Percy chose to leave the bakery once he learned the baker’s name. His name was Leonhard Meiser, which Percy promised to remember. He was grateful for everything Leonhard had done. It didn’t seem like a lot, but Percy knew the baker saved him lots of trouble.
I need to hoard more coins to buy enough nutritious food for my next rank-ups. Five copper coins are definitely not enough to pay Leonhard for the food he gave me. Are five copper coins even enough to pay for the ingredients he used? He said something about the cookies being special and for Gifted Ones.
Percy felt a little bad, but Leonhard told him to return when he needed food. The baker was overly friendly and much kinder than their first encounter in the bakery suggested. Still, Percy hoped to repay Leonhard’s kindness.
I met many weird people today. I manifested an Ego, ranked up to Mortal-2, nearly starved to death, met a kind but scary baker, went out to hunt, killed three Berserker Rabbits, was taken advantage of by a merchant, and got to know a nice, hulking butcher. And there is still a lot left of the day!
He smiled. The day was not yet over, but everything fared fairly well. Even if he didn’t have coins, Percy would get some pretty coins soon. He was more vigorous than before and felt stronger. The wound inflicted by the Berserk Rabbit clearly healed faster than it would have before his awakening.
Being a Gifted One is pretty nice.
His smile transformed into a shit-eating grin as he walked through the cobbled street. As for his destination, Percy didn’t have one. He walked through the town without plans while his mind was rattling.
Is that how I’m supposed to feel at my Tier? Feels pretty good. Should I go out again to earn some more money? It would be pretty nice to– No. I shouldn’t rush anything. My first hunt succeeded, but that doesn’t mean I have to rush out to hunt more monsters right away. Maybe the next hunt will be more difficult. I should be prepared for that.
Percy decided to wait for the butcher to finish his job to determine what he would do with everything. He could earn some coin or transform it into Prosperity to increase his strength. But before he could decide, Percy had other things to do.
Coin of Prosperity… My Ego… I don’t know if it’s normal for an Ego to have only one ability, but [Consume] seems rather versatile. It doesn’t seem overly complicated, but is that the case? I can transform my belongings into Prosperity to increase my Tier or strengthen my belongings. But what exactly is considered ‘mine’? Killing the Berserk Rabbits counted right away, but…
Percy picked up a pebble from the ground, nodding slowly.
But not anything I touch is mine right away. Even as the merchant stored the Berserk Rabbits in the Bag of Preservation, I could see the interface. I could have used [Consume] to turn the Berserk Rabbits even though they weren’t in my sight anymore. The crimson eyeballs of the Berserk Rabbits only left my possession after I accepted the five copper coins from Merchant Erdwin.
Percy looked high up in the air and sighed lightly. He wasn’t exactly a scholarly guy, and he doubted that he would ever fit that description, even if he’d grown up in a better area or with more wealth. Still, Percy understood the importance of understanding his Ego and its powers.
His Ego could change everything. It had already changed a lot, allowing him to rank up and strengthen his weapon. Maybe he would have survived without those advantages, but they indeed increased his survivability considerably.
However, that was only the beginning. He was just getting started.
Percy continued smiling foolishly. He checked the position of the sun to tell the time left before his appointment with Kevin and chose to use the remaining time to test his Ego.
There wasn’t too much he could do right now, but he had six Prosperity left and could test some things.
Percy collected some pebbles of various sizes and some weeds growing in the gaps of the cobbled street. It would have been great if he had some food left to check what would happen if he used one or multiple units of Prosperity to ‘reinforce’ it. But that was something he could do later. Percy wasn’t in a rush. As he strolled through the streets of Raewood, he reached some trees near the wealthier citizens' district. He went down to pick up a broken wooden branch from the ground and inspected it for a while. That was when he noticed the small interfaces hovering above the pebbles and grass blades.
[Stone Pebble – Small/Ordinary – 0 Prosperity]
[Stone Pebble – Small/Ordinary – 0 Prosperity]
[Resilient Moonlight Weed – Low Quality – 0 Prosperity]
[Stone Pebble – Tiny/Ordinary – 0 Prosperity]
…
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Each item had a small interface, except the broken branch.
So, for something I didn’t hunt or purchase to be considered my possession… I need to have it with me for some time? Interesting.
He released the tiny stone pebble and one of the small pebbles next to each other and walked away. His attention remained on the interfaces as he increased the distance to them. The bustling citizens around him had to evade Percy, or he would have crashed into them. Fortunately, nobody beat the living shit out of him for not paying attention to his surroundings. That would have been a little troublesome.
