Chapter 268 A competent robbery... cooperation with Elrion!
Chapter 268 A competent robbery... cooperation with Elrion!
After the purchase that hit his pockets hard, Adam still got what he wanted for the next six months.
First, he took five magic spell books and began studying the basic version. Sitting in a spacious room, he flipped through the book and had almost finished reading it.
"Hm... now that I've created a knowledge base for myself, learning spells is easier than easy," Adam thought and smiled, setting aside the basic spell book and moving on to intermediate spells: "Now for this."
Each book contained more than a hundred spells, and before reaching high-level spells, the lower and intermediate levels served to form a mage's foundation. In other words, if a mage learned these two levels, they could freely control magic and even come up with their spells.
In this world, there were no strong restrictions on attributes. You could use a spell of any attribute as long as you had an understanding of that spell line.
Finally, after two hours, Adam finished and memorized the basic spells, thus forming a skill for himself.
Ding!
[Intermediate Magic Understanding: You have made significant progress in understanding magic. Now, with knowledge of over a hundred spells, you can use them freely and even combine them. Additionally, magic consumption has been reduced by half.]
Adam brushed it aside and stood up from his seat. His butt hurt from pain, as he had been sitting in the same position for so many hours.
"Alright, that's enough for today. At least I have some spells that I can use," Adam thought, and then cracked his knuckles, muttering: "With this, I can try to restore the old spells that I used to work with."
Yawning, Adam relaxed, which caused his magical energy to leak out of his body for a fraction of a second before it was suppressed by a thought. Thanks to the new skill he had mastered, his control over magical energy had improved.
Looking out the window, Adam discovered that it was approaching dawn. He left the house and looked at the garden, which had been cleared of vegetation and was now ready for flowers to be planted.
"Hm... if this were my main home, I would buy some special magical flowers to increase the concentration of magical energy in this place," Adam thought and then waved his hand: "But I don't plan to stay here for long. I'll probably get my hand in and plan how to move to the capital... something is interesting waiting for me there."
It wasn't just Adam's curiosity that made him want to go to the capital. Something was drawing him there. The man felt that it could strengthen him many times over, and he was tempted.
But sneaking into the capital without reaching a certain level of influence and power... it was like going to a level 60 location in a game when your character was level 1. It was suicide.
Lighting a cigarette, Adam glanced at the lit room out of the corner of his eye. From behind the curtains, an elf girl was peeking out.
"Tsk... her character is completely different from what I remember in the past," Adam thought and lit the cigarette. Inhaling the smoke, he muttered: "I don't even know what to do with her... The task of keeping her in the house required that she feel comfortable. Am I supposed to be a realtor?"
However, he couldn't do anything about it. The reward for completing the task was substantial, so Adam didn't want to refuse... and couldn't. He would face death for failing to complete the task. Imagine, dying just once.
***
"No tea again? Coffee is bad for your health, keep that in mind."
"Get away from me, I'm not in the mood."
Adam waved off the eternally annoying Elrion, who had invited him to his estate to drink tea.
And yes, yes... you heard correctly. Elrion was given an estate. Although he tried to refuse, Barbara questioned whether she would appear ungrateful if Elrion refused. The man was quickly convinced.
Adam could have also received such a place, but he refused to become a member of the traders' organization under her control. He didn't want to develop sluggishly and wasn't sure if anything would come of it.
"In short, investments without benefits. Even if Barbara were to finance me, as she said, the result wouldn't be very good. It's more profitable for me to just sell the designs to Elrion," Adam thought.
The thing was, he could create a business and come up with good ideas. But...
He was lazy. Moreover, he didn't want to get involved in it again, because even in the past, he didn't have impressive power, which is why they controlled him from the shadows. So it was better not to stand out too much and accumulate power.
"The Realm of Immortality... at the very least, I need to reach this stage to be able to fully unfold," Adam thought, and then his eyes narrowed to slits: "And for that, I need partners..."
"Adam? Hey, did you drift off into your thoughts again?" Elrion's voice brought Adam out of his realm of contemplation.
"M-m... got a little distracted," Adam replied and casually flopped onto the chair. His shirt was carelessly buttoned, revealing his muscular chest.
