Chapter 19: My Wife’s Recovery Earned Me Fortune

Three hours passed before Reinhard finally stirred.

Emily was asleep against his chest, one hand still wrapped around his. Reinhard went completely still. Pillows were scattered across the floor, a folded blanket covered his legs, and a damp towel sat nearby.

He looked around, then back at Emily. "Did you take care of me?"

The System appeared.

[SS-Grade Investment Complete.]

[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]

[Stage One: Mana Restoration Successful.]

Reinhard’s eyes sharpened.

[Gnosis Recovery Investment Updated.]

[Restoration Compatibility: 0.12% → 20%.]

Twenty percent. He read it twice. After weeks of watching the number crawl upward in tiny fractions, it had suddenly jumped.

[Target Value Increased.]

[Emily Ashcroft: C+ → B.]

[Reward Calculation Complete.]

[Legendary Reward: $28,000 Credits Obtained.]

He had spent nearly everything he had on Emily’s treatment, and the money couldn’t have come at a better time.

"Rich again," he said with a smile. "It never lasts, but it’s nice while it does."

Then he looked down at Emily.

The money stopped mattering.

Her recovery was what mattered.

[Legendary Reward Obtained.]

Before he could see what it was, another window appeared.

[Visual Record Available.]

[View how Emily took care of you?]

[YES / NO]

Reinhard chose YES immediately.

The reward could wait.

The room blurred, and he watched Emily rush toward him after he collapsed. She tried to pull him up from her wheelchair, but he was too heavy. So she slid out of her chair, grabbed his shirt, and pulled.

Her arms shook. She stopped to catch her breath, then pulled again, dragging him across the floor until she got him onto the pillows.

The scene changed.

Emily sat beside him, exhausted, holding his hand while a tiny spark of mana floated above her other palm.

She stared at it for a long time before looking down at his face. "You gave this back to me," she whispered. "So I’m not letting you disappear."

The memory faded.

Reinhard stared at Emily’s sleeping face. He had spent so much time thinking about how to make her stronger that he had missed something. She was already changing. Not because someone was carrying her forward.

Because she refused to stop moving.

He gently brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. "You really did all of that yourself."

A smile crossed his face.

"You’ve gotten stronger."

The reward he had put off appeared again.

[Legendary Skill Obtained.]

[Eyes of Domination.]

[Effect: The user’s eyes exert overwhelming mental pressure upon the target. Targets with insufficient mental resistance will experience fear, loss of confidence, mental instability, and progressive psychological collapse.]

[Additional Effect: The longer the target remains under the user’s gaze, the stronger the mental pressure becomes.]

Reinhard read it twice. "That’s... terrifying."

His eyes drifted toward the mirror, and he remembered the monster that had stared back at him the night he awakened. "No." He looked away. "I’m not testing this on the mirror."

[Legendary Skill Obtained.]

[Space Tear.]

[Effect: Tear through space using destructive force.]

Reinhard glanced at Emily. Eyes of Domination could wait, but Space Tear was far too tempting. He raised his hand, and the air in front of his fingers wavered, then split, opening a thin black tear in the middle of the living room. It took everything he had to hold it open, and then he heard something, a faint sound coming from the other side.

His eyes narrowed. He closed the tear and opened another, and the sound was gone. "So I can hear through it?" Interesting.

He didn’t experiment any further. Emily was still asleep, and he had plenty of time.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[4 Months Mana Infusion.]

Warmth flowed into his Gnosis as his reserves swelled.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Enhanced Sight.]

[Effect: Static visual acuity and kinetic vision have been further enhanced.]

Reinhard looked out the window, and he could now make out tiny details on the street several floors below. "Not bad."

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Enhanced Hearing.]

[Effect: Even without mana, the user can hear footsteps from close to twenty meters and distinguish individual footsteps]

The world suddenly got louder. He could hear the air conditioner, the refrigerator, footsteps outside, and Mrs. Hadley’s television across the hall, where a soap opera was playing at an unreasonable volume.

Reinhard listened for a moment. "She should leave him."

[Legendary Skill Obtained.]

