Chapter 71 Lily Gardner

"Lily?" Muramoto asked in surprise. "You mean Lily Gardner, your step-sister?"

Nathan nodded. "Yes, I'm sure of it. She is Lily, my younger sister."

Muramoto gulped and turned his head back to the stage.

Linda turned to Muramoto. "Do we have another villain here?"

Muramoto shook his head slowly back and forth, clearly agitated by this turn of events. "I've heard about her, Lily Gardner. She is in her 2nd year of CEHA, but I don't think she has that kind of reputation to be entitled as a villain. I mean, she is not someone like Leon."

Linda raised an eyebrow and looked at Nathan. "So, Oppa, is she a good younger sister?"

Nathan hesitated for a moment before answering, "Well... It's hard for me to tell since we have had no contact for years now..." He thought for a second before continuing, "But I recall how we were when we were kids. We got along very well."

Linda looked back into his eyes and said, "Hmmm... Well, maybe it will work out if you two are able to get closer again? Do you plan on meeting up with her tonight?"

Nathan gave Linda a slight smile. "Well, hmmm...." he replied awkwardly. "I guess so..." he paused for a few seconds while looking at the auctioneer.

"One point two million dollars." Nathan finally spoke.

"Two million!" Lily shouted loudly in the stage's direction, where Vald stood silently observing everything that had happened in the room.

The crowd gasped.

"Nathan-san, I think this is enough. You can't go higher than this. Not because you don't have the money. I mean, this is really too much. This item is way over its reasonable price! No one should bid against it. And it's also not good for you if you win something like this at a first level auction." Muramoto whispered to him.

Nathan nodded. "I understand. We have another day before the deadline. Maybe we can come back tomorrow and buy another sword, then."

"If there is anything else that interests you, let me know..." Muramoto added.

"No... I'm done for tonight."

***

Nathan immediately decided to go home after failing to get the item he wanted. He also didn't get to meet the girl, who was likely Lily, his younger step-sister.

He felt slightly disappointed, but what Muramoto said wasn't wrong either.

"I have to restrain myself from being too open in public." He said while on his way home.

"Nathan Oppa, there's still tomorrow and another day after. I'm sure you'll get whatever you want." Linda said while smiling sweetly.

Nathan went into his room and quickly threw himself on the bed. It was already late at night by now, and all he could think of was his younger sister Lily, who had just appeared out of nowhere and offered a ridiculous amount of money to purchase an elite-grade weapon. Even though he wanted it, he didn't want to keep pushing for it.

Luna appeared nearby, hovering over Nathan lying on the bed. She chuckled, "Seems like every step you want to take always intersects with your step-sibling, Master?" she giggled.

Nathan smiled slightly, not saying anything.

Luna sighed before changing her expression completely into that of an innocent little girl. Her voice sounded more childish when she said, "It's so sad, though I hope you will complete one of your class quests tonight." She covered her mouth with her palm and chuckled.

"Well..." He answered calmly, then raised his body to sit position.

There were Polly and Fang, who were lying lazily on the floor.

"Geen? Can you please come out?" Nathan asked in a calm voice.

Fang rolled around onto his belly and wiggled to get up. Then it looked up at the floating ball of light as it floated down and emerged from behind it a hawk with black feathers.

"Screee.... Screee...."

Geen flapped and jumped into the bed beside Nathan.

"Hey, how are you? You can go out often, actually. You don't need to come only when I call you." Nathan said, patting the head of the hawk.

The hawk bobbed its head once. "Screee... Screee..."

"I have a present for you." Nathan took something out from his inventory and handed Geen what was inside: a red coin-shaped that seemed almost like a drop of blood. "

[Rare Spirit Beast Upgrader Token]

[Do you want to apply the token to Geen - Rare Spy Hawk?]

"Are you ready, Geen?"

"Screee... Screee...."

"Wait... I need to make sure of my current status first."

[Status]

[Name: Nathan Gardner]

[Race: Half Human]

[Level: Beginner Lv. 51]

[Exp: 3,798/11,833]

[-]

[Strength: 70]

[Dexterity: 45]

[Agility: 45]

[Magic: 70]

[Constitution: 55]

[Stamina: 73]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Points: 714,978]

[-]

Nathan smiled and turned to Luna. "Are the overall stats I have still okay, Luna? I had given a large amount to Fang's birth, and also a small part because I wielded the Sword of Disidia, even then I lost another few when I used the healing potion."

