Upon seeing this message, Tsubame immediately became happy:
"Then I'm relieved! I was worried about Momo being in danger alone."
Natsuki: "I'm going to protect Momo-senpai. Even if there's no merit, there's hard work. How do you plan to reward me, Tsubame-senpai?"
Tsubame: "No reward."
Natsuki: "Give me another maid service ticket."
Tsubame: "There won't be a second one. Since it's a commission from the Strange Tales Management Bureau, the reward will definitely be given to you by the Strange Tales Management Bureau."
Natsuki: "Tsk, Tsubame-senpai has gotten smarter."
Tsubame: "..."
Next, Natsuki asked about Aoi's mother's current situation and received good news: after long-term counseling and psychological treatment, Aoi's mother had mostly recovered and could be discharged after a period of recuperation.
It's decided.
While there were still a few days before school started, he would take his daughter to the sea for a trip, enjoying the last bit of their happy vacation. When her biological mother recovered and was discharged, Aoi would naturally return to her biological mother's side.
After discussing the sea trip arrangements with Tsubame, the two stopped chatting.
But it wasn't over yet.
Natsuki hadn't rested yet and continued to send messages to Juju, Shoko, Marin, Haruno, and other girls. In short, being a scumbag is not easy.
After sending a round of messages, Natsuki checked the Time; it was already eleven o'clock at night. Finally, he sent a message to Hayasaka.
"Ai-chan, are you asleep?"
Hayasaka: "Already asleep."
Natsuki: "You're asleep and can still reply to messages?"
Hayasaka: "I'm sorry, this is an automatic reply. Please leave a message if you have something."
Natsuki: "So many of you in one room, a night raid is really too dangerous... Why don't you sneak over?"
Hayasaka: "President should go to bed early. You can have anything in your dreams, you know."
He actually wants me to actively throw myself into his arms? The perverted president is dreaming!
Players' sleep is always very light; they wake up at the slightest disturbance. If I quietly got up and snuck to the next room, it would take at least an hour to come back, and Kaguya would 100% discover me, right?
Although I like to secretly eat behind Kaguya's back, doing it in front of Kaguya is not called 'secretly eating,' but rather 'cuckolding' her face-to-face.
Natsuki smiled and said:
"Since Ai-chan said so, then I'll go take advantage of you in your dreams."
Hayasaka: "What does president want to do?"
Natsuki: "The Dream Link skill is getting more and more proficient. I'll take you to experience it tonight."
Hayasaka: "...Perverted president, even zombies opening your skull would shake their heads and sigh. There's nothing inside but lewd."
Some people, mastering a few seconds of Time Stop, want to rule the world. Some people, stopping time for half a day at every turn, only use it for lewd things. That's the president.
"That's right, that's me." Natsuki said shamelessly, "I'm just an ordinary high school student, after all. I'm not like Lelouch, carrying national hatred and family grudges. I just want to do things ordinary people love to do. It's very reasonable and normal, isn't it?"
"If you don't believe me, start a poll on Twitter. If ten men gain Time Stop ability, nine will want to use it for lewd things."
Hayasaka: "..."
Natsuki continued to send messages:
"So, Ai-chan, do you choose the lucid dream mode or the regular dream mode?"
Hayasaka naturally knew the difference between lucid dreams and regular dreams, but she was unwilling to give in easily:
"I'm sorry, I choose to stay up all night today."
Natsuki sent a message: "Look at the scenery outside the window."
Hayasaka: "Idiot president, in the middle of the night, it's pitch black outside, where is there any scenery... Eh?"
While complaining, she turned her head to look out the window, and Hayasaka suddenly widened her eyes.
Through the gap in the curtains, a ray of bright sunlight clearly streamed in.
"What... is going on?!"
Hayasaka's beautiful eyes were wide open, still in shock, when she suddenly heard Natsuki's voice beside her ear:
"Check again if your phone has a signal."
Hayasaka quickly lowered her head and looked at her phone, only to discover with surprise that although she had been sending messages, her phone had no signal at all.
"Wait." Hayasaka turned her head to look at Natsuki behind her, unable to help but complain, "This ability is too exaggerated!"
