After Nick received his rightfully earned salary, he paid the entrance fees at the city gate and started levitating, preparing to fly back to his house to get some rest.
But a guard that appeared to be a captain ran out of the Guard's tower by the gate and quickly stopped him, "Sir, Origin realm experts don't need to pay entrance fees, in fact, in the future, you could just fly over the walls."
Nick almost fell back to the ground hearing this! Did he go through all that trouble for nothing? Damn it, can't they put up a sign to warn people or something, this was so embarrassing.
Unwilling to stay there anymore he ignored the guard captain and flew away, the guard captain looked at Nick flying away and couldn't help but admire him.
"Do you see that, soldiers?! This is how a true cultivator behaves! To him, a spirit stone is just an object and nothing more, he has achieved the true realm of separation from the materialistic world. Even after I told him he doesn't need to pay the entrance fee he still left without taking his Spirit stone back!"
The guards stood there puzzled, they were there when the merchant and this cultivator pulled their 'prank' but the man had acted lowly and pretentious, however now they realized that maybe this was his true side.
Maybe he was a playful person that just liked pulling pranks, yet humble, deep down.
"Ahh, sorry I forgot to collect my spirit stone..." After Nick flew away he realized he forgot to take back his spirit stone, so he flew back to retrieve it.
But when he heard the guard captain praising him for not being materialistic, and Nick couldn't help but agree with the guard, he wasn't a greedy person. All he ever wanted was to earn more of everything and never lose what was his...
The guard captain couldn't show his face around here again, he would need to ask for reassignment because he had totally lost the respect of his fellow guards! For god's sake, he had just finished praising the guy when the person returned just to prove him wrong.
Nick didn't feel anything was wrong as he snatched back the stone he had paid with glee and returned home.
Maggy and Dean have suffered these past few days. Everything they ate just tasted so bland after they tried Nick's cooking, but no matter how hard they prayed he just didn't seem to return.
"Brother, do you think big bro Nick left us because we ate without him that time, or because we served him that cockroach with eggs?! Brother, I miss big brother, but now we can't even apologize...wuuu...sob...sob...he cooked for us, and bought us a house now he's gone...waa."
"It's okay sis, big bro Nick wouldn't just leave us for such little things, he fought an entire gang for us after all, please don't cry...waaaaa" But Dean who had initially planned on coaxing his sister broke down to tears himself, and so, the two kids wept in each other's arms.
Nick walked into his house feeling really positive, he had accomplished the mission given to him by the system. And now he could spend today with the kids, then on the day after tomorrow, he will set out and head to the Imperial city!
Yet as he thought of all the things he would have to do to get those materials for the main mission, he couldn't help feeling discouraged.
But before he could even think further, he heard the mournful wails of the kids coming from Maggy's room, worried and anxious he didn't even bother to control his strength as burst through the walls instantly appearing in front of the kids.
Nick came in, expecting to find the kids being attacked or hurt, but he saw no assailant, only the two of them hugging each other and wailing as if their dog just died.
Dean and Maggy were shocked by the sudden intrusion into their private moment, can't the person see that they were busy feeling sad, why did he have to interrupt them.
However, as the dust from the wall settled and they could finally see the person clearly, to their surprise, it was their big brother, overwhelmed with happiness they both jumped into his arms and started giggling in a silly manner.
Nick was starting to question if he had made the right decision adopting kids at their fire age, their hormones must be shooting everywhere. One minute they were on the floor crying and the next they were hugging him, laughing themselves silly!
Maggy felt joyous in Nick's embrace. Their big brother didn't abandon them, and now he was back.
While in the middle of experiencing true happiness, her eyes suddenly snapped open in realization. She pushed Nick away and cried even more miserably while pointing at the wall.
"Big bro Nick, I hate you!! You broke my wall; big bro broke my wall!! First, you took away my spirit stone, now...and now you broke my wall?! Big brother isn't fair!!"
Nick smiled wryly. He did indeed adopt teenagers, their emotions were all over the place.
"Okay, stop crying, here, have a profound stone as compensation for your wall, okay now is that better?" Nick took out a profound stone and gave it to the little girl to make her feel better.
Maggy stood there dumbfounded, did her big brother just give her a profound stone for the wall, but this was a profound stone, she never even held one before in her life yet now she owned one...
Dean felt slightly jealous. If only it was his wall that was demolished! But he still felt happy for his sister. And he also decided to demolish the wall in his room later, and even if he didn't get a profound stone as Maggy did, at least he would have fun breaking the wall!
"Big bro Nick, I forgive you, don't worry, I won't hate you, but you still owe me a spirit stone remember."
Nick was satisfied with Maggy's first few words, but her last statement made him regret giving her a profound stone. The little girl definitely knew how much more valuable the Profound stone he gave her was compared to the Spirit stone he had taken earlier, and yet this little greedy brat still hoped to have it all?!
"As I told you last time, I gave you that Spirit stone for safekeeping, and you did a good job keeping it safe, thank you!" After Nick said this, he walked away without waiting for her to respond.
Heading to his bedroom he jumped on his bed to have his beauty sleep, but the door to his bedroom slowly opened and two sets of footsteps stepped in and stood there by his bed seemingly embarrassed to wake him up but also unwilling to leave.
Of course, who else would it be but the two kids, Nick turned his head and looked at them in a questioning manner.
And he got his answer soon enough when both of the kids pointed towards their mouths in a comical manner and started rubbing their bellies shyly.
Nick laughed when he realized that they were here for food, not complaining at all he got up and prepared them a meal with some ingredients lying around, after which he waited for their scheduled fainting spell.
And just as he expected, they fainted on the table while drooling all over it.
Following the custom, he took them to their beds, but as he did so, he was shocked to find that both of them had reached the peak of the spirit realm, it seemed that with sudden relief from their burdens as well as the energy-packed food he cooked for them they broke through realms consecutively.
After carrying them to their beds, Nick carried himself to his own bed next and slept like a log. And only woke up early the next day, but found that the kids had already woken up finished their leftovers from yesterday, and fainted again like it was part of their routine.
Nick couldn't help but worry that all this fainting might harm them in the long run and decided to find someone well educated in medicine and get their opinions before cooking them another energy-packed meal.
Also reminding himself to make the kids eat in bed next time, Nick called one of the maids and asked her to take the kids to their rooms, then went out to meet the merchant from yesterday.
Now he had two reasons for doing this, firstly, he really wanted to see the girl that the merchant claimed to be uglier than the swine beast, and secondly, since he planned on leaving for the imperial city with the kids, he saw no need to keep the house, and hoped that the merchant could help him sell it.