Apollo’s Alm Points was reduced to 165 after buying the Passerby Shadow that cost him 80 Alm Points though his eyes focused on the newly added information at the bottom of the screen.
"Hmm," Apollo thought for a moment before he turned off his Status Screen. He stared at his companion who’s also looking at him with his big eyes. "Bubba, that’s your name from now on, got it?"
The monkey tilted his head in confusion as he couldn’t understand the human words.
"You are dumb," Apollo said while bringing up his System Store.
An interface appeared in front of him with a list of items displayed. Each item has otherworldly effects but with his number of Alm Points, he couldn’t afford them.
"Sort the items, show me cheap and effective items that can boost a monkey’s intelligence," Apollo ordered the System and the moment his words fell, the store began sorting itself out.
Apollo browsed the items in the store for a while before something caught his eyes. The other items are too expensive for his budget or he just doesn’t like the effect, but this one, it’s calling for him.
"Chili of Intelligence?" Apollo muttered. He began reading the item description and once he was finished, he stared at his companion who shivered from under his gaze. "Buddy, don’t worry you can handle this."
The beggar bought the fifteen worth of Alm Points which slightly sting his heart and a white light appeared in front of him before materializing into a finger length chili. Holding it with his free hand while the other holding the nape of his companion, he brought the item to the monkey’s mouth.
"Eat this Bubba," Apollo smiled though to his companion, it was the smile of the devil.
The monkey shrieked in fear. It tried to free itself from the hand of the human but the meager strength couldn’t even budge the fingers.
"Don’t worry, after you eat this, you will no longer be a normal monkey," Apollo pushed the chilli to his companion’s mouth who happened to sniff it. The monkey wanted to puke and the beggar took that chance to push the chilli inside!
The beggar then made Bubba swallow it by closing his mouth. The monkey doesn’t have a choice but to eat the chili, his small mouth moving out of its will.
Apollo watched in fascination as the monkey ate the item. And in the next moment, with the sound of Bubba gulping, he shrieked in pain. The monkey’s small and thin voice echoing in this small corner of the restaurant.
Bubba’s face is red as he tried to get out of the beggar’s hand with all his strength. The monkey doesn’t even care anymore if his bones are cracking from his own thrashing.
"Hey calm down," Apollo said with a frown on his face. Bubba has become crazy from the intensity of the chilli he just ate, eyes red and saliva dripping. The beggar felt like he was not holding a monkey but a ticking time bomb that would attack him the moment he let go.
Chilli of Intelligence: A fruit filled with nourishing elements meant for the mind. Once eaten, it can raise any sentient being’s intellectual quotient by five percent.
This is one of the items he saw. There are others with almost the same effect though they take different forms. But this Chilli of Intelligence has the most straightforward effect, it’s instant and also cheaper.
Although there’s only an increase of five percent in intelligence, this five percent is something that one shouldn’t underestimate. Furthermore, the effects are stackable which means, the more the monkey ate the chilli, the smarter he will get.
But fifteen Alm Points? Apollo knew it’s going to be hard to be consistent in giving Bubba the Chilli of Intelligence. Heck, increasing his Alm Points by five everyday is already a good gain.
Apollo will have to save some of his Alm points just to make the monkey smarter. "Bubba, I won’t let you remain ’normal’! Let’s show the d*mn System that we are not pushovers!"
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The only reply he got was the monkey laying limp in his hands, breathing heavily and tongue out.
"Hey, are you still alive?" Apollo shook the monkey but he didn’t receive any response. He focused his senses and found Bubba already deeply asleep. "Sleepwell, we still have a long way to go."
…
A day later, the expansion of the wall is progressing as planned. Workers worked non stop while carriages carrying materials filled the side of the wall.
They don’t have enough time to rest, blood and sweat pouring out of them as they race against time.
Three and a half days, they have to finish the expansion before that time ends or they will face the wrath of the Mayor. No pay, no money, no bread. They still have families to feed so every worker didn’t dare slack off.
One of the carriage in the area is different compared to the one with materials inside them, this particular carriage is silver in color with the insignia of Klown City.
