Acheron, Are You Making Fun of Me? I'll Drain You Dry!

It was just as the Firefly nodded.

A system notification popped up in front of Lin Shuang:

[Target: Firefly]

[Affection: 71 (Touched and Expecting)]

[Relationship: Friends]

['A friend I first met as Firefly, and someone who remains outside the Stellaron Hunter —your existence undoubtedly holds special significance.']

['Of course, this meaning isn't profound enough; your relationship remains as fleeting as a firefly.']

[Reward: One white card draw]

Not only did their relationship evolve into friendship, but their Affection also increased.

However, I was only given one chance to draw a card, and it was only a white-tier draw, probably because the relationship we established was too ordinary.

Their relationship was even more distant than that of Little Gui's master-disciple relationship.

The heart-to-heart talk with the Firefly didn't last long.

After all, it was just a break during his studies, and he soon threw himself back into swordsmanship.

After today's practice is over.

When Lin Shuang exited the game, Acheron, who had been beside her, was nowhere to be found. All she could hear was the sound of water dripping from the bathroom.

With nothing to do, Lin Shuang lay on the bed, closed her eyes, and focused her attention on the remaining rounds of the lottery.

Two green draws, one white.

First, take the green one.

After Lin Shuang recited the command in her mind, two streaks of green light transformed into words before her eyes:

[Grand Void Sword Qi: Heart Essence]

['Just learn this beginner's guide for now; after all, this is the only skill you can master at this level.']

['Thank me, anyway, I'll help you get started with the beginner's guide first, then you can practice the rest on your own.']

[Realm: Still Water]

The first reward was clearly from Sushang Chang.

Moreover, with the emergence of the skill, a syllable and a very detailed description of the Heart Essence appeared in my mind, and my state of mind, or rather my mentality, underwent a very obvious transformation.

Because of the skill description, Lin Shuang easily realized that she had now entered the 'Still Water' state.

The Heart Essence has four realms: Still Water, Dustless, Clear Mirror, and Great Void. Clearly, I am only at the first realm.

The second green light materialized.

It's the same skill:

[Burned Status (damage over time)]

['Classic debuff skill: Enemies engulfed by your flames will have a high chance of being Burned Status.']

[Effect: A Pokémon that is Burned Status... will have its attack power halved and will continue to take damage for a period of time.]

[Note: The attack reduction effect will fluctuate depending on the difference in strength between the enemy and ourselves.]

"..."

Your skill is obviously copied directly from Pokémon, isn't it? The name is practically showing, as if you're afraid she won't notice.

Never mind... as long as it works, that's fine.

This thing comes with 50% damage reduction, which is probably okay in the game, since there are survival slots available.

But in reality, this is a simple and practical skill.

It directly halves the opponent's attack power. Against an opponent of the same level, this reduction essentially decides the outcome of the battle.

Even if the effect is reduced when facing some strong enemies, it's still better to have some reduction than nothing.

There's one last white card draw left.

The items from the white gacha pulls aren't entirely useless, whether it's Storage Card or Full Load Bottle, although they seem unremarkable.

But one can directly contain an active Stellaron without leaking out at all. The other can hold the Heliobus steadily inside; neither of them looks like a simple item.

Sometimes, Lin Shuang even had the illusion that these things, no matter how badly they were treated, should be considered green or purple items.

But as for how useful they are, both of these things have their limitations.

If Lin Shuang hadn't drawn the Herrscher Core at the beginning, these two items wouldn't have been of much use.

Therefore, Lin Shuang understood white items.

They're mostly the kind of things that have their strengths, but also their weaknesses. They're not very useful on their own, but they can be very effective when used in combination with other items.

Draw a card!

Lin Shuang silently recited it in her heart.

With a flash of white light, a sign for a corrugated cardboard box appeared before my eyes.

[One box of Oak Cake Roll]

[This was supposedly a poor man's food, made with sawdust to fill his stomach, which later became a strange habit among some wealthy people to reminisce about past hardships.]

['Since this thing looks like Oak, smells like Oak, and tastes like Oak, then it should be Oak, not cake!!']

"Oh no..."

The reversal came so quickly that it caught everyone off guard.

One minute they'd said there would be something useful, the next they'd pulled out a whole box of snacks.

The problem is, it doesn't even taste good...

The description says it smells like Oak; can you really enjoy chewing on wood?

