I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Level Up With In-app Purchases – 60

EP.60 The Use of the Orb (4)

“????”

“???”

Several pretty orbs were placed in front of Haeshi and Nairel.

“The orbs are pretty, but why are you giving these to us?”

Of course, the two kids didn’t know the true nature of the orbs, and they each held one in both hands.

Curious about how the orbs would react to them, I watched expectantly, hoping they might emit some light.

However.

“???”

“???”

The orbs remained motionless in their hands, producing no light at all.

Unlike the reaction when the R-grade student council member touched them, there was no response this time.

“Ah… I guess it doesn’t work?”

Was I hoping for too much?

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to keep being so frustrating?”

Seeing Nairel and Haeshi’s frustration, I had no choice but to explain.

“These are special orbs.”

“What’s special about them?”

“When someone with a matching wavelength touches these orbs, they get stronger.”

“????”

Haeshi and Nairel seemed to think I was playing a bad joke on them.

“This isn’t funny at all, mister.”

“How does this make us stronger? Nothing is happening at all.”

“Hmm… it seems that way to you too, right? If anyone could use these orbs, it would have been amazing. But for balance reasons, it’s probably right that it’s restricted…”

I couldn’t help but feel disappointed seeing the path completely blocked when I thought it might be easier.

“That’s too bad. Give them back.”

“Wait a minute!”

As I tried to retrieve the orbs, Haeshi held onto them tightly, refusing to let go.

“Is it true? You’re not joking, right? There really are people who get stronger by touching these?”

“Haeshi, you shouldn’t do that…”

Nairel, thinking Haeshi’s behavior was rude, tried to stop her.

“Why would I joke with you? And there’s no point in keeping them. We already confirmed there’s no reaction.”

“Can’t we keep just one? You said you were going to give them to us anyway.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“We need to find out! Why it works for some people and not for us. Who just gives up after a quick try and says, ‘Oh, it doesn’t work’? No way.”

“You’ll get in trouble for being stubborn…”

The reason the orbs didn’t work was that they weren’t characters I summoned.

So, there was no need for them to take the orbs and investigate.

However, the kids, not knowing this, expressed their desire to keep the orbs.

“Well, I think it would be a waste of time. How do you plan to investigate it? Send it to your family?”

I didn’t know what kind of family they came from, but nobles have their connections, so they’d probably find a way to investigate.

But since I’d never had someone investigate an item created by an ability, I wasn’t sure whether to let them take the orbs or not.

“No way! Sending it to the family would be a disaster!”

“Yeah! That’s a bad idea.”

“We thought that if we kept it long enough, it might eventually work, so we wanted to hold onto it.”

Haeshi seemed to think I was worried about them stealing the method of making the orbs.

And indeed, if they sent it to their family, that could very well happen.

But it didn’t matter if those orbs ended up in their family’s hands.

‘There’s no way they could artificially create these. Even though they look like orbs, they essentially contain a person.’

If it weren’t for duplicates, it would mean summoning an actual person.

Could someone artificially create something that involves a soul?

“Actually, it doesn’t matter if you take them to your family. I don’t think they can replicate it just by investigating.”

Haeshi’s eyes widened at my words.

“Really? If this really makes us stronger like you said, it’s incredible!”

Nobles don’t hesitate to use any means necessary to become stronger.

“They might take it, break it apart, and try all sorts of things to make a copy.”

“I’m telling you, it’s fine.”

If this became commercialized, it would benefit me.

Rather than letting them rot uselessly in my inventory, I’d prefer if they found some use.

“Mister, you’re really a nice person.”

Nairel nodded in agreement with Haeshi’s statement.

Well, this is why people say you should live long enough to see everything.

To think that someone would call me kind.

I’d never been called kind in my entire life until now.

It seemed like some people here were starting to see me as a pushover.

It was an unintended and rather embarrassing misunderstanding.

I was only doing this because I couldn’t stand to see the world I reincarnated into fall apart.

It’s not like I didn’t get paid for selling unique equipment, and I didn’t pour money into the academy purely out of a desire to support the kids.

“I am kind of nice. So, be good to me.”

Since the kids already misunderstood me as a kind person, I saw no need to correct them.

I proudly declared myself a nice guy.

“We always greet you properly.”

“Is greeting me being good to me?”

“We greeted you very politely! Anyway, we can really take these, right?”

“Haeshi…”

No matter what Nairel said, it wasn’t reaching Haeshi’s ears at the moment.

“Alright. I’ll lend it to you for a week, so you can try whatever you want.”

“Yes!”

“Oh no… she got permission.”

“You take one too.”

“M-me too?”

“Wouldn’t you feel left out if only she got one?”

“…Thank you.”

Nairel bowed her head shyly.

Haeshi was handling the orb with such intensity that it seemed like she might break it.

I realized just how strong Haeshi’s obsession with the orb was when, a week later, Nairel sighed and explained the situation to me in detail.

