The Bones of the Ancient God

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Five Dollars to Fifty

"Now how do you plan to help me?" Brad asked.

Kaelan grinned. "Just prepare your brain, this afternoon we will meet under the big tree behind the school. Don't be late even by one second."

Kaelan turned around and walked back to his seat casually, leaving Brad still staring blankly at the small figure's back. Brad's friends who saw what happened were confused. Their boss had just been approached by the new kid, scolded, and their Boss simply stayed silent? It made absolutely no sense.

As the afternoon began, Kaelan sat alone under the big tree that shaded him. Not long after, Brad appeared with a sour face, his mathematics textbook and notes firmly held in his hands.

"So, what are you going to teach me? The Pythagorean theorem? Multiplication?" Brad asked skeptically.

Kaelan, who was sitting on an exposed tree root, slowly shook his head. He was not holding a textbook, but only a piece of crumpled paper filled with scribbles.

"We are not going to study mathematics, that would be a waste of time for your already dull brain," Kaelan answered sharply.

"Heh! Watch your mouth!" Brad clenched his fists.

"Just sit down and relax, you don't need to be that tense. I'm not the grim-looking angel of death," he said casually. As if something like this was merely a trivial matter to him.

After Brad sat down, Kaelan began to explain.

"Humans always repeat their bad habits, including Miss Bella. After school, the library is still open. So I went in and looked for all the exam questions from the past five years. Luckily, all the questions were in the library, so it was very easy to find out. And ... it turned out Miss Bella was too lazy to make new questions. She only changed the numbers. The pattern was always the same," Kaelan revealed and successfully made Brad even more speechless. He then threw a piece of paper filled with notes toward Brad.

Brad immediately picked up the paper and opened it. His eyes widened, the scribbles were not formulas, but patterns of answer keys.

"If the word problem is about a fruit seller, the answer is definitely a multiple of 5. If the fraction problem has 12 as its denominator, the answer is definitely 3. You don't need to calculate, you only need to find the keywords," Kaelan explained. "This is called strategy. In this world, people don't care how hard you calculate, they only care whether the final result is right or wrong." Kaelan once again showed his intelligence. Not only that, his way of thinking, the way he spoke, everything showed that Kaelan was indeed not an ordinary person.

"Crazy! You ... You're like a devil."

"Memorize that pattern tonight. Tomorrow during the surprise quiz, prove that I'm right."

"What if you're wrong?"

"You will prove it yourself, whether I'm wrong or not," Kaelan answered calmly.

***

Morning came after the night had passed, all the students were already sitting neatly in their seats and working on the exam questions that Miss Bella had distributed a few minutes earlier.

Kaelan's prediction was 100% correct. The questions that came out were exactly like the pattern Kaelan had taught.

Meanwhile, Brad filled out his answer sheet with trembling hands, not because he was afraid of getting a failing grade, but because he was holding back his excited laughter. He finished the fastest, and of course, Kaelan had deliberately held back.

Not long after, when the results were handed out, the entire class was in an uproar.

"Highest score ... Kael, 100," Miss Bella said. That was already normal, because everyone now knew that Kaelan was a smart child. But, what was surprising ... Brad, he got 90.

Brad's classmates were instantly shocked and stared at the big-bodied boy.

Brad turned around, looking at Kaelan proudly. Kaelan did not smile, he simply stared straight ahead.

At that very moment, the hierarchy in the class changed. Brad was no longer the most feared predator. He was a guard dog that had just found its master.

After school, Kaelan calmly walked out of the school gate. In front of the gate, three big-bodied High School boys were hanging around while secretly smoking. They saw Kaelan walking alone.

"Hey, new kid! Come here!" called a long-haired teenager named Zack. "I heard you're smart. Usually smart kids are also smart at saving their pocket money. Come on, share your pocket money!"

Kaelan stopped and looked at the three High School boys without expression.

"I don't have any money," Kaelan answered flatly.

"Liar! Just search him!" Zack stepped forward, intending to grab Kaelan's collar.

However, before that dirty hand touched Kaelan's white shirt, a strong hand slapped it away roughly.

SMACK!

"Get your hand off him, Bro!"

Zack was shocked. He turned around and saw Brad standing straight behind him, besides him, there were two of his men already holding wooden planks. Brad's face looked fierce, much more frightening than when he usually extorted elementary school children.

"Brad? You wanna die fighting your senior?"

"Ugh!" Brad spat on the ground, right onto Zack's shoes. "He's my Boss now. You touch even the tip of his fingernail, you're dealing with the Ashvale kids. Want me to call my older brothers at the market right now, huh?"

Zack trembled. Although Brad was still an elementary school student, his connections with the market thugs where his mother sold goods were no secret. Especially his father, who was already well known as the leader of the thugs.

"Tch. Just you wait!" The three teenagers finally backed away and left.

Brad turned to face Kaelan. His fierce attitude immediately disappeared, replaced by a stiff respectful attitude.

"Boss, are you safe?" Brad asked.

"Good. Do a clean job."

Actually, when the three teenagers wanted to touch Kaelan, Kaelan felt his bones creaking. Then, something strange enveloped his body. "This feeling has appeared again, I really have to find out what is causing it," he thought, without making the others suspicious.

Brad laughed proudly. They then walked together until they entered Ashvale Village.

The sight left the villagers who saw it stunned. Kaelan, the child they called an 'illegitimate child', was now walking under the protection of Brad, the village troublemaker, like a Prince being escorted by his War Commander.

However, Kaelan was not easily satisfied. His footsteps stopped as he passed a workshop owned by Mr. Joe that had few customers.

Kaelan's sharp eyes were fixed on a pile of scrap metal. There, a motorcycle carburetor that was already very black from oil lay discarded. The mechanic had thrown it away because he thought it was severely damaged.

But Kaelan smiled. He knew that the carburetor was an expensive genuine German-made item. It was not damaged, only the needle hole was clogged with dirt. It only needed to be washed with gasoline and blown strongly, and the carburetor would function like new again.

Kaelan's genius brain worked automatically. The child did not see trash. He saw... Money.

"Brad," Kaelan called.

"Yes, Boss?"

"Do you have 5 dollars?"

Brad immediately reached into his pants pocket.

"I do, it's my leftover pocket money. Want to buy ice?"

"No," Kaelan grinned, an ambitious and terrifying smile. "Lend it to me. We will multiply your 5 dollars into fifty dollars within one hour."

"What? How is that possible?" Brad was shocked, his disbelief appearing.

"Just trust me. Don't argue too much."