty Rot (D): A tasty blend of oil that can be used to cook. When ingested, will cause the body to cramp and convulse before rotting the intestines]

There were all sorts of useful things here and there as I glanced through and I dutifully analyzed each and every one for replication later while selecting the ones I would buy. It wasn’t my money anyway so being liberal was the way to go.

When my mana began running low, I discreetly sipped a mana potion and continued looking around while thoroughly enjoying the experience of shopping.

Finally satisfied with my selection, I headed to the dusty box Nestor had indicated. It was almost my height and looked like a discarded pile of things he didn’t want. In faded, sloppy writing, the outside of the box stated miscellaneous items of unknown effect.

What a cheapskate.

Resigned at my fate, I began the tedious chore of analyzing them and was met with an annoying result.

[Analyze rank is too low. Unknown item.]

Considering Eye of Odin was now Rank C, that was quite odd.

I picked up a silver pocket watch and tried again with the same result.

[Analyze rank is too low. Unknown item.]

Asani: “……”

Was this some type of setup? Everything in the store was analyzable to my eyes, and it was the miscellaneous junk that was the problem.

Bullshit.

All of the items looked like regular junk in my eyes, without a hint of mana above them, but I refused to give up.

If I were getting something free, I would rather look through each item before giving in and selecting something randomly.

Almost in a frenzy, I lifted out everything and analyzed it before putting it aside.

Unknown. Unknown. Unknown.

Everything inside was unknown.

As I began scooping things out by the handful in irritation, I felt something prick my finger, snagging the item. I took a look at it.

It was a large ring that was bigger than my thumb. It was made of jet-black material that seemed to absorb light and had spikes that made it look like a crown….or a ring of teeth. That had been what poked me although it didn’t draw blood.

Weighing it in my hand, it seemed heavier than it should be for the size, and when I analyzed it, all I saw was one simple message.

[Child of Night, will you feed the remains of ???? your blood and mana?]

“No way in hell,” I muttered out loud, remembering when Onyx had bitten me and drained every bit of mana I had until I blacked out.

Although the message was disconcerting, this item was curious as it was the first time I had seen an item with the term Child of Night on it apart from my status.

Clearly, I was being set up in some fashion, but it wasn’t like I could leave it behind either.

It would probably be fine as long as I didn’t activate it. I could investigate this slowly.

“I guess I’ll take this then,” I muttered to myself before carelessly putting everything else back into the miscellaneous box.

Walking to the register with an armload of stuff, the door opened, and Nestor walked out alone with a small velvet box in his hand.

“Is that my item?”

“Yeah, take a look.”

“Do you plan on attacking me again?”

“Enough. Do you want it or not?”

“I’m just checking, old man. Hand it over. And ring me up.”

Carelessly dumping the things in my arm on the cracked glass, I grabbed the small velvet box and looked inside curiously.

It was a pair of silver studs with a single-carat black stone of immense clarity. When I analyzed it, I couldn’t help but be pleased with the results.

[Black Diamond Earrings of Pseudo Adulthood.]

[Creator: Vern Domare]

[Due to the deep insecurity the creator had due to his childish appearance, an amazing item was created.]

[Profile: When activated, stores your original appearance and one newly created appearance for quick transformation.]

[Transform(C): Allows your physical appearance to imitate a predicted future appearance by up to 20 years. Details like eye color, hair color, and skin tone may be changed, although your status screen will stay the same except for the age.*

*It is not an illusion; your body will forcibly grow and compress as it ages or shrinks. Use cautiously.]

“You still want it? Pretty dangerous and painful, right? But that’s the only thing in stock that suits your needs. If you want something else, it will take some time, and you’ll have to come back another day.” Nestor explained, seemingly taking my silence as reluctance.

“Don’t worry, it’s perfect. I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with this.” I gave Nestor a bright smile.

“Get better friends. Not that I care. Is this everything you want?” he asked as his eyes swept over the items piled on the table before stopping on the ring placed on top of everything.

“Yep. Wrap it up and give me the bill.”

I watched curiously as his hands shook as he picked up the ring, almost dropping it from his tremors.

How suspicious.

“…you want this ring?”

“Yeah. I thought it looked cool. Is there a problem with it? It was in the miscellaneous pile where you said I could grab a free item. So I grabbed it.” I gave Nestor an innocently confused expression.

“How did it get-…no, since you found it, you can have it. You have to have it.” Although his words were agreeable, his expression looked quite unwilling and tinged with a bit of fear.

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“…do you want me to put it back? Is it dangerous? When I tried to analyze it, nothing popped up. Why don’t I just select something else?” I asked him, knowing that I wouldn’t, but he seemed to want to shove the item to me.

