"What? Cat got your tongue! Get on your feet already before I smash your head in, I'm in a really bad mood and I might snap your neck for real if you provoke me." Aaron glared at Lucas one final time before turning towards the house, "Move your ass." He kicked the door of his house while thinking : 'This shitty Confusion Fragment or Tier.2 Mana-Source is freaking dangerous! The moment I lost my focus on controlling my emotions it felt like I'm being possessed by some devil and for a second there it seemed like I was getting consumed by bloodlust, if it weren't for the cool and calming wave that washed over my body from the top of my head and all the way down to my feet... then I would've blasted this idiot with a few Energy Bolts and some more Flame Orbs until his ash scattered in the wind.'
Aaron concluded that what helped him regain control over his emotions must've been his Concentration State, he immediately decided to do his best to further improve it in the near future and at least raise it from [Average] to [Above-Average] as soon as possible.
'It would be for the best to keep this annoying "thing" stored within my Inventory for now, at least until I hear what Lucas has to say about it.' Aaron wrapped the Sapphire-like Ore with the red silk fabric and immediately noticed how his mind and practically all his senses were instantly separated from that wicked and demonic mental-suppression, despite his firm will power, resolute determination, and innately-strong character... Aaron released a deep sigh as if the weight of mountains was removed from his Soul.
"Y-y... young master Ron. A-a... Are you alright?" Lucas stammered these words which he really struggled to utter despite trying with all his power, the former gang-leader wasn't by any means a coward in his almost thirty-something years of life.
But this kid really managed to leave a mark on Lucas's soul and right now a slight frown from Aaron would cause Lucas to feel endless and unstoppable fear!
"Speak. What is this? Why does it make me feel like demons and devils from the depth of hell had my Soul ensnared?" Aaron rolled his eyes at Lucas which made him fidget from trepidation and shrink within his clothes while looking at his toes.
"Y-young master. P-please have mercy on this pitiful subject, e-earlier I really didn't hear your calls... b-because this wicked "thing" shrouds the one holding it in a layer of invisibility. T-those around you wouldn't be able to see or hear you even if you shout right next to their ears, U-unless you touch them... t-then they'll become shrouded with you." Lucas took a deep breathe in as if all this talking was making him drown before continuing to say : "T-the only side-effect is that holding this "thing" makes me lose control of myself, l-last time it happened I... m-my mind went blank white and when I came to it Bruce was torn to pieces by a group of Turtle-Arachne. J-judging by the traces around me that day, b-both of us struggled for a while on the ground in that cave and... I-I... p-pushed him away and the Broodmother and her followers discovered him."
Aaron could relate with what Lucas just said after trying for himself just earlier and getting to feel what happens when he holds this so-called Confusion Fragment.
"Where did you get it?" Aaron asked.
"It happened almost seven months ago when I was still part of Roger's Elite Squad," Lucas managed to calm down a lot when he noticed that Aaron isn't angry on him at least not like how he was before, "Bruce was the best tracker and I was tasked with his protection in a scouting mission in the area around the caves where the Turtle-Arachnids live, Bruce found this "thing" buried in the rocks after we struggled for an hour to extract a fist-sized Wind-Shape Ore." He recollected his memories from that day before continuing to say : "Immediately afterwards we got attacked by a swarm of Fuzzy-Phosphorus Mice and I was really shocked when Bruce took care of more than seventy of them on his own, but I didn't understand why it happened until later when I took possession of this "thing". Thankfully at that time Bruce had that swarm of Fuzzy Mice to keep him busy or I would've been the one to suffer when that "thing" had him under its control."
Aaron fell into deep thoughts for a long while before saying : "I see. You go back for now and tell Pio to bring all the Gold Coins he have before we meet tomorrow morning, make sure to do the same."
"Good night young master." Lucas took his leave immediately and closed the door behind him before running all the way back to his house that night.
Meanwhile Aaron decided not to use this Confusion Fragment to Upgrade the System for now since its ability to shroud him and others in a layer of Invisibility while also muting all sound from those outside the Invisible layer could prove quite valuable in certain situations.
He spent the rest of his time before going to sleep activating the Mana Armor and the Magic Guard Skills, further raising the total amount of Proficiency Points from 14 to 30 on the Mana Armor Skill and from 12 to 26 on the Magic Guard Skill.
"Having a deeper reservoir of Mana Points indeed makes it much easier for me to gain Proficiency Points, I just hope that Pio still have enough Gold Coins for me to buy myself a weapon from the Store tomorrow. It sucks for me to work for others at such a young age but this situation requires me to find ways to make money or I might really suffer in the future if I'm not prepared for the worse, there's also the consumables which I must stock some of them to use in case an emergency requires me to instantly fill my Mana or Health bars." Aaron retrieved the blanket from his Inventory and was quickly sleeping like a baby.
