I saw his eyes flash with killing intent.

"You do know that when I consume the ability ring the ability gets significantly less useful"

"Yes, I had considered that. I knew that you would want to give these rings to the younger generation so I established the prerequisite that they could only be used by you. So no backing out now."

"If you just wasted another chance after I've been doing my best to feed you. I will drag you out of here and beat you"

I shrugged "I might have wasted my mana. But no matter how I looked at it upgrading your ability was the quickest way to get the most benefit. I seem to recall someone saying that as long as I made you one legendary ring I could keep all the others."

He seemed to calm down after I mentioned that but I could still see the sparks of fury in his eyes.

"Let's see what you have planned."

I handed him the rare ring it had a frog leaping carved into it with no color.

Boost~ Consumable ring that upgrades grand elders' chance at absorbing more of the next ring.

"You gambled a rare ring on this? You bloody fool you do know that I've never absorbed a ring above rare grade because it's more beneficial to me to absorb common rings that nobody wants."

"I had considered this but grand elder needs a trump card. Or someday you won't be lucky enough to escape."

He knew I was right, he must have had his fair share of brushes with death.

"He grabbed the ability ring and had his ring absorb it.

Nothing happened but that was expected.

I brought out the next ring it had a black snake coiling and striking on it.

Blink~Grand Elder can teleport back to the base when he is in danger from heart beasts

"Now try and absorb it?"

He looked at me and said, "Whenever I tried to absorb anything beyond basic rings it would be broken down so far it became not useful."

He grabbed the ring and started absorbing it

When he was halfway through he said "It got downgraded too able to teleport a far distance away."

He didn't open up his eyes but continued absorbing the ring.

Right as he finished his face spasmed but he never stopped absorbing the ring.

After he was done he held his eyes closed for a minute.

I should smack you it was a waste of resources but I do have a trump card so I could be considered to have success.

"I got the ability to make short instantaneous movements as long as I'm in the forest. You can't even begin to imagine how valuable that is to me.

I'll call this new ability flash step."

"Let's go test it out," I said as I wanted to visit the forest.

"let's go"

We walked up to the front of the outpost. He had me stand on the wall as he walked out to the field in front of the fortress.

He disappeared from one spot and appeared five feet away.

Next, he disappeared again and appeared ten feet away.

He continued to test the ability until he was able to execute many flashes in a row in the direction he desired.

He came back into the fortress and sure enough, I got to see a rare smile on his face.

With this, I think I should be able to venture further out into the forest.

I had accomplished my goal, now my meals should never stop and I would be able to continue my rate of growth without having to invest in a fail-safe.

This had all been stressful for me after all if I had produced a bad result I was sure I was gonna get beaten black and blue.

I didn't even wait for grand elder to say anything I just started walking back towards my room.

Now my future was more secure I thought as I laid down in my bed and waited for sleeps embrace.

The next morning when I got up there was a note that had been shoved under my door.

You did something dumb again. That ability is a waste of our resources you hear me? Its only good for running away. That's why we let you off you gave it to the perfect person now grand elder won't have to risk his life every day and for that, you have my thanks. I got you this as a reward.

Regards

Cannon man

It was a pair of glasses.

Why did I need them? My body had been reinforced multiple times now.

They were a mana item that ran off cannon mans mana. Apparently, they allowed me to see what cannon man or grand elder was doing at any given time. As long as the mana stream wasn't interrupted I just got a great sense of entertainment. Now my days wouldn't pass by in a boring fashion anymore. Afterall grand elder ventured out into the forest everyday.