"What do you think of him?" Jimmy asked his two bodyguards while looking at Souta who was preparing the coffee.
"I couldn't feel anything from him." One of the bodyguards replied to Jimmy while the other one nodded at his words.
"Right, he's currently vulnerable. I've got to say that it's the effect from drinking the monster potion." Jimmy nodded and explained to them. He knew the power of his two bodyguards could rival those C-rank adventurers.
"Still, I couldn't believe that the boy I met three months ago would become this strong," Jimmy said as he looked at Souta with a serious expression.
The simple boy he met in that small village was now one of the precious students of the Ladro Institute. His guess wasn't wrong when he made a decision to block all the information about Souta and the rest of his companion regarding that incident in the Desolate Woods.
When he met Souta at that time, Souta was weaker than average D-rank adventurers but right now, he could go toe to toe to a C-rank adventurers. And when using a monster potion, Souta could even defeat Gregory of the Vidrato family.
"But... Did he really defeat Gregory Vidrato with just a monster potion?" One of the bodyguards asked while looking at Souta with a doubtful expression.
"That's what the intel says," Jimmy answered his bodyguard's question. "You will understand that he is different from others when you fight him. The pressure he is emitting feels like he fought countless battles."
Countless battles? Of course, Souta fought inside the game for ten years. He fought countless powerful creatures and defeated them.
Souta suffered several losses and he died a lot of times. But he used this to get stronger and stronger until he became the top 1 ranking in the game.
The two bodyguards didn't say anything as they just started at Souta.
...
"Here's the coffee."
Souta said as he placed a cup of coffee in front of Jimmy. He then sat down on the sofa and looked at Jimmy.
"Thanks," Jimmy said as he took a sip.
"How is it?" Souta asked as he leaned his back on the sofa.
"It's good." Jimmy smiled and said.
"Yeah, so can you tell your reason for coming here?" Souta nodded and asked with a serious expression.
Jimmy looked at Souta for a few seconds before he answered. "I'm thinking if you have any monster potion left."
"Monster potion?" Souta raised his eyebrows. He understood now why Jimmy came here. Jimmy was a merchant and a monster potion would earn him a lot of money.
"Yeah, I wanted to buy it if you have some." Jimmy nodded at him.
"I'm sorry Jimmy, I don't have any monster potion left. Also, if I have some of it I wouldn't sell it to you. I'm sure you already guess the reason why." Souta said before he took a sip of coffee.
Jimmy tapped his finger on the table and he opened his mouth. "Yeah, your planning to use it as your ace in case you fought someone above your level."
Just like what happened in the Gripin city. Souta fought Gregory who was above his level so he used the monster potions.
"Actually, I'm planning to go to your place after I've recovered from the side effect of the potion. I'm thinking if you could provide me some monster potion with your connection." Souta paused for a moment before he added, "With your connection, it's not a problem to you, right? I'm sure you will find some monster potion in the underground market. So why bother asking me?"
"I see..." Jimmy nodded his head. He smiled and said, "About your question... I'm thinking that if you have some monster potion we could turn it into money. If you want some monster potion, I could provide you some but don't get your hopes high. The monster potion is a rare potion, after all. Up until now, we couldn't find the recipe to produce it."
"Okay, I'm willing to pay the price for it as long as you can provide it to me," Souta said in a calm tone.
"Good. That's not a problem to me but I have one condition." Jimmy said as he raised one of his fingers.
"What is it?" Souta asked and felt that it was natural. If Jimmy didn't ask anything, he would become suspicious about Jimmy's motive in coming here.
"You know, you've become famous these days. A lot of people heard your feat in defeating Gregory." Jimmy said to him.
"So..." Souta raised his eyebrows while looking at Jimmy. He somehow guessed what Jimmy was trying to say.
"I wanted to use your name. You will become the adventurers of the Lanny corporation in papers only. Everytime you will go on an expedition, you will bring the name of the Lanny corporation." Jimmy explained to him what he wanted.
"I see... So it's your true goal for coming here. The monster potion is just a diversion." Souta understood what Jimmy really wanted in the first place.
"Haha, you're really perceptive." Jimmy laughed lightly.
