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Early morning, it was incredibly quiet. A dark figure constantly moved through the shadows of the houses, sometimes running on rooftops, sometimes climbing on the ground, listening to the chorus of meows.
Finally, amidst a series of utterly shrill screams, a black-haired young man emerged from the shadows of the houses, holding a cat.
The young man was about twenty years old, and his appearance could barely be considered handsome, but his face was covered in claw marks.
"I just thought you were killing a cat."
A burly middle-aged man, seeing the young man walk out of the alley, laughed heartily: "Youngster Ishikawa Katoru, Granny Kyoka is almost your regular customer now."
"It's Ishikawa Katori, not Ishikawa Katoru!"
Ishikawa Katori said, stuffing the struggling fat cat into a pre-prepared sack. He couldn't understand why this fat cat, which was too lazy to move even when others touched it, always bristled up whenever it saw him.
"Is there a difference?"
"There's a big difference, and the pronunciation isn't even the same."
Too lazy to bother with the uncle who couldn't even get his name right, Ishikawa Katori slung the sack over his shoulder, left the main street, turned into a small alley, and finally stopped in front of a residential house to knock on the door.
Soon, an old lady who looked to be seventy or eighty years old opened the door and came out.
Of course, that was just how she looked.
As far as Ishikawa Katori knew, this Granny's actual age was at least one hundred and fifty.
"Granny Kyoka, this is your cat."
Upon seeing the old lady, a gentle smile immediately appeared on Ishikawa Katori's face. He reached into the sack, pulled out the fat cat, and handed it to the old lady.
Granny Kyoka's eyes immediately lit up: "You really went to a lot of trouble, Ishikawa Katori."
"No trouble at all, it was just a small favor."
"Oh right, how much was it?"
Ishikawa Katori felt speechless. Granny, if you don't want to pay, just say so. Finding lost animals is clearly priced at 1000 kan, and she's asked so many times.
Despite this, the smile on Ishikawa Katori's face remained unchanged, still as gentle as ever: "No need to pay. We've known each other for so long. If you don't need anything else, I'll head back now."
"Then thank you very much."
Granny Kyoka said, closing the door, which made the smile on Ishikawa Katori's face stiffen slightly.
This old Granny...
Ishikawa Katori didn't mind. Anyway, he wasn't taking this job to make money. After saying 'goodbye' through the door, Ishikawa Katori turned and walked towards his shop, but his attention was focused on his mind.
[Kyoka Affection +1, gained 4 experience points]
"How stingy, raising affection from 19 to 20 only gave 4 experience points."
...
Name: Ishikawa Katori
Race: Human
Level: Eighth Stage
Physique: Beginner (16/500)
Spiritual Pressure: Low Level (743/1000)
Hakuda: Inactive (0/50)
Shunpo: Beginner (145/500)
Zanjutsu: Beginner (486/500)
Zanpakuto: Inactive (Activation conditions unknown)
Kido:
[Hadō No. 4: Byakurai] Intermediate (3213/10000)
Special Skills:
[Chant of Destruction] Low Level (16/1000)
Current Experience: 186.
↓ Expand to view Affection Interface.
...
"If I activate Hakuda, will similar commissions be easier to do in the future?" Ishikawa Katori pondered for a moment and added 50 experience points to Hakuda.
The 'Inactive' next to Hakuda on the attribute interface immediately changed to 'Beginner (0/500)'.
Ishikawa Katori staggered a step; a series of information was directly poured into his mind, and his body gradually began to change. The information in his mind was basically about hand-to-hand combat techniques, while the changes in his body seemed to correspond to the information in his mind.
This gave Ishikawa Katori the feeling that he had been practicing Hakuda for a long time, not just in memory but also in muscle memory.
As for the remaining experience points, Ishikawa Katori did not use them casually.
Because, apart from the difficulty in cultivating Spiritual Pressure and Physique, once a skill was activated, he could completely practice it on his own.
For example, Zanjutsu. Since activating Zanjutsu and gaining a certain foundation, he hadn't added any experience points to Zanjutsu in the past six months, and he was already close to a breakthrough purely through practice.