To be pulled into a dream without any awareness, the intensity was clearly over the top!
"Actually, it's not that exaggerated." Natsuki walked to Hayasaka's side. "First, Dream Link can only be used on people who are asleep. Second, if the behavior in the dream is too excessive, it will cause repulsion from your subconscious. When the repulsion reaches a certain limit, the Dream Link will naturally break."
Hayasaka gently furrowed her delicate brows, asking in confusion:
"When did I fall asleep?"
"I don't know." Natsuki shook his head. "Anyway, when I used Dream Link, you were clearly already asleep."
Hayasaka: "..."
People can remember the moment they wake up from a dream, but no matter what, they cannot remember when they entered the dream. It doesn't seem strange that one's real self falls asleep unknowingly.
Slap!
Hayasaka slapped away Natsuki's wandering hand, then stood up to smooth her skirt, humming softly, "Even if it's just a dream, the perverted president shouldn't think he can do whatever he wants."
"Of course not." Natsuki said solemnly, "If I wanted to do whatever I wanted, you wouldn't be conscious right now."
"Tch."
Hayasaka pouted slightly, walked to the window, and opened it. A fresh, moist sea breeze immediately blew in.
Outside the window was a clear blue sea and sky, coconut trees with dappled shadows swaying in the breeze, seagulls circling in the sky, and a golden crescent beach, together forming a summer sea landscape.
"President, where is this place?"
Hayasaka looked around, feeling a strange sense of familiarity, but couldn't quite place it.
Natsuki said softly:
"This is where the dream began."
Hayasaka crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head, looking over:
"President, speak in plain language."
Natsuki extended his right hand and smiled:
"Go for a walk outside, and you'll naturally know where this place is."
"Hmph~"
Hayasaka hummed softly, initially intending to refuse, but then reconsidered. Since it was a dream with only two people, holding hands was perfectly fine. She then extended her right hand, allowing Natsuki to grasp it, and the two left the hotel together.
The sea breeze was gentle.
The summer was scorching.
Because it was a dream, it seemed as if only Natsuki and Hayasaka were on the island, making the entire small island exceptionally quiet.
Walking along the sea on the soft golden sand, Hayasaka felt the sense of familiarity growing stronger and stronger, until she saw several small sightseeing yachts docked at the sea pier. A realization suddenly dawned on Hayasaka:
"Is it the island from the Summer Time Rendering instance?"
"Correct answer." Natsuki smiled, "That's why I said it's where the dream began."
"Tch."
Hayasaka's pretty face flushed slightly, and she lifted her right leg, stomping hard on Natsuki's foot.
The instance "Summer Time Rendering" had, unknowingly, become content from a million words ago. At that time, the time on the island was constantly being reset by Hiruko no Kami. Hayasaka wanted to play a prank, leaving a diary for her next loop's self, stating that she had already tasted the forbidden fruit with Natsuki. Since memories would disappear after the reset, there was no need to take responsibility. In the end, she ended up tricking herself.
Natsuki said softly:
"Shall we take another sightseeing yacht ride?"
Hayasaka's pretty face flushed slightly: "Sorry, I get seasick."
Natsuki then said:
"There's no one else in the dream, so on the beach, we could actually…"
Thump!
Hayasaka delivered an elbow strike, bit her lollipop with a crunch, and said with a dangerous smile:
"President, you really want to die once, don't you?"
Just then, a familiar voice suddenly called out:
"President, Ai-chan!"
Natsuki and Hayasaka looked in the direction of the voice and saw secretary Chika, with a dark black bow tied on her forehead, waving and running along the beach.
"What's going on?" Hayasaka was slightly startled, turning to look at Natsuki, "Didn't President say there were only the two of us in the dream?"
Natsuki mused:
"Theoretically, that's correct. However, if the brainwave frequencies of both parties align, there's a possibility of dream fusion."
Hayasaka was half-believing, half-doubting this explanation, as the right to explain everything was entirely in Natsuki's hands.
