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I handed the katana, scabbard and all, back to Tatsu and gave her an indulgent smile at the look of bewildernt on her face.
"Is this… magic?" the female samurai asked, eyes narrowing as she watched the weapon slip out of sight again.
"No," I replied matter‑of‑factly. "It's my spatial storage — a place only I can access. I call this ability my 'inventory.' If you ever want the Soul Stealer back, you can ask at any ti. But for now, the safest choice is to leave it inside. Stored there, its cursed aura can't harm anyone."
"And that's it? Just like that?"
"Hmm… you're right." I frowned, scratching my chin in mock contemplation. "It does sound far too simple. And now that I think about it— it's not entirely fair if I do all this for free. You'll have to pay rent for the cell it's occupying in my storage."
"I wasn't talking about that. And what do you an by cell rent? I'm your bodyguard — this service should be free for ."
"The only thing free in this world is the cheese in a mousetrap," I drawled, smiling innocently. "My inventory isn't unlimited—"
"Yes, yes… spatial, I already understood that," Katana cut in rcilessly. "So? What's the price? What do you want in exchange?"
"Beco my sword teacher," I said simply, and for once my carefree smile faded.
"He actually did it…" Bordeaux muttered into her palm, giving herself a theatrical facepalm.
"A sword teacher?" Tatsu's brows rose. "Have you chosen the path of a sword master?"
"I've chosen the katana as my main weapon."
"That's not what I an." Her gaze sharpened. "Are you ready to devote your entire life to the art of the sword? Because if this is just a passing fancy, a whim you tossed out for fun, I won't teach you."
"What if I am serious?" I t her eyes without wavering. "I am ready to bind my fate to a sharp blade, trusting it to help defend myself and defeat my enemies when the ti cos."
Tatsu Yamashiro held my gaze without blinking, her eyes searching deeper and deeper, as if she could pierce through my words and read the truth directly from my soul.
"…So be it."
[Congratulations! Achievent unlocked: Sword Master
Additional characteristic unlocked: Sword Mastery
Sword Master: You have chosen to dedicate your life to mastering the path of the sword. The way of the blade is one of the most ancient roads to understanding the world — and yourself. Your rate of learning in all sword disciplines is doubled.
Reward: 10 free characteristic points.]
I can't say I was shocked by this twist. If anything, I'd been expecting sothing like it. The longer I lived with this strange system, the better I understood its inner workings.
Without hesitation, I invested all ten points into Intelligence.
[Status Window
Na: Alex Rith
Race: Human
Age: 21
Strength: 29
Speed: 30
Dexterity: 29
Stamina: 36
Intelligence: 64
Wisdom: 105
Charisma: 22
Combat Proficiency: 23
Fencing Proficiency: 12
King's Wives: 4
Free Points: 0
Skills:
Passive: Player's Mind
Active: None
Achievents: Batman's Apprentice, Harem King, Sage, Sword Master.]
Not bad… better than good, I thought. Sword Mastery at 12 points — higher than I expected — was nice, but the real prize was my boosted Intelligence. The additional ntal bandwidth, four independent streams of thought now, was invaluable.
All the sa, I pushed the thought aside. There was sothing more urgent to do: properly greet my new teacher.
"Master." I perford the classic "fist in palm" bow, leaning forward respectfully.
"No one's called that before," Tatsu said with an amused grin. "You are my first student, so don't expect leniency."
Did she think I'd be intimidated? My eye didn't even twitch. I'd endured training so brutal most people wouldn't dare to imagine it. I was more than ready to face the ancient discipline of the blade.
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[Laboratory — Babylon.]
Thanks to Pepper Potts' generosity in procuring the rare chemical elent "TS," my hologram glasses project was at last in its final phase. The first working prototype was only hours away.
I could hardly sit still — this was my first original tech creation, my brainchild, my baby, my… well, you get it.
"Eva," I called to my tireless virtual assistant, "initiate first test run. Introduce elent TS — slow and steady. Let's start with fifteen percent output."
There was a faint hum—
Bah! Pshiiv! — a puff of smoke curled up.