Once again Sera visited him at night and immediately noticed the huge improvement to the kid's Soul power compared to yesterday!
There's also the different and completely foreign clothes that he's wearing, Sera could clearly feel their uniqueness just from testing their texture and she immediately noticed the superior quality.
"Just who are you?" Sera muttered while looking at Aaron who looks so cute in his sleep while wearing that Brown Bandana.
Once again she spent a few hours sitting next to Aaron before taking her leave from the house before dawn, thirty minutes or so before he woke up.
Aaron quickly used the bathroom after taking all precautions possible then washed his face with some cold water before going out to look for Pio and Lucas.
Today is the day he's turning five years old according to the calendar of this system, first on his to do list is the meeting with Mr Smith which is going to be different from what he had in mind before receiving the unexpected Store from the System.
When Aaron ordered Lucas to set the meeting with the blacksmith he was planning to request Mr Smith to forge an Armor that fits Aaron according to certain specifications.
Now that he's almost broke and looking for an opportunity to make some Gold Coins, Aaron is going to see if he could provide an assistance to Mr Smith and hopefully strike a deal with the blacksmith.
"How much money do you have?" Aaron immediately asked once he met Pio and Lucas, he nodded inwardly when he saw that both of them were already in full gear and ready to head outside.
Pio immediately retrieved a pouch from within the chest-piece of his Leather Armor and began to count, "421 Gold Coins, 78 Silver Coins, and 36 Bronze Coins."
"Give me 350 and split the rest between you and Lucas, also take all these Silver and Bronze Coins since I don't have aby use for them." Aaron said before retrieving the coins that he doesn't need from his Inventory Space, these Coins didn't hold any kind of sentimental value to Aaron even if Snow was the one who left them to him.
Pio didn't have anything to say on the matter and gave his young master Ron the Gold Coins, but he frowned when it was Lucas's turn to get his share of the rest.
"How did it go with Betty yesterday?" Aaron asked.
"Her bosom was fine I had so much fun." Pio had this smug grin on his face when he gave that reply.
Aaron rolled his eyes at this moron before saying : "I meant did you tell her about her late husband?"
"Oh!" Pio was having such an awkward moment and felt so embarrassed when Lucas smiled widely after their eyes met, "She told me that her marriage with Bruce happened when she was very young and her feelings towards him weren't exactly deep or anything, Betty also told me that she understood that something must've happened to her man in the final hunting journey because afterwards somebody left a wooden box full of Gold Coins inside her room. That's why she never cared when Todd chased her away from his kitchen, because Betty already has more than enough to live comfortably for years to come in the village."
This time Aaron looked towards Lucas for an explanation.
"I sold the Wind-Shape Ore to merchant Arturo and had one of my men deliver Bruce's share to Betty, that's the least I could do after what happened." Lucas murmured these words.
"Heh. I guess you're a mix of good and bad like the rest of us." Aaron smiled, "Lead me to Mr Smith, hopefully this would solve our financial issue." Then he opened the Store and scrolled the Weapon Menu until he found the targets of this purchase.
'According to this System, the Magician-Class use either Wand or Staff as their Primary-Weapon. Both types of weapon mainly focus on increasing our Magic-Attack while also giving some boost to Physical-Attack, the clear difference is in the Attack-Speed while using either a Wand or Staff. Wands are much smaller in size which means faster fire-rate of Spells, Staffs are like Canes which means slower fire-rate of Spells but it's all compensated with a higher boost of Magic-Attack and an additional increase of Physical-Attack in case I'm in a situation where a Melee is unavoidable.' Aaron though while following Pio and Lucas to Mr Smith's shop.
Finally he decided to buy the Staff and ignored the higher cost of 280 instead of just 230 Gold Coins for the Wand.
Beginner Magician's Wooden Staff (Unisex-Common) Required Level 0 Required Class Magician Required Intelligence 10 Attack Speed Slow (Stage 8) Weapon Attack +21 Magic Attack +42 Number of Upgrades 7 Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Notes None
Aaron held it in his hand and felt excited once he held the Wooden Staff in his hand, he could instantly sense his Mana flowing into the Staff and circle around its hooked end at the top.
All it would take him to activate that Mana with one of his Skills is just a thought!
Of course he stifled these urges and opened the Consumables Menu to buy what he needs, Aaron kept chewing on his lower lips while scrolling down the long and diverse list.
