Why Are You So Competitive

To Li Ming's surprise, following Raiden Ryoma and bringing Yae along turned out to be nothing more than sightseeing. Raiden Ryoma even bought his tickets for some attractions. He was provided with free room and board, and could explore as he pleased. The only issue was Yae, being young and not very familiar with the Schicksal language, usually relied on Li Ming to translate for her.

Even so, Li Ming felt like Raiden Ryoma's extra child. Despite this, Li Ming wasn't uneasy. He'd remember the favor and wouldn't back down if trouble arose.

However, Li Ming hadn't been truly idle these past few days. He'd picked up some excellent sewing skills from his "mother," Apponia, in the Elysian Realm.

Considering Apponia's status, running an orphanage meant clothes for so many children couldn't always be replaced. Mending and patching would be a common necessity, even though Apponia herself founded the orphanage.

Li Ming had also taken on two tasks recently: one was to watch Mobius's experimental subjects for a day, earning him 10 favor points with Mobius. The other was to take care of Sakura's sister, earning him 10 favor points with Sakura.

Li Ming had initially planned to ask Mobius about resolving Honkai corruption. Mobius then proposed three solutions for Honkai corruption and Honkai disease, along with several case studies. She even suggested different formulas for each solution. By the end, Li Ming felt completely overwhelmed.

Mobius also mentioned that to resolve the Honkai Energy within him, she would need to discuss the specific solution with Su.

However, Li Ming had to find the materials himself. Faced with piles of needed items, Li Ming ultimately just had Mobius leave him a list and then fled in a hurry.

When he saw Rin, Li Ming honestly couldn't understand how Sakura had managed to bring her sister into the Elysian Realm. In the normal timeline, Sakura was the first to arrive, and from the story of Sakura's death, her sister never had a chance to enter the Elysian Realm.

After thinking for a long time and failing to figure it out, Li Ming could only assume his Elysian Realm had a bug. After all, he was clearly running a Honkai Impact 3rd system, yet he hadn't seen any story quests or other tasks, not even a beginner's quest. If he had, he would definitely have shown Ai Yi his pity-pulling luck for Human Law.

Although he was completing tasks, Li Ming felt like he had truly returned home in the Elysian Realm. It felt less like the Elysian Realm and more like the Golden Courtyard.

Speaking of which, he hadn't even met the great star Eden since arriving in the Elysian Realm.

Shaking his head, Li Ming glanced at the "Infinite" imprint in his left hand and the "Fleeting" imprint in his right. The imprints weren't visible; they only glowed faintly when Li Ming activated them.

Chaotic Hundred Flowers [Plum]: After an ultimate evasion, attack speed and movement speed increase by 40% for 8 seconds.

Dark Pupil [T]: Summoned entity energy recovery speed increases by 75%.

The "Infinite" imprint was somewhat useless, as he hadn't figured out what a summoned entity was. He didn't even have a puppet, let alone summoned entities.

But the "Fleeting" imprint was quite useful. When Li Ming had free time, he'd practice sword fighting with Yae. Yae inherited the Hokushin Itto-ryu style, excelling at downward cuts. Yae was also exceptionally talented, achieving Menkyo Kaiden at a young age. While she hadn't achieved it yet, her techniques were already masterful.

Practicing with Yae these days, Li Ming had no other thoughts than how much it hurt when her downward cuts landed on his hands. To avoid getting hit, Li Ming diligently practiced ultimate evasion. Now, it was very difficult for Yae to land a hit on him.

An eighteen-year-old bullying a child under six, how shameless.

But this didn't diminish Li Ming's smugness. Practicing with Yae even allowed him to occasionally dodge one or two moves when sparring with Sakura.

This earned him a nod of approval from Sakura. However, Hua intensified his training significantly because she noticed that since their last meeting, Li Ming's physical fitness had improved rapidly, and his mastery of the inch-punch technique was also becoming more proficient.

Thus, Hua felt a desire to nurture his talent and almost taught him everything she knew. The price was that once Li Ming entered the Elysian Realm, he had nowhere to hide except to seek refuge with Apponia.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Li Ming looked at a slightly damaged doll in his hand that had been mended, feeling a sense of accomplishment.

