Chapter 96
“Not fair! I want one too.” Tula demanded.
“Here you go.” Vincent delivered a quick peck on her forehead.
-Please say nothing. This took all my courage.-
[I understand. I just want to say congratulations. You are finally manning up. I’m proud. PS: I’m wife number three.]
*Clap!
“Ahem... ” Vincent clapped then cleared his throat for attention. Then he continued when all eyes were stuck on him, “Why don’t you girls collect the Ani Bananas while I check on our surroundings and maybe train for a bit. I need some time to think, and I presume you need as well.”
.....
“G-good idea. ” Ester immediately responded. She wanted some time to ease her racing heart and digest the proposal Vincent made. That no matter what happens, she is his woman.
Vincent took these words as a go-ahead and swiftly left the three alone.
“Why did you send Vincent away? I wanted a few more kisses.” Lupa stated with a frown.
“Just climb the tree, you horny wolf.” Ester gently pulled Lupa’s wolf ear to stop her tantrum.
“My big sisters are very close, hehe. ” Tula chuckled at their playful gestures.
“Just so you know, Vincent looked at me more, humph...” Lupa swiftly turned around and climbed the tree in order not to give Ester the chance to retort.
‘Lupa is a handful, but... she cares about me as well. Even if she likes to compete, she doesn’t want to see me sad. I should pull her ears more; they are so soft, hehe.’ Ester lightly chuckled at this thought while watching the wolf girl climb the tree like a monkey with claws.
[What a good day to celebrate this is. So, what will you do next?]
-I thought of upgrading my Soul Dimensional Storage to see if I could store the Demonic Beast corpse.-
[Good idea. Let’s see if we can store the corpse.]
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[Wish to mutate an ability has been detected.]
[Mutation of Soul Dimensional Storage is available.]
[Will you spend 10sp to mutate Soul Dimensional Storage?]
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[Accept -10sp] [Decline]
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“Accept.”
“Accept.”
Vincent said twice at the ability upgrade notification window.
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[-20sp to mutate Soul Dimensional Storage. 0sp Remaining.]
[Soul Dimensional Storage 3xCubed mutated to 5xCubed]
[Soul Dimensional Storage stage zero(2/10) Increased to stage zero(4/10)]
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Vincent went over and tried to store the corpse. He believed a five cubic meter space or around sixteen feet from all sides would fit the corpse even if it doesn’t dematerialize into mana particles like liquid and collect in compressed size.
As his hand touched the rocky monster ape’s arm, with a single thought, the body shone green, indicating the process has started, and no warning notifications to be seen. It was working with no problem.
Vincent raised a smile as he watched the corpse dematerialize and the mana particles enter his hands.
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[1x Nok Ape Corpse (Earth Demonic Beast) (Rare Quality) gained.]
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“Yes. It worked!” Vincent raised his hands in a triumphant pose. He became happy since it meant two new things. He could store large-sized objects and also corpses.
[Your Soul Dimensional Storage is overpowered and scary.]
-I get the op’ness but... why is it scary?-
[What if the storage size is infinite? What if you would be able to store this planet by mistake? I-it gives me the chills thinking about it. You could kill millions of people with a single touch.]
-Wasn’t there a warning when I couldn’t store an object? Then I only need to upgrade to a reasonable amount and not kill myself by mistake.-
Vincent thought he would die of old age before his storage could contain this planet if he upgraded two cubic meters per day. The possibility of the Soul Power price increase was also in his thoughts.
Vincent thought it would be better to leave the worrying later and leave this thought of the world’s disappearance forgotten through the passage of time.
[So. what will you do next?]
“I was thinking of training. Developers in games use two types of power-ups systems. Level ups after beating an enemy or individual stat level-ups. I think the latter applies here since Ester is... is stronger than me stat-wise.” Vincent murmured the last part as he felt embarrassed to say this out loud.
He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that his body looked stronger, but the Inspection Gemstone showed he was still weak. Then a thought flashed in his mind. How weak was he when arriving in this world?
[It’s too soon to say so. Your body is different than anyone else’s. You recover your stamina faster, and your body becomes more sculpted by the day. Your hair is growing longer, as well.]
[Maybe like a growth spurt, haha.]
“I’m already twenty-five years old. My growth spurt ended years ago.” Vincent shook his head, denying this idea.
Vincent started training. He included shadow sparing in the mix when taking breaks. An image of an unmoving Demonic Beast appeared before his eyes. He punched and kicked with every hit trying to reach the monstrous ape’s vital spots.
Hours flew at a rapid pace, and night soon approached. Vincent stood alone, donning sweaty clothes. His stamina regeneration increased, allowing him to spend a whole day training and fighting an imaginary foe.
