Alex stares at the disappointing [Common Shortsword] in his hand.
"Well... at least I got another Soul Crystal, that's something at least? This thing is at least worth a shard," Alex says, not caring too much. "Anyway... let's sort through the mess tomorrow, okay? I think it will take a while, and I don't have the patience right now."
"Yes, I'm really a little tired. How about we get out, take a walk, get something to eat, and then relax?" Tereza suggests. "I desperately want to get out and turn off my brain."
"Fine, I guess I can also relax then," Menchi says, agreeing with her.
Princess Jewel wants chicken!
"I think I'll reject your kind offer... I'll be studying, reading, and meditating," Benezia states, clearly opposed to the idea.
"Oh come on," Tereza says, crossing her arms, standing before her. "Just for one day, you can spend the remaining month trading, studying, and meditating on your own."
Is she threatening her now? Well, I'd better back her up... softly.
"... She has a point, how about just for today?" Alex asks. "I also prefer to stay at home and game a little, but even if it's just once in a while, we all should go out and breathe some fresh air."
"I can breathe just fine inside the apartment. Alternatively, I can go out on the balcony, but I can follow your point..." Benezia says, then pauses for a moment. "Fine." She relents. "I'll come along... if reluctantly."
Twenty minutes later, in Alex's car, Tereza, who's driving, immediately complains. "I told you to get a new car already! This is way too cheap. It's not only small, but also old!"
"Hey, it's just five years old, and I've barely driven it... also, why? This car can hold five people; with four we don't even have to squeeze ourselves in," Alex says from the backseat, Jewel sitting on his lap, lovingly looking up at him.
❤️
"You really are a little stingy, Alex," Menchi says from the front seat. "You have the money, don't you? In fact, money will never be an issue again."
"With this car, we won't draw any attention to ourselves..." Alex argues back. "Also, it works just fine. I hate douchebags with their expensive cars. I fucking hate them so much. As long as the car works, that's all that matters to me... maybe when I have some time, I'll buy something better, but I won't go overboard."
"I have to agree... this shall suffice, and if it draws less attention, that's definitely an advantage," Benezia says, sounding completely serious.
"Try sitting for 8 hours in this thing, and you will change your mind, Benezia," Tereza argues, speeding up a little more.
"But we won't be sitting that long in this car, will we?" Alex counters. "So just drive... the park is not that far away, seriously."
Just a few minutes later, they arrive at a large park. Since the weather is rather cloudy and not too inviting, it's relatively empty, with only a few people scattered around.
After a brief stroll, they take a seat on a wooden bench overlooking a small pond. Alex and Menchi briefly leave to buy some ice cream. Menchi, without hesitation, picks out two choices—one for her and one for Tereza.
"You buy your own and Benezia's share," she says, smirking.
"How should I know what she wants, huh?!" Alex wonders, looking at the different ice-cream flavors, but Menchi is already strolling back, a visible spring in her step.
Do you want something, Jewel?
No. Princess Jewel only wants chicken!
Unsure what to buy, Alex just buys the safest choice, a vanilla-flavoured ice cream, before briefly hesitating as he spots a dark blue ice-cream variety.
"..."
Guess I take that for her?
Returning, Alex hands Benezia the blue-coloured ice cream, which she accepts with a frown. Licking and tasting it, she immediately returns it to Alex, then forcefully grabs the other one in his hand.
"..."
Immediately, Menchi and Tereza laugh.
"That's what you get for relying on stereotypes," Tereza laughs.
"This is not a stereotype. It's merely your human ice-cream coloured blue with artificial dye and flavours," Benezia intervenes. "I am offended that you'd choose something for me, solely based on colour."
"Hey... I've chosen the vanilla one for myself..." Alex defends himself.
Whatever... hey, she licked it... that's an indirect kiss! That's a hell of a win in my book... is what I'd say over half a year ago or so before the Realm started....
Smiling while looking at the pond, Menchi can't help but shake her head, seeing Alex's grin. "Grow up..."
... never!
After relaxing, visiting a restaurant, and even stopping on the way to buy a ton of fresh chicken meat for Jewel, who wants it personally prepared for her by Menchi, the group finally returns home. Because of Jewel's constant complaints and bickering, Menchi quickly prepares the chicken for her, even using her Hatsu and her full cooking gear. She presents Jewel with six different chicken dishes, all prepared to her liking, each one a little different.
Resting peacefully, with only Jewel occasionally rubbing her now heavy and inflated body against his head, before crawling onto his stomach for a softer surface, Alex quickly falls asleep, feeling extremely relaxed and satisfied.