"So, so tired…" As she spoke, Chika ran up to them, panting, and said tearfully, "We were supposed to come on vacation together, but when I woke up, everyone on the island was gone! I quickly came out and have been running around, and finally found President and Ai-chan."
Hayasaka blinked, looked up at Natsuki, and asked in a low voice:
"Subconscious mode?"
Natsuki nodded slightly:
"Dreams that accidentally fuse in should all be in a subconscious state."
"Then it's fine." Hayasaka's lips curved upwards slightly, and she began to babble, "Don't worry, the active volcano on the small island is about to erupt, so everyone has gone out to the sea by boat to escape the disaster."
"Eh?" Chika widened her eyes, "Then why are we staying here?"
Hayasaka said solemnly:
"Because the experts then said that the volcano suddenly showed no signs of erupting, so we don't need to worry… Oh, it's so hot, why don't we take off our clothes?"
"That's true."
Chika, in her subconscious state, nodded blankly, unbuttoned her pajamas, and took them off.
So white.
Natsuki instinctively narrowed his eyes, feeling it was dazzlingly white.
"Tch…"
Hayasaka's gaze lingered on a certain fatty area for two seconds, then she hummed almost imperceptibly:
"Chika-chan, where's your underwear?"
"Underwear… it's gone?" Chika looked down, "Anyway, only President and Ai-chan are on the island, so it doesn't matter if I don't wear underwear."
Hayasaka said speechlessly:
"Even if your underwear is gone, you can still wear a swimsuit, right?"
Chika blinked blankly, as if experiencing some network delay. After several seconds, she finally put her hands on her hips, lifted her head, and puffed out her chest:
"I don't want to wear it. I want to sunbathe naked."
Hayasaka: "…"
"President, you also said you wanted to sunbathe, right?" Chika tilted her head and looked over, "Hurry up and take off your clothes."
Natsuki pondered for two seconds, then decisively made his decision and began to undress:
"Then let's sunbathe together."
Hayasaka: "…"
No need to say more about what happened next.
This was a dream world, not reality, so there was naturally no possibility of exposure. Natsuki and Chika sunbathed, while Hayasaka only wanted to wear a swimsuit and completely refused nude bathing.
Amidst their pulling and tugging, Natsuki successfully got what he wanted.
Hayasaka had originally wanted to firmly refuse, but in the dream, apart from pain, her other senses were no different from reality.
Before long, Hayasaka felt her head spinning. In a hazy state, she seemed to see Natsuki pull Chika over and then stack her on top of her…
A night without words.
The next day.
Natsuki woke up at only half past six, but the sky outside was already completely bright.
"Whew…"
Natsuki pulled open the curtains, opened the window, and let the fresh morning breeze blow in. After several deep breaths, he turned and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up.
"First, the daily Blind Box…"
Natsuki bought today's surprise Blind Box while brushing his teeth and washing up.
He casually opened it, and two red hair ties appeared in Natsuki's palm.
[Item: Twin-tail Hair Tie]
[Category: Accessory]
[Attribute: In all martial arts, speed is paramount. When you use this hair tie to style your hair into twin tails, you will gain an additional attack speed bonus.]
[Note: Please note, according to relativity, the effect of speed is relative, so when you are subjected to a special attack, you will also receive an attack speed bonus.]
"Tsk~"
After reading the attribute description, Natsuki was truly speechless.
The attributes seemed proper at first glance, but what was with that note that clearly wasn't proper at all?
It would easily make people think crooked thoughts!
This item was not useless, but it certainly wasn't very useful either, belonging to the most common type of useless items found in blind boxes.
"As for who it would be suitable for…"
Kaguya's appearance immediately came to Natsuki's mind, followed by Yukino's serious face.
"It's decided."
Natsuki silently put away the twin-tail ribbons that could increase attack speed:
"When I get back, I'll let Marin try it out."
After washing up.
Natsuki wiped his face with a towel and then looked at the rotating mall again.
"If I remember correctly, the items in the mall should have refreshed…"
There were only two modes in the game mall in total.
One was the daily Blind Box, which any player who cleared an instance could afford. However, what items could be opened depended entirely on luck, serving as the ultimate test for the lucky and the unlucky.