“Vincent, there you are. We were worried about you and decided to search for you. I found you first, hehe.” Lupa said with the usual praise rewarding purpose. Behind her walked Ester and Tula with a worried frown.
“Ahh... almost night already? I didn’t notice the time fly, haha. Thanks for coming.” Vincent laughed at this strange situation. He strangely didn’t get exhausted, and so he didn’t feel the time was passing.
Kazumi decided not to bother Vincent while feeling surprised by the few resting breaks he took. Vincent didn’t keep a count of the reps and sets, so he kept repeating the same routine over and over again.
-How much did I train?-
[Let’s just say over nine thousand and leave it at that.]
‘So I trained a lot, and Kazumi doesn’t want to bother telling me the actual amount. I hope I became stronger, but we don’t possess an Inspection Gemstone.’
‘My Inspection ability is still low. Maybe I will upgrade Inspection next after collecting a few Soul Power for emergencies.’ Vincent pondered while following the girls back to the cart with smelly clothes.
“Do you do something with the Dem... the baddie’s corpse? I didn’t see it anywhere.” Ester curiously asked.
“I stored it into my Soul Storage. I used yesterday’s and today’s Soul Power to upgrade it. Something wrong?” Vincent replied.
“Ahem... I heard from my father how only certain rare Bags Of Holding have enough space to hold large things inside, unlike this Gender Bound Bag Of Holding.”
“One of the few is called Sizable Bag Of Holding, colored orange, and anyone can use them. They are rare because of their cost, but are the most commonly used because they are the cheapest to acquire.”
“My father mentioned how there’s a rare tailor class with the ability to create a combined bag of holding with two types of effects. For example, Blood Bound and Sizable. But he didn’t say anything else since we couldn’t afford such items.”
Ester explained, warning Vincent to be cautious and using the right excuse when someone sees him storing or retrieving an item. He should take Tula’s expression as a guideline of what other inhabitants of this world would express.
[We just dodged a bullet thanks to Ester. Let’s be careful next time when utilizing the overpowered Soul Dimensional Storage.]
Vincent nodded while agreeing with her suggestion. Suddenly, his ears picked up an embarrassing request, quickly changing the mood.
“You have a bad smell even if this sweet smell surrounds us. I want to return the favor. Can I wash you, my mate?” Lupa requested upon reaching their destination.
Vincent and Ester locked their gaze on Lupa with a pair of reddened cheeks. Kazumi chuckled at the straight shooter wolf girl while Tula gazed with interest to wash with her big sisters.
“Ahem...” Vincent cleared his throat and approached Lupa. Then he whispered in her ear, “Maybe when we live in a house together. I don’t want Tula to see our marks.”
[Blame it on Tula, heh. As I thought, you got no guts to take the incentive. Shall I help you?]
-Don’t try implanting any more dirty thoughts in her head. Her current thoughts are enough to bring me trouble.-
[Now you show your true colors, hehe. I wonder what will happen when we exit this forest. Will there be night training every day? Hehe.]
-Stop you perverted wisp. Don’t fill my mind with these thoughts.-
Vincent quickly went to Ester and asked, “Can I have a set of clean clothes?”
Ester nodded and soon watched Vincent swiftly take the clothes from her hands as if his life was on the line. He then went to take a bowl of water with a piece of cloth and ran to the other side of the gigantic tree.
“Have you forgotten a child is watching? You horny wolf. ” Ester pulled Lupa’s ear as she tried to teach her some modesty.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I wanted to help, hehe.” Lupa apologized while raising a faint grin.
.....
Vincent returned later and became surprised at what was happening. Lupa looked somewhat apologetic. Her tail was lowered like a dog that has done wrong. It seemed Lupa received a strict lesson on modesty.
“I’m sorry, I’ll be a good girl next time. ” Lupa said to Vincent with her ears lowered down.
Vincent gently patted her head, and warmly said, “Everything has its own time, and it takes time to understand when they are acceptable to happen or to be said.”
“Don’t spoil her too much. Here, the cooked fish is ready.” Ester added with a frown.
[You already look like a married couple. Ester the wife and Lupa the child, haha.]
Kazumi sarcastically said. She felt happy with this lively scene. A group of people Vincent could trust surrounded him while each individual treated each other like family.
*Day 23*
A new morning shined, and the shade provided by the Elder Demonic Tree welcomed them. The four of them had breakfast and started collecting the remaining Ani Bananas on the enormous tree.
Vincent stored the Ani Bananas in the cart as he had forgotten to store them before going to sleep the previous day. His face soon crept a smile as the collected amount exceeded his expectations.
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[175x Ani Banana (Unkown Quality) gained.]
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