They sat by the window, chatting and reminiscing about their high school days. Well, most of it was Eliza doing the talking. Her memories were more vivid compared to Max who didn’t actually remember anything. He smiled and nodded. Since there wasn’t much he could do, considering his memories a bit fuzzy. But it didn’t matter to him. He was happy enough to just looked at this gorgeous woman.

Eliza smiled, giggled, and at times she chuckled. The colorful drinks made her more open in expressing her emotions, her cheerful emotions. The point was, both were having fun, especially Eliza. “Wow. It’s been so long since I’ve talked about high school.” Her drink was still in her hand. This was her third glass, and Max didn’t say much. “To tell you the truth, I barely remembered anything,” Max said.

She smiled and glanced away from Max. “You know back in late summer in high school. There’s this party back at Dick Johnson’s house.” The name didn’t ring a bell in Max’s head. “And my friends kind of force me to go there out of my will,” she dryly laughed a bit at the end. “Well, you know how those parties go. People getting drunk and randomly kissing strangers around, and the loud noisy songs. Truthfully, I hate those types of songs. But I stuck around since my friends were there. It was awkward as hell, and I didn’t know what I was doing back then. In the end, I was just there, having snacks, drinking some punch with a little twist, and that twist twisted me up. My head’s getting woozier, and then I popped something in my mouth.” She sipped her drink and continued. “Then, the anaphylaxis shock happened. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what I ate, probably me choking or spasming on the floor and everyone just looking.”

Max nodded, listening attentively. He kept his eyes gazing at her, giving her full attention. “Then, there you are,” Eliza said. She gazed at Max’s eyes, staring deep into his brown eyes. “I don’t know where you get the Epipen, but you jabbed me with it, and here I am.” she spread and raised both of her arms in the air. Her smile was dazzling. Max didn’t know such a thing happened between them. Eliza reached out for Max’s hand on the table and lightly touched his.

Max grasped hers in response and both felt the warmth of their palms. She’s definitely head over heel for me. Her gaze was ravishing, seductive to the point she lured any men she liked. Yet the man she wanted sits right across her. Their fingers wrapped with one another, dancing on the table and their gazes never break. She bit her bottom lip and she was irresistible. Max slightly smiled as he noticed those signals coming from this woman. He was a man, a man that lived long enough to realized what those signals meant. To be truthful he had his fair share of flirting and romance. “I want to taste that lips of yours,” she said with a coquettish tone only for Max’s ears. I have to give it to her, she’s pretty bold in her words.

She waited with bated breath and yet before Max could answer, the waitress came to pay a visit with a tray in her hand. “Desserts, sir.” She laid down the plates as she was oblivious to the subtle glare from Eliza. “Oreo truffle with pecan vanilla pudding. Enjoy your dessert, sir, ma’am.”

It was impeccable timing from the waitress, saving Max from the pleasure of tasting Eliza’s lips. He wouldn’t mind having a taste but a relationship wasn’t what he was looking for at the moment. He took a spoon of the pudding and savored it in his mouth. “This is damn good, you should try it.” He noticed the slight droop of Eliza’s shoulders as if she was disappointed. But she bounced back pretty well and enjoyed well her last course for dinner. The sweet taste arched her lips as the little hum made her elated.

Their dinner ended pretty well and after a brief time down the road, the Mini Cooper stopped right in front of Max’s house. “Well, this is it,” Max said. “Yea, this is it,” she literally copied his words as her eyes kept on glancing back and forth from Max to her steering wheel. “It was a nice dinner and I’ll make sure I’ll pay you back.”

“No!” She turned flustered. “I mean, you don’t need to…” Her voice trailed lower into nothing as she was getting sober. The bravado she had during dinner was no longer in sight.

“No, I insist. A second date, perhaps?” He unbuckled his seat belt and waited for a response. He watched Eliza’s jaw hung open, she probably didn’t expect those words to come from Max’s mouth. “Eliza? You okay?”

She snapped out of it. “Yea, sure, sure… I mean, I would love to… about the second date you said.”

“Cool, I’ll text you later then.” He opened the door and took his feet to the ground yet a voice called for him. “Max?” He turned and Eliza caught him by surprise. She planted a kiss right on his sunken cheek. She was really bold even when sober. He smiled and she did too. “Thanks for keeping me company for the night,” Eliza said. Her cheeks flushed and even in the cover of darkness, Max could see it clearly. "Goodbye, Eliza," he said and she waved her hand.

He got off and watched as the rear lights of the Mini Cooper went off through the road. It went further until it was only a small tiny light. He relaxed his shoulders and sighed. She really does love me. A matter he would address later if he had the time. For now, he returned back to his home and slept through the night with a belly full of good food.

The next morning came and Max was in the backyard, training his body with the art of Sage Flesh Alteration. The eight hours of good sleep did pretty well in replenishing his MP and HP. At least he didn’t need to worry about how to get his hands on a healing salvo.

He burned his chakra thoroughly from his action of punching and kicking the air. Deep within his body, the burning chakra was creating threads of meridian vessels from the pit of his stomach, the source of his chakra. It was branching and spreading through every corner of his body as he was remodeling himself from the inside. Sweats drenched his whole body coming from every pore that existed on his skin. It was as if he just ran half a marathon right in his own backyard. By the time he finished his morning schedule, his MP and Chakra had run dry. Devoiding him from progressing further in his training.

His chest heaved, panting for his breath. Getting to another level was indeed harder when he didn’t have the much-needed chakra. If it was back in his second life, the chakra was abundant in the air. He didn’t need to worry about getting his supply since the supply was always there.

He sat down on the grass in a meditative pose, regulating his breathing rate and calming down his body from the intense heat that was escaping from every pore of his body. I need to find an adequate source to replace chakra. If I’m only relying on my MP, it isn’t going to be enough.

What came to mind, were gems in this world. Similar to his previous life, certain gems stored a certain amount of chakra which was then used for different purposes. Some to advance in their cultivation while some used for currency. In Max’s case, he was in need of them for the purpose of getting stronger.

He went back home and took a brief shower. He got out and relied upon the number one source of information in this world of his, Boogle. But just typing gems wasn’t enough for the particular type that he desired. Yet there was a certain gem with a high probability of having chakra and it looks no different from the one back in his second life. He opened the E-mart Amazonian and voila, a list of results for what he was looking for.

“Jade stone.”