Wish Fulfillment System

Almost soundlessly, Ais yawned and stretched herself. Even though she had only slept for a little over five hours and the sun hadn't even begun to peek over the horizon yet, she was well rested. To be honest, her body didn't even need this much sleep, so it was pure luxury.

When she was finished rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she noticed that Isaac had seemingly already awoken some time ago. He was sitting next to her, with his back leaning against the bed's headrest, and had a wooden board on his lap upon which were placed a few sheets of paper that he was absentmindedly scribbling away on. The scene was illuminated by the gentle light of a magic stone-powered bedside lamp.

Intrigued, and not yet ready to fully part from his embrace, Ais snuggled up closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. When she looked at what he was writing down, she only saw a lot of numbers, which at first glance didn't make much sense to her.

"What are you up to so early in the morning?"

A slight smile played across Isaac's lips as his eyes regained their focus. After turning his head, he planted a soft kiss on her forehead, causing her to blush and beam in happiness.

"I woke up a while ago and couldn't go back to sleep, so I focused on mana cultivation. On the side, I went through my inventory to sum up how much valis I currently have on me and could exchange for using all of my magic stones plus Drop Items."

Even though he had surpassed 35,000 drops a short while ago, he hadn't reached another bottleneck, which was expected. If his guess was correct, then only at 40,000 would he have the opportunity to advance his Development Ability again.

With a swift motion, Isaac wrote down the final result of the calculations that he had done in passing. 2,762,388,317 valis - he had long since become a billionaire! A look of shock appeared on Ais' face for a moment, then she chuckled to herself.

"You do remember that you still have to pay the familia taxes, right?"

Smirking, Isaac nodded and penned down yet another number.

"Yes, but I doubt that the rate will be the same. If I could still get away with only paying five percent of the earnings of my hunts, then I would have to pay 92,173,412 valis. But seeing how I'm a First Class adventurer now, I will probably have to cough up more. Oh well, not that it matters."

There were quite a few loopholes to the familia taxes. He only had to give the familia a certain percentage of the money that he earned from killing monsters and exchanging their loot. Technically, if he never asked the Guild to convert these into money, then he wouldn't have to pay anything at all - still, he didn't plan to do this, as he genuinely wanted to help support this familia that Ais cherished so much. He did, however, plan to make use of two other loopholes.

Firstly, the magic stones and Drop Items that he had picked up passively during the expedition were exempted from the taxes, because they were simply goods that the familia had discarded - nobody in their right mind would request for him to pay up in this case, although far too many greedy businessmen from his old world would probably froth at the mouth if they were to know that he was pocketing a huge sum of money in this specific situation, ravenously filing lawsuit after lawsuit. Secondly, the valis that he had obtained from slaying beings of the sentient races, as well as those that he had gained from robbing the Petbe Familia's mansion, simply didn't fall under the stipulated terms.

Mind you, this was no insignificant amount. The whole encounter had gifted him with more than 400 million valis, and that didn't even include all of the various other valuables that he had rightfully pocketed to save them from the explosions. Yes, that was the only reason.

As for why his wealth had snowballed to such an incredible degree, there were many causes for this, but some of the main ones were the following.

To start things off, he had barely spent any money on equipment compared to all other adventurers, which, to anyone else, would have been a fatal mistake. Then, he hadn't bought any supporting items that would have helped him on specific floors, or would have made battling certain monster species easier. Next on the list was his infinite storage, the inventory. It enabled him to carry as much as he wanted, so he didn't need to restrict himself to only the most valuable magic stones and Drop Items that he came across.

If one wanted to go into even more detail, then him using his teleportation ability to get rid of the need to commute to and from the dungeon, and the specific floors, also had a significant impact. All in all, there was simply no way for him to not end up with a staggering surplus of valis.

"After you're officially a free man again, don't forget to visit Rakta to get your taxes sorted out."

In response to Ais' reminder, he only nodded and closed his eyes. In comfortable silence, he wrapped an arm around her. Just like that, the two enjoyed the other's company for the rest of the early morning.

Isaac hadn't only taken a closer look at his monetary gains before Ais had woken up, he had also glanced at his acc.u.mulated AP: 91,927. It was a respectable number, but for what he had in mind regarding the relatively near future, it was still very far from enough.

