After taking out some daily necessities, Ren Isana headed to the bathroom to wash up again. After all, his hands were still stained with blood. By the time he stepped out, he noticed his phone buzzing non-stop.
Picking it up, he saw that he had been pulled into a class group chat by Asuna. All forty-three students in the class were in it, currently blowing up the chat to report that they were safe.
Furthermore, Ren Isana had automatically been made the group owner. He also had a flood of friend requests from his classmates. Seeing this, he tapped through and accepted them one by one.
Once that was done, he tagged everyone in the group and sent a message.
Ren Isana: [@Everyone, I brought back all the materials from the Familia headquarters. Discuss how you want to handle them. Should we sell them and split the cash, or keep them to upgrade our equipment in the future?]
The moment the message was sent, replies flooded in. Without exception, everyone voted to keep the materials for future equipment upgrades. A few students who literally had mines at home even offered to send over rare ores and pay him handsomely to help reinforce their gear.
Now that they were back in their own world, they obviously couldn't expect him to upgrade their gear for free like back in Orario. Business was business—if they wanted his services, they had to pay up.
Ren Isana: [Alright, but not just any material will work. I'll post an announcement in a bit. If you want upgrades, go find the materials listed there.]
Sora: [Got it, Class Rep! Post it quick so I can have my dad start looking!]
Yukari: [Received!]
Kumo: [Okay!]
Ren Isana: [As for the materials you currently have on hand, handle them yourselves. Discuss how to split the loot with your own party members.]
Standing by his bed, Ren Isana used his Magic Power to dry his wet hair, then threw himself onto the mattress and continued chatting with the group. Aside from the bulk materials he was holding, the others still had plenty of Magic Stones in their possession.
Those stones could be sold for a pretty penny, which was why he reminded them to split the profits. Thinking of money, Ren suddenly remembered the massive pile of Valis he still had from the other world.
He sighed helplessly. He had hundreds of millions of Valis. He would have to figure out a way to exchange it for their world's currency. *I'll go ask Director Ken about it on Monday.*
Since the two worlds would eventually be connected, the currency would definitely be useful. However, this was the Familia's public fund. Now that they were back, it naturally needed to be converted into modern money.
After chatting with the group for a while longer, Ren closed the app and started scrolling through the news to see if anything interesting had happened recently.
Glancing at the trending topics, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes. The biggest news was the upcoming college entrance exams, but right below that was a report about a newly appeared Dimensional Rift.
Furthermore, it had appeared on Nexus Island—the very place where Ren and his classmates would be attending university. His curiosity was instantly piqued. *What kind of world is on the other side of that one?*
After a quick search, he found that the government hadn't released much official information yet. However, it seemed that no monsters had emerged from this particular Dimensional Rift.
Or perhaps there were monsters, but they had been easily wiped out? After all, given that it appeared on that specific island, any low-level monsters would be casually slaughtered by random passersby.
Ren scrolled past the article and continued browsing. Soon, he found another piece of news that was directly related to him. The martial arts techniques he had previously handed over to Director Ken were now officially being incorporated into the university curriculum.
Even [Flight Magic] had been made public, though the barrier to entry was steep—students needed to reach Tier 5 before they were allowed to learn it. Seeing this, the corners of Ren's mouth curled up slightly.
He was finally starting to leave his mark on this world. With that thought in mind, he scrolled through a few short videos before deciding to call it a night. After all, it was already past eleven.
The night passed peacefully. The next morning, Ren was jolted awake by a series of knocks on his door. Shaking off his sleepiness, he used his perception to sense a fully dressed Asuna standing outside. Yawning, he got out of bed and opened the door.
Asuna blinked in surprise at his messy hair and sleepy demeanor. "You just woke up? I thought you'd be up ages ago."
"We finally made it back, so of course I'm going to sleep in. I didn't even activate my Meditation Array last night," Ren replied casually. "What are you doing up so early?"
He turned and headed for the bathroom. Asuna walked right in after him. "I came to get you for breakfast. Hurry up and brush your teeth so we can go eat. I already invited Yukino and the others."
Hearing this, Ren was a bit speechless. "Alright, give me a sec. Let me brush my teeth and wash my face. It'll just take a few minutes."
True to his word, the sound of running water and vigorous brushing soon echoed from the bathroom while Asuna waited quietly.
After a rapid-fire hygiene routine, Ren stepped out, went into his room to change clothes, and emerged fully prepped in exactly five minutes. "Let's go. Lead the way."
*Boys are ridiculously fast,* Asuna grumbled inwardly. There was no way a girl could get ready that quickly; it would take at least half an hour to step out the door. Shaking her head, she followed him out of the apartment and toward the elevator.
