"Even if you kicked the bucket, I'd still be kicking! Besides, didn't I come here specifically to take you down?"
Li Ke flipped Kiri a universally understood gesture of friendship before smoothly sliding his arm around her waist. Instead of pulling away, Kiri reacted by pressing her revolver directly against Li Ke's "spear"—which had involuntarily stood at attention the moment he laid eyes on her.
"Take me down? With what?" Kiri smirked, eyeing him up and down. "Please, your gun isn't even as hard as mine."
Despite her sharp words, she slipped the revolver back into her holster. Crossing her arms, she let Li Ke pull her into his embrace before finally getting to the point.
"What are you here for anyway? Let's get one thing straight: I don't sleep with shameless womanizers."
Her tone was resolute, yet she made absolutely no effort to stop his hand from resting on her hip. Her complete lack of resistance made Li Ke feel like her words carried zero sincerity.
"I don't have a straying heart," Li Ke replied, thoroughly righteous as he defended himself against her slander. "I just have enough love to share with a lot of people."
Kiri's mouth twitched. She casually bumped him away with her hip and turned to pack up her gear. However, a careless shift in her movement caused her backside to brush right against his "spear." The sudden, distinct contact sent a faint blush creeping up her cheeks.
It wasn't that she lacked feelings for Li Ke. It was just that his lack of decisiveness, combined with his philandering nature, constantly rubbed her the wrong way. Yet, for some reason, after not seeing him for a few days, she felt like he had changed quite a bit.
Unsure how to put her observations into words, Kiri simply fell back on his usual traits and slapped a fresh nickname on him.
"Ha! As if a space-time playboy has the right to talk about love. Fine, if you don't have any actual business, beat it. I have a shop to run."
Offering him no further warmth, Kiri went back to her work.
Looking around, Li Ke noticed that while Kiri's shop was a bit run-down and cluttered, rows of bullets and grenades were stacked in meticulous order. The place looked less like a boutique and more like a fully functional armory. It had to be a massive source of stress for the residents of Hendon Myre and the neighboring shopkeepers.
"The stuff out front is just for show. The real inventory is downstairs," Kiri said, walking back over and rolling her eyes at him. They hadn't seen each other in a while, but Li Ke's honest face and transparent eyes made it incredibly easy to read exactly what he was thinking.
She could tell he was entirely serious about wanting to take her down.
"I see. It looks like you've really taken a liking to that power."
As he spoke, Li Ke quickly took a heavy crate out of Kiri's hands and set it down exactly where she was pointing.
"Duh," Kiri scoffed. "On a battlefield or in logistics, this kind of power is practically a miracle!"
A single person could supply an entire army, single-handedly managing logistics, base construction, ambush tactics, and tunnel warfare. They could even manufacture weapons, gear, and medical supplies to treat the wounded.
While it didn't offer a massive or rapid boost to a person's individual combat strength, as long as an army had one person with this power, they would never run out of war materials.
"True..." Li Ke mused, though he didn't care much about the strategic value. Seeing how much Kiri valued it, he decided not to ask if she wanted to swap the power out for something else. He could always bring that up later. "But if the soldiers using the gear are useless, it won't matter, right?"
"So, how did you even find me? And what are you doing here anyway?" Kiri asked, carrying another box over and setting it down next to Li Ke. She was genuinely curious. She hadn't been moving around much lately, and she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Li Ke either. How had he tracked her down?
"Because of this thing," Li Ke explained, holding up an item. "I thought it would guide me to a weapon that perfectly suits me. The problem is, it brought me straight to you instead... Oh, and by the way, this thing is only supposed to point toward whatever your heart truly desires."
Li Ke casually tossed his pocket watch over. Kiri caught it with a look of skepticism, only to find that the compass built into the watch wasn't behaving like a normal one. Instead of pointing steadily in one direction, the needle was locked firmly toward the sky!
She froze, instinctively thinking of the people from the Empyrean, and looked up at Li Ke.
However, the very instant her eyes met his, the needle on the watch snapped directly toward Li Ke.
Startled, Kiri submissively tried to hide the pocket watch. But Li Ke, who had been watching her closely, flashed a wicked smirk. In a flash, he appeared right in front of her. Sliding one arm around her waist, he cupped her chin with his other hand, his thumb gently brushing across her lips.