[Veil.]

[Effect: Conceals the user’s physical presence and mana signature for a minute.]

Reinhard smiled. "Now we’re talking."

And then the notification kept coming.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Enhanced Mental Fortitude.]

[Effect: Further increases resistance to mental pressure. One can now lock there mind away for thirty seconds to bypass all pain.]

Reinhard’s expression became thoughtful. After what had happened during Emily’s treatment, he could understand why the System had given him this.

He moved on.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Recovery Potion ×2.]

[Effect: Rapidly restores physical condition, vitality, and internal injuries.]

[Additional Effect: Accelerates recovery from severe exhaustion and injuries caused by excessive Mana usage.]

Two small bottles appeared inside his Inventory.

One for me. One for Emily.

Another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Enhanced Inventory.]

[Effect: Greatly increases the user’s Inventory capacity.]

[Additional Effect: The Inventory can now store objects significantly larger than before.]

Reinhard’s eyes lit up. "Finally."

His Inventory had already begun filling with all sorts of things. Being able to store larger objects would make things considerably easier.

Then—

[Additional Reward Granted: Enhanced Luck.]

[Effect: Slightly increases the probability of favorable coincidences and fortunate outcomes.]

[Additional Effect: The user’s intuition may draw attention toward people, objects, locations, or opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed.]

Reinhard stared at the description.

His smile slowly widened. Now that’s interesting.

Another notification appeared.

This one was different.

[Legendary Additional Reward Granted: [Fate Breaker.]

[Effect: The user gains the Fate Breaker Soul, allowing them to resist and reshape the course of destiny in their favor.]

[Additional Effect: The user’s soul is no longer completely bound by the established limitations of the world.]

[Whether it concerns the maximum capacity of a Gnosis, the amount of Mana an Awakener can contain, the limits of physical growth. These limitations may be surpassed.]

[If the world says something cannot exist, the Fate Breaker Soul allows the user to challenge that conclusion.]

For several seconds, the room was silent. Then Reinhard slowly smiled. So that’s what this is.

It wasn’t a stronger body.

It wasn’t another technique.

It wasn’t even another source of Mana.

It was permission. Permission to ignore the limits everyone else had accepted as absolute.

Another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Gnosis Expansion ×3.]

[Effect: Permanently expands the user’s Gnosis capacity and structure three times.]

[Additional Effect: Each expansion strengthens the Gnosis’s ability to contain and circulate Mana.]

Reinhard felt his Gnosis expand.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The sensation was strange, but not painful. His Gnosis simply rushed to the size of a big bouncy ball. It isn’t wrong to say he reached the size of a C-Rank awakener, which was absurd.

Then another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Mana Reserve Enhancement.]

[Effect: Permanently Quadruple the user’s current Mana reserves.]

Reinhard’s expression changed. The sheer amount of Mana now contained within him was almost difficult to comprehend. Before tonight, his Mana reserves had already grown far beyond what an ordinary D-Rank Awakener could hold.

Now? His Mana reserve was now enough to rival more than fifteen ordinary D-Rank Awakeners combined.

Another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Mana Reinforcement Enlightenment.]

[Effect: Grants comprehensive knowledge of Mana Reinforcement, including advanced principles of Mana compression, distribution, reinforcement, and circulation.]

[Additional Effect: Grants complete mastery of large amount of mana.]

Reinhard closed his eyes. So this is what I needed.

Without control, all that Mana would have been little more than a massive reservoir. Now he could actually use it properly.

Another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted.]

[Emily Ashcroft’s Favorite Candy.]

Reinhard blinked.

A small package appeared in his Inventory.

He took it out and looked at it.

It was simple.

Nothing legendary.

Nothing powerful.

Just a candy.

Reinhard stared at it for several seconds and then he smiled. This is probably the most important reward tonight.

He carefully put it away and closed the notifications and carefully shifted Emily until her head rested comfortably in his lap.

She barely stirred.

He ran his fingers through her silver hair. "You really scared me." He looked down at her sleeping face, and his smile softened. "Thank you for staying, my lovely wife."