3 Chapter 3

Buzz Buzz

I woke up around 6 AM, feeling tempted to sleep again. But the feeling of curiosity about what happened in the multiverse market washed the sleepiness away.

I stretched my arms up and rubbed my eyes. I activated the trading system, causing a screen to appear in front of me from thin air. Noticing that there was a new notification, I decided to read it.

[x3 Super Sticky balls sold]

[+30 Gold coins]

[+1 Review]

There was even a review option. I guess it wouldn't hurt if I read it.

[Master Chen's review: At first, I was doubtful when I bought these Super Sticky balls. But I'm amazed. When I tried them in the field, I couldn't believe a low world could have such a product. It helped me capture the instant of a Flood Dragonin. I'm very grateful to get them for cheap. I wish there were a few more of them, so I could use them to stick the giant bear.]

Master Chen? What kind of name was that? My bet was that he was some guy who could tell you the difference between earth and heaven.

I looked at his profile.

[Master Chen. Level 2. World level:1

Description: A Cultivator of the secret technique, on my way to pierce the heavens.]

So, people from higher worlds could come and trade with lower worlds. But the opposite was not possible, meaning I had to increase my level to trade with people from world level 1.

Shaking my head and exhaling, I felt the world, no, the multiverse was quite unfair, giving an advantage to those who were born in higher realms. But on the opposite side, there was good news, and that was I made a good amount of 30 coins.

Now, 30 coins were not something in the system.

But in real life, they were still gold. If I put them on sale, I'd make a good amount of money.

But then, I would draw the attention of the police, so it was a one-time thing.

I looked through the system to see if there were a few cheap items to trade that I could sell in real life. Cheap items like jewelry, rings, and all.

Fair enough, there were a few jewelry items, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. People from fighting worlds didn't find these things as precious as gold, but they still sold them. They could make a good gift for your spouse.

Putting in mind that each coin was worth $300, I opened my computer and scrolled through online stores to compare the prices of the items in the system and in real life, calculating how much profit I'd make. Also, I had a 20% discount. So even if I bought things at a price equal to my world, I'd still be in profit.

But still, jewelries were sold in bulk, which meant they were slightly cheaper than in my world. Also, the system had an auto-naming function, meaning you couldn't sell fake goods. For example, if you sold a diamond ring, the name of the item would be "diamond ring with details." If it were fake, the name would be "fake diamond with details." The only way to get scammed was to buy at a higher price than the market's price.

I smiled and bought them.

I then opened a storage, a place with the dimensions of 3x2x1 meters, which I could clearly see on the screen.

By focusing on which item, I could bring them into my world and into my hands.

I grabbed a necklace full of emeralds. Another was a ring with a large diamond.

'On another thought, I don't seem to need Teddy Bear anymore.'

'With 20%, I could increase my wealth even more.'

'But again, it's a one- or two-times thing.'

At the start of the day, I skipped school and went directly to an appraisal store.

The owner of the shop, at first, said it wasn't high quality and offered to buy my stuff for a very cheap price.

When I gathered my things and was about to leave, he changed his mind and said, "I pity you to get fooled, and to honor the souls of the dead heroes, I'll give you an extra 3k."

"Forget it. 12 thousand dollars is already below the market price."

(The conversation is happening in Yen. But we are going to use dollars in the translation.)

"Hah? Who told you that? Are you stupid?" Roared the seller.

"I'll look for someone else's opinion then." I replied, "two of them gave me a better offer, but I thought I should get a third opinion. Well, I guess the third isn't always the charm," I said as I was about to leave.

He extended his hand at me, trying to stop me. "Wait. I'll buy it from you. Cash."

"Na-ah. You called me stupid. I've already suffered emotional damage."

"What do you mean by emotional damage?"

"My therapist fees. If you don't pay them, I'd feel stolen." I pressed.

"Fine. 15 grand." The appraisal rubbed his ear. "Geez. Where did you get that from?" He pointed at the jewelry, "it's not stolen, right?"

"My ex-girlfriend's husband's gifts to her. She gave them to me," I said, making an excuse.

He smiled a creepy smile, trying to sound friendly, saying, "If she ever gave you a gift, don't forget about me, friend."

