"Did you figure it out?" The system's confident tone made Li Pu feel like it was just waiting for him to crawl back.
"A prodigal son who turns back is like a boat reaching the shore, after all."
If he couldn't only see a simple interface and not a person, Li Pu was certain he would be looking at an arrogant face that thought its calculations were foolproof.
"Are you so sure I want to cross-dress?" Li Pu retorted. "I just wanted contact information."
"Besides, I want to know about that character task, 'Nobody Understands King Arthur Better Than Me'."
"If I cosplay King Arthur from Old Sword, or learn about the real King Arthur."
"Does that count as completing this character task, too? At least it should raise the completion rate."
At Li Pu's words, the system suddenly fell silent.
The system interface didn't change much, but Li Pu felt he must have guessed right.
It really was just as he had imagined. According to the usual plot progression of novels, while the protagonist might get screwed over by the system, they wouldn't necessarily get completely ruined by it.
A system would dig a hole for the protagonist, but it would also leave some loose ends unaddressed, giving the protagonist a chance to fight back from the brink of defeat.
In this new generation of unorthodox system novels, the tactical sparring between the system and the protagonist was also a major draw.
So now that he was the protagonist in a system novel, with this seemingly detached system and task setup,
had it also left him with some capital and loopholes to play games with the system?
It certainly looked that way now.
"If you put it like that..." The system finally spoke somewhat hesitatingly, even mixed with awkwardness and restraint as it said, "That's not wrong either."
"Because it's labeled as King Arthur, the King Arthur of orthodox history—both Arthur Pendragon and Artoria Pendragon—are considered King Arthur."
It even included various types of King Arthur represented by characters like the King Arthur from Transformers.
The system really hadn't expected Li Pu to bring these up.
"So it does raise the completion progress of the character task a bit." The system said sullenly, "What you're doing is acceptable."
"It's not just acceptable." Hearing the system's voice grow weak, Li Pu immediately gained full confidence. "Instead, it definitely works, because the task grants me understanding of 'King Arthur', not understanding of 'Artoria Pendragon'."
"So 'understanding' means a specific, three-dimensional, complete character."
"You have to know everything from the prototype to the derivative series."
"Therefore, Nasu Kinoko's King Arthur is only one of the categories you need to understand, not all of it."
"Right?!"
"Yes..." The system never expected Li Pu to be able to analyze it like this. How come this guy was usually so quiet, but suddenly seemed to have his IQ online?
"Ah, good then." Li Pu nodded and said, "What I want isn't just those Cosplay group chat rooms."
"I also want research group chat rooms."
"I can give them to you." The system said, "You can probably join the Cosplay groups, but it's hard to say about the research groups."
"Why?" Li Pu felt a bit surprised. Didn't the system say it could help him? Why was it starting to throw problems at him again? But very quickly, he felt his question lacked standard.
As if the system would help him wholeheartedly! Wouldn't it try to trip him up?
How could that be possible!
"Threshold! The threshold, of course." The system said, "The entry threshold is different. The entry threshold for Cosplay groups and research groups are not the same."
"The entry threshold for the former isn't too high: you need good looks, money, or skills. If you have none of those three, passion works too."
"As for the latter, being a research group means solid, professional-level knowledge."
"Leaving aside the Bed King, that derivative creation character, when it comes to the real King Arthur."
"As well as King Arthur's historical period, historical background, and cultural background."
"Do you understand them?!"
At the system's question, Li Pu was instantly rendered speechless. Apart from the Bed King, Li Pu really didn't know much about the real King Arthur. And even when it came to the Bed King,
Li Pu wasn't the type who understood her particularly well, either.
"So, if you want to join a Cosplay group, it's pretty simple." The system said, "But for a research group, I can tell you straight out."
"You can't! At least with your current state of knowing nothing when asked, you definitely can't!"
"Of course, if you're willing to start chewing through reference materials and reading historical records right now."
"It's still somewhat possible."
"Oh..." Li Pu thought about it. Joining a research group really would be a bit troublesome.
Right now, he couldn't even be counted as an enthusiast, so getting into a professional group would indeed be very difficult. However, since the system said Cosplayers could also complete character tasks,
"Then I'll just join a Cosplayer team first." Li Pu said, "I'll figure out the professional knowledge later."
"Alright." The system said, "I've already selected three Cosplayer groups for you. The group QR codes and numbers have been sent to your phone. Check them whenever you want to join."
"Mm." Li Pu planned to exit the system and check out these groups.
"Also, congratulations." The system suddenly spoke up to stop Li Pu, saying, "Congratulations. The hidden task 'Nobody Understands the System Better Than Me' has increased in completion progress by 1%."
"Task reward: 'One Lucky Draw'."
"Oh?!" Hearing this, Li Pu became somewhat amused. "A hidden task? There are even tasks like this?"
"Of course there are." The system said, "Since you're the know-it-all, of course you have to understand your own system, too. This is a hidden task, and it started the moment the system matched with you."
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?" Li Pu retorted. "To think there's a task like this."
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a hidden task." The system said, "Now you can choose to draw a prize. Do you want to draw a character? Draw equipment? Or draw a side quest?"
"Hehehe~" Li Pu rubbed his hands together. "Looks like my luck is finally turning around. Am I starting to get lucky?"
Regardless of what was going on with this hidden task, at least he had a chance to draw a prize right now.
