The disks zoom straight at their target, 'please work.' I made a wish. Distracted from its meal by the sound of cutting wind, it shows incredible reflex by instantly flying away from the incoming hazard.

As the bird moves, I see the disks tilt upwards and swerve slightly to align itself with the fleeing parakeet, both disks sawed through it from behind.

Its screech pollutes the air as it falls to the ground, landing with a gentle thud, still struggling. Hmm, I don't feel paralyzed, maybe 'twas a scream not an attack. Just to be safe and feeling like doing a little experiment. I summoned another two disks and reimprinted its mana flavor, then let loose about 25 degrees away from the parakeet in two different directions. The disks satisfyingly maneuver into the target.

** Ding **

I was about to head back before a whiff of the parakeet tingled my Mana Sense, its coming from what feels like a ball shaped thing inside the corpse this time. Hmm~, note to self, assume Mana Sense is all the senses but for mana.

Betcha all my experience that's a mana core. So, of course I sneakily made my way into the room and carved it out with my dagger, bullseye! Done looting, I cleaned myself off with a few applications of Unsoil, flicked off Mana sense, then made my way back with a hearty grin, core in hand. It kinda bothers me that cutting open a dead thing doesn't bother me.

"What's that you got?" Jennifer asks as I take a seat. The couple had both pairs of eyes on me, Henry also added. "We heard a bird hawking pretty loudly from outside."

My grin widens, "yeap, was experimenting with Mana Sense and Magico Disk at a lone creature, the disks can home on their target now. One sec." I give the 1 finger gesture.

'Updates, thanks!'

** DING **

You have entered into a contract with Henry Soejima. - 8000 Creds.

You gain ownership of unit 2B in Territory; Jen's Boarding House.

You are now entitled to a 10% share from any profits made by Territory; Jen's Boarding House. No management rights shared.

Skill level up, Mana Sense 1 > 2

Skill level up, Mana Manipulation 6 > 7

Skill level up, Mana Sense 2 > 3

Skill level up, Visualization 3 > 4

Skill level up, Meditation 2 > 3

Skill level up, Inspect 6 > 7

Slayed Parasonic Skullaerie Parakeet level 5

5 SysCred and 100 Exp awarded.

Spell rank up, Magico Disk Basic > Intermediate

Please update the store.

Always pleasant to see all these improvements. 'Inspect Magico Disk'.

** DING **

Magico disk - Intermediate. Apprentice Rank. 10 mp. Incomplete spell, only available upto Intermediate mastery. Create two circular saws, 3cm in diameter and 1mm thick, more discs may be summoned for half the cost each. The disks spin and fly at high speed in a straight line and slowly dissolves to ambient mana after impact, each disk may have different targets. Alternatively, the disks may be directed through intent, limited only by your ability to juggle your control among them. The disks are durable and sleek which causes them to fly faster and stronger, they can also be allowed to generally home on the target by imprinting the targets mana signature.

Yeahh! Next stop, the merchants interface. Where I get the option to edit the selling price, nice. Makes sense that as the spell improves, its price would rise.

'75'. I set the new price to 75 Creds, also noting that no new sales have been made. A prompt explains that whoever bought the earlier version may try to improve the spells themselves, or pay the difference from its previous price to get the upgraded spell. I once again send them as gifts to the couple.

I told them about the changes to my spell, to which Henry listens with rapt attention while the other person is most probably daydreaming. Henry and I were starting to get in the zone discussing spells when the daydreamer interrupted us.

"So, what was that thing you brought back?"

"Oh, almost forgot." I showed them the loot. 'Inspect'. They're probably doing the same.

** DING **

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Monster Core, Rank 1. 45 / 45 mp. Monster core from a level five Parasonic Skullaerie Parakeet, an avian native to planet Argead.

And~ that's it.

"Interesting." Henry muttered, "a Monster Core has many uses. Foremost of all as fuel or battery to power, well, pretty much anything. They start appearing in monsters, level fives and above. They are categorized by rank every ten levels, except rank one which is everything level nineteen and below.

"They can also be used for pretty much any crafting, in as many ways as there are crafters. Most common being, giving gears enchantments or as consumables, mana bombs for example."

I pocket the core for later. Soon after, we're once again on our way.

The journey to reach the hospital took us a little more than an hour, much faster than when I was alone. Most likely on account of having three people do the killing and our new awesome spell. Henry convinced Jennifer to try using the spell when she complained about not getting experience, she relented and ended up enjoying the controlled version.

This is why the corpses of all seven Giant Rats and five Huge Mosquito along our trail shows at least three stab wounds that pierced them all the way through, at least! They all come attracted by all the noise Jennifer is making with her complaints, only to die full of holes before they even get close. Someone is also laughing as their mind controls tiny disks to pierce incoming enemies. Ps, you-know-who is kinda scary in her current condition.

