[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: "Shenbao Brand Nutrient Express" x1!]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: "Shenbao Brand Nutrient Express" x2!]
The notification sounds of acquiring Pure Love Brand Nutrient Express rang one after another.
Although this stuff didn't really have much recovery effect on Hikari's current physique anymore, it was still quite good for women to use, so it was considered a practical item.
But what annoyed Hikari was that all the guaranteed rewards were basically useless skills.
For example, things like Master-Level Cigarette Lighting Technique, which allowed one's action of lighting a cigarette to look even cooler than Al Pacino or Thomas Shelby.
Or Clown Acting Technique, which allowed one to act as a clown so vividly that others might actually mistake you for the one from Gotham City.
And Half-Eaten Cucumber Left by a Kappa, after consuming it, your swimming ability slightly improves, and there's a small chance of realizing the secret art of underwater breathing, but it's for internal use only, with a certain risk of syphilis.
"What kind of messy, useless skills and items are these...", Hikari was speechless.
Annoyed, he casually did another ten rounds of ten-draws.
Although most of them were still useless skills and items, there were a few that turned out to be pretty decent.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the reward: "Substitute Paper Doll"!]
[Substitute Paper Doll: After binding, when the host suffers a fatal attack, the host will be granted immunity, and the received damage will be transferred to the substitute paper doll.]
For this item, Hikari was quite satisfied.
After all, each substitute paper doll was basically equal to one extra life.
Even though his current power was far beyond that of ordinary people, and with various tools and skills he was virtually invincible in the present world, who would ever complain about having too many lives?
Moreover, according to the lottery rules, most one-time items he obtained could later be unlocked for purchase.
The Substitute Paper Doll was no exception.
Though pricey, costing a thousand Pure Love Points per doll, and with an internal cooldown of seven days before the next purchase, it was still a pleasant surprise.
After all, life itself was priceless. No matter how many points it cost, it was worth it.
As for the cooldown, counting 365 days a year, if he ignored point costs, he could buy 60 of them in a year. That was sixty extra lives, which should be plenty.
And once he had bound more than ten Substitute Paper Dolls, he could even bind them to the women around him.
All in all, it was quite a useful item.
After reading the description of the Substitute Paper Doll, Hikari turned his attention to another item he had drawn that also seemed good.
[Record of Strange Tales: Allows the holder to collect and record monsters, urban legends, and other supernatural beings they have encountered. The Record will contain information about these beings, and once a being's affection level toward the holder reaches a certain threshold, the holder can officially add them to the Record. Those bound and recorded in the book will never betray the holder, and the holder can borrow their power.]
This item might not be very useful for ordinary people, but for Hikari, it was quite practical.
After all, he had already encountered no small number of monsters and urban legends.
And in this world, with his power, he would surely encounter many more.
Those beings, with power surpassing ordinary humans, were definitely not easy to deal with.
But with the Record of Strange Tales, Hikari could try to include them within the book, increasing controllability over them considerably.
With that thought, he took the Record of Strange Tales out from his system inventory.
It was a silver-gray book with gold-edged covers, decorated with vine-like, eerie patterns.
Once drawn, it had automatically bound to him, making him its rightful owner.
He opened the first page, where it recorded the very first monster he had encountered in this world.
Snow Woman, Yukino Mifuyu.
It contained detailed information about the Snow Woman's lifestyle habits, abilities, and characteristics, such as her body being icy cold all year round but her internal temperature warm, and her body being extremely hydrated, etc., etc.
Given his intimate relationship with Yukino, Hikari naturally already knew these traits well, so he didn't bother reading further and instead looked at the affection level section.
Sure enough, it was a perfect 100 points.
Yukino's affection toward him was completely maxed out.
Hikari casually flipped to another page and found Yukino's close friend, the Oni clan's young lady, Kiriryuin Kaede.
Unexpectedly, her affection level had already reached over 60 points, above the passing line.
It seemed that although this woman's mouth said no, her soft body was still being quite honest.
Flipping another page, Hikari found Miss Mary's affection level to be rather low.
Even though they'd been getting along quite well lately, and after he'd brought her good food several times, the gluttonous girl's attitude had changed from tsundere to somewhat clingy.
She had even admitted that he was her friend.
But her affection level was still stuck at 50 points.
Although it said 50, the progress bar extended slightly past halfway.
Hikari thought about it, perhaps she was still hung up over Hanako, and thus couldn't fully open her heart to him.
"Right, speaking of Hanako."