And once it reached Low Level, it would be difficult to make progress on one's own unless someone was teaching them. At that point, using experience points would be more worthwhile.
So, except for some experience points he 'wasted' on Byakurai in the early stages, he basically used experience points only in urgent situations or when encountering a bottleneck.
After all...
Experience points were hard to come by.
Every time he thought of this, Ishikawa Katori's expression became a bit strange.
Three years ago, when he inexplicably fell from the sky while sleeping, he had already discovered the system in his mind.
However, it took him a full six months to figure out how to gain experience points.
If he had to give a name to the system in his mind, then 'Scumbag System', 'Harem System', or 'Player System' would all be very fitting.
In short...
When Ishikawa Katori gained affection from a female, he could gain a certain amount of experience, but males provided no experience at all.
This was simply looking down on their vast male compatriots!
Although Ishikawa Katori's orientation was normal, couldn't there be affection between men? Why not?
Getting back to the point.
The experience gained by increasing affection varied for each woman. More strictly speaking, the amount of experience depended on the other party's status and strength. The higher their status and strength, the more experience points were gained.
At the same time, the higher the affection, the more was gained.
For example, with Granny Kyoka just now, from the initial 0 affection to 9 affection, each time added 1 experience point, while from 10 affection to 19 affection, each increase added 2 experience points.
In some ways, this system could be called powerful...
If Ishikawa Katori were a scumbag, he would probably be very strong by now.
However, Ishikawa Katori was someone who could be described as 'semi-socially anxious'. According to people who knew Ishikawa Katori in his previous life, those willing to befriend Ishikawa Katori were like angels, for a simple reason: angels might be able to defeat demons.
His experience in social interaction could no longer be described as '0', but rather a negative number.
So, Ishikawa Katori chose the most foolish method.
To put it in one sentence: to gain true sincerity, one must give true sincerity.
Keeping this in mind, Ishikawa Katori always genuinely interacted with others. Regardless of age, as long as they were female and needed help, he would step forward to assist.
This included but was not limited limited to: helping old ladies push carts, helping old ladies find cats, providing relationship advice to young girls experiencing their first love, helping mature young wives soothe their children, buying lollipops for little lolis...
He helped wholeheartedly, trying his best to block out distractions and discard the thought of gaining experience points, genuinely trying to befriend them.
Of course, Ishikawa Katori had also encountered women who, no matter how much sincerity he showed, remained unmoved, or who became increasingly intimate on the surface, as if they had fallen in love with him, constantly giving him hints; however, when he found that his affection had not increased at all, Ishikawa Katori decisively distanced himself from them.
Such women always felt very dangerous.
The reason it was said that if Ishikawa Katori were a scumbag, he would already be very strong, was because...
Once affection exceeded 60 points, it would convert from affection to love value. In this way, even if the other party was a woman with no status or strength, each increase would result in a qualitative change in the experience gained.
Before 60 affection, even from 59 to 60, it was only 16 experience points, but when 60 affection turned into 61 love value, it increased by a full ten times, yielding 160 experience points!
At that time, Ishikawa Katori had gone to great lengths to reduce that '1' point of love value, finally achieving his goal after the other party's affection dropped by 10.
After three years of research, Ishikawa Katori had basically figured out the affection system.
10 affection points was roughly equivalent to not-so-familiar neighbors.
20 affection points was equivalent to acquaintances, knowing their name, and greeting them warmly when meeting on the street.
30 affection points was basically already friends.
60 affection points meant that the other party already regarded Ishikawa Katori as a close friend. If Ishikawa Katori was in trouble, the other party would definitely step forward to help, even if it was very dangerous.
As for anything higher, Ishikawa Katori wasn't very clear, but 61 love points gave Ishikawa Katori the feeling of... 'I consider you a brother, I don't intend to date you, but if you confessed to me, I would hesitate for a few days, then reply with 'we can try dating'.
Of course, not everyone could reach 61 points and convert to love value. For women who had a sweetheart or were married, with a few exceptions, 60 affection points was already the cap.
It's worth noting that lowering affection does not reduce experience points.
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