Shui Bing'er's Affection

The Soul Power pulsing within Shui Bing'er's body sparked a keen interest in the necklace in the box before her.

She even wanted to have it, so badly that she wished she could put it on and study it immediately. But his reason told her that she could not casually accept it!

Shui Bing'er steadied herself, suppressed the Soul Power within her, and closed the box.

"Brother Feng, this is too valuable. I can't accept it!" Shui Bing'er held the box out to Feng Xiaotian again. Though she did not know what the item inside did, she knew it had to be extraordinary and extremely valuable.

She really wanted it and was full of curiosity about the necklace, but her heart told her she could not accept such a favor from him for no reason.

Feng Xiaotian had known all along that giving a goddess a gift would not be so easy.

That was especially true of a goddess like Shui Bing'er. Not only was she beautiful, but her heart was even more beautiful. She was a rare, extraordinary woman in Douluo.

He recalled how the Douluo novel had described and appraised her. Shui Bing'er was calm and composed, adept at keeping herself in check. Neither joy nor anger showed on her face, and she never let her moods override her reason. She was wise and exceptionally kind, unwilling to accept defeat, yet not the sort to resort to any means to win. Nor was she willing to hurt her opponents in a match.

This was Shui Bing'er, the real Shui Bing'er. Perhaps she had yet to develop all those traits to the extent she would have during the Soul Master Tournament in the novel, but she was already heading in that direction.

But Shui Bing'er was not yet the person she would be four years later. At fifteen, she was still a young girl. If he did not make his move now, when would he?

Feng Xiaotian smiled. "Little Sister Bing'er, since I said it was a gift, it's yours. Besides, I can't use it. It might be very useful to an ice-attribute Soul Master like you."

"This..." Shui Bing'er hesitated. Perhaps the item really would be very useful to her.

Feng Xiaotian continued, "I saw this item at a small auction a few years ago. I thought it was extraordinary, so I bought it for a hundred Gold Soul Coins. Unfortunately, I'm not an ice-attribute Soul Master, so I couldn't figure out exactly what it does. If you don't want to take advantage of me, Little Sister Bing'er, just pay me a hundred Gold Soul Coins. Consider it me passing it on to you."

A hundred Gold Soul Coins was a fortune to an ordinary person.

But to Soul Elders like Feng Xiaotian and the others, it was not much, a month's wages at most.

After all, once someone became a Soul Elder, they could go to Spirit Hall and collect a monthly allowance of a hundred Gold Soul Coins.

As for Feng Xiaotian himself, he had become a Soul Elder at thirteen and was now twenty. He had collected the allowance for seven years, receiving over eight thousand Gold Soul Coins. He still had seven thousand saved, making him a man of modest wealth.

In the past, some Soul Masters who had no desire to better themselves and were content to enjoy life wanted to remain at the Soul Master stage for the rest of their lives. It was not because they lacked talent, but because of the monthly allowance of a hundred Gold Soul Coins.

It was because such people existed that Spirit Hall later introduced a new policy: after reaching the Soul Elder rank, one could collect the allowance for ten years at most. Even if one was still a Soul Elder after ten years, no further allowance would be given.

A hundred Gold Soul Coins was not much, and Shui Bing'er naturally had that much.

Hearing Feng Xiaotian's explanation, Shui Bing'er thought it made sense. If it had cost him a great deal, could he have so readily given it to her as a gift?

Having thought it through, Shui Bing'er immediately took out a pouch of Gold Soul Coins. "All right, let's do as you say, Brother Feng. I can't let you take a loss either."

Feng Xiaotian made no pretense of refusing the small pouch of Gold Soul Coins she handed him. He reached out and took it.

He hefted it. There were about two hundred Gold Soul Coins.

By rights, he should have returned some of them. But if they kept going back and forth like this, who knew what giving her a gift would turn into? Since Shui Bing'er was willing to accept it, he had achieved his goal of spending on a goddess.

Feng Xiaotian simply put the pouch away and smiled. "Looks like I'm the one who came out ahead!"

With that, Feng Xiaotian stepped back, and Shui Bing'er put the box into her Soul Tool.

At that moment, Feng Xiaotian finally heard the system's voice.

[Ding... Congratulations, host. You have successfully spent 50,000 Simp Coins on a goddess. Your commission of 5,000 Simp Coins has been credited.]

[System notification: If the host sells items exchanged for Simp Coins to a goddess at a low price to gain a profit, the host will be unable to receive a system rebate!]

[Since this is the host's first time using the system and the host was unaware of this, you may still receive 5,000 Simp Coins this time!]

This... Fine, you're the system, so you call the shots! Feng Xiaotian thought. At least it had let him keep the coins; otherwise, his efforts just now would truly have been wasted.

[Ding... Congratulations, host, on spending on a goddess. Shui Bing'er's affection +1. Her current affection for the host is 0.]

What? System, only one point of affection? Could it be that Shui Bing'er didn't have any affection for me before this? It only reached zero after increasing by one. Doesn't that mean Shui Bing'er had no affection for me at all before, and even disliked me a little?

[The host is correct. Affection above 60 means the other party has begun to like the host. Above 80 means the other party has fallen in love with the host. Above 90 means she will marry no one but the host in this life and will never betray him. She will unconditionally support anything the host does!]

I understand. I can become stronger by winning over goddesses, earning Simp Coins, and exchanging them for system items! And the more a goddess likes you, the less likely she is to refuse what you spend on her, letting you earn even more Simp Coins. That's why I have to spend on goddesses and win them over, Feng Xiaotian thought.

But thinking of the system's notification, winning over goddesses had become even harder. He could not spend on a goddess in the way he just had.

In fact, Feng Xiaotian had only wanted Shui Bing'er to accept it quickly and had not considered that point. But if it had worked, spending on goddesses would have been easy.

Exchange items and sell them to goddesses on the cheap-wouldn't that be wonderful?

That method clearly would not work. Otherwise, he could have exploited the system's bug over and over, and that would have been that.

Give a goddess an item worth several million or tens of millions, and wouldn't he make a fortune too?

The system's purpose was simply to spend Simp Coins on goddesses in the manner of a simp. That was the proper way to use it.

Shui Mingyu exchanged a few more pleasantries with Cheng Cheng, then took Shui Bing'er back to Skywater Academy's carriage.

The people from Godwind Academy began to rest and eat lunch.

Afterward, the two academies' convoys nearly joined as one, with Godwind Academy in front and Skywater Academy behind as they headed toward Blazing Fire Academy.

Inside the carriage, Shui Yue'er tugged at Shui Bing'er and asked curiously, "Sister, what did he give you? You even gave that guy so many Gold Soul Coins."

Shui Bing'er took out the box again and said seriously, "This might be a great help to my cultivation."

"Then why don't you try it, Sister? If it isn't worth that much, you'd be better off returning it sooner. That was two hundred Gold Soul Coins! You know, I can only collect ten Gold Soul Coins a month from Spirit Hall," Shui Yue'er said.

Shui Bing'er looked at Shui Yue'er with a smile. "Then you'd better work hard, Yue'er. You're only level twenty-eight right now. If you don't put in more effort, you'll only be able to take part in the Advanced Soul Master Tournament after next."

"No, I want to take part with you and the others, Sister. I don't want to wait until the one after next!" Shui Yue'er said with a pout.

(End of chapter)