Chapter 45: Do You Believe in Gravity?

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Three days later.

James—the tattooed Black man—was looking at Leon, who sat cross-legged on the bed, with an ingratiating smile.

“Boss, we’ve sold all those dragon-scale armors. So, do you think...?”

The dragon-scale armor was actually the Scales of Garros. Though the name was somewhat rustic, it had unexpectedly become popular among the gangs.

Indeed, Leon’s plan to build an alchemical commercial empire had gone completely off the rails from the very beginning.

What had started as an attempt to persuade wealthy people to buy his products had turned into selling them to the various gangs instead.

And really, it made sense. Gang shootouts happened every day, after all. The Scales of Garros—beggars’ edition—did not interfere with movement and had unexpectedly won the favor of gang leaders everywhere.

After all, even if it could not neutralize the force of an impact, it was still far better than taking a bullet directly to the body. Even if someone died, at least the corpse would look a little better.

Naturally, there had been gangs that tried to investigate the source of the dragon-scale armor. In the end, however, Leon dealt with all of them, and they contributed a substantial amount of experience to him.

As a result, James had become increasingly obedient.

Glancing at the panel displaying Apprentice Craftsman (Alchemy) Level 5 (382/500), Leon said, “As for the money, stick to the usual arrangement. Keep thirty percent for yourselves, and use the rest to buy materials and send them over.”

James’s obedience also had something to do with Leon’s generosity.

Leon did not care much about money. He would have no use for the currency of this world once he returned to the Starlight Federation, so he might as well use it to win people over.

“What about the information I asked you to investigate? Any news?”

Although Leon had been holed up at James’s hideout, cultivating bitterly, that did not mean he had abandoned his desire to explore this world.

He had been having these Black men investigate news that might involve supernatural forces.

Unfortunately, Leon had yet to discover any supernatural beings besides himself. The only unusual thing was that this world seemed to have an unusually large number of serial killers. Every few days, he came across news of another one.

When James heard Leon’s question, he was just about to shake his head when he seemed to remember something. Scratching his cheek, he said hesitantly, “Boss... There’s a rumor that a super-killer showed up in Mexico City down south. A lot of people are dead.”

“I don’t know if that counts as the kind of news you wanted.”

Leon gave a slight nod. “I understand. You can go.”

“Yes, Boss.”

After watching the tall Black man leave the bedroom with a delighted expression to distribute the money, Leon fell into thought.

Another serial killer...

These serial killers should have something to do with this world’s native supernatural forces.

Unfortunately, no one like that had appeared in New York recently. Otherwise, he could have gone there to investigate.

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Judging from everything that had happened over the past few days, there were only two possibilities in this world.

Either the supernatural did not exist at all, or it was like the world of Harry Potter, where ordinary people and wizards had almost no contact with one another.

Leon leaned toward the latter possibility.

But whichever was true, neither had much to do with him at present. His life these days could only be described as monotonous.

Circulating qi, practicing alchemy, and shooting guns.

That was Leon’s daily routine, and the Threefold Rebirth technique was involved in nearly every activity.

Moreover, because he had no other matters to worry about, his progress over the past few days could be called the fastest he had made since acquiring the class panel.

Unlike Apprentice Craftsman (Alchemy), a class whose experience could be frantically accumulated as long as one had money, the two classes related to qi cultivation required time and painstaking effort. By contrast, Gunslinger had already advanced by one level.

Aside from his class levels, his experience in the Threefold Rebirth technique had also reached Mastery (861/1000). In another three or four days, he would reach Expert proficiency.

If other practitioners of the Threefold Rebirth technique saw such astonishing progress, their eyes would probably pop out of their heads.

It feels like I should be able to max out all my class levels during this trip. I might even be able to complete a class advancement.

Still, it would be even better if I could take up a few new classes.

With that thought, Leon drew a slow breath, closed his eyes, and began circulating qi while waiting for James to deliver the materials.

...

Elsewhere.

Aboard a ship, a young man with an unkempt beard and an exhausted expression stared miserably at the caller’s name displayed on his communication device.

Director of the Enforcement Department, Von Schneider.

The young man instinctively swallowed before answering the call with some trepidation.

A completely emotionless voice immediately came through.

“We’ll discuss the matter of your unauthorized activation of the alchemical equipment, which alerted the pure-blood dragon, after you return to the academy. Since you are already on your way to New York, lure it there. The Enforcement Department has already made preparations.”

Although the voice on the other end was calm, the young man, who understood the speaker’s temperament fairly well, knew that what awaited him afterward would probably not be pleasant.

Thinking of this, he said weakly, “Understood, Instructor Schneider.”

“Have you made a rough assessment of that dragon’s bloodline rank?”

The cold voice continued through the communication device.

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After hesitating for a moment, the young man replied, “It should be a Fifth-Generation species. At most, it would be a Fourth-Generation species.”

He had reached that conclusion because, if its bloodline rank had been any higher, there was no way he could have escaped from the rainforest and boarded this ship to New York.

In fact, when the young man first fled back to Mexico City, he had thought himself safe. Who could have imagined that the pure-blood dragon, perhaps suffering from a temper after waking, would pursue him relentlessly?

“I understand.”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Hearing the dead tone from the communication device, the young man could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. But when he thought about the punishment awaiting him, his face became as bitter as if he had swallowed a gourd.

With a somewhat bitter heart, he looked toward the harbor, which had already appeared in his line of sight.

At that moment, there were no other ships near the harbor besides the one carrying the young man. Clearly, this was the preparation Schneider had mentioned.

Soon, the ship docked at the harbor. Immediately afterward, numerous people carrying customs credentials boarded and led away everyone except the young man.

Meanwhile, at the edge of the harbor, a fully equipped squad stood solemnly watching the distant sea.

One of the women operating the computer in front of her spoke with some confusion. “It’s been circling around. It seems somewhat afraid to approach.”

At her words, everyone present knitted their brows tightly.

After a moment of silence, the man leading the squad said in a deep voice, “We can’t keep waiting like this. Drive it ashore first.”

“Yes.”

Upon receiving the order, the squad members immediately sprang into action.

Soon, volley after volley of alchemical bullets was fired.

“Roar!”

Accompanied by a savage roar rising over the surface of the sea, a terrifying creature emerged from the water. Enormous wings grew from its back, and its body was roughly four or five meters long as it sped toward the harbor.

At the sight of it, everyone beside the harbor tensed, their nerves instantly stretched to the breaking point.

It’s here!