NOVEL WEB Chapter 32: 32. Jake: Why should I chase after things that I already have?
At yesterday's SAT test Spud made history by scoring 1600 in the test making him the first student to achieve such a score from Millard Fillmore Middle School. Of course, Rotwood nearly had a seizure and gave the OMR scanner a seizure but he finally conceded after making Spud retake the exam two times and Spud scored 1600 each time.
Rotwood sat down and finally asked in a tired voice ," Since Elementary school to fifth grade your scores were mediocre. Mr. Spudinski, what changed?" " Just found the reason to show my intellect." Said Spud in his usual nonchalant voice. " I see. Well, sorry for wasting your time. You may leave Mr. Spudinski." Said Rotwood in a normal voice.
Everyone else in Jake's friend group was actually at the 500 to 700 mark range. So, they went to the arcade to celebrate. Jake and Rose were playing air hockey at an incredible speed making their hands seem like a blur. At that moment Brad came and said," Get out of the table dorks. Of course, Rosalicious can stay. Awooo." Rose finally snapped and picked up Brad by the collar and slammed him on the arcade floor and yelled," Are you that dumb or simply that shameless? I never liked you you thick headed moron!!! Even if you were the last man on Earth I would rather date a pet rock than date you!!!!"
Rose was heaving with anger and finally she was about to beat him to a pulp and suddenly Jake caught her fist and said," Rose, Brad enjoys beating from beautiful girls and if you beat him you satisfy his twisted desire. So, let me fix it." Jake pulled Brad up and hugged him by the shoulder which had enough pressure to make him unable to move. They reached a corner and Jake took out his phone and showed a video in which Brad was dancing in a pink ballet dress while saying," Dance pretty pretty. Dance pretty pretty."
Brad went pale as Jake threatened to release that video on Facebook if he bothered Rose, Jake or his friends ever again. Brad simply ran away and his body language indicated that he was panicking. Trixie came forward and said," Jakey, what did you show Brad?" " I'll show you guys later." Said Jake. " Jake, I gotta go. Also thank Mr. Long for the food fabricator because that device is the only thing that has kept me nourished both physically and mentally through the hellish US marine and Spetsnaz style combined training adopted by the huntsclan." Said Rose.
" Well, see you tomorro.... Wait!!! What do you mean by US marine and Spetsnaz style combat training? Those are elite special forces!!!! What kind of sick monster combines those two types of training and makes a person go through that???" ( Jonathan sneezed while supervising the training of the Stormtroopers and the Legionnaires.) Asked Jake in astonishment. " I'm fine Jake, really." Assured Rose. Rose left after giving a goodbye kiss on Jake's cheek. Jake also separated from his friends and accidentally took a turn towards his old home because the habit still hasn't been removed completely from Jake's subconscious mind.
Suddenly he heard the snarling of hobgoblins from an alleyway and the voice of leprechauns. Jake found the leprechauns and easily rescued them from the hobgoblins. Jake asked," Are you guys okay?" " Thanks to you, boyo. The name's Brocamas Arrogood of the Arrowgood clan and here's something to show our appreciation." Replied the leprechaun while putting four leprechaun gold coins in Jake's hand. " Um, don't mean to offend you or anything but it's my duty to protect magical creatures also my dad is kind of rich so, no thanks." Said Jake while trying to return the gold coins. " Boyo, your clothes may seem plain to others but I can clearly see that they are actually made of incredibly resilient and tough materials which are not found in no markets whether magical or human. If I had to guess you would be Jonathan Long's son and I understand your reluctance to take gold from me but you forget it's never a bad thing to have more money. If you ever need a job boyo follow the rainbow." Said Arrowgood in a professional Irish accent and left.
Canal Street Electronics:
" Oh boy, real leprechaun gold and of 25 carats. Also has the unique ding." Said Fu while tapping the gold coin which made a melodic sound. Jake was confused and after a brief moment of searching on the internet said," Uh, Fu according to Wandering Dragon there is only categorisation till 24 carats." " For human gems and precious metal refinement. Magical refinements can make any gem or metal 100% pure while human refinement techniques can achieve a 99.9% purity rate." Explained Fu.