"Well, well. Looks like you've been missing me too."
Flustered and angry at being caught, Kiri tried to turn her head away, instinctively denying it. "Who would ever miss you!"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Li Ke's lips pressed against hers.
Her soft lips tasted faintly of machine oil, but Li Ke didn't mind at all. In fact, it only added to the thrill. No matter how you looked at it, the combination of machine oil, women, firearms, and tons of mechanical parts was bound to get a man's blood pumping—especially with a woman like Kiri, who proudly showed off her slender waist and deep cleavage.
Without a second thought, Li Ke pinned Kiri against the wall, locking her in place so she couldn't resist.
Given how fiercely defensive she had acted earlier, he had honestly thought she was completely over him. But looking at her now, this girl was the absolute definition of tsundere—her body was far more honest than her mouth!
Kiri kept pushing against his chest, but she made no move whatsoever to draw the pistol at her hip. In fact, as the kiss deepened, she grew more and more cooperative, her initial resistance crumbling into nothing.
Naturally, Li Ke's hands began to wander. He traced the deep arch of her spine, feeling the smooth, supple skin beneath a light dusting of engine grease.
And, of course, there was her rear, tightly hugged by her denim shorts!
Kiri had an incredibly fantastic backside—something Li Ke had already thoroughly appreciated in the past. The bouncy, elastic texture instantly brought back memories of their previous intimate encounters. As the kiss finally broke, he couldn't help but let out a low chuckle.
"What are you laughing at?"
Kiri rolled her eyes, making no effort to hide her annoyance at his behavior. Li Ke's smile was way too suspicious, the kind that clearly meant he was thinking about something incredibly shameless.
However, Li Ke had no intention of taking things any further right now for a very simple reason: there were too many eyes outside.
"There are too many people out there, so I can't show you exactly what I'm smirking about," Li Ke teased, gently pinching Kiri's chin.
He had to admit, this woman—whose youth had been consumed by war—possessed a distinctly mature allure. He had always had a massive soft spot for mature older sisters, and that craving hadn't changed one bit. A heroic, dashing onee-san like Kiri, who could handle a pistol and ride a motorcycle, only made a man want to see her pinned to the bed even faster—to see her completely overwhelmed by his strength, reduced to a weak, breathless state in front of him.
Li Ke had a pretty severe fixation on this specific scenario. As for the root cause...
A crimson silhouette radiating maternal splendor flashed through his mind, causing him to instinctively clench his fists.
The tables will turn eventually! Don't bully a young man just because he's fast right now!
Alexstrasza! Just you wait!
Thinking of this, Li Ke suddenly remembered the Blade Master skill, Overdrive. He couldn't help but wonder: if he applied Overdrive to his own "spear," would it deal massive critical damage to the girls?
Or what about the Asura's Wave Manifestation Brand? What if he just made his spear vibrate with wave energy? Would that inflict multi-hit damage?
Questions suddenly flooded Li Ke's mind, and with those questions came an avalanche of even wilder ideas.
For instance...
Would a Priest's Weapon Blessing work down there?
Could a Nen Master's Khai imbue his spear with light-element damage?
After all, even ordinary girls could keep a man tangled up all night when they were full of energy. Even someone with a frail constitution like Shinobu Kocho could stubbornly hold out for an entire night once things got heated.
If Li Ke didn't figure out a rapid-fire technique to make the girls climax and completely drain their stamina, his harem was going to run into serious structural problems!
A sexually frustrated man could create miracles, but a group of sexually frustrated women could tear down any barrier in existence.
While his Infinite Climax Strike could indeed drain the girls' physical stamina at a high intensity, it required the fire of the Red Dragon to repair their cardiovascular systems. That passive healing also restored their stamina, which paradoxically ended up dragging the sessions out even longer.
The moment Li Ke pictured his growing harem in this world, alongside the one waiting for him back in his original world, his eyes turned incredibly profound.
Right then and there, a deep realization hit him: he needed to hit the books and study up on new techniques immediately.
"What kind of weird nonsense are you fantasizing about now?"
Seeing Li Ke spacing out in deep thought yet again, Kiri rolled her eyes. Then, right in front of a crowd of sheltered, wide-eyed Arad locals, she grabbed him and pressed her lips against his once more.
Getting lost in your own thoughts right in front of a woman was a surefire way to offend her!
