20 return
It was around 8 pm, and I had already told my mom that I wouldn't return for the next several days because my scholarship was beginning.
Standing in the empty alley, I was ready to return to the subatomic world. The last time I was there, I had come out unconscious. But I didn't know that the transportation process was far more complicated than I could ever imagine. I raised the ring on my finger, and with a strong sense of determination, I called out in my mind, 'Take me to the subatomic world!'
Suddenly, my body was hit by an incredible force. It felt like being caught in the middle of a storm. I gasped for air as an intense pressure gripped my chest. Before I had a chance even to realize what was happening, the pressure intensified as my body was compressed and stretched in unnatural ways. My organs began to twist, my bones felt like they were disjointing, and the pain became unbearable.
The pain consumed every inch of my body, and I was left feeling completely disoriented. It was like a thousand tons of pressure was pressing in on me from all directions. I tried to scream, but the pressure had stolen my voice. It was as if the fight in me was slowly slipping away, and I was at its mercy.
Then, suddenly, and out of nowhere, the pressure stopped in the blink of an eye, and the pain instantly receded. I found myself standing in my room, looking around frantically as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. But everything in my immediate surroundings seemed to be exactly as I'd left it, and I couldn't shake off the traumatic memory.
I stood in my place for a few seconds before finally finding the courage to move.
Thankfully, there was no sign of the pressure coming back.
I sighed, thanking the heavens, and looked around.
When I looked more carefully, I noticed that on the left wall, where there were six doors, now there were only four.
The smithy, the library, the kitchen, and the greenhouse were still there, but there was no sign of the science and alchemy lab.
I looked at the time, and when I saw that it was only around 2 pm, I called Malia and Nill to come to my room.
"what took you so long?" Malia asked, clearly worried.
"I had to take care of a few things," I answered.
"you could have at least called." Malia retorted before sighing and dropping the matter, "It doesn't matter anymore. Let's get to business. We successfully sold the science and alchemy lab equipment and spaces for a good price."
"you can sell spaces too?" I asked.
"yes, it's a little complicated because every floor has limited space, so we got good money after selling them." Malia clarified and continued, "Anyway, as you said, I took all the high-quality stuff for myself, and Nill grabbed a few of the smithy equipment that was more than one.
Since you will be taking on Smithy as a job, we thought that you would need them, so we didn't touch the important stuff.
All in all, you made exactly 43,720 MPs after selling everything.
I also took the liberty to rearrange the leftover space and add as many of them as possible to the greenhouse and the mineral growing cave before selling them with the equipment."
After explaining everything, Malia transferred the MPs to my ring, and I was happy to see the number "47,370."
"I'm rich," I exclaimed in disbelief.
"for an unranked fighter, yes, you are very rich," Nill said, with a hint of jealousy in his tone.
"may I suggest something?" Malia asked me.
"Sure, please."
"I know it's not my place, but I think with this much capital and an advance greenhouse and mineral growing cave, you could invest some of it so that you could have a steady income."
Intrigued by the idea, I asked her to continue.
"I suggest you buy a few low-ranked plants and mineral roots with high-speed growth and sell their products as material in the market or directly to other students; you could even use them in your own work and bring down the cost of materials by a large margin. It is really a normal practice between alchemists and forgers to grow most of their materials and sell the rest as investments, but sadly, it requires a lot of capital and a good environment such as a greenhouse and a cave."
"wow, I haven't thought about it that way…" the idea seemed way better than what I had in mind, which was practically saving up money in a bank or something; then, a question came into my mind, "What is a mineral root?"
Nill cleared his throat, not letting Malia take all the spotlight, and explained, "If you read the starting manual, you would know that everything in the subatomic world is made out of what is called soul particles, including living beings."
"but when you say everything…" I thought out loud.
"EVERYTHING," Nill confirmed.
I sure had encountered such information in the manual, but I didn't give it much thought.
"Everything is alive here; even the world itself is believed to have a consciousness." Nill continued, "Minerals are one of the few things that can grow just like plants, but planting them is a little more complicated since mineral roots are way harder to find and expensive; they also require special environments such as a mineral growing cave to grow without a problem."
"so you're telling me rocks can grow?" I asked, finding the idea a little unbelievable.
"don't be shocked," Malia interjected, "even in the upper world, there are minerals that grow over time after absorbing material from the environment; the only difference it has with minerals in here is that in here, mineral roots actively grow while the mineral on the upper world relies on the environment to grow passively."
"right," I nodded, still not understanding most of what she said but not wanting to seem like a total idiot, "ok, then it settled; I will invest two-thirds of my MPs on minerals and plants." I thought a little and said, "How about you invest your MPs too?"
"We don't have a cave or a greenhouse," Nill said.
"no, I mean invest it with me, using my greenhouse and cave; we can share the profit based on the capital each of us invests."
Malia's eyes brightened up, "really? Do you mean that?"
"Sure," I answered, "what's there to think about? We could even go to missions or independent adventures and profit from this."
"That sounds great," Nill, too, looked happy about the idea.
"we can go shopping for mineral roots and plants tomorrow; today, I have to go see my new master," I said, dampening their excited mood.
"Who is your master, by the way?" Nill asked.
"it's Hercules," I answered, and both their eyes bulged out of their sockets.
"Hercules is your master? Are you kidding me?" Nill shouted with jealousy as I had just been granted his lifelong dream.
"yes, he is going to teach me the basics of forgery and be my martial arts instructor."
"so lucky," Nill said, and Malia just nodded.
After promising them that I would introduce them to Master Hercules, Aunt Uriel, and Lucile, they finally let go of the matter, and I went to Master Hercules's smithy.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
After contacting Master Hercules and getting a set of instructions about how to enter the smithy, I took a cab and went straight to his building at the top of the mountain.
In front of the newly built statue inside the building, I looked at it before pulling its right-hand middle finger.
Master Hercules sure had a sense of humor. I'm sure if Aunt Uriel knew where he had put the previous statue's "hidden key," she would kill him.
I descended the staircase, and after reaching the wooden door, I nocked, "Master, it's Alex." I announced.
Not even a second later, Master Hercules answered, "Come in, I have already decreased the temperature."
I opened the door, and the temperature around me suddenly rose to an uncomfortable degree.
'how can he work in this place if this is only the decreased temperature?' I thought and entered the smithy.
As I entered, I saw Master Hercules was working on a small piece of metal, far too delicate for his massive hands.
It looked like a watch but more complex and far more detailed.
As I got closer, I couldn't help but be astonished by the tinny engravings on the smaller parts of the watch.
After finishing the work, Master Hercules put it on the table, and it came to life.
The watch vibrated for a few seconds and automatically adjusted the time; after showing the time, its small parts started floating and coming out of the frame.
After all the parts came out, they magically reassembled themselves into a globe made of gears.
"wow," I exclaimed in shock.
Then, Master Hercules stretched his hand, grabbed the floating globe, and threw it in the trash can.