Unfortunately, most players in reality were neither lucky nor unlucky; they were just ordinary people.
As ordinary people, after painstakingly clearing instances and saving up some game coins, they naturally chose to play it safe.
Thus, the weekly rotating shop in the mall appeared. After several adjustments, it had now stabilized to refresh once every seven days. It usually refreshed with basic attributes, items, equipment, and even skills, etc. The prices were not uniform, depending on the value of the item, but they were definitely more expensive than the daily Blind Box. The advantage was that they were clearly priced and fair to all.
Natsuki was not mistaken; the rotating shop did indeed refresh today.
Casually opening the rotating shop, Natsuki merely glanced at it, and his gaze suddenly froze:
"…Golden Skill?!"
Natsuki took a deep breath, washed his face with water again, and quickly confirmed that he wasn't seeing things.
A skill card emitting golden light had appeared in the rotating shop, and the skill icon looked somewhat like a Mobius strip.
It wasn't easy.
An entire summer vacation had passed, and finally, a Golden Skill-level skill had appeared again. It really wasn't easy at all!
[Skill: Quantum Polarity Reversal]
[Level: Golden Skill]
[Type: Active Skill]
[Attribute: All things in the world exist in quantum fields. In the quantum realm, good and bad can be redefined. In short, whenever you are affected by a negative status, you can convert the negative status into a positive buff through quantum interference.]
[Note: I am the Quantum Entanglement God!]
"Tsk~"
Natsuki took a light breath after reading the skill description.
The skill description wasn't long, but the amount of information it contained could be said to be explosive.
The quantum realm was too profound, an unknown field that a high school student had never ventured into and could be ignored. However, the effect of polarity reversal was understandable even to a child—
Any negative debuff could be converted into a positive buff through quantum interference.
At first glance, it seemed like just a support ability, but when combined with other abilities, it could turn decay into wonder.
To give a simple example.
Dealing 1,000 damage to an enemy damages oneself by eight hundred, but if it's paired with Polarity Reversal, can one injure others while simultaneously recovering health?
And there's the Barbarian skill, often complained about by players, which increases basic attributes upon activation but halves mental power, turning the user into a brute. But if it's paired with Polarity Reversal, can it transform into a super-intelligent Barbarian?
Natsuki was very interested, and more and more questions arose in his mind.
Does the ability have a cooldown?
What is the limit of the transformation?
Can it help teammates transform negative statuses on their bodies?
The items listed in the rotating store only have simple information descriptions. To know the answers, one can only buy them and verify and research them one by one.
Natsuki's gaze shifted downwards, falling to the bottom of the Golden Skill Skill Card.
[Price: 5000 game coins]
The other few items next to it ranged in price from tens to hundreds of game coins, but compared to the Golden Skill Skill Card, they instantly paled in comparison, losing their luster.
"A whopping 5000 game coins, that really is an exorbitant price..."
Natsuki sighed.
Seeing the price at the very bottom, presumably ninety-nine percent of players would let out a desperate sigh of longing but unattainability.
After players clear a dungeon, they will receive game coin rewards based on their overall performance, typically ranging from tens to hundreds of game coins. It seems that if one saves diligently, Golden Skill is not a dream.
But don't forget, no one can go without eating or drinking, and similarly, no player can be completely stingy. Daily Blind Box, equipment, basic attributes, and so on... there are simply too many tempting things.
Furthermore, to date, the game still prohibits transactions of game coins between players, and there are no top-up channels whatsoever. It strives for fairness, preventing 'pay-to-win' players from cheating, so basically no one would possess a huge sum of 5000 game coins.
"However..."
Natsuki's face showed a smile: "I just happen to be an exception."
The game coins he had saved for so long could finally be put to use.
Natsuki did not hesitate, concentrating his thoughts.
"...Confirm purchase!"
A golden holy light appeared out of thin air in the room, followed by a golden skill card that quietly appeared, floating in front of Natsuki.
Natsuki extended a finger and gently touched the card.
The moment of contact, the Golden Skill Skill Card transformed into countless golden particles, flying into Natsuki's body.