When their preparations were done, Axel and Eve rode the Humvee and drove east. And since he had already gone that way before, his driving was more confident than before, increasing their speed quite a bit.

"Wow! So fast! Even the royal carriage wasn't this fast...!"

Eve, riding in the Humvee for the first time, poked her head out the window and felt the wind directly on her face.

"Be careful not to fall," Axel warned as he smiled, seeing such a comedic yet heartwarming scene. "If you fall at this speed, you'd be lucky to only have bruises and broken bones."

Looking at the speedometer, they were already at 100 km/h! Rather than a simple injury, falling out of the vehicle could very well lead to death!

"I won't!"

Eve responded excitedly, sticking out almost her whole head and looking around.

"Ooh! What city is that ruin?"

"Look, there's a tree that's still alive!"

"Whoa! That's a big jump! Ahaha!"

Everything they passed by, Eve reacted as if it were her first time seeing or experiencing anything. She looked around like an oblivious tourist, gaping and wowing at the sights. Still, since she seemed to be enjoying herself so much, Axel just let her be.

Not even half an hour later, they'd already arrived at their destination.

It was the location marked on the map—the bank of the Miles River—where the quest was, but...

"This... is the river?"

Even Eve couldn't laugh at the sight.

After all, it was a river only in name. The entire ditch was dried up. Not to mention a stream, not even a small puddle of water could be seen.

Seeing this, Axel could only feel helpless. "The fuck should I do now?"

Just to double-check, Axel viewed the quest once more and...

[

Quest: Accessing the Waters!

Requirements:

- Access the river to the west

- Build a waterwheel

Rewards:

- Unlock Terrain: River

- Unlock Hydroelectricity

- Unlock Housing: Drainage

- Unlock Housing: Waterway

]

As expected, it did say to make a "waterwheel" and not a "windmill." He scratched his head, puzzled.

"Does this mean I need to re-establish this river first? Isn't that an absurd task for a human being...?"

Of course, any problem could be solved with money. And with him currently having billions in his account, he wasn't unwilling to spend some to earn some.

The problem was... how much money would he need to recreate and sustain a full river?

He glanced both ways along the riverbed, one direction leading toward a mountain in the distance and the other stretching toward the horizon.

"Survey the land..." he muttered, tempted, before shaking his head. "No, I have no experience with surveying. I doubt just looking around would be enough."

"Sir Axel... Are you troubled?"

"Hmm?"

After listening to Axel's murmurs for a while, Eve finally spoke up. She looked concerned, but more than that, curious.

"Well, I didn't expect the river to be dried up."

Axel scratched his head.

"Like this, I don't think I can make a waterwheel to complete my quest..."

"I see..." Eve lowered her head, seemingly deep in thought. "If only rain would fall, the river should be revived..." she muttered absently.

"Rain..."

At that keyword, Axel suddenly felt a spark of inspiration. "Right, we just need rain!"

Without delay, he visited the shop and searched.

Since various kinds of items existed in the shop, there should also be an item that could call forth rain! Soon enough, his search bore fruit, and he found two items. One was a staff called the Rain Caller, its effect upon use being exactly what its name implied.

The second item was a charm that, when hung upside down by a window, would increase the chance of rain coming.

Axel stared at the second item, which basically looked like a ball of cloth shaped like a head with a long cape, and grunted.

"I doubt this would work..." he said, and quickly removed it from his choices.

What remained was the staff—the Rain Caller.

An equipment for wizards.

Axel wasn't sure if he could use it, but based on its description, all you needed was mana to activate it. And honestly, he didn't have any other options left anyway.

He could try to use science to bring forth rain, like cloud seeding and such. But for that, he'd need to buy an aircraft first and foremost. That was something he couldn't afford at the moment, not even the down payment. Thus, this staff was his only hope.

After buying the staff, which cost him 100 million Colts, he quickly withdrew it from his inventory and took a deep breath.

"Eve, I'll try and call rain for now. You should take cover inside the Humvee," he warned.

From the looks of things, it had been a long time since the last precipitation, so he was quite sure that the incoming "rain" wouldn't be good for their health.

Acid rain, or something worse, for sure.

"I understand."

Eve, of course, instantly grasped the situation just by seeing the staff that exuded a mysterious energy in his hand.

'Such a staff! Definitely the stuff of legends!'

She thought as she returned to the passenger seat and watched carefully.

As soon as she evacuated, Axel took a deep breath and concentrated. All he had to do now was pour his mana into the staff, but...

"...How do I move my mana?"

When he was using the Housing Modification function, he used mana instinctively, helped by the system itself. Thus, he was basically unable to finely control his mana. Not that he had learned how to, anyway.

"Anyway, I gotta try at least."

Axel closed his eyes and focused. He tried to remember the time when he drank the Mana Tonics—the sensation from that time, apart from the pain.

"..."

He stood there for a good minute, but nothing happened.

"Bah!" He exhaled deeply after holding his breath for too long. "Fuck! Navi! Help me out here!" he said, and in the end decided to call a friend.

[Yes, yes~! Navi here! What's up?]

The little penguin appeared almost immediately, as if he had been waiting for Axel to call him all this time. And after looking around a bit, he quickly figured out the situation.

[So, you can't activate the staff because you can't control your mana? Weakling~! Hahaha! What a loser~!] he said, starting to diss Axel instead of helping.

Of course, Axel was pissed by the penguin's actions, making him want to strangle it to death. But still, he kept a smile on his face as he taunted:

"Hah! You're all talk. I bet you can't even use this staff yourself. After all, you're a birdbrain."

[You...!] Hearing the word he hated most, Navi flared instantly. [I told you, I'm no birdbrain! I'm smart! Smarter than you, at least!]

"Really~?" Axel grinned, further triggering Navi's irritation. "If you're oh-so-smart, then you can use this staff yourself, right~?"

[Huuuh?! Stop looking down on me!]

And then, Navi snapped.

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