Luna nodded. "Yes, Master, don't worry. You get additional stats every time you level up. And with your overall stats alone, you're still practically on a par with a Hunter at level 55. That's 4 levels higher than your current level. Plus, you have support from Fang, Geen, and your golem. This is the early significant step to become the true one-man-army!" she explained cheerfully.

"I understand. Thank you very much," Nathan replied, then he turned to Geen. "Okay Geen, I'll apply an upgrade token to you. I've never done this before, but I hope you can become an even stronger spirit beast from now on. You will be alright, okay?"

The hawk flapped its wings a few times as if trying to show appreciation for his words, making Nathan laugh out loud for a moment.

"Now... Apply the upgrade token."

Geen let out a cry like that of a baby bird, so cute that it almost makes him want to keep it. With the sound, red light burst around them, filling the room with strange crackling sounds. As soon as they stopped, there was only blackness everywhere in the room. But a second later, everything came back to normal again.

"Hey..." Nathan gasped when he saw what had happened. "You got a new form, huh?"

Geen spread its wings. The feathers on its body changed into a brown leather-like texture, while those on its head became more wrinkly and grayish. Its eyes were also turning gold. The beak turned thicker and curved upwards slightly.

Geen started preening itself excitedly, looking proud at having a brand new appearance.

"Okay, Geen, let me see your new status."

[Status]

[Name: Geen]

[Race: Elite Dread Spy Hawk]

[Level: 85]

[-]

[Strength: 63]

[Dexterity: 180]

[Agility: 250]

[Magic: 71]

[Constitution: 58]

[Stamina: 130]

[Skills]

[Scouting System: Ability to scout an area and provide a location, geography, and structures around 30 km areas.

Enhanced its vision and ability to use its senses in all directions at once.

It can detect when enemies are approaching within 1 km of its range.

The mental map will be automatically shared with the owner.]

[Visual Linking: Share its vision with the owner.]

[Invisibility: Ability to become Invisible for 10 minutes after activation. After 2 minutes, the spirit will be weakened, resulting in a loss of Stamina per second. (cooldown: 1 minute)]

"That's amazing!" Luna said, amazed. "Looks like you've been promoted to a new rank, Geen. Some of your skills got combined, and even got a huge upgrade."

"Wow! Geen really changed into something cool!" Nathan exclaimed in surprise as he patted Geen's head and ruffled its feathers. "Good job Geen, with your current stats and skill, you have really become a great scouting hawk!" Nathan praised.

The bird flapped its wings once more.

"The GPS skill gets upgraded to detect enemies. And then, Geen can also use the invisibility skill, which is very helpful in its duties as a scout."

"Master Nathan." Luna said happily, "Geen can even do battle with its new stats. It has an excellent combination of Dexterity and Agility, and also a fair value of Stamina. It can fight like an Assassin, even though it doesn't have skills as a fighter yet. But still..." she added, "it's better than I expected..." She turned to Geen and smiled at it.

Nathan nodded. "It even has total stats far from what I have. I will be helpless if I have to fight Geen in a one-on-one battle." He said and smiled widely.

"Screee... Screee...."

At that moment, Nathan heard someone walking in the corridor and then a knock on the door.

"Nathan-san, are you asleep already?"

It was Muramoto.

"Not yet, Muramoto," he answered and walked to open the door. "What is it? Is there anything urgent?"

"I think so..." Muramoto held a long rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. "There was someone who put it on our car's windshield."

"Who could this be?"

"I'm not sure, but there was written your name on this package,"

Nathan received the package from Muramoto and realized that it was quite heavy.

"Open it, Nathan-san, I'm curious."

Nathan took out the wrapping and found a wooden box inside. The box felt strong, and the label on top of it read:

"Please take care of it."

Nathan couldn't help but smile slightly when he saw the letter.

"Are the contents of this box exactly as I thought, Nathan-san?" Muramoto looked at him with teary eyes.

"I'm not sure. Why don't we check it?" Nathan suggested.

Muramoto nodded happily.

Nathan pulled open the box and saw a sword lying in some kind of white cloth. It was exactly the sword that he had previously fought over at the auction.

"Am I dreaming?" Muramoto whispered loudly in excitement. "Breath of the Dragon Sword," he mumbled to himself. "This really is a sword won by Lily-san, right?"