" So, what to do with these gold?" Mumbled Jake. " You can make investments by buying shares of a large corporation making you a shareholder." Advised Lao Shi from behind which startled Jake. " Whoa, whoa who are you? You can't be Gramps. Because if you were gramps you would have told Jake how foolish it would be to chase after leprechaun gold." Rebuked Fu.
" You are right Fu dog I should rebuke Jake but he is now living in abundance in every aspect but there is always a chance for everything to crash down so, keeping a path open is a good idea. Also, for the next few days Jake has to protect the business interests of Pot 'O Gold Import-Export which is run by the Arrowgood clan and Jake has to be paid in a certain amount of gold because if the leprechauns don't pay a fair share for hired services they will be struck with bad luck and they are hiring you the American dragon for security so you can expect a large sum of money. Leprechaun gold coins weigh the same as Irish gold sovereigns which is 7.98 grams and currently 1 gram is worth 72 dollars making one coin worth 574.56 dollars and a pot usually contains 50 pieces of coins which leads to you earning 28,728 dollars per escort job. Of course, it may increase as well. So, I expect you to earn somewhere between 300,000 to 350,000 dollars." Explained Lao Shi. ( Current market price of gold is 85 dollars per gram maximum reaching 86 dollars. I couldn't find the gold price during 2005 so I made an educated guess.)
Jake's jaw dropped after some stammering he said," But, gramps I can't just go to the gold exchange with fifty pieces of shiny, singing magic gold coins with unknown markings and walk out with cash." " Jake, there are magical gold exchanges around the world." Said Fu.
Jonathan Pov:
Jonathan is currently practicing with Crimson Judgement after all Jonathan didn't notice the capabilities of the warhammer until a few days ago. Effects:
Fire of humanity: If the wielder wills it the eternal flames of humanity powered by the unyielding spirit of humanity itself can grant any being true death by destroying their tether to the universe also known as the soul which in turn banishes any and all probability of resurrection or rebirth to the primordial nothingness granting death in its truest form. Humanity will never go instinct because even if the species itself dies its ideals will live on no matter what.
Ender of the endless: If the wielder wills it a perpetual who is a perpetual both physically and spiritually will have to accept the embrace of true death.
Infinity: Crimson Judgement can become any weapon the wielder wills it to be with everything being adjustable.
Jonathan is fighting with a simulated version of himself because you are your own greatest obstacle and both of them are evenly matched because the real Jonathan wasn't using his everything. As he was getting bored Jonathan wanted to test the sharpness of his mind so he started to fight the simulated version of the 13 most dangerous magical creatures and two of himself. After a grueling 3 hours battle he won without falling for the abilities of the magical creatures.
A few days later:
Jake had worked for quite an entire week making him the proud owner of 950 pieces of Leprechaun gold. Jonathan after being assured by Lao Shi Jonathan made Jake a quantum safe which can only be accessed by the owner of the safe or whoever is allowed by the owner. The safe is basically indestructible and has fingerprint scanner, iris scanner and a toe scanner and a 10 digit password combination.
This safe can analyse body heat, brainwaves, no touch DNA detector and muscle movements analyser to identify a person. Jake's current net worth is 545,832 dollars but Jonathan advised Jake to keep his gold as he said that gold price will simply keep increasing every year and Jake followed Jonathan's advice. Jake is currently going on his last mission which is to retrieve a jewellery box from a hobgoblin treasure cave. The cave was filled with deadly traps but Jake was able to retrieve it and Jake took out his Infinity Gen 1 phone exclusive only to the Long family and no surprise that it gets 5 bar 4G signal 200 feet underground.
" Hey, Brocamas I got the package. So, do I bring it to your shop or deliver it somewhere?" Said Jake while walking out of the cave. " Just wait at the entrance of the cave and it's for the best if you turn into your human form." Replied Brocamas. At that moment Jake felt something wrong and as he was preparing to leave the huntsmaster and huntsgirl arrived. " Ah, I see my package is ready. Now hand it over boy." Said the huntsmaster while Rose was surprised to see Jake and quickly used her Neuroclock to ask happened to which Jake replied by telling that it's a long story.