But he didn’t run into trouble and returned to the two pebbles when their interface disappeared.
The interface of the tiny stone pebble disappeared first, but it’s there again. Is it still considered as my possession even though I was far enough to be unable to see the interface? No. It’s not there anymore.
The interface to the tiny stone pebble disappeared once and for all, and just a little later, the same happened to the small pebble he’d left with the tiny one.
Is there a timer? But that didn’t happen to my dagger when I manifested my Ego. I never bought the dagger. Can items I didn’t buy be considered my possession as long as I hold onto them long enough? I doubt it would work on Erdwin’s goods. Holding them for a few minutes wouldn’t transfer the goods’ ownership to me. So, items that don’t belong to anyone can become my possessions if I hold them long enough.
That was possible, but it didn’t explain how the iron dagger was considered his possession. He stole it.
Maybe the longer I hold onto something and the farther it is from the actual owner, the higher the likelihood my Ego will consider it mine. That would mean…stealing something of immense value and holding onto it until it is considered my possession, which would allow me to use [Consume] and earn a ton of Prosperity, is possible.
Percy shuddered at the possibility. It was only a theory for now, but he could instinctively tell that the theory was close to the truth. Of course, Percy could test his theory to prove it, but he didn’t plan to steal anything.
He shuddered and discarded the idea of stealing something valuable to transform it into Prosperity. Instead, Percy devoted himself to another experiment.
He used [Consume] on Prosperity to change the world around him. Dozens of silverish-golden threads manifested around him. He was already familiar with a few threads connected to his clothes and the iron dagger, but there were also multiple new threads. They were smaller and dimmer, much more challenging to notice than the thin threads connected to his clothes, yet Percy was the most interested in them.
What will happen if Prosperity is used on a pebble? Applying Prosperity on the dagger’s blade made it sharper and more durable. Will the pebble’s durability increase? Or will there be a unique effect?
Percy didn’t know, but he wanted to find out. He didn’t really have enough Prosperity to waste on experiments, but the old man explained to him hundreds of times how powerful knowledge was. It was necessary to understand his powers and use them in the most efficient way possible in the future.
He tapped the only silverish-golden thread connected to the small stone pebble and sensed his Prosperity count change. It went down from six to five.
[Stone Pebble’s durability has been enhanced. 1 Prosperity has been deducted.]
It worked. Percy noted, but he didn’t smile. The notification said the pebble’s durability increased, but a large crack formed on its surface.
[Stone Pebble – Small/Ordinary – 0 Prosperity]
Not even the interface changed. Shouldn’t it show 1 Prosperity?
It didn’t feel like the stone pebble grew stronger. To confirm his suspicion, Percy used one more Prosperity.
[Stone Pebble’s durability has been enhanced. 1 Prosperity has been deducted.]
The interface said it worked, but the stone shattered in Percy’s hand. He didn’t even apply any strength to test the increase in durability.
It broke…Why though? Will the same happen to the iron dagger if I use too much Prosperity to strengthen the blade? Is there a limit on how much Prosperity I can use on the iron dagger? What are the limiting factors, though? Is it the size, the item’s quality, or the material? It could be all of it combined.
Percy tilted his head and glanced at the Resilient Moonlight Weed. It was below average in quality, but it was connected to multiple silverish-golden threads.
Let’s use one more Prosperity. After that, I will delay my experiments until I have more Prosperity.
[Resilient Moonlight Weed’s growth has been accelerated. 1 Prosperity has been deducted.]
The Resilient Moonlight Weed in Percy’s hand twitched and writhed as if in pain. It wiggled around briefly and grew by an inch before it stopped moving altogether. Percy glanced at the interface.
[Resilient Moonlight Weed – Low Quality – 0 Prosperity]
Nothing changed. Well, except that the weed looks worse than before. It withered.
Percy recalled Baker Leonhard’s talk about nutrients and the like and nodded in understanding.
The remaining nutrients within the weed stimulated its growth. If it had been in nutritious soil, it would have grown even faster. It's good that I plucked it. There is already enough Moonlight Weed in Raewood.
The urge to experiment was there, but Percy held back from doing something stupid.
Wasting any more Prosperity would be stupid…even more foolish than using two Prosperity to break a small pebble, and one on accelerating the growth of a pesky plant that can be found everywhere…
Percy might have wasted some Prosperity, but he didn’t feel too bad about it. He learned a lot.
Fortunately, he wasn’t given time to use more Prosperity to crush pebbles. He had an appointment with a butcher.