Mutagen

Day 320 - 1:03 PM - Temporary House, Black Lotus Compound, Kachidoki, Chuo City, Tokyo

Half an hour after Mako entered the temporary house, she finally went out to fetch the group's order for lunch. However, she tightly clutched a sheathed dagger with both hands while cautiously looking around with a hint of hesitation on her face.

Inside the temporary house, the members of Mark's group discussed what had just happened. After all, only Mark and Emika could understand the entirety of the conversation, although Spera could also make out some details.

As the group talked, the antique box could be seen in front of Mark while the silver-colored pendant remained in his hands.

"So, you had just scammed her... That dagger is just a broken prototype you used before."

Spera asked Mark, remembering the situation moments earlier.

"Scam? Not really," Mark denied the accusation with a shrug. "Something is only a scam if the other party thinks they are losing out on the situation. I already fixed that dagger. It's a bit weaker than our current weapons, though. Still, people would think it's an artifact considering its functions. Besides, I've been honest with her."

Spera's stare at Mark intensified. The first lines of his reply were something only a scammer would say. She knew since she encountered a good number of those lowlives while working under the [Auraboros].

Nonetheless, it was true that Mark was honest for the most part of the conversation.

After Mako explained the circumstances between her and the pendant, Mark could only have one reply. He was not sure whether he could fix the artifact or not.

If [Magic Circuits] and [Magical Artifact Creation] were college courses, there was no need to mention being a graduate. Mark was barely even a freshman in this regard. He did not know much and had no idea if he could even discover how the pendant functioned.

That reply surely made Mako quite disappointed. However, given that Mako had been genuinely nice to his group so far, he would not deceive her.

And from there, Mark gave her a suggestion.

While Mark was unsure of being able to fix the pendant, there was still the possibility that he could if he had the time to study it. He asked to leave the artifact in his hands for a few days.

Of course, while that might be a good suggestion, and Mako had no other choices, she was still hesitant to leave her treasure in the hands of someone she had yet to trust wholeheartedly.

That was when Mark put the pendant back into its box before standing up and going to the back of the room where their bags were. And while disguising it as if he was taking something out from the bags, Mark took out the dagger Spera mentioned from his ring.

Mark then displayed what the dagger could do, showing the glowing particle edge and cladding the blade with flames and high-voltage electricity. Compared to their current weapons, it was weaker. Its power source was also different, causing the weakness. Nonetheless, it was working by gathering magical energy from the air and storing it inside a rechargeable core within its hilt.

The most probable reason most of the populace could not recognize and use [Magical Artifacts] was that they had no ability to use [Magical Energy]. It was due to these magical items requiring magical input from the user to display their might.

But Mark's creations were in the category that anyone could use as long as they had the knowledge to use them.

The dagger was Mark's prototype creation and the original basis of their current weapons. However, in the eyes of Mako, it was another invaluable treasure.

And there, Mark exchanged the broken pendant with the prototype dagger for a few days. It lessened Mako's hesitation in leaving the broken artifact in Mark's hands. Still, while she finally agreed, she had some reluctance. It was not surprising. While the dagger was working, the broken pendant had more sentimental value to her.

Even so, Mako agreed to Mark's suggestion. And that brought them back to the current discussion after Mako had left with the dagger tightly in her hands.

"That's still a scam, you know?"

Spera argued.

"What?" Mark shrugged. "Did you get scammed before or something to be reacting like that?"

Spera froze and pouted. She got caught with her past experiences. She got definitely got scammed several times when she was still working under the [Auraboros].

Mako returned a few minutes later, bringing the lunch of their choice. It made the girls feel a bit relieved that they could eat a different kind of food for lunch.

It was rice, tempura, and stir-fried veggies. Without a doubt, it was an expensive meal in the apocalypse. After all, the prices of meat and veggies had come to a complete turnaround in the apocalypse, where fewer vegetables and fruits could be seen, and more meat was available in the market.

The same could be said for shrimps that were now as large as an adult's wrist. It was rare to get shrimps nowadays, and the ones they were eating must have been cultivated within the Reclaimed City and sold at unbelievable prices.

But given the Black Lotus' income the day before due to Mark and his group, they were entitled to such a lavish meal.

And here, the girls learned something new about Mark.

Mark could eat shrimp, but he was not really fond of the taste. It was not like he was allergic to it. It was just the taste. While he tried to hide it, it was noticeable when he ate more veggies than the deliciously fried and coated shrimp.

Well, it did not really matter much. Everyone had likes and dislikes when it came to food. It was just unexpected to learn about Mark's food preferences now.

After Mako returned once again to collect the empty dishes, the group returned to their original plan for today. It was to play games all day and avoid the impatient eyes waiting outside the Black Lotus Compound.

***

Day 320 - 6:22 PM - Leader's Office, Black Lotus Compound, Kachidoki, Chuo City, Tokyo

Early in the evening of the same day, Mark was called and brought to Ren's office once more.

Mark finally met Ren and Tadashi after more than a day had passed since the [Mutated Giant Hornet] attack.

