The black cat appeared again

An Elemental Fruit, a genuine Guyinduo Talent Fruit.

After eating it, he should gain the power to use ice.

He might not be very powerful at first, but the ability to turn his body into an element was already ridiculously potent in itself.

Eating it now would greatly improve his strength and safety.

If he were shot at, for example, turning himself into ice would boost his defenses considerably.

But the drawback was also obvious: this was only a low-grade Elemental Fruit.

Even if he could strengthen it later by eating Homologous Fruit, that would mean committing himself completely to one path.

If his future Warlock abilities worked well with the ice element, that would be fine. If not, the fruit would become far less useful.

Was trading the future for the present worth it?

Xu Le fell into thought.

With his old mindset, or if he had been making this choice two days ago, he would have eaten it without a second thought.

Trading the future for the present would absolutely have been worth it.

He understood that without surviving the early stages, there could be no later stages.

The problem was that his circumstances were now completely different from two days ago.

He had returned to Lighthouse, survived the Red Moon Calamity, and even become a Warlock!

Those changes meant he now had a reasonably safe environment.

Growing stronger might still be somewhat urgent, but it was nowhere near as pressing as before.

With some experience under his belt, he could spend a while developing safely in Lighthouse, learning about his abilities, the fruits, and supernatural powers.

Under these circumstances, should he still eat the fruit outright?

He did not know how much his soul could bear.

Of course, he hoped he could be like Chi Xiao and eat a second Talent Fruit.

But if his soul lacked that kind of capacity, eating the Ice Element Fruit would leave him with no way to undo his decision.

"I'm not eating it!"

Xu Le did not let himself agonize for long. He wrapped the fruit in a piece of clothing and put it in his pocket.

He knew this was a crude arrangement, but he had no other choice.

No money, no place, no resources.

He did not even know how to retrieve the Heart Energy fruits inside the Soul Tree.

For now, he could not do anything reckless with the Ice Element Fruit either. If danger arose, he might have to eat it at any moment.

So Xu Le was still in an awkward position.

He seemed to have gained all sorts of things: a Gundo Relic, Oddity remains, a large supply of Heart Energy fruits, a Talent Fruit-everything he could ask for.

But in practice, he could sell none of them for money.

He was still broke. Nothing had substantially changed.

Then again, he was not entirely penniless.

At least he still had an inheritance to collect.

"I should go withdraw the money now. At least I won't have to be this hard up."

Bang! Someone shoved the door open.

A somewhat burly man, about the same height as Xu Le, walked in.

It was Xu Le's roommate, Zheng Wen.

Although his name contained the character for scholarly refinement, his behavior was arrogant and overbearing.

Zheng Wen was not an ordinary Lighthouse University student. He was an athletic trainee.

There was a good chance he would go on to train for a warrior profession, such as Swordsman or Bladesman.

Whether he would succeed was another matter, but his fighting skills were in a league of their own in the dorm.

Despite his domineering manner, Zheng Wen treated his roommates fairly well, usually calling them his brothers.

Even though the original Xu Le had been unsociable and rather unpleasant.

Zheng Wen had rarely bullied him.

Of course, there had been contempt and disdain, and the original Xu Le had felt those emotions very clearly.

Nor had Zheng Wen been the only person who scorned and looked down on him.

That was why the original Xu Le had craved supernatural power so badly.

Zheng Wen visibly froze when he saw Xu Le. Not only had Xu Le survived, he had even returned before him. It was hard to believe.

"Exhausted. Going to sleep."

Showing little interest in conversation, he lay down on his bed after that brief greeting.

Xu Le moved his lips but said nothing.

He felt a sense of unfamiliarity toward all the people the original owner of his body had known.

Even with someone as familiar as Wang Man, he rarely spoke, much less Zheng Wen in front of him.

That unfamiliarity made it hard for him to communicate properly with these people.

It was as though they knew him, but he did not know them.

"Yeah. Get some rest."

In the end, Xu Le said only that. Yet those few words shattered Zheng Wen's composure, and he burst into tears on the bed.

His sobbing rooted Xu Le to the spot. For a moment, he had no idea what to say or what was happening.

"Xu Le, Lu Zhengyu and little De are gone. They died right in front of me. Why am I so weak?"

Only after hearing Zheng Wen's words did Xu Le understand why he was crying.

Lu Zhengyu and Zhang De were both their roommates.

From Zheng Wen's tone and condition, both of them had died last night!

Seeing a grown man crying like this, Xu Le had no idea how to comfort him.

"You already did well."

"No, I didn't. If I'd been a supernatural, they wouldn't have had to die."

With that, the tough, sturdy Zheng Wen pulled his blanket over his head and sobbed loudly.

Xu Le did not laugh at him. There was nothing funny about something like this.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

He quietly closed the door and left the room.

Perhaps he felt no real attachment to those roommates, but when a human being died in despair before him...

Xu Le would still feel some sorrow.

Humans were emotional creatures, after all.

Meow!

The sudden meow as he stepped outside made Xu Le flinch.

He looked toward the corridor railing. The black cat sat there, watching Xu Le.

Before, Xu Le really would have thought it was just an ordinary black cat.

But Chi Xiao's earlier reaction had been deeply suspicious.

Although Chi Xiao had asked about many people and events, thinking back on it, it almost seemed as though she had asked nothing at all.

