Chapter 69: Find a Drug Dealer

He charged toward Nero with both arms raised.

’Perfect timing.’

Nero wanted to test out his newly trained Cellular Reservoir.

He extended his right palm, and blue light gathered around his hand almost immediately.

’It worked!’

BOOM!

A powerful blast struck the Deviant’s chest and sent him flying backward into the damaged crates.

This time, he didn’t get up.

Nero examined both unconscious men before lowering his hand.

’Not bad. My training actually paid off!’

More importantly, he had managed to activate Cellular Reservoir directly from his body without the usual delay.

Unfortunately, there was still something he needed to confirm.

Whether he had completed the choice or not.

[Ding! Choice Completed.]

[Reward Received: $10,000 (Uncommon)]

’THANK GOD!’

Nero had never been so relieved to see a notification.

However, when he turned toward Yuna, he discovered that she was staring at him with an expression he couldn’t quite understand.

"..."

"..."

"Are you alright?" Nero asked.

"Shouldn’t I be asking you that?" Yuna replied, looking at him as if he were an alien.

"Huh?"

"Are you really the Final Boss of This Alley?"

"..."

Nero’s lips twitched at her question.

"Can we forget about that?"

"Did you hit your head?" Yuna asked, examining him with genuine concern.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

First Lilly, back when Richard was undergoing his second awakening, and now Yuna.

Yuna rolled her eyes. "Because I watched a guy appear out of nowhere, call himself the Final Boss of an alley, and start shouting about villains and tutorials."

"I’m trying to decide whether I should thank you or call a doctor."

"..."

Nero had no words. He could only stand there and sigh.

"Pfft!"

Yuna suddenly covered her mouth.

However, she couldn’t hold back for long.

"Hahahaha! The Final Boss of This Alley! Oh my God, I can’t believe you actually said that. Do you have no sense of shame?"

"Please stop laughing!" Nero’s face turned purple as he listened to her.

This was probably the most embarrassing situation he had been in for quite some time.

"I’m sorry! I’m sorry!"

She tried to calm herself down, only to burst into laughter again.

However, despite being laughed at and made fun of, Nero didn’t actually feel that bad about the situation. He was embarrassed, of course, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as he would have expected.

And that was progress.

His previous self would never have done something like this.

Besides, he knew better than anyone that the system was deliberately putting him through these embarrassing situations so that he wouldn’t easily lose his composure when facing similar situations in the future.

Having thick skin was important, after all.

Once Yuna finally stopped laughing, she examined him more carefully.

"Anyway, it’s you. The guy who got hit by a truck."

"You recognized me?" Nero asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Of course! You’re the one who looked directly at me and walked away without even saying hello."

"You’ve changed quite a lot in one week. I almost didn’t recognize you."

"I managed to awaken," Nero said with a nod.

"I can see that. Congratulations, Mr. Final Boss."

"...Please don’t call me that."

"Then what should I call you? Your Majesty? Lord of the Alley?"

"Just Nero!"

"Hahaha! Alright, Nero."

Nero was beginning to understand why Serina and Yuna were considered rivals.

Both seemed to enjoy making other people miserable.

"Anyway, shouldn’t we call someone about those two?"

"Don’t worry. I’ll have them dealt with."

Yuna stepped around the fallen knife and brushed a strand of pink hair away from her shoulder.

"I should get going too. I was supposed to attend class today."

"You’re a little late, aren’t you?" Nero asked, baffled. Did she even know what time it was?

"Well, I stayed up watching a drama from the Nihon Federation. Every episode ended at the worst possible moment, so I couldn’t stop!"

"Uh-huh."

Nero nodded awkwardly. He didn’t know how to respond.

He was also thinking about watching a few dramas from there. Now that he could understand the language fluently thanks to his Perfect Memory, he wanted to make use of it and watch them without subtitles.

Yuna then smiled brightly.

"Anyway, thanks for helping me. See you around, and try saying hello next time!"

"Bye-bye, Mr. Final Boss!"

With that, she turned around and left.

Nero watched her leave before he, too, began moving.

He still needed to pick up Mira for training.

Meanwhile, Yuna watched him disappear into the crowd.

Only after he was gone did her smile gradually fade.

Strange runes flashed within her blue eyes as she activated her Talent.

She had noticed something unusual about Nero during their first encounter.

However, something had changed.

’What’s going on?’

Yuna tried examining him with her ability, but the result was completely different from before.

She couldn’t see through him anymore.

It was almost as though she were trying to observe a being that existed far above her.

’That’s impossible.’

An ordinary awakening shouldn’t have caused such a dramatic change.

And yet, the guy who had just called himself the Final Boss of This Alley was now someone even her Talent struggled to understand.

Yuna narrowed her eyes.

’Just what happened to him?’

By the time Yuna finished contemplating the matter, Nero had already picked up his little daughter from Willow Lane.

Mira stood beside him outside the Morgan Estate, examining the enormous mansion with wide eyes.

"Big brother, you live in this entire place?"

"Well, technically, it belongs to Miss Lilia. But yes, I live here."

"It’s so big! Are we going to train here?"

"That’s the plan. We won’t have to worry about people watching us. I have the entire place to myself."

Mira immediately brightened.

"Are we going to practice Telekinesis?"

"Yep. But first, I want to figure out how much Mental Power you have and how well you can control it."

Nero understood the basics of Telekinesis, but increasing Mental Power was another matter entirely.

Unlike Mana, Mental Power couldn’t be replenished through ordinary Recovery Potions.

Fortunately, he possessed Alchemy Emperor’s Knowledge.

There had to be something within that vast collection of knowledge capable of helping them restore Mental Power or perhaps even develop it further.

As Nero searched through the information in his mind, the name of a particular herb suddenly surfaced.

’Oh? This might actually work.’

According to his knowledge, the herb could be used to prepare a medicine capable of restoring Mental Power.

There was just one problem.

The herb was also extremely popular among drug addicts.

’...Wait a minute.’

Nero considered what that meant.

To prepare the medicine, he would first need to acquire the ingredient.

And judging by what he remembered, ordinary pharmacies weren’t exactly known for selling it. It was a rather special ingredient.

Mira noticed his troubled expression.

"Did you think of something, big brother?"

Nero looked at the cheerful little girl waiting for her first lesson, his lips twitching.

He had promised her parents that he would personally train their daughter.

And now, his first step toward improving her Mental Power and his own might involve finding a drug dealer.