Chapter 116: Over 50 million

[Reward Granted.]

[Legendary Reward Granted: $60,000,000.]

Reinhard blinked. His phone immediately dinged in his pocket, and he pulled it out to watch the balance update in real time.

[$84,925,540 → $144,925,540]

[Current Balance: $144,925,540]

Reinhard stared at the number for a moment before a satisfied smile spread across his face.

Back in the hundred millions. He slipped his phone away. A handsome man like me wasn’t built to stay away from this level for long.

Emily noticed his expression and raised an eyebrow. "You look happy."

"I’ve returned to a familiar place."

Maki looked confused. "What does that mean?"

"Financial stability. It missed me."

Lily immediately looked interested. "Did you get a lot?"

Reinhard smiled. "Enough to make my bank nervous again."

"How nervous?"

"They’ll probably send another one of those polite little messages asking if my account has been compromised."

"Has it?"

"No. I’m just that good."

Lily squinted at him. "That’s not an answer either."

"It’s the only one you’re getting."

Before anyone could ask further, another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted: Elyndor Grand Meal Ticket.]

[Effect: A legendary ticket awarded by the five highest-ranked Awakener teams in Elyndor. The holder may receive a complimentary meal at any restaurant and order the restaurant’s finest dishes for one hour without payment.]

Reinhard’s expression changed. He looked toward the others.

Right. A meal. How could we not have one after this?

"We’re celebrating."

Lily’s eyes immediately brightened. "Food?"

"Food."

"I’m in."

Rhea raised her hand. "Then I’m definitely coming."

Maki sighed. "I knew that would be the first thing you agreed to."

Rhea looked offended. "We just completed a B-Rank-risk mission. I deserve food."

"You weren’t even the one paying."

"Exactly. That’s why it’s even better."

Reinhard laughed as another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted: Mana Infusion — 5 Years.]

The moment he finished reading it, Mana began rushing through his body, not violently, but as if an enormous reserve had simply become part of him, flowing through his pathways before gathering around his Gnosis. His breathing slowed as the feeling settled, his Gnosis growing heavier, denser, more substantial.

Then another notification appeared.

[Additional Reward Granted: Mana Reserves Enhanced.]

[Effect: Triples the user’s existing Mana Reserve.]

Reinhard stared at the number tripling in his head. Before he could fully process it, another notification appeared.

[Legendary Additional Reward Granted: Mana Sovereignty — 5 Years of Mana Sovereign Experience.]

[Effect: The user may now apply two layers of Mana to a single Mana technique instead of one.]

Reinhard’s eyes widened slightly. He read the description again, then a third time. His expression stayed calm, but internally, he was anything but.

Two layers. Normally, Mana reinforcing a body, a weapon, or a barrier was applied as a single layer. Mana Sovereignty changed that. He could now apply another layer over the first, reinforcing the reinforcement itself, almost like casting the same technique twice through his Gnosis. He had met powerful Awakeners and decades-deep veterans, and he had never once heard of anyone doing this.

This shouldn’t be possible. At the very least, nobody’s ever shown me it was.

I’ll have to test this properly later, somewhere nobody’s filming.

Another notification followed.

[Additional Reward Granted: Physical Body Enhanced.]

His muscles grew slightly denser, his body more resilient, the already absurd strength he carried climbing another step. He nodded. Another improvement.

[Additional Reward Granted: Blood Enhanced.]

[Effect: Increases the amount of blood cells within the body.]

Reinhard’s eyes lit up. This wasn’t a simple physical boost. His blood was directly tied to the Immortal Body Emperor, and that ability had been quietly eating through his blood-cell capacity as it grew. More cells meant more room, and more room meant more headroom for the Immortal Body Emperor.

That’s much more useful than it looks.

[Additional Reward Granted: High-Grade Enlightenment Grapes ×11.]

Eleven grapes appeared in his inventory. He’d already felt what one could do.

Useful. Very useful. Possibly suspiciously generous, but I’m not going to question it out loud.

[Additional Reward Granted: Royal Mana Infusion ×9 — High-Grade.]

[Effect: Each infusion releases Mana comparable to a B-Rank Awakener’s total reserve.]

Nine of those were far too valuable to waste. He filed them away for later.

[Additional Reward Granted: Healing Pills ×9.]

Reinhard smiled. Not every reward needed to change the world. Some things were just useful.

Sixty million credits. Five years of Mana accumulation. Tripled reserves. Mana Sovereignty. A stronger body. More blood cells. Eleven high-grade grapes. Nine Royal Infusions. Nine Healing Pills. And a legendary meal ticket that meant none of them would be paying for dinner.

Not a bad afternoon, Reinhard thought, for a man who technically just stood around while everyone else did the hard part.

Reinhard looked around at the exhausted faces of the people who had just cleared Black Veil beside him. Lily was leaning on Maki’s shoulder. Yuna was quietly stretching out a sore arm. Even Rhea, who usually had enough energy for three people, looked like she was ready to sit down on the nearest flat surface and stay there.

They’d reached the Top 30. They’d survived a mission with B-Rank risk. And now they had something worth celebrating.

"Let’s go eat."

Nobody objected.

Lily was already walking before he finished the sentence.

They had barely left the Association building when Rhea looked around. "So we’re done?"

Mara glanced at her. "The mission is."

Rhea pointed toward Lily. "I meant with them."

Mara paused. "One mission at a time."

Rhea’s shoulders dropped. "That’s not an answer."

