Sometimes, Li Ke wondered if quitting smoking was a good thing.
The advantage was that he could now appear openly in various shonen manga without being criticized by netizens for smoking.
The disadvantage was that he lost a cover and something to relieve stress.
However, one thing was certain: even if he change eating a lollipop, he wouldn't smoke anymore.
When the food arrived, Li Ke truly understood the appetite of demons.
The dishes weren't expensive: a pot of stir-fried vegetables, a pot of stewed meat, and another pot of stewed vegetables.
They were all large portions meant to fill you up.
But Lottie's eating style was quite wild.
A single piece of vegetable was like a string of rice; a few bites later, she had eaten the equivalent of a bowl of rice from a braised chicken restaurant—eating very frugally.
She ate incredibly fast; in no time, a plate of vegetables and a steamer full of rice were completely gone. Yet, when Li Ke looked at her stomach, he saw no bulge; it remained perfectly flat.
"..."
He took a deep drag on his chopsticks and exhaled a puff of imaginary smoke.
He was utterly baffled.
Just as he couldn't understand why he could exhale smoke when he pulled out chopsticks, he couldn't understand why Lottie could eat an entire steamer of rice and still keep her stomach flat.
"Incomprehensible."
Li Ke, who had originally intended to serve himself a bowl of rice, ended up feeling full just watching Lottie devour her food.
He reluctantly put down his chopsticks and watched Lottie eat. This caused the red-haired little girl to give a shy smile, then she began to shovel rice into her mouth, speaking incoherently.
"Big brother, eat up!"
Li Ke watched the steamer baskets visibly lower, and realized one thing:
He might not be able to afford to feed this little girl.
If it doesn't work out, he'll just return her.
But that wouldn't stop him from treating her to a good meal.
"I will wait a while, you eat first."
Seeing that Li Ke clearly wasn't interested in eating, Lottie nodded and sped up her eating.
"Okay, thank you, big brother! I won't be polite!"
Watching Lottie devour the three large steamers of rice, then hand over three more baskets of rice, plus a large plate of vegetables, Lottie finally stopped eating, patted her still flat stomach contentedly, and smiled at Li Ke.
"Mmm, big brother! I'm full!"
"Ah, good."
Li Ke was already numb from watching. He silently took out a gold coin and placed it on the table; this was the money for Lottie's meal.
He finally understood why Sharan said the Mage's Guild couldn't afford to feed Lottie. It wasn't that they didn't have the money, but that feeding her like this would kill the cook.
"Hehehe, sorry, I think I scared big brother."
Lottie smiled shyly, then held up one finger, her face full of seriousness.
"But as a way of repaying you, I'll teach big brother how to write in this world!"
"Mm."
Li Ke nodded, but was already planning to return her.
But just then, Lottie, holding her staff, suddenly spoke again.
"But, big brother, you wanted to learn magic, right?"
"Yes, why?"
Li Ke looked at Lottie curiously, wondering why she suddenly brought this up.
"What kind of magic did big brother want to learn? Did you also want to go on an adventure?"
Lottie looked at Li Ke curiously.
She felt Li Ke was very strange; he had the air of someone living in the demon world, but he also seemed more like Aunt Katie, whom she had met.
It was that feeling of someone who was a good person.
"More or less. I have an agreement with other people, so I must quickly acquire power and find enough resources to return to that world. So, saying I want to go on an adventure isn't wrong."
Li Ke was actually quite anxious. His current stamina wasn't enough to get enough energy from the women he could buy with money. He only had so little energy after a whole day. By the time he could go back to save Lux, who knew how many years would have passed?
And those with power and strong emotions weren't so easy to find.
He had decided that when the time was right, he would seek trouble with the Flaming Binoche and Frost Keraha of this world. Although these two women were insane, their fanaticism might indeed provide him with a massive amount of energy.
Both women were beautiful mages, and both had mental issues. In the original storyline, they shouldn't have survived.
So, although it was somewhat unethical, even if he didn't get enough energy from them, he would find a way to restrain them. It was despicable, but it was better than being killed without explanation.
But no matter how weak those two women were, they were still mages of this world. If he wasn't strong enough, even with enough money, it would be difficult to have any relationship with them.
"I see. So, big brother, you're in a hurry?"
"Sort of."
"Then I think I understand why Aunt Sharan… Sister Sharan sent you to me."
Lottie nodded, then extended his hand to Li Ke.
"So, you must want to quickly master the power of magic, right? I can help you! I can help you quickly transform your magic into your own power!"
Lottie's face revealed a confident expression.
"And you don't need any magic circles or incantations. You just need to control your magic power to directly use its power!"
She proudly puffed out her chest, displaying her almost nonexistent chest to Li Ke.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Li Ke looked at Lottie's staff, especially the pointed part, and immediately thought of a class in a game.
Battle Mage.
A class that doesn't use injections, doesn't take medicine... doesn't chant incantations, and almost never inscribes magic circles, showcasing the power of a mage through melee combat.
And the next moment, Lottie's words confirmed his thoughts.
Lottie gently tapped her staff, and a red sphere appeared beside her.
"Big brother, have you ever heard of Battle Mage?"
The instant she spoke, Lottie swung his staff, aiming for Li Ke's face. A strong sense of danger instantly enveloped Li Ke.
But the next moment, a crisp sound rang out, and Lottie's staff blocked the heavy sword slashing down from behind Li Ke.
Lottie's voice gradually turned cold.
"If you haven't heard of it, let me show you!"