[07:00 AM]

[Mercenary Group House]

I went home after talking with Rosa and Ao. Well.. Calling it home was a bit strange because the house was our Mercenary Group's base.

But, well.. I guess I could call it home because I plan to stay in this house from now on.

More importantly, I promised Ao that my Mercenary Group would be Sacred Relic's ally. It was a good thing for me, as in my plans, a lot of them would involve Sacred Relic. By being their ally, they would reach out to us first if they needed mercenaries in the future.

Zaiden would also join Sacred Relic in the future. He would definitely join them if he knew the future.

Sacred Relic had a lot of Artifacts. In the story, Zaiden got a lot of help from the guild in the form of Artifacts and Magic Pills, which helped him to get stronger faster than normal Awakeners.

By allying with Sacred Relic, I would be able to attend all events that involved Zayden in the future as Rai.

Well, none of that matters right now. I just wanted to eat the breakfast that Chloe cooked for me.

Honestly, I was looking forward to it as I had no one to cook for me back on Earth. I didn't know whether Chloe was a good cook or not, as she never did it before in the novel, but I appreciated the thought.

Upon arriving at the new house, I entered without knocking.

"I am back."

"Welcome back."

A voice replied to my greeting from inside. Then Chloe appeared, smiling.

"Welcome back." Repeated Chloe.

I stood idly as I looked at her as I took off my mask. She had changed her clothes into a one-piece white underneath a black camisole. Her hair fluttered in the air as her head tilted a little. She looked rather cute in her new clothes. The aura of the Hero that I felt when we first met was gone; she only looked like a normal girl now.

"W-why are you staring at me like that?" Asked Chloe bashfully.

This girl adapted to her new life too fast.

"Could it be that my clothes are strange?"

I shook my head at her question. "No, I am just amazed by how beautiful you are. It looks good on you."

"I see. I am glad." She smiled brightly. "Oh, right! Breakfast is ready. Let's eat together!"

"Alright."

I went to the dining room with Chloe. There was already food prepared on the plate and it was already arranged on the table.

It was scrambled eggs and bacon, as I requested. There were two plates that were placed across from each other.

Chloe sat on the chair behind the table and gestured to me.

"You can sit there, Vincent."

I sat on the seat across from her.

"This is my first time cooking. But don't worry! I followed a recipe on the internet."

As expected, huh. She never had a chance to do something like this while in the Association, so it was not a surprise.

I smiled at her playfully and said. "Then it's my honor to be able to try your first cooking ever, Hero."

When I called her Hero, Chloe frowned a little. She seemed to hate to be called that. I was just joking, but it seemed like she was really displeased by that.

"My bad, Chloe."

"..Nn." She nodded her head. "It's okay. But.. Just call me Chloe."

"Yeah, sure. Let's eat."

All the utensils were already prepared on the table too. I guess she bought them alongside the grocery when I dealt with Ao and Rosa.

I took a fork and tried the scrambled eggs first. The texture was soft, but I didn't know how it tasted yet. I put it into my mouth, and my eyes widened.

"H-How is it? Is it good?" Asked Chloe nervously.

I raised my thumb at her to show that I was satisfied with the meal. She smiled brightly and began to eat. As soon as she put the scrambled eggs into her mouth, her expression melted with happiness.

"Hmn~"

When I saw her for the first time, she had the aura of a cold, beautiful girl. However, right now, that aura was gone and was replaced by a cute and warm aura that fit her better.

I was glad that I asked her to go with me.

***

After we were done with our meal, I helped Chloe wash the dishes. We then sat on the couch in the living room and turned the TV on.

The TV was filled with news about The Hero and Rai. Never once it was mentioned that the one kidnapped was only Chloe; it was always The Hero, or Hero Chloe.

Chloe switched the channel a few times, but it was still filled with news about Rai kidnapping The Hero. Finally, she got tired of the news and turned the TV off.

With her sharp eyes, she stared at me.

"Hey.."

"What?"

"Your face.. Why do you have two faces?" Asked Chloe curiously.

"Oh, about that."

I took the [Mask of Deceit] out of my magic bag and handed it to Chloe for her to see the effect.

"It's because of this."

She took the mask in hand, and her face quickly turned to a surprise. She looked at me with her eyes shining brilliantly.

"Can you find one more for me?"

"Huh? You want one?"

"Yes, I want to be with Vincent too."

Oh. Right, we could do that too.

Chloe could act with Rai as a member of his Mercenary Group, but she could also make a new identity like me to act with Vincent.

It was also safe if she used her new identity while living with me in this house, in case Zaiden or someone else wanted to raid my house when I moved out of my dormitory. But I would make some excuses if they wanted to visit this house. I wouldn't allow him to step in this house, not yet.

"Then let's make you one. I also plan to enhance some items today."

"Eh?" Chloe let out a surprised sound. "You are an enhancer?"

historical

"Hmm? I never told you?"

Chloe shook her head.

Come to think of it, I never told her about my Talent. I only said to her that I used a bow as my main weapon.

This won't do. We wouldn't be able to cooperate with each other at this rate.

"I can enhance items. I will tell you the details about my Talent later."

"Un. I will tell you my Talent too." She said as she handed me back my mask.

I smiled at her, took my mask back, and picked my body up from the couch.

"Then let's do some shopping."

***

Talking about shopping for Enhancement ingredients, there were only two stores that fit the requirement.

