Volume Two, The Demon Game - Chapter 72: Leisure

"Lu Yi, how does this look? Is it pretty?" Shen Yixue spun around in front of the mirror in her new clothes, seeking Lu Yi's opinion.

Lu Yi was momentarily stunned, then gave a light cough. "Pretty, absolutely gorgeous. Sending you a heart."

Hearing the praise, the corners of Shen Yixue's mouth immediately curved into a lovely smile.

"Heh. Even if you send a hundred hearts, it won't add a single point to my stats." At that moment, a mood-ruining voice broke the air as two drunken men, arms draped over each other, stumbled into the shop entrance.

One of the men pointed at Lu Yi and slurred, "You're too impractical. What's the use of empty talk? Why don't you—hic—hic." After a few hiccups, the man slumped against his companion and passed out entirely.

His companion muttered some drunken nonsense, then wobbled as he dragged the other man outside.

Shen Yixue wrinkled her nose at the two drunkards and whispered, "How is it useless? I can clearly feel myself improving."

Lu Yi glanced quickly at Shen Yixue. It seemed that while shopping, she was also finding ways to boost her talent energy.

However, Yuchan was currently battling with her food and had no time to pay attention to Shen Yixue, leaving her with only Lu Yi to ask. As for why Lu Yi's approval could boost Shen Yixue's talent energy, he guessed it was because he naturally held some popularity among the aboriginals after the Demon Game.

Speaking of which, the reason Lu Yi and the others were on this leisure street was that after everyone completed their enhancement, Shen Yixue had suggested taking a stroll here.

Considering that although Shen Yixue had not participated in the final battle, she had experienced a near-death situation and would inevitably harbor some psychological shadows, Lu Yi agreed to her suggestion and decided to take her shopping to vent and dispel the negative emotions in her heart.

Seeing the two men completely out of sight, Shen Yixue picked out another outfit and darted into the fitting room. Over the next while, not only did she buy several outfits for herself, but she also picked out a few for Lu Yi and Yuchan.

Eventually, with a full smile, Shen Yixue carried several bags of clothes as she walked out of the leisure street with Lu Yi and Yuchan. Although the clothes could be stored in the team space, according to Shen Yixue, only holding them in hand gave a true sense of fulfillment.

Back at their residence, Shen Yixue dropped the clothes and, alongside Yuchan, claimed the entire sofa.

Lu Yi checked the time; it was nearing dinner. Perhaps the healing methods of the Demon Game were so advanced that Lu Yi still didn't feel physically exhausted, but mentally, he was somewhat fatigued.

Looking at the sofa occupied to the brim, he shook his head. "Let's have some dinner in a bit, then rest early to get our energy back. Training starts tomorrow."

Shen Yixue twisted herself lazily on the sofa, raised her right hand limply, and said with a giggle, "Understood."

Yuchan looked at Shen Yixue curiously, then belatedly exclaimed, "Dinner? Are we eating? Oh, we still have to wait a bit."

After the excitement passed, Yuchan flopped back onto the sofa. Lu Yi smiled, patted Yuchan on the head, and walked into the simulated combat room.

Taking out the bead, Lu Yi rolled it between his fingers and muttered, "So, how should I use this? Swallow it? Or place it by the Demon Eye?"

After thinking for a moment, Lu Yi decided to bring the bead to the Demon Eye first. Soon, the Demon Eye twitched slightly, drawing a wisp of energy out of it. Shortly after, the bead let out a crisp cracking sound and turned into powder.

"Is that it? Why does it feel like nothing happened?" Lu Yi was slightly stunned.

However, as soon as his voice fell, the Demon Eye began to twitch slightly, then more and more violently. At the same time, Lu Yi's vision turned grayish-white, and a trace of chilly aura continuously overflowed from the Demon Eye.

Lu Yi secretly thought things looked bad. Judging by this scenario, the Demon Eye was about to undergo some changes, something that should ideally be done when one's mental state was at its peak. Just as Lu Yi was feeling remorseful and preparing to withstand the shock, the chilly aura suddenly vanished, and the Demon Eye stopped twitching.

"This?" Lu Yi was somewhat baffled. "It ended just like that, out of nowhere?"

He opened his stats and saw that the Demon Eye was still only one-sixth activated. Lu Yi sighed softly; it seemed this bit of energy wasn't enough. However, as he casually glanced down, his expression froze.

"Other-Blood Demon Eye: Currently one-sixth preliminary developed. Activated abilities: Energy Conversion, Energy Observation, Primary Dynamic Vision.
After absorbing a special malicious spirit, gained the ability to observe the weak points of things and guide their destruction. Gained new abilities: Wraith's Breath, Malice of Death.
Wraith's Breath: Channels the power of wraiths to augment attacks. Targets damaged by wraith power will be branded with a Decay Mark, which reduces the target's stamina and energy recovery speed as well as their fortune. This ability has no cooldown, consuming a certain amount of wraith power with each use.
Malice of Death: Channels the aura of death to shock the opponent, causing a strong sense of crisis and even generating an illusion of death. This ability has no cooldown, consuming a certain amount of wraith power with each use.
After absorbing the core energy of the Water-type Guardian, acquired Primary Water Control."

Reducing the target's fortune—this was a miraculous ability. Although fortune was invisible and intangible, many things seemed connected to it, such as Lu Yi's Prank Phantom Bracelet.

