[The Golden Anomaly's Cellar: Mio 13, 3728]

"Are you sure you want to take this stuff? Seems somewhat useless for a person like you," Ronan said.

 As I lifted up the old barrel, I handed it to Ronan. I noticed that his OLED helmet had a blue question mark.

"Well, it's the last barrel of the old stuff, so why not? We don't know when we'll be back in the city," I said.

"Not to mention it's an eyesore in my Magi-Tech Laboratory," Jade said.

"You mean our Magi-Tech Laboratory," I said.

"Eh. Sounds like semantics to me," Jade said.

Ever since I created Jade, she's been gradually changing the cellar into her own personal lab.

Desks, Chalkboards, Shelves, Glass Beakers, Barrels, Papers, Pencils, Countless Books, and more could be found around her lab. And since she was also our accountant, she had a small area where she would perform those duties as well.

For something that was created 7 days ago, I considered her to be a success. And it goes without saying that Ronan was also a success.

But even I wasn't smart enough to come up with her ideas.

In fact, she already managed to prototype her 'Hive Mind' idea. The only issue is that Ronan had to be the guinea pig.

"So...does the chip seem to be working correctly?" I said.

"Yes," Jade and Ronan said in unison.

"Ok...totally not creepy at all," I joked.

As Ronan shook his head, he began walking towards the stairs.

"I'm not a fan of it either. The quicker she gets out of my head, the better," Ronan said.

"Stop complaining, Ronan! You should be grateful that a being of superior intelligence is helping to guide your decision!" Jade said proudly.

"The hell is that supposed to mean? Tch! Whatever," Ronan said annoyed.

As Ronan grumpily carried the barrel up the stairs, Jade hovered near my shoulder.

"Do you have to be a jerk to Ronan?" I asked.

"You know, some of the most brilliant people in history were the biggest jerks," Jade said.

"Interesting. But it doesn't answer my question, does it?" I said.

Jade started rotating in mid-air. She clearly disregarded my last statement.

"Well anyway, I scanned those quests like you asked. I have stored the information in my database. I'll be able to keep track of your quests," Jade said.

"So...do you think we have everything we need for the road? How much money do we have left?"  I said.

"We should have enough supplies for the road. Though, I'm surprised you let them shop without you," Jade said.

"What? You don't trust them to spend wisely?" I said.

"Not exactly. I just hope you don't have this same lax attitude when your shop begins to make real coin, you know?" Jade said.

"Hm. Noted," I said.

"As for what the books say, we should have around 45 plat left over if we subtract our previous purchases and daily expenses," Jade said.

"And if what Justine said was correct, that translates into...around 900 euros?" I said.

"Or in other words, $1100 that we need to spend wisely," Jade said.

"Sounds good," I said.

"Though...we still have one more thing we need to take care of before we join Justine and the others outside," Jade said.

"What do you mean? Everything should be in place. Plus, we're about to leave the city in a few minutes. We'll have to leave from the northern entrance if we're to follow the path to A’srius...," I said.

As Jade slowly flew over to the wall, I knew that she was heading for the scythe. The same scythe that was mounted on the wall and covered in magic chains. However, we noticed a few days ago that the scythe was no longer a black and purple scythe. It had changed. It was now black, red, and gold. But the weapon was no longer enormous. It seemed to shrink in size, to the point that I could no longer see it as an impractical weapon.

If that wasn't bad enough, Justine didn't even know why the scythe was changing. Neither did Sophia nor Lia.

What they all agreed on, however, was that it couldn't be an artifact. Instead, this scythe had to be a sacred treasure made by the demons. That was the only logical explanation that they all agreed on.

And it's in my cellar.

A demonic, sacred treasure with multi-layered/complex sealing magic that holds Lord Ogis's only daughter.

And it's in my cellar.

An S rank demon! S. Rank. Demon.

And if she's ever released, we are Toast! You hear me? Dead. Erased. Extinct. Reduced to atoms. Dead!

Not only that, but we still have to consider what Khelios told me a few days ago.

Honestly, I'm starting to think he's an idiot. 'This bottle of wine can save an entire continent'. Yeah...I seriously doubt that, buddy.

No way in hell I'm releasing this chick. I hope she has sweet dreams...

"You know, I think we should take the scythe with us! It'll probably be safer on the road than in this cellar," Jade said.

"Wait, what?" I said.

I guess I was lost in thought because I have no idea how Jade came to that realization.

"I say we grab the scythe and bring it with us," Jade said.

"There's no way in hell I'm touching that scythe," I said confidently.

"C'mon! Don't be a wuss! You're acting like your touching it directly! Plus, I'm 100% sure that the seals will protect you when you touch it. Who knows? You might even strengthen the seal!" Jade said proudly.

As I let out a large sigh, I slowly followed behind Jade as I approached the scythe.

 It began to rapidly pulsate.

"Jeez. This is such a horrible idea," I said.

"Have I ever led you astray?" Jade said.

"No. But there's a first time for everything," I said.

As I got closer to the scythe and rose my hand to grab it, I noticed that bright streams of light magic were flowing into the weapon from my palm.

"See? It looks like we're strengthening it already!" Jade said.

And it seemed like she was right.

The magic chains shook off their rust and slowly began turning into golden chains.

My hand was now three inches away from grabbing it. But I had second thoughts. And usually, my gut is right.

"I don't know, Jade. I think I'm not going to...," I said.

"Boop!" Jade said.

As Jade's spherical body nudged my hand onto the scythe, it began acting strongly to my touch.

The magic chains flew off the weapon and engulfed my left arm completely. I also noticed that bright yellow lines began to show up on the scythe.

But as the chains began to tighten their grip, I saw a flash of distinct images, memories, or something of the sort before the chains instantly disintegrated and became markings on my left forearm.

It was too much for my mind.

Even as a Demi-God.

But moments before I was about to pass out, I heard a strange woman's voice appear in my head.

"Hm. I guess that means you're my new overseer. Shame. I would've liked to be set free," she said.