Only when she heard about the black cat had Chi Xiao's attitude noticeably changed.

That made Xu Le even more afraid.

He did not know exactly how strong Chi Xiao was, but he knew very well that the fat Fourth, who had nearly wet himself upon seeing her, already possessed enough strength to crush him utterly.

So any creature that drew even Chi Xiao's attention could not be simple!

Xu Le stared warily at the black cat for a while.

"Are you some indescribable high-level Oddity? The kind that can turn into a cat?"

The black cat: "Meow? Meow, meow, meow!"

The black cat suddenly jumped down, startling Xu Le.

But it did nothing strange. It simply strolled slowly over to Xu Le's side.

It caught Xu Le's trouser leg with its two little black paws.

Meow!

Xu Le swore he had stayed on high alert the whole time.

But how could anyone refuse a cat clinging to them so pitifully?

"Don't-don't grab me like that. People might get the wrong idea."

Xu Le waved his hands, trying to make the black cat leave, but it remained unmoved and simply gazed up at him.

Its eyes made it look like a poor little abandoned thing.

"Stop looking. I, Xu Le, will never give in. How could I possibly associate with a dangerous creature of unknown origin like you? Impossible. Absolutely impossible."

Meow, meow, meow!

Dragging his greatsword with the black cat perched on his shoulder, Xu Le walked out of the Lighthouse University campus.

He was heading to Lighthouse Bank in the Upper City to withdraw Zhang Zhe's inheritance.

"Could you stop moving around?"

Meow.

The black cat rubbed against Xu Le, then pointed nearby. Xu Le followed its gesture and saw a food shop in the Upper City.

The shop mainly sold packaged foods.

Besides the usual snacks in paper packaging, it also carried canned food and dried fish.

But the price tag on the canned food made Xu Le's scalp prickle.

Canned cured pork: 3.59 yuan.

Zhou Ke's monthly salary was only twenty-five yuan, yet one can cost three yuan and fifty-nine cents. Someone from the Lower City like him could never afford it.

Xu Le gazed longingly at the canned food, while the black cat gazed longingly at Xu Le.

Meow.

"Where am I supposed to get the money to buy you canned food?"

After Xu Le spoke, the black cat pointed at the dried fish beside it.

Only then did Xu Le remember his promise to the black cat during the Red Moon Calamity: if he became a Warlock, he would buy it dried fish.

So... Xu Le glanced at the price.

Fuck. Nine yuan per jin of dried fish? Was this shit made of gold?

Those damned Upper City people. People in the Lower City struggled to feed themselves, yet dried fish here sold for nine yuan a jin.

Absurd! Absolutely, outrageously absurd.

Xu Le took another look at the dried fish.

Was he really going to buy it?

"Fine. A man keeps his word. Once I get the inheritance, I'll buy you some."

Meow.

Xu Le turned and headed deeper into the Upper City.

As he walked, Xu Le realized the school had not been the only place attacked during last night's Black Tide.

Large numbers of sanitation workers and Lighthouse Council government personnel lined both sides of the road, scrubbing the ground and repairing walls.

The signs of battle were not particularly dense, but one thing was certain: Oddities had definitely been here!

He was already farther into the city than the school. Lighthouse Bank stood ahead, and beyond the bank, up a stretch of stairs, was the High Tower.

"They actually fought their way this far in? What exactly happened last night?"

Xu Le looked toward the High Tower, which was no longer very far away.

The Lighthouse Council supposedly occupied one of the High Tower's floors, but to this day, no one knew what lay at the very top of the High Tower.

"Forget it. The Night Watchers and the Lighthouse Council will handle things like that."

After winding his way around, Xu Le finally reached the bank entrance.

There were not many people in the bank yet, but Xu Le could tell their numbers were growing.

Last night's disaster had left many families needing to withdraw money.

There would probably be plenty of funerals over the next few days.

At the counter, Xu Le took out some of Zhang Zhe's documents, including his teaching certificate, along with the certification the Night Watchers had issued him.

He did not have Zhang Zhe's identity card or bank card, but the Night Watchers had said these documents would be enough.

"I'm here to withdraw the money deposited by Zhang Zhe, a teacher at Lighthouse University. I don't have his identity card or bank card. Here are the documents from the Night Watchers. The PIN is 110626."

Xu Le handed over all the documents. The teller said little, merely shaking their head faintly upon seeing the notation that Zhang Zhe had died in the line of duty.

"He was a hero. May the light watch over you."

"Yes, he was a hero." Xu Le nodded.

"Mr. Zhang Zhe had a total of 1,150 yuan deposited. It's all been withdrawn. Here you are."

Xu Le hurriedly and carefully accepted the stack of money.

It consisted entirely of crisp, new ten-yuan Lighthouse banknotes. It was not a fortune, but it was not a small sum either.

During his lifetime, Zhang Zhe had often donated to the school and the Lower City orphanage, so despite being a university teacher, he had not saved much.

Still, to Xu Le, this was a considerable amount.

With the money in hand, Xu Le breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, that went smoothly. Next comes distributing the inheritance. If I handle it properly and fulfill Zhang Zhe's last wishes, I can obtain a Gundo Relic."

Meow!

"All right. Besides the relic, there's your dried fish."