Chapter 15 | Upgrading The Girls
Dexter closed the interface and sat quietly, his thoughts drifting back to Valentina’s warning.
Those Assassins. Someone had tried to kill the three women in that dungeon. They’d failed and the women had survived. But the people behind it wouldn’t just give up. They’d try again.
And Dexter was the only thing standing between them
He was only a Tier 3 Awakened Hero. Any assassin worth their money would be at Tier 9, maybe even early Super Hero rank. In a direct fight, Dexter wouldn’t last ten seconds.
He needed to advance further and even more, he needed a weapon.
Not the decorative broad sword that had come as a wedding gift but a real relic weapon that can channel his mana and amplify his combat ability.
But real relic weapons cost real money. And more importantly, to buy a weapon from any legitimate shop, you needed a Hero License.
The Hero Association regulated all relic weapons to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.
To get a Hero License, you had to register with the Association, enter one of their virtual dungeons, and clear it. Your performance inside determined the rank of license you received, which in turn determined what grade of equipment you could buy.
Originally, Dexter had planned to wait until he reached at least Level 5 before taking the exam since a higher level would mean a better evaluation, a better license, and access to better weapons.
But he didn’t have time anymore.
"I actually almost forgot."
The thought came suddenly. He’d been so focused on the assassination threat and leveling up that he’d nearly overlooked something important.
When the system had rewarded him for the massive investment of buying all those items for his wives, it had returned the upgraded versions to him.
He reached into the drawer beside his bed and pulled out three beautiful bracelets.
The moment he touched it, a refreshing sensation flowed through his body, like stepping into a cool stream on a hot day. His mind cleared. The ache in his muscles from training faded to nothing.
’These are the real deal,’ Dexter thought.
A genuine Type 2 Serenity Bracelet was worth at least twenty thousand dollars on the open market.
He could sell them. Use the money to hire guards, buy black-market weapons, set up defenses.
But after only a brief moment of consideration, he shook his head and stood up, holding the three bracelets as he walked toward the living room.
---
Mira was seated in her wheelchair in front of the television. The TV was off but she sat there anyway, staring at the blank screen. She was wearing the AI smart glasses, but her eyes were closed behind the lenses, and her brows were furrowed in pain.
Even with the Type 1 bracelet, the pain was still there.
She seemed to notice him approaching as her neck tilted slightly but she didn’t open her eyes.
Dexter stopped beside her and held out one of the new bracelets.
"Mira," he said softly. "I brought you another bracelet. It does the same thing as the one you’re wearing, only it’s much more effective. Give me your wrist."
Mira slowly opened her eyes.
Her gaze first landed on his face. Then it shifted to the bracelet in his hand.
Her eyebrows knitted together.
"...That’s a Type 2 bracelet."
She stared at him with suspicion. Dexter had learned over the past few days that Mira knew more about artefacts and cultivation resources than he did — she’d been an A-rank hero, after all. She could identify equipment grades by sight.
"She spoke in a Flat tone. "First, you bought a Type 1 bracelet, and now you’ve brought home a Type 2 relic. don’t tell me you actually sold your kidney to buy this."
Dexter glared at her. "Do you want it or not?"
Mira snorted softly. "As though I can stop you? Do what you want."
Dexter nodded. He reached for her wrist and unclasped the old Type 1 bracelet then quickly fastened the new Type 2 bracelet in its place.
The instant the clasp clicked shut, Mira’s body trembled as a cool, soothing energy spread from the bracelet up her arm. From her shoulder, down her spine, and out into her limbs.
It was really nice, making Mira release a soft sigh.
The relentless pain that had tormented her every waking moment for three years diminished by twenty percent.
Twenty percent didn’t sound like much but for someone who had lived with constant, unbearable pain, it was a massive difference.
Compared to the Type 1 bracelet, which had only reduced her pain by about 10 percent, this was on an entirely different level.
For the first time in a long while, Mira’s tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed.
She sat there for a moment, clearly feeling the difference, her expression something Dexter had never seen on her face before.
It was relief.
Mira’s eyes narrowed slightly as she watched him lower her hand back onto the armrest. Then, without asking, he reached up and removed the bulky AI glasses from her face.
"Hey—"
"Relax." He replaced them with a thinner, lighter pair. "Advanced AI glasses. They have an eye-tracking system. You can use your eyes to browse the internet, navigate apps, read messages — everything. It’s connected to the network."
Mira blinked as the new lenses adjusted around her vision. The display was sharper, the text clearer, the interface more intuitive than the clunky Type 1 glasses.
She tested it — moving her eyes left, right, up, down — and the cursor on the display followed. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before she suppressed it.
"The internet," she said, her voice dry. "Nothing but feeble people with opinions that change every split second."
Dexter said nothing. But he knew what she meant.
Not long ago, she had been the Flame-Heart Princess. An S-rank hero. One of the youngest B-rank heroes in the city. The internet had loved her, praised her, celebrated her, then the dungeon happened.
And the same internet that had worshiped her turned on her overnight. She went from hero to zero in the eyes of the world.
Mira closed her eyes behind the new glasses and said nothing more.
---
Lyra was standing at the window of the living room.
She always seemed to be standing or sitting near a window. Dexter wondered if it was because she couldn’t hear the world so she watched it instead.
Or maybe it was just the only place where she could feel like she was connected to something beyond these four walls.
He crossed the room and stopped beside her.
"I bought advanced versions," he said, holding up the items. "New AI smart glasses, thinner than the ones you’re wearing. And a Type 2 Serenity Bracelet to replace the Type 1."
The text appeared in her glasses, translating his spoken words in real time.
Lyra’s slender neck turned. Her dark eyes dropped to the bracelet in his left hand, then to the new glasses in his right. She studied them for a moment, her expression unreadable as always, then reached up and removed her old glasses.
She exchanged them for the new ones. The thinner frames settled on her face, and her eyes moved as the display calibrated. Then she unclasped her old bracelet and handed it to him. She fastened the new Type 2 bracelet around her wrist.
For a moment, she was her eyelid trembled.
The Serenity Band’s calming effect was subtle, not as dramatic as the pain relief Mira experienced, but he thought he saw her shoulders drop slightly.
"Is it working?" he asked.
This new glasses traslated the words quickly and even had two automated reply below the words.
[Yes. It’s working.] [No. It’s not working]
She glanced at the [Yes. It’s working] Option and a robotic voice rang out from the frame of the glasses.
"Yes. It’s working."
Dexter smiled.
He handed her a second set of glasses and a second Type 2 bracelet. "These are for Selene. She flinches when I touch her, so can you help me give them to her?"
Lyra looked at the items in his hands. Then she looked at him and nodded.
Took both items, then she turned and walked to the bedroom.
Two minutes later, she returned, carrying the old AI glasses and the old Type 1 bracelet. She handed them to Dexter without a word.
He took them and placed everything into a small storage case. He could sell them to a secondhand relic dealer and use the money to hire a guard at the Hero Association for a day, giving him ample time to enter a controlled dungeon and earn his license.
It wasn’t much of a plan. But it was what he had.
He was halfway to the door when the loud sound cut through the entire neighborhood.