'I will be gaining a significant amount soon anyway, so I don't need to worry.'

-----

"Hey Fels, are you up yet?"

While casually reclining on his trusty sofa, Isaac called his calcium-rich acquaintance. He didn't have to wait for long, because an epicene, disembodied voice soon resounded from the other end of the connection.

"I don't need to sleep, so of course I am. How can I be of service, Mr. Blackshaw?"

Not really surprised by this revelation - most people would have already guessed it, after all - Isaac habitually nodded to himself before stating his business.

"I realized that I didn't exchange enough of my loot with you yesterday, as I will be burning through a significant amount of my savings in a bit. Do you have time for another transaction, a bigger one?"

"At the same time as yesterday, I assume? I will arrange my schedule, then. If I may ask, how large of a transaction should I prepare for?"

Because he had already decided on a number earlier today, Isaac didn't need to hesitate in his reply.

"500 million valis."

What greeted him was absolute silence. Only after half a minute could the stupefied voice of Fels be heard again. It wasn't like Isaac was left hanging without anything to do in the meantime, however, because he enjoyed a refreshing sip of the tea that Titania had brewed a short while ago.

"Excuse me, did I mishear you by any chance, Mr. Blackshaw?"

Amused by their reaction, Isaac shook his head and smirked to himself.

"No, you heard me correctly. 500 million valis. Also, would this afternoon, at 4 p.m., be a good time for you? I have a few things to take care of today, so I will most likely not be able to make it any earlier than that."

It wasn't clear whether or not Fels was simply too shocked upon getting this confirmation, or if they were anything but pleased at having to clear up even more of their schedule to have enough time to meet Isaac's demands. In any case, for yet another minute or two, silence was Isaac's only companion. Aside from Titania, of course.

"Alright, I will meet you at your cell at that time."

When a reply finally came, Fels ended the conversation from their side, with a clearly hurried and stressed voice. To accommodate such a large transaction was surely anything but an easy and inconsequential matter.

'Maybe I rushed them a little bit too much. I still have enough money on hand, and I don't exactly need the valis right now. Next time, I should be a bit more understanding.'

Shaking his head and sighing at himself for projecting his tendency of overworking himself beyond any rational limits unto others, Isaac jumped from Titania's back and landed on the ground. With an inquisitive gaze, he sized her up in detail, making her a little fl.u.s.tered. The green on her cheeks grew a shade deeper.

"W-What is it, master?"

With a short nod, seeming as if he had understood something, Isaac's expression turned considerably serious as he replied.

"I just thought about it, but you do need to bathe, don't you? We already got the issue of feeding you sorted out, as you seem to like the food that the familia's kitchen provides us with, but this cleanliness one, as well as the one regarding your resting place have yet to be dealt with."

Surprised by his sudden care about her wellbeing, Titania blushed a little deeper. She felt honoured, but also embarrassed for having such a topic brought up.

"I'm fine, master! Just basking in regular rain water should be enough every now and then."

While she said this, a system notification popped up in Isaac's field of view.

[ Titania's Loyalty has increased by 5. ]

Smiling slightly at this positive development, he shook his head at her words.

"Nonsense. You are my sofa and my servant, I can't let you get dirty, can I? The showers here aren't big enough to allow you to use them, so I'll bring you to a good spot in a bit. As for the resting place that I mentioned, that will have to be put on hold for now, but you won't have to wait for too long."

Overcome with emotion, the Demi Spirit nodded, her eyes slightly watery.

Ais had already left with the strongest party of the Loki Familia, to teleport them to the dungeon's depths and support them on their descent. Maybe she herself would also gain an opportunity to grow soon. Considering her current base stats, however, she would probably only encounter monsters that were strong enough to qualify for that beyond the Glacier Territory. Well, unless she ran into the Monochrome Tig--- Baihu.

Today, Isaac would be leading the students and subordinates into the dungeon, like in the 'good old days'... which actually weren't that long ago. He knew exactly which paths to take to avoid any prying eyes, and he also needed to make his way to the 18th floor for two matters. Because he had known that he would be spending the night with Ais yesterday, he had announced that they would set off at around 7:30 a.m., a little later than usual.