Suspicious, suspicious, very, very suspicious.

I slid the ring over to him and turned to head back, “It’s fine. It’s clearly bad luck, so I’ll just get something else.”

“No! No. It’s fine. Let me ring you up. How are you paying?” at the clear insistence, I looked him up and down before taking a seat and glaring at him.

“Are you hiding something from me, old man? Is this ring going to blow up in my face or something?”

I fully expected him to cave in, but he regained his stoic expression and took back the velvet box containing the earring.

“I’m closed for the day. It seems you no longer want your earrings. Or shall I ban you from coming into my store? I’ve never seen someone complain about a free item they chose.”

“Fine fine. You win. I’ll have my sister look at it.” I lightly commented while bringing out the checkbook given to me by Lina for business expenses and began filling it out.

“You’re a Meraki?” He seemed almost relieved as I signed the check and handed it over.

“Something like that,” I murmured as I put back my hoodie and mask before grabbing the bags from him.

“Thanks, old man. I’ll be back tomorrow. Try not to test me the next time, or I won’t be so forgiving.”

“Get out.”

Laughing at his grumpy tone, I waved at him before leaving.

After finding a motel that didn’t card, I rented a room, locked the door and took everything out before bringing out Onyx.

Squeak?

As it looked at me sleepily, I gestured to everything except for the black earrings.

“Store all of that for me, please. I’ll take a look at it later. And stop farting.”

Onyx tilted its head once before opening its mouth unnaturally wide and began to gulp down the items. Unfortunately when it got to the ring, a spark appeared between the two of them that sent Onyx flying into the wall.

“Huh.”

Ignoring the angry barrage of angry squeaking as Onyx reformed itself, I picked up the ring and looked at it again.

Apart from the message I saw when analyzing it, nothing came up. There was no mana, and it simply looked like a regular black ring.

Still, I couldn’t risk putting it on yet, especially if it could knock me unconscious. But I also couldn’t leave it behind considering how suspicious Nestor had been.

It seemed I really needed to head to a location and spend some time throughly checking through the items I had gotten.

For now, though, it was time to test out the main item of the day.

Crafting a needle, I quickly pierced both ears and inserted the two black earrings. Afterward, I shoved my mana into it and my vision changed until a hologram was lightly projected.

On the left was my current figure, while on the right was a blank profile.

[Visualize your new appearance.]

“10 years older, Golden hair, black eyes, 6’1 height. Clean shaven. Store the profile,” I quickly said my requirements, simply reversing the colors of my hair and eyes.

Pain immediately filled my body, and I fell limply into Onyx’s cool, blobby form while my bones cracked and lengthened.

Honestly, compared to some of the things I experienced, the pain was minimal at best, and in less than five minutes, it was completely done.

My limbs felt a bit gangly, and I had outgrown my current clothes, but I headed to the bathroom mirror and observed myself.

A slightly more mature face that was still handsome, golden hair that fell around my face, and a leanly muscled body.

More importantly, the usual gold eyes I had were now replaced with jet-black eyes, which felt more familiar to me.

Grinning at the figure in the mirror, I slicked my hair back and crafted a simple black turtleneck, some black slacks, and a chain to hang the ring on. A loose leather jacket over everything brought the look together, and suddenly, I looked like a regular young man out for a night of fun.

It was perfect.

“Onyx, snake form please. Wrap around my arm inside the sleeve, don’t move around, and most importantly, don’t fart. Got it?”

Squeak.

With a sulky-sounding squeak, Onyx extended a black tentacle and whacked the ring before transforming into a small snake slithering through my jacket and tightening around my arm.

It was time to go visit some bad places that children weren’t allowed into and begin cleaning up the neighborhood.

After all, all the villains came out at night.

The first stop would be the casino.

**************

Nestor’s Knickknacks.

As the young boy with the striking gold eyes left his establishment, Nestor finally heaved a sigh of relief feeling all the tension in his old bones ease away.

Despite his appearance, he was much older than he looked and finally accepted the fact that he was getting too old for this. It was time to retire. Permanently.

He had felt a thrill when he was younger, dealing goods and meeting interesting if dangerous people but as he aged, all he felt was the stress as he met those that he couldn’t refuse who would make him compromise his morals.

He hadn’t felt fear like this for a long time and the boy that had stood before him just now made him feel terror that tightened his chest and almost stopped him from breathing.

Despite having an innocent face that looked as if it would do no harm, he could never mistake that familiar oppressive aura that had surrounded the boy.

