“Manager!
You did it, we’re out!” Jiang Yu followed the three members of the Cunning Hares through the dimensional fissure, leaving the Crate Hollow behind.
“The Bangboo is twitching…
It’s best to go to the shop…
to check its main body.” Anby bent down to observe Eos.
Ever since Eos led them out of the Hollow, it had been lying on the ground, twitching.
Jiang Yu also stepped closer.
Looking at Eos in its abnormal state, he poked its head with a finger and glanced at Nicole.
“Was there a Trojan horse virus on that memory card?” Nicole frowned, her face full of worry.
“How is that possible!
Let’s get back to the shop and check, quick!” At the same time, outside New Eridu.
“How surprising.
One of the ‘Keys’ has already been activated…” “Oh?
Really?
Which one?
Ghost?
Jinni?
Or Youkai?” “None of those.
It’s Fairy…” “Oh my, oh my.
Now things are getting interesting…” *** Seventh Street.
Jiang Yu climbed down from Nicole’s car.
“Goodbye, everyone from the Cunning Hares.
And you too, anonymous uncle.” Nicole brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and raised her hand in farewell.
Belle was fine overall, just unconscious, so Nicole now had to find that intermediary to get some answers about the safe.
Billy made a dramatic, chuunibyou-style goodbye gesture.
“I’ll hang out with you when I have time, Big Bro Jiang Yu!” In the backseat, a balding middle-aged man in a white lab coat also politely smiled and nodded at the young man outside.
This was the mysterious old geezer Nicole had specially “invited” because she was worried about Belle.
In truth, she had simply kidnapped him straight from his research institute.
Jiang Yu looked at Anby and noticed her staring at a brilliantly lit building not far away—the Afterlife.
Seeing that Anby had no intention of talking to him, Jiang Yu simply turned around and walked toward his rented apartment.
His trait slots didn’t have room for a “Joker.” Nicole nudged Anby with her elbow.
“Anby!” Anby snapped out of it, recalling the scent of women’s perfume she had smelled on Jiang Yu inside the Hollow.
Instead of looking at Jiang Yu, she said calmly, “The commission is over.
He doesn’t owe me those twenty thousand Dennies anymore.” *** Back in his rented room, Jiang Yu first transferred the commission fee to Rein.
Rein accepted it instantly, replying with a large emoticon made of text symbols: “Thank you!” Next, he sent the rent money to his landlord, but the landlord didn’t accept it.
Jiang Yu didn’t care; as long as he sent it, his job was done.
Picking up the long sword on his desk, the system interface popped up.
– [Name: Unbranded Tachi] From the Fall of the Old Capital era, though its exact origin is no longer traceable.
[Trait: Demon Blade Shiziru (Red)] Effect 1: While under Ether corruption, the wielder gains +100% Critical Rate and +100% Physical Attack.
Effect 2: Deeper Ether corruption enhances Effect 1, up to a maximum of 200%.
Effect 3: Increases Ether corruption accumulation by 100%.
– Jiang Yu looked at his [Brave Bull] trait effects again.
One reset his Ether corruption state, while the other relied on the Ether corruption state for damage output.
A strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.
Why did this feel so much like a “sacrifice build”?
– [Name: Jiang Yu] [Race: Human] [Dennies: 11,000] [Trait 1: Pure Ox-Horse (Green)] Standing tall in the factory, I am the ultimate corporate slave!
Effect: Increases Dennies obtained by 5%.
(Costs 10,000 Dennies to reroll trait) [Trait 2: Brave Bull, Unafraid of Difficulties (Purple)] The brave bull experiences the Hollow first!
Effect 1: Immune to one fatal blow from an Ethereal, and the next attack deals equal damage.
Cooldown: 0/24 hours Effect 2: Killing an Ethereal resets your corruption state.
(Costs 10,000 Dennies to reroll trait) [Trait 3: Locked] Costs 200,000 Dennies to unlock.
– The third trait slot required 200,000 Dennies to unlock, which currently felt like a distant, unreachable goal.
Fortunately, this tiny single room was cheap.
After subtracting his rent and Rein’s commission fee…
He had just over 10,000 Dennies left to his name.
Since he still had this much money on him, it was time to go all-in again!
Food?
One thousand Dennies was plenty!
Without the slightest hesitation, he clicked reroll directly on the “Trait 1” column of his status panel.
Pure Ox-Horse?
Way too unlucky!
[Expended: 10,000 Dennies] [Remaining Dennies: 1,000] – [Please select one of the following three traits:] 1.
[Trait: Makeover (White)] [Effect: Can alter appearance to disguise oneself as any touched character.] 2.
[Trait: Detached Head (Green)] [Effect: Head and body can act independently.
Effective range: 10 meters.] 3.
[Trait: Unknown (Unknown)] Note: This is a soul-bound trait.
It can only be unlocked after selection, and it cannot be rerolled or reset by any means.
[Effect: Unknown] – *Makeover* could be somewhat useful for him, given that he was highly likely to end up on a wanted list, but its utility wasn’t as direct as *Pure Ox-Horse*.
As for *Detached Head*?
What the hell was that?
Was it meant to solve the age-old puzzle of how to give himself a blowjob?
Hesitating for a mere 0.01 seconds, he chose the third, unknown trait.
No matter what rank this trait was, the words “soul-bound” were right there.
He would accept it no matter how weak it was.
Even if it turned out to be a gender-bend trait, she—he would just have to take the loss!
The system panel quickly refreshed.
[Trait: Immortal Golden Body (Soul-bound)] [Effect 1: Killing Ethereals grants physical body enhancement, with no upper limit.] Note: Different tiers of Ethereals yield different amounts of enhancement.
[Effect 2: Forcefully fuses Ether energy with cells to generate Haki.] Jiang Yu: “…” A single pull yielding a god-tier drop!
Going all-in is a form of wisdom!
Staring at the trait’s effects on the panel, Jiang Yu froze for a full two and a half seconds.
His shock was beyond words.
Unlimited physical enhancement?
And cells could fuse with Ether energy?
Although he still didn’t know how this world’s power scaling system was structured, training one’s physical body to an invincible level would never be weak in any power system!
Haki?
That anime about Luffy, the Pirate King, seemed to have something like this, though he didn’t know yet if it was the same kind of Haki.
He had never heard of anyone in this world possessing such power.
It seemed this dog of a system actually had some substance after all.
Wait a minute.
If his cells could absorb Ether energy, wouldn’t that mean…
What if he held the Unbranded Tachi inside a Hollow?
With its 100% Ether corruption bonus…
Could he fast-track his Haki training?
What did it feel like to accidentally become invincible?
*** “Diao Deyi!” But here lay the problem: if he wanted to go into Hollows to farm instances, it would be best to have a stable Proxy to cooperate with.
While hitching a ride on wild Carrots was viable, not having a professional Proxy to guide him would still be a major headache.