Reinhard laughed. "Of course not." The entire group looked toward him. He smiled. "You guys are with us until the end."

For a moment, the Nephilim went quiet. Rhea blinked. Seraphine looked toward Mara. Even Kael and Adrian seemed caught off guard. They’d entered Black Veil expecting to teach the Ashcrofts the ropes, finish the contract, and go back to their own missions. They hadn’t expected Reinhard to just decide they were staying.

Rhea’s smile came back first. "Good."

Mara gave him a small nod. "Then we’ll see how far you intend to go."

"As far as it takes."

"That’s not a number."

"Numbers are boring. I prefer promises I have to keep."

"Top 20 first."

Rhea immediately threw a fist in the air. "Then Top 10."

Lily joined her. "Then number one."

Maki sighed. "Can we reach the next ranking before we start planning the parade?"

"No," Rhea and Lily said together, in perfect unison, like they’d rehearsed it.

Emily laughed.

"They’re going to be a problem together," Maki said quietly to Yuna.

"They already are."

"I meant a bigger problem."

"I know what you meant."

As the group walked through Elyndor, the attention started slowly and then all at once.

Reinhard noticed it first and said nothing, mostly because he was enjoying himself. There was a particular kind of silence that happened right before people started whispering, a small gap where everyone was still deciding whether they’d actually seen what they thought they’d seen. He liked that gap. He liked it even more once it broke.

"Wait." Someone stopped walking. "Is that Emily Ashcroft?"

"It is."

Emily had already been famous, her Arena comeback breaking records long before the family started climbing the team boards. Reinhard was recognized too, but the attention had changed. People weren’t just talking about Emily’s old records or Reinhard’s mystery strength anymore.

"Isn’t that Maki Ashcroft?"

"That’s Lily."

"And Yuna."

"Wait, all five of them are on the same team?"

"How are they all that strong?"

Maki’s expression grew steadily more uncomfortable. "Are we really getting this much attention already?"

Yuna glanced around. "We’ve completed enough missions that people recognize us now."

Lily looked thoroughly pleased with herself. "They know me."

Maki looked at her. "Don’t encourage them."

"I’m not doing anything."

"You look proud."

"I am proud. I earned this face."

"You didn’t earn a face. You were born with it."

"And I’ve been proud of it every day since."

Rhea laughed from beside her, and even the Nephilim weren’t spared. "Isn’t that Nephilim?" someone said. "They’re with the Ashcrofts now?" The six of them traded glances, their own reputation suddenly tangled up with another name. Rhea seemed to enjoy it. Mara, less so. Seraphine mostly looked like she was recalculating how many more people were about to learn her name by the end of the week.

Reinhard found the whole scene thoroughly entertaining, right up until he noticed Archon had gone quiet beside him, deliberately keeping herself hidden from the crowd.

"You know," he said, not bothering to lower his voice, "you’re technically making this worse."

Archon ignored him.

A man nearby frowned. "Who’s he talking to?"

"Is he talking to himself?"

A child giggled. "That man is weird."

Reinhard’s expression tightened. He turned toward the invisible Archon. "You’re making them think I’m crazy."

"You are crazy," Archon said, completely calm, like she was stating the weather.

Rhea burst out laughing. Lily followed immediately. Even Maki couldn’t fully smother her smile.

Reinhard sighed. "Wonderful. Attacked by my own team, in public, for free."

"You could at least charge admission," Rhea said between breaths.

"I’m considering it."

"I’d pay."

"I know you would. That’s the saddest part."

Emily laughed softly and stepped closer, reaching up to brush his hair back. "But you’re the handsome type of crazy."

Reinhard’s expression softened instantly. "At least someone around here has taste."

Rika smiled. Seraphine shook her head. Maki looked away before she could get pulled any further into it.

The group kept moving through the city, laughing the rest of the way, until they reached a building that stood apart from everything around it, enormous and elegant and built for people who had never once checked a price tag.

Lily stared up at it. "This place looks expensive."

"That’s probably why the ticket exists."

"Do you think they have a dress code?"

Reinhard glanced down at himself, then at the rest of the group, still half-dressed for a mission they’d technically just walked out of. "If they do, we’re about to find out how strict it actually is."

"That’s not reassuring."

"Neither is our combined mission history, and they’ll find that out eventually too."

They stepped inside. The receptionist approached with a polite smile. "Welcome. How may I—"

Reinhard set the Elyndor Grand Meal Ticket on the counter.

Her expression changed the moment she looked down. She picked it up, checked it again, and looked back at him. "Please wait a moment." She hurried off and returned less than a minute later with a manager whose eyes went wide the second he saw it.

"Please, this way."

The whole group was escorted deeper into the restaurant like royalty nobody had warned them was coming.

Rhea leaned toward Reinhard. "How good is that ticket?"

"I don’t know. Let’s find out together."

"You’ve never used one before?"

"I’ve never needed to. This is a first for both of us."

"That’s either exciting or concerning."

"With me, it’s usually both."

Lily looked at the staff. "Can we order anything?"

The manager gave a nervous smile. "Anything from the finest menu."

Reinhard looked back at Lily. "Apparently."

The group lit up as they were led toward a private dining area, Lily already peering over the manager’s shoulder to read the menu upside down. For the first time since entering Black Veil, there was nothing left to fight, calculate, or worry about.

They’d reached the Top 30. They’d gained new strength. They’d gained new friends.

And for tonight, with a ticket that meant he never had to glance at a bill, Reinhard intended to enjoy every single second of it.