Chapter 145 - 143: He Really Is a Genius!

It took Rick Kaye forever to select just two suitable gifts. The process gave him a massive headache.

Left with no other choice, he sent a message to Jared Jenkins. "Take a video of whatever you have in your Space Button that would make a good gift for kids and send it to me."

"Heh! Have you suddenly grown a conscience and decided to give your landlord’s kids some presents?" Jared replied instantly, his message dripping with sarcasm.

Because he was worried about Rick being hunted down, Jared had set Rick’s contact number to trigger a special alert. Whenever Rick sent a message, Jared would see it immediately.

"Cut the crap! I’m not asking for freebies. If there’s anything I have that you can use, just take it!" Rick shot back.

A video arrived shortly after. One look at it, and Rick beamed.

He hadn’t expected someone as seemingly unreliable as Jared to have such an impressive stash of treasures!

His eyes immediately locked onto the "Never-Lost Little Fox"—a glowing, crystal beast that looked like a beautiful little pendant, perfect for hanging around a neck or attaching to a backpack.

If you pressed its nose before setting off, it would record your starting point. When it was time to return, a simple tug on its ear would project a virtual screen in front of you, displaying red arrows that would guide you all the way back to your origin.

This was a masterpiece born from a sudden stroke of genius by a Space Element Master. Since she didn’t have children of her own, she put it up for auction. Jared’s mother had purchased it and given it to him for his tenth birthday.

However, Jared had a contrarian personality and disliked such girly trinkets, so he had kept it stored away, entirely unused.

He had originally planned to find an opportunity to give it to Rose anyway. Since Rick wanted to give a gift, Jared figured he might as well let him have it.

Rick felt there wasn’t a girl in the world who wouldn’t adore this cute crystal fox. Most importantly, it was highly practical. Whenever the little girl went out in the future, they would never have to worry about her getting lost.

The second gift Rick selected was a Guardian Light Cocoon.

It looked like a smooth cobblestone, but when encountering danger—such as falling from a height or a heavy impact—it would automatically activate. It would deploy a translucent Energy Shield, enveloping the child like a silkworm cocoon.

Jared had specifically bought this as a birthday present for his little nephew. Its functions were largely similar to the Jelly Cradle he had created himself, but its main advantage was that it could activate on its own.

Unfortunately, he had been poisoned and forced to leave his family, fleeing to District Nine to lay low. As a result, he had missed the chance to deliver the gift.

Rick thought this item was perfectly suited for Zephyr. Out of the four children, Zephyr was the only one who hadn’t awakened an Ability. Keeping this by his side could save his life in a critical moment.

The final gift he chose was the Eye of Analysis.

It was a soft, pale gold lens as thin as a cicada’s wing, looking much like a contact lens. It was a genuine product of high technology.

When worn and focused on any type of ore, it would automatically generate a virtual screen in front of the user’s eye, displaying its composition tags.

It would reveal the ore’s material, hardness, melting point, and what kind of tools it was best suited for forging. It even showed the distribution of impurities within the ore and the methods to remove them.

This was the highly coveted Eye of Analysis that every Artifact Refiner dreamed of.

Although its current database of ore varieties was not yet complete, it was more than enough for an apprentice.

Moreover, it had another incredible benefit: if a new type of ore was discovered, its detailed information could be manually entered and stored.

It was essentially an upgradable encyclopedia of refining materials. Firestone could learn while recording and supplementing the data. In the future, when he took on apprentices of his own and passed this item down, the database would only grow richer.

This was a miniature version of the Laboratory Material Scanner that Jared had tinkered with and built himself. Originally, it was meant to facilitate his current job of appraising and evaluating the special supplies brought back by Scavengers.

Now that his Ability had recovered, he had no use for it anymore. He decided he might as well take it out and let Firestone benefit from it.

Even though Jared had casually brought out these items, Rick could tell that every single one of them was incredibly rare and essentially priceless.

Of course, since he had reaped such a windfall from Jared, he would naturally exchange it for something of immense value.

Finally, he brought out a treasure he had long prepared for Jared—the Resonating String.

He had found it in an underground laboratory during an expedition to explore a pre-nuclear war ruin.

The main body looked like a palm-sized harp missing its strings. The material resembled jade, yet it possessed the color of metallic silver.

He had sought out a renowned Artifact Refining Master, but even they couldn’t identify exactly what material it was.

However, through testing, the master discovered that it could resonate with a Spirit Ability, amplifying the range and intensity of the Ability.