After a good night's rest, Alex wakes up and immediately knows that he slept quite a long time. Resisting the urge to spend the entire day in bed, slightly excited by all the items they obtained during the last mission, Alex quickly showers, gets up, and dresses himself.
Good morning, Soulmate ❤️
Good morning to you as well, Jewel. Let's get to work, then.
He showers, brushes his teeth, and dresses himself in casual clothes before walking to the door leading to the living room.
As soon as he opens the door and leaves his bedroom, he can already smell the strong fragrance of food coming from the kitchen.
Peeking inside, he sees a small mountain of food, Menchi seemingly already switching into work mode, ready to work on more dishes.
Tereza is not yet up, and Benezia is nowhere to be seen, probably in her room.
Deciding to leave Menchi alone, Alex sits down on the couch, gently lifts Jewel and places her in front of him.
"You'll help me sort through the mess, right?"
Princess Jewel is an expert at sorting through messes!
Since when? ... well, whatever, as long as she's helping me.
"Good... listen, I want to sort my items... essentially, I need three... no, four piles," Alex explains towards Jewel, who stares at him, appearing to be quite motivated.
What piles specifically, Soulmate?
"One pile is for Menchi—she can have all my food items... not that I have many left, along with my Medigel and Omnigel. She mentioned she'll be able to create new items, and I'm running out of some items, while I have already run out of MP recovery items. She can take her time and then give me a fresh batch of the best stuff she can make. I'll also add the other food-related items I have still in my inventory, though I gave her most of it already."
Princess Jewel understands.
"The second pile is essentially everything we have found, and I don't want to use myself... all those Devil Fruits, weapons, and other items. Everything that is expensive and can be sold or traded. That pile will most likely go to Benezia with a few exceptions."
The third pile are items you intend to shard, right, Soulmate?
"Yes," Alex replies, nodding, pleased by Jewel's attentiveness.
He takes a deep breath. "Finally, the fourth pile is my current inventory and everything I want to keep on me. It will be a pain, but we need to do this."
A̶/̶N̶:̶ ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶g̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶h̶o̶l̶e̶.̶
Alex then slowly but surely organizes his many items, carefully going through each one.
These [Slice of Freshly Baked Cherry Pie] are kinda interesting... they recover 15 HP and MP and increase HP and MP regeneration by 10%, that's insane. They are fine on their own, but maybe Menchi can somehow improve them, or maybe even copy them. I'll hand them to her.
He continues by taking all of his consumables and a few miscellaneous, food-related items he still holds in his inventory, enters the kitchen, and then dumps them all into Menchi's inventory. She is still cooking intensely and can barely spare a nod at him. Distracted, she accepts the items and then continues her cooking without a single comment.
"You'd better give me something good!" Alex yells as he leaves.
Cooking junkie....
First task done... progress. I can do it.
Congratulations Soulmate. ❤️
"Damn, Jewel, you need to stop being so encouraging... you are almost too sweet today," Alex says, suppressing a smile. Unable to contain himself, he gently hugs her before he continues.
❤️
Focusing really hard, Alex sorts through his items, in essence, creating the three other piles he mentioned: one with items to shard, one with items he will either trade or sell, most likely through Benezia, and the last one, which he sorts into his existing item categories.
He goes through his spoils one after the other, remembering how he acquired them, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a solemn expression, and sometimes with an odd little mix of both.
Alex Kerber: Lvl 8
HP: 457/457, MP: 427/427 AURA: 317/317, BP: 127/127
STR: 22 (+18), AGI: 22 (+4), PHY: 22 (+11), SNS: 22 (+2), CHA: 22 (+7), MNA: 22 (+10), INT: 22, SPR: 22 (+7), LUK: 22 (+8), NEN: 22 (+2)
Available Stat Points: 3
Followers: Menchi (Purple) lvl 13 (25%), Benezia (Deep Purple) lvl 19 (50%)
Pets: Jewel (Gold) lvl 8
Innate Skills: Nen Prodigy lvl 5 (Genius Conjurer lvl 5, Basic Nen lvl 5, Advanced Nen lvl 5), Statistical OCD lvl MAX
Arcane Medieval Armory: Annihilation Grenade lvl 5, Sealion's Icewing Embrace lvl 5, Mustrano's Malice Mauler lvl 5 (Claw Proficiency/Poison Resistance) / Toxic Breakthrough lvl 5, Magorian's Rage Arrow lvl 5, Thorian's Domination lvl 5
Free Skill Slots: 0/4, Free Basic Skill Slots: 0/8
Basic Skills: Basic Close Combat Prowess lvl 5, Basic Footwork lvl 5, Basic Endurance lvl 5, Basic Long-Range Combat Prowess lvl 5, Basic Eloquence lvl 5, Basic Concentration lvl 5, Basic Meditation lvl 5, Basic Mana Control lvl 5
Passive Skills: Alexandrian Royal Swordsmanship lvl 5, Imbuement Archery lvl 5
Active Skills: Black Magic (Fire-Blizzard-Thunder-Series) lvl 5, Sword Magic lvl 5, Kunrith's Biotics lvl 5 (Warp, Stasis, Barrier, Throw, Pull), Arts (Tear, Teara, Aqua Bleed, Frost Edge, Hydro Cannon, Crystal Flood)
Fantasy Coins: 180,500 Soul Crystals: Small x26 Medium x9Large: x1 Fantasy Shards: 0
Current Weapons: Magoroth's Legacy R2 (Gold), Draining Meteor Sword (Gold), Executioner's Blade R2 (Light Gold)
Current Equipment: Armor of Pluto (Purple), Visor of Pluto (Purple), Cuisses of Pluto (Purple), Gauntlets of Pluto (Purple), Sabatons of Pluto (Purple), Nimbus Cloak (Light Purple), Sacred Emerald Copper Earring (Purple), Noble Shirt+4 R2 (Light Purple), Drakul's Vitality R2 (Deep Gold), Skitterguard Bracers (Light Purple), Cataclysmic Frost-Fire Ring (Deep Gold), Uzin's Rage (Light Black), Savant M (Gold), Geth Waistguard (Deep Purple), Destiny Watch (Orbment) R2 (Light Gold), Shepard's Promise R2 (Light Gold)
Recovery Items:
Miscellaneous Items: Jack's Spare Silvery Mask (Light Green), Hunter License (Deep Green), Butchering Knife (Deep Blue), Quintessence of Blood (Purple), Blood Essence x7 (Green), Brawler-Pistol (Light-Purple), Colossus Armor S (Deep Purple), Logic Arrest Tool (Deep Blue), Mobile Skill Station (Purple), Contract (Unused) x3, Seastone Dagger (Deep Purple)
Marked for Trading/Selling/Gifting: Kakuzen (Blue), Chimamire (Blue), Keiren (Blue), Red Stone (Gray) x20, Three Pronged Claw (Deep Blue), Skillbook: Claw Proficiency (Light-Blue), Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Falcon (Light Purple), Luxurious Traditional Shamshir (Light Blue), Golden Saber (Deep Green), Lava-Lizard Skin (Light Blue) x2, Stonecloth Robe (Deep Blue), Pokeball (Permanent) Purple, Crane-School Style Incomplete (Deep Blue), UHDR10K (Light Gold), Supa Supa no Mi (Purple), Seastone (Deep Blue) x10, Hades Hammer (Deep Gold), Enchanted Runeblade (Deep Purple), Cage of Hattori (Pet) (Light Gold), Skillbook: Dual Sword Proficiency (Deep Blue), Skillbook: Soru (Deep Blue), Skillbook Rankyaku (Deep Blue), Skillbook Tekkai (Deep Blue), Skillbook Axe Proficiency (Blue), Suna Suna no Mi (Light Gold)
Marked for Sharding: Quality-Boots (White) x2, Quality-Gloves (White) x2, Solid Marine Saber (Light Green), Weapon x2 (Deep Green), Green Weapon (Green) x5, Common Shortsword (White)
Special Items: Destiny Supporter Token (Purple), VIP Invitation (Deep Purple), Tsunade's Scroll (Purple), Glimmerwhisk's broken Runic Choker (locked) (Light Green), True Dream Ticket (Light Gold), Superior Supporter Armor-Rank Upgrade (Deep Blue), Superior Supporter Weapon-Rank Upgrade (Deep Blue), Spectre License (Purple), Death Duel Voucher (Deep Gold), Scapegoat-card (Deep Purple), World Governments Invitation (Light Gold)
"Jewel..." Alex says, his eyes wide open.
"Do you see this?" he asks.
Yes, Soulmate, a beautiful wall of text!
"No, not that... I mean, yes, that as well, it's very annoying by the way, but I mean... aside from the Gold World Item, I've gotten a total of three Devil Fruits, one of them Light Gold. Add to that not one, not two, not three, but four other Gold Quality items as well," Alex states, still unable to believe the huge fortune in his inventory.
"We have to go through the other items in more detail, but I can say one thing for certain..." Alex says, before his mouth forms a greedy smile, the kind he can't quite suppress.
"We are fucking rich!"
❤️
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