The two shared another long, deep kiss before finally breaking apart. Breathless, Kiri shoved Li Ke back, looking like she was half-tempted to give him a swift kick with her leather boot. She casually ran a hand through her hair, looking every bit the dashing, confident gunslinger.
"Forget about getting into my bed, so just give up on that idea. Besides, I have something incredibly important to work on today."
As she spoke, Kiri glanced back at the contraption she had been tinkering with earlier, turning around to resume her repairs.
Her back profile was exceptionally beautiful. Framed by a backdrop of scattered mechanical parts, it added a distinct layer of raw temptation. Driven by curiosity, Li Ke edged closer to her.
"What exactly are you building?"
Li Ke was genuinely curious. Kiri had only recently arrived in the Arad Continent; what kind of massive project could she possibly be running?
"Well, I accidentally stumbled upon a new technology. I guess you could call it a form of magic. You know about those powerful magical weapons and gear, right?"
Kiri explained as she carefully inspected a set of wires.
"Yeah, I do."
"Then do you know how they work?"
"Uh... because there's magic inside them?"
"True, but not entirely. If the magical runes carved onto a weapon don't have an active energy source, then it's nothing more than a fancy-looking sword at best. But if you pump enough energy into even the most basic piece of iron ore, it can become a razor-sharp blade. Of course, without a master blacksmith to forge it, imbue it with strength, and enchant it, a weapon with boundless energy is still just a third-rate piece of junk."
Kiri continued tinkering as she rambled on. Meanwhile, Li Ke stared at the device before him—which looked suspiciously like an old-fashioned popcorn machine—and his expression gradually shifted.
Because if he wasn't mistaken, this contraption, along with everything Kiri was describing...
Was this the infamous Reinforcement Machine?
"But in nature, energy isn't distributed evenly. Even if you use the exact same material, its performance can vary wildly, and the amount of inherent energy it holds might differ. So I thought to myself: what if I build a device that can take a weapon with low energy and reinforce it using the pure energy stored inside Clear Cube Fragments? That way, we could completely top off its energy reserves and even unlock far greater power. It could elevate ordinary weapons to the level of magical ones, and make magical weapons exponentially stronger! Since this process reinforces the weapon as a whole—strengthening the very materials making up the magic circles—it's completely safe, as long as it hasn't hit its physical limit!"
Kiri enthusiastically muttered her theories, blending magic and technology together.
But looking at it, Li Ke only had one thought.
"You're going to blow yourself sky-high."
Li Ke blurted out the words without a hint of hesitation. He genuinely believed Kiri was about to launch herself into orbit!
An experiment like this was astronomically dangerous; explosions were practically a statistical certainty. While Li Ke didn't know much about Arad's scientific principles, he knew a thing or two about magic!
Sure, certain high-grade materials could absorb massive amounts of energy to grow stronger. But if the magical circles or the delicate internal equilibrium broke down, then forget about reinforcement—the entire weapon would instantly...
Li Ke quickly clamped a hand down on Kiri's shoulder. "Hold on. What happens if the reinforcement fails?"
Kiri scratched her cheek. Seeing the genuine panic written all over Li Ke's face, a smug grin spread across her lips.
"Oh, don't worry about it! Yours truly is absolutely not going to get blown to pieces! The reinforcement chamber is actually an isolated environment made of Clear Cube Fragments and specific rare materials. Its internal structure is very similar to a Disassembler. If an explosive failure occurs, the sudden surge of energy won't blow the machine apart. Instead, it'll just revert the weapon back into raw Cube Fragments!"
Cube Fragments were a unique manifestation of power native to the Arad Continent. They came in Clear, Red, White, Blue, Black, and the exceedingly rare Gold variants.
These fragments were physical crystallizations of pure energy. This was especially true for Clear Cube Fragments, which contained energy in its most unadulterated form. Just how pure was it?
Clear Cube Fragments could be directly converted into any type of power.
Whether you relied on mana, stamina, or any other source of strength, utilizing a fragment when unleashing a skill would massively boost its destructive output. However, relying on Clear Cube Fragments in active combat could slow down your reaction time. After all, breaking them down mid-fight was a tedious hassle, so they were generally only used by Mages or when a group was ganging up on a powerful boss.
It was pure, unrefined energy. As for the other colored fragments, they represented the four elements: fire, light, ice, and shadow.