Inside, Holst is looking at the workers through the window, his always squinting eyes glancing at each person.
"Hmm?" Then he noticed something strange. Tilting his head, he didn’t find someone that should be doing the most important job. "Where’s he?"
He looked around once more, especially those who walked near the wall but his search for the person failed. Suddenly, he realized something so he went out of the carriage.
The moment that he showed himself, the workers immediately dropped what they were doing and bowed towards the butler’s direction. Although he is only a butler, every person in Klown knows he is the mayor’s right hand man.
Klown pointed at one of them who run towards him. "Where is he? The one I tasked to monitor the wall?"
Monitor is just a position he used to hide the person’s real job which is to pour the Red Essence beside the wall.
"We haven’t seen him since two days ago," The worker answered, not daring to make eye contact.
"Two days ago?" Holst repeated, his face turning serious. He spread his senses but didn’t find anything strange. "Go back to your work."
The worker bowed and soon they returned to their job.
Holst glanced at them for a moment and began walking to a certain direction while spreading his senses. He walked for a few minutes before something made him turn to a place, a small passageway between two buildings.
The ground is letting out a few glare from the sun which Holst found strange as the passageway doesn’t have any trash besides rocks and dirt.
Holst walked towards the objects that were reflecting the sun. He lowered his body and picked a piece of the object. His face appeared on the glass as he twirled it in his hands.
There’s dozens of these glasses on the ground, a piece of equipment that has been shattered.
The temperature around the butler lowered, emotions disappearing from his face.
He stared at the ground and his forehead started turning strange before a vertical eye appeared. And when it opened, red iris appeared.
Holst saw red paint on the floor beside the glass shards, letting out the same color of particles that flowed with the wind.
"I see," The butler muttered, realizing what had just happened. He turned around, the vertical eye on his forehead already gone as he made his way back into his silver carriage.
…
Apollo opened his eyes with the sound of his companion letting out a cry. He just spent the night cultivating the Revised Revised Simple Breathing Technique and the Great Serpent Ascendant Transformation.
The technique that he got from the fifth floor of the Great Serpent Library is hard to cultivate. It doesn’t need him to move at all as it’s not a battle technique but a transformation one. But this one is something that frustrated the beggar.
It’s been a week or more since he got it, but his progress is not moving much. He’s on the verge of entering the beginner stage but he feels like he is walking on mud, every step is heavy and in one wrong move, he will fall.
"This is hard," Apollo muttered for the nth time before he let out a sigh. Usually, all of the techniques he learned before just needed him thirty minutes or a few hours just to enter the beginner stage. "I’m stuck."
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Then as the word echoed, he slapped his head. "How could I forget about it?" He recalled his lessons with his other master, Sir Guo. He said that if one has an attribute, they will experience more growth in an environment where their Attribute is abundant. That’s why Sir Guo halted their lesson for a while as Klown City doesn’t have a place where there is Lightning Attribute.
But water? Klown has plenty of sources of water. What if he cultivates the Great Serpent Ascendent Transformation while his body is submerged in water? The thought caused Apollo to become excited as he wanted to test it out.
By now, the cry of Bubba was drowned by his thought and only when the monkey started moving and jumping around did he notice his companion.
"What?" Apollo asked in annoyance. The monkey has a strap made out of clothes, tied around the support of his makeshift roof. This prevented Bubba from running off to somewhere else while the beggar was cultivating.
When Bubba heard the sound of the human, his body visibly shivered from fear.
It immediately stopped jumping around and remained seated on the floor.
Seeing the monkey behaving, Apollo smiled. The chilli is effective, he thought, though the monkey is just really scared of him.
"Hungry?" Apollo asked while exaggerating and rubbing his belly.
Bubba tilted his head in confusion. Then he noticed the human moving his hand across his stomach. As if the monkey understood, it began jumping once more.
"Oh, he could understand that? That’s interesting," Apollo smiled and stood up. He walked outside his beggar and the moment that he did, an explosion sounded in front of him.