Art Gallery of the Imperial Capital

Hearing Matthews say this, Kelly cast a triumphant look at the now disgruntled Wood.

Nina, however, chose to remain an observer; this was not the time for her to say or do anything. Yet, watching her best friend fall so easily, she understood that in the eyes of a girl as love-struck and desperate for romance as Kelly, Matthews was her prince at this very moment. Anything she said or did to undermine this beautiful fantasy would be completely rejected by her friend.

She could only shake her head, feeling a sense of pity for Wood. Wood had originally been one of Kelly's suitors, and coming from a marquis family, he was equally outstanding, already a level five mage. Furthermore, he had a genius older brother who was already level eight; his brother had joined the Divine Beast Sect and become its youngest priest, ensuring a future with limitless potential.

No matter how Nina looked at it, Wood was far superior to Matthews, a man who had once performed on the streets for a living.

They encountered no danger on the way back, and upon reaching the capital gates, Matthews intended to bid them farewell. At this moment, Kelly asked, "Brother Matthews, where can I find you later?"

Matthews was not a man oblivious to romance, so he gave Kelly the location of his blacksmith shop.

After parting ways with them, Matthews went to a magic shop. He sold the magic beast cores he had obtained from the Magic Beast Mountain Range, netting a total of over ten thousand gold coins.

Level three magic beast cores were only ten gold coins each, and level four were only fifty. Level five magic beast cores fetched three hundred gold coins, while level six cores went for over fifteen hundred. Level seven magic beast cores were much more expensive, worth over ten thousand gold coins alone.

Matthews reflected that his glassware was still more valuable. In this magic world, everyone was accustomed to using magic and the fact that earth elements could condense into crystalline forms. They simply didn't know that heat could also turn sand and soil into glass, which was why such glassware seemed so valuable.

It was a pity that even now, having broken through to a level seven warrior, he dared not bring such things out openly; that would be a life-threatening mistake.

It seemed that in any world, one could not get rich by selling manual labor. The gold coins earned from risking his life to kill magic beasts couldn't even compare to auctioning off glassware.

Matthews turned and headed to the bank, transferring some gold coins into his younger sister Mia's bank account.

When Matthews returned home, he found his sister Mia was also there today. Seeing her brother walk in while she was cleaning, Mia ran over and jumped into his arms, wrapping her hands around him and saying, "Brother, you're back."

"Yeah, get down now. You're too heavy!"

Now thirteen years old, Mia was becoming a young woman and was no longer as light as she had been in her childhood.

"Brother, you're still as annoying as ever."

"Hey, I don't like hearing that. A guy as cute as your brother, how could I be annoying?"

"Pfft!"

Mia jumped down from Matthews as she spoke and added, "You'll never have a girl like you with that attitude. Don't you know you shouldn't tell a girl she's fat?"

"You've got that wrong. Your brother is a handsome young man that everyone loves!"

"Pfft, as if!"

Matthews walked further inside and said, "I'm going to take a shower, you make dinner!"

"Fine!"

After his shower, Matthews appeared at the dining table with his hair loose. After tossing a magic beast leg to Asolun, he sat at the table and began to eat his vegetables.

"Brother, where have you been these past few years?"

Matthews gave Mia an account of his cultivation experiences over the years, which also served to educate her on some precautions for visiting the Magic Beast Mountain Range.

"Ah, there are actually humans who assassinate their own kind!"

Seeing the look of shock on Mia's face, Matthews nodded calmly. He focused on telling her about the final assassination attempt by the human who had feigned injury.

"What level mage are you now?"

Seeing her brother wolfing down his vegetables, Mia took the opportunity to push the vegetables in front of her toward him as well. She then said proudly, "I'm already a level three mage."

"Not bad, a level three mage at thirteen."

"Hmph, your sister is a genius mage!"

Matthews recalled the reason for his training over the years and figured the clothes at home probably didn't fit her anymore, so he said, "Let's go buy some new clothes tomorrow!"

"Really? I want to buy a new dress tomorrow."

"Yeah!"

The next morning, Mia woke up Matthews, who was still fast asleep.

"What is it? It's so hard for your brother to get a day of sleep."

"Didn't you say yesterday we were going to buy clothes!"

Matthews finally remembered that he had indeed promised his sister they would go shopping, so he hired a carriage and headed into the Imperial Capital.

In a clothing store, Matthews picked out a warrior's outfit for himself. Just then, he heard a familiar voice from behind: "It really is you!"

Matthews turned around and discovered Kelly, whom he had parted ways with only yesterday, along with her best friend Nina.

Looking at Kelly, who had just spoken, Matthews smiled and said, "It's you two! Are you out shopping as well?"

While Matthews was talking to Kelly and her friend, his sister Mia walked out.

"Brother, who are they?"

"Little sister, these are my friends, Kelly and her best friend Nina."

He then introduced his sister to Kelly.

Kelly invited them, "We're going to the Imperial Capital Art Gallery in a bit, do you want to come along?"

"No thanks, my brother and I are going to get something to eat in a bit!"

"She's mistaken, we're free for a while!"

Matthews said this while covering his sister's mouth. This sister of his was trying to ruin his romantic prospects! Your brother has been a pure, innocent virgin his whole life; he needs to have a sweet romance at least once!

Kelly smiled, then picked out a dress and handed it to Mia, saying, "This dress will look beautiful on you, little sister!"

"Go on, try it on!"

Afterward, Kelly picked out an outfit for Matthews in the style of this world's nobility. When Matthews came out after changing, even Nina, who wasn't particularly fond of him, felt her eyes light up. At that moment, she also felt that her best friend had a pretty good eye for men; the only pity was that he wasn't born into nobility.

On the way to the Imperial Capital Art Gallery, Kelly introduced some information about the gallery to Matthews and his sister. By the time Matthews and the others arrived at the gallery, they saw a sea of people.

After each of them paid one silver coin, Matthews and his group walked into the art gallery. The first floor of the gallery was the sculpture hall. On display here were new works by several master sculptors. Matthews remembered that in the original story, the protagonist's work had once been exhibited in the main hall on the first floor of this gallery. Furthermore, the protagonist had relied on that sculpture to solve his financial needs during the early stages of his life.

Later on, he had even managed to obtain the gold coins needed to redeem the family heirloom, the battle blade Tulu, through his dream-awakening. Matthews almost wanted to go learn stone carving himself!