Let them print cards, not slay gods 35

Chapter 35: Alice’s Expertise in Bargaining (Please Subscribe!)

The time regulator has a limited range of adjustment.

If other Soul Cards appear within the regulator’s range, to prevent the Fate Card Master’s Soul Cards from being exposed, the regulator’s effect will automatically become invalid, and a warning will be sent to both Fate Card Masters simultaneously.

This alert is similar to the alert for a Soul Card nearing death; both have sharp, piercing notification sounds.

However, possibly due to Shen Sui being in a duel at the time, the Dueling Instrument automatically muted this alert.

Damn!

Shen Sui was frantic.

He wasn’t worried about Alice being in any danger.

Currently, the only other Soul Card he knew of on Dawn Continent was Isabella.

Recalling now, it seemed Xin Yuan Tan Chun had mentioned that because Modena City was destroyed, Isabella wasn’t in a good mood, and she was advised to go shopping in Emerald City to relieve stress.

And Alice was currently selling the gems from his lake-side storage box in Emerald City.

A cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Just moments ago it felt like midsummer, but now he felt as if he’d fallen into an ice cave.

Alice! Don’t expose me!

Although, with Shen Sui’s strength on Dawn Continent, even if Isabella really wanted to pull out a cleaver and question where he’d run off to for the past thousand years, he wouldn’t be afraid. However, he couldn’t yet determine Isabella’s current stance. After all, the legendary Paris (a historical reference to a betrayer) had betrayed the Day, yet now she’s touted as the Day’s most loyal knight.

He feared the betrayal of a comrade.

A thousand years is a long time, long enough to change everything.

Even for Isabella, an immortal vampire ancestor.

Look, hasn’t her figure changed? Before, she was clearly a perpetually flat-chested loli, but now, looking at the Soul Card illustration in Xin Yuan Tan Chun’s hand, she’s a total bombshell.

Therefore, before investigating the changes and stances of these former in-game comrade NPCs, Shen Sui wasn’t planning to reveal his identity.

[Alice arrived in Emerald City. She found a street dedicated to gemstone stalls and set up shop, displaying the gems from your storage box.]

[Your eye for gems is excellent. The gems you preserved from back then are all high-quality, and even without much magical power, they are quite popular.]

[Alice made a substantial profit.]

[A beautiful woman approached Alice’s stall. She took a liking to a ruby that wasn’t particularly pretty in appearance.]

[Where did you get this gem? The woman’s gaze swept over Alice.]

[Alice keenly sensed the woman’s strangeness.]

[Lake Paynga.]

[So it’s from Lake Paynga.]

[The woman murmured.]

[She sat opposite Alice, chatting like old friends, and told Alice her story.]

[Her name is Isabella.]

Damn! What I feared most happened!

Shen Sui almost dropped his Dueling Instrument.

[She had a lover named Claude.]

Wait, wait, wait! She’s slandering me! She’s slandering me!

Completely conquering Isabella was during my first playthrough of the harem route!

This playthrough, I only maxed out Isabella’s affection! I didn’t completely conquer her at all!

Shen Sui declared himself innocent, as a player who wasn’t actually guilty of anything.

Of course, this couldn’t be blamed entirely on Shen Sui. After all, if the actions of players in the past, who showered numerous NPCs with gifts to raise their affection, were transposed into reality, that would be blatant “sea king” (a slang term for someone who dates multiple people simultaneously) behavior, and of the kind that involved both genders. Shen Sui considered himself as pursuing Vivian exclusively in this second playthrough, because he only completely conquered and achieved the wedding CG with Vivian in this playthrough; Isabella was merely a tool in the game to max her affection.

Shen Sui had exercised considerable restraint, refraining from boosting the affection of numerous other female characters he could have romanced, but Isabella was an exception because maxing her affection was necessary if he wanted her to help him fight against the vampire progenitor.

So…

Don’t mix up the game and reality!

Shen Sui scratched his head.

[Claude used to give her rubies just like this one. One every day, and they were all exactly the same.]

Um…

Of course they were the same; I always gave you the same ruby.

This is a common tactic in the game. Because *Dawn Link* has numerous romanceable characters, if players want to unlock the harem route, they inevitably need to give a lot of gifts, which would waste a large chunk of playtime searching for gifts. Therefore, the game has a setting: each NPC has a fixed location for storing gifts. Without the NPC noticing, the player can retrieve the gifts they gave and reuse them repeatedly.

Shen Sui’s gift of the ruby to Isabella came from this mechanic.

Giving the ruby to Isabella increases affection, then, when Isabella isn’t around, he’d sneak back to retrieve the ruby from where she stored it.

Repeating this every day until her affection was maxed out.

In the game, this is called exploiting game mechanics. But in reality, this is called being a scumbag.

Unfortunately, Shen Sui was now facing the predicament that his game was actually reality.

[Actually, I know he always gave me the same ruby.]

[He’d steal the gift I received and give it to me again the next day.]

[I should have been angry, but I inexplicably accepted his gift.]

[ . . . ]

[Isabella seemed to be venting as she told Alice a long story about Claude.]

[Alice listened, frequently nodding in amazement.]

[While silently marveling at Claude’s scumbaggery in her heart, she didn’t show any unusual reaction on the surface, acting as if she didn’t know Claude at all.]

[Do you know Modena City? Well, most people now call it the City of Sin.]

[Isabella suddenly talked about Modena City.]

[Alice tilted her head, looking bewildered.]

[It was destroyed not long ago. Isabella stared intently into Alice’s eyes, seeming to try to discern something from her gaze.]

[Alice blinked her innocent eyes and shook her head, indicating she didn’t know.]

[Ah, you wouldn’t be in contact with that, being only a Third-Rank kid.]

[Isabella smiled with relief, giving up on her suspicion of Alice. It seemed that the ruby appearing in the little girl’s hands was purely coincidental.]

Isabella seemed to suspect Alice.

Looking at these words, Shen Sui drew a conclusion.

That’s true. After all, the ruby bounced back and forth between Isabella and Shen Sui, eventually returning to Shen Sui’s possession. If it showed up in Alice’s hands, it would indeed be suspicious.

Ah, so why was this ruby in the storage box?

It seems I found my bag was full while fishing, so I casually shoved everything into the box, and then I focused on Vivian’s main storyline and completely forgot about it.

[So, would you be willing to sell me this ruby? Isabella asked.]

[Yes. Alice nodded in agreement and silently put away the tag that was priced at five magic crystals.]

[She held up five fingers to Isabella, saying: Five thousand magic crystals.]

[Alice was moved by Isabella’s emotional story; charging only five magic crystals for the testament to this relationship felt far too cheap.]

[Alice decided to make the price of this relationship more expensive.]

Damn! She raises the price after hearing the story, huh!

That’s my Alice!

[Ding, you obtained Magic Card: Extortionate Pricing]

Chapter 2 resumes updates at 12:00 noon.

(End of Chapter)

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