"Cough… yeah, maybe fifteen was too ambitious." I waved the smoke away. "Alright, second test run. Let's go with five percent—"
Before I could start the next round of "bombardnt" — I an, scientific experintation — my progress was… politely restrained by green vines coiling around my legs like lazy snakes.
"Pala, did you need sothing?" I asked the source of this botanic interruption.
"Kavita and I have news," the eco–dryad replied coolly, retracting the vines.
Alright then, let's hear what two great scientific minds have to say.
"We have a problem," Dr. Kavita Rao began. Straight to the point.
"Of course we do," I sighed. "In our line of work, how could it be otherwise? Go on."
"We've examined Steve Rogers's blood and reverse–engineered parts of Dr. Erskine's formula," she reported. "We now have a good idea of the components used to create the super soldier serum."
"That," I said, "actually sounds like good news."
Kavita exchanged a look with Poison Ivy, who spoke next.
"Among those components," Pala said, clearly pleased, "we identified one very rare and interesting ingredient."
She was smiling far too much for this to be bad news. My curiosity spiked.
"We are confident — almost certain — that this is the key elent around which Erskine built his formula."
"So you've found the main component?" I grinned. "Even better news. What is it?"
"A plant," Ivy said, her smile widening. "More precisely — a flower. Rare. Difficult to cultivate."
My ntal gears started spinning wildly. "…No. It can't be—"
"This plant appears to be directly responsible for the serum's stability," Kavita explained. "Without it, the formula would degrade rapidly. The serum would be defective."
"You're sure?"
"Quite sure. Well… ninety percent sure. Eighty‑five, at worst," Rao joked lightly. "You can't be absolutely certain in this kind of work, but every researcher we've consulted agrees. Even our independent expert — the one who joins the calls only by audio — concurs."
Bruce, no doubt. If even he agreed… then their conclusion was solid.
"So what's this flower called? Where do we find it?"
A beat of silence passed.
"…We don't know its na," Kavita admitted, her voice a little unsteady. "Or where to obtain it."
"Mmm… but Pala here has assured us she can recreate it," Rao added, "so long as she's provided with—"
"You can recreate a living plant from just a fragnt dissolved in blood?" I asked, honestly impressed.
"Of course," Ivy replied, her tone brimming with maternal pride. "Plants are a part of ." She laid a hand over her chest. "But there's… one complication we ntioned earlier. This flower will only grow under very specific natural conditions. It requires constant contact with — and nourishnt from — a tal that absorbs vibrations."
The words hit like a cold wave.
"…Vibranium?!"
What in the hell…? Could the fad super soldier serum really be based on a flower cultivated in vibranium‑rich soil?
For a mont, my thoughts tumbled together in disbelief.
No. Impossible. Erskine couldn't have had access to Wakanda's most jealously guarded treasure. Which ant… it had to be another plant entirely — one he'd found sowhere vibranium had seeped into the environnt. The vibranium that later beca Captain Arica's shield, perhaps.
The Black Panther's Heart‑Shaped Herb could simply be another evolutionary branch of such a plant — mutated over centuries by the vibranium–infused soil of Wakanda, becoming hundreds of tis more potent. If a stray fragnt of the tal had landed elsewhere in the world, over ti it might have spawned a related flower, albeit weaker.
That would explain why Erskine still had to enhance it with other components before it could match, or even rival, the properties of the Wakandan herb. The result was the super soldier serum — equally legendary, but born from science and improvisation rather than mystical tradition.
And now I finally understood why my intuition had been screaming at from the beginning — that Poison Ivy was essential to this project. Only she, with her absolute dominion over the plant kingdom, could coax such a flower back into existence.
"So… how much vibranium are we talking about?" I asked warily, already bracing for a nightmare answer.
"Two kilograms will suffice," Ivy said easily, making it clear this was — in her mind — my problem to solve.
Two kilograms.
Right. And where exactly was I supposed to get that?
I could… visit Wakanda. But sohow I doubted the royal family would be thrilled to hand a basket of their national treasure. Buying it was out of the question.
Well… we never do take the easy way forward, do we?
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Thank you all for your love and support.
Btw, I'm seeing that so of you are dragons. After all, you are hoarding those power stones like they are so treasure.
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