"Hm?"
The fear in Jessica's eyes had mostly faded. Although she was still shyly fidgeting, she was more excited than anything—the kind of excitement one feels upon meeting a person they've longed to see their whole life. The cute cat ears on her head twitched, and she seemed to have forgotten that her bathwater was about to overflow.
Seeing that Lucas didn't respond, Jessica thought he hadn't heard her and repeated, "My wish is for you to be free, Mr. Djinni!"
"...."
Lucas was now certain.
This young girl was definitely naive, without much cunning. And this so-called Djinni was absolutely something her mother made up to fool her. This was common even in Lucas's past life, like parents telling their kids they were found in a trash can. Naive children would believe it, but most would figure out it was a lie once they grew up.
But... the girl in front of him seemed a little too naive.
Still, this wasn't bad.
Lucas didn't know much about this world yet. If there was some method here for dealing with souls, he'd be done for. Even though this was just a fragment of his soul and wouldn't kill him, his main consciousness was present. If it were destroyed, he'd probably have to sleep for a long time again.
"Can't you grant it, Mr. Djinni?"
Jessica tilted her head, blinking her large, watery eyes. She looked so cute that Lucas couldn't help but want to smile like a doting aunt.
Adorable.
"I'm sorry, that wish is not possible. I need to grant a certain number of wishes to gain my freedom, which is a bit different from a traditional Djinni."
"Is that so..."
Jessica looked a little disappointed.
"So, what wish do you want? Money? Riches and glory?"
Lucas asked tentatively. He gave her a quick look. The girl was dressed simply in a gray top and shorts. Although she was very cute, she didn't seem to know how to dress up, and her clothes were wrinkled. She probably wasn't from a wealthy family. For such people, their wishes were usually for wealth and status...
Although Lucas himself didn't have the power to grant wishes, his system did.
The system would provide Lucas with tools to grant wishes ten times.
For example, if the wisher wanted a large sum of money, the system would give Lucas the ability to turn stone into gold, or other abilities to directly or indirectly obtain money, such as giving Lucas immense strength to go rob someone. Of course, he only had ten chances, a sort of bonus from the system. After those ten times, he would need to provide a certain amount of prayer power to get the system's help.
Of course, some wishes the system couldn't help with, and Lucas would have to rely on himself, like a vague, subjective wish such as 'make me brave.'
"Money?"
Jessica was taken aback. She tilted her head, her large eyes filled with confusion.
"But... I don't want money... My family gives me some snack money every month, and that's enough for me. I don't feel like I need a lot of money..."
"Hm?"
Jessica's words left Lucas stunned for a few seconds.
"Snack money? Little girl... you're still young. How much can snack money be? When you grow up, you'll realize that a little snack money is..."
Before Lucas could finish, Jessica showed him her phone balance. The long string of zeros made the words about to leave his mouth get stuck in his throat, making him incredibly uncomfortable.
What kind of rich girl is this?!! You call that snack money?!!
"So what is your wish?"
After seeing Jessica's balance, Lucas realized that this simply dressed, cute girl... was actually a super-rich young lady. He feigned composure, but inwardly, he was already lamenting why he hadn't met someone like her in his past life. If he had, he wouldn't have had to work so hard.
"Um... can I only make three wishes, Mr. Djinni?"
"No... infinite wishes. Also, just call me Lucas Reeve. Don't call me Mr. Djinni, I don't live in a lamp."
"Infinite wishes?!"
Jessica was surprised, her little mouth agape.
"That's not what my mom told me."
"Because a Djinni can grant any wish, they only get three chances. I can't, so the number of wishes is infinite..."
Lucas made up an excuse.
He was now hoping the girl would have as many wishes as possible so he could reform his body sooner.
"Oh... in that case..."
Jessica seemed a little conflicted and fidgeted nervously. She was worried that if she made a wish that Mr. Reeve couldn't grant, it would embarrass him...
If Lucas knew what she was thinking, he probably would have been moved to tears and called her a little angel.
"Then... can you help me win tomorrow's combat assessment, Mr... Reeve? My opponent is one of my seniors, and she's very strong. I just need to be able to last five minutes against her without being defeated."
"Combat?"
Lucas was stunned again. He looked the seemingly short, cute, cat-like girl up and down. She was so slender... she didn't look like she could fight.
"Excuse me, my dear young lady, what is it that you do?"
Being praised by Lucas made Jessica's pretty face blush again. She waved her hands frantically.
"That... um... you can just call me Jessica. No need to call me young lady..."
"I'm a mercenary at Blacksteel Worldwide, but I get really nervous in important situations, and I'm very clumsy, so I still haven't been promoted to a full operator..."
As she said this, Jessica looked up at the floating Lucas, then shyly lowered her head again, fiddling with the hem of her clothes.
*Mercenary...*
???
Lucas raised an eyebrow, a million question marks popping up in his head.
She looked underage. A mercenary? He was starting to suspect he had been transported into some kind of anime mobile game. Outside of anime... who would let such a young, underage girl be a mercenary?
And he could tell she was indeed very shy and blushed easily.
Just talking to him, the young girl Jessica had been blushing the whole time, not daring to look him in the eye.
Although he had a million questions, Lucas couldn't be bothered to ask. He extended a hand towards Jessica.
"I can help you... Come, let's form a wish contract, Miss Jessica."
"A contract?"
Jessica cautiously extended her small, fair hand and placed it against Lucas's.
"A contract means that I have officially accepted your wish. This contract will remain in effect until the wish is fulfilled."
As the large and small hands touched, a mechanical voice sounded in Lucas's mind.
[Wish detected. System assistance required? (10/10)]
"Yes..."
[Based on the wish's requirements, the system will randomly provide you with three abilities sufficient to complete the task. You may choose one as your permanent ability (this choice cannot be reversed).]
[1. Sun Breathing + Transparent World 2. Ghoul (Ukaku) 3. Ittō Shura]