With more than enough time to spare, Isaac chose a fitting spot on the 50th floor and teleported both himself and Titania there. Due to her body's massive size, she wouldn't be able to enjoy a bath at pretty much every facility in the city, so he had scoured his map until he had found a sufficiently large and deep lake, with a waterfall many tens of meters high feeding into it. It was located far away from the Loki Familia's campsite and he had discovered it during his recent rush to surpass the publicly stated floor record. Thankfully, this floor, just like some of the other safety points, had healthy and drinkable water. It was definitely more than good enough to enjoy a nice bath.

"Go ahead and clean yourself properly. Don't worry, I won't peek."

After leaving behind these words and a deep-green Titania, Isaac strolled into the woods and found a clearing relatively nearby, where he sat down and closed his eyes. With his Eyes of Hermes only active in a very small radius all around him, not enough to steal any glances at the bathing plant, he focused on adding drops to his mana flow. When he actually put some effort into it, it proceeded a lot faster than usual.

By the time that his comfortable sofa entered the range of his Eyes of Hermes, her hair still a little damp, more than twenty minutes had passed. As for the number of drops that he could now manage? It was 37,041.

-----

While Isaac had been accompanying the kids from the tenth floor all the way to the 18th, he had gotten a closer look at their growth, and he was overall more than satisfied. Even though he - as usual - always managed to find some flaws, every single one of them had already vastly surpassed their initial capabilities. Now, they were able to fight those considerably beyond their own stats.

Quinn, in his Berserker-state, was the most surprising sight, however. Contrary to what he had expected to witness - a bloodthirsty and mad killer - he was faced with the cold and calculating kind instead. Through sheer power of will, the cat boy had managed to not even let his expression be influenced by his activated Skill. Well, actually, this was an exaggeration. His face did turn a little stiff, but that was it. Calmly anticipating his enemies' moves, Quinn never acted too early, no matter how trigger-happy his current state made him be. Truly, this self control was an exceptional achievement.

Less than three hours were enough to let him experience all that the floors before the 18th had to offer, so about an hour before Isaac's scheduled meeting with the Xenos, the group found itself not too far from Rivira, in a rarely traversed forest. Not every single staircase leading to the 19th floor was located in between the roots of the massive tree at the very center of this part of the floor. A few of them were actually situated in the forests that were dotted all over the landscape. Still, it would be far safer to simply go to the Under Resort and use the more frequently treaded path, which was exactly why the place was so extraordinarily popular.

"I don't know how long I'll take, but it will be at least a few hours, I assume. I will join you again once I'm done. Be careful!"

With these words, Isaac bid his students and subordinates a temporary farewell. Even just Jakk and Aselina were enough to keep the group safe from regular monster encounters, and now that he had made Titania follow along, almost nothing would be able to endanger them. And even should something unforeseen occur, then there were always the various alerts to fall back on.

Now mostly worry-free, Isaac made his way into Rivira. As he was blurring his existence slightly, nobody took notice of him. Very quickly, he zeroed in on Bors' store. There actually was a customer present when he entered, so he kept motionless until the poor Level 2 adventurer reluctantly paid for Bors' overpriced wares and left, no doubt cursing him behind his back.

While the eyepatch-wearing man gleefully counted his valis behind the counter, Isaac stepped up and cleared his throat.

"Ahem. It's nice to see that your business is going well. Now, do you have what I asked for?"

In his surprise, Bors dropped some of the coins that he had been playing with, only to annoyedly search for them on the ground once he realized who it was that had just spooked him.

"Do you have to do that every time you come here?"

Only when he had managed to find the last coin and had some time to cool down did the keen-eyed businessman realize something - a crucial detail that he had overlooked.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be in solitary confinement? How the hell are you here!?"

In response, Isaac's pleasant smile, from one second to the next, turned saintly and unsettling. It was too pure and holy to be real, but at the same time it lured in observers with a promise of salvation. A cold shiver ran down Bors' back as he got a very, very bad feeling about this…

"What do you mean? I am in solitary confinement. We didn't meet. And if I hear any rumours cropping up, about me not being where I'm supposed to be, I will know exactly who is responsible for them."

The look in the young man's eyes turned both icy and compassionate at the same time, that unnatural contradiction evoking even more fear in the by now shivering storekeeper.

