Chapter 16 - Problems of Wealth

After he awoke, slightly after 6AM, he immediately started checking his surrounding as he felt sleeping was "strange" at this point but, he felt relaxed when he saw Hestia, hugging his c.h.e.s.t and use it as a pillow for herself. She was drooling a bit but Ethan found the situation amusing instead of problematic as he always saw how she behaved around Bell, but differently from him, Ethan wasn't that shy, so he decided to firmly hug her waist as he inspected more clearly his surrounding with his eyes.

He was surprised by the softness of her skin and waist because, compared to his best friend, her skin was so soft and, as Hestia now had removed her petals and ornaments, her straight black hair went all down her waist, causing him a strange feeling as he stroked her hair with the gentlest touch he could do.

As if she felt his touch, she smiled brightly, even if she hadn't woken up yet, he could tell she was still in deep sleep because, even when he was stroking for a bit, she still didn't show any sign of anxiety or something similar, causing Ethan to simply stare at her beautiful sleeping face for what seemed like hours, even though only 30 minutes have passed.

He could clearly feel the warmth in the room they were in and, probably as a result of her Divinity, Ethan felt that the concept of "home" wasn't really based on where they were, but on the people you were with.

After a little of hesitation, he decided it was time to get up and go to continue his training out of the city because he felt that if he didn't train for another day, his mental state would blow up. So, after "f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y" remove her from his body, he re-adjusted the blanket to cover her body properly. At this action, Hestia smiled subconsciously another time, causing Ethan's heart to flinch but, even if he was tempted to just stay with her for the rest of the day, he decided to bear this feeling in the back of his mind because for the time being, he had to continue increase his capabilities.

Before he left the church, he decided to leave a message to her, at the cost of 1 SP, he bought something similar to a modern-style pen and a sheet of paper. He decided to leave her without having to 'worry' about her, so he decided to leave her 3000 valis for let her buy something good to eat without having to spend her hard-working valis.

'Hestia, when you will read this, know that i didn't simply leave, i need to do some business i had to take care of, but don't worry because i will come re-visit you in the evening ~

I left you some valis so, instead of wait for me just go somewhere and eat to your heart's content.'

---

After he left the Church, Ethan walked all the way to the East gate, but before exit the gate, he equipped his [Phantom's Cloak].

He decided to use it because he wanted to just exit and enter without being questioned "why" he was leaving and, even if it wasn't a good idea, he easily passed the gate and 350 m away from the gate, he bought and placed a [Sound and Image Illusion] within the area to make it appear as 'nothing' was there, so he placed a large tent, at the cost of 500SP and entered it as he placed a Stone for resuming his training.

He started reading the contents of the [Mana Control Manual] and, as he was in the process to create the 2nd bubble after he created the 1st, something strange happened. The Bubbles seemed to be attracting to each other like magnets. Ethan immediately understood the situation and tried to change the structure of the 2nd bubble in time before the inevitable explosion that occurred moments later, but this time, the explosion was so hard that twisted his arm and broke it to pieces moments later.

Light decided to help this time as she repelled the 'pain' in Ethan as she saw that the arm was healing at a speed visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye, but not enough to practically recreate his left arm. So, she decided to fast recommend Ethan a list of the cheaper version of healing that could help him re-grow his arm but, even the cheapest costed nearly 100.000SP, something Light could do nothing about. So, instead of searching for skills, she decided to let him buy a potion that, even if would make him lose 15.000 SP, it was better than die.

When Light was thinking all of this, only a moment passed in the real world as Ethan simply had yet to even reason his arm's loss. So, as he saw that his arm was regrowing faster than he could even see, he was shocked. But, after another instant, Light decided to ease his mind.

[You don't have to worry, Ethan, i used 15.000SP to buy a [Restore Potion] it's a potion from another record that can help you not only regrow your arm, but it should have impacted your meridians with a good deal of energy that you will eventually absorb in your body. This could not only upgrade your currently Mana Pool, but that could be beneficial in better understanding how to absorb something into yourself through your Mana veins. Know that it would be spell your death if you try to absorb something without being absolutely sure of its origin so i believe you shouldn't use this ability to often.]

