Like a Family

Almost with tears in his eyes, as if he were seeing the most beautiful image in the world, Arthur stepped slowly through the beautiful exhibition in front of him.

"What's your favorite color anyway? I don't know if I remember right…" Gabriel commented sarcastically as he looked at the cars. He had to admit they were beautiful.

"Hot Pink. Stupid question..." Arthur waved the strawberry chocolate wrapper.

But he knew it was a sarcastic question, given the color of the cars. All of them were black, with few extra colors. The details were in gray colors or carbon.

"Is there a reason for choosing these cars?" Gabriel was leaning against the wall and letting Arthur be happy inside.

"Besides that I really like them? Well, it's complicated. I don't look at them as cars, but as my family. No Vin Diesel jokes please..." Arthur glanced at Gabriel, who only got the joke now.

He then went to a beautiful muscle car. The details were amazing and fascinating. It was completely painted with a metallic black color and small carbon details to make it more beautiful. Opening the hood lid, which was completely covered with carbon fiber, the beautifully modified 6.2 V8 HEMI engine displayed its splendor to Arthur's glowing eyes. Arthur's heart beat so fast just imagining the damage he could do with this demon on the streets. It was the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, which cost a good part of the 10 million.

After spending some time getting used to the view from its magnificent, street racing-modified interior, he moved on to the next car.

A little lower than the last, but as black as the darkest night. The details were also black, and only the spoiler was in carbon fiber. The back could be rounded, but the front was long, with its hood covering a monster 4.0 V8 twin-turbo. It might not have as much horsepower as the previous car, but they all had their main purpose, and this one was to race his opponents and escape in tighter places. This car that Arthur gently touched as if it were his own daughter was the Mercedes AMG GT R.

Moving on to the next, he felt he was very much like Black, the GT500. That's because its aerodynamic curves and fierce appearance resembled. Under the hood there was a beautiful 6.2 V8 LT4 Supercharged which, along with some more exclusive details, made this car beauty a perfection to get away from a good mess at high speed. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, was the car that would terrorize the streets in a few moments.

Moving now to two cars parked nearby, Arthur's eyes gleamed even brighter with the possibilities.

Scary and stunningly beautiful, the Corvette C8 ZR1 in front of Arthur seemed to be able to break the sound barrier, even standing still. If one day he needed to compete with a plane without a plane, that one would probably be the choice. Unlike other cars so far, it was mostly carbon fiber with few details in a deep matte black.

By his side and no less imposing, the Audi R8 was present with its impeccable appearance in the division between casual and sport. Being able to ride in the city or accelerate to go somewhere, Arthur's humility would tell which task he would choose for it.

Now looking at three beautiful cars not so fierce looking but still as fast as the others, Arthur ran his fingers over the hoods as they opened like magic.

"Jaguar F-type, 3.0 V6 S, great for a quick outing, but I won't even think about not showing off if I go out with you." Arthur slapped the hood lid with a smile as it closed itself.

"BMW M8, 4.4 V8 twin-turbo, I'm definitely going to go out with you a lot from today..." Stroking the comfortable steering wheel, Arthur got out and closed the door.

"For social events of people richer than half the city put together... Bentley Continental GT W12, we're sure to leave many rich people's mouths open with envy..." Running a hand over the headlights and then touching the tires, Arthur turned to go to the last few cars.

They might be the last, but they were nothing less important than all the others. Even Arthur suspected that he would be with them more than the previous ones.

A luxury Kia Sorento of maximum quality, with comfort and big enough to fit a family of 6 people. Arthur thought of it for times when there were a lot of people with him, not to mention that it was a great car. The trunk was great and have space to fit a lot of things.

Moving on to a Chevrolet Colorado so big it could scare a small child, Arthur opened the back space, which was covered by a high quality cover. The pickup was rough and powerful, capable of the heavy lifting that Arthur might have to do on occasion.

The powerful and useful Jeep Wrangler was also part of the squad, with its flashy and captivating design. With the engine, traction, and suspension, Arthur was tempted to climb a 90 degree mountain with this beauty.

"You're over? Want help taking them away?" Gabriel realized that Arthur had already finished exploring all the cars. He'd already handed over the keys, but having to drive each one would be a little tiring.

"Imagine you have many daughters, but your car doesn't have the space to take them all. Would you ask a friend of yours to take the last one?" Arthur looked at Gabriel in the distance, his gaze turning a little fierce. It was clear the importance he gave to each of the cars.

"Is that how you see the situation? Your childhood must have been quite tragic..." Gabriel sighed and didn't try to insist. In fact, he interpreted Arthur's view of cars in a new and empathetic way.

"Yours too, not for that reason I keep touching this point. Are we in agreement then?" Arthur smiled and clapped Gabriel on the shoulder, who felt his mind a little more clouded with memories now.