"We're planning to go shopping today. Want to come with?" Asuna invited him on the way down. It was a holiday, so naturally, they should go out and have fun, right?
"No thanks, I'm going to be pretty busy. I went over there with a mission, after all. I still have to hand some things over to Manager Go on Monday." Ren rejected the offer without hesitation.
Stunned by the quick rejection, Asuna couldn't help but ask, "Do you need help? Is it about the knowledge from that world? I can help translate."
Since he didn't want to go out, she decided to change tactics and help him finish his work. Otherwise, he'd be swamped trying to do it all alone.
"Not going out to play anymore?" Ren looked at her, amused. She had just invited him out, and now she was dropping her plans to offer him a hand.
"Yeah, I'm not going. If you don't want to go..." Asuna nodded. If he had things to do, she would help. There would be plenty of opportunities to hang out later.
"In that case, you can help me translate Miach's book. I'll focus on organizing Hephaestus's forging techniques." Seeing her resolve, Ren didn't push the issue and assigned her a task instead.
Asuna nodded. "Alright. I'll ask Megumi and the others to pitch in too. We'll get this sorted out for you first."
She was confident Megumi Kato and the rest wouldn't refuse. As they chatted, the elevator reached the ground floor. With Asuna leading the way, the two headed toward the spot where they had agreed to meet the others.
Asuna brought Ren to a traditional teahouse. After speaking briefly with a waiter, they were guided to a private room. Pushing the door open, they found Megumi Kato and Yukino Yukinoshita already waiting inside.
A table full of dim sum had already been ordered, and fresh tea was poured for the two arrivals. Seeing this, Ren looked pleasantly surprised. "You guys actually like this kind of breakfast?"
He genuinely hadn't expected them to be fans of morning tea. Pulling out a chair, Ren sat down, picked up his chopsticks, and shamelessly dug in.
Before transmigrating to this world, he had always enjoyed it, though he rarely went alone, usually dragging a few friends along. This was his first time having morning tea since arriving in this universe.
"Of course we do. Who wouldn't like a rich and delicious breakfast?" Yukino Yukinoshita tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and picked up her own chopsticks. There was no need for formalities; they were all familiar with each other by now.
"Change of plans for today," Asuna announced as she started eating. "We're going to help Ren translate some materials. He needs to submit them to the university later."
Hearing this, Yukino glanced at Ren before nodding. "Alright. Just tell me what you need me to do."
If there was work to be done, the outing could wait. Her mindset was exactly the same as Asuna's—she really didn't mind postponing their shopping trip.
"Translating documents from the other world? Did you bring all those books back, Ren? Are we translating them into our world's language?" Megumi Kato couldn't help but ask.
"You don't need to translate everything. Just make a bilingual glossary and character chart. We'll just hand the books over to them directly. The main priority is Miach's book—I don't plan on handing over the original copy," Ren explained.
The only thing that actually needed full translation was Miach's notes. For the rest, a simple translation key would suffice. If his classmates could learn the language so quickly, the university researchers would have no problem figuring it out.
Translating everything word for word would be a massive waste of time. Furthermore, Ren fully intended to keep Miach's original manuscript. Why would he ever give away a book personally written by a god?
"If that's the case, it should be simple. We can probably finish it very quickly. I'll handle the translation key. Asuna, how about you and Megumi translate Miach's book together?" Yukino nodded thoughtfully, taking charge of the glossary.
"Works for me!" Megumi agreed immediately. She had read Miach's book before, and the text itself wasn't hard to translate. The real hassle would be the illustrations, as they would need to redraw some of the medicinal herbs.
"I'm good with that too. It's settled then. Ren, you just focus on writing down your forging techniques. Leave this to us. If we need more hands, we can always call some of the other classmates over," Asuna added.
With just a few words, the plan was set. The group then turned their full attention to the morning tea, polishing off the entire table of rich food. By the time they finished, it was already past ten o'clock.
Fully satisfied, the four of them left the teahouse and went to buy some supplies. After picking up a few notebooks and pens, they headed straight to Ren's apartment and got to work.
They even had lunch at his place. Over the course of the day, the group managed to finish almost all the work. Ren was currently doing a final review of the documents.
Finding no issues, he packed everything away. Seeing this, Yukino couldn't help but ask, "Aside from this knowledge, do you need to submit anything else? You should be getting quite a lot of rewards for this, right?"
Although their time in Orario had been short, having a walking cheat code like Ren meant they had learned an absurd amount. Just bringing back Miach's notes was a massive contribution in itself.
Not to mention, Ren was also handing over the forging techniques of the Goddess of Smithing. Last time, he had been rewarded with a Spatial Ring. Surely the payout this time would be even greater?
"There will definitely be rewards, but I'll think about what to ask for later. I'm not really lacking anything right now. Actually, is there anything you guys need? Let me know," Ren said, looking at the three girls after storing the documents in his Spatial Ring.