The stench of death, the aura of shadows that seemed as if it would swallow everything around it, leaving nothing behind, the sound of a beast that wanted to devour everything, and the remnants of a man broken and forgotten over time.

There was only one man who fit the mark of those words.

The same man who had dropped off the ring that the boy had casually picked up and remarked as ‘cool’. It was a ring that the boy should have never seen, considering it was locked away in a safe with a 10-layer seal.

Yet the ring had somehow appeared in a box to be selected by the young man.

Remembering the instructions left behind by a golden-eyed man to send a message if anybody ever selected the ring, he reluctantly picked up his phone and hesitated.

It was a call he never wanted to make because he knew he would have to break his number one rule of protecting the privacy of people and of the carnage that would follow. Many would die, but if he didn’t make the call, the other part would know, and his death would be guaranteed.

Maybe it was a fluke. He could only delude himself with such thoughts.

As Ivy came out of the room, he regarded her silently before speaking plainly.

“Don’t come back here anymore.”

Her eyes widened in shock, and she sputtered for a moment before responding slowly.

“Is there a reason for that?”

“No. It’s just time for me to close up shop. I’ll give you a contact to recharge your amulet and get new ones if needed, it just won’t be from me.”

“…is there something wrong? Did my classmate threaten you? I can report it if you want or have my family-“

“No!”

At Ivy’s shocked expression, Nestor softened his tone.

“No, it’s just I’m finally feeling the ache in my bones, but speaking of your classmate…what was his name? He’s at your academy, right?”

“Yes although he’s not in my class. His name is Asani Martin, and he’s a verified troublemaker at the academy. He’s always getting into all sorts of fights and trouble with other students, even though the professors seem to like him. He seems close to the students from the 9 clans as well.”

“You said, Martin? Not Meraki?”

“No, it’s definitely Martin.” Ivy clarified.

At her words, Nestor couldn’t help but burst out laughing, a boisterous laugh that came from the depths of his stomach.

“Martin, huh? And they let him into the academy? Those punks don’t know what will hit them, letting such an obvious fox into the hen house. I’m sure that one will cause a royal mess. Ah Martin, Martin, Martin.”

As Nestor wiped the tears that came out of his eyes as he laughed hysterically, Ivy couldn’t help but take a step back.

Had he lost it?

Had Asani driven the old man crazy?

He was pretty frustrating, but this was an entirely new level.

Seeing Ivy’s judging expression, Nestor regained his calm demeanor of an elder.

“Ehem. Don’t mind me. Just a word of warning: stay far away from that boy. Don’t look at him. Don’t interact with him. Just stay far away. Genbu, this is to you too; keep her far away from him. I’m sure you can sense that dangerous aura around him, given your years of experience.”

“He’s just a regular student. He’s not even strong. I could easily beat him if we spar.” Ivy complained.

At her words, he couldn’t help but touch his cheek, which had stopped bleeding and quickly healed.

“Ah, you young ones don’t get it. There’s a difference between fighting monsters and killing people. You might win in a spar, but if it comes down to a fight for your life and you’re going against him, that boy will charm you silly and slit your throat while giving you that innocent smile of his. Stay far away from him.” Nestor cautioned her as he remembered the cold eyes that bored him as if planning his death when he had tested the boy earlier.

Even though the mark was gone, he could feel his cheek throbbing from the lesson.

If he was a bit slower, if the boy was a bit faster, if this wasn’t his shop where every inch was in his control, his hand would have been pierced, pinning him in place for a moment, and his throat would have been slit. All without the culprit batting an eye.

Those weren't the movements of somebody who sparred. Those were the movements of someone who picked the quickest way to kill somebody.

The boy hadn’t even flinched at his attack and seemed disappointed that he only drew blood.

It frightened him to find a student so young with such skill.

Although he could said to be at fault for attacking him, it was a reflexive action whenever the shadow of that man in anybody.

“…How did you know? There is a rumor around the academy that he killed somebody, but the professor said it was a mistake.”

“Who said?”

“Professor Lee.”

“Lee did? I can’t believe she’s lost her touch. That kid is a ticking time bomb. Anyway, I’ve warned you because I care. Stay far away, understood?”

“…yes.”

At the soft reply that belied her fierce appearance, Nestor nodded his head approvingly.

He would do his best to protect those he cared about from someone cursed by destiny.

Although he hadn’t been alive back then, and those in power had done what they could to suppress it, hidden records still existed about the past when the 9 clans were known as the 10 clans and when Basil Lionheart couldn’t open his mouth and say that he was the strongest lest he get beaten within an inch of his life.

Golden eyes.

A cursed beast that devoured everything but its owner.

Martin.

It was time for him to leave and hide away.