Mercury made quick work of the two thugs, but they weren''t the problem, or rather what was pissing him off, it was the Ralmet family
''...''
Mercury walked back into the shop and informed the cleck that he had fixed the problem before he walked back into the workshop where Marie was working, she stopped when he walked in, however, and turned to him after looking at his expression for a bit she asked
"Was it them again?"
"...Yeah, I am going to leave for a couple of days, then after I return I''ll put an end to their fun and games"
"What are you going to do?"
Mercury showed a smile before he patted his right leg and spoke
"I''ll fix this up, about time anyways"
"...Okay, but stay until Max returns home"
"Sure"
Mercury left that evening, he took the same route he had taken once before, and over the course of the next 5 days he made his way back to the ruins of the long lost city before he made his way to the storage facility and walked through the open door he had forced the last time, this time he was a lot more cautious and looked at the floor
"Some sort of magic formation?"
The place where he had been transported before was a giant formation, Mercury threw a random rock into the middle of the formation and saw it lit up before the rock disappeared, then it clicked for him
"Oh… The ''no cloning theorem'' But of course…"
Mercury sighed and decided not to get telefraged again and took some caution in avoiding the teleport formations that were laíd down on the floor as he walked around and absorbed all the metal ingots that were in storage, then he made his way out of the storage facility and sat down before he muttered
"[Upgrade shop]"
Then a couple of rows of half-transparent words appeared
[Essence shop]
Current essence: 281.221
Available skills: none
Available purchases: [Metal gamble, cost: 1.000] [Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation, cost: 100.000]
Random status point, cost: 100
Specific status point, cost: 500
Level up, cost: 1.000
"Well, would you look at that… Purchase [Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation]"
A soft light appeared as a mercury-like metal appeared in the air in front of Mercury it flew around him a couple of times before it settled down on his outstretched hand, it had an ever-changing shape and gave off a soft silver glow, Mercury took a deep breath and pressed it against his injured leg, then some other half-transparent text popped up
[Use Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation on right leg?]
"Yes"
[Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation will now begin…]
The living metal quickly began assimilation with his right leg, there wasn''t any pain to be felt even as the metal ate into his muscles and replaced them
[Error, large intact amount of organic matter detected… Replace organic matter?]
Mercury thought about it for a bit before he shook his head and spoke
"No"
[Assign surplus living metal to another area?]
"...Yes"
[Please specify area]
"...Right hand"
A portion of the living metal then separated from the other and moved up along his body until it reached his right hand and covered it
[Please specify assimilation model]
Mercury thought for a bit before he nodded and spoke
"Reinforce weak points while keeping flexibility and range of movement, prioritize Metacarpal bones"
[Assimilation model confirmed, begging assimilation…]
After about half an hour Mercury stood up on his legs and shifted weight over onto his previously injured right leg and felt no discomfort, then he flexed his right hand a few times before he nodded and spoke
"Time to return… Let''s push it a bit and be back in 3, no 2 days"
Mercury kicked off the ground with his right leg and began running with surprising ease as he ran he spoke out
"Status"
Name: Mercury
Age: Error
Race: Null
Class: [Metal]
Class level: 11
Titles: [Last member of the ********* ** *** ******] [First of the ********] [Sinner of the ****** race] [Cursebreaker] [Iron ranked hunter] [Partially reinforced right leg and hand]
Strength [17/1050] - Constitution [17/1000] - Dexterity [18/500]
Intelligence [18/100] - Wisdom [20/100] - Carisma [20/10]
Class skills: [Metal assimilation, lv--] [Essence refining, lv--] [Essence consuming, lv--] [Essence shop, lv--]
Active skills: [Earth magic, lv10] [Lesser metal weaving, lv--] [Metal domination, lv--] [Blacksmithing, lv4] [Swordsmanship, lv3] [Forging blows, lv1] [Meditation, lv--]
Passive skills [Cursebreaker, lv--] [Pain resistance, lv03]
"So now that my leg isn''t crippled anymore I gained 50 max Dexterity… Let''s see what the new title is all about…"
Mercury clicked on his new title and soon saw what it did
[Partially reinforced right leg and hand]
Your right leg and hand have been reinforced with living metal
+ 50 max Strength
Further reinforcement possible…
"I see… Well then let''s kick it up a notch…"
Mercury sped up even more, within a day he was out of the tunnels and out in fresh air from there he sped up even more and made it back to the city of Ode at sunrise, he hardly felt fatigued at all, while he had been able to reach such speeds before he could now hold the speed up much more comfortably without adding strain to his previously crippled leg, after passing through the gates he made his way back to the shop and saw Marie out front along with the cleck cleaning the storefront which seemed to have been vandalized, Mercury narrowed his eyes slightly before he sighed and got his feelings under control before he walked up and hugged Marie from behind
"Kya, Mercury!?"
"Yep that would be me"
Marie turned around and looked at him and asked the obvious
"You''re back already?"
"Sure am… Just in time too I see…"
"Yeah… Julia is doing what she can to legally cripple the Ralmet family, they won''t have a future in Ode within a few days"
Mercury nodded before he showed a smile
"I see, well do you perchance happen to know where the Ralemt family mansion is located?"
Marie nodded and quickly told Mercury the way to the mansion before she asked
"What are you going to do there?"
"Hmm… I may accidentally stumble and then… Destroy their entire fucking mansion? You know how uneven the cobblestone is"
Marie sighed before she looked at him for a bit, then she nodded and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she spoke
"Be safe"
"Sure"
Mercury strolled along the road, on the way he brought some street food and munched on it at the time he arrived at the Mansion of the Ralmet family, then he asked the two guards that stood on either side of the gate
"This is the Ralmet family mansion right?"
One of the guards looked at him for a moment before he scoffed and looked away while the other, an older guard, spoke after a bit
"Yeah, do you have any business here?"
"Yeah… I am going to stumble… And destroy the entire fucking thing"
"...What?"
"Yeah…"
Mercury and the guard looked at each other for a few seconds before Mercury suddenly yelled
"Oh no~ I am losing my balance~"
Mercury stumbled forwards before he suddenly regained his posture as he slipped into a stance in an instance and twisted his right leg along with his upper body as he delivered a lightning-fast jab to the sturdy gate that curved inwards under his punch before it flew off the hinges and went flying a few tens meters before it hit the luxurious fountain in the front yard of the mansion with a loud crash, then Mercury looked over at the old guard and spoke
"Take the rest of the day off"
From there he walked onto the grounds of the mansion as if he was taking a stroll in the park, this quickly changed though as guards came from within the mansion and quickly identified Mercury as an intruder before they attacked him with deadly intent, Mercury kicked off the ground and rushed forwards with his hands raised in front of his chest, or in other words with a low-guard up (or a semi-crouch), right before he entered the range of the first guard he kicked off the ground with his reinforced right leg accelerating before he delivered a straight punch to the center of the platemail armor of the guard sending him flying backward as it dented inwards, as he flew backwards blood sprayed out of his mouth, Mercury''s punch had ruptured his sternum or rather pulverized it along with his lungs and heart killing the guard instantly, the corpse of the guard flew about 3 meters before it crashed into another guard knocking him down too, Mercury stopped and cracked his neck before he spoke loudly
"I will now destroy the mansion of the Ralmet family! Anyone that stands in my way will do so with their own life on the line!"
A silence followed before Mercury pushed them further
"Now come and face me or scram!"