" I am a little tanned", said Ryan while looking at the mirror. Gwen, who is also tanned, said in dissatisfaction " but barely, compared to mine".
"You have a sexy looking tan, that makes me glad to look at. I don't look like I just went to the beach." Ryan said while putting his arm on Gwen's hip. They are still in vacation vibes even after returning.
The vibes cut short as Hiddle walked in the penthouse. This time he is alerted by ALBUS instead. Ryan walks to the living room to greet the old housekeeper . "Long time no see!"
"Young master, surely you must have enjoyed your vacation as you didn't even call me or your father, " Hiddle said.
He, who was stunned for a while, replied back " if it was you who's on a vacation with your lover, would you call?". The housekeeper just smiles after hearing that. In his heart, he thought that the kid had grown up well.
" You say that you want the company to test something? This is a rare young master" Hiddle is surprised. He knows that the kid usually likes to complete the test first before passing any new inventions.
"It's pretty big, so it's not like I can do it without anyone noticing". Ryan passes down the sea water purifying plant design to the butler.
Hiddle is reading the plan, didn't understand a thing, but nods anyway. "Before you focused on food. Now on water. Are you planning on tackling the components of human life?"
Although it is a bit uncomfortable facing Hiddle's gaze that full of admiration, he added, "there's also a small aquifer mining equipment that can dig deep into the ground, for big continents, it's almost impossible to supply all their water from the sea."
The other machinery is thought by him during the vacation. He brings it to reality on the plane during his way back.
" I'll leave this project to the company instead. You can decide if you want to get profit or do humanitarian aid. I've written guidelines on water stricken areas. "
Hiddle is asking a few questions to get all the information about the plan. His hands off approach is a little surprising for the old housekeeper." Did he decide to trust us more? "
Gwen walks out from the room after changing into casual clothes and greets the old housekeeper. After seeing his kid's eyes brighten up when seeing his girl, Hiddle comes to the conclusion that "he just wanted to play hooky with his girlfriend ."
"How's dad doing?" Finishing the minute detail of the plan, he asks. Before leaving, he made some plans and gave it to his father. If his father follows it, his reputation in the political arena, government sector, and big consortium will be raised. Making him a prominent figure that people cannot mess with.
"Master Tim had already completed halfway of the plan. And also, it seems like some of the big consortium wanted to marry you into their family."
Gwen heard the discussion, and was a little worried."Shouldn't you wait until I'm not here, or is this a hint from the Hiddle that I'm not worthy of him?" She comes from a normal family, she's not used to the high class society.
Ryan holds Gwen's hand who is sitting next to him, wanting to ease her concern. He also thinks she is cute when she's worried. "What did father says"
"Basically, Master Tim told them to fuck off".Hiddle grinned when he saw that Ryan's hint. He was hinting that he already made up his mind on Gwen.
Ryan smiles meaningfully when he hears that. Gwen is also a little stunned as it's the first time she sees another side of the housekeeper.
Hiddle knows that Tim is doing this solely for his son. If his action will cause inconvenience to his son, he will not hesitate to throw away profit and power. That's how much Tim loves him.
Hiddle is planning to leave, but Ryan takes out something to give him, and to pass to his father. It's a small bracelet.
"Is this a souvenir from the Bahamas?" He's glad to receive something. It means that the people on vacations think about them even when they're having fun.
"I haven't unpacked the souvenir yet, I'll give it to you later." Hiddle is having a 'please explain' expressions, so Ryan continues. He forges a story for them.
"It's called a malice talisman, it can sense people's malice towards you. I got it as a gift." Hiddle, who's expecting more, becomes weary instead. "Did you get scammed by a young master?" He asked with worry.
"Do you think I'm that gullible?" He continues his story as Gwen is joining in worrying about him. " You know that there are extraordinary things in this world."
" Apparently when I bring them back, the forest I mean, some of them are really grateful that they gave me a gift. Try it on". He plans to let Hiddle experience it instead of uselessly explaining as he saw that they don't believe a word he says. Hiddle, who is skeptical, tries the bracelet on.
"I don't feel anything….." Before he finishes that sentence, he feels incredible malice from Ryan. Of course this is Ryan showing an example, not really malicious towards him.
"This is!" Hiddle is greatly surprised and jumps to stand from his sitting position. Ryan retract back his malice, smiles and continues explaining. "Do you believe me now?" He smirked.
What is he doing to create the incredible malice? He's thinking about shaving the old butler's head.
Gwen is confused by the situation, ask "What's going on?". Hiddle explained to Gwen what he feels. After Gwen tests the bracelet, she is finally convinced.
"Where do you get such magical things Ryan?" Hiddle asks with such worry that he forgot to call him young master.
