Chapter 8 - Enhance

Vincent was just silent all this time but he made sure to etch these words in his memory.

Lucius Clan, Troy Clan, Numbered Celestials, Platinum Coins, and these mysterious Items protected by Mana, he's curious about all of them and he will surely ask about these things once everything has settled down.

In the meantime, he watched his grandfather concentrate for a moment.

One… Two… Three…

Suddenly, his grandfather's hands glowed with a mysterious blue light before disappearing in his palms…

Then without any more words, he took off all the three items in Kai's possession.

He started with the belt, followed by the necklace, and finally, the damaged long coat. His grandfather was really careful all this time. Beads of sweat had even started trickling down on his face.

'Is it that dangerous? Ahh… No, he looks more exhausted… Is it because of the blue light? Is it the mana?' Vincent knows how it feels to get deprived of mana.

Anyway, he really wanted to touch the items and see whether he could enhance them.

However, he's also afraid that he might get injured in case the 'mana' is actually violent. He didn't want to get needlessly hurt after all.

"Grandpa… Are you okay?"

He asked after he finally covered the three items with a sack.

"I'm okay, Vincent… Why are you here?"

"Hmm? I followed you. Grandpa… You look really tired. You need to rest now." Vincent's concern is genuine. His Grandpa must teach him all about this world first! There must be no accident.

"Haha… Don't worry. Though I overdid it a bit, I just need good sleep to recover my strength. Right, I don't think it's not a good idea to sell these things off." Raizen's last words were directed to Eric and the other man helping them.

He looked at them with a serious gaze as he hinted at something.

"That's true, Old Raizen. It's better if you or the Village Chief will handle these things… We'll just be seeking death if we sell it off."

"It's good that you understand… I'm planning to dismantle these things instead… Make sure to forget what you just saw."

"Haha… I don't remember anything."

Vincent heard their conversation and he finally understood their reaction from a while ago after finding out that these items were from the Lucius Clan.

It seems that any items from that Clan can't be easily sold or they might even be persecuted for it.

It's better to just keep it to themselves and allow no one to know about it. Anyway, they are living in a remote village and no one will come here.

The reason why Joran and Kai were brought here was most likely because the latter was trying to flee to the vast forest.

Unfortunately for him, Joran is a stronger opponent with a couple of Number Celestials capable of pinning him down.

Then, his Grandfather had a word with the Village Chief and allowed him to take care of the mysterious items.

Aside from that, though no one died in this incident, there were many villagers who had gotten injured so the Village Chief doesn't want to deal with the problem about these items as well.

"Vincent… Do not touch these things, do you understand?" As soon as they returned home, Raizen immediately instructed his grandson.

He also put the sack inside his worn-out cabinet to keep it away from him.

'It's too high and you put it inside your cabinet… How can I even touch it?' Vincent wanted to say this but he just nodded his head in agreement.

Anyway, he should still have plenty of time.

Glurgh~

His stomach suddenly grumbled as he have gotten hungry after all the work just now.

"Oh, you're hungry? I will cook for you… Just wait for a bit."

"Ahhh… T-thank you, Grandpa… Oh, wait… I still have the white grapes with me. Do you think I can eat it?"

"So you're helping Eric harvest them before the incident? Haha. Of course, you can. If he gave you a small basket, all the grapes in it would be yours…"

With his grandfather's urging, he no longer hesitated and took a couple of berries and stuffed his mouth.

They tasted quite sweet and a bit sour in their after-taste.

This should satisfy his hunger while he waits for his grandfather.

In the meantime, he also checked his current statistics.

[ Name: Vincent ]

[ Age: 6 ]

[ Mana: 1.10/1.10 ]

[ Skills: Item Enhancement Lv1, Basic Item Appraisal ]

[ Item Enhancement Exp: 83/5000 ]

'So slow progress... But it's better than zero exp.'

During the past three months, Vincent can only complete the simplest +1 Enhancement.

It means that he can no longer enhance an item again. This is most likely because of his lack of mana or Enhancement Stone.

He would probably need 2 or more units of mana to advance a +1 item. Because of that, he decided to just enhance anything he could get within the house. The fork, comb, pillow, brick, shorts, underwear, or anything he could get.

If he run out of items he could enhance, he would go out of the house to find something else.

Fortunately, a plus 1 enhancement doesn't have any visible or considerable effects. This is why he was able to do this over the past few months.

'Alright… Let's try enhancing a piece.'

Vincent thought to himself as he triggered his system.

[ No Enhancement Stones found. Do you want to Enhance this item with Mana? ]

Huuu~

Vincent took a deep breath.

'Yes!'

As soon as he said this, he closed his eyes and waited for something… However, he didn't feel like he was passing out at all!

'Perhaps…'

[ Enhancement Successful! ]

[ Single White Grape + 1 ]

"Haha! I did it!"

[ Name: Vincent ]

[ Age: 6 ]

[ Mana: 0.10/1.10 ]

Thanks to the increase of his mana by 0.10, he no longer has to pass out after a single Enhancement! This is all thanks to the wildfowls and other nutritious meals prepared by his grandfather!

Finally! This would be a lot easier to make a progress.

Though he still felt weakened after using that much mana, it's better than passing out!