"Emmm… Kitsune Saiguu, you know me. The moment I first saw you, I felt we were incredibly fated, a practically heaven-sent Master and Servant combination. The best in the world, that kind of thing. So could you please stop looking at me like that?" Chen Li sat at the dining table, feeling Kitsune Saiguu's fiery gaze, his expression growing slightly bashful.
"And by 'the best in the world,' you mean leaving me all alone on the Xianzhou, with no money and no food, letting me stay there by myself until the middle of the night?" Kitsune Saiguu said, grinding her teeth as she bit into a piece of fried tofu.
"Uh, well, I did remember it in the middle of the night, didn't I?"
Halfway through his sleep last night, Chen Li had suddenly woken with a start, finally remembering that he still had a Servant. He had hastily connected to her Friends Circle terminal, paid the Star Stone fee, and teleported her back to his house.
"I thought you were busy with some earth-shattering matter, but it turns out you were just sleeping… If I had known, I would have just gone up into the sky and squeezed in with that Elysia!" Kitsune Saiguu lamented.
Elysia, who was serving as the sun in the Xianzhou's sky, had apparently noticed Kitsune Saiguu wandering aimlessly through the streets and had extended an invitation.
Considering that Chen Li might come to pick her up soon, Kitsune Saiguu had declined the invitation. And then she waited, and waited, until the middle of the night.
"Er, next time, if you want to contact me, you can use the emergency help function in the Friends Circle terminal. This was indeed my oversight, so I'll compensate you with 10 Star Stones. They've already been sent to your account," Chen Li said while eating his breakfast.
After turning Star Stones into the universal currency of the Friends Circle, Chen Li found that handling problems had become much more convenient.
If a bug occurred or he made an operational error, he could just issue compensation.
All the game companies Chen Li had ever seen did it this way.
However, unlike the virtual currency issued by game companies, Star Stones had real value.
And the reason Chen Li was willing to distribute Star Stones in the Friends Circle was that he always felt like everyone seemed to have their own newbie-luck period…
Newbies just had good luck with gacha pulls. Like Haruhi Suzumiya.
He could use Star Stones to trade for resources from his group of friends or to maintain "friendship and bonds." His friends would then use the Star Stones they received to do gacha pulls, and Chen Li could then use more Star Stones to buy any good things they pulled…
Although it might sound like he was losing out, since he might get better things if he pulled himself, Chen Li had always been self-aware about his own luck.
Compared to the extremely random Starry Sea Treasure, Chen Li would much rather the Guide to Forging Curios add a Star Stone shop.
"Star Stones? What are they good for?"
"The Raiden Shogun's Gnosis inside your body right now was pulled from the gacha by someone using Star Stones."
It was only when he was idly checking Kitsune Saiguu's panel that Chen Li discovered she had an innate skill called [Retainer of the Thunder God], which allowed her to borrow the Thunder God's divine might… and use things that the Thunder God could use, like a Gnosis.
No wonder Kitsune Saiguu was such a natural with the Raiden Shogun's Gnosis right from the start.
"That sounds quite precious then… I'll give it a try," Kitsune Saiguu's eyes lit up.
"Go read the pinned 'Star Stone Gacha Guide' in the Curio group chat first."
"Alright."
Okay, now his Servant had been placated.
Now, Chen Li had to face another problem… What to do about Silver Wolf?
Thinking of this, Chen Li glanced at his private messages.
Besides the daily morning check-ins from Sunday and Sparkle, a new partner had been added to the chat interface—Kafka.
Perhaps Kafka had gotten her hands on the other Friends Circle terminal that Silver Wolf had put away. In any case, Kafka had successfully contacted him.
In reality, the triple verification Chen Li had set up for the Friends Circle terminal was pure decoration. You could just ignore the risk and proceed without any issues.
This was another one of Chen Li's ideas: who could ever have too many friends? They could always be consumed for some purpose, anyway.
Kafka wasn't on Chen Li's friends list either, but she had clicked the emergency help button he had just mentioned to Kitsune Saiguu. And so, Chen Li, who had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow yesterday, was woken up half an hour into his slumber.
Kafka hadn't chatted with him; she had simply sent him a photo.
A photo of Silver Wolf bursting into tears with a loud "Waaah!"
It was highly unethical, but honestly, Chen Li found the sight of Silver Wolf crying her eyes out genuinely amusing. So, he had printed the photo out overnight and hung it on his bedroom wall.
It helped him maintain a cheerful mood.
Then again, what was the point of him accumulating all that merit if he couldn't be a proper jerk when he felt like it?
If I can't be a jerk without merit, and I still can't be a jerk with merit, then what's the point of me saving up all this merit?
But after he was done being a jerk, Chen Li felt that for a child who wasn't even an adult yet, such a blow might have been a bit too harsh.
[I'm not a professional walkthrough system, but I believe that if you just follow my strategy to comfort Silver Wolf a little, she is sure to be utterly defeated! Capturing her heart will be as easy as taking something out of your pocket!]
"Go play somewhere else."
[You got it. By the way, I suddenly had an idea.]
"Keep your ideas to yourself."
[I think Silver Wolf might have the Innate Sacred Body of the Loser.]
"Hmm? What makes you say that?" Chen Li had to admit that the little sprite had piqued his curiosity.
[The opposite of 'Silver Wolf' is 'losing dog.' Wolf vs. dog, win vs. lose. Little Silver Wolf is destined to fail!]
"…"
[Hmm? You don't get it? 'Yín Láng' (Silver Wolf) sounds like 'Yíng Láng' (Winning Wolf)… I forgot the middle part, and the end part, but basically, it's hilarious.]
