Volume 1 Chapter 21: Ripe for the picking

(Walson)

Two more winters flew by.

I am now thirteen years old in body, and are a forty-three years old in mind.

... I don't really feel like I have entered my 'midlife' phase. In fact, it's hard to fall into midlife crisis when I have a brand new beginning.

Puberty is on its way, though... which is something that I will have to watch out for.

I took a peek into the training room inside the secret base, making sure that Melon is occupied, and less likely to notice when something happens.

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The training room was a new addition to the secret base that I made half a year ago.

Inside the room are ten spinning iron dummies, with improved schematics and movements. Not only was the mechanism upgraded, I also connected them all together. Which means, by hitting one dummy, all the other dummies will respond as well.

Effectively creating a 1 vs 10 situation.

Additionally, I installed the iron dummies in various places, such as having a few on the wall, another few on the ceiling, etc. So when you start training with these, they will literally attack you from all directions.

I also added some dispensers into some of them. There are rocks that have been painted with ink that would be shot from the dispenser. That makes it possible to count how many times you've been hit and urge you to become better.

I added some redstone mechanism to improve the functionality of iron dummies, and with that created new functions and mechanics in the room. The new stuff is too numerous to count and too complicated to explain properly.

Man, it's so bad that it took me a whole year to finish all this.

As for why I decided to do all this? It was because I wanted to disperse the blow behind Melon's attacks.

That's right, you heard me. All this, just because Melon's blows were too strong.

She goes through iron dummies extremely quickly. One iron dummy would quickly lose all its durability and break. So I thought ten dummies all at once should be able to force her to spread out the attacks, and by extension increase the life-span of the dummies.

________________________

Alright, she isn't paying attention to me.

I took that chance and brought out a set of chainmail and continued my work.

This set of chainmail's appearance is modeled after a one-piece dress. Its color is black because I used black iron to make it.

But this time, the black iron isn't just iron and coal/carbon. I added powdered Mythril into the mixture, which was made possible thanks to the [Crafting Table], to increase its magical conductivity.

It offers physical protection and magical conductivity simultaneously because it holds the property of both the original black iron and powdered Mythril. If this equipment were to be sold on the open market, it would definitely fetch a handsome price; not to mention that I am going to enchant it later.

Speaking of enchantments, I have made it my mission to make them every day and stockpiled a staggering number of enchanted books with lots of variety in two years.

I also made some nice breakthroughs on that front. It turns out that the types of enchantments available from the enchantment table are no longer limited to the ones that are tied to Minecraft.

But those are pretty rare, and we don't have many of them in stock.

Let's talk about marketing later.

You might be wondering what I'm doing right now? Well, I'm trying to sew a layer of silk padding under the chainmail.

Wearing the chainmail bare would definitely be uncomfortable, and wearing padded clothing under the chainmail would be cumbersome (it also makes the person wearing it look bloated, which is visually unappealing).

With that in mind, I used special silks that I gathered from spider/arachnid monsters.

Using my own special weaving technique, I have managed to create silk cloth that is both ductile and breathable. Fashioning it into a one-piece dress was even easier.

Oh! I have to make the silk dress detachable, to make it more convenient to clean or replace.

This whole thing is my present for Melon's 15th birthday and coming of age. That's right, tonight is going to be a party.

In this world, turning fifteen years old is an important milestone.

Presents are given and even families in the bottom of the financial ladder will try their best to scrounge up a bowl of meat soup for the birthday kid.

To be alone and have nobody to celebrate my fifteen years old birthday with... is a pretty miserable experience.

The importance of this coming of age thing is so high that it cannot be clearly measured.

In Melon's case, she is older than Grace and me by two years. And today would be the day she turns fifteen.

That's why I must fulfill the obligation as her friend and get a good present for her! Which is also the reason why I am taking advantage of the time to work on the finishing touch.

As for the weaving techniques... I learned them from the village textile shop.

Me going to the textile shop is mostly due to the Orphanage regulations.

All orphans at the age of fifteen must leave the Orphanage, and they made arrangements for children that are thirteen years old to receive training through apprenticeships. They send the children into town and let them gain experience by working.

Remember how I mentioned it would have been great if they sent us kids to town and learn how to work? Well, turns out they already had that system in place. It's just that there were not enough openings for work that would warrant recruiting kids that are below thirteen.

I chose to work in the textile shop when given the choice, since despite the many useful features of the [Crafting Table], there are still limits.

I am not too concerned about my future since I am very rich - Oh, wait. Correction. I have the "potential" to be very rich.