Ethan, decided to rationalize things a bit and, even if he nearly lost his arm in the process, he wanted to experiment with that type of explosion for a trump-card arsenal. He thought that if he could start the process of the explosion, then store in his inventory the nearly-fused bubble itself, he would be able to hit someone with pure mana. He knew from the book that, even if you have the [Magic Resistance], you couldn't defend from Mana itself because, when someone normally does a spell, they transform the mana to adapt to the element and to the chant itself, this Empowers the Mana a great deal but as the explosion is something on a pure scientific level, nobody in this world could possibly replicate his actions.

So, Ethan was thinking that he could possibly kill a level 6 without even have to do much, the problem was in the speed and reaction time of a veteran that, at level 6, could run the distance of even 100 m in an instant, something he couldn't compete at the moment.

After a long run of experiments, Ethan finally was able to cast a 2nd bubble without having them attract themselves, instead, they were doing strange circles around him as they 'waited' for Ethan to do something with them but, as Ethan wanted to quickly advance to the 3rd bubble, he started to create it and, surprisingly, it lasted for a total of 0.14 seconds before he needed to let the bubble vanish.

---

After his training with the Mana ended, it was slightly after dinner time, so he decided to store the tent and the stone in his inventory As he asked Light.

["Can i use something similar to a map to come here every time i need this space? Or if you could store the [Sound and Image Illusion] back in my inventory, that would be the best."]

[I can't store in your inventory the [Sound and Image Illusion] Now that you've placed it, but if you use 2.000SP, i can upgrade the Map Function and make a waypoint for you of this place. And, just to say it, the illusion will remain for 7 days before it will fade so, you have 6 days now before you need to buy another illusion]

["I understand…thanks Light, do it."]

As he said these words, he saw a black square in the upper right part of his eyes. In an instant, the black square started gaining colors, and he could clearly see something similar to a Geographic Map of his current area.

He was thinking of how to assign a waypoint here because Light didn't exactly say--

[Please, Type a name for your Waypoint.]

He was always shaken by the fact that he hadn't even the time to think properly that something would appear in front of him and even scare him a bit like this but, instead of argue, he decided to just reply.

["Training Space"]

When he was thinking of how it should appear in his minimap, he saw a white point in his position, wrapped in a green and yellow fog. He was confused by the strange point because it was clearly his location, but he couldn't understand what the fog was.

This wasn't the same for Light as, immediately cleared his thoughts another time.

[Ethan, This is the fog caused by the [Sound and Image Illusion], as the version of the map i gave you was the cheap-version, you can't look in spaces that are obstructed by illusions, especially something from the system itself.]

'That makes sense.' he thought, as he was now with merely 30.000SP as his "reserves", he didn't try to get something more reliable as the upgraded version of the current Map Function costed 100.000SP.

He wanted to argue that it was really unfair the fact that he only had access to 3000SP a day if he trained enough, but he didn't know what he had thought will be the cause of his future stress.

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//Main Quest Triggered//

[Wealth of the God of Wealth, Ezemis]

Rank: SSS

Objective: Collect 1,000,000,000 System Points (102,341/1,000,000,000), Get at least 10,000,000 System Points from the Training Optional Quest (97,000/10,000,000), Spend at least 500,000,000 System Points (102,153/500,000,000).

Optional Objectives: Make the Optional Quest Training Evolve (13,1%/100%), Sell items worth in total 10.000.000 System Points to the Shop (0/10,00,000), Collect 200,000,000 System Points from killing monsters (5,153/200,000,000).

Failure Conditions: Death, System Points goes under 0.

Rewards: All the Optional Quests evolves, 1,000,000,000 System Points, 1.2x cost reduction of all the items, ability, skills, spells, and others in the shop, 1x [System Token], [God of Wealth's Blessing].

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... Sh*t' was all Ethan could think after seeing this stupidly hard quest. He would need so much time to do this quest that he was fortunate the penality didn't have anything about time. But, after he saw the rewards, he couldn't help but think that it was a good affair as, when he is strong enough to obtain 1 Billion SP, he could obtain another one like nothing.

He decided to see the quest in a more detailed way after he pacified the goddess that was probably waiting for him, then, after entering the city with his [Phantom's Cloak], he approached the Church before removing the cloak and entering it.

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(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)

(Alternate Titles: "Watch as our MC starts as Ethan and ends as Rikudo Sennin.", "Next Chap, see as Ethan will unlock the [Zenkai Boost] Development ability", "EXPLOOOOSION!")