The Bounty Hunter
Chapter 52: Celestial Spirit Steel

February 2nd, 2089

It’s been 4 days since I have made Kira my mate and it’s been 5 days since my raid on the Redemption group.  I have also finally let go of Hafor, which has led to a surprising discovery.  The refreshing feeling that appeared when I overcame my trauma was due to a rapid increase in my mana.  

My mana pool has increased to the levels that I would only have during a dissociative episode.  I’ve realized now that this mana has always been present within me, but it had been sealed away by the guilt in my heart due to Hafor.  Now though I am at peace and my abilities have improved tremendously. 

If the average wizard has a small pond of mana that is replenished by a brook, than I had a large pool of mana being replenished by a stream.  But now my mana has expanded to the size of a lake with a river feeding into it.  It is a level that only truly talented wizards in the other world achieve after many years.

This mana is so vast that it has manifested on me in a physical form.  My eyes now have a light glow to them that is especially noticeable in the dark.  I can suppress it, but if I lose focus they start up.  *Sigh* Although it is not quite on the level of a cheat, it would have been nice to have this much mana these past couple of years. 

Currently, I am at the marketplace in Obsidia disguised as an elf.  I have done a lot of business here the past weeks selling my loot from Faulk.  I kept valuable materials and unique magic artifacts but sold everything else.  Rather than accumulating even more gold, I had bartered to acquire even more valuable materials. 

Fufufu, and since I now have the necessary mana to finally use dimensional storage I can keep everything with me.  The creation of the personal dimension required a massive amount of mana, but it does not require mana to maintain.  The space is not infinite.  Whenever I reach capacity I have to expand the personal dimension, which requires a lot of mana.  To open and close the personal dimension also requires a large amount of mana, but with my current pool of mana that is not an issue.  S~ᴇaʀᴄh the N0ᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Today’s visit will likely be my last time here as I had received a message from a supplier that they had acquired the last item that I had been looking for.  I walked into a small store that sat on the corner on the market square.  The name above the door read “Gnorden’s Exotic Supplies” and the interior was elegantly decorated with tasteful darkwood furniture and colorful tapestries. 

At the counter of the store was a well-dressed gnome.  He was a classic example of a gnome, with the long nose and wrinkly face.  His height was the same as a pixie and his white beard nearly touched the floor.  He looked up and smiled at me “Welcome Igor, I see you have received my message.”  “Hello Gnorden, you never fail to amaze.  I wouldn’t have thought you could find it at all, let alone so quickly.”  I praised the gnome for his good work. 

Gnorden specializes in finding unusual and unique items and as a result has a lot of contacts all over the queendom.  He even has merchant acquaintances in the uncivilized countries.  So I asked him to find an item that I had only heard of in old history books, Celestial Spirit Steel.  It’s the rarest metal in the world and only appears when a star falls from the heavens.  The meteorite must then be exposed to the natural birth of a high-level spirit.  It absorbs the spirit before its consciousness is developed during the mana aggregation and Celestial Spirit Steel is created. 

From what I have read, it has near perfect mana conduction and is the strongest of all metals.  I believe the tales are over exaggerated, but it should still be an impressive material.  Gnorden went into the back and returned while carrying a small box.  He placed it on the counter and opened it to reveal a perfect sphere of a white-silver metal the size of a baseball.  “Truly amazing, you managed to acquire this amount!”  I exclaimed in joy.  I lightly touched the metal, and the surface undulated like it was jelly.  This is without a doubt Celestial Spirit Steel.  I would have been happy had he acquired anything at all, yet he got this much. 

“How much for all of it?”  Gnorden showed surprise at my question “You want to buy all of it?  This is the most valuable material in the world!  I’m not sure you can--.”  “Name your price.”  I interrupted him right there.  He looked at the metal and back at me and then spoke “1500 gold coins.”

There was a pause as I thought about it.  The total amount of money I have remaining from all of my efforts in this world is 1700 gold coins (13,600,000 dollars).  It’s clear that Gnorden must have spent a large fortune to acquire this much.  His store was rather barren compared to the last time I came here, he must have sold his stock to get enough money to get the Celestial Spirit Steel.  It’s a gamble, but if he can sell this he’ll be set for life. 

His target market will be upper nobles, the Cult or the royal family.  He probably only called me in to fulfill the Chain of Contract since I was the one who commissioned his search.  The price was also probably the upper limit of what he could stand to make selling it piecemeal.  He would probably get a higher number by putting it up for auction, but since he’s a commoner there is a high chance the auctioneers will screw him over since they don’t have to fear retaliation.  Regardless of Gnorden’s high asking price, I must have this steel.  I can sense the power within it and I have a feeling its properties may actually match the legends surrounding it. 

I reached into my dimensional storage and brought out 1500 gold coins.  Gnorden’s eyes bulged out at seeing that much money in one place.  The magic scanner confirmed the amount and Gnorden quickly snatched the gold while handing the box with the steel to me.  I gave him a smile as I said “It’s been a pleasure, Gnorden.  Try not to spend it all in one place.”  The gnome cackled in response “Right you are Igor, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you as well!” 

I left the store and immediately teleported to a cave that I had converted into a lab.  The reason why I have spent the majority of my life savings here on this metal was because of my battle with Elna.  I was too weak and could barely win against her.  My mana may have expanded tremendously, but against the leader of the Redemption group I am nothing but an annoying fly. 

I didn’t have all of Eual’s memories about Jupon, but the few I did all point to one terrifying conclusion: he’s a monster.  His mana pool is ridiculously large and he is the oldest of the group.  A wizard naturally becomes stronger as they age since they become more accustomed to magic and their mana pool grows. 

I saw in Eual’s memories that Jupon could take on a pair of dragons by himself and win easily.  Even as I am right now I could barely survive against one dragon.  The gap is too great for me to close without taking some major risks.  Thus, I have drawn inspiration from sci-fi in my world and have decided to do some human augmentation on myself to try and gain power. There’s a chance of me dying a horrible death or becoming a hideous abomination, but if I don’t do this I’ll lose to Jupon for sure and I’ll die when both worlds end anyway. 

I had actually been slowly preparing for this even before my raid against the Redemption group, but I wanted to see how I fared during my raid before committing to it.  My struggles against Elna show that I’ve only been able to win against them with trickery and deceit.  But against those with overwhelming power like Jupon, those ploys are worthless.  I don’t want to do this, but for Kira and Veronica I will risk it.

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