"Did you say something Zen?" She asked from behind me. I almost yelped, but managed to stay calm. "No, why?"... To which she mumbles, hmm~ nothing… Holy crap!

We break and restock at the same mini market as during the last time I'm here. A stray thought surfaced as I looked at the familiar place. It's only been like, three or four days since I last came here and actually paid to buy some groceries. I wonder if the world will return to how it used to be.

"Well, what's the plan?" I ask the two. "Do we check the surroundings or go straight for one of the doors?" Hmm, taking in the sight of the hospital, Mana sense might come in handy for scouting. So I continued talking after a slight pause, "actually maybe Mana Sense will let me do a quick perimeter check."

And so I did, by making my way around the building while actively using Sneaking, though my efforts were all for naught as the place is just as empty as the last time I was here.

"Coast is clear," I report, coming to a stop near the two, we are once again reusing my previous hideout, the security post. Though I can barely get inside, the place is kinda small for a three person meeting.

"Alright, between the front door, the emergency room door, and the side door in the parking lot, which is the better option?" Jennifer asked the group, then excitedly added. "I vote, front door!"

I shrug, not like there's much difference, we don't have any knowledge of the situation to actually decide properly after all. Henry might have a different choice, but he would most likely humor her in this situation… Which is how we now find all three of us standing before the barricaded door. As in, the barricades are on the inside, behind these big glass doors, locked doors.

So~ troublesome! We don't really want to break things if possible.

"So?" I asked them.

"Maybe I can cut through the glass and barricades with Shugonohane" the warrior princess suggested.

"That would make a lot of noise, not to mention the door would be left permanently opened." Refuted her boyfriend. "Maybe there's a spell we can use to open locks. Telekinesis for example."

"Hmm, maybe I can try and pick the locks with my mana. Worst case, the lock jams or breaks, if so then we just cut our way through." I contributed.

"Stop wasting time! It's dangerous being out in the open like this." You-know-who said, summoning her katana.

"It's also dangerous to leave the entrance wide open! What if something comes in after us, we'll be like sitting ducks." Also you-now-who, holding onto his girlfriend's shoulders.

"Ehem! Can you three calm down and not break the door, we need it to stay solid right there." a baritone voice says.

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea Jen. Wouldn't want anything coming in from the outside while our attention is directed inwards." I agreed with Henry and, uhh…?

"But it's faster, we can just keep an eye on our backs!" The Girlfriend.

"What if we're in a situation where we can't? Like a battle with our lives at stake!" The boyfriend.

"Please, no cutting the door, there's a way in through the parking lot. You three can come in from there." The mystery voice sounds slightly anxious.

"There must be other doors in there to close behind us, we're sitting ducks out here!" Her katana twitched.

Uhhhhh, "Hen, Jen! Stop." I tap them both on the shoulder. Which finally shut them up, earning me a glare from both.

"Finally they stop." A girl's voice came from over the door. Followed by the baritone voice, "yeah, about time. Young people these days, tskk!"

Jen's eyes widened in surprise, "who's there?"

Henry too asks, "since when?"

"Well," said the guy. "I'm Herman, beside me is Linda, my granddaughter. Now to answer your other question, we've been here since the quiet guy mentioned picking the lock. But we've seen you guys since the security post."

"I saw that quiet guy the last time he was here too, eyang." I hear Linda the girl say, eyang is a pretty common way we use to call our grandfather.

"Really, how did you see him? Did you come out?" Henry asked the girl.

"No! I have this ab--bbh." Her words cut short, sounds like someone's held his hands against her mouth. That someone then said, "speaking of seeing each other, you guys don't look like monsters nor thugs, as they tend to have a leader calling the shots, not bicker like husband and wife. So come on over to the entrance in the parking lot. We can talk face to face."

"Alright," Jen agreed an led us on.

So we made our way there. Along the way, I made sure to keep an eye out, also checking with Mana Sense, but the coast is still clear, at least as far as I can tell.

The side entrance is a double door, each with their own stainless steel frames and a taped up glass pane, which prevents anyone from seeing through it. As we approach, the doors unlock with an audible click followed by the right door opening wide.

A little girl wearing a cute pink polkadot dress and a macho grandpa in blue jeans and gray tank top was seen standing there, the girl looking at us with a look of wonder. In a loose formation around them are five others in security guard uniforms, three of them loosely holding a baton each, while the smallest of them has a scalpel in their hand and the last one holds some kind of broken cupboard door, maybe a shield?

"That's some warm welcome." I complained.