Seele couldn't bear to see Honkai Beasts cry, so she hurried over to comfort them:
"Alright, alright, don't be sad... How about I buy you some Honkai Beast biscuits later?"
Honkai Beast biscuits were the competition-designated favorite food of Honkai Beasts.
That was what the guidebook said.
"Chuang!"
The Knight-class Honkai Beast cheered up.
"I looked through that so-called guidebook yesterday too. If I remember correctly, after catching Honkai Beasts, we're supposed to put them into something called Honkai Balls, right?"
Red Seele drifted over to Kaino and Blue Seele, stroking her chin as she looked at the Honkai Beast.
"That's right, but we haven't had the chance to buy any yet—or rather, we haven't come across the right shop. We can just ask the swimsuit shop owner later."
Kaino shrugged.
"Come to think of it, are we just going to keep calling it a Honkai Beast? Why don't we give it a name?"
"Ha, suit yourself. You're not naming me, so I couldn't possibly have an opinion."
Red Seele spread her hands indifferently.
"Then how about we just call it Little Red?"
Red Seele looked at Kaino with a trace of killing intent in her eyes.
"Ha, just kidding."
Kaino waved his hand and seriously examined the Honkai Beast before him.
"Chuang?" The girl on horseback tilted her head.
"I've got it!"
Kaino's eyes lit up as he looked at the two Seeles.
"Since she loves shouting Chuang so much, let's just call it Little Chuang."
"That really is your usual naming style..."
Red Seele couldn't help rubbing her forehead.
Honkai Balls and the Judge
"The item shop... this should be the place, right?"
After comparing the route map drawn by the swimsuit shop owner with the sign in front of him, Kaino spoke uncertainly.
The city's roads weren't particularly complicated, and Kaino wasn't directionally challenged, so it wasn't that he had gotten lost. The sign did indeed say Item Shop, and there was really no chance that they had come to the wrong place.
It was just that...
"One hundred Honkai Balls, twenty bags of Honkai Beast biscuits, and three Honkai Beast encyclopedias. That's 210 credits total. Are you buying them or not?"
The irritable red-haired woman with twin ponytails looked at Kaino and Seele.
"Let me make this clear first: I've already given you plenty of discounts. It can't get any cheaper."
"Seele, if I remember correctly, we spent around 2,000 credits on swimsuits earlier?"
Suspecting that something was wrong with his memory, Kaino asked Blue Seele beside him.
Seele nodded and replied softly, "If I remember correctly... it was indeed 2,000."
"Hey? What are you two muttering about?"
The red-haired seller gritted her teeth, looking pained.
"Fine, fine, 200 credits. No lower than that!"
Kaino sighed.
Leaving aside the fact that the woman looked exactly like a great figure he had seen in Schicksal textbooks before, the prices of these items were seriously off.
According to the blue-haired woman beside her, these so-called Honkai Balls contained a whole bunch of technologies that sounded incredibly advanced. They even had a built-in lounge equipped with a swimming pool, sofa, refrigerator, game console, and soft bed.
So the question was, could a Honkai Ball equipped with all that really be so cheap?
Even ice cream from the Houmu Drink Shop cost 10 credits each!
"No, the problem isn't the price... Uh, more precisely, it does have something to do with the price."
Kaino examined the shop's decor, then decided to temporarily abandon his suspicion that it was a scam shop out of trust for the swimsuit shop owner.
"Have you considered that your prices are too low?"
"Forget the biscuits and encyclopedias. Let's talk about the Honkai Balls first. Even without considering the value of all those technologies, the game consoles and other things inside alone cost more than 200 credits, don't they?"
"Huh? That does seem to be the case?"
The red-haired woman widened her eyes and looked at the blue-haired woman beside her. "Chicken Nest Head, I think I know where all our funding went!"
"There's no need to say it, Doctor Tesla. I know too."
The blue-haired woman sighed and looked at Kaino and the others. "Sorry. If it weren't for you, we might never have noticed these problems. We'll sell you the things you want for 2,000 credits for now. That should still count as a discounted price."
"We... need to close the shop for a while and rework the prices of all our products."
"Ah, thanks."
It looked like they really were a legitimate shop, so Kaino took out the money and paid them.
"We'll give you this little cart too. It doesn't look like you brought any bags, so this way—"
Tesla said.
"Also, as thanks for helping us, we'll give you a piece of information—the first stamp point for the challenge is in the largest city park. If you want to go there, heading east from here is a shortcut."
The rules of the challenge were to collect stamps in the beginner, intermediate, and advanced divisions of the guidebook, then head to the island in the sea for the finals.
"Whoa, thanks!"
Pushing the little cart, Kaino waved at the two women. "See you later, ladies."
"Goodbye."
The blue-haired woman nodded and pulled down the shutter.
"Come to think of it, Kaino... Seele wanted to ask earlier, why did we buy so many Honkai Balls?"
Seele followed beside Kaino, counting on her fingers.
"A full hundred Honkai Balls. Even if we caught every Honkai Beast in the encyclopedia, we'd still have some left over, wouldn't we?"
"Heh, Seele, do you remember how those two introduced the Honkai Balls?"
Kaino smiled, picked up a Honkai Ball, then stored the rest directly in Imaginary Space while no one was around.
"There's plenty of space inside, along with all kinds of facilities... We can practically use them as houses!"
"Once we return to our original world, we just need to sell a few... Heh, and we'll never have to worry about money again."
After returning, Kaino had no intention of constantly spending his Big Auntie's money. Living off his family wasn't his style. He would have to earn money himself eventually.
Although he could use his analysis ability to reproduce banknotes after returning to the real world, that kind of thing wasn't very good in the end. Using it in small amounts for a short while was one thing, but doing it for too long could affect the world's economy.
...But then again, did spending Big Auntie's money count as living off his family?
Kaino couldn't help falling into deep thought.
"Forget that for now. Hey, Kaino, put Little Chuang inside first."
Red Seele spoke up.
"You specifically left one Honkai Ball out to do this, didn't you? How long are you planning to hold it?"
"Oh, I forgot while I was thinking."
Kaino patted his head, then stared at the Honkai Ball and frowned.
"Come to think of it, how do I use this thing? Let me think..."
Kaino raised the Honkai Ball and stared solemnly at Little Chuang. "Honkai Beast! If I call your name, do you dare—"
"Stop fooling around. Didn't that redhead explain how to use it?"
Red Seele made a motion of smacking Kaino on the head.
"We got up so early to get ahead of everyone else. Now that we know where the stamp point is, shouldn't we hurry over there?"
"Fine, I wanted to have some fun with it."
With a regretful sigh, Kaino pressed the raised circular button in the center of the Honkai Ball.
"Come back, Little Chuang!"
With that, Kaino threw the glowing Honkai Ball toward Little Chuang.
"Chuang?"
After a burst of startled cries from her, Little Chuang vanished, leaving only a constantly wobbling Honkai Ball behind.
"Um, Kaino..."
Seele swallowed and stared at Kaino with wide eyes.
"If Seele remembers correctly, you didn't need to throw the Honkai Ball. You only had to press the button and let Little Chuang go inside, right?"
"I know, but doesn't this feel cooler?"
Kaino shrugged and tossed the Honkai Ball into Imaginary Space.
"Oh, right. There isn't much time left before noon. Should we deal with lunch first, or go straight to the stamp point?"
"Let's go to the stamp point first. After all, we still need to complete the judge's task before we can get the stamp... We can eat afterward, right?"
Blue Seele spoke, glancing at Kaino and Red Seele.
"Kaino, Seele, you don't have any objections, do you?"
"I don't care. If I want to eat, Kaino can just make food for me."
Red Seele spread her hands to show that she didn't mind.
"Let's get the stamp first... After all, we've already reached that park."
Kaino pointed at the white-haired woman standing beside the park fountain in the distance.
"She's the only one around here. Is she the judge?"
As though she had heard them, the white-haired woman's body trembled...
Then she set the instant noodles in her hands beside the fountain and turned around.
The Spirit of the Spring's Task
"Um... Excuse me, are you the judge?"
Kaino stepped forward until he was a short distance from the woman and examined her.
Although she had white hair, she didn't look old. Her white hair seemed natural, just like Kaino's. In fact, she looked younger than Kaino.
Of course, she was quite beautiful, and her temperament was excellent as well. Her brilliant golden eyes gazed down at them as if she stood above all others, her skin was fair and smooth like congealed cream, her lips were crimson...
Alright, her mouth was currently chewing instant noodles, so he couldn't tell what they looked like. Besides that, the most eye-catching thing was the three parasols floating behind her. He had no idea what they were for.
But compared with her appearance, Kaino cared more about whether she could stamp his guidebook.
The woman looked Kaino and Seele over a few times, her delicate brows furrowing as she swallowed the instant noodles in her mouth. She lightly wiped her mouth, pretending nothing had happened.
"You're contestants in this competition? I'm the judge for the beginner division. Just call me the Spirit of the Spring."
"Not bad. You're faster than I expected. You're the first group of contestants to come to me for a stamp."
At her words, Kaino's gaze shifted rightward and landed on the instant noodles the Spirit of the Spring had placed beside the fountain.
Yeah, it was obvious they had exceeded her expectations.
"Ahem, what are you looking at?"
Noticing Kaino's gaze, the Spirit of the Spring looked a little embarrassed and stepped sideways to block the bowl of instant noodles.
"No contestants came over. What's wrong with me eating a few bowls of instant noodles?"
"No, no, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that."
Before you continue