The Imperial Capital Art Gallery

Hearing Matthews say that, Kelly shot a smug look at Wood, who was clearly unconvinced.

Nina chose to watch from the sidelines. This wasn't the time for her to say or do anything. But seeing her best friend fall for him just like that, she understood that to a hopeless romantic who yearned for love, Matthews was her prince right now. Anything Nina said or did to ruin this beautiful moment would only be rejected outright by her friend.

All she could do was shake her head, feeling sorry for Wood at the same time. Wood had been one of Kelly's suitors from the start, and as the son of a marquis, he was every bit as outstanding. He was already a Fifth-Level Magical Beast mage, and he also had a genius older brother who had already reached level eight. His eldest brother had joined the Divine Beast Sect and become its youngest priest. His future was bound to be limitless.

As far as Nina was concerned, Wood was better than Matthews, who had once made his living performing.

They encountered no danger on the way back. When they reached the city gates, Matthews was about to say goodbye to them. Just then, Kelly asked, "Big Brother Matthews, where can I find you later?"

Matthews wasn't an insensitive man, so he gave Kelly the location of his blacksmith shop.

Then he parted ways with them and headed to a magic shop. There, he sold the Magic Beast Cores he had obtained in the Magic Beast Mountain Range, earning a little over ten thousand gold coins in all.

A third-level Magic Beast Core was worth only ten gold coins, while a fourth-level one fetched just fifty. A fifth-level core was worth three hundred gold coins, and a sixth-level one a little over fifteen hundred. Seventh-Level Magical Beast cores were much more expensive, bringing in a little over ten thousand gold coins.

Thinking about it now, Matthews still felt that his glass products were worth more. In this magical world, everyone was accustomed to using magic and knew that Earth Element could condense into crystals. They simply didn't know that heat could turn sand into glass, which was why glass products were so valuable.

Unfortunately, even though he had now broken through to become a Seventh-Level Warrior, he still didn't dare bring those products out in the open. Doing so would be asking for trouble.

It seemed that in any world, selling one's labor could never make anyone rich. The gold coins he earned by risking his life to kill magical beasts couldn't even compare to what he'd make at an auction selling glass products.

Matthews headed to the bank and transferred some gold coins to his younger sister Mia's bank card.

When Matthews returned home, he found that Mia was there, too. She was busy cleaning when she saw her brother walk in. She ran over and leaped into his arms, wrapping her arms around him. "Bro, you're back!"

"Yeah. Get down now. You're too heavy!"

Mia was already thirteen and had grown into a young woman. She wasn't as light as she'd been when she was little.

"Bro, you're just as annoying as ever."

"Hey, I don't like the sound of that. I'm such a lovable guy. How could anyone find me annoying?"

"Pfft!"

Mia hopped down from Matthews and said, "No girls will ever like you if you act like that. You don't even know you're not supposed to call a girl fat."

"You've got that all wrong. Your big brother is a handsome young man who's loved by everyone!"

"Pfft. Who'd believe that?"

Matthews headed inside and said, "I'm going to take a bath. You make dinner!"

"Okay!"

After his bath, Matthews appeared at the dining table with his hair loose. He gave Asolun a leg from a magical beast, then sat down and started eating vegetables.

"Bro, where have you been all these years?"

Matthews told Mia about his cultivation over the past few years, and took the opportunity to teach her a few things about traveling to the Magic Beast Mountain Range.

"Ah! Humans would actually try to kill their own kind!"

Seeing Mia's shocked expression, Matthews calmly nodded. He then focused on telling her about how the human assassin who had pretended to be injured tried to kill him.

"What level of mage are you now?"

Seeing her brother wolf down his vegetables, Mia pushed the vegetables in front of her toward him. Then she said proudly, "I'm already a third-level mage!"

"Not bad. A third-level mage at thirteen."

"Of course! Your little sister is a genius mage!"

Remembering how hard he had trained over the years, Matthews figured his old clothes probably wouldn't fit anymore. "Let's buy some new clothes tomorrow!"

"Really? I want a new dress tomorrow."

"Sure!"

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

"What is it? Your big brother finally gets a day to sleep in."

"Didn't you say yesterday that we'd buy clothes?"

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

At a clothing shop, Matthews picked out a warrior's outfit for himself. Then he heard a familiar voice behind him. "It really is you!"

When Matthews turned around, he saw Kelly and her best friend Nina, whom he'd parted ways with just the day before.

Looking at Kelly, who had spoken, Matthews smiled. "It's you two! Out shopping, too?"

As Matthews chatted with Kelly and Nina, his younger sister Mia came out.

"Bro, who are they?"

"Mia, these are my friend Kelly and her best friend, Nina."

Then he introduced his sister to Kelly.

Kelly invited them, "We're going to the Imperial Capital Art Gallery in a bit. Want to come with us?"

"No, my brother and I are going to get something to eat later!"

"She got it wrong. We're free later!"

As Matthews spoke, he covered his sister's mouth. Was she trying to ruin her brother's chances at love? He was still a pure-hearted virgin, even at his age. He had to have a sweet romance at least once!

Kelly smiled, then picked out a dress and handed it to Mia. "Your sister would look lovely in this!"

"Go try it on!"

Kelly then picked out a set of noble attire from this world for Matthews. When he came out after changing, even Nina, who hadn't thought much of him before, was impressed. She had to admit that her best friend had a good eye for men. The only shame was that Matthews hadn't been born into a noble family.

On the way to the Imperial Capital Art Gallery, Kelly told Matthews and Mia a little about it. When they arrived, they found the place packed with people.

Each of them paid a silver coin before entering the Art Gallery. The first floor housed the sculpture gallery, where new works by several master sculptors were on display. Matthews remembered that in the original story, one of the protagonist's works had once been exhibited in the gallery's main hall on the first floor. At the time, the protagonist had made enough money from the sculpture to cover his living expenses.

Later, he had even used Dream Awakening to get the gold coins needed to redeem the family heirloom battle knife, Tulu. Matthews felt like taking up stone carving himself!