Around this time, I came out of the capsule and was raising my body with a frown. My entire body felt old and sore. I straightened up and stretched. I took deep breaths and felt like the boundary between reality and imagination was becoming blurred. I didn't know what was real or virtual anymore.

“Ouch. My waist.”

The moment I was going to leave the room for a gla.s.s of water, the door opened and a familiar person came in. It was my granddaughter Mido. My eyes became wide with joy. “Ohh, my granddaughter~! You came?”

I smiled with the typical smile of a granddaughter-obsessed fool. However, Mido's expression was unusual. What was going on?

“Grandfather, are you Dark Wolf?”

“W-What?”

I panicked and couldn't help stammering. It was a bolt from the blue. I wondered how Mido knew my ident.i.ty. I thoroughly tried to hide it, but it was so easy to be caught.

“Isn't this Grandfather's handwriting?”

“Huh?”

“Don't think about trying to deny it. Dad said it is definitely your handwriting.”

Ahh. It was something I did. She was holding the four pages of information on constellations that I had written down the other day. My wrists were sore from writing so much and at the end, I stuck a sticky note. I wanted to write 'snail girl' but I deliberately wrote 'Dark Wolf.'

I was currently hiding my ident.i.ty, but since Mido asked me to appear on her live broadcast, I thought it would be good to create an excuse to get closer to each other. Nevertheless, I had already thought of an excuse in my head. “It seems that you're misunderstanding something. That is what I wrote. However, I'm not Dark Wolf.”

“Huh...? T-Then what is this?” Mido pointed to the words 'Dark Wolf' I had written on the sticky note with a strange and perplexed face. “This is definitely your writing, no?”

“Yes, it is my handwriting, but the information was given by Dark Wolf.” 

“Huh???” Mido once again looked dumbfounded. She didn't understand what was going on.

I started to give her a detailed explanation. A long story followed.

“Ahh~ I see. Grandfather, you accidentally saw the paper in my room and told Uncle Dark Wolf. Then he said he would help me?”

“Yes. I thought I would die from wrist pain while copying it down.”

I laughed while pretending it was a burden. However, Mido's questions weren't over yet. “So where is the original information that Grandfather saw and wrote?”

I was shocked. I hadn't expected her to dig this far. “It was a Kakao message, but I already deleted it...”

“Ahh, I see. You have his Kakaotalk? Can you give me his number? I think I should thank him.”

I would really be discovered if it continued like this. I rubbed my eyes and looked tired. In this case, it was time to pretend to be sick. “Cough. Mido... I'm not feeling well today. Can we talk about it tomorrow?”

“Ummm... Yes, I understand. I'm sorry for the suspicion. Good night, Grandfather.” 

Fortunately, she didn't push any more. Mido carefully went out the door. Of course, she didn't forget to kiss my cheek before leaving. Haha. This was the feeling of being a grandfather. It was worth the hard work to write the paper.

“I have to pretend well.”

I instantly turned off the lights and lay down on the bed. Strangely, I couldn't fall asleep. I thought about how Mido would ask for the number the moment she woke up tomorrow. Groan. I wouldn't have helped her if I knew it would be so uncomfortable.

"No, my granddaughter's grades are still more important. Right, absolutely.”

For the time being, I would have to avoid Mido, but it was all for my granddaughter. I was a grandfather who would do anything for Mido.

* * *

The next day, I woke up at 4 a.m.

I didn't go to exercise today. It was because Mido would definitely ask for the phone number the moment she woke up. I wished I could go to exercise every day, but it was hard to do it at my age. In any case, it was important to take a break so I should take one or two days off.

I headed straight into the capsule. I heard the familiar system voice. Then once I opened my eyes, I saw the hotel room where I had logged out yesterday. The sun was just about to rise. I immediately opened the window. It was nice to feel fresh air enter my nose.

“Good.”

It was full of freshness. Then I heard a fluttering sound and a bird landed on my shoulder. It seemed the cold wind coming in had woken her up.

“I'm sorry, Chunza. Was it cold?”

“Gruruk.”

Chunza nodded like she understood. I didn't know if she had become smarter, but I couldn't help smiling.

“Can you learn Fireball today?”

“Guruk. Guruk.” Chunza nodded a few times.

“How long will it take? Four hours?”

“Gurururuk.” Chunza shook her head.

“Two hours?

“Guruk. Guruk.”

“Umm, I see.”

There were around six hours left until the start of the Colosseum battle. I thought it would be a good idea to complete Chunza's Fireball acquisition. I would have to stop by the Magician's Guild and buy some good magic books. It would be better to choose and buy some now, in preparation for the future when Chunza could learn it. I had no worries about the cost because I had a lot of money left.