Apponia also glanced at the doll in Li Ming's hand, a faint smile appearing on her face. She said softly, "You sewed it well."

Li Ming smiled back happily, then suddenly heard Hua's voice from outside the door. Li Ming's face instantly turned pale. "Sister Apponia, I'm leaving. If Hua asks, just say you don't know."

Apponia's narrowed eyes were full of amusement. She nodded at Li Ming.

"Apponia, have you seen Ming?"

"No, he just told me not to tell you," Apponia replied with a slight smile. Suddenly, Apponia seemed to remember something and said with a smile, "Hua, I have something I'd like to ask for your help with. Do you have time in a few days?"

Li Ming never expected that the seemingly gentle Sister Apponia would directly betray him.

However, at this moment, Li Ming left the Elysian Realm directly. Hua wouldn't be able to catch him even if she arrived.

After coming out, Li Ming took a moment to compose himself. When he went to the Elysian Realm, the time flow there was 1:1440 compared to reality, in minutes. He had stayed in the Elysian Realm for seven days, which meant only seven minutes had passed in reality. However, when he was outside, the time flow in the Elysian Realm was somewhat uncertain. Sometimes several days passed, and sometimes only a few minutes.

These six days had accumulated 144 bottles of stamina, plus the 9 bottles from the first day. Subtracting the 45 bottles used for three tasks and the 90 bottles for a month's worth of usage, he had 18 bottles left. This would be enough time for Kitten's task.

However, the thought of Kitten's unfinished task made him feel a bit down. Although tasks wouldn't start until he encountered the relevant character, he had searched half the Elysian Realm to find Mobius back then.

Despite that, Li Ming had completed the task. He just felt that Mobius's gaze towards him at the time was a bit off.

However, Li Ming had also learned a lot from Mobius, such as the formula for fluid alloys.

It was an unexpected bonus.

Li Ming collected his thoughts and looked at the slightly damaged doll in his hand. This was the result of a month of learning from Apponia. At first glance, it was a purple doll, looking very much like Yae.

Li Ming had spent quite some time sewing this doll. It was only after learning from Apponia that he started refining it, sewing a little each night until he finally finished the last stitch today.

Looking at the Yae doll in his hand, while it felt a bit ugly, it was pretty much there. For a guy, being able to sew underwear was already good. Sewing a cloth doll, if people found out, they'd probably call him a try-hard.

Of course, Li Ming did it because Yae was cute and he wanted to amuse her. Otherwise, he didn't even treat his girlfriend this well. (You're overthinking it, you don't have a girlfriend.)

It was only 5:30 AM the next day, and Li Ming was already up early, even earlier than a typical 8 AM class.

Since they were staying in a hotel, in a presidential suite, Yae had her own single room, so Li Ming slept in the bodyguard's room.

Normally, Li Ming's original body had a habit of waking up early. Now, with the memories flooding his mind, it was a bit like that. Although his mind wanted to sleep, his body urged him to get up.

Li Ming looked around and went to the balcony to practice his punches. Yae usually woke up around 8 or 9 AM. Raiden Ryoma, on the other hand, woke up quite early and he would occasionally see him practicing his punches.

However, Raiden Ryoma didn't have the same curiosity about martial arts as Su Qizhe. Although he maintained a physique from regular exercise, it was more like systematic training.

He didn't find Li Ming's martial arts practice particularly interesting.

However, he often discussed academics with Li Ming when Li Ming took breaks.

Li Ming's original body was an engineering student, and Li Ming's own major was also engineering.

Therefore, while he couldn't wield knowledge like his own arm, he could still recite it by the book.

However, it was clear that Raiden Ryoma's knowledge base was far superior to Li Ming's. Many of the things he explained gave Li Ming a feeling of "I don't understand what you're saying, but it sounds impressive." Li Ming made a mental note to ask Mobius about them later.

After getting his answers from Mobius, Li Ming secretly committed them to memory. This way, he could respond when Raiden Ryoma asked him questions. This led Raiden Ryoma to believe that Li Ming had good talent; while his knowledge wasn't extensive, he was diligent.

"So, Xiao Ming, do you have any ideas for the design and optimization of this core?"