"I told you, as a gift. Apparently some magical society is living in the forest, but humans keep cutting it down. They give me some items as a gift for bringing their home back".
Gwen's eyes widened, "Magic exists?" Ryan patted his girlfriend's head and said with uncertainty "Maybe".He took out a necklace for his girl. "This is yours".
She is a little sad at first because her boyfriend didn't give her any items. But it seems like hers is more special.
"This is a protection necklace. It has the feature of the malice talisman and also can protect the wearer from harm." Ryan put the necklace around Gwen's neck.
The necklace is silver in colour and has a red Ruby on it. Hiddle is satisfied by his young master's performance , and also that his master seems to trust his girl very much to give her such precious items." Thank god Master Tim didn't agree to it", he thought silently in his heart.
"I'm going to go give Master Tim this item", Hiddle said excitedly. This item can make Tim's integration to high society more smoothly as he can figure out who is maliceful and who is not. Before he can stand up and go, Ryan takes his hand and says "Wait, I'm not done yet." He took out 5 'magical potions' that he handed to Hiddle.
"This is a health tonic given to me. You and father can take one each, and give the rest to those who are loyal to our family". Ryan gives out the low quality gene optimization fluid, from tier 0 trading.
He takes out 3 more and gives it to Gwen. "This is for you, and for my future in-law". She blushes a little before thanking him. He explained the effect and side effects of the tonic. "It can strengthen your body a bit, and repair some genetic defects. From my research, it can prolong your lifespan by a few years."
Ryan says that he got 10 of the tonic from the extraordinary, and one of them he uses for research. Gwen gets excited when she hears that, but a little deflated when she hears that it's impossible to replicate it.
She's glad that it can still be used as reference though. "The side effect is that you're gonna need a lot of energy to supplement the transformation,so make sure to prepare a lot of food before you drink it".
After settling his affairs, and asking them to keep a secret, Ryan said goodbye to Hiddle who is scurrying home. Gwen goes back a few hours after Hiddle and gives it to her parents, explaining the usage. Surprisingly, she comes back to Ryan's house to drink the tonic here.
"You need to take care of me as you give it to me" Gwen said teasingly. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that you are well taken care of." Gwen had to postpone drinking it as she and Ryan got into some heated entanglement.
A few days passes, the seawater drinking project is already underway. Tim actually comes to Ryan's house that night to thank him for giving out the items. Tim and Hiddle said that it's been a long time since they eat like that. It reminded them of their youth.
As they get older, the amount of food they eat lessens. George and Helen come by the day after tomorrow for the same thing. All of them look younger, and with increased charm. Gwen got much prettier after taking it, making Ryan's life more satisfying.
"Young Master, the initial test of the water plant shows successful results. Drinking water could be made from seawater now." Hiddle is really proud. After the invention reaches Tim, he decided to make a humanitarian effort on water stricken area, while getting contracts on normal areas. It'll offset the loss of the company by then.
Ryan agrees with his fathers approach. His father is now trying to test the water on politicians, to lower the price of water bills after this. It's a long term plan to make water free. But it'll be difficult to achieve in a capitalistic society.
He finally took out the new clone. He curses TheDoctor loudly after looking at it. He waited until the day of the trading session just for this moment.
Hydra : That's an elf. Why do you give me an elf? How do I maneuver?! With the green hair and pointy ears and everything.
TheDoctor : (evillaugh.gif) That's a half elf, not the true elf. It has half human bloodline.
TheDoctor :Also thanks to you, I completed the last quest to get into tier 3. I can give you a quest now, do you really want to get mad at me? (smirk)
Hydra: ...
He goes through the stages of grief, and finally comes to an acceptance. He reluctantly split his consciousness into the new clone body. However he underestimated the consequences of further splitting his mind.
Once he did that, he had a massive headache that he almost screamed. He gritted his teeth till his mouth was all bloody. "Damn it I'm too rash.." If he took a few more weeks to strengthen his mind, this would not happen. It seems like he's too rash. "Why do I smell the forest?"
The elf, who is the new body, has a natural mana affinity in its body. He can use ⅘ of the magic he got using the new clone. Ryan is now at tier 3 of the magic circuit, making him just under Dumbledore in magic reserve.
It cost him 200,000 tc to get there. Tier 3 is the limit he can buy for now. He raised his magic tier to smoothen magic usage of his clones. Now his first clone, Kai, could use magic as well as him in the first tier. "Just buying a magic tier without even meditating felt pretty good. I underestimated the system"
"The elf or I didn't have vertigo when we teleported. I guess it's just that Kai's body magic affinity is pretty bad."
He teleported his new body into the island base using a portkey. The elf will be responsible for managing the construction there, making his life easier.
Two weeks later, the elf body is fishing in the island water." Did he forget about me? I don't even have food here….."