Fine, I'll just take two to try, and give the rest to Firefly.

Volume 1: Chapter 114 Acheron You're laughing at me? Watch me squeeze you dry!

Acheron was still washing up and showed no sign of coming out.

Lin Shuang took out the Oak Cake Roll that the system had rewarded her with.

A corrugated cardboard box, about one meter long and half a meter wide and high, appeared beside the bed.

The cardboard box looks quite nice.

Lin Shuang opened the box and took out a cake roll.

To make a comparison, I even searched for Photos of Oak Cake Roll on my phone, and they looked remarkably similar.

They all looked like pieces of Oak wood sawn off.

I opened the packaging and took a bite.

"Yue--"

It has a woody taste mixed with sweetness, and what's even harder to swallow is that this bite tastes like a cake made by gluing together sawdust.

One bite, and it feels like shredded wood spreading in your mouth.

It simply isn't as hard to chew as real wood.

The taste is quite strange, like wood dipped in honey, and the texture is really inedible.

If it weren't for the special warning on the packaging that "this product will not scratch the throat or digestive system," I would have been fine.

Lin Shuang immediately vomited it up.

But adhering to the principle of not wasting food, Lin Shuang still swallowed it down in small bites.

Halfway through the meal, Acheron returned, drying her hair and wearing a nightgown.

She lowered her gaze and saw Lin Shuang taking small bites, looking troubled, as she ate something that looked like Oak.

I almost couldn't hold back.

"Are you... gnawing on wood?"

"..."

Lin Shuang, still crunching on her cake, looked up at Acheron with pouting lips and a helpless expression.

Acheron looked back as well, then sat down next to Lin Shuang, and at the same time noticed the cardboard box that had suddenly appeared beside the bed.

I reached into the still-open cardboard box, took out a piece, and examined the packaging.

"Oak Cake Roll... perfectly recreates the flavor of Oak; only the most ambitious and persevering can successfully devour it."

Acheron read the advertising slogan on the packaging aloud, then looked at Lin Shuang with amusement:

"It says that all along, why did you still buy it?"

After finally managing to swallow another mouthful of this stuff, Lin Shuang complained:

"... How can it not be considered gnawing on wood? Would you like to try some?"

Acheron looked at the half-eaten cake roll that was handed to him, opened his mouth slightly, and bit off a piece, stuffing it into his mouth.

"Hmm..."

The powerful teeth easily crushed the rather firm cake roll, and the aroma of herbs mixed with sweetness spread in the mouth.

After swallowing the cake roll in a few bites, Acheron shook his head slightly and said:

"It's edible as food, but as a cake... well, it's not really suitable."

During this time, Acheron has regained some of his normal human ability to judge food.

This thing that tastes like wood, looks like wood, and smells like wood should really be called wood instead of cake.

"I'll just give the rest to the Stellaron Hunter."

Seeing that Acheron didn't like it either, the only person Lin Shuang could think of to consume this box of cake rolls was Firefly, who also enjoyed the taste.

"... Why would we give it to them?"

Acheron did not doubt that Lin Shuang knew the other members of the Stellaron Hunter.

After all, they're already so familiar with Silver Wolf, so it's understandable that they'd like to get to know the others as well.

What did someone do to offend you that you're giving them a whole box of wood rolls to eat?

Besides, the Stellaron Hunter has a robot with him, does it even eat this stuff?

"Sam likes to eat this, right?"

"You like to eat? So there was a pilot in that Stellaron Hunter Sam?"

"Yes."

Lin Shuang nodded, holding the cake in one hand, taking a small bite, while using the other hand to open her phone and send another message to Silver Wolf:

[Lin Shuang: Duck Duck Duck! Can you open a Portal for me? I have a gift for Firefly.]

However, the message went unread for several minutes, let alone received a reply.

This is truly unprecedented. Normally, Silver Wolf might not reply immediately every time, but he always reads the message right away.

Strange, where did Silver Wolf go?

Confused, Lin Shuang switched the chat window back to Firefly's side.

[Lin Shuang: Firefly, do you know what Silver Wolf is doing? I've been messaging her and nobody's reading my messages.]

It's much faster here; the message immediately shows as read.

[Firefly: [Paimon's Doubt]]

[Firefly: Let me ask]

Several minutes passed after the message arrived. Suddenly, a message notification appeared on Silver Wolf's end: