"There's nothing else for today. You can go rest."
Ryu remembered something. "Don't forget the meeting with [Rect] tomorrow."
"Yes, Master Ryu." Ruri nodded. She knew Ryu placed great importance on this project.
Rect was a company deeply rooted in electronics manufacturing, led by the Yuuki family. Although it couldn't compare to behemoths like Shinomiya and Suzuki, it was considered a long-established local power in the Kanto region.
Having partnered with the Kuse Group and now being specifically chosen by Ryu for a collaboration, Rect had been in the spotlight for the past year.
However, Ruri knew that Ryu didn't actually care about the company itself. His true partner was a famous quantum physicist and game producer; bringing Rect in was merely to find a manufacturer for the scientist's project.
—Akihiko Kayaba.
Her master's focus on him was so extraordinary that the maid dared not be negligent.
"If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."
The black-haired girl, now dressed in her maid uniform after returning home, respectfully excused herself. With practiced, light movements, she closed the double doors and let out a small sigh of relief.
"Lady Ruri." Someone approached her in the hallway. "Thank you for your hard work. Everything at home was in order today."
"Mm, that's good." Ruri acknowledged with a nod, not breaking her stride as a secretary followed behind her.
—That's right. Although Ruri was just a "maid," she had her own private secretary.
"Um..."
"Is there something for today?" Ruri turned back, looking curious.
"Nothing in particular, but the Kohakugawa family was hoping you could spare some time..."
"Don't bother reporting such trivial matters in the future. Just reject them directly. Ultimately, I have no obligation or reason to care about those people's feelings."
"Understood."
"..."
Brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, the girl's eyes were filled with impatience and coldness, with a hint of disgust lurking in their depths.
The secretary didn't dare to look at her directly, so this fleeting moment of darkness was destined to go unseen.
After finishing her work for the day and returning to her room, Ruri drew a hot bath. She undressed, her curvaceous and youthful body flashing in the mirror. Her fair skin was slowly submerged by the steaming waterline until she was half-reclining, with only a crescent-moon-like curve visible above the surface.
A purr-like sound, like a stretching cat's playful complaint, emanated from her throat as she closed her eyes, quietly enjoying this precious time to herself.
—It should have been like that, but she soon opened her eyes.
Kohakugawa... what a familiar surname. For the longest time, it had clung to her like a curse. Even after cutting all ties, it was still so disgusting. Just hearing it made her want to wash out her ears!
How annoying. She was remembering unpleasant things again.
The water was just below her nose. Ruri's gaze shifted:
Honestly, she had been mentally prepared at the beginning. After all, a man like Ryu, who openly measured a person's worth with money in the 21st century, didn't seem like a good person in any light. And the act of forming a maid corps at home reeked of the decadent stench of capitalism.
He looked handsome and cheerful, but who knew what kind of sexual beast he was in private!
And Ruri had no noble intentions of sacrificing herself to protect her "family." For her, the only question was how to find an opportunity to strike back.
But after all this time, things had developed completely differently than Ruri had imagined... She was indeed treated like a slave, but not in a sexual sense.
Etiquette, paperwork, accounting, public relations—the high-intensity professional training left no time for idle thoughts. Fortunately, she had been receiving an overly demanding elite education from her adoptive mother, so she adapted quickly.
When she came to her senses, she had already been trained into an excellent slave—a corporate slave, a slave to capital.
Normal people wouldn't use a beautiful girl maid like this, would they!?
While it was fortunate that she could support herself instead of being kept by someone, having her charms as a woman so completely ignored was also a little infuriating!
Blub blub blub~
A series of bubbles rose to the surface. Ruri stretched her long, elegant neck, gazing wistfully at the condensation on the ceiling.
That man spent so much money to buy her, yet he hadn't even done anything resembling sexual harassment...
Ahem, of course, she didn't have those kinds of thoughts. But then again, they had been together day and night for so long now that her opinion of Ryu had long since changed. If Ryu were to force their relationship forward now, she might, probably, maybe... not resist too fiercely.
"You worthless girl."
She muttered to herself faintly. Ruri's eyes flickered, and for some reason, her face suddenly flushed red. Then, with misty eyes, her entire body sank beneath the water.
—
Achoo!
Ryu rubbed his tingling nose and blinked in confusion. Who's talking about me?
