· Life's Illusions

"The upper floors of the Dungeon? I was indeed there today, but Eina, how did you know?"

Lu Qiming looked at Eina, observing her shy little face (or so he felt), her bashful voice, and those slightly expectant eyes. Could it be... has Eina fallen for me?

The next second, Lu Qiming tossed that ridiculous thought far away. It was definitely one of the three great human delusions: she likes me, I can counter-kill, and I am very strong. When it came to self-awareness, Lu Qiming still had a decent grasp of reality.

He had been a lonely bachelor in his original world; how could he possibly make Eina infatuated with him less than a day after arriving in this world? Besides, he didn't want to die of social embarrassment. He remembered a good friend of his who, after getting the contact information of a pretty girl, would only receive one or two messages from her—the kind that said "Haha," "Mm," or "I'm going to take a shower, talk later."

In the end, that guy ran over excitedly to tell him that the pretty girl must like him, otherwise, she wouldn't tell him such private things as when she was taking a shower.

At the time, Lu Qiming actually thought that guy had hit the jackpot and been chosen by someone, but after taking the phone and looking at the chat history, he realized the truth.

Good grief, his friend was sending hundreds of messages a day—all sorts of "I miss you," "Let's go eat something delicious," "I bought you this and that," or transfer records—only for the other party to accept the money and gifts with a clear conscience.

Yet, whenever his friend asked her out, she would use all sorts of excuses like not feeling well or being busy, or she would send a "I'm going to take a shower" at seven in the evening, only to reply at noon the next day with "I was so tired last night, I just woke up."

Lu Qiming handed the phone back to his friend directly and told him that she just saw him as a sucker and an ATM; he was just one of the many fish in her pond.

As a result, after hearing that, the guy roared at him in a rage, saying not to insult his goddess, that she was so pure, going to bed early every day and waking up the next afternoon—how could she possibly be stringing him along?

After saying that, the guy turned and left, claiming that since he had insulted his goddess, they were no longer friends.

Truly, a simp gets no good end; it is hard to save a simp with good words!

Thinking of this, Lu Qiming bit his lip hard, his eyes fixed on Eina with determination. He had to stay clear-headed—a wise man does not fall into the river of love!

"Lu Qiming, don't you know?"

Eina didn't notice Lu Qiming's strange movements and gaze. She pointed at his black hair and the stainless steel basin on his head and said, "You slaughtered many monsters on the upper floors of the Dungeon today, and many adventurers saw you. Everyone unanimously agrees that you are some unknown big shot."

"Huh? That's it?"

Lu Qiming never expected that Eina knew he had been fighting on the upper floors of the Dungeon because of this. In fact, he had been harboring a tiny bit of expectation just now, thinking that Eina was worried about a newbie like him and had secretly followed behind to protect him.

"Mm, otherwise how do you think I knew, Lu Qiming? You didn't think I went to the Dungeon to protect you in secret, did you?"

Eina looked at Lu Qiming with a playful smile, looking at him as if he were a naive little boy.

"No! Of course not! I was just curious how you knew, Eina. I definitely didn't think you were worried about me and went to the Dungeon to protect me in secret!"

"Alright, alright! It's my mistake for thinking so."

Although Eina said that, she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

"..."

Lu Qiming looked at Eina's smile, feeling as if sharp swords were piercing his heart. He raised his hand high, grabbed the stainless steel basin, and placed it in front of Eina.

"Hmph!"

Lu Qiming gave a light huff and turned his head slightly.

"Help me exchange these for Valis."

"Alright, alright."

Eina looked at the sulking Lu Qiming with a faint smile. She stopped teasing him and looked into the stainless steel basin.

"!!!"

She saw that the originally empty stainless steel basin was now filled with magic stones and various drops, shimmering with a strange purple light under the lamps.

"Lu... Lu Qiming, th-this is!"

Eina stammered as she pointed at the magic stones and drops in the stainless steel basin.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Qiming slowly turned his head and looked at Eina, who was pointing at his brother, the stainless steel basin.

"These are magic stones and drops, what else could they be?"

"But..."

Eina looked at the magic stones in the basin and then at the indifferent Lu Qiming. It wasn't that Eina hadn't seen more magic stones than this, but it was the first time she had seen a newly registered adventurer who hadn't even received a 'Blessing' manage to obtain so many magic stones on their first trip into the Dungeon.

From these drops and magic stones, Eina could roughly guess how many monsters Lu Qiming had killed in one afternoon. When other adventurers were discussing it, Eina had thought he had killed at most a few hundred monsters.

However, the magic stones and drops in the stainless steel basin in front of her required killing at least a thousand monsters to accumulate!

"No 'buts' about it. I can get even more magic stones tomorrow!"

Lu Qiming looked at the shocked Eina. On the surface, he looked calm, but he couldn't hide the pride in his eyes. One had to know that in the original story, the protagonist Bell, after receiving Hestia's blessing and adventuring in the Dungeon for half a month, only harvested a dozen or so magic stones a day.

Yet he had obtained 2,500 magic stones in just one afternoon, along with a pile of drops. Most importantly, he had exceeded the daily task quota he had set for himself, and all in a single afternoon.

At this rate, he might finish the task ahead of schedule in less than a year. As he hunted more monsters, his strength would increase faster, and his progress toward completing the task would accelerate accordingly.

At this moment, Eina's voice interrupted Lu Qiming's thoughts.

"Here, a total of one million Valis."

Eina handed Lu Qiming a small bag filled with 10,000-denomination Valis notes; this was the exchange for all of Lu Qiming's magic stones and drops.

"Thank you."

Lu Qiming smiled slightly, took the bag, and pulled out one Valis note to hand to Eina.

"Here, I said this morning I would pay you back tenfold. This is 10,000 Valis."

"No need, just give me one thousand Valis."

Eina smiled as she took the Valis Lu Qiming handed over, then pulled nine thousand Valis from her pocket and offered them back.

"Absolutely not (￣_,￣), I refuse!"

Lu Qiming pushed the Valis back toward Eina. He had been raised with the belief that a favor received should be repaid tenfold, and Eina was not only the second person he had met since arriving in this world, but she had also taken such good care of him.

Seeing the resolute expression on Lu Qiming's face, Eina said nothing more. She put the money away, turned to leave the counter, and walked over to his side.

"Since you insist, Lu Qiming, I won't refuse. But in that case, you have to join me for a meal—my treat."

"Food! Let's go, let's go!"

The moment Lu Qiming heard Eina mention food, he realized he hadn't eaten a single thing since morning. If it weren't for his current physique, which far surpassed that of an ordinary person—allowing him to fight for three days and nights without issue—he would have been starving long ago.