The huntsmaster opened the box and revealed the content which turned out to be an Aztec skull. Jake tried to take it back but Rose tackled him into the ground and whispered to Jake's ear, " We will figure it out, I promise but not now." Jake called Lao Shi and Lao Shi told Jake to meet him at the Pot 'O Gold.
Pot 'O Gold Import-Export:
The entire Pot 'O Gold was shaking due to the fury of one single Chinese man. " Of all the things you Leprechauns could do you had to trade with the huntsclan!!!! I believe the dragon council made it very clear that trading with the huntsclan is illegal and punishable by council laws. Do you think those rules are there to oppress you? Now, look what you have done!!! If you don't fix this I will personally send you all to the Ellis island prison." Brocamas quickly called the huntsmaster and made up a non existent curse to lure him at the same place as they met Jake while Brocamas was successful he also delivered a bad news which was the huntsmaster was coming with an entire huntsquad.
" Well, if anyone has a spare army lying around you better pull it out." Said Jake sarcastically. " Yesterday, Sage gave me a contact number which he told me to use if we are facing a problem." Gramps called the number after a few moment a voice came and said," This is the Terra Defence Corps. How may we help you Mr. Luong Lao Shi?" " Um, a bunch of Leprechauns hired my grandson as security and errand boy which resulted in Jake retrieving an Aztec skull. Fortunately we were able to lure out the huntsclan but they are bringing an entire huntsquad and they will arrive in an hour." Explained Lao Shi.
" Understood Mr. Luong Lao Shi. We will provide the necessary support at the designated area within the timeframe. Terra Invicta, Terra eterna." Replied the person at the other side. Lao Shi put down the phone and said," Support will be waiting for us at the location."
5 minutes before the agreed time:
Lao Shi and Jake arrived at the designated location and in front of them materialised a robotic round head ( Chameleon pattern ) and 15 stormtrooper in Gen 1 gear materialised in front of them. One of them came forward and said," Good day, gentlemen I am Erwin-001 officer in charge of this operation. We will provide you two with mid range and close quarter support and we will engage the huntsgirl in fake combat and extract five huntsclan defectors who have decided to betray the huntsclan because we were able to prove to them that their parents were alive. Two marksmen are hidden who will provide long range support. You two will be responsible for retrieving the skull. Operation Thunder Blitz will commence in T minus 180."
5 minutes later:
" Why isn't that leprechaun here yet?" Said the huntsmaster impatiently. " Yo huntsfool, what's up?" Said Jake. " You are outnumbered 20 to 1 American dragon and today you will finally be slain." Said the huntsmaster. Suddenly two huntschump turned into bloody mist after a thunderous boom. The Chameleon pattern appeared along with the 15 Stormtroopers. The Stormtroopers drew their power katanas and engaged in melee combat with the huntschumps.
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Five of them were tossed off the cliff. Rose was facing off against two Stormtroopers who were evenly matched against her and she noticed that they were avoiding her vital parts. Jake was able to snatch the Aztec skull and suddenly the stormtroopers stopped melee and started intense fire suppression which forced the remaining huntsclan to take cover. After making sure that Lao Shi and Jake have retreated they threw a few smoke grenades and flashbangs which disoriented the huntschumps.
Canal Street Electronics:
" Well done, young dragon as we have come one step closer to foiling the plans of the huntsclan." Said Lao Shi while putting the Skull into the old safe. At that moment someone knocked at the door. Jake opened the door and came in Brocamas Arrowgood. " Congratulations boyo and here's a gift for saving our skin." Said Arrowgood while giving Jake a present.
" Now, I was hoping you would take more jobs from us in the future." Said Arrowgood while rubbing his hands. " Sorry, Brocamas but the Am drag is not for hire." Said Jake. " But boyo you could have everything you ever want if you just do a few jobs for us. Wealth, women, love anything." Said Arrowgood. Jake just sighed and said," My family and friends are my wealth, Rose is my woman and my love. So, tell me Brocamas why should I chase after things that I already have?" Brocamas was flabbergasted and Jake just shut the door.