Percy shouldn’t have been surprised about the mana flood or Mana Shaping taking over, yet both were far more intense than before. Breaking past the limits of the Elite Tier and entering the ranks of a Master Gifted changed a lot. The first thing Percy noticed was the sudden increase in his perception.
His senses grew much more sensitive the moment his Tier increased to Master-0, but that was only the beginning. His mana reserves tripled in size while his body grew stronger, faster, and more durable.
The nutrients used to complete Mana Shaping was tremendous, and he utilized every bit of the nutrients he had accumulated by feasting on the food prepared for the royal family for several days. The nutrients were used up quickly, leaving Percy starving. His stomach growled in demand for food, and Percy couldn’t do anything about it. There was no way he could defy the endless hunger fueling him.
Percy didn’t notice what happened until the Old King put a potion to his lips. He didn’t want to drink it at first, but the combined efforts of the Old King and the royal librarian were enough to force him to drink everything.
Disgusting! Did they feed me dragon poop or what?!?
Percy was about to scream aloud until he realized his hunger was no more. His stomach was silenced and filled to the brim all of a sudden.
“Good. That worked,” The Old King mumbled to himself. He ignored the confusion in Percy’s eyes, turned around, and headed to a heap of gold.
“Your Ego might not consider this as my property, but it is, in fact, mine. You can ask your father if you don’t believe me,” He said lightly while circulating. He groaned in pain but proceeded by separating a pile of gold from the rest. Once the pile was separated, the Old King retrieved a small pouch engraved with a golden runic enchantment. He channeled mana into the golden runic enchantment in pain and triggered it.
The pouch opened naturally and sucked the pile of gold coins inside.
“That’s your wallet now. You can infuse your mana into the runic enchantment. That way, only you can access the runic enchantment and the coins inside the pouch,” The Old King explained, “If someone tries cutting the pouch open to take out what’s inside, the pouch will either crumble…or explode, depending on the amount of damage inflicted to it. Just be careful, and you should be fine.”
Percy raised an eyebrow. He didn’t accept the ‘wallet’ right away but looked at the Old King for a while instead.
His grandfather clicked his tongue at his grandson’s defiance: “Consider this the accumulated pocket money of the last sixteen years. Your parents don’t know about it, but I have been putting aside money for Sophia for the last few years. She will receive her portion once she turns sixteen.”
He sighed, “But then again…I’m not sure if it is a good idea to put aside so much money for Sophia. She is too naive and will be exploited if she keeps going like this.”
Percy scoffed, “They can try exploiting her. I will greet them properly if they try. My fist is already itching.”
“You look like your father when you talk like this. Our family is known for having a bad temper. The blood of Dragons running through our veins is the problem. We have a bad temper, love treasures and wealth, and we are prideful and think…we know everything.”
The Old King looked at him when he said the last bit, but Percy merely smiled. He knew exactly what the Old King was hinting at.
“Are we done here now?” The royal librarian asked, “Percy needs some rest. He ranked up twice and even went as far as going up by one Tier. There’s also the issue with being bound to Dragon Fang. No matter how many potions he empties, Percy must be on the verge of collapsing.”
“I feel fine–...ish,” Percy responded with a forced smile. Today had been a messy day – like many days in the last few weeks –, but he was excited. He found out his grandfather had been trying to kill him because of Devil’s Touch, but that was already a thing of the past. He was stronger than before, acquired a powerful bound weapon, acquired enough Prosperity to splurge and create hundreds of Elite Artifacts, and a unique Card with which he could capture any kind of creature. How could he not be excited?
Still, his legs trembled and threatened to cave in at any moment.
“Yes, we are done here.”
That being said, Percy’s journey into the royal treasury ended. He stepped out stronger than ever.
***
“How is it possible for someone at his age to be…like this?” The Old King asked his friend, the royal librarian, “You saw what I saw, didn’t you? From what I found out, Percy had been weak and helpless when he first gained access to mana. He hasn’t been a noble in training for decades.”
“You are right, but that is your fault,” The royal librarian ignored his old friend’s glare and gestured to him, “Keep going.”
“You… Whatever. Percy gained access to mana less than a year ago, ye he grew up this fast. He advanced to the Master Tier, and even Dragon Fang accepted him. Father always told me that Dragon Fang nearly killed him because he only barely met the slumbering dragon’s requirements, yet Percy looked totally fine after drinking an ordinary Healing Potion.”