Thanks to the abundance of these elemental fragments, the art of alchemy was exceptionally advanced across Arad.
Obtaining these crystals was relatively straightforward as well. In the past, they were manufactured by Mages. Nowadays, Alchemists built Disassemblers, which could process gear or items infused with special properties to extract the fragments.
However, the vast majority of the yield resulted in Clear Cube Fragments. In fact, a Disassembler could even extract Clear fragments from a common rock. It was just an incredibly inefficient waste of time, which was why people generally stuck to recycling broken equipment and magical gear instead.
Li Ke hadn't actually bought these things before. He only learned that items from the game truly existed in this world when he needed Red and Clear Cube Fragments for the potion scroll given to him by GSD.
But right now, he was far more focused on a completely different realization.
"So what you're saying is... this Reinforcement Machine of yours is essentially just a heavily modded Disassembler?"
He voiced his suspicion aloud.
Kiri scratched her head, looking a little embarrassed. "Heh, well, you're not wrong. But gear only gets broken down if things go completely sideways! As long as it doesn't shatter, it won't be dissolved into raw materials. It might just lose its previously reinforced energy, or revert right back to its base form. Honestly, I don't fully understand the exact mechanics myself. But since it works, I figure I'll roll it out to make a little extra cash on the side. After all, magical weapons are insanely expensive, and ordinary folks can't afford them."
After she finished speaking, Kiri went back to calibrating her Reinforcement Machine.
Meanwhile, Li Ke's eyes became as still as dead water.
So these are the two exact failure outcomes from the game?
You either drop reinforcement levels, or the gear straight-up shatters?
Li Ke felt his blood pressure steadily rising.
And as he watched Kiri's backside sway right in front of him while she bent over to work on the machine, his breathing began to grow heavy.
"I just arrived in Hendon Myre today, and I didn't even give Seria a heads-up before coming here, so I can't exactly take down this menace right this second..."
Li Ke took a deep breath. He had just officially added Ruohua to his harem, and since it was their very first day in Hendon Myre, he absolutely needed to spend time with her.
However.
Tomorrow would be a completely different story.
"Kiri, you won't be able to officially open for business today, right?"
Li Ke glanced out at the quiet, deserted street running alongside Kiri's shop, the smile on his face growing progressively brighter.
He noticed a large cluster of vacant rooms sitting right to the left of Kiri's shop—exactly where Seria's Gate/Inn would be located in the game. The grin stretching across his lips grew increasingly predatory.
If he brought Seria over tomorrow, bought out the entire property, put it under her name, and reopened it as an inn dedicated exclusively to housing his current and prospective harem members...
What a beautiful arrangement that would be. It would give Seria peace of mind.
Furthermore, Miss Ruohua would have a stable place to stay, saving him the hassle of hunting her down across all of Hendon Myre!
Even people like Tangji could move right in.
A smug, "all according to plan" smile gradually radiated across Li Ke's face.
And when he came over tomorrow, he could easily use the excuse of "helping Kiri out" to stay overnight...
Lost in his own thoughts, Li Ke couldn't help but chuckle out loud. Completely on instinct, his hands wandered out, squeezing Kiri's breast with one hand while grabbing her rear with the other.
"You are such a jerk..."
Kiri glared at him, thoroughly flustered and angry. Just because she wasn't actively furious didn't mean this guy could just give him an inch and take a mile.
Sensing her sudden rage, Li Ke looked back at Kiri in complete shock.
When did this happen?!
When exactly had his hands been magnetically pulled onto her chest and backside?! As expected of the terrifying Kiri!
Thinking this, Li Ke couldn't resist giving her another firm squeeze. The soft, supple texture felt incredibly comfortable, causing him to accidentally apply a bit too much pressure.
"Go die!"
Flustered turned to fury as Kiri grabbed Li Ke's arm and executed a flawless shoulder throw. She sent Li Ke flying straight out onto the street. After Li Ke executed a well-practiced mid-air flip to stick the landing, she slammed the massive doors shut, locking him out completely.
Li Ke didn't press the matter. He simply called out a quick "see you tomorrow" through the door before turning to head back.
By the time he started making his way home, the sky had begun to darken. The clouds overhead were putting on a brilliant, heavy display, signaling that it would most likely rain by tomorrow.