With the greatest patience in the world, Arthur took each of the cars to his house. The city itself was a great test track and he wasn't shy about using it. Each car had its unique purpose, so Arthur's focal point was working on those purposes.

The Mustang GT500 that Arthur already had, along with the Dodge Demon would serve for street racing. This was not a frequent event in the city, but it all took work and plans.

The Mercedes and Camaro would be for times when Arthur needed to get away. Although almost all cars have great speeds and maneuverability, there were certain situations where some were better suited than others.

The Corvette and Audi were for infiltration missions, both for being fast as a devil, and also for being appreciable sports. Arthur could calmly enter a place, only to be able to run away at high speed afterwards.

Jaguar, BMW and Bentley have their points focused on more mundane activities and on Arthur being alone. Each would have its own class and bearing, so all three would be great choices for almost any type of event, be it social, sporting, or casual.

Just like the previous ones, but just in case there were more people, the Sorento, Colorado and Wrangler were big cars and perfect for riding around town with whoever was with him.

As kindly as he could, Arthur handled them carefully and soon they were all properly parked in his underground garage. The beautiful black cars, so polished they gleamed, were parked and their fronts arranged diagonally, as if facing him.

Along with the cars, Arthur was also in charge of changing the environment of the garage, placing various shelves and tools to repair and make any changes, if necessary. With the imported tools he had, one just had to give him time and all the cars could be assembled and reassembled. Not to mention all the cleaning products and so on. Now it looked like a real car garage owned by a competent mechanic.

"You have real fucking money..." Thomas sighed beside Arthur, looking at so many cars.

It also reminded Arthur that he paid Gabriel the differential, the prices he got reached 15 million. He said he didn't have to pay, but Arthur insisted.

"You spent more money than I did on computers, you stupid kid!" Arthur slapped Thomas weakly on the neck.

"Can we use any of them?" Amanda also found it curious and asked with obvious interest.

"No, don't even touch them. You must not come within two meters of them without my permission. I cut the hand and make you swallow. And you already have your own jeep!" Arthur flicked her forehead. He clearly spoke jokingly, but contained an ounce of seriousness.

After they went upstairs, Arthur prepared dinner for them. Even though they ordered a lot of lunch boxes from Emily's mom's restaurant, Arthur's hunger was already reaching frightening levels by now. It didn't make much sense to close her restaurant or hire her as a personal chef, so Arthur started making his own food, or at least dinner. Thomas and Amanda were still having lunch with their lunchboxes.

With his practice for the last month, Arthur lifted a finger and a knife scrambled out of the cutlery and came crawling over to the cutting board. Placing the vegetables, greens, meats and many other ingredients on the counter, Arthur stood still as his hands moved slightly but shaking. Thomas and Amanda watched without much surprise, as if numb. They were more eager for the food and found this show to be a hell of a wait.

Arthur's mana control was not only good on the inside, but also on the outside. Despite being a faint red mist, with enough effort, Arthur could make it move not so heavy objects, at most 1kg, very slowly. It took a lot of mental effort, but he was more or less getting used to it. He felt that what was missing now was amount of mana, so he could increase the mist's hardness and last longer at it.

This spectacle only lasted 2 minutes before the available mana ran out and Arthur took a deep breath, a little tired. He looked at the two hungry ones in front of him and started making dinner as he thought.

'The first time I showed them, they nearly fell to the floor in shock. They said the objects moved by themselves, and they didn't see any mist or anything like that. But I don't even do anything and I can already see the mana. What is it?'

With that thought in mind, Arthur continued cutting everything. In the end, a spicy pepperoni risotto, an amazing-smelling chicken lasagna and a vegetable salad decorated the table. They looked simple, but they were very tasty. Not to mention its quantity, which could easily feed a family of 8 people.

"The spices are running low, along with the other things. Are we going to buy later?" Amanda notified Arthur of this matter, which he was already aware of.

"We can work this out on Sunday. Tomorrow we will still check the progress of the construction of the Operations Center and tonight I have an important appointment." Arthur spoke as he placed a large amount of salad for Thomas, who was about to die of heartbreak.

"It's okay!" Amanda bit back a laugh. But she didn't escape Arthur either, who put a lot more on her plate.

When everyone had eaten and had their fill, they went up to their respective rooms. Only Arthur remained downstairs in the training room.

He sat on the silver plate as he took a deep breath and calmed down. The mana was already madly rushing throughout his body in preparation to receive the energy.

"Tomorrow is going to be a busy day..."

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Author Note: I apologize to those who waited for the chapters yesterday and there were none, and I also apologize in advance for today, that there will only be one chapter. I had a job interview yesterday and I also had to sort out a lot of documentation issues, but everything went very well. Just my legs that were a little destroyed... and without taking away the infernal headache that is still around here, bothering me.

Anyway, Good Reading!