"Uncle Ryoma, you're putting me on the spot. But I think we could consider improving the casing material and making some design changes to the rotation angle and pressure angle. This would improve the kinetic energy conversion efficiency."

"You have some ideas, but they're not quite there yet. Alright, let's eat. Li Ming, go call them."

Naturally, he wasn't asking Li Ming to wake Yae up, but to call for breakfast. For Raiden Ryoma, who doted on his daughter, such matters were best handled by himself.

However, Raiden Ryoma and his family had always preferred light flavors, likely due to customs from the Eastern Seas.

Yet, they seemed to have adapted to the local customs and weren't picky eaters. They could handle rich flavors and occasionally shared two large bottles of liquor with Li Ming.

Li Ming's unpretentious personality was also something Raiden Ryoma greatly admired.

Despite this, Raiden Ryoma still guarded Li Ming as if he were protecting his own prized cabbage from being snatched by a pig. This made Li Ming feel a bit helpless when he took Yae out to play, feeling that the club president was rather childish.

Li Ming used the guest room phone to order room service. Then, he saw Raiden Ryoma emerge, carrying a sleepy Yae, coaxing her to wash up.

Li Ming quickly returned to his own room and took out the Yae doll he had sewn, hiding it behind his back.

When Yae came out from the washbasin, Li Ming smiled at her. Raiden Ryoma, however, felt that Li Ming was looking at his daughter with ill intentions.

"Hehe, Yae, look what I have!"

Yae rubbed her sleepy eyes and glanced at Li Ming, her expression a little confused. Then, the object in front of her came into focus, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Li Ming, is this for me? It looks just like me!"

"This is a surprise I prepared for you, Yae. Do you like it?"

Her purple eyes sparkled. "Thank you, Brother Li Ming!"

Seeing Yae's eyes sparkling like stars, Li Ming felt his heart melt.

Raiden Ryoma's expression, however, was rather subtle. Although he wore a smile, there was an unreadable glint in his eyes.

Are men in Schicksal this competitive? I thought I was doing pretty well, but I didn't expect them to resort to making dolls?

So competitive, so competitive.

At that moment, Raiden Ryoma looked at Li Ming as if he were his lifelong rival.

Not long after, breakfast arrived, and the three sat down at the dining table.

After receiving the doll, Yae cherished it dearly, her eyes never leaving it. Even while eating, she would occasionally fiddle with it.

As a result, Li Ming was uncharacteristically scolded by Raiden Ryoma a couple of times. However, Li Ming felt that Raiden Ryoma was just using it as an excuse for personal revenge.

Raiden Ryoma, however, maintained his usual faint smile, showing no outward emotion. He just spoke to Li Ming with a hint of oddness.

For example:

"The ice cream is here."

"I wanted to try the avocado and strawberry flavors too."

"The owner said they don't have avocado flavor. Here's the strawberry."

"Thanks for your trouble, Xiao Ming. But I think Yae wants to try it too. Could you go again, please?"

"Okay..."

Things like these.

Li Ming was completely exasperated. Fortunately, there were no grudges held overnight. Otherwise, Li Ming felt he would have to show Raiden Ryoma the true meaning of a contemporary university student's rebellion.

Without the constraints of credits and internship certificates, who can stand against me?

A mere boss? I have the Twin Guns: Moon God's Protection, capable of slaying Ryoma himself.

But these were just jokes; he didn't take them seriously.

A week passed quite quickly. Sometimes, when they arrived in a new city and Raiden Ryoma was too busy to take them sightseeing, he would give Li Ming a card and let Li Ming take Yae out to play.

Was he worried? Don't be ridiculous. After seeing Li Ming's background check, Raiden Ryoma was incredibly relieved. If it weren't inconvenient, he would have even wanted to equip Li Ming with armor.

However, upon noticing Li Ming's insights and interest in certain materials and machinery, he felt he could provide Li Ming with a platform to gain more experience and learn.

If only he knew that Su Qizhe had the same idea; Raiden Ryoma wouldn't be so sure.

He glanced at Li Ming's background check and then looked out the window at Li Ming and Yae sparring. He felt completely at ease.