Apocalypse Rebate: Spoiling Beauties Makes Me Richer!

Watching Bruce as he calmly meditated, Naomi couldn’t help but get lost in thought.

Having instructed him yesterday to sense the Mana within and try cancelling out the noise around him so he could repeat it at will, Naomi would’ve never expected him to achieve this in less than a day since he first learnt about the presence of Mana within.

Feeling somewhat envious, as it’d taken her about a week before she was able to sense it at will, Naomi wondered how he was able to achieve such a thing so easily whereas she’d been forced to master it the hard way.

’I guess that’s the difference between the truly gifted and those who merely work hard for it.’

Sighing at her own shortcomings, as well as the unfairness of the world towards the gifted few, she realized Bruce was most likely a one-in-a-million prodigy who was simply a late bloomer.

Even then, she knew it was only a matter of time before he surpassed even those who’d been working hard to achieve strength.

After all, she’d also been classified as a prodigy when she was younger, yet he’d achieved this faster than even she had.

Sure, the circumstances were different, and she had to learn it from scratch as opposed to having someone instruct her.

But she’d also tried teaching this to others as well, yet they’d been unable to even make it through the first step, much less repeat it at will. So, it was undeniable that there was something special about him.

With that in mind, she’d already officially accepted Bruce as her trainee yesterday upon noticing he achieved this.

After all, he’d already proved that he was far more capable than she’d initially anticipated. So, there was no need for her to drag the matter out any longer.

Noticing Bruce had opened his eyes, as well as the subtle presence that now radiated around him, she realized he’d achieved it once again, and yesterday wasn’t just a fluke.

Sighing to herself, she decided to move on to the main task of the day.

"Alright, considering you’re now able to sense the Mana within at will, other than refining it to shorten the time required to do this, the next step is for you to harness it. Which simply means using it to achieve your goal, or rather, bending it to your will."

Clenching a fist before opening it again, she repeated the motion as she explained.

"Though it may sound easy, this is in fact more difficult than learning to sense the Mana itself, as it requires fine control over your body. As such, it requires a certain level of control and mastery over Mana, as well as your own body, to be able to achieve."

Watching as she repeatedly clenched her fist, Bruce could now tell, after learning to sense Mana, that each time she did, the Mana travelled from her abdomen all the way to her fist before fading away instantly upon releasing her grip.

Noticing this, Bruce held up an arm. Glancing at it, he looked at Naomi, a slight smirk finding its way to his face as he enquired.

"You say it’s difficult to achieve, right? Then how about we make a bet?" Pausing a bit as he looked back at his arm, he continued. "If you win, I’ll do whatever it is you want me to do, no matter what. But if I win, you owe me lunch. How about it?"

Smirking on hearing this, Naomi crossed her arms beneath her chest, causing them to sway a bit.

"Getting cocky now, are we? It seems you’re unaware of the difficulty involved." Thinking for a bit, she held her chin before smiling. "Alright, I’ll humour you a bit. If you do win, I’ll consider taking you out for dinner."

Smiling on hearing this, Bruce simply walked towards the punching bag at the centre of the room as he said,

"I’ll take that as a yes!" Reaching the punching bag, he added, "Remember, no take-backs."

Chuckling slightly at his attempt to appear cool, Naomi couldn’t help but smile at it, one that didn’t last long upon seeing what followed next.

Standing in front of the punching bag, Bruce briefly closed his eyes as he focused all his attention on a single task.

Recalling how Naomi had punched a hole through the punching bag before, it had seemed like something that was impossible for someone like him to ever achieve, especially since he’d been a weak, sickly person just a few days ago.

However, now things were different, and it didn’t seem so impossible anymore.

Clenching his fist, he channelled the Mana he’d sensed within himself, shaping it into a spherical ball in his abdomen.

Upon doing this, he then siphoned a portion of it from his abdomen all the way to his fist, visualising it like a vein transporting Mana across his body, but directing it solely to his fist this time.

On doing this, he opened his eyes once more.

Sliding a foot forward slightly, he tightened his fist before delivering a devastating punch towards the punching bag.

On contact, the force easily knocked the bag free, snapping the chain that held it in place.

Now slouched against the ground, a gaping hole remained where Bruce had punched, achieving a result similar to what Naomi had demonstrated before.

Casually turning back, a victorious smile present on his face as his clenched fist still radiated a hazy purple aura, Bruce simply declared,

"I win! Guess you owe me a date."

Stunned by the sight, Naomi stared at Bruce in a daze.

Though he’d used more force than she had when she demonstrated before, and his stance was sloppy and amateurish, the fact remained that he’d achieved what had taken her months to accomplish in just a few minutes. Without even needing her to explain what he had to do in order to achieve it.

Speechless, she struggled to comprehend how such a thing was even possible.

However, on seeing the smug look on his face, she snapped out of it.

Mildly irritated by his smile, her eyes twitched a bit before she finally spoke.

"First of all, congratulations on learning to harness your Mana. It is by no means a small feat, what you just did." A devilish smirk crept onto her face as she added,

"But more importantly, I don’t recall ever agreeing to take you out to lunch. I simply said I’d think about it."

Now it was Bruce’s turn to be surprised.

Pointing a finger at her, feeling thoroughly wronged, he hadn’t expected her to be so shameless as to phrase her words in such a way that she wasn’t obligated to anything, regardless of whether she won or lost.

’You conniving fox!’

Unable to voice his resentment, Bruce simply sighed as he raised his hands in defeat.

Chuckling at his display, Naomi briefly glanced at the punching bag he’d destroyed.

"Now that you’ve learnt to harness it, other than learning to refine it, I guess there’s not really much I can teach you anymore."

Looking at the ceiling, a slightly wistful expression found its way onto her face as she added,

"It took me an entire week just to learn how to sense Mana at will. Then it took me a whole month after that to learn how to harness it into something more practical."

Shifting her gaze back to Bruce, an expression he’d never seen her make appeared on her face.

"Yet someone was able to achieve both in just a few days. Honestly, I’m not really sure how to feel about that."

Glancing at the ceiling as well, Bruce remained silent for a bit before a light smile found its way onto his face.

Looking back at her, Bruce simply gave a thumbs-up as he added,

"Well, then I guess the only reason I was able to achieve it in such a short period of time was because I had such a great teacher."

Silence stretched on for a while before Naomi simply chuckled as she shook her head.

"You really are a weird kid, you know that? Flattery will get you nowhere."

With that, she simply turned away as she made her way out of the quarters. As she did, a faint smile appeared on her face as she exited the room.

Popping up before him, a notification appeared soon after in front of Bruce.

[Affinity Level: ...52]

[Affinity Level: ....55]

[Congratulations! Host has successfully broken past the halfway point of the Affinity Level with another Bonded Target]

[Every amount spent on the Target, Naomi White, will automatically generate a x10 Rebate, unless the daily limit is exceeded.]

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Smirking at the sight, Bruce couldn’t help but shake his head.

’You sly woman. Saying flattery is pointless, yet you’re still happy to hear it?’

Chuckling to himself, Bruce glanced outside.

Realizing there was still time, as he’d completed everything earlier than expected today, he contemplated what else he could do to pass the time.

Making up his mind, he placed a finger on his chin as he thought out loud.

"Guess I’ll get a haircut, then."

With that, he decided to use his spare time to complete the rest of his Main Task’s requirements.