The streets of Tokyo, Japan.
The system was communicating with Luo Shu through his internal channel.
"So points are the manifestation of 'influence'... So people with large amounts of points have influence over the entire society?"
[Correct. However, this merely means they possess or own such influence. To actually affect others, the host must personally interact with them.]
The system replied calmly in its mechanical electronic voice.
"I see..."
Luo Shu understood this perfectly. Just like how he could currently purchase abilities from the system to gift to others—but might choose not to—influence worked similarly. Luo Shu could choose to exert it or not; everything depended on him.
"Then here's the question—if I have more points, can I just find money lying around?"
Luo Shu stopped walking and looked down at the brown wallet beneath his foot.
After glancing around to confirm no one was nearby, he casually bent down, picked up the wallet, and flipped through it, discovering five 10,000-yen bills.
"Hmm, exactly 50,000 yen—equivalent to half a month's income from a part-time job. This is quite a sum."
The system's response to Luo Shu's money-finding question pleased him greatly:
[For protective purposes, a significant portion of the influence symbolised by the host's points will be converted into a permanent 'luck' buff.]
"Oh? So the more points I stockpile, the luckier I get? That's a thing?" Amused, Luo Shu flipped through the wallet again, which 'coincidentally' contained no identification of its original owner.
'Damn, this made it impossible to return even if I wanted to. These points are seriously amazing...'
With that thought, Luo Shu opened the system interface and checked his current points.
Following the recent series of club-related expenditures, his total points in the system had dropped to 12,033, while his bank balance and cash combined barely exceeded 500,000 yen.
This was Luo Shu's living expenses for the next two months.
Since his parents back home had invested in a 'relative's' business, said relative would transfer around 200,000 yen monthly—his financial safety net in Japan's high-cost environment.
"Finding a quarter of my monthly income in one go... My mood just improved significantly."
Thinking this, Luo Shu glanced at his abundant forum points and searched the system store for information about ability advancement.
While explaining things to Eriri earlier, he had learned that abilities were ranked into tiers like 'Common', 'Excellent', 'Elite', 'Hero', and so on—effectively 'ranks'.
Currently, his strongest skill is the 'Excellent'-ranked Wind Element Manipulation.
This ability, when paired with Common-ranked Intuition, effortlessly predicted movements and tore apart giant rats the size of calves, clearly demonstrating considerable potential.
Thus, Luo Shu wanted to explore how to advance his abilities.
Under his search, the system interface displayed words that left him speechless:
[Wind Element Control: The superior ability of Wind Element Manipulation, Elite rank.]
[Advancement requirements: Primary material: Heart of the Storm (50,000 points), supplementary materials: 200ml water, 20ml Siren's Tear (2,000 points)]
[Hyper Intuition: The superior skill of Intuition, Excellent rank.]
[Advancement requirements: Primary material: Brain of a Psychic Squid (10,000 points), supplementary materials: None]
[Subconscious Manipulation: The superior skill of Combat Potential, Excellent rank.]
[Advancement requirements: Primary material: Spinal Cord of a Mind Dragon (10,000 points), supplementary materials: None.]
Looking at these advancement requirements, Luo Shu's lips twitched as he forced a smile and said,
"System, are you robbing me?"
"Charging this much for ability advancements?"
"That multi-functional bracelet earlier, even opening an alternate dimension—how much did you charge me for those? What's going on now?"
[Dear host, your understanding is mistaken.]
The system's tone held no emotion, as if merely stating a fact.
[The affordability of auxiliary tools and other functions is solely to ensure the safety of the host and Familia, providing protective features. The acquisition and advancement of abilities do not fall under protective measures.]
[The system is only responsible for enhancing the safety of the host and Familia, not providing assistance in obtaining powerful abilities.]
Hearing this, Luo Shu raised an eyebrow before lifting his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"If I die because I'm too weak, wouldn't you be at a loss?"
[In the unfortunate event of such an incident, the system only provides reincarnation services, awaiting the host's revival in the next life.]
"So I can just start over in the next life?" Luo Shu grinned, though he didn't feel particularly happy about it.
'Next life? Who knows if it'll still be me in the next life? And your words carry quite a lot of implications—are you saying you've set your sights on me?'
"Never mind, ability advancement is something I can't afford right now..."
Luo Shu sighed, though he knew full well that advancing his abilities was impossible in the short term. While he could upgrade Common skills, he still needed points as a safety net.
If he advanced now and got injured without even having the points for medical treatment, dying would be a complete waste. He'd need to save at least another 5,000 points before daring to touch his abilities.
"Alright, another question—why is there such a huge gap between Eriri's points and Utaha's?"
As his first Familia, Utaha Kasumigaoka had brought Luo Shu a profit of 6,188 points. Yet his second Familia, Eriri Sawamura, had given him a staggering 9,000 points. This discrepancy left Luo Shu puzzled about the rules governing Familia recruitment rewards.
Moreover, the monthly point supply between the two differed by a factor of three—clearly something was off.
[Answer: The difference is due to Eriri Sawamura's societal influence far exceeding that of Utaha Kasumigaoka.]
"Exceeding, you mean..." Luo Shu suddenly recalled the two renowned 'unattainable flowers' of Toyogasaki High School—one a rising star in the literary world, the other a secret powerhouse in the doujinshi scene.
Compared to a writer like Utaha Kasumigaoka, Eriri—whose doujinshi had led countless poor 'little lives' to perish at the hands of fathers—clearly wielded far greater 'influence.'
"So, in other words, every single one of those... casualties becomes part of the points I pay Eriri as her salary? That sounds incredibly weird."
But considering how recruiting Eriri had increased his monthly point supply by 300 points—three times Utaha's—Luo Shu couldn't help but feel that doujinshi were truly a corrupting influence.
With another sigh, Luo Shu took out his phone and silently bookmarked Eri Kashiwagi's profile page before frowning and asking:
"System, one more thing—both Utaha and Eriri have restrictions on using their abilities. These limitations can be lifted, right? Is this also tied to ability advancement?"
[Yes, ability advancement is required. Would you like information on advancement?]
"Never mind, I'm broke. Knowing won't help..." Luo Shu immediately cut the system off.
He didn't want to hear about money right now. Don't even mention money to him.
Exhausting!
'Besides, if I can't even afford to upgrade my own abilities, why would I upgrade my members? How pathetic is that?' Shaking his head, Luo Shu walked forward a few steps before—squelch.
"Hmm?"
He paused, looking down at the deep red wallet beneath his foot, his eyes narrowing slightly:
"Another unexpected windfall?"
Finding two wallets while working part-time lifted Luo Shu's spirits, previously dampened by the system's extortionate nature.
Just as he bent to pick it up, a woman's voice spoke up behind him:
"Young man, your luck seems unusually good today."
Hearing an unfamiliar voice so close behind him, Luo Shu froze mid-motion.