He was slightly regretting being generous with his men just earlier because the Gold Coins he gave them could've bought him one or two Potions from this list, or at least some food that would provide him a calculated number of Health or Mana Points instantly.
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'My 80 Gold Coins isn't enough but I can at least buy one White Potion and one Mana Elixir to use in case of emergency, unfortunately that would waste more than a third of my Gold Coins but I can still use the rest to buy myself some food.' Aaron bought one of each before using the remaining 56 Gold Coins to buy 6 Apples for 3 Gold Coins, 7 Oranges for 7 Gold Coins, 7 Eggs for 7 Gold Coins, 2 Lemon for 6 Gold Coins, 1 Peach for 5 Gold Coins, 2 Meat for 4 Gold Coins, 1 Mini-Cake for 4 Gold Coins, 2 Squeezed-Juice for 4 Gold Coins, 2 Fried-Chicken for 8 Gold Coins, and 2 Salad for 8 Gold Coins.
Once his Gold Coins ran completely dry from his Inventory, Aaron retrieved the White Potion and the Mana Elixir and gave them a close look.
The containers were made from clear and fine made glass bottles, but the liquid within the Mana Elixir was deep blue instead of white.
Mana Elixir Effect Recovers 300 MP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A legendary elixir Notes None
Meanwhile the White Potion was slightly different.
White Potion Effect Recovers 300 HP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A highly-concentrated Potion made out of Red Herbs Notes None
The rest of the consumables Aaron bought were food or drinks and they didn't that much different from normal, the fruits smelled good and seemed fresh.
'Wait! If they're like normal fruits then I should try and plant their seeds, I'd gain a lot if I managed to incubate one or two of these eggs too.' Having this wonderful idea made Aaron feel less regretful about spending all his Gold Coins.
The difference between food and potions is that food usually provide less increase to HP and MP.
An apple for example is like this.
Apple Effect Recovers 30 HP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A red, ripe, and tasty Apple Notes None
That's probably why it's the cheapest item within the food consumables menu.
Oranges are not that much different than Apples other than increasing MP instead of HP.
Orange Effect Recovers 50 MP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A sweet, tasty Orange Notes None
Eggs had that covered though.
Egg Effect Recovers 50 HP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A nutritious Egg Notes None
The following Consumables had an improved rate of increment compared to Apples, Oranges, and Eggs.
Lemon Effect Recovers 150 HP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description Very sour Notes None
Meat increased HP by 100,
Meat Effect Recovers 100 HP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A tasty-looking Meat Notes None
Squeezed-juice increased MP by 100,
Squeezed-Juice Effect Recovers 100 MP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description Fresh juice produced at the farm Notes None
Fried-Chicken increased HP by 200,
Fried-Chicken Effect Recovers 200 HP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description Well-fried chicken Notes None
Salad increased MP by 200,
Salad Effect Recovers 200 MP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description Made out of fresh vegetable Notes None
There's also the Cake and the Peach which enables Aaron to increase both HP and MP at the same time.
Peach Effect Recovers 120 HP and 120 MP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A soft, sweet Peach Notes None
Honestly the only reason Aaron decided to buy the Peach despite losing slightly at this deal is because he wanted to diversify the fruits he could eat because he really likes fruits.
The Cake also looks quite delicious and he had quite the struggle when he smelled it, Aaron really wanted to take a bite but was afraid to waste it.
Mini-Cake Effect Recovers 100 HP and 100 MP Maximum Number 100 each per Inventory slot Tradability Tradeable Refunded For 1 Gold Description A Cake full of sweetness Notes None
"Young master Ron. We're here." Lucas said.
*Clang, clang... clang*
Right when Aaron was about to ask if the smithy is open for the day, they all heard the sound of a hammer striking metal.
"Here goes nothing." He said before pushing the door of the smithy open.
*Cough*
Aaron was instantly struck face-first with a wave of heat accompanied by smoke!
He coughed while squinting his eyes to see the inside of this smithy properly.
"Mr Smith... Mr Smith!"
*Clang*
"Mr Smith!"
*Clang* *Clang*
"Helloo!"
After calling more than once and receiving no reply from the giant beating down at a piece of metal which he's holding against an anvil, Aaron cupped his mouth and shouted.
"Oh!" Mr Smith turned and looked down towards Aaron while still holding the big hammer in one hand and in the other hand is a tongs holding a red-hot piece of steel that he's still working on completing, "Is it morning already? I lost track of time once again, this is the final Blade of Arturo's order. Just give me a few minutes to finish it." Afterwards the dark-skinned man returned to banging on the steel with his hammer.
Pio shrugged his shoulders helplessly when Aaron looked towards them in confusion.