The first one was the rip-off store that used the name Awakener Store. Then the second one was Park Injun's store.

We went to Park Injun's store to secure 200g of Enhancement Dust and a silver necklace that was shaped like a moon. It cost me a hundred thousand USD for both items.

The reason I bought a necklace instead of a mask was simple. It was Chloe's preference.

When I asked her to choose any item that she wanted to be used as a base for the enhancement, she said that she wanted a necklace without a second thought.

After getting the item that we needed, we went back to our house, as I entered the underground training area after taking a glass from the kitchen. I needed to concentrate on enhancing the item, so Chloe didn't follow me to the underground.

While I was at it, I planned to extract the blood from Great Lich's heart that we got yesterday. The extracting process was simple. I just needed to boil the heart with fire created by Magic for a minute. That way, the frozen blood that congested the heart would flow again and drip out of the heart.

I just needed to pray that I would get a lot of blood from this heart.

"Let's enhance Chloe's necklace first."

I took the necklace out of my magic bag and laid it on the floor. Next, I took out the Enhancement Dust and sprinkled it on the necklace while infusing it with Null Attribute Mana and thinking about the effect that I wanted to put on the necklace.

The effect I wanted was similar to [Mask of Deceit], but I planned to change it a bit. It was just a simple illusion to change a person's face when Mana was infused instead of when it was worn. That way, Chloe could wear this necklace anytime she wanted to.

After a while, the necklace glowed a blue light and dimmed the next second. The notifications followed suit.

[Silver Necklace enhancement was successful. The effect of the enhancement has been amplified.]

[Silver Necklace turned into Veil Necklace.]

The enhancement was successful. Though my Luck was not triggered, it was still good. At least the Enhancement was a success.

I checked the necklace and smiled.

_____

[Veil Necklace]

[Null Attribute]

Necklace Enhanced by a genius enhancer

Effect:

- Illusion Veil

Put an illusion on to mask your face when Mana is infused into the necklace.

_____

There was no voice changing effect, but this was enough. Only a few people had heard Chloe's voice, so no one would recognize her even if she didn't change her voice.

I put the necklace in my magic bag for now and took out the Great Lich's heart. The size of the heart was only around my fist; it was quite small considering it held a lot of Mana that the Great Lich had.

The size was convenient for me as it fit the glass that I took from the kitchen perfectly. I put the glass on the floor and put the heart on top of the glass. It stayed on top of the glass like a lid because the glass was too small for the heart.

Next, I created fire with Magic and burned the heart while being careful not to damage it too badly. I held my breath because I concentrated too hard and didn't want to mess with this. It was my first time using Magic to do something like this.

The fire engulfed the Great Lich's heart, but it didn't shear it even a little. The heart was still intact. I was able to let go of the breath that I held.

"Fuu–"

I sweated from nervousness. If the fire sheared the heart even a little, then the amount of blood that I could extract from it would decrease.

While I only needed one drop to decrease the penalty from using [Arash Bow]'s special effect, I did want to keep some of the blood for future use.

That was why I was relieved when I managed to control the fire without shearing the Great Lich's heart.

After a few seconds, blood started dripping from the heart. The color of the blood was dark red, and it contained a lot of Mana.

My lips curled into a smile.

"Good!"

The process then lasted for a minute. After the blood dripped six times, it didn't drip anymore, and the Mana inside the heart had been completely washed-up.

I stopped the fire, raised the glass, and looked at the Great Lich's blood on the bottom of the glass.

"Six drops of the Great Lich's blood! I can at least decrease six side-effects of using Artifact's special skill with this."

I was satisfied with the result.

It was as if I had hit a jackpot on Earth. Great Lich's blood would be able to decrease the side-effects of an Artifact better than Lich's blood. This was a rare item that only appeared on the market three times in the future. At least the future that I knew.

I was itching to erase [Arash Bow]'s side effect at once, but then I heard someone ring the bell of our house.

Ding Dong–!

There was a speaker built in the underground to notify if there was a guest who rang the bell. And now, someone rang the bell of our house.

No one except Park Injun, Rosa, and Ao knew about me to the point that they would actively seek me. So that meant..

"The guest came for Chloe, huh?"

Creak–

As I muttered that, the door of the underground training area was opened, and Chloe appeared from beyond the door.

"There is a guest." Said Chloe.

I stood up and answered her.

"I know. I think that guest is here for you."

Chloe nodded her head. "I think so too. What should we do?"

"Hmm.. Let's meet him. If he's ringing the doorbell, then surely he has no intention of hurting us, but.. Let's see the intercom first to make sure of that."

"Alright."

Both of us then went upstairs to see the intercom before opening the door. There was a camera installed on the door, and we could see the other side through the intercom.

The intercom was located in the living room, and we watched the appearance of the one who rang the doorbell.

He was wearing a black cloak. Its collar was so high that it hid the lower half of his face. His hair was black and short, parted in the middle like a K-Pop idol.

When he moved a little, I could see his left hand. He was holding a black book with a skull on the cover. Maybe he noticed that we were watching through the camera; his black eyes were staring right at it.

"Hello. I am not here to cause harm; I only want to talk. Maybe you don't know me, but you should know that I am one of Memento Mori's members." He spoke with a hoarse voice.

This guy.. I recognized him. His outfit stood out even among Memento Mori's members.

He was a member of that organization, Memento Mori. His name was..

"Chun Dong.. We have a troublesome guy visiting us." I muttered with a wry smile.