All I need to do is actually sell things on the market, and I will start to roll in hills of gold.

With my [Brewing Stand], I have created a very powerful healing tonic known as...

*Drum Roll*

the MPOH (β)! *Tada!*

(Stage whisper: for those who are wondering, its short for [Malbor Potion of Healing (Beta)].)

I have officially named it MPOH (β) for various reasons. Firstly, the original Malbor potion, which I refer to as Malbor Potion Alpha, is very inferior by comparison. Since beta stands for "two" in the Greek alphabet, I thought it would be nice to distinguish my creation as the improved version of the original.

This baby can regrow limbs. Enough said.

Also, because [MPOH (β)] sounds really bad ass (and medically professional), I am going to use this from now on.

Unfortunately, I have had second thoughts on selling this world-changing medical cure on the open market. If I ever wanted to sell them, I would have to water it down or dilute it with something else.

Potioneering aside, I can still make lots of money by selling personally crafted equipment though!

... But then again, I can't just throw enchanted equipment which has special properties and functions onto the market without consequences either.

Urgh. (Insert "Long, suffering sigh" here)You guys have no idea how dismayed I am.

You guys have no idea how dismayed I am.

Anyways, two hours have passed since I started to work on the chainmail.

There was finally a heavy thud that indicated that Melon had exhausted herself and collapsed on the ground.

She must be very tired now.

Despite having installed an emergency stop switch, the only way to get her to stop is to wait until she tires herself out.

... Something which is extremely impressive. Two hours inside a training room that has ten rotation dummies made from hard iron attacking from all sides.

Who would be able to last that long against ten opponents?

"Melon? Melon? Are you alright?" I shouted in concern as I hid the finished chainmail inside my [Inventory].

"I'm... *huff*... fine, Master. A moment..."

"I am glad you are unhurt. Relax and go wash up. I will put your clothing at the usual spot."

"Okay..." She seems tuckered out.

By the way! The training room and the bathroom are connected.

This also means that there is less chance for Melon to wreck our plans while she takes a bath.

I was thinking to myself "Hmm. It's five in the afternoon. It's almost time." when suddenly, flower petals appeared in my vision.

"... Walson, good afternoon." Grace greeted me.

By using the [Ender Pearl] that is housed inside the secret base, she can easily transport herself back and forth now.

"Hi Grace, how was work? Do you like your job at the magic stone shop?" She is currently interning at the magic stone shop, and her main contribution is to inject more mana into the stones.

We mentioned that storing mana into the stones is essential before, but I have neglected to mention that not everyone has enough mana to store. But since Grace has lots of mana to spare, she took the job.

"... Work was smooth. No problems for me." She said,

Grace's skill in expression has improved a lot in these two years.

She has started to use "Me" and "I" in her speech. Perhaps that is due to the fact that she has a friend in Melon to chat with now.

Since they started to get along, they also attended each other's birthdays. And since today is even more special than the ones before, there was no way Grace would miss it.

I took out a hand-made sandwich with the usual specially processed meat in it, and handed them to her.

Speaking of which, Grace didn't stop growing in the vertical department and is now half a head taller than I am.

We started to prepare for the birthday feast and brought out the separate presents we prepared.

"Grace, what did you get for her?" I asked as I secretly observed the bathroom door in case Melon walks in.

I almost wanted to take a peak.

Keyword: Almost.

But I also almost got my head bashed in by a staff the last time.

The Melon here now is different to the one we met four years ago.

She has a healthy and strong body now. Not to mention gigantic boobs.

Since she is doing martial arts training, her body is also quite attractive. With an enticing vest line and curves.

Quite sexy. I likey.

Sometimes I would grope at her ass or pretend to grab her boobs despite her wearing armor over her chest. She then gave me an embarrassed look and said stuff like "Master, Please don't..." or "Master, this is indecent..."

Despite openly sexually harassing her, she doesn't seem to actively prevent or refuse them. In fact, her behavior almost makes it better...

But of course, Grace is usually right behind me, ready to smite me with her staff when that happens.

"... Ah! Everyone is here." At this moment, Melon stepped out from the bathroom with some light clothing on her person.

Her lovely red hair was still dripping with water, but it only makes it look more bright and luminous, like a rose colored flame.

"Surprise!"

"... Tada."

Grace and I took our poses - something we practiced for a dozen times to get it just right - and shouted:

"Happy Birthday! Congratulations on your coming of age!"

The look of utter surprise on Melon's face was absolutely priceless.