I Need Money to Level Up

Chapter 16: No Sweat

In the end, before doing anything too advanced, Raiden decided to work on the willpower of Javier and Ruth. Training with them would also be more beneficial, even if they give up eventually. Training with partners was better than just swinging the weapons around.

Just one hour of training before breakfast and after lunch didn't seem enough, but since Raiden wasn't planning to fool around and waste time, he was serious with them enough to make them attack him seriously on the first day... he had to repel all of their half-assed ones, first, though.

After the training session, Raiden went to work, and thanks to that routine, he was able to level up all of the vases that he had. Forty of them... now they could produce leaves two times faster. The first harvest will be ready in one week, and then he will complete all of the forty vases.

"I hope that it can make them grow faster as well instead of just producing more leaves," Raiden thought.

It was time to prepare dinner, and then Raiden decided to go home, but as soon as he turned around, he was tackled by a massive... creature. Actually, it was just Iri that approached in silence to surprise him and then suddenly hugged him.

"It has been a while, little brother," Iri said. "Did you behave while I was away?"

Raiden sighed, and then he saw Harth crossing the gate of the house. It seemed that the mission had been a success, but he looked troubled since he didn't have any more reason to lock Iri in the city.

"How have you been? How is Mother?" Iri asked.

"Well, and same as usual," Raiden replied.

"Your report is seriously lacking... if you ever were going to work with us, the Father would make you five pages of reports after every mission, even on the ones that he participated in," Iri said and then let Raiden go.

"I take it that nothing happened while we were away," Harth said after he approached and confirmed that Raiden was the same as usual. "No news is good news, I suppose."

"That is right," Raiden said.

"I can't imagine you and Mother having long conversations like this... things must have been pretty quiet while we were away," Iri furrowed her eyebrows.

Raiden decided to cook dinner since he was hungry and changed the subject. Unfortunately, those two were noisy, and Harth helped while they pressed for more Intel. Nothing actually happened aside from Javier, Ruth, and him reaching the next level and him talking with Lenore about medicine.

"So, you already reached the third level; I take it that the other kids aren't trying as hard as you three," Harth said. "Still, things will be harder from now on, so pace yourself."

"I will graduate from this level in three months, no sweat," Raiden declared.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that... the instructor is the one who decides if you can do the test or not, even if you have the skills to do so, they might think that you are lacking in other aspects," Harth explained.

"I graduated from the third level after defeating ten other kids without suffering any damage," Iri explained.

"Well, you stayed there for two years; in Raiden's case, he will really have to prove that he is a cut above the others," Harth said. "I forgot his name, but your instructor has a cross-shaped scar on his face, right? He might ask you to do the same with twenty or thirty of the other students."

"That would be fun," Raiden said while showing an unusual smile.

Harth and Iri looked at each other, Raiden was more of the quiet type, so they were surprised to see that it looked like he was looking forward to sparring with the other kids. Although the others had been trained for a while, they still feared pain. Raiden didn't look particularly bothered by it, and they wondered if that would change once he started getting back home while covered in bruises. While they were thinking about that, Kenoe showed up and noticed the weird atmosphere.

"You two are finally back, so what is this weird atmosphere?" Lenore asked. "Did something happen during the mission?"

"No, everything went well... we will give our report tomorrow morning," Harth replied after thinking for a short while.

"And that means..." Iri said while showing her eyes filled with expectation.

"It means that you did a mediocre job, not good, not bad," Harth said and then looked away. "So, you can receive mediocre missions. Looking for herbs around our territory should be enough."

Iri furrowed her eyebrows and studied her father with eyes filled with suspicion. Still, she knew better than to complain again. Besides, while it had been fun, two weeks away from home had been a bit tiring. For now, it would be fine to go on missions that last one or two days now and then. In the meantime, she was planning to help Raiden, who could finally train with wooden weapons. At least that was her plan, but when she woke up the next day, even though she tried really hard to wake up early, she found him with the other two already practicing. Jumping and interrupting them would be too rude, so she decided to help him another time...

Unfortunately for Iri, she didn't have any chance to train with Raiden since he was never alone. Moreover, he knew very well what he was doing. He had read a few books about spear techniques. So, he already had a good posture after one week of training, and his thrusts were quite heavy, albeit not so precise. When Javier and Ruth failed to block his thrusts, they would be hit and agonize on the ground for a while without air... it seemed that he had a knack for spear techniques. Still, Raiden knew that his strength also played an important factor in it.

"In about three months, I should be able to have a stock of one hundred plants and have them with upgraded vases... I should be able to produce two lots of medicine every month, then," Raiden thought while he was waiting for Javier and Ruth to get up in order for the training to continue. "Ten leaves are enough to create a pack of the medicinal powder, and each pack costs five silver coins. So, I will be able to get one hundred silver coins per month."

Raiden won't have to work for the other healers anymore unless he wants to ask them about some things. In any case, things were starting to look up to him.

One month passed in the blink of an eye, and Raiden was able to make his first pack of medicines after Lenore and the other healers inspected it. In fact, they were surprised by the quality of his products... to the point that all of the healers told him that they could buy all of his monthly production for thirty percent more than the usual price... it was worth fifty percent more. Still, Raiden was fine with it since it would help him have better connections with all the healers.

That worked like a charm, to the point that they also decided to invest in him. Some of them gave their old tools, and others also offered money in order to be given preference when he sold the medicine and to increase his production as well. Raiden was fine with that, but for now, he decided to keep the same pace of production.

Regardless, instead of three months, Raiden began to produce the medicine after just one month, and money started to come in.

"I guess I will use half of it and use the other half to improve my skills," Raiden thought after doing some math. "I basically gain four thousand fortune points per day, and that is enough to make me level up a bunch of times already. Still, it is better to be low-key and cover my bases."

While Raiden was making a lot of progress when it came to his business, he wasn't making much progress when it came to training. Yeah, he was getting used to handling a spear... but the daily practice with his friends and at school wasn't helping much. Thanks to his level-ups, he knew that he was basically two times stronger than the other kids, so that made it hard for them to pose a real challenge. He could tell that Javier and Ruth had already improved and even won some sparring sessions, but he couldn't feel his own growth.

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