Hikari opened the page about the Hanako in the Toilet and checked her affection level.
"Good grief, -20?", Seeing that Hanako's affection toward him was actually negative, Hikari was speechless.
By logic, in this kind of world, after his last… "evil break-in," the pleasure he gave her should've increased her affection, not decreased it. How could it be negative?
Curious, Hikari looked into it carefully.
Sure enough, after that "evil break-in," her affection had increased by +30 points, but because of how he had later suppressed her, her hatred had increased by -50 points.
So, after adding it all up, it landed at -20 overall.
"Good grief… so that means Hanako's still secretly holding a grudge against me."
"As expected, when it comes to these spiteful vengeful spirits, it's better to deal with them as soon as possible."
That was what Hikari thought, but he also knew that if he went straight to the bathroom now, Hanako probably wouldn't even show herself, she'd just hide in her spirit domain and play dead.
He figured he'd have to start from Miss Mary's side again.
And since he'd just drawn the Record of Strange Tales, it was a good chance to strike while the iron was hot and pay her another visit.
Having made up his mind, Hikari put away the Record and left the school, hailing a taxi toward the Richter Hotel.
Sitting in the car, he pondered how to include Miss Mary into the Record of Strange Tales.
He had kept her confined in the hotel all this time precisely to tame this urban legend, there was no way he'd let her go before she was subdued.
Now that he had the Record, the process should be simpler, he just needed to officially record her in it.
But to do that, her affection level had to be at least 80.
Yet Miss Mary's affection was stuck around 50%, barely rising anymore. After each round of "training," her affection now only went up by decimal points.
Hikari wondered if he should try something new to raise her affection, like bringing her more delicious treats, since she was such a foodie.
Or perhaps… opening a few more "paths" leading to the depths of her heart.
So far, he had found two such "paths" already.
But there was still one he hadn't yet explored. Maybe if he tried exploring it today, he could break through her affection barrier.
———
While these thoughts ran through his head, Hikari stepped out of the taxi and arrived at the entrance of the Richter Hotel.
Standing before the grand, gold-decorated doors, he frowned slightly.
Something felt off about the place today.
It was too quiet. Normally, while not noisy, the Richter Hotel was at least somewhat lively.
But today, the front entrance was eerily deserted.
As he approached, a chilling, sinister aura faintly drifted out from inside.
A bad feeling began to creep into Hikari's chest.
And he never ignored his instincts.
After reaching a certain level of strength, his perception and intuition had become sharp, rarely wrong.
So when he felt something was off, he took it seriously.
If his instincts said there was something wrong inside the hotel, there probably was.
"Better stay alert."
Raising his guard, Hikari stepped carefully into the lobby.
There was no one at the door to greet him. Unlike before, when the welcoming ladies would enthusiastically receive him. That alone confirmed something had happened.
He continued deeper inside.
Several hotel employees were lying unconscious on the red carpeted hallway.
When he approached the front desk, he saw that the staff behind it were also collapsed on the floor.
Among them, he even recognized the mature female manager who had served him several times before.
He checked her briefly, there were no external injuries, and the same went for the others.
Clearly, they hadn't been physically attacked.
The air didn't carry any trace of anesthetic gas, and the money and valuables behind the counter were untouched.
The scene was too strange, clearly not human work.
Hikari figured it was probably something supernatural.
Suddenly, a strong smell of blood drifted out from one of the nearby rooms.
He followed the scent and pushed open the door.
The room was dark and narrow, filled with clutter, probably a storage room.
He flicked the light switch, and as the lights came on, a horrifying sight unfolded before his eyes.
Even someone like Hikari, who had killed plenty during the minotaur hunts, found the method brutal.
A hotel staff member, still in uniform, had been cleanly split into two equal halves.
From the abdomen down, the person had been cut straight through, their body severed in half.
Blood and organs were scattered all over the floor.
The smoothness of the cut and the cruelty of the act didn't look like anything a human could have done.
"Could it be... that Miss Mary escaped?", Hikari thought.
But he quickly shook his head, "No, Miss Mary isn't that violent. Besides, I tied her up tightly, with barriers in place. She couldn't have escaped. And this sinister aura… it's not hers."
After all, during these days, Hikari had poured positive energy into Miss Mary nearly a hundred times.
He knew her soft, pale little body inside and out, there was no way he'd mistake her aura.
Still, though it wasn't her doing, he suspected the incident was somehow related to her.
Because this eerie energy, and the brutal killing style, fit the tone of an urban legend perfectly: dark, cold, and horrifying.
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