After settling her two kitties, Yukino turned to Ren and said, "I've cleared out the room. You can go right ahead and draw the Array."
Ren nodded and headed toward the open door, wasting no time as he immediately got to work.
Megumi and Asuna walked in and watched from the sidelines. Following the exact same process as yesterday, Ren first marked down four anchor points before crouching on the floor to begin drawing.
However, upon seeing the pattern Ren was tracing, Asuna asked in surprise, "Is this Array different from the one at my house? I remember mine looking different."
"The Array changes depending on the environment. Why else did you think they were so expensive?" Ren explained casually, helping the girls understand the reasoning behind it.
Having already drawn two of them yesterday, Ren's movements were much faster today. It only took him twenty minutes to complete the entire Array.
Once finished, Ren helped activate and boot it up. After confirming there were no major issues, he packed up his tools and looked at Megumi. "All done here. Let's head to your place!"
Right now, Ren just wanted to finish his tasks as early as possible so he could hit the market for groceries and have dinner with Asuna.
"Okay. Are you coming, Yukino?" Megumi had no objections, but she couldn't help looking over at Yukino to see if she wanted to tag along.
"No, I'll pass. I need to tidy up a bit. I'll find you later for dinner," Yukino declined with a shake of her head. All her belongings were currently piled up in the living room, and she needed to organize them.
Hearing this, Megumi thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright, just send me a message later, and we'll eat together."
With their plans settled, Megumi left with Ren and Asuna, heading toward her own apartment. Megumi's place wasn't too far from Yukino's.
It was only a five or six-minute walk before they arrived at their destination. Megumi lived on the fifth floor, and the layout of these apartments seemed to be practically identical.
It was very similar to where Ren and the others lived—buildings specifically constructed to be rented out to students. Ren even suspected that all these properties belonged to a single landlord!
*Come to think of it, Maya mentioned she collects rent from several buildings. Could all these apartments belong to her? Did she just hand the properties over to a management company so she could run her shop?*
*I really have to wonder. Otherwise, how could these apartments be so identical?*
Megumi had also moved everything out of her room early on, just waiting for Ren to come and draw the Array. She had probably woken up bright and early to start moving furniture, just like Yukino.
The mental image of Megumi and Yukino waking up early, brushing their teeth, and immediately hauling their belongings out of their rooms brought a highly amused smile to Ren's face.
Inside Megumi's apartment, Ren repeated the process, quickly drawing the Array for her. He perfectly used up the materials in his hands, leaving only a tiny scrap that he simply tossed away.
"All done!" Looking at the Array he had created, Ren nodded in satisfaction. He was even faster this time, taking only eighteen minutes.
"Thanks for your hard work, Ren." A flash of joy crossed Megumi's eyes as she looked at the Array on the floor. With this, she would be able to elevate her Magic Power over the next two days and break through to Tier 3.
"I'm just doing what I was paid for. Since it's done, we'll be taking our leave. Contact me if anything comes up," Ren said, clapping the dust off his hands as he gave Megumi a few final reminders.
Hearing this, Megumi smiled and replied, "Of course I'll look for you if I need anything. You two should head back first; I won't keep you."
After bidding Megumi farewell, Ren and Asuna left her apartment together and began making their way back home.
"Is there anything you'd like to eat?" Ren couldn't help but ask Asuna on their way back. She had treated him to a meal yesterday, so today it was his turn to host.
Hearing this, Asuna immediately replied, "I want to eat beef brisket. Do you know how to make it? If you do, let's have that!"
When it came to food she craved, Asuna definitely had something in mind. Her absolute favorite local dish was beef brisket. It would be fantastic if Ren could cook it.
"No problem. I'll make potato and beef brisket stew tonight, then. Anything else?" Ren nodded, agreeing without hesitation. It was a trivial matter.
"Hehe, I'll leave it to you, then. Oh, right, Ren, let's go buy some potions later. We need to prepare for our Dungeon dive on Monday," Asuna suggested, suddenly remembering their upcoming plans.
Hearing this, Ren pondered for a moment before saying, "Potions, huh... I think I'd rather just buy some ingredients and brew them myself. Those things are ridiculously expensive!"
The prices for various potions were exorbitant, and Ren had no intention of being a sucker. He would just make them himself; it shouldn't be a big deal.
"Make them yourself? Will that really be okay?" Asuna looked at Ren in bewilderment. *Wouldn't that be incredibly troublesome? And would there even be enough time?*
"It's fine. You can find tutorials online for things like basic potions. If I want to learn, it won't be a problem," Ren said with absolute confidence.
They were just mere potions. Ren would study them when he got back tonight, then go out tomorrow to buy the necessary ingredients for brewing. After all, he could learn in his sleep, and he could learn with his eyes wide open.
If he could make it himself, why spend money? His hard-earned cash was highly valuable, so it was much better to do it himself.
"Then... I'll wait for you to finish brewing them. If the effects are good, I'll just buy them directly from you!" Thinking of Ren's monstrous learning talent, Asuna made her decision.
Perhaps Ren really could pull it off. As long as he successfully brewed them and the effects were solid, she could absolutely just purchase them from him.
Save where you should, spend where you must—every little bit saved counts, right? Because of this, Asuna decided to hold off on buying potions and wait to see what Ren could produce.
"I haven't even started learning yet, and business is already knocking on my door?" Ren was instantly amused by Asuna's words. Still, this wasn't a bad setup. If Asuna bought from him, he would definitely give her a good deal.
"Save where you should, spend where you must. If I can buy them for cheap, why would I go buy the expensive ones?" Asuna stated with absolute conviction, leaving Ren completely unable to refute her logic.
She truly believed in his talent; otherwise, she wouldn't have made such a decision. Ren chuckled and didn't say anything more, leading her straight to the fresh food market.
Upon arriving at the market, Ren began his grocery shopping while Asuna quietly followed along. Since he had just moved, Ren was missing a lot of household essentials, so he needed to buy quite a few things from scratch.
Thinking about his new home, Ren suddenly remembered that he hadn't checked out of his old apartment yet. His deposit was still tied up there. He would need to contact his landlord later to get his money refunded.
*As for the landlord refusing to refund the money? Hilarious. He clearly doesn't realize what kind of world this is. In this world, if someone says they're going to beat you up, they'll actually do it. Who doesn't know a little martial arts these days?*
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