Might as well take what was offered.
"Draw a character!" Li Pu said without hesitation. "This time I definitely have to pull a manly man."
Still choosing to draw a character, in Li Pu's view, characters provided a much greater boost to his capabilities than equipment. After all, the scope of equipment pulls was vast, including airplanes, cars, tanks, infantry equipment, sci-fi equipment, and a whole series of things.
If he pulled something he didn't know how to use, he probably wouldn't even be able to hide it.
By contrast, aside from that shameful transformation dance, the rest of the characters were much more practical.
Just like last time, he casually drew a pentagram and waited to see what character card he would pull this time.
As the final white flash faded.
Character: Cecilia Schariac.
Activate character task: Nobody Understands Cecilia Better Than Me.
Activate normal task: Mother's Love.
Year 202X, Month O, Day ※. Peaceful today.
Literally.
Li Pu finally got through the first day of slacking off since coming to this world. In the past, he was either at a job interview or on his way to one, day after day, year after year.
There was almost never any time he could rest.
If you couldn't find a job, you had no source of income. Without a source of income, his increasingly shriveled wallet along with rent, food expenses, internet bills, phone bills, transportation fees, water bills, electricity bills, property management fees, and a series of other fixed expenses acted like death warrants, urging Li Pu never to stop his pace. He trembled in the shadow of constantly running out of food and facing homelessness.
Now, he finally had a job and was lucky enough to get a bonus.
At least for a long time to come, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of food or failing to pay the rent.
Although he slacked off a bit at work today, he didn't do it too brazenly. He actually ran down to the cafeteria to see if he could find any opportunities to get promoted and get rich.
Of course, there were none.
It was as if his good luck had run out; this trip to the cafeteria yielded no gains whatsoever.
Whether it was the cafeteria's food, its hygiene, or the back kitchen's strict control over ingredients, everything was commendable, with no loopholes for Li Pu to spot.
As expected of a famous private aristocratic girls' school.
Just from the hardware facilities alone, it really lived up to that title.
There was nothing to do at work, but there was actually something to do after get off work.
Because he happened to bump into an offline gathering of a Cosplay group.
"So he went to attend a two-dimensional Cosplay offline gathering?"
Otto, who had been keeping an eye on Li Pu, held a cup of coffee and gracefully sipped it. "Who would've thought it? He's actually a two-dimensional nerd."
"If I remember correctly." Otto seemed to recall something and said, "Cosplay seems to be quite expensive."
Otto felt his memory served him right; Cosplay wasn't all that approachable for ordinary people.
Cosplay outfits, shoes, props, and cosmetics—none of this series of items was cheap. If you could find ready-made products for the cosplay clothes, shoes, and props in real life, that was one thing.
If you couldn't find them, you had no choice but to have them custom-made, and custom prices were not cheap either.
If you factored in hiring a photographer, makeup artist, and hairstylist, it became even more expensive.
Of course, if you were just doing it for a novelty or for fun, you could spend roughly enough and skip spending too much.
But if you delved deep, pursued high accuracy, and played like that frequently,
then it wasn't just a matter of a little money.
"Is he just a homebody, or just dabbling briefly?" Otto said uncertainly. "Is he an old-school two-dimensional fan, or just skimming the surface?"
"If we end up creating a Herrscher who is a deeply otaku two-dimensional nerd."
"Would that be good for our plan..."
It was hard to say. Otto felt a bit undecided right now. "The Herrscher with a human heart plan—could this love for two-dimensional things also count as one of those human hearts?"
"He really is a tricky person to deal with."
"Go keep an eye on him, Rita." Otto ultimately decided. "I need updates on his every move at any time."
"Yes, Lord Otto." A maid slightly bowed and said, "Lord Otto, the World Defense Organization wants to call you. They are very dissatisfied with Schicksal's recent operations."
"Have you figured out how to deal with this? Should our plan remain confidential?"
"The plan needs to remain confidential." Otto said, "Just put the communication through."
"You don't need to worry about the rest, Rita!"
"Yes, Lord Otto." Rita said no more, bowed slightly, nodded, and stepped backward out of Otto's office.
Inside a certain maid cafe.
"What the heck! This welfare ji looks completely different from her photos!" As soon as Li Pu stepped inside, he felt disappointed—not with the maid cafe itself, but with the few people he was about to face.
The first person he spotted was the photographer who had posted the selfies and also initiated the event.
Aside from him, the few girls sitting nearby must have been welfare jis.
Yes, exactly that kind of welfare jis everyone understood.
The Cosplay circle wasn't entirely clean. That didn't mean cosplay was welfare, just that the cosplay circle wasn't short on welfare jis.
Li Pu didn't suffer from social anxiety, but he wasn't enthusiastic either. Compared to a social butterfly, his social skills weren't particularly strong—just barely passable.
If nothing was going on, he preferred staying home.
As for the matter of the welfare jis, this wasn't Li Pu making wild guesses or malicious speculations. The group provided to him by the system—the exact ones holding a new round of offline gatherings to discuss upcoming cosplay activities—
were just like that.
It wasn't pure cosplay; those few girls were indeed welfare jis.
This wasn't Li Pu speculating or bitterly cursing in disappointment; they were the kinds of welfare jis whose handles could literally be searched on Twitter.
If it weren't for this, Li Pu wouldn't have come to participate at all.
Before you continue