If a person's fortune declined, a meticulously planned scheme might fail at the last hurdle due to a trivial matter, much like that group of people in the trial world who planned intricately only to unluckily run into Captain Meng's squad.

However, upon seeing the subsequent information, Lu Yi also realized the problem: he was a living human, so where would he get so much wraith power to squander on skills? For now, until a solution was found, this move could only serve as a trump card.

The sound of bowls and chopsticks clinking echoed continuously as the three of them buried their heads in their meals. Shen Yixue suddenly put down her chopsticks, stars sparkling in her eyes as a whimsical thought struck her. "I didn't expect a Blue-grade skill to be worth over 1,000 reward points, and a Blue-grade equipment item is even more expensive.
And the Captain's Demon Marks can provide three Blue-grade skills, which means nearly 5,000 reward points. If we just sell 10 Demon Marks, wouldn't we be rolling in wealth?"

"Wh-what rolling in wealth?" Yuchan mumbled with her mouth full.

"Impossible. My Demon Marks are still different from skills and equipment," Lu Yi shook his head and said. "Equipment and skills, once acquired, are generally quite stable.
But my Demon Marks can be removed. If this kind of thing appears too often, people will figure out our weaknesses and target us. After all, our foundation is shallow, so it's better not to expose abilities that can guarantee our survival."

Shen Yixue continued, "I know, I'm just looking to the future. Once our strength is high enough, or when we're about to enter the second difficulty, couldn't we do this? Besides, with this ability of yours, Captain, you might even be able to recruit some allies. Who would dare target us then?"

Lu Yi smiled, but the allies Shen Yixue mentioned gave him some other ideas, plunging him into deep thought.

Shen Yixue called out to Lu Yi a few times. Seeing him snap out of it, she continued, "Lu Yi, what are you thinking about?"

Lu Yi eased his mind and said, "I think allies are indeed worth considering, but people have hidden motives, and finding a reliable ally isn't easy. I was just pondering whether there's a better way."

Shen Yixue nodded slightly. "That's true. Oh, right, I wanted to ask back then—Lu Yi, with your intellect, you should know that being a jack-of-all-trades is inferior to mastering one craft. You shouldn't have exchanged for so many foundational abilities."

Lu Yi let out a trace of a bitter smile. "To be honest, I don't really know what I'm suited for. The abilities I currently command are mostly related to my special methods. As for what I'm suited to cultivate, there's not a single trace of a sign yet. That's why I exchanged for these foundational abilities, to see what suits me best."

Shen Yixue looked at Lu Yi in astonishment, slowly nodding after a long while. "So that's how it is." After saying this, she too fell into deep thought.

Yuchan put down her bowl and touched her mouth. "Ah, I want more."

"Huh?" Lu Yi and Shen Yixue looked at Yuchan simultaneously. Unable to hold back her surprise, Shen Yixue blurted out, "You've already eaten several bowls, aren't you full yet?"

"It's fine, it's free anyway," Lu Yi said as he walked into the kitchen. Just as he was about to fetch food, a prompt echoed in his mind: "Your free quota has been exhausted. Continuing to extract food will incur charges."

Hearing this prompt, Lu Yi was slightly startled, but then paid the reward points with an expressionless face and retrieved the food.

After going back and forth like this a few times, Yuchan still wasn't full. Shen Yixue's curiosity was piqued, and during a scramble to grab food, she discovered this issue as well.

Finally, after consuming an extra 150 reward points' worth of food, Yuchan patted her belly in satisfaction. This portion size left Shen Yixue dumbfounded, staring in disbelief as she sized up Yuchan's stomach with her hands.

"Yuchan, do you usually eat this much?" Lu Yi asked with a smile.

Yuchan looked at the plates on the table and seemed a bit embarrassed. "No, usually I only eat half as much, but today I suddenly felt very hungry."

Half as much meant 75 reward points. With 15 days of rest per trial, Yuchan spent over 1,000 reward points just on food—equivalent to a person's basic reward.

And that was just the consumption in Mist City. Entering a trial world meant she couldn't carry zero food either. Such a huge appetite would probably be hard to manage in the trial world, which explained why her previous captain had kicked Yuchan out.

Lu Yi scratched his head. Yuchan's change today was definitely due to the completion of her cultivation technique. Now, Yuchan would consume 2,250 reward points just staying in the city. After advancing this portion of the rewards, Lu Yi's squad would only have 2,500 reward points left.

Seeing Lu Yi's somewhat solemn expression, Yuchan timidly said, "I can eat a little less, but eating less will make me weak."

Lu Yi directly interrupted Yuchan. "Eat, eat your fill. Eat up and work hard; are you afraid you won't earn back that little bit of money?"

As he spoke, he patted Yuchan heavily on the head. Feeling Lu Yi's sincerity, Yuchan immediately smiled happily. "Good person, I'll work hard."

Seeing that Shen Yixue still looked somewhat displeased as she watched Yuchan, Lu Yi rolled his eyes and said, "Shen Yixue, I'll figure out a way to increase your starlight energy too."

Hearing this, Shen Yixue froze for a moment, and the look in her eyes as she gazed at Yuchan softened.

Seeing this, Lu Yi smiled slightly. He didn't know how much starlight energy Shen Yixue needed to advance her talent, and Yuchan had a massive demand for food, but the two actually shared similar traits. Thus, with just a slight hint, the two could understand each other.

Thinking of this, Lu Yi frowned. But he was truly strapped for reward points; it seemed he had to study Yuchan's cultivation technique and seriously consider how to support this Yuchan.