The master had casually named this strange harp the Resonating String.

The test results also showed that the higher the Level of the Spirit Ability User, the greater the amplification they would receive from the Resonating String.

A Fourth Tier Spirit Element Ability User who underwent the test wanted to buy the treasure for a hefty price right then and there.

But Rick couldn’t bear to sell it. Even back then, he had intended to save it for Jared. However, both of them had been extremely busy, completely out of touch, and had no opportunity to meet.

Now, using the excuse of giving the kids some small gifts, he could trade this treasure to Jared. That way, Jared wouldn’t feel too much psychological burden accepting it.

Heh heh! He was such a genius!

Upon hearing Rick’s description, Jared rushed over at lightning speed in the dead of night.

Sev Steele was already fast asleep, so Rick quietly let him into the house.

As soon as he entered the master bedroom, Jared dumped the items Rick wanted onto the bed with a CLATTER. Rick tactfully handed him the Resonating String.

Jared accepted it without hesitation, immediately channeling his Energy into it to begin testing.

A dozen seconds later, he fully grasped the preciousness of this treasure.

"Rick, I owe you one for this," Jared said, his expression unusually serious.

"Don’t give me that nonsense. Without you, I would’ve been dead meat a long time ago. Sooner or later, these things would have just fallen into the hands of the culprits who killed me," Rick replied flatly.

In theory, once the owner of a Space Button bound with a bio-chip died, it could never be opened by an outsider again.

However, as the Power Level of Space Ability Users continued to rise, someone in the future would undoubtedly be able to safely unlock a bio-chip-bound Space Button.

Rick had come to realize this as his own Power Level increased. All impossibilities became possible in the face of a true powerhouse.

Jared left with his new treasure. Rick, meanwhile, was too excited to sleep. He finally waited until dawn when everyone woke up, then hobbled into the living room on his crutch.

"Rose, Rusty, Zephyr, come over here! I have presents for you!" he called out to the three children with a warm smile.

"Huh? Presents? Master, didn’t you already give me hair ties? Why are you giving more presents?" Rose asked, blinking her large eyes.

"Ahem! Those didn’t count. What I’m giving you all this time are proper gifts," Rick said awkwardly.

Thank goodness that matter hadn’t spread. Otherwise, he, a dignified Judge, giving his little disciple a few ugly hair ties as a gift would have made him the laughingstock of all the safe zones.

Sev was in the kitchen, preparing to make breakfast. Hearing him talk about presents, she hadn’t planned on going over, but then he called out toward the kitchen.

"Sev, you come too. There are presents here for you and Firestone as well."

"I get one too?" Sev couldn’t quite believe it. She wondered what kind of crazy phase this bigshot was going through to suddenly decide to give everyone in the family a gift.

Fifteen minutes later, Sev stared at the pile of gifts in front of her, entirely losing her composure.

Every single item was the cream of the crop—the kind of treasure that money couldn’t buy.

Ahem! Of course, even if they could be bought, the meager amount of money in her account wouldn’t be enough to afford them anyway.

"These... are far too precious. What exactly do you need us to do? If it’s too dangerous, we won’t be able to do it," Sev said, forcing down her reluctance to part with the gifts.

There was no such thing as a free lunch. Why would he let them gain so many benefits for nothing?

"Don’t worry. Just consider this my room and board for eating and living here at your place for free all this time.

"Of course, there’s another reason. I am Rose’s master, so it’s only right that I give her family presents," Rick explained with a smile, seeing through her concerns.

After the children joyfully took their respective gifts and headed to the next room, Rick lowered his voice and spoke to Sev.

"Actually, I have my own selfish motives for giving you these gifts. Yesterday, you and Rusty nearly died out in the wilderness.

"If you died, this family would fall apart. How could I peacefully recover from my injuries here then?"

Sev understood the implied meaning. He just wanted her to accept these gifts without feeling burdened. After all, given their family’s current situation, she couldn’t afford to give him an equally valuable gift in return.

"In that case, I’ll accept them with peace of mind. Rest assured, even if you need to recover at our house for three to five years, we promise we won’t mind having you around," Sev said earnestly.

He wondered if she could wish him a speedy recovery instead.

However, it really would be nice to stay here a little longer. After all, if he left Seven Steele House, where else could he enjoy such delicious food every day?

Moreover, having a few kids chirping and bustling about his ears every day actually felt quite pleasant.

Right now, Rick’s only worry was this: once his injuries were healed, how was he going to break the news to Sev that he needed to take his little disciple away?