Max ignored the bunch as they left, choosing to focus on the three rings in front of him, and they didn't take long.

Bruce and Jason were too terrified for a warm reunion. They got the trio into the car and left immediately.

...

As they completely left the mountain, Max stopped { Crimson brilliance.}.

He didn't use it for long, and Lucy didn't act much, so the side effect shouldn't be much.

And indeed as { Crimson brilliance.} stopped, all Lucy felt was some exhaustion, and it should be gone in a few hours.

' tired? '.

"well you like power, so endure some pain. "

' don't want to!.'

"just go sleep a little. You should be fine after you wake up, but first take me to the underground house. "

' OK, but no sleep.'

" suit yourself.

And Lu, you did good so your punishment is over you can watch on the laptop although the battery is low.

The crows can watch with you, they should've been bored to death while locked up in our house without entertainment. "

'ok.'

..... … … …

Soon Max was back at his underground palace. He left his pets to their agenda and went to his room.

Now, with money at hand, he obviously needed to turn it into actual benefits, skills, potions, equipment, access to useful dungeons and such.

Max didn't believe in hoarding money. He knew its true value was in spending it, and he wasn't going to be cheap with himself.

"I just have to wait for my pet space to awaken, and I'd be ready to head to Kain-city. "

Max's current health was questionable, since he didn't really understand what's going on inside his body.

The simulator will take care of it, but what if he gets some other symptoms, like weakness and such?

In his current state, he will only feel safe here with Lucy at her peak to guard him.

....

Max shook his head, dismissing the stray thoughts and concentrating on the three rings in his hand.

He already scanned them, checking for trackable marks, and found none.

One of the rings was the space ring with the 30 million, nothing special about it.

The second was a broken ring belonging to Theodore. The ring didn't receive a direct hit, so it was impossible to break.

The only conclusion Max came out with was that it was some defensive equipment and it was broken by the powerful strike.

The third was Theodore's space ring.

Inside of it, Max found a bunch of clothes, identity card, and some credit cards, family pictures, and some other daily necessities, nothing of value.

Max would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed, although he wasn't sure about Theodore's rank.

But from the web he knew that both the wood Brothers were c-rank.

From the respectful attitude towards Theodore and the fact that they couldn't invite someone of the A-rank with their status and wealth, he could guess he was B-rank.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

But why was his space ring so poor? Even the credit cards were completely useless since only the owner could use it.

"At least the space ring is big enough to carry everything I own".

Max cheered himself and just went back to reading in the simulator, while perfecting his blood forging method.

"hmm, I already changed this method to the point it's no longer the same one. Guess it's fair to give it a new name and make it my original work.

Let's see.… ' Scarlett Forge' will do. "

As Max went to his previous routine, time passed quickly and soon 3 days went by.

...…

It was sunrise, but the sunlight didn't make it to Max's bedroom.

Max was sleeping on his bed, shirtless.

Although he didn't like to sleep shirtless, he started doing so because of the itch at his back.

Max opened his eyes slowly. That annoying itch seems to be gone today, but he didn't notice.

His Focus was on the fist-sized mosquito that was on his pillow, staring him down.

Max blinked, and the mosquito seemed to blink back at him, even though they normally can't.

Max just closed his eyes, still sleepy.

But he immediately opened them, realizing what he just saw. The mosquito was inches away from stabbing him in the face.

Max's hand moved fast, leaving after images, as he caught the big mosquito and crushed it in one move.

"What the…? " Max didn't need to think twice before realizing who was after this.

Max stood up, feeling a little heavier, although he didn't notice.

"Lucy, open the sealing for some light and come over here immediately. You have some explanation to do. "

Max didn't know what to say. This air-head obviously used the emerald water on mosquitoes.

...

Currently, Lucy was observing her territory, recently she developed a hobby to watch things happen up close using her innate.

The grass growing, the water evaporating, the living creatures breathing.

In those seemingly simple processes, so many things were happening away from normal sight.

Just for the growth of a single plant, it requires too many combinations and equations that she couldn't even begin to understand.

Suddenly, she heard Max calling for her. She immediately executed his order, opening the ceiling, and moved to appear in front of him in her real body.

Max saw Lucy, but he didn't speak, and just showed her the dead mosquito in his hand.

"explain!."

Lucy's cheerful mood changed into anxiety immediately.

But suddenly she noticed something as her little mouth opened wide.

She pointed at Max in disbelief.

'you not human.'

Max's eyebrow twitched, and he felt a weak breeze coming from the back, but he ignored it.

"Lu, you're not getting out of this that easily."

Lucy didn't seem to hear Max still pointing at him.

'you bird.'

Max's eyebrow twitched again, and he felt the breeze again, this time also hearing a faint flutter.

"Lu, I n…". Max stopped speaking as he noticed that Lucy wasn't pointing at him, but at his back.

Turning his head, he glanced at what she was pointing to, but his jaw dropping in surprise.

"what the actual fk?."

Max was stunned, because somehow he had a pair a pitch black-feather wings.

Lucy flew to Max, touching his wings excitedly. She always suspected that her pet master wasn't a human, and now she confirmed it.

She had to inform the crows!!.

Max shook off his dazed state and focused on the simulator, ignoring Lucy.

"Simulator, how exactly did I grow wings?"

[Ding, reporting to The Host.

It's due to a mutation, because your pet space has awakened.]

Max ignored the second part for now and asked.

"but didn't you say you will stop mutations?".

[Ding, reminding The Host.

The report specifically stated that only harmful mutations will be prevented.

Your current mutation is judged as beneficial.]

"huh." Max calmed down, since it wasn't harmful than Max was somewhat okay with it.

He tried flapping them, and his wings moved unrhythmically.

Now that Max focused on his wings, he can somewhat feel them, although the senses there were somewhat dull.

Max started testing.

The feathers were like his hair, as in he couldn't feel pain in them or such, only the new muscles had nerves.

Max also noticed that they were integrated with his reflexes. When his eyebrow twitched earlier, his wings fluttered a little.

As Max kept testing, he started getting excited by the idea of flying on his own.

Craw! Craw! Craw!. …

The crows suddenly showed up, interrupting his test. Apparently, Lucy went back to her mountain form and called them.

All the crows were frozen on the spot, looking at Max's wings that somewhat resemble theirs.

Lucy arrived, pointing at Max with a smug expression that clearly said, 'I told you so.'

....

Max ignored the overly excited crowd and focused on the second problem.