Chapter 13: heirloom

*****Steve P.O.V.

I returned home after my shift was over and James was standing in front of the apartment.

I invited him inside and since there was no sofa in my room at the moment, I told him to sit on the bed while I sat on the study chair.

" Can I have some water? " He asked me as he smiled embarrassingly.

" Ahh, " I facepalmed myself as I got up from the chair," I'm sorry about that. I completely forgot to ask about that." I said as I walked to the kitchen.

'This was so embarrassing.' I thought as I picked up a glass and spoke a little louder than usual," What would you like to have? Tea, coffee, or juice? "

" No need, just some water would be fine. " He said gently.

I nodded as I returned with a glass of water and passed it to him before sitting again.

Once he had some water, he turned to me as he spoke, " First of all, Thank you for doing what you did for my sister. " He sincerely bowed his head after he said that for a few seconds.

"You must have already been realized from Liam that our sister is very close to our heart. " He told me after he sat straight again.

I silently nodded once to agree with the statement.

" You said that you didn't do it for just charity and I have no problem with that too. You may have already received Liam's gratitude but as the head of the family, it is my responsibility to repay the debt that has been made. " He told me in a serious tone.

He raised his right hand horizontally and as I observed it, slowly but steadily colorful sparkles started to appear above his hand.

As they started to increase in intensity, he spoke, " Even though I would be graduate from tera, Currently I don't have much leeway to repay the debt except our family heirloom. It is a unique grade artifact but sadly it is of no use for our family. Maybe you will find how to use it efficiently. I know I am being shameless by giving you an artifact that might be of no use to you too but if you are not able to use it in a few years, you could auction it. " A tiny bell embedded in a collar appeared in his palm as he finished speaking.

" There is no doubt that it is a unique grade artifact and even though it is useless, you could easily find many collectors that will pay you handsome reward for it. " He told me as he got up and passed it to me.

As I carefully examined the artifact, he continued, " if you like this is not enough, give me a few years. Once I become a little more qualified, I will support you in your guild examination by recommending you to my guild leader. "

"No, there is no need to go that far. This is enough. " I said as I shook my head while putting the artifact on the study table.

He nodded at that before remarking, " Very well then, I wouldn't disturb you more as I could see that you are tired. I hope you treat Liam well as a friend as he could be headstrong in a few instances. "

I got up and followed him to the door as he excused himself before returning to the desk and picking up the artifact.

This artifact was clearly not made for a human as it looked more like a small pet collar than anything else.

**Do you want to check its stats?** System suddenly asked me.

"I could do that??" I asked surprised at the prospect.

**Since the ownership of the object had been transferred to you, you could do that.**

*** Collar of silence

Grade: Unique

Description: Silence might be broken for now but it is eternal and one day it will reign supreme.

Passive ability: Allows the user to move in silence.

Active ability: Allows the user to hide and travel in the shadow realm as long as the user has mana capacity.

Requirements: The user must be skilled at using dimensional energies and must be aware of dimensional intersections subconsciously. ***

"Holy moly, Why the hell did he say that the artifact is technically useless?" I exclaimed in an empty room as I remembered my friend telling me that the artifact I would obtain was useless.

Many assassins would kill to obtain such a useful item if its effect even came to light. Thankfully even James didn't realize its potential so only I should be aware of its use right now.

The requirements sure were tough to meet but they were not impossible to meet. Even I could fulfill its requirements as a soul transmigrated into this world, I was extra sensitive to dimensional energies, and if I trained hard enough, I would also be capable of feeling dimensional intersections.

" Hey, system. Do you have any storage space inside you?" I casually asked while putting the artifact in the drawer of my desk.

**No **

'I was right about it huh?' I thought as I entered the bathroom for a quick warm shower to relax my muscles.

Once I was done with that, I entered the kitchen to prepare the dinner before eating it quietly.

' Maybe I should subscribe to a streaming service. ' I thought to myself as I looked at the television embedded in the wall.

' Now hopefully there won't be a big event until the new year eve. ' I wished quietly as the potential pet would only appear at the new year's eve.

According to my friend, It shows up every new year's eve to watch the fireworks from the highest building in the outer town.

Once I had my dinner I got up and walked in the park for half an hour before returning to the room.

Since I still hadn't felt the need to sleep, I opened my mobile and watched something to pass the time for another half an hour.

After that, I quickly fell asleep.

**** Third-person P.O.V.

As estimated by Steve, nothing worth mentioning happened for the next few days, He spent his time grinding to get a good enough rank in his mascot quest.

He got a little used to moving according to the footwork in his sword art during these few days while his muscles also started to hurt less day by day after the training.

Today was a day before new year's eve and he was standing beside Ethan when he asked him.

" Hey, we will be getting a leave tomorrow as most of the crowd would be in the night so day staff had decided to celebrate it together in the evening. Do you wanna join?" Ethan spoke to Steve in a cheerful tone.

" Whole day? " Steve asked as he turned to him.

" No way, No one will come if it's more than a few hours as some would like to celebrate the eve with their family while others have their dates for the night. The plan was to spend the afternoon together playing around and leave before 7 p.m. to their places. What do you think? Do you have any plans for tomorrow? " He calmly explained as he popped a lollipop in his mouth.

" Well, I do have to be at a place tomorrow but it's late-night so I'm free for the most part. I would be happy to join. " I replied after a moment of thinking. I had already figured out which was the highest building of the outer town so It won't take much time to reach there now that I had it marked out.

" Ohh, that's great. We will meet at the supermarket at noon then. Make sure to be on time cause chefs would be present too and believe me when I say this, you don't want to appear lazy in front of them. " He started with a happy tone before slowly lowering his voice into a whisper at the end while looking left and right.

I just nodded as I rolled my eyes at him.