"But your condition... I would lose a lot from this. I'm sure that you know it." Souta pointed out one thing that he couldn't understand.
"That's why if I somehow find a monster potion I give it to you for free. Also, if our group found dungeons or ruins, we wouldn't hire any adventurers to explore it. We would instead hire you to explore it." Jimmy explained the benefits that Souta will receive.
"Hmm..." Souta rubbed his chin and started to think if agreeing to Jimmy's condition was truly beneficial to him.
"You can answer me later," Jimmy said to him.
"No, I agree to your condition." Souta shook his head and said.
Actually, he liked the way Jimmy treated him. So if he didn't agree to Jimmy's condition there's a possibility that their relationship would become stagnant. He would lose his value to Jimmy and Jimmy would lose his value to him.
That's how it is.
"Are you sure? You can think about it for a day." Jimmy said while opening his palms.
"Yeah, I'm sure about it." Souta nodded at him with a serious expression. He just needed to carry the name of Lanny Corporation in his expedition and that's not a problem for him. He was sure that Jimmy would bring him a lot of benefits in the future.
"Good. I'm glad that you agree to it." Jimmy smiled and he reached out his hand.
"I'm glad too." Souta smiled and he shook hands with Jimmy.
The two of them finally reached an agreement where it would benefit the two of them.
Jimmy smiled and looked at Souta before he took a sip of his coffee. "Still, I'm surprised that you could already walk after drinking the monster potion."
The people who drunk the monster potion suffered extreme pain in their bodies. The wounds that they received wouldn't completely heal unless the healer casted a tier 3 healing speak to treat it. The mana in their energy pool would decrease permanently and they would train again if they wanted to reach their previous level. Lastly, they wouldn't be able to use mana for one week after drinking the monster potion.
"Well, I've bath myself in a pool of middle-grade healing potion while drinking healing potion," Souta said as he shrugged his shoulder.
"That's expensive... I'm sure that Ladro Institute would permit it if you skip class for one week. You're injured, after all." Jimmy said when he heard Souta's words.
"Yeah, I could do that but I wanted to help everyone in the cultural festival. This is my first time attending such festival." Souta explained to him.
"Cultural festival? Oh, that's right I forgot about it." Jimmy recalled one of the festivals of the Ladro Institute. "If I have time I will come and visit your class at that time."
"I look forward to it," Souta said with a smiled on his face.
"Well then, I'm going now," Jimmy said before he stood up.
"Okay, I'll walk you to the door." Souta also stood up. He walked ahead and Jimmy followed him from behind. The two bodyguards didn't say anything as they just followed Jimmy.
After a few seconds of walking, they arrived in front of the door and Souta opened it.
Jimmy fixed his clothes and he looked at Souta. He said, "I'm going now."
"Yeah, don't forget the monster potion." Souta nodded and said.
"Don't worry. I won't forget it." Jimmy smiled before he stepped outside and his two bodyguards followed him.
Souta looked at Jimmy's figure and he walked toward his mailbox. He opened it and found a newspaper inside it.
"Who ordered it? Maybe class rep..." Souta muttered as he picked the newspaper and saw the news on the back of the newspaper.
He saw his face and name on the news. It was the news about him defeating Gregory Vidrato in the Gripen city.
"My face..."
Souta couldn't help but sigh when he saw his face in the newspaper. He then looked on the next page and saw a news that caught his attention.
"The Mechanic Country..." He muttered while reading the news.
The news was about the Mechanic Country destroying a few small countries that used the communicator without Mechanic Country's permission.
Finally, the Mechanic Country was going to show its fangs to the whole world. The overwhelming technology that will shake the entire continent will bare its fangs to the large countries in the Giza Continent.
Those audacious countries that underestimate the Mechanic Country will suffer first from the first ripple of change. Those countries have the guts to use Mechanic Country's technology without permission, so the Mechanic Country will destroy their countries without mercy.
"Hehe, the world is going to change soon and I needed to prepare myself." Souta laughed as he knew how dangerous the version 2 of the game.
In this version, he died countless of times because it was really chaotic in version as it was the start of the Demon Invasion. So he needed to prepare himself so that he wouldn't die. He wouldn't let repeat what happened to himself in the game as he couldn't afford to die in his current condition.