Lily blinked, looking confusedly at the stale piece of bread in her hand.
"A special support gift? But Brother, the academy only gives high-tier rewards to the A-rank and S-rank geniuses."
"They made a mistake with my assessment," Ethan said smoothly, his eyes gleaming with hidden excitement.
With a smile, his hand reached behind his back, pretending to pull something out from his worn-out jacket. In reality, he retrieved a single item from the golden-trimmed box inside his System Space.
A delicate, snow-white pastry appeared in his palm. It radiated a soft, ethereal silver glow, and the faint aroma of fresh morning dew and rare lotuses instantly filled the cramped, dusty room.
Just breathing in the scent made Ethan’s lungs feel completely clear, washing away the fatigue of the day.
Lily’s eyes went wide. She had never seen anything so beautiful, let alone something meant to be eaten.
"Brother... what is that? It smells like... like pure mana, but it doesn’t hurt to breathe."
"It’s called a Heavenly Elixir Pastry," Ethan said, gently placing it into her small hands.
"Eat it. All of it. It’s going to make you feel much better."
The moment the pastry settled into Lily’s hands, the blue system screen flashed in Ethan’s retinas once more.
[DING! You have gifted ’Heavenly Elixir Pastry (S-Rank)’ to your sister, Lily Reed.]
[Triggering Return Multiplier... Calculating... Congratulations! You have triggered a 500x Multiplier!]
[You have received: 500x Heavenly Elixir Pastries (S-Rank)! Rewards have been deposited into your System Space.]
Ethan’s heart leaped. Five hundred S-rank pastries! Even if he did nothing else, selling just one of these through an anonymous black-market channel could make him a multimillionaire overnight.
But right now, his priority was his sister. "Go on, Lily. Eat," he urged gently.
Trusting her brother implicitly, Lily took a small bite. The pastry instantly melted into a warm, liquid light, sliding down her throat. Her eyes widened in shock as she quickly ate the rest.
Almost immediately, a brilliant silver light erupted from her skin. The dark, sickly purple veins on her wrists—the physical manifestation of her chronic mana poisoning—began to recede at a visible pace.
A dense, foul-smelling black mist evaporated from her pores, representing years of accumulated toxins.
"Ah...!" Lily gasped, clutching her chest. But it wasn’t a cry of pain. For the first time in five years, the constant, suffocating burning in her chest was completely gone.
Her pale, sunken cheeks flushed with a healthy, vibrant pink. She leaped out of her chair, bouncing on her feet.
"Brother! I feel light! The weight on my chest... the pain... it’s completely gone! I feel like I could run a marathon!"
Ethan let out a long breath he felt like he’d been holding for six months. The System was real. And it was absolute. Before he could celebrate, a loud, violent kick slammed against the thin wooden door of their apartment.
BANG!
"Ethan Reed! Open the door right now, you little rat!" a boisterous, grating voice shouted from outside.
The door swung open, and a heavy-set man with a thick gold chain around his neck stepped into the room. It was Silas Garrow, the slum landlord.
Behind him stood two burly thugs carrying iron pipes—low-level F-rank Awakeners who acted as his muscle.
Silas sneered, looking around the dirty room until his eyes landed on Ethan.
"I heard the news from the plaza, kid. F-rank talent. ’Basic Item Gift.’ What a joke! Your dead parents can’t save you now, and you sure as hell aren’t getting a high-paying guild job."
Ethan stepped in front of Lily, his eyes cooling down. "The rent isn’t due until Friday, Silas. Today is Tuesday."
"It’s Mr. Garrow to you, trash," Silas spat on the floor. "And the rules just changed. A useless F-rank has no future. I’m not risking you running away in the middle of the night. You pay the 2,000 Credits you owe for this month right now, plus a 1,000 Credit ’risk fee,’ or my boys throw you and your cripple sister out into the street today."
Lily shrank back, gripping Ethan’s shirt. Ethan’s mind raced. He only had 50 Credits in his bank account. Even with the S-rank pastries in his system space, he couldn’t just pull one out and give it to a slum landlord—it would draw immediate, lethal suspicion from local syndicates.
He needed cash. High-volume, untraceable cash. Ethan looked at the two thugs, then back at Silas. An idea struck him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cracked, old smartphone, opening his banking app.
"I don’t have 3,000 Credits," Ethan said, keeping his voice steady. "But I have 50 Credits right now. Take it as a deposit, and I’ll get the rest by tomorrow."
Silas burst out laughing, his gold chain rattling against his fat neck. "Fifty Credits? You’re offering me pocket change? Do you think I’m running a charity?"
One of the thugs stepped forward, tossing a 10-Credit coin onto the floor mockingly. "Here, kid. Since you’re so pathetic, how about I invest in your funeral instead?"
Ethan looked down at the shiny, low-grade 10-Credit coin sitting on the dirty floor. A cold smile flashed across his face, hidden from their sight.
An investment, huh? Perfect.
Ethan bent down, picked up the 10-Credit coin, and turned around to hand it directly to Lily.
"Lily, take this coin. Buy yourself something nice from the vending machine downstairs later," Ethan said loudly.
"Hey! What are you doing giving my boy’s money away?!" Silas roared. But the moment the 10-Credit coin settled into Lily’s palm, the universe seemed to answer Ethan’s call once again.
[DING! You have gifted ’10 Credits (Common Currency)’ to your sister, Lily Reed.]
[Triggering Return Multiplier... Calculating... Congratulations! You have triggered a 2,000x Multiplier!]
[You have received: 20,000 Credits!]
[Notice: The currency has been directly deposited and laundered through the System’s secure cosmic bank account. It is 100% untraceable by local governments or guilds.]
A soft buzz vibrated in Ethan’s pocket. He slid his phone out.
A notification from his banking app displayed a brand-new balance: 20,050 Credits.
Ethan looked up, the submissive look entirely vanishing from his face. He stared directly into Silas’s greedy eyes."You wanted your money, right Silas?" Ethan asked, his voice dripping with sudden, heavy authority.
He tapped his phone screen twice.
Ding!
Silas’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out impatiently, but the moment he saw the screen, his jaw dropped.
[Transaction Successful: Received 3,000 Credits from account ending in 8842.]
"You... you actually had it?" Silas stuttered, looking from his phone to Ethan in absolute disbelief.
"How does an F-rank trash have 3,000 Credits sitting around?"
"Now that you have your money, get the hell out of my house," Ethan said, taking a step forward. Though he hadn’t leveled up his combat power yet, the absolute confidence radiating from him made the two burly thugs instinctively take a half-step back.
Silas swallowed hard, his greed warring with his confusion. But money was money. He clicked his tongue, trying to save face.
"Hmph. Lucky break. Don’t think this changes anything, Reed. Next month, the rent doubles! Let’s go, boys."
The landlord and his thugs slammed the door shut as they left.Inside the quiet room, Ethan turned to his sister.
He still had 17,050 Credits left. It was enough to buy low-grade awakening stones, basic weapons, or beast cores from the local hunter market.
"Brother... how did you do that?" Lily asked in awe.Ethan patted her head. "I told you, Lily. My talent is very specialized. Take care of the apartment. I’m going out to the Hunter’s Market Bazaar. It’s time I properly prepare for the Academy’s trial next week."
Ethan walked out into the neon-lit streets of the Outer District. The F-rank garbage talent they all mocked was about to break the global economy.