====

***

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“Hello, mister.”

“Hey there.”

Nairel greeted me shyly from slightly behind Haeshi, as usual.

Haeshi’s lips were protruding about 3 cm.

It seemed they had failed to uncover the secret of the orb.

“How did it go?”

“Ugh! We couldn’t figure it out.”

“See? I told you it would be pointless.”

“Mister, mister. But is it really true that Senior Yui got stronger because of this orb?”

The kids had gathered more information over the past week than I had expected.

“What? How did you find that out?”

“Ahhh!! Why doesn’t it work for me!!!”

Haeshi, who wasn’t chosen by the orb, started throwing a tantrum.

The calmer Nairel explained the situation in her stead.

“Senior Yui came to see us. She asked if we knew you.”

“Ah, so she told you.”

“Yes. She said her skills improved tremendously thanks to you. We immediately knew she was talking about the orbs.”

“And that’s why she’s throwing a fit?”

“Yes. There are many people in the academy looking for you because of Senior Yui.”

Back then, I was so surprised by the sudden awakening that I didn’t handle it properly before leaving.

R-grade character Yui must have been bewildered when I suddenly enhanced her with the orb and disappeared.

“She wanted to thank you and give you something in return, but we thought it wouldn’t be right to tell her where to find you.”

“That’s thoughtful of you.”

“Hehe. But Haeshi failed. She tried all sorts of things to use the orb, but it didn’t work.”

“Everything failed, right?”

“Yes. There was no change.”

It’s clear that the orbs only work on characters I’ve summoned.

It’s disappointing, but what can I do?

I can’t even use the orbs to improve my own skills.

Then, Haeshi, looking like a delinquent, spoke up.

“Mister, don’t you have any other orbs? Maybe this one just doesn’t match with me.”

“All the other orbs will be the same. Just give up.”

“Ugh! This is so unfair! Some people get stronger, and some don’t! It’s completely unfair.”

After huffing and puffing for a while, Haeshi reluctantly placed the orb back in my hand, her eyes filled with lingering regret.

It seemed she had handled the orb so much that it was now shiny and polished.

The warmth of the orb suggested that Haeshi had been carrying it around like a hen incubating an egg.

This suspicion was soon confirmed.

Nairel testified that Haeshi had carried the orb with her 24/7.

“She held it close even during class. She didn’t let go of it while sleeping or even when going to the bathroom.”

“Ah… the bathroom is a bit much.”

Despite her extreme obsession, the orb didn’t change in proportion to her affection.

Seeing the disappointment in Haeshi and Nairel’s eyes made me feel like a villain for taking it away.

‘Ugh, maybe I should just let her keep one. It’s not like it’s rare.’

My inventory was overflowing with R-grade orbs.

“Alright. You can keep it. Consider it a souvenir.”

“!!!”

“Mister! You don’t have to do that. This is really important.”

“It’s not important. Who would want to buy a defective item that only works for certain people? It’s not even a gamble.”

Moreover, the orb containing Yui’s soul had already been enhanced to 5 stars, making it useless.

‘Maybe new functions will be added when I achieve certain milestones, but for now, it’s useless.’

I had a mountain of gacha pulls ahead of me.

So, giving away an R-grade orb like Yui’s soul as a gift to a kid I knew wasn’t a big deal.

The only concern was…

‘That orb contains a soul…’

Hoping they wouldn’t break it, I added a warning.

“Just don’t break it, okay? Don’t throw it on the ground in a fit of rage.”

“Yes! Yay! Mister, you’re the best!!”

“Oof! You’re heavy, kid!!”

“Yay! Yay! Yay!”

“My ears! You’re going to make me deaf!!”

Haeshi was so reluctant to give up the orb that when I said she could keep it as a gift, she jumped on my back and cheered.

Despite being a small kid, her jumping ability easily surpassed the height of an adult man, as she was an awakened one.

Nairel anxiously tried to calm Haeshi down from below, but it was impossible to stop her in her excitement.

After celebrating for a while over the fact that the orb was now hers, Haeshi finally let go.

I staggered and quickly sat down on a chair.

“This is exhausting.”

Childcare should definitely be left to the experts.

“Thank you, mister.”

At that moment, Nairel quietly thanked me and pulled out the orb from her pocket, offering it back to me.

“I’m fine, so you can take it back.”

“Do you think the orb is a bad gift?”

“No! It’s just that giving one to Haeshi already seems like a big favor.”

At first, I thought she was just a timid kid who spoke her mind, but now I realized she was quite mature for her age.

Still, she was a child, and her eyes lingered on the orb she was offering back to me with a hint of regret.

“It’s fine, kid. I usually don’t say things like this because it sounds old-fashioned, but when an adult gives you something, you should just say thank you and accept it.”

I placed the orb back in Nairel’s hand.

Although she didn’t react as joyfully as Haeshi, Nairel enjoyed the small happiness of receiving the orb in her own way.