bookbashuk Page 110
Page 110
Kato Megumi's stats are indeed somewhat outdated. If she were in a regular player team, she would definitely be the strongest. For most players at this stage, she is undoubtedly a high-end player.
However, her team is the strongest team, whose primary goal is always to complete the hidden main storyline and quests of the dungeon and obtain the highest level of completion rating and rewards. Naturally, she has to have even higher expectations for herself.
After Kato Megumi completed the clearance and settlement, the moment everyone was eagerly anticipating arrived.
Although Asagiri led the operation to eliminate Sato, it was Kotoko Iwanaga who truly destroyed Sato's spirit. Without her "Touch of the Dead," it would have been impossible to destroy Sato's spirit without killing him.
This is certainly a very important bonus point in the system's evaluation.
"The reward I customized... let me think..."
Just as Kotoko Iwanaga was pondering which reward to choose, a line of dark red system text appeared on her phone screen.
[Since you eliminated 'Player' Sato and have advanced player privileges, you can convert the rewards for this stage into special rewards.]
"Special reward?"
Upon seeing the system notification, Kotoko Iwanaga clicked "Confirm" without hesitation.
Her unique talent has a negative buff, preventing her from equipping most armor and weapons. Even though her physical abilities have been enhanced through multiple playthroughs, she still can't fully utilize them due to her disability. She is a student who is proficient in "weirdos" and only proficient in "weirdos," making her a serious one-sided student.
Even if Kotoko Iwanaga were given the choice, it would only be skills, accessories, or mental enhancements. It would be better to claim the special rewards that the system specifically prompted, since the goal of this game system is to make players stronger, and it wouldn't deliberately manipulate the rewards.
[Special Reward Obtained: Ability - Dark Particles]
[Dark Particles: Similar to the black particles produced when demi-humans create IBM or are resurrected, these are mysterious activated substances with curse attributes. Only those with sufficient mental strength can observe their existence.]
Creating jet-black particles will consume your mental energy; the amount of mental energy consumed is directly proportional to the amount of jet-black particles created.
[The jet-black particles possess extremely strong physical defense and complete immunity to curse-attribute attacks. When the jet-black particles take human form, they become similar to demi-human IBMs, capable of communicating with you through electromagnetic waves and obeying your commands. Simultaneously controlling multiple jet-black humanoids may place a severe burden on your mind; please use with caution.]
Seeing the above introduction, Kotoko Iwanaga was somewhat surprised, but not entirely unexpected.
After all, the hidden side quest "Eliminate Sato" in the Ajin instance is something that most people at this stage... no, this hidden quest might only be completed by a four-person team.
To complete this task, you first need the strength to restrict Sato's movements without killing him. This requirement alone eliminates most players.
Secondly, one must have the means to destroy Sato's soul or spirit. Even Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, and Kato Megumi at the time did not possess such an ability.
Even though the first two conditions were met, Sato still launched a surprise attack by swallowing the bomb in advance, which led to the depletion of the "Inverted Pocket Watch".
The strongest player team at this stage went through great lengths and even sacrificed a red epic-level one-time item, so the reward they received was certainly not trash.
But when she saw the last paragraph describing the ability, Kotoko Iwanaga finally understood that it wasn't just some valuable ability, but something for her...
A tailor-made reward.
[Black Particle Regeneration and Repair: Due to the special properties of black particles, you can create them by consuming mental energy, allowing any part of your body to repair and regenerate. When using this ability on someone other than yourself, it can only repair wounds within a certain limit, such as reattaching severed limbs; it cannot directly repair or regenerate.]
"Repair and regeneration..."
Upon seeing this introduction, Asuna Yuuki was taken aback for a moment, then grasped Kotoko Iwanaga's shoulder and said with a joyful expression.
"That's great! Now you can get your physical disability repaired!"
Even Kato Megumi, who rarely showed her emotions, couldn't help but feel happy for Iwanaga Kotoko and smiled.
However, Kotoko Iwanaga, the person involved, seemed to be hesitating about something.
She looked at Asagiri sitting there and tentatively asked.
"Speaking of which... having only one eye and one leg is one of my charms as a cute girl. So, after I repaired my body... your affection for me will decrease, won't it?"
Upon hearing this, both Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato were speechless.
What kind of ultimate love-struck brain is this? What kind of abstract thought process is this?
So all that fuss was about this?
48
Chapter 48: The Xiuzhiyuan Academy, a place renowned for its talented individuals.
"What kind of strange question is that now?"
Even Asagiri was taken aback by Kotoko Iwanaga's remarks, and immediately waved his hand, speaking with righteous indignation.
"Putting aside the fact that my XP isn't that strange, even if it were, your body is the most important thing. How could I possibly refuse to let you use the black particles to repair your body?"
Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Kotoko Iwanaga's purplish-blue eyes revealed a look of emotion. Her face flushed slightly as she was about to say something, but Asagiri immediately followed up with a serious tone.
"Besides, shouldn't your main appeal be the contrast between your middle-aged, lecherous jokes and your incredibly flat, 1.5-meter-tall loli-like figure?"
"Pfft."
Upon hearing this, Kato Megumi couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha... Absolutely amazing... It sounds like the slogan from those front-loading washing machine commercials... Hahahaha..."
Seeing this, Kotoko Iwanaga muttered under her breath, her cheeks puffed out.
"Your sense of humor is so weird... It's not that funny..."
"Sorry sorry."
Kato Megumi raised her hand to wipe away the tears that had welled up in her eyes from laughing too happily, and looked at Iwanaga Kotoko with a very serious apology.
“I shouldn’t have laughed at your physical defects. You must have felt bad too. I won’t do it again.”
Kotoko Iwanaga clenched her fist and waved it, her face flushed red with anger.
"Hey, don't apologize so formally! It's making it even harder for me to handle!"
After joking around with the three men for a while, Kotoko Iwanaga breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she was usually fearless, a look of tension appeared in her eyes.
She raised her delicate white hand and removed the prosthetic eye from her right eye socket, revealing a dark, empty hole.
This was the first time that Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato had seen Kotoko Iwanaga with her prosthetic eye removed, but they did not react with disgust or disdain. Instead, they seemed very distressed. Asuna Yuuki, who always liked to bicker with Kotoko Iwanaga, sat down next to her, gently placed her hand on her shoulder, and said in a gentle tone.
"let's start."
"Ah."
Hearing Yuuki Asuna's gentle words, Iwanaga Kotoko no longer had her usual fierce, devilish aura.
She first raised her left knee, then took a few deep breaths before using her newly acquired ability.
Like the black particles that only appear when a demi-human is resurrected and repairing their body, they appeared at the broken part of her left knee and in the hole of her right eye. In less than a second, before the four people present could react, the repair was already complete.
"Huh? Is that all?"
Kotoko Iwanaga raised her hand and tried to gently touch her right eye, then let out a cute cry of pain.
"Ouch, that hurts a little."
"It's really grown?"
Seeing that Kotoko Iwanaga's right eye and left leg had grown back in an instant, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but show a look of surprise, and then murmured.
"But this ability should be best given to warriors who are frequently injured or even suffer limb fractures... Is the system so kind as to reward you with this ability just to help you repair your body?"
Faced with Asuna Yuuki's question, Kotoko Iwanaga was also somewhat puzzled. After all, her profession was a sorcerer, not a melee fighter. While it was true that having compensated for her physical disability of having only one eye and one leg made movement easier, it was hard to say how it would improve her combat ability...
Just then, Asagiri suddenly spoke.
"Take a look at your unique talent."
"A unique talent? Eh... my unique talent..."
Kotoko Iwanaga glanced at her phone and said with a surprised expression.
"All the negative effects of my unique talent have disappeared?"
The section below Kotoko Iwanaga's exclusive talent description, which originally stated "[Negative effects: Unable to master any skills or passive skills except for the "Strange" type; unable to activate any skills when stamina is too low; unable to equip most weapons and armor; unable to unlock any classes except for the "Strange" type]," has now completely disappeared.
"After my body was restored to its original state, the negative effects of my unique talent also disappeared... That is indeed a significant enhancement."
Listening to Kotoko Iwanaga's murmurs, Asagiri chuckled.
"The fact that you can grow legs is already a huge improvement. Don't expect to get a prosthetic limb every time you enter a dungeon. Your drop rate is way too high. You're practically the person with the highest prosthetic limb consumption rate in the world."
Asagiri's sudden abstract words made Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi laugh out loud. Even Iwanaga Kotoko herself couldn't help but laugh, since the image of her hopping on one leg every time her prosthetic leg broke was just too comical.
"That's true. It would indeed be unladylike for an elegant young lady like me to hop on one leg."
Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki shook her head helplessly and couldn't help but complain.
"You can only be called an elegant young lady when you don't speak, right? You and Asagiri are the same type. You are both so good-looking, but as soon as you start talking, your abstract nature makes people ignore your good looks. I really don't know if this is a strength or a weakness."
Kato Megumi then thought of something and tentatively asked.
"Kotoko, you gave up your right eye and left leg because you wanted to become the goddess of wisdom for the yokai, right? Now that you've recovered... will they no longer recognize your identity as the goddess of wisdom?"
"Will not."
Kotoko Iwanaga waved her hand and said with a smile.
“Indeed, the price I paid to become a god was to give up my right eye and left leg, transforming from a human into a one-eyed, one-legged god of wisdom. But I had already given up once. Although I have regained my limbs, it doesn't change the fact that I have already paid the price, and…”
Kotoko Iwanaga paused slightly before speaking softly.
"The price I paid to become the God of Wisdom was not set by the monsters; they do not have such power. If I had to say, it would probably be a kind of constraint, like a rule. If the monsters knew that I had regained my right eye and left leg, they would only be happy for me."
Kato Megumi breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Ah That's good."
"Alright, let's call it a day for now."
Kotoko Iwanaga jumped up from the sofa, ran to Asagiri's side, rested her head on his shoulder, a sweet smile on her face, but her words were as abstract as ever.
"Hurry, hurry! I need to quickly try out what amazing things I can do now that my body is fully recovered. I want my lovely boyfriend to help me test my flexibility and endurance. You guys should go back now~"
Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki's face showed displeasure, and she spoke frankly.
"You're such a lecherous bastard! I think you don't even respect me!"
"What? You want to come too?"
"Forehead……"
Seeing Yuuki Asuna's flushed face and speechless expression, Iwanaga Kotoko felt smug.
She has finally found a way to deal with Asuna Yuuki.
Normally, when they bicker, they are evenly matched, each winning and losing. But once the topic turns to this, Kotoko Iwanaga will use her absolute shamelessness to completely break down Asuna Yuuki's psychological defenses, leaving her too embarrassed to even respond.
"Hmph, Violet is nothing more than a cheap imitation."
Asuna Yuuki rolled her eyes and said irritably.
"Why are you starting to mimic his speech?"
"Alright, that's enough for the two of them."
Asagiri stood up, stretched, and then smiled.
"Go home and get some rest early tonight, and don't forget, after you go to school tomorrow..."
"There are still three tough opponents waiting for us."
……
The following morning, in the classroom of Class 1-B at the private Shuchiin Academy.
Good morning, tomorrow!
Hearing that sweet voice, deliberately drawn out with a smile, Asuna Yuuki, who was reviewing her lessons, couldn't help but feel a tremor in her heart. When she looked up, she saw Chika Fujiwara staring at her with a pure and sweet smile.
"Sen... Senka..."
For some reason, although Asuna Yuuki already knew that Chika Fujiwara might be a player, when it was actually confirmed and the unspoken understanding between them was broken, she actually felt a little nervous when facing Chika Fujiwara.
"Why hasn't Utsunomiya-san removed me from the blacklist yet?"
To Asuna Yuuki's surprise, Chika Fujiwara had no intention of bringing up the game at all. Instead, she sat backwards in her seat, resting her arms on Asuna Yuuki's desk and chin on it, a pouty expression on her cute face.
"It's just a harassing email, it's been several days, shouldn't they release me by now?"
Seeing Fujiwara Chika's quiet complaint, Yuuki Asuna relaxed and then couldn't help but chuckle.
"Why do you have to email him? You two have no connection and there's no need for you to contact each other."
"That's a bad word."
Fujiwara Chika waved her hand, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and pretended to be an old man.