Shopping spree

“Alright, I just sent over the money to your accounts. Can you confirm that you received it?”

“I received it.”

“Got it as well.”

“Yes, thank you, big brother!”

“Good,” nodded Tamashi in approval. “Now, you will all buy these things: the Fast Travel spell, the Fall Asleep spell, the Fast Learner and Automatic Learning spells, and the books Introduction to Alchemy and Potions, Introduction to Beasts, Introduction to Dungeons and Temples, and Introduction to Magic. That should be all for now. Everything is rather cheap, except for the Fast Travel spell, so the money I sent you should be more than enough.”

“Ehh? Why so many books? I want to be able to fly!” complained Mika.

“Don’t worry," reassured Tamashi, "With the spells Fast Learner and Automatic Learning, you'll be able to grasp the contents of these books in no time. And about flying... it’s not as simple as it might sound, plus it’s really expensive, so that'll have to come later.”

Seeing Mika still pouting, he added, “For your information, young lady, I’m already down to twenty-six million coins from my initial fifty-seven million.”

“O-oh... sorry, big brother.”

“Nothing to apologize for, Mika. I’m sure you’ll be able to fly through the skies in the future,” Tamashi reassured her, rubbing her head gently.

“Now, onto the next thing. Can everyone please go over to their System menu and select the option Make Status Visible?”

His family did as he instructed, and Tamashi carefully went over their stats.

Let’s see now... What the—

“Kengo?”

“Yeah?”

“Does your physique really say twenty-nine points?”

“It does. Why, is that really good?” inquired Kengo, suddenly intrigued.

Tamashi just shook his head.

“Let me put it this way: ten points is about the average human, while fifty is the very pinnacle of what a human can achieve. I studied the stats quite a bit before, and theoretically, the highest a human has ever reached was about forty-two points—maybe even slightly less. So yes, twenty-nine is indeed really good.”

While Kengo was puffing out his already buff chest, Tamashi went over to his mother, whose stats were quite normal—just what he would expect from a woman her age, which was forty-nine.

Mika’s stats were mostly ordinary as well, except for one.

“Huh?”

Mika’s Soul showed eleven points.

“What is it, big brother?” asked Mika, worried by his sudden surprise.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a little shocked by how high your stats are despite your young age.”

“Fufufu. I always knew how incredible I was.”

Tamashi’s mind was meanwhile full of questions.

How does her Soul have eleven points? From what I learned, every mundane human should have ten, no more and no less. Is this another bug? The System really can be quite faulty sometimes, after all.

Deciding to leave it be for now, he addressed his family once again.

“Alright, there’s one last thing that I have to do now. As a reward for being a beta tester, I received a Random Beast Egg. The name is pretty self-explanatory. It’s an egg that hatches into a random beast that will become my companion. I want you all to see it as well, since it could be a nice learning experience.”

“What do you think it will be, big brother?” asked Mika impatiently.

“I don’t know, Mika. That’s why it’s called a random beast egg.”

“Geez, you’re no fun, big brother,” pouted Mika, her cheeks puffed up.

Choosing to ignore her—though unable to hide his faint smile—Tamashi summoned the random beast egg from his inventory.

In his hand now lay a rainbow-colored egg, more than twice the size of a chicken’s. Its colors kept shifting and changing, making it appear as if it possessed every color in existence, all at once.

“When you get a beast egg in the future, all you have to do is imbue some of your mana into it, and you’re done.”

Mika raised her hand, but Tamashi answered before she could even ask the question.

“You’ll learn how to use mana in the Introduction to Magic. Now pay attention.”

Tamashi placed the egg on the carpet, then put his whole palm on it and closed his eyes. His hand began to exude a faint azure light, which was slowly transferred onto the egg's surface. Once the egg started glowing, Tamashi removed his hand, watching intently.

As a beta tester, he had had many opportunities to hatch a beast in the past, but couldn’t bear the thought of it disappearing after that status was removed, so this was actually his first time as well.

It didn’t take long before the first crack appeared on the egg. While the rest of Tamashi’s family was intrigued, he himself was confused.

Wait, I thought that before the first crack appeared, the egg was supposed to change in size, depending on the type of beast it would hatch. But it just stayed the same. Does that mean...

Before he could finish the thought, a bright white light blinded everyone. When they regained their sight, a round, fluffy, and sparkling white ball lay on the carpet in place of the egg.

It was a bizarre ball, though, because it had two tiny black eyes and a small beak.

“No way...”

“What?! It’s so adorable!”

“Huh?”

“My, it’s so pretty.”

The family’s reactions varied, from confusion to adoration.

“Is that some kind of pigeon?” questioned Kengo skeptically.

“Cheep!” (Hey!)

“Of course not, are you blind or something?” rebuked Tamashi. “It’s a Shima-enaga, otherwise known as a Japanese Snow Fairy. Or at least I think it is...”

“Cheep!” (That’s right!)

“Seems like I’m correct,” said Tamashi dubiously.

“You can understand it?” asked Himawari, who had stayed mostly quiet until then, with interest.

“Yes,” confirmed Tamashi. “It’s my beast after all, so we can communicate telepathically, even over a distance.”

Tamashi then extended his hand, and the white bird hopped onto it right away.

It is a magic beast provided by the System, so it should have some magic, despite looking like an animal from Earth. My luck is also rather high, so that should’ve helped somewhat.

Rubbing the bird gently under its beak, he decided to simply check its stats.

What Tamashi saw almost made him fall onto his back, his eyes full of shock and disbelief.

The display read:

Type: Beast
Master: Tamashi Ume
Class: Angel
Authority: Cold