Elrion rolled his eyes when he felt the maids' breathing quicken behind him and some of them even squealed with delight. The man felt that Adam had somehow become even more handsome.
Elrion began to think that if he ever got married, he would ask Adam to wear a pumpkin mask on his face just in case. It would be too shameful if his wife were taken away right at the wedding.
However, after some time, they returned to the main topic. Adam handed over five designs and said:
"Here. I told you I had something good, right? You can take a look, it's all new and hasn't been shown anywhere else. I checked," Adam said with a carefree smile, nudging Elrion, whose eyes were already shining brightly.
"Wow! These are genius ideas! I've never seen anything like it... plus, they're aimed at the aristocratic market, so the profit from this will be even greater! There are both women's and men's versions... oh!"
"..."
Adam twisted his lips when he saw that Elrion looked like he was about to lose consciousness from ecstasy. He was sure that Elrion wouldn't show such a reaction even during sex with five women.
And when he finished checking, Elrion looked at Adam and said one word:
"How much?"
"Hehe... now that's more like it."
Adam immediately became more cheerful. When it came to trading, he didn't shy away from deceiving... that is, honestly increasing the price.
"70 to 30. For fifty years, I'll receive 70% of the income from these designs," Adam said and smiled, his smile growing even wider when he saw Elrion's disappointed face. He teased him: "What, did you think I was so stupid as to ignore long-term profits for short-term gains?"
"I was hoping for that... then I wouldn't have to mourn my wallet," Elrion said with a smile and then shrugged: "Alright, you're the boss here. I don't want to argue with you, plus, money isn't the most important thing to me right now. With these designs, I'll earn myself a reputation."
"Yes, agreed," Adam replied, and then slyly smiled: "How about this? As your old friend, I'm willing to represent you at fashion shows to promote your product. Not for free, of course."
"...damn money mosquito."
Despite Elrion's displeased expression, they still legally formalized their agreement. It was even recorded that the designs were transferred to Elrion, but neither of them planned to show them to the public yet.
On one hand, Adam was creating a good reputation for Elrion, and on the other hand, he was receiving a large profit and no less importantly, recognition.
"Monetizing your appearance - that's genius. Thank you to those who came up with the model industry in this world," Adam thought with a smile.
This business brought him a lot of money. Moreover, he had already begun to receive invitations to fashion shows for the following year. He planned to deal with these matters to ensure a flow of money and recognition for himself.
"Ah, the feeling of money growing before your eyes... it's wonderful!"
***
Amaria silently stepped away from the window when she saw Adam returning. She hadn't slept all night because she was slightly on guard.
The relationship between the two of them was difficult to explain. They had never had very close relations, so few could say what was happening.
She was just glad that he hadn't shown indifference towards her and had helped her find shelter. Amaria had already begun to think that she would have to come to terms with the fate of a vile slave.
"Fortunately, I managed to tell him about Amarantha..." she thought, and then bitterly smiled: "In our first meeting, I decided whether to live for him or not and now it's him deciding. What an irony of fate."
Although she regretted that her power was limited, it didn't mean that she wasn't ready to embark on such an adventure.
"The Higher Realm is not just our goal... we want more. What the gods fear... The Original World."
Her green eyes shone with determination.
***
"I'm back," Adam shouted as he entered the living room.
Lina and Amaria were sitting there, Richard wasn't home... because he had gone to school. Adam was able to arrange through Elrion to send him to a paid school where the tuition was 1 million rihm per year.
This was a completely justified price, considering that they would also teach and help him become a practitioner. Adam had already performed the awakening on both of them, so Richard had a high chance of becoming someone strong.
And Lina had already begun to train intensively. Her body was becoming more toned with each workout.
"Adam!" Lina exclaimed joyfully and ran into his arms.
"Uh..." Adam grunted in surprise as he suddenly began to touch her body.
"Aah... w-wait, not here!"
"I'm just checking to see if you're skipping workouts."
Adam smiled carelessly without a hint of shame on his face. He could check her workouts just by looking, but why miss an opportunity to flirt a little?
Amaria, sitting on the couch, lost her voice. She looked at these two and thought with annoyance:
"Am I so small that they don't notice me?"
To be continued...