And after the greetings, a black-colored card and what seemed to be a bank book were presented in front of Mark.

"That's a VIP Card, and that's its Transaction Book," Ren explained. "It contained the earnings for the corpses of the hornets as well as the earnings at the auction."

Mark picked up the two items and opened the Transaction Book. It was no different from a Bank Book. What he immediately noticed was the transactions recorded in the book. It recorded two times where an amount was deposited before a portion was withdrawn.

And Mark noticed what was going on, and it was Ren's sincerity.

It seemed that Ren deposited the whole amount to the VIP account first before withdrawing the share they were supposed to get making everything recorded properly through the Transaction Book.

Here, Ren congratulated Mark on something he would not expect in his lifetime.

"Congratulations on becoming a millionaire."

Ren's smile went unnoticed by Mark, however. He was fixated on the amount recorded in the Transaction Book.

In the Transaction Book, the remaining amount was exactly two million credits. By the looks of it, Ren reduced their share a little and just took the extra amount to make the balance exactly as that. It was Ren's loss, but she was already fine with the share they managed to get without much effort.

Given that a single credit's value was higher than Yen, two million credits would be worth way more than being just a regular millionaire in Japan. Of course, having just a few million Yen in Japan would not make you a rich person. Still, that was a lot of money for Mark, who was financially struggling before the apocalypse.

Mark frowned a bit. He was pretty skeptical.

The first transaction on the card should be the payment for the hornet corpses. However, it did not even reach a third of the second transaction.

It meant that...

"The auction netted this much?"

Mark asked. It was just chocolate and cigarettes. How in the world would it reach millions of credits?

Looking at Mark's genuine reaction, Ren understood what was going on. After she left her family, she also had times she had to financially struggle before her grandfather passed away. Mark's reaction was clearly showing how he was unable to understand the life of the rich.

"It looks like you're looking down on how much the rich could waste money." Ren snickered. "Rich people would not hesitate to throw away millions on anything with the "Luxury" tag on it."

Ren was also rich once. She understood the lifestyle of the rich firsthand.

And in the Reclaimed City, the status of the rich and poor classes remained. In fact, the difference even grew further between the two classes.

It was not that different from the ruined Bay City or Corregidor Island in the Philippines, where the rich were privileged. Even the old Infanta Settlement did the same. It was just that the scale in the Reclaimed City here in Japan was far bigger.

"We could have earned far bigger if there's expensive liquor and stuff."

Ren added.

"Something like this one?"

Mark suddenly spoke, holding a bottle of Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru out of nowhere.

No, it was not out of nowhere. Ren and Tadashi had just seen Mark open a hole in space in a split second and take out a bottle of the most expensive wine in the world.

"I knew it..."

Ren was speechless as she stared at Mark. He was not blinded by money or anything. It was just that he did not care showing it to Ren and Tadashi that he had a [Storage Artifact].

In the first place, it was absurd not to suspect as such. Mark's group barely had anything when Ren picked them up and brought them here. Yet, he brought a bag of luxury items out of nowhere, not to mention where his group got their weapons and equipment the other day.

While some idiots thought that Yasuo managed to create new products and swarmed his workshop, Ren and Tadashi were not the same. They had known Yasuo since they were young. There was no way they would not know if he had such kind of products in store.

Still, confirming such a mystery firsthand was quite a surprise.

This situation made Ren and Tadashi's minds create more misconceptions about Mark's origin. After all, [Storage Artifacts] was too rare and expensive that such items would not even appear in the international underground market. And if one appeared, it would not be a surprise if the price could buy a small country.

After all, even a [Storage Artifact] capable of storing just a bag-size of items would already have a lot of use, whether the usage was for good or evil. It could even change the tide of war if used properly.

Yet Mark was here, displaying such an item without care.

Noticing the stare of the two, Mark was nonchalant. It did not really matter since the two already strongly suspected it. Besides, he was not afraid that it would get stolen. Anyone that had the idea would immediately get caught by him. Besides, the [Spatial Rings] was not just some regular artifacts. The [Spatial Stones] came from a God of Creation, and only Mark and Mei could use them.

Mark only chose to hide the rings because things would become troublesome if used in public. And here, it would not matter. Ren and Tadashi were pretty good people.

And ignoring the situation, Mark spoke.

"Can you also sell this?"

And Ren could only sigh.

"I want to, but it's better not to... At least not now. We already caused quite a commotion. Creating another one would make people even more suspicious. And such a rare and expensive item would definitely not only cause a small one."

"Well, true," Mark agreed. "We can't be greedy."

And then, Mark pushed the bottle of wine toward Ren.

"You can have it then."

Mark said, causing Ren to become flustered.

"W-what? You're joking, right?"

Of course, it was right to be flustered. Even before the apocalypse, the price of this wine was sky-high for poor people.

"No?" Mark shrugged. "I have more bottles of that. Giving out one doesn't really matter. And... I really don't like alcohol."

Mark looked at the bottle of wine. The glint in his eyes showed how he could not understand what people liked about it.

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