"Why are you doing this to me—"
"Good morning, Cris!"
Since the library was officially closed for cleanup and renovation, we had been granted a rare, blessed paid week leave. I had made sure to turn off my daily five-o’clock alarm before hitting the bed last night, fully intending to sleep until noon, only to be jolted awake at past seven by a call from Avery.
I ignored it at first, praying she would take the hint and let me sleep. But no, she didn’t. By the time I finally reached out to silence the damn thing, I was already wide awake. Gritting my teeth, I answered, only to be hit with a blast of her loud, painfully cheery voice.
"Get to the point or I’m hanging up," I muttered, scooting up and leaning my back against the wooden headboard of my bed.
"Get over to my building right now! I talked to our complex’s security head and got you approved to rent a flat," Avery enthusiastically replied, pushing me to become her new neighbor. "The apartment right next to mine is empty. Both bedrooms have an incredible view of the lake, and the monthly rent is ten percent less than what you already pay! Do you want me to drop the deposit for you? It’s a total steal, Cris, grab it before someone else does!"
"Ah, about that. I plan to continue renting the unit I’m already in," I said, rejecting Avery’s overly generous offer. With my massive new net worth, I didn’t have to move anywhere unless I wanted to.
"Why?" Avery asked in sheer confusion. "Cris, if sixty to seventy percent of your salary is going straight to rent, what are you even going to eat?"
"Some of my personal investments recently made some very good returns. So, I can easily cover the rent for now," I answered vaguely, stretching my legs under the sheets. "If there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up now."
"Stay right there! I’m coming over right now with my friend," Avery barked authoritatively, slamming the phone down before I could even voice my protest.
’I want to sleep! Leave me alone!’ I yelled internally at the dead line.
I stared at my blank phone screen in utter disbelief, wondering what had gotten into her. She was behaving nothing like the quiet, reclusive colleague I remembered working with at the library. Shaking my head to clear the lingering sleep, I forced myself out of bed to finish my morning toiletries and groom myself before my unexpected guests arrived.
...
"Woah, it’s exactly like it was during the housewarming party. Nothing’s changed," Avery exclaimed as she stepped into my studio apartment.
She eyed the empty room, which featured nothing but an old, faded folding couch with an apothecary table facing a bare wall. There was no television, no decor, nor any other basic items you would expect to find in a normal home. It looked like someone was in the middle of moving in or frantically moving out, it was hard to tell.
Meanwhile I was occupied with the entirely different problem of having opened my door to find Avery and her friend in skintight yoga pants and matching tank tops. Both had incredible athletic figures. Avery’s friend had a remarkably cute face with great hair, while Avery herself was noticeably more well-endowed, their skin covered in a light sheen of sweat. Apparently, they had run all the way over here.
"Sorry, I can’t offer you any towels. I only have one, and for some bizarre reason, it’s always wet—" I said awkwardly.
Avery just brushed past me, heading straight toward the bathroom with her friend in tow. "We don’t mind," she called out over her shoulder.
’What on earth is going on here?!’ I screamed in my head, standing completely paralyzed in the middle of my empty studio. I was totally taken aback by this version of Avery. She was being way too bold. Since when were women this forward?
But my internal panic ground to a halt the moment I saw Avery’s friend step into the doorway. With a casual snap of her fingers, a brilliant, radiant mana erupted and swept across the bathroom, instantly dissolving grime and leaving the toilet and everything around it sparkling clean in a fraction of a second.
Avery turned around, catching my utterly astonished expression, and smoothly introduced us. "Crispin, meet Mabel Werner. She is an Alchemy Apprentice and an junior associate over at Smith & Holts."
"How do you guys take your coffee? While you two freshen up, I’ll hit the corner cafe," I asked, nodding at Mabel.
Grabbing a coffee from the local spot on my way to the office had always been a fixed part of my daily routine, and so was eating out or ordering in. Because of that, I had never felt the need to own a coffee maker or any cookware for that matter. After taking down the girls’ specific orders, I slipped out and headed down the street.
"The current legislation is sloppy to legally permit owning mid-tier mana-blended weapons. Hunters, I understand. But everyday citizens having access to more than twenty percent mana-blended gunpowder? No, thanks."
"Are you serious, Avery? Didn’t you just survive a Kobold outbreak? Everyone has the right to bear high-tier mana-blended weapons."
"Yes, I did. But I don’t want a road rage incident to turn a fender bender into a localized explosion. If you ask me, they are commercializing military-grade mana tech far too fast."
I returned to the apartment balancing three go-cups of coffee to overhear a heated debate about mana blended weapons and to find Avery in an oversized sweat shirt and Mabel all dressed up in sharp corporate attire. Knowing that one of them was an Alchemy Apprentice, their sudden change in attire didn’t surprise me at all.
Handing over their respective coffees, I leaned against the bare wall not bothering to join in as I had enough of that debate in the workplace and media.
In this parallel world, everything was blended with mana. From everyday fuel to gunpowder, bricks to concrete, steel to carbon fibre, basic paper to plastics, clothes, paints, etc, everything’s enhanced through mana blending.
Raw mana stones were heavily refined in specialized plants to extract multiple chemical and energetic byproducts, which were then utilized as foundational ingredients for different types of commercial blending. It was an entire global supply chain designed to cater to the unique needs of an Earth filled with superpowered individuals and supernatural threats.
Because the resource was so critical, privately owning raw mana stones was strictly illegal. Every mana stone harvested from the monster gates had to be officially exchanged with the authorities for universal digital currency, mana coins. There was no exception to this rule. As of today, a single mana coin was valued somewhere around 142 denars. Doing the mental math based on the massive haul I had received as raid rewards, that easily put my current net worth somewhere around a staggering 100 million denars.
With their debate getting nowhere, both heads turned in unison, their attention locking firmly back onto me. The casual small talk was over. They were getting straight to the critical matter at hand.