The Unrecorded Extra



'It's about time!' I thought.

It was about the damn time she gave me something for saving her, even though all of that was what I planned. Kidnapped her, trapped her in a small room, then eventually saved her.

Making her owe me her life which would bring me closer to my goal. Not an end goal though, but a short-term goal. That was making my financial situation stable.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Lumi, but you don't me owe anything," I said, trying to reassure her.

Of course, I did that for pleasantries! I needed to look like I was your humble, virtuous, and kind guy the same as Lux. 

It was called the 'build a good rapport' strategy to increase the chance your would-be boss accepted you into their company.

Also, I said that because I knew that no matter what I said and what I did such as reject her proposition, she would still force me onto it.

"No, I owe you my life, and I can't help feeling like I must pay you back for everything you had done," Lumi said. "I want to make things right."

See? There was no way she would just call off her offer just because I said no.

Trying to keep my expression neutral, I said

"Well, if you insist. What did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking about maybe offering you a contract to join my guild, but uhum–! It's prohibited to recruit a student who hasn't graduated yet, so I'll postpone that. Alternatively, I can offer you a reward in the form of money or items, or you can ask me for something specific that I can afford."

"That's a pretty generous offer," I said, touched by her willingness and determination just to pay me back. I was really touched, and it was not a joke.

"But you don't have to do that. I helped you because I wanted to, not because I expected anything in return. You're my friend, and so Lux. I will always help my friend."

As I said that, my stomach felt like it was being twisted and a shock of electricity ran down my spine. I felt it, I felt the cringeness in my word.

Lumi held my gaze.

"Please, let me do this."

I shut my mouth for a moment and glanced down, just to make her think I was considering her offer.

"Very well," I said finally. "If you're that persistent, I could use some help with a project I've been working on."

I handed her a piece of origami paper shaped like a cat.

Lumi smiled in relief as her hand reached for the origami. "Thank you. I'll do my best to make it up to you."

Only when she looked at the origami that a smile spread across her face for a moment before she noticed that I was looking at her.

Her favorite animal was a cat. And that was why I folded the origami into a cat, it was another plus point for my value point in her eyes.

If there was something like a 'bond parameter' that you'd find in a dating sim game, I would assume my bond point with her was around 40 if not 50, noting that the max bond point was 100.

"What is this?" she said, trying to hold the urge to add a 'so cute' comment on the origami.

"Just open it."

Lumi unfolded the origami to reveal a sketch of a potion and a handwritten note inside. 

Hmm, my handwriting had improved slightly. Well, at least it was on the level that one could read without needing to spend time to figure out what was written.

"This is…amazing!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder.

I gave her a grin when she looked at me.

"I think we should discuss this thoroughly!" she said, beaming with enthusiasm.

With that, our stroll was concluded and a few days later, I found myself sitting inside a tidy office.

Lumi had invited me to discuss the potion, which I named 'Catalyst Potion'. It was a potion that could raise someone's stats growth rate potential.

Unlike the Horizon Elixir which could only be consumed once. Someone could consume a Catalyst Potion a few times before it lost its efficiency.

If one was an incarnation of the God of Luck, one would hit a jackpot in the first shot. It meant that they could get a significant raise in their growth rate potential.

But, if one was an incarnation of the God of Misfortune, one would need to consume the potion until it lost its efficiency and yet didn't get that much raise in their growth rate potential.

Oh, Goddess of Fortune… Please bless this poor child.

Anyway, that was what I told Lumi. It was just a brief explanation of what Catalyst Potion was. And I'm not that dumb to tell her about the existence of the Horizon Elixir that I sold already to Chrysalis Guild.

'Now that I think about it. They should have been starting to distribute the elixir by now. Give it a week and it's going to monopolize the Enhanced market. Then comes the Catalyst Potion…'

I could already hear money fell down like rain in my head.

"Do you realize how this potion can change the flow of the market? This item is very valuable, you know?!" She exclaimed with excitement. 

"I don't know how or where you got this crazy innovation, but you've come to the right person!" She added confidently.

"Are you sure you don't want to have the right over this potion?" She asked.

I just smiled at Lumi's enthusiasm, rejecting the idea of putting my name as the potion's creator because I didn't want to be a target of those greedy people.

"I trust you with this," I said, shaking my head. "You're the one with the resources and the expertise to bring this to market. Also, I don't want to bring trouble to my life by claiming the right to the potion, it's safer that it's distributed under the Nova Corps' name."

"I understand. But I want to make sure you get your fair share. How about we split the profits fifty-fifty?"

I paused, considering her offer. It was more than fair, considering that Nova Corps was a mega-corporation that dominated the market in technology and gadget, Enhanced equipment, and man-made artifacts.

I already calculated how much I would get by sharing fifty-fifty profits with the Nova Corps and the Chrysalis Guild. Assuming both of the items sold well in the market, in one year I could get more than 400 million Creds.

Yep, that was more than enough to get me a rare <A> rank weapon artifact with good skills. But I wasn't going to do it since I already had Retro which was worth more than 10 billion Creds.

"Let's do it!"