Back at home.
Rory glanced at her light-messenger device. It was still completely quiet, without a single new message popping up on the screen.
She washed her hands first, then made herself a quick, nourishing dinner.
Stir-fried tomatoes with eggs, braised mutant beast meat, and a side of homemade pickled vegetables. Just looking at it was enough to make anyone's appetite surge.
Don't be fooled by the fact that there were only two dishes—in the Astrium world, this kind of meal was extremely rare and considered a luxury.
And that was simply because most beastfolk in the galaxy didn't know how to cook.
Every day, they consumed nutrient solutions extracted from mutant beast meat.
At first, Rory, too, stuck with the nutrient packets, hoping to save time on cooking and preparing meals.
Unfortunately, the taste of those nutrient solutions was something she simply couldn't tolerate. In fact, they were actually rather disgusting!
Thus, she only brought them along when she went hunting mutant beasts and had no way to cook.
There was also a special nutrient solution made from fruits and vegetables exclusively for females. It tasted like fruit juice, but because interstellar fruits and vegetables had mutated, the places where they grew were guarded by mutant beasts.
On top of that, producing even a single vial required a huge quantity of fruits and vegetables, making fruit-and-vegetable nutrient solutions outrageously expensive.
One vial cost 800,000 star coins.
What did that mean?
After working herself to exhaustion for an entire week—without selling any beast cores—Rory could earn only around a hundred thousand star coins.
Some months, she wouldn't even make enough to afford a single vial.
Unable to stomach mutant-meat nutrient solutions and unable to afford fruit-and-vegetable ones, Rory had no choice but to cook for herself.
Thankfully, she'd learned how to cook from a young age, and her skills were fairly good. She felt grateful that she had transmigrated into this strange world with her memories intact.
After dinner, she had the advanced intelligent robot clean up the kitchen for her.
In the meantime, Rory went to the training room to consolidate her newly stabilized Tier Four energy. Only then did she return to her bedroom, take a shower, and lie comfortably on her bed before opening her light-messenger.
It was already nine in the evening.
Her matched partners were still sitting quietly in her contact list, without the slightest movement.
Rory hesitated, wondering whether she should take the initiative and send a message first.
Just then, one of the question-mark avatars flickered, and a message popped up.
It was from her first matched partner—Dax.
Dax:
Hello, Female Master. I'm Dax.
I'm very sorry—something came up on my end, which is why I'm only messaging you so late. Please forgive me!
Looking at the message, Rory felt his apology sounded quite sincere. It was surprising to say the least.
She didn't mind him contacting her so late, though.
What if he really had run into an emergency?
She tapped her light-messenger's screen and replied.
Rory:
It's okay. Take care of your own matters first—I'm not in a hurry on my end.
See? She was so understanding, too!
On the other side, Dax frowned slightly as he read Rory's reply.
What was wrong with this female master?
After he said he'd run into trouble, wasn't she supposed to ask what had happened?
After all, females were known to be extremely jealous and possessive toward males.
Dax's flame-colored eyes shifted as he sent another message.
Dax:
Thank you for your understanding, Female Master. I'm truly moved.
If you don't blame me for contacting you so late, you must be a very kind and lovely female.
Dax:
I really want to fly straight to your side right now (obedient.jpg!).
Dax:
It's just that the matter I ran into this time is quite serious. I may need a couple more days before I can come see you. You won't be angry with me, will you?
He'd said this much—there was no way she wouldn't ask what had happened now.
Once she did, he would tell her he'd been scammed, that he had no star coins left.
That he couldn't come see her.
Then he'd skillfully guide her into transferring some star coins to him.
He didn't know how many star coins this Rory had, but ideally, he'd squeeze everything out of her—teach her that he wasn't someone she could afford to offend.
After sending the message, Dax leaned back on a sofa made entirely of star coins, waiting confidently for Rory's reply.
The very next second—
Ding!
A message came through.
Just as he expected, she asked what had happened.
Rory:
It's okay, Dax. Your matters are important.
What happened to you?
Is it serious?
Dax thought smugly: Perfect. Female, hand over your star coins now!
Dax:
Female Master, I… all my star coins were scammed away by a friend.
I don't have a single star coin left now.
Dax:
(Pitiful, weak.jpg!)
Dax:
I really want to come see you as soon as possible, but I don't have any star coins at all.
I'm on Central Star. To take the star rail to Veridan and meet you, I'd need 500,000 star coins.
When Rory had come to Veridan City, she'd taken the star rail herself—a form of transportation similar to space-time teleportation.
Lying on the bed in her villa, Rory stared at Dax's messages and slowly narrowed her eyes.
What was this supposed to mean?
He wanted money from her? Was he a scammer himself?
They had just been matched, and she hadn't even met him yet.
Wasn't this basically like exchanging contact information after a blind date—and before even meeting, the other party already wanted money?
How could that possibly be acceptable?