“Solar.”

“Hmm. Did you call me? Master~”

A small sphere of fire emerged in the air and Solar appeared. Based on its tired expression, it must've been sleeping when I called.

“I'll go out for a while so keep teaching Chunza.”

“Aha, like last time?” Solar was delighted.

“Yes, that thing.”

“I understand! Let's go! Chunza!”

Chunza was led by Solar to the bathroom. Chunza's drooping shoulders made her seem like she was reluctant to go. Well, it couldn't be helped. I couldn't leave Chunza as she was. Sometimes, children had to be taught strictly.

“Chun! Za! Noooooot that! Like this! Like this!”

I could hear Solar's voice rebuking Chunza loudly from the bathroom. I couldn't help laughing at the cuteness. I headed out without any regrets. The destination was the Magician's Guild Tower.

* * *

“Welcome to Fortren's Magic Tower.” The magician NPC guarding the entrance of the magic tower welcomed me. The distance between the hotel and the magic tower was closer than I expected. He pointed with his staff and asked, “For what business did you come here?”

“I would like to buy some magic books.”

“I see. Just go in here. It is a magic circle heading to the third floor.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I stepped into the magic circle created by the magician and felt a change. I felt a bit sick but it was still bearable. It was like a high-speed elevator.

“Oh, this is a wonderful place.”

There were more users in the tower than I thought. Most of them were magician users holding staves. Occasionally, I would see players from other cla.s.ses. According to Joseph, Fortren had a tower larger than Windia. Joseph had heard my words and said he would introduce me to an NPC of the magic tower who was in the resistance group. He said that I just needed to go there and the NPC would meet me...

“Are you Jackson?”

I turned my head at the voice that came from behind me and saw a quite tall male magician in a robe. I could tell he was an NPC at first glance.

“Yes.”

“Well, I got it right. It is nice to meet you. My name is Maven.”

“It is nice to meet you. I am Jackson.”

We shook hands. Then he started rubbing the back of my hand. There was a slight stinging pain and I saw a tattoo appear on the back of my hand. I looked bewildered.

-Don't be surprised. Telepathy magic is used for a smooth conversation. Now you can talk to me privately.

-Ahh. Really?

I thought that magic was really convenient. I felt regret that I hadn't changed cla.s.s to a magician, but I had already crossed the river and couldn't go back.

-Then follow me. I have heard the story from Joseph already. I will guide you to the place that contains decent low-grade magic books.

I followed his instructions and headed to the place where magic books were on display. I examined them one by one while listening to his explanation, but nothing could satisfy my heart.

...The level of the magic books was too low and it wasn't worthwhile to teach Chunza these types of things. It was much better now that Solar was the teacher. Of course, one day I was planning to have other teachers apart from Solar. I wanted to ask Punghee to teach Chunza wind magic. Additionally, if I later got the cloud elemental then I planned to teach Chunza even more magic.

Hmm, I would rather buy an item. I looked at them one by one and pa.s.sed by. Only one thing that caught my eye. I stopped at that place.

[Low-grade Magic - Stone Skin]

[Rating: Rare

A magic book containing the principles of the low-grade magic Stone Skin.

Parts of the body can be made as hard as stone.

-Low-grade Magic - Stone Skin can be acquired.]

I muttered, “This...”

“Do you like it?”

Perhaps he heard my murmur but Maven spoke using words, not telepathy. His eyes were slightly wide like it was unexpected.

“Yes, this is fine.'

In fact, there were many low-grade magic books related to the earth attribute, but everything else had been sold and this was the only one left. It was too bad that there wasn't any magic book I could buy to teach Chunza new magic, but having a defense magic I could use would be a good thing for me. I looked down and checked the price.

[Price: $200,000]

“......”

Why was it so expensive?

“I didn't know you would pick this. It is the most unpopular magic book in our tower. It is just an expensive cause of worry.” Maven shook his head with an expression like he was at his wit's end.

However, I needed it. I thought it would be quite useful in the Colosseum battle, but it was too expensive. It was a waste to buy this low-grade magic book at such a high price. In the first place, the price difference with the other magic books was too severe. It was a difference of more than 10 times.

“Groan, I like this one the most...”

Maven sighed as if it couldn't be helped.

-I will give you a staff discount.

I was a bit surprised by the staff discount. Was it possible to do this because he was an NPC?

-How much is the discount?

-It is 90%.

I coughed and picked up the Stone Skin Magic Book. There was no reason not to buy it with the discount. What did young people call it these days?

“An unexpected huge profit.”

It was what Mido taught me yesterday.