“Then we’ll be going now! Let’s hang out with you big sisters again next time~!”
Tamamo Hikari was being pulled away by Yukino, a reluctant little expression plastered on her face.
Shiya waved at the two of them with an awkward but polite smile, her mouth busy sucking on a straw. Brown milk tea mixed with pearls entered her mouth, and the artificial sweetness brought a cheap sense of pleasure that the girl thoroughly enjoyed.
“Yeah, see you next time.”
Before leaving, they had made sure to add Shiya as a friend—on her Shirley account, of course.
Watching the two of them walk out the door until their figures vanished into the crowd, Shiya finally closed the message box. She tapped the button that had appeared on her sidebar right after her phone vibrated earlier.
With a light tap, black text materialized out of thin air. The scene reminded Shiya of the countdown Wang Miao saw in *The Three-Body Problem*.
[**Welcome to the Legendary Investigator Training Program**]
[**Here, you can achieve growth through Dream Points**]
The text lingered for a moment before vanishing, followed by the slow unfurling of a semi-transparent black panel.
Shiya scanned the people around her, but everyone was immersed in their own business. No one noticed anything unusual. It seemed this panel was visible only to her.
Feeling relieved, she continued reading. At the very top of the panel, her current status was recorded:
[**Status Window**]
Name: Shiya
Gender: Female
Race: Unregistered
STR: 40 CON: 50 SIZ: 65 DEX: 55 APP: 85 Inspiration: 80 Will: 85 EDU: 75 LUK: 30
Trait: Natural Mage (Requires no Mana or Sanity to cast low-level spells)
Trait: Eternal Vow (???)
Magic: Fist of Yog-Sothoth, Seal of Virire, Blade Blessing, Barrier Creation, Flesh Protection, R’lyeh Mist
Specialties: Shooting, Disguise, Brawling, Dodge, Driving
Every attribute was listed clearly in a table. Beside Shiya’s character panel was Shirley’s:
[**Status Window**]
Name: Shirley
Gender: Female
Race: Sakura Dragon
STR: 30 CON: 75 SIZ: 35 DEX: 40 APP: 85 Inspiration: 60 Will: 45 EDU: 35 LUK: 60
Trait: None
Specialties: None
The little Sakura Dragon sucked on her milk tea and stared at Shirley’s character panel, falling into deep thought.
‘Is this character of mine a bit too useless? Aside from being good-looking and having a decent constitution, she’s practically good for nothing.’
‘It’s only natural that I couldn’t beat Huang Xiaoyi.’
Thinking of this, Shiya felt at peace. She continued scrolling down to the real meat of the system.
Below the character attributes was a skill tree made of various boxes. At the moment, only the very top section was lit up and available for viewing:
[**Training Plan: Shirley**]
[**Primary Mana Awakening: You will possess Mana and can use Dragon Magic (Requires 300 Dream Points to awaken)**]
‘This isn’t bad. I wonder what Dragon Magic is like?’
The girl felt a faint sense of anticipation as she tapped on the “Shiya” section. The previous text quickly collapsed, and new words slowly emerged:
[**Training Plan: Shiya**]
[**Evil God Trial Card: A one-time-use item that allows you to obtain the power of one of the following three Evil Gods: The Immortal Ancient Dragon, Nyarlathotep, or Yamata no Orochi. Duration is 10 minutes. You will enter a weakened state afterward (Requires 500 Dream Points)**]
Shiya’s eyes lit up.
This meant the skill tree didn’t just contain skills, but items as well. Even though the Evil God Trial Card was a single-use item with a very short duration, it granted the power of an Evil God! It could easily save her life in a crisis.
The fact that she had survived being toyed with that afternoon was purely because Huang Xiaoyi had become curious about her. It was the same logic as a child not wanting to break their favorite toy. If she encountered another Evil God next time without any life-saving measures, she would be in deep trouble. Malicious Evil Gods were extremely dangerous entities; she had to remain vigilant.
Beyond that, Shiya discovered she could use Dream Points to purchase or enhance specialties through this panel. For instance, if someone didn’t know how to drive, they could instantly gain the ability to handle long-distance trips at an average level just by purchasing the Driving specialty.
Enhancing specialties involved upgrading a specialty she already possessed. There were three tiers: Trained, Proficient, and Top-tier.
Using Driving as an example again—if Trained represented the level of an average person, then Proficient was the level of a seasoned veteran who was familiar with most car models and could even perform a drift. As for Top-tier, that was the level of a professional racer. It required a massive amount of Dream Points, so she didn’t need to consider it for now given her current financial situation.
Those were all the enhancements the panel provided.
“Not bad…” Shiya whispered to herself.
However, Shiya felt something was a bit off. That Agent usually loved watching her make a fool of herself and never bothered to follow up after assigning tasks. Why was she being so efficient this time? Could there be a trap?
But even if there was, she didn’t exactly have the capital to step into it. After all, she was currently penniless, and even the cheapest trait cost 300 Dream Points.
“How on earth am I supposed to make money?”
That was the biggest problem Shiya currently faced.
As if hearing her distress, her phone screen suddenly lit up. The caller ID showed it was the Agent. Shiya glanced at it, hesitated for a moment, and then answered.
The moment she pressed the connect button, the Agent’s voice—sweet yet carrying a hint of mischief—came through from the other end.
“How is it, Mr. Ye Xi? Do you like the ‘big gift’ I prepared for you?”
“Yeah, thanks… and don’t call me by that name.”
Hearing that name, Shiya warily scanned her surroundings to ensure no acquaintances were nearby.
“Oh? How direct. You’ve become much cuter since turning into a girl, little Shiya~”
The Agent teased her without any attempt to hide it. “It seems you’ve adapted quite well.”
Shiya’s brow twitched, and her mouth instinctively pursed. In a lowered but still very cute voice, she said, “Get to the point. You didn’t call just to mock me, did you?”
“Hmm, is that not allowed?”
“…I’m hanging up.”
“Wait, wait! Honestly, you’re as impatient as ever. No girl is going to like you like this—”
Shiya hung up.
She tossed her phone aside and took an annoyed sip of milk tea. Then, the phone lit up again.
“…What?” she asked, picking up again. “Can you talk properly this time?”
The Agent sounded aggrieved. “I was clearly trying to help you.”
“Help me?” Shiya frowned.
“Yeah. After all, you should be quite short on Dream Points right now, right?” the Agent replied cheerfully.
Listening to the tone on the other end, Shiya had an ominous feeling. “Yeah. Can you provide me with Dream Points?”
“Of course. It’s just…”
The Agent’s tone shifted. “It requires you to complete a few small tasks.”