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“I don’t think he used his ‘Prosperity’ yet, either. I am talking about the Prosperity he earned from devouring the Relic Card,” The royal librarian added, ignoring the Old King’s wincing, “If I didn’t understand his powers wrong, he must still have some Prosperity to upgrade his Monster Cards, which will add to his Ego use. Whenever he uses his Ego, whether it is to consume something or to upgrade something, his Tier progresses. That means he can create powerful Monster Cards and Artifacts from the Prosperity he’s just earned…to earn even more money and repeat the process.”
“After all…” The Old King’s eyes widened, “After all, he can also devour gold. We saw him do that earlier. So he can earn money and turn it into Prosperity and then use it to create more high-value items that can be sold for good money again.”
The librarian nodded with a vibrant smile, “I think you’re glad the Shadow Assassins failed.”
The Old King pressed his lips together, “Yeah…I am.”
“It’s just sad that Gregory is dead,” He pressed his lips together, “It’s all my fault. I was too scared of Devil’s Touch. No…I still am afraid of it. What if…”
“Stop thinking like that. Instead, you should act like a proper grandfather and make amends. Otherwise, you won’t witness the future of the Kainesh Kingdom. You nearly lost your son today. You know that, right?”
The Old King didn’t say anything, but he knew the truth. If not for Percy forgiving him…
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
Something had to change.
***
When Percy woke up the next day, he felt great. Yesterday had been overwhelming and quite complicated, given the mess of all the events that happened, but the final result was much better than expected.
He collapsed on the bed the moment the Old King and the royal librarian brought him back to his room and he slept until early in the morning. The first rays of sunlight woke him like usually and he shot up to workout and consider the next course of action.
I have enough Prosperity to upgrade a few things. I’m already at the Master Tier, yet my Monster Cards are still at the lower threshold of the Elite Tier. Their Augmentations are powerful but I cannot summon the Monsters in battle without worrying if they will die. That has to change.
That being said, Percy started upgrading his Monster Card’s Potential and Augmentations while finishing his daily morning workout routine.
[Gnoll Warrior Card’s Potential -[Elite ⭐] has been upgraded. 1,000,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
…
[Gnoll Warrior Card’s Potential -[Elite ⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 5,062,500 Prosperity has been consumed]
[Blueflame Hawk Card’s Potential -[Elite ⭐] has been upgraded. 1,000,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
…
[Blueflame Hawk Card’s Potential -[Elite ⭐] has been upgraded. 5,062,500 Prosperity has been consumed]
[Gnoll Warrior Card’s Augmentation, [Basic Strength Boost⭐] has been upgraded. 300,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
[Gnoll Warrior Card’s Augmentation, [Basic Strength Boost⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 600,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
…
[Gnoll Warrior Card’s Augmentation, [Basic Strength Boost⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 2,400,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
[Blueflame Hawk Card’s Augmentation, [Basic Agility Boost⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 600,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
…
[Blueflame Hawk Card’s Augmentation, [Basic Agility Boost⭐⭐⭐⭐] has been upgraded. 2,400,000 Prosperity has been consumed]
…
…
“That was a lot more than expected,” Percy groaned in pain. Upgrading his Monster Cards was a pain in the ass because it was incredibly expensive, but the worst part was that it was painful to upgrade the Boost Augmentations. Upgrading [Hawk Eyes] and [Blade Mastery] was also problematic, yet it wasn’t as painful as pushing both Agility and Strength Boost Augmentations against each other.
The [Basic Strength Boost] tried transforming his body in the most efficient way to utilize tremendous physical strength, while the [Basic Agility Boost] was trying to push his body to attain the perfect build of a speedster. The Augmentations clashed and were forced to cooperate, but getting that far was…difficult, to say the least.
Still, the improvements were tremendous. His Strength and Agility reached new heights, just like his vision and understanding of blades skyrocketed.
But that was only obvious given how much Prosperity he splurged in a single morning.
『Percy Kain』
[Ego – Coin of Prosperity]
[Tier] – [Master-0]
—
[Dragon Fang (Syreablade)] – [Growth⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐],
[Gnoll Warrior (Elite –⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) – [Blade Mastery⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐],[A Hunter’s Smell⭐], [Basic Strength Boost⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐], [Berserk ⭐⭐⭐⭐]]
[Blueflame Hawk (Elite – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) – [Hawk Eyes ⭐⭐⭐] – [Frostbite ⭐⭐⭐⭐], [Basic Agility Boost ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐],
[Silent Reaper ⭐] ]
[Capture Card – No Inhabitant – Mythical]
『Coin of Prosperity』
Prosperity: 33,219,155
➛Consume
“I should leave some more for the Dragon Lair…and the Capture Card…” Percy murmured, nodding his head slowly as he went for the shower.
He had to hurry up. His family was already waiting for him in the dining hall.
The sound of that made him smile uncontrollably.
Percy had a family. He wasn’t alone anymore.