Chapter 42: Lily’s Talent

After getting the place paid for, Peter handed the key to Leon and went on his way.

Kate also bid her farewell and tried to leave, but Leon chased after her into the corridor.

Kate turned around and looked at him, her brow raised.

"Do you want something?" she asked.

"Yeah, I have something of a party, and I’d love to take them into the gate tomorrow if that will be fine."

Kate froze when she heard that. She took a few seconds to process what was happening, and then she finally spoke.

"You understand that this might be a very dangerous fate, right?" she asked.

’Yeah, I know the dangers more than you even do, but still, I’m sure that I am crazy right now, but I have a feeling that entering this gate will prove to be useful.’

"I understand that, and I’m willing to take the risk. You don’t have to worry about it," he said while flashing a confident smile at her.

She stared at his face for a few seconds and then heaved a sigh. "I don’t know what to even do with you. Somehow, I trust what you say. You better not get yourself killed. I’ll contact the guild," she said and then walked off.

Leon stood there until she got into the elevator, and then he placed his back against the wall with his eyes wide.

"What the hell did I just do?" he asked himself. He did not understand why he had just offered to do that. It was a gut feeling that he had followed, and now he and his party would be entering an S-ranked gate.

"You don’t have to be scared," Shadow popped up. "I’m here to help, and as long as the inside of the gate is dark, I’ll be a hundred times stronger."

"I’m worried that even a hundred times might not be enough for an S-ranked gate," Leon said.

"Tch, why are you so wimpy about things? You have the system, and you can make the impossible possible, so do that," Shadow scolded.

Leon took a deep breath. "Yeah, I’m sure we can survive an S-ranked gate if I make the right purchases."

He walked back into the house and sat on the couch. He pulled up the system.

"First, I need items for healing and protection."

He searched the system, finding potions and pills that could heal and temporarily strengthen. They were not too expensive, to his surprise, and he was also given an unexpected thirty percent discount because he was purchasing them for an investment.

The system knew how to differentiate between purchases for personal use and investment use, and so it crafted the prices around that.

As he kept searching, he suddenly saw a pendant.

[Turtle Pendant: Protects against attacks from F-ranked hunters all the way to one attack from an S-ranked hunter. Will auto-activate when the wearer is faced with a deadly or life-threatening attack.]

[5000 Credits]

Leon smiled as he looked at it. With this, he would be able to secure everyone for sure in case he and Shadow were incapable of protecting them.

[...]

The next day, Leon invited everyone to his house.

Robert, Rika, Lucia, Sophia, and Lily had stayed here the night before, so they were already there.

He tried to reach Xander as well, but he could not. He figured that something had happened after his brother came back. Leon was worried about Xander, but he did not know what to do or where to go, so he decided to keep doing what he was doing and wait for a bit. If he did not hear back from Xander soon, he would find him.

Leon stood in front of the five people, each of them waiting to hear what he wanted to say.

He looked at Lily first and then spoke. "Lily, you are not going to be part of what we want to do," he said.

Her eyes widened, and she got to her feet immediately. "What do you mean, brother?"

"I plan to take my party to check out a gate, and it might be a very dangerous gate," he said straight.

She gritted her teeth. "You saw what I did in the mall," she argued.

"Yes, I did, and somehow, that worries me more. When did you awaken your ability?" he asked.

She hesitated for a bit. "It’s been over two years now."

"Huh? How come he never knew?" he asked.

"I did not use it anywhere that Dad could see. I trained in secret. If he had known that I had an ability, he would have surely done all that was in his power to ensure that I never came here.

And you can’t say I’m not strong enough. I awakened as a C-ranked ability user, and I’m only a small step away from becoming a B-ranked hunter," she argued with all she had to ensure that Leon heard her.

Leon took a deep breath. He turned on appraisal to see her talent, but the moment he did, he realized something that caused his stomach to sink.

Her potential stopped at C. There was no going up for her at all, no matter how much she trained.

’No, no, there is no way my sister’s potential stopped at C. There has to be a mistake somewhere.’

But the system had never made a mistake to date, so there was no way that it had made one now, right?

Was his sister really doomed to a life where everyone was going to move ahead and leave her behind? Was that what it was going to be? He could see in her eyes the desire to get stronger and become someone. If he told her that she could not grow stronger, she would be devastated.

’Tch, I’m not allowing that. I have the system and access to the craziest things, which means I can surely get her to grow stronger one way or the other. I’m not letting this world shit on my sister.’