This dude was for real, thinking I'd contact him again. I was just short on cash so I sold them at this price. I needed something to convince Mineta to sell me his balls. My priority was to make more money in the system.

Besides, this was a one-time thing. I couldn't risk getting the authorities and tax people involved.

I nodded and then took my money while leaving the jewelry. I had my backpack on my shoulder, and I looked left and right, thinking of what I may do. Skipping school wasn't a good thing. It left me with extra free time, so I went to a café, got a coffee for myself, and then opened the system to make another trade. I still had 7 super sticky balls.

With a review from someone from a higher realm admitting the worth of Super Sticky Balls, it would only be logical to consider them a precious weapon. If these things could help a cultivator capture a little dragon, then someone should know how much they're worth.

I could sell them for a high price. But I didn't want money. Instead, I wanted a training method, like those of mana warrior training methods or something.

I opened the channel of world level 1, leaving a message that I would trade 5 super sticky balls for a good training method and a few mana stones. With that, I concluded my trade and focused on passing my time peacefully.

When it was 12 PM, I went home with around 2 million Yen in my backpack. My mother was the first one to welcome me, asking, "How has your school day been?"

I didn't know why, but I felt quite guilty that I'd lie. It felt like I forced those words out of my mouth when I said, "What's there possibly to learn?" Luckily, my voice was smooth.

"So, nothing, huh? Anyway, wash your hands. Lunch is ready."

"Alright. By the way, is Mineta home?" I asked.

"Yes, he's in his room," she replied.

Remembering I have a good little brother, I smiled and did what every big brother would do. Instead of knocking on the door, I kicked it open. Mineta quickly put sheets and covered himself.

I had a good idea what he was doing. Nervously, he shouted, "Why didn't you knock?"

"Ahem. Ahem. Wash your hands, and we'll talk business later."

"Whatever," he said, shutting his phone. "You ruined my day."

I closed the door and went to my room, before scrolling through my phone. Mineta came and opened the door without knocking; fair enough, I couldn't complain.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Those balls of yours. They sold for a good price," I said, throwing him a small stack of money. "Now, if you give me a hundred, I'll give you a big sum of money."

"100! Are you crazy!" he said. "That would make my head bleed."

"But it will heal up," I replied.

Mineta shook his head, saying, "I don't want to feel that headache."

"Mineta, have you ever wondered what an ugly guy, or an average guy, has against the better-looking ones?"

"What?"

"Power, AKA fame and money," I spoke, forming a circle with my thumb and index finger, waving my hand with each word. "Isn't that why you are trying to become a hero?"

"I mean, you're not totally wrong. But that isn't right either. I'm not doing it for power; I'm doing it for women."

"But by instinct, you know you need power. And power could be a form of status."

He nodded, not denying it.

I grabbed a few sacks of money in my hands, waving them in front of his face. "The survival instinct is stronger than anything. Money is power and could be considered a form of resource. You could seduce a few girls into a date with you just by showing you have potential."

I didn't know if that was right. Sure, money was a good thing. But it's not everything, and it could be double-edged. It could bring you fake friends, fake love, and fake everything. If you decide to base your relationship on money, then you have to be someone who doesn't need anyone but themselves. To live by power, you need to have an edge on that power. You need to be someone who considers people as replaceable tools and couldn't be hurt by them leaving.

Mineta didn't look like the type of guy who looked for real love. He was just attracted to pretty girls and couldn't control his desires.

Mineta started drooling. "Again. How much do you need?"

"100," I said, throwing him the money. "Buy a few expensive clothes, ask someone out. We'll then talk later."

"I'll start working." As he picked up the money, he ran to his room, leaving the door open.

With a heavy sigh, I forced myself to stand up and shut it.

I looked at my bag, counting the money left. I still had around 1.5 million Yen for me. Not much money, but for a teenager like me, it was. I opened the trading system and lay down.

I found unread messages from different people wanting my sticky balls. They had left me different offers with a note to contact them when I'd be online.

"Time to do business," I mumbled to myself.

 The offers for the super sticky balls varied in quantity and quality.

Since some people came with the only intention to make a profit by giving me bad offers, I found it necessary to take my time examining the offers.