"I don't need to tell you what will happen to people who can't keep the cat in the bag, right?"

Sweating bullets as if he had just run a marathon, Bors hastily nodded his head, desperate for this weird and creepy situation to end already. Thankfully, Isaac obliged. As if nothing had ever happened, his expression returned to being natural and polite. With a wave of his hand, a bag filled with exactly one million valis appeared on the counter.

"Here you go, your payment. Now, can I get my goods? Oh, and I would also like the key to the property that I rented last time."

Although it felt like he had just come extremely close to prematurely hitching a ride to the afterlife, the trembling Bors still opened the bag and counted the coins. Only after he had confirmed that everything was in order did he accept the valis and go to rummage around one of the cabinets in his store. Hidden within a secret compartment, there was a small vial filled with a dark golden liquid. It wasn't as bright as the Ichor of deities, but it certainly was very reminiscent of it.

"Here you go, one Status Thief. Also, here is the key. I promise I won't say anything, okay!?"

With an almost pleading, desperate gaze, Bors placed a small, metal key and the vial in Isaac's hands. In response, the man in question nodded and quietly left the store just like he had entered it - it was as if he had simply disappeared.

When he was sure that Isaac was gone, Bors collapsed to the floor and massaged his still trembling legs. They had partially cramped up before and it was extremely uncomfortable to stay in such a state.

'Wasn't he only a Level 2 the last time I saw him? Even if I ignore that mental pressure… his subconscious movements were way too fast to keep up with! I'm certain he can crush me easily now.'

By the time that his thoughts reached this point, the experienced adventurer turned as white as a sheet. Only after a few minutes did he manage to put this encounter behind him and collect himself again.

'In any case, I don't plan to snitch. Even if he hadn't threatened me, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to do so. For him to be able to avoid the punishment means that he has very powerful connections - ones that I don't want to piss off.'

-----

Under the shade of a tree, three figures of various sizes were waiting for someone. One of them was patiently sitting on the ground and playing with the grass, while another was leaning against the aforementioned tree with crossed arms and sharp eyes. The last one was pacing up and down in front of the others, clearly very nervous.

An amused smile played across the beautiful Siren Xenos' lips as she observed her dear friend's antsy behaviour from her spot on the ground.

"Calm down, Lyd. he will be here on time, I'm sure of it. We're just far too early."

The one that she had addressed was a Lizardman Xenos who was slightly shorter than her. He was clad in ragtag pieces of gear that they had scavenged from adventurers that had attempted to - unsuccessfully - hunt them down over the years. Instead of the fierce look that he usually showed in battle, he sported a panicked face right now.

"That's not it, Ray! I'm just worried that I'm expecting too much and that my hopes will be dashed again."

Even though she understood her companion's worries, Ray reassuringly shook her head and smiled. When recalling the mysterious god that she had met, she would be filled with an unusual sense of security and conviction, although she couldn't explain why.

"Please trust my judgement. I'm certain that he spoke the truth."

Right as her anxious friend began to calm down, a cold snort interrupted the two. It came from the silent Gargoyle Xenos who had been looking at the two unhappily while leaning on the tree all this time.

He, who went by the name 'Gros', was even a bit taller than the rest of his species, towering at a height of four and a half meters. If this particular tree hadn't been considerably massive as well, then the sheer weight of his ash-coloured stone body would have caused it to bend and ultimately break. His red eyes were filled with a deep distrust and although he had his wings folded, he seemed ready to throw himself at any enemy as soon as they entered his range of perception.

"What a joke. A mystery man who promises to deal with our biggest problem all by himself? Just you wait and see, he will turn out to be a kidnapper like the rest of these abominable surface dwellers. Someone who only wants to take advantage of us for their own gain. I will prove it to you! And once you've seen his true colours, I will crush him like a c.o.c.kroach!"

With fury blazing in his eyes, Gros clenched his fists, remembering the many times when beloved friends had left his side forever, all due to the lies, deceit and enmity of the beings of the sentient races.

Before Ray, who had furrowed her brows and was ready to speak up, even had opened her mouth, an amused, familiar voice resounded from overhead, from one of the branches of the tree that the three of them were gathered under.

"Oh? I'd love to see you try."