The fight against the Cave Drake King might have taken longer than we imagined. However, once we were done, we had earned a large quantity of EXP and also tons of new materials and loot to boot. The beast, however, took us quite a while to get done with, so once we were over with this, we decided to take a break.

We moved back to the dwarf City and had a small meal with Acorn and Nieve, before we decided to log out for an hour or two. I mostly wanted to go make lunch for my daughter, who was most likely soon to come back home.

“Alright, we’ll be back in an hour or two, Acorn, Nieve.” I said. “You guys should stay in the city, don’t do anything reckless, alright?”

“Lady Planta we’re both adults, you don’t need to be so worried.” Nieve sighed.

“Y-Yeah… For now I’ll go meet Richard.” Acorn said. “What about you, Nieve?”

“I might as well stick around.” Nieve said. “I don’t have anything else to do anyways. Maybe I could go hunt more monsters, but its better if we leave that for once the rest comes back.”

“Alright then, take care.” Mark said.

Once we logged out, I quickly opened my eyes and took off the VR Headset. I stretched a bit, drank some water, and prepared lunch. For today, I decided to cook some noodles, making some sauce using tomatoes, onion, garlic, and minced meat.

It was a simple preparation, but I put love and time into it, gently spicing it with various types of spices to give it the flavor my daughter loves, and after that, I left the noodles boiling while drinking some tea.

“That battle was intense even after your buffs, but I can tell that dagger had grown even stronger. Good thing it hasn’t increased its quality! Maybe you can bring it here?” Wondered the Great Spirit, appearing at my side.

“Huh, I haven’t tried yet, but let’s see…” I said, opening my [Inventory] and trying to drag the daggers out.

SPARK! SPARK…! SPARK!

Lightning started coming out, perhaps the intensity and power of the weapon was too much? Though, at the end, I was able to bring them out, though I got really tired after that…

“Woah… They look just as powerful as in the other world…” I saw in surprise. “They’re really deadly too… I shouldn’t overuse them if possible. I’ll use them against the other dragons for now.”

“Hmmm, the durability thing is an issue though.” The Great Spirit pointed out. “Hey, can you get out the Gaia’s All Purpose Tool too?”

“I think I can.” I nodded, taking out that weapon too. It cost some more Mana, but I replenished it by drinking some Mana Potions I took out of the Inventory.

“Nice, looks like it works pretty alright.” Nodded the Great Spirit.

“H-Hey! What’s that thing?! Am I getting replaced?!” Irene began to complain in the back.

“Don’t worry, Irene. This weapon is for the other world, and you’re for this one.” I nodded. “Nobody will replace you… Though, we might use other weapons sometimes… If necessary.”

“GAAH! So you’re replacing me! Nooooo!” Irene started crying. “I’ll be a good talking weapon! So please don’t do this to me, Elayneeeee! I’ve been there in the farm all this time! I-I literally saw you grow up from a little baby girl to the gorgeous woman you’re now!”

“I said I wasn’t going to replace you!” I facepalmed. “Stop making a fuss now… Also I am surprised inert items can harbor memories once you give them magic powers.”

“The Potential Cubes awaken their potential, and the magic power dwelling within them, combined with the blessing of the Gods through your [Pathway] Ability gave them sentience. Memories remain even on inert items, the passage of time, and what they experience even without eyes or sentience, or even life. Once they’re granted one, the memories harbored within their bodies combine into their personalities.” The Great Spirit explained.

“I see… Is this why Irene feels so close to me for being a farm shovel that has been with my family for years, compared to the new knife Mark bought, who is really rude?” I wondered.

“More or less, depending in their attachment, they’ll treat you better or worse.” Nodded the Great Spirit. “Anyways, I was thinking in that you could merge both weapons, but maybe we should leave that for later. After all, you won’t be able to bring it back and vice versa if they grow too high on quality, right?”

“Hmm, you’re right… We’ll leave it for later when I can harbor much more Mana in this body.” I nodded. “Anyways, for now, looks like the noodles are done… Irene, come back to the inventory.”

“Uugh… You won’t replace me?” She asked.

“Sigh… Of course not, girl.” I sighed. “Now, quickly.”

“Okaaay…” She sighed.

“Geez, well, have this dear, cheer up.” I gave her a small Hollow Crystal, which she absorbed into her body. This was like eating for her.

“Nom, nom… nom!” She happily ate it while entering the inventory space.

And right after, the door opened and my daughter got back home.

“Hey, mom- Huh?” She glanced me just as I had managed to put Irene inside the inventory, so I was making a really weird pose.

“A-Ahahaha! You caught me, I was doing some… exercise!” I said with a smile. “Anyways dear, food’s done, want to eat right away?”

“I’ll go change clothes first.” She nodded.

“Alright~ Oh! What about Monica?” I asked.

“She’s fine. The teacher spoke with the entire class about the bullying, and the bullies stopped annoying her now that we were with her.” My daughter said. “Though they sometimes gave us quite the nasty stares.” She said while entering her room.

The shadows where the skeletons were quickly went back to me, as they nodded.

“Yeah boss, nothing much.”

“The girl though… she’s a bit weird, isn’t she?”

“I feel like I can feel some Mana within her. Maybe she’s an Awakener?”

“An awakener you say?” I wondered.