Fortunately, one of the VIP privileges allowed me to know the average market price of any item and I got a detailed description.

I asked each one what they offered, and I got a variation of training methods and mana stones. I then looked at the average price of the items they offered, the reviews, and their descriptions. The reviews were the most important factor as some reported some training methods were dangerous or caused illness.

Someone tried to rush me to buy his item and kept shouting every minute, so I ended up blocking him without bothering to examine his stuff. I would never do deals with people who tried to push me to make a rushed decision. Whoever tries to push another person is a scammer, that's what I believed. An honest person would give you time, or they would ask you to verify their stuff quality because that's how confident they were.

Anyway, I ended up weighing the offers. I ended up choosing this.

[Yang Breathing method: A warrior training method allows you to train your heart mana. It's suitable for fire and lightning type of aura and skills. Can help you reach legendary rank warrior. Because of its nature, if trained by a male, it would cause them to have potential in growing muscles.Could be trained with lightning power, fire power, and if you have a wife, your path would get smoother]

[10 low-grade mana stones]

What did he mean by having a wife would make a path smoother? I shook my head, thinking if it had to do something with increasing testosterone since that hormone promotes muscle growth.

What grabbed my attention in this training method was the lightning and fire power. Both were dangerous elements to use in battle. I ended up contacting who made that offer.

[Hey, want to exchange this for my balls.]

[You know the type of people I hate the most. Those who make smartass comments while thinking they are funny]

[Sorry if there was a misunderstanding. I meant the super sticky balls you requested for exchange.]

[Lol. Sorry, I thought you were someone else.]

[Whatever. You want to do the exchange now?]

[Yes. Just to make sure, your sticky balls are strong and once they stick to someone could stick for 24 hours]

[Yes. They are covered in a matter that would melt with water. Throw them at someone you hate and throw water at them, and they would stick. If you want to set a trap, place it where you like, and pour water on it.]

[Actually, I'm planning to murder a king. If pinning him to the chair would do it, I'd have an advantage against him.]

[Good luck]

[You too]

[Exchange complete]

Once I completed the exchange, a book and a mana stone with a blue light appeared in my storage. I grabbed them – a red book and a crystal-like stone with a blue glowing core inside it. I hid it before grabbing the Yang Breathing method, reading, and flipping through the pages.

'So, to train, I'd need to absorb the mana from the surroundings and circle it according to the way mentioned in the book. But this world doesn't have mana, which is a problem that could be solved with mana stones. Anyway, I'd need to absorb the mana slowly and… That. And when I get to rank 1 warrior, my breathing style changes until hero rank, then epic, then legend.'

So, the warrior ranks were like this: 9-1 warrior rank – Hero rank – epic rank – Legend rank. With the last rank having the power to defeat an empire on their own. Although it was nearly impossible I'd get nearer to All Might level, I still wanted to test it. To a quirkless person like me, someone who knew the future, it was necessary to do whatever I could to gain power. What I wanted the most now was to get enough power to protect myself as the last thing I wanted was to leave my fate to a hero who could get too late.

I held the mana stone and started breathing like the book said while controlling the mana accordingly. I then was immersed into another mental state, barely aware of how much time passed.

"Dinner is ready," shouted my mom's voice from the kitchen.

I suddenly woke up, not aware of how much time had passed. When I lowered my eyes, I noticed that the mana stone turned into a normal crystal with no bright inside it.

Lifting my hand and looking at it to see if there was any difference, I didn't feel any change. But there was something inside me that I could control like I could control my limbs. It was energy, which I could see with my brain. It was energy, red, circling, and causing heat around my heart. At first, I thought I was high, but when I tried to move that energy into my stomach, I felt hot there. The heat wasn't an illusion.

'So, this is mana. With each rank I ascend, it would increase. My physical power should have improved a bit. Still, to reach a high rank, I need a lot of resources, medicines, and things.'

Deciding to leave thinking about things for later, I focused on my utmost priority – eating.

When I was about to go to the kitchen to have dinner, I got a request for chat. I opened the system to turn off the notifications from echoing. I thought that I should have my dinner peacefully, but the name of who sent the request grabbed my attention.

[Master Orochimaru requests a chat with you.]

'What's the FBI number again?' I thought.