This wasn't him being overly self-conscious. It was because, in the system card options that appeared last month, he had chosen a negative status:
Whenever someone roasted or talked about him in some way, his eye would twitch or he would sneeze. However, each point of criticism was a one-time trigger. After someone roasted him about it, other people roasting him for the same thing wouldn't cause a reaction.
For the first few days, he was in such a sorry state he might as well have had the flu. It just goes to show that being too famous isn't a good thing; so many people had opinions about him, which really had the doctor worried sick.
But most of the roasts had probably been used up already. Later, it was as if he had become desensitized, and the reactions gradually died down.
This reaction now could only mean that someone who knew Ryu very well had just landed a particularly accurate roast...
"I should've picked the hair loss one." Ryu sighed as soon as he said it.
It wasn't that he had masochistic tendencies; the system cards were just that much of a scam:
The really good options all required a high number of points, so he often had to pick one or two terrible negative options to gain points.
The talent Ryu wanted most last month was [Gourmet of Solitude], something similar to the Gourmet Cells from Toriko: by eating different delicacies, his five senses and constitution would be slightly enhanced based on their deliciousness and nutritional value, though the effect wasn't as powerful as in the anime.
Thus, for the past month, Ryu had become the type of person animal rights activists despise most:
From the birds in the sky to the fish in the sea, from the colossal blue whale to the poisonous fugu, from the bald eagle to the emperor penguin. As for how many laws he broke... at least he hadn't touched a certain black-and-white national treasure.
Despite eating so voraciously, not only did he not gain weight, but he could also clearly feel his strength increasing and his energy levels rising. His senses and reaction speed had also improved significantly.
He even dared to say that if you brought in Tyson right now, he wouldn't back down from a fight!
It was a shame it wasn't the genuine Gourmet Cells, and it only lasted for a month. The real world didn't have that many fantastical ingredients either, otherwise, he might have been able to take on Taro in the future... never mind, the Ultras are just on another level.
Therefore, Ryu "stared" at his account balance, hesitating:
[Destiny Coins X13]
Ryu had accumulated some Destiny Coins over the years, but when he first transmigrated, he had no idea that supernatural elements would appear in the future. In fact, for the first few years, everything had been calm and peaceful, with no strange supernatural events whatsoever.
He had thought it was just an ordinary, magic-less world and even felt it was a shame for his [All-Stats] talent. So, he exchanged for some abilities that seemed very useful at the time.
For instance, superhuman stamina and a healthy body, as well as eloquence, bearing, business acumen, charisma, an unyielding spear... ahem, and so on. As someone born the son of a chaebol, these were all he needed.
But later, he discovered that the world was becoming increasingly strange. By the time he realized it, he was filled with regret!
Now he was much more cautious when making decisions. It was a matter of resource scarcity. Ryu could throw away a hundred million US dollars without batting an eye, but he didn't want to waste even a single Destiny Coin!
[Gourmet of Solitude]'s advantage was that it could directly improve Ryu's constitution, equivalent to an EXP pack in a game that directly boosts stats, and it seemed to be one without a level cap. Its immense value was self-evident.
But its drawback was the "ingredient" limitation!
This wasn't a world like Toriko or Cooking Master Boy. Even if Ryu ate every animal and plant in the real world, he wouldn't become a superman; the potential for improvement was limited.
Moreover, the price was too high, a full ten Destiny Coins, which would nearly wipe out Ryu's savings!
You have to understand, these things are very hard to obtain. Back then, Ryu felt that with Ruri's looks and background, she was most likely the heroine of a manga or gal game. So, he shamelessly brought her into his home as a maid, completely changing the trajectory of her life—and for all that, he only got two Destiny Coins in total!
In other words, Ryu would have to take in four or five more girls like her just to afford one [Gourmet of Solitude]!
This feeling of earning money like water dripping on a stone and spending it like a waterfall was just too frustrating. Ryu couldn't help but be cautious.
There were, however, faster ways to accumulate Destiny Coins:
One was to go to "dungeons."
Two or three years ago, around the time some spooky urban legends started appearing, the system cards probably updated. Options like "Hero Summoning" or "Truck Reincarnation" would occasionally appear.
Simply put, it connected to another world. After selecting it, he could enter for a month. If he used Destiny Coins to purchase the option, the connection to that other world wouldn't be severed, and he could enter multiple times in the future.
In these "dungeons," the chances of encountering main characters and supporting characters were greatly increased, and it was also easier to trigger events, which correspondingly lowered the difficulty of obtaining Destiny Coins.
It was precisely this that caught Ryu's eye. Considering the enormous benefits and countless resources that controlling a passage to another world could bring, he steeled himself and exchanged for one. That time, he spent the Destiny Coins he had worked so hard to save, which is why he only had thirteen left now.
—However, dungeons weren't that easy to clear.
First, the world itself could be fraught with danger. Second, while Ryu was one of the few at the pinnacle of capitalism in the main world with considerable resources to command, in a dungeon... who the hell cares who you are?!
As for the other method of farming Destiny Coins... it was tricky.
Actually, if he could just be ruthless, earning Destiny Coins in the main world wasn't impossible. There were a few special characters Ryu had discovered long ago but never approached. They were as rich as virgin territory and would surely drop a lot of gold coins.
There was just one small problem:
He might encounter a grade-schooler who hasn't aged in decades, or a detective uncle with maxed-out drug resistance.
—A certain Heisei Holmes was still very active and apparently hadn't shrunk yet. But Ryu himself possessed an Unfortunate Constitution; he'd have to be out of his mind to actively approach these people!
To face the causality-altering aura of the grade-school God of Death, one would need immunity to bullets and poison just to be safe.
"In the end, it's still a matter of not having enough money."
If Ryu's sentiment at this moment were known to the outside world, people would surely find it baffling. He was probably the person in this world least familiar with the concept of "lacking money."
Melancholy as he was, he had to make a decision. After all, once the options refreshed, it would be irreversible.
After long deliberation, Ryu finally "bought" this special ability, leaving only a "3" on his account balance.
Given the current trend of the world becoming more high-powered, this kind of ability that directly strengthened his constitution without side effects was especially valuable. Moreover, as the world view changed and with the random selection of dungeon worlds, he would encounter many magical ingredients in the future. If he ever got the chance to taste dragon meat or something similar, Ryu was willing to bet enough chips on that potential.
"Hm? It seems... the timing is just right."
Ryu noticed that the golden hourglass in his sea of consciousness had run out. His brow twitched as a strange sense of emptiness washed over him—the result of the abilities that hadn't been "purchased (solidified)" being stripped away.
But he couldn't care less about those leftover talents now, continuing to wait with rapt attention.
Suddenly, as if it had blinked, the glow on the golden hourglass flickered.
Pensive, Ryu casually pulled a blank sheet of paper from the memo holder on his desk and watched it intently.
Slowly, meticulous standard script began to appear on it:
[System Card · Random]
[Theme for this session: Purity, Greatly Increased!]
[Drew Fifteen Points (Pseudo). Can be allocated freely among the following options.
Positive buffs deduct points. Negative effects add points.
Note: Please make a decision within twenty-four hours.
The effects of all options will last for one month.]
—Positive—
-6:
[Extremely High-Purity Shaori!], [Extremely High-Purity Demon Brain!], [Extremely High-Purity Demon Back!],
[Extremely High-Purity Demon Soul!], [Extremely High-Purity Confucian Saint!]
-4:
[To Get Stronger, Eat the Forbidden Fruit], [This is a Victory for Martial Arts], [The Freest Man in the World!], [Hanma Blood]
-2:
[Chivalrous Stand], [Poison Hand], [Aikido], [Shaolin Kung Fu], [Hanyuan Human Anatomy]
—Negative—
+6:
[Way of the Second Son · Ultimate Humiliation!]
+3:
[Soul of a Madlad][Fatherly Kindness, Filial Piety]
+2:
[Extremely High-Purity Mountaineer!][Extremely High-Purity Demon Pussy (Anus)?][Extremely High-Purity Sissy!][Extremely High-Purity Hotdog!]
+1:
[Fighter Magnetism][Primitive Instinct][Stepping Stone][Athlete]
—
"Confucian Saint? And what the hell is this Way of the Second Son?"
Ryu was dumbfounded: "There are clearly two worldviews here that are just plain wrong, aren't there?
I mean, you can be crazy, but don't be this crazy!"
________________________________________
Get rewarded for helping with our community goals!
🎯 Reward for all: +1 bonus chapter at 50 Powerstones.
🚀 Tier Reward: Help us reach 20 members for +5 chapters on all stories!
👻 Join the crew by searching Ms. Medusa on (P). You know the spot! 😉