Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
Chapter 166 100x Benefactor’s Return!

The first rays of dawn shone inside their room, gradually rousing Ashton's consciousness awake.

Eye fluttering to the brightness around him, he frowned and yawned, stretching his arms only to feel resistance on his arm. Well, to be more specific, it's actually a weight that's pressed down on his right arm, preventing him from stretching it.

One by one, his senses returned to him, and memories of what happened last night also returned as well.

Ashton groaned softly from the stimulating memories, he looked down and saw a mop of hair resting on his chest. He sighed and snuggled closer to Aria. Feeling their very naked bodies under the sheets pressed together was also quite stimulating for him but Ashton just reveled in it. He didn't act or thought about it too much, he just enjoyed it.

Aria was still sound asleep and that's fine. She doesn't have much to do anyways.

Last night, apart from the long intimate activity that lead to this. He discussed the changes in the System with Aria and even asked her if she was willing to be a Beneficiary of him.

Of course, Aria had no reason to decline such an offer so she accepted. She signed the NDA and became a Beneficiary of Ashton.

Ashton didn't have the chance to check out her profile again after she became a Beneficiary since his focus was on something else, but now that it's over and he's wide awake, he decided that he might as well see if something changed.

[Beneficiary]

Name: Aria

Age: omitted

Race: Spirit

Bloodline: Sprite (Can be Upgraded)

Specialization: N/A

Cultivation Rank: Sorceress Lv.9 (Bottleneck)

Aptitude: N/A

Potential: S-grade

Remarks:

Once a Human, this usually timid and soft-spoken girl dedicated her life to exploring the depths of her imagination. She died and became an Artifact Spirit of the Grand Library, making her pseudo-Immortal.

It wasn't until the chance encounter with her now beloved that her life changed and her hidden talents started blossoming.

Dreaming about rainbows, candies, and teddy bears...

According to what he saw, Aria's bloodline can be improved massively.

Sprite is actually the most basic form of a Spirit. With that as a base, there are a few paths available for her to follow...

Aria can become an Elemental Fairy, a Ghost, or a True Spirit.

Elemental Fairies are beings that were born from Nature. When a certain Element reaches a point of concentration and was bestowed with Spiritual Intelligence, an Elemental Fairy is born.

Ghosts are even more simple, they are born from lingering attachments that roam the area where they died. Their strength depends on the sentiments left in their hearts and their sheer desire to manifest. Ashton has no plans of choosing this at all.

And finally, there's the True Spirit. If he chooses this, then Aria can become like Gaia and Acacia.

In the end, Ashton was only left with two choices. Well, there are three but he knows that even if he were to tell Aria about all of it, he's sure that there's no way Aria would choose to be a Ghost so there's no need for him to even consider that at all.

So, their choices are down to her being an Elemental Fairy or a True Spirit. Both had pros and cons, making it hard to choose...

In the end, Ashton decided that he should let Aria decide on her own. After all, it would be her who would be transformed, not him.

Becoming an Elemental Fairy would need a concentrated elemental essence of any certain Element she wants. For example, if she wants to be a Flame Fairy, she would need an Earth Flame. If she wants to become a Water Fairy, they would need a Spiritual Spring, so on, and so forth...

The future paths of an Elemental Fairy grow stronger as well, and so long as Aria remains as Ashton's Beneficiary, her growth could be limitless.

Of course, there are cons to this as well, such as her losing her 'immortality', her needing to cultivate from the very beginning again, and of course, gathering the necessary resources to maintain her growth since it is guaranteed that it'd be expensive.

True Spirit works basically the same. The difference is that True Spirits are bound to a specific duty. Once that duty is set, they live and die by it. Their lifespans are extremely long, they can even be 'immortal' as well.

But the cons are, they are weak. Once their duty was compromised, they essentially become cripppled. Take Acacia, for example, the Dragon Vein was taken forcefully, and ever since then, she was weakened and unable to fight back.

Just like the Elemental Fairy, the path of True Spirit could go far. It is possible that choosing this wouldn't be a bad idea but at this point, Ashton left that for Aria to decide.

Knock Knock

"Come in..." Ashton responded subconsciously and he heard the doors opening.

What he didn't expect was for a foreign-looking robot to come in. Ashton honestly felt alarmed and nearly attacked on sight, but then the robot spoke and said:

"Good Morning, Master. Shall I prepare breakfast for you and Mistress?"

The 6 feet tall robot tilted his head and asked. Its body was sleek a d shiny. Hell, it even looked so close to the body structure of a real human. If it weren't for that mechanical head and voice, Ashton would've thought that this was some stranger.

But now, this isn't some stranger. This is Jerry who seems to have experienced overnight puberty. With the upgrades chips installed, he's now looking and sounding like a fine gentleman.

"I didn't know that this is what you're going to look like when the upgrade took effect." Ashton relaxed back on his bed as he inspected Jerry.

"To answer your question, yes, that would be lovely Jerry. If you would, please, and thank you."

​ "Understood." Jerry let out those familiar whirring sounds which were adorable.

Though, Ashton noticed that Jerry wasn't making any noise when he moves at all. Not even the sounds of his footsteps could be heard actually. He would only make a sound intentionally at this point.

Once Jerry exited their room, the message window appeared in Ashton's vision.

[Notice! Beneficiary: BB Jerry, received Body and Tool Upgrade Chips from you. It has been installed overnight and it massively improved his performance while also making him extremely happy!]

[100× Benefactor's Return, triggered! Congratulations! You received: Doppelganger!]

Ashton's brow rose as he saw that reward. He immediately checked out its effects and to say that he was shocked would be an understatement.

[Doppelganger]

Creates a perfect copy of the user who could act independently.

The Doppelganger is extremely similar to the user that nobody would be able to point out the difference. Even the user's memories would be copied.

The Doppelganger would be absolutely loyal to the user, it has its own intelligence but it is only smart enough to follow the intent of its owner.

The Doppelganger can instantly be summoned to the user side with just a thought and its mind is linked to the user as well.

"...oh wow." Ashton couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

Now, this isn't just simply doubling his strength. It goes way beyond that.

If he's reading this correctly, his Doppelganger can pass off as him and nobody would be able to notice. This opens up a lot of opportunities for him to explore.

Plus, it can act independently and since it is linked to his memories, it will never misunderstand his orders at all.

And if he ever goes outside for a hunt again with the doppelganger on his side? A massacre wouldn't even begin to describe what he'll cause to the invaders!

The idea of this excites Ashton a lot. He can do so many things with this. Having a Doppelganger is just the perfect thing to have now.

Right now though, Ashton didn't activate the doppelganger just yet. He'll do it later.

'...so that's how the whole Beneficiary thing works. I get it now.' Ashton mused to himself.

It was truly unexpected, yet this suits him the best. Investment returns! Even though the amount is random, it's still good.

He has no idea if he could control the probabilities so that he would also get the best value off of his investments but right now, it's not important.

What he needs to consider is who he should be adding as his Beneficiaries next!

Cause if he's understanding this correctly, there should be no limits to this! Be it an individual or a whole damn company, he can be their sponsor, and so long as he's investing, he will always receive something in return!

More investments mean more rewards! And since the returns seem to be set to become a higher quality than what he originally invested, the only way for them is up.

It's mutual benefit to the highest level! This was the way to go!

Yes, there is hope here! He can certainly make this work!

And since the new functions of the System appear to be in line with his plans then he could certainly continue on like this.

So, with renewed vigor, he got up from the bed, leaving Aria to sleep more as he took a bath to start his productive day.