"…Shut up."
Chen Li felt like he had been bewitched by the sprite to actually think it could have a normal idea.
In the end, he was the only one who got hurt.
Chen Li hesitated for a moment, then sent a message to Silver Wolf.
[Dad]: You there?
[Silver Wolf]: What? You're awake? Want to continue boasting about your world-shattering wisdom of surrendering in the second round?
[Dad]: Not really. I just sent you a link. Did you see it?
[Silver Wolf]: I saw it. I clicked it, and it was just a bunch of little Hertas spinning in a circle, so I closed it. What's up?
[Dad]: You might not believe this, but after you watch the complete advertisement once, you'll get a Revival Card Fragment. Collect 10 fragments, and you can get one Revival Card. With a Revival Card, you'll get a chance to fight in the Revival Games in hell. If you win, you can bring the dead back to life. You can even designate yourself as the revival target in advance.
[Silver Wolf]: !!!
To be honest, Silver Wolf didn't believe Chen Li's nonsense at first. But then she followed his advice, fought the urge to close the ad, and after watching a group of little Hertas spin in circles, she received her first Revival Card Fragment.
Once the fragment was in her hands, Silver Wolf had no choice but to believe him.
This completely surpassed her imagination of what a genius was capable of.
Are all the members of the Genius Society this incredible?
Why are you still a member of the Genius Society? Why don't you just become an Aeon?
I support Dad becoming an Aeon! Dad is the people's choice!
[Silver Wolf]: So, are you using this Revival Card ad link to apologize to me and continue our second match?
[Dad]: Of course not. I just want you to watch more ads so that if you die after the third match, you won't be unable to revive, and I won't have to watch ads to bring you back.
[Silver Wolf]: No, bro. What's the third match going to be? Why are you already bringing up Revival Cards?
[Dad]: Don't worry about that. For now, I'm giving you three days to watch ads.
Apologize?
Continue the second match?
Not happening.
Are you kidding? If Chen Li apologized or continued the second match, wouldn't Silver Wolf have cried for nothing?
Chen Li would never do something so unethical.
You think Chen Li was trying to comfort Silver Wolf? No, he was planning to press his advantage!
[Silver Wolf]: No matter what the third match is, I'll be there. But can you please not surrender so quickly? Can we finish the second match first?
[Dad]: Nope.
[Silver Wolf]: A reverse sweep is a huge taboo in the gaming world! It's even worse than a comeback from two games down! Don't bring this upon yourself!
[Dad]: Nope.
[Silver Wolf]: Don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit! Be careful, if I win the third match, I'll flaunt it in your face every day and make you call me Lord Wolf King!
[Dad]: Nope.
[Silver Wolf]: Are you scared? You little small fry!
[Dad]: Nope.
[Silver Wolf]: Please… just one match.
[Dad]: Nope.
[Silver Wolf]: AHHH!!! You just wait, I'm going to get you in real life right now!
[Dad]: Sure, I was just planning an expedition deep into the realm of the Aeon of Nihility. Want to come along? Just a reminder, though: I have 100,000 Revival Cards and can revive 100,000 times. You have zero.
[Silver Wolf]: Fine, fine, fine! You just wait! I'm going to watch a million ads right now! It's just 100,000 Revival Cards, right? As if I can't get them!
[Dad]: Excellent. I love that untamable spirit of yours!
[Silver Wolf]: Who needs you to love it!
Half an hour later…
[Silver Wolf]: No, bro, there's something wrong with the drop rate for these Revival Card Fragments, right?
[Dad]: Nothing wrong with it. It's barely twice as bad as the number of pulls needed to get a limited five-star while having to hit hard pity every single time.
[Silver Wolf]: So you're saying I only need to watch about 300 ads to get one Revival Card, right? That's not so bad…
[Dad]: No, it's 3000. I mean, it's an average of 300 times per fragment.
[Silver Wolf]: Then how did you get 100,000 Revival Cards???
[Dad]: Found a grinding service.
[Silver Wolf]: How much did you pay?
[Dad]: Didn't pay anything. It was free. And they even had to thank me for it.
[Silver Wolf]: You can't even get college students that cheap these days. Where did you find them?
[Dad]: Hell.
[Silver Wolf]: Oh, never mind then.
[Dad]: So, for our third match, how about we see who can collect more Revival Cards? By the way, the links I send out can't be shared with others. Only you can use it.
[Silver Wolf]: …
Could she win this match?
Of course not!
100,000 Revival Cards, with each card requiring 3000 views to assemble, and each view taking 30 seconds…
Even if Silver Wolf didn't eat, drink, or sleep, it would take her 285 years to collect 100,000 Revival Cards.
[Dad]: Don't tell me you're scared? Small fry! Small fry! Small fry!
[Silver Wolf]: ???
He's using my own lines against me!
Silver Wolf shot a pleading look at the purple-haired beauty standing beside her, Kafka, who had her arms crossed, accentuating her graceful figure.
"It's no use, sweetie. Perhaps this 'Dad' is just that iron-hearted of a man. For your sake, I sent him a photo just to get this chance for you to talk," Kafka sighed.
"Huh? What? Damn it, you let that Dad off too easy! A beautiful picture of Kafka? I want one too!" Silver Wolf bit her thumb and lamented.
"You might have misunderstood something. The picture I sent was of you crying," Kafka chuckled softly.
"Huh?"
"Oh, Dad just messaged me privately. He wants me to see if you've started crying again. If you have, I should take another picture, preferably a clearer one. He says he wants to frame it and put it by his bed to look at for fun every day," Kafka said after glancing at the Friends Circle terminal in her hand.
"???"
---o---