He had no material desires at the moment, nor did he need another Spatial Ring. As for magic? He needed that even less. The Director had already sponsored plenty of spellbooks, all of which Ren had learned and integrated into his [Elemental Magic].
Hearing this, Asuna couldn't hold back. "Why don't you exchange for some Spatial Rings then? Those things are priceless and impossible to find on the market. If possible, I'd love to buy one from you."
She wasn't about to let an opportunity like this slip by. Compared to a Spatial Backpack, a Spatial Ring was infinitely better. Beside her, Yukino nodded in agreement, clearly sharing the same thought.
Only Megumi remained silent. She simply didn't have the funds to purchase something as luxurious as a Spatial Ring. It was far too expensive, so she figured she'd wait for a future opportunity.
"Spatial Rings, huh? If you guys want them, I'll see if I can get some," Ren agreed. As long as he asked for ones slightly larger than a Spatial Backpack, he could probably exchange his merits for quite a few of them.
"Thanks for the trouble! But you should definitely prioritize anything you need first. Only ask for the rings if you have leftover merits. If it doesn't work out, no worries," Asuna said, her eyes lighting up at his easy agreement.
She made sure to remind him to put his own needs first before worrying about their Spatial Rings.
"I know, but I really don't need anything right now. If I had to say I was missing something... I guess right now, the only thing I'm missing is a girlfriend." Ren rubbed his chin, genuinely unable to think of a single material need.
The three girls immediately rolled their eyes, though none of them voiced their thoughts. *Does Ren really lack a girlfriend?* If he actually wanted one, half the girls in their class would probably volunteer. *Including... me,* Asuna thought to herself.
Seeing their silence, Ren shrugged and didn't push the joke any further. He stood up and said, "I'll go make dinner. You guys can leave after we eat."
With that, he headed into the kitchen. Asuna immediately stood up and followed him in to help prep the meal, leaving Megumi and Yukino to relax and scroll through videos on their phones.
After finishing dinner at Ren's place, Megumi and Yukino finally said their goodbyes and left. Asuna also headed upstairs to her own apartment. Once he had seen them all out, Ren got to work on his own private matters.
He directly pulled Apollo's corpse out of his storage. Staring at the dead god—who had been run completely through and still had a dagger lodged in his chest—Ren drew his magic staff and began bathing it in Apollo's blood.
Pressing the staff against the fatal wound, the golden divine blood was rapidly absorbed into the weapon. The staff, which was already top-tier, underwent a profound metamorphosis. With this, Ren now possessed two divine artifacts worthy of being passed down as family heirlooms.
Looking at the two weapons in his hands, Ren couldn't help but sigh in amazement. These were weapons others could spend their entire lives searching for and never obtain. However, carrying both a Tang Dao and a magic staff was a bit too cumbersome. *Is there a way to fuse them together?*
If he could merge the two into a single weapon that could shift forms on command, he wouldn't have to constantly swap them out from his storage. It would make combat significantly more fluid.
He began pondering the feasibility of such a fusion. Being able to seamlessly switch between a blade and a staff would likely require an incredibly high-level, specialized material.
His eyes suddenly lit up. *I'll ask Director Ken tomorrow and see if the university has anything like that.* If they did, he would exchange his merits for the materials to realize his idea. If not, he'd just have to shelve the concept and figure it out later.
Having made his decision, Ren stored both weapons away. He glanced down at Apollo's corpse and spat, "What a pain."
After his brief complaint, he got to work harvesting and bottling the remaining divine blood, knowing it would definitely be useful later. Once he was finished, he tossed the drained corpse back into his Spatial Ring.
The weekend passed in the blink of an eye. On Monday, classes resumed. Ren and Asuna headed to the university together, but upon arriving, Ren didn't follow her to the classroom. Letting her go on ahead, he made a beeline for the administration building where Director Ken's office was located.
When he arrived, he found Director Ken already waiting for him downstairs. Seeing Ren approach, the Director waved him over before turning and walking into the building.
Ren quickened his pace. It seemed the Director knew he was coming and had deliberately waited for him. He caught up to the older man, who remained silent until they were safely inside his office.
"You truly never cease to surprise me," Director Ken finally said. "To think you actually succeeded in slaying a god."
Director Ken turned to look at Ren, his eyes filled with absolute awe. When he first heard the news, he had been left speechless for a long time. It was an unbelievable, monumental triumph.
"It was just a stroke of luck. If it weren't for Yor-sensei's help, I wouldn't have succeeded so easily," Ren replied with genuine modesty. He was fully aware that Yor Forger's dagger deserved at least half the credit for the successful assassination. He knew exactly where he stood.