The recording wasn't his only surprise reward.
[Your trophy wall grows by one.]
[A new addition is taped there now—a small, slightly curled lock of hair.]
[Achievement unlocked: "Plunderer".]
["Since I'm already here, I can't leave empty-handed, can I?"]
[This wall, inscribed with your memorable quotes and trophies, will be a lifelong stain and source of pain for Big Herta.]
[You gain one perk draw.]
[New perk acquired: "Equivalent Exchange".]
[You may shatter other perks as a price to gain power in times of danger.]
["Equivalent Exchange" triggers under one condition: the power you gain depends on the evil you've done—specifically, how cruelly you take a girl's maidenhood.]
[Note: The degree to which a perk is shattered is proportional to the power gained by "Equivalent Exchange".]
[Note: Perks shattered completely cannot be repaired or restored.]
Reading this, Jing Ye felt his eyelid twitch.
Superstition or not, he had a bad feeling.
The simulator suddenly giving him a perk so obviously meant for combat… was that a hint something big was coming?
That wasn't even a hint—that was a neon sign.
Who was he going to fight—Herta? Ruan Mei, once things went wrong?
Or the Herta family?
He hadn't forgotten how they turned him into a man-shaped meteor the first time around.
Even if it was "just" in the simulator, his mental ledger had a thick, bold line under their name.
If he got the chance…
Soon enough, the simulator showed him exactly what "Equivalent Exchange" was for.
[Love has never crossed Herta's mind. As a genius, she's not like other teenage girls who daydream about romance.]
[She certainly never imagined being drawn in and used by someone like you.]
[After that night, you notice she never wears that particular dress again.]
[She demands you stay away from Ruan Mei. You agree—on the condition that everything you ever wanted to do to Ruan Mei, you do to Herta instead.]
[Though she hates you with every fiber of her being, Herta can only grit her teeth and let you enact every idea you have.]
[Her outfits change by the day, and she never repeats a style.]
[To others, it just looks like a rich young lady playing with fashion. Only you know—]
[Every piece she wears once and discards ends up hanging on your trophy wall.]
[Elegant dresses soaked through and dripping when they fall into the water tank; torn stockings shredded beyond repair…]
[Boots that suffocated her feet all day, still warm and damp when she takes them off.]
[A fashionable necklace that somehow acquired an extra ring and a leash.]
[Tops with two new openings cut into them.]
[You even rummage through the shelves one day and find an odd staff, learning a bit of basic magic from an old grimoire.]
[You test low-level frost and fire spells on Herta during your experiments.]
[Once, your staff slips into a milk bucket. Soaked and stained, it ends up decorating your trophy wall as well.]
[These are all trophies from your many experiments with Herta.]
[But you never quite cross that final line. You leave her maidenhood untouched, keeping her heart suspended in dread.]
[She had steeled herself to give up everything. But the sword of Damocles you leave dangling over her head wobbles, and so does her resolve.]
[She starts to suspect that your refusal to take that last step hides some far uglier plan.]
[You dodge the question whenever she demands an answer, too busy with your "experiments" to care about Ruan Mei's growing sense of distance.]
[Neglected and confused, Ruan Mei grows faintly hurt at your indifference. You barely notice.]
[You frequently call Herta away in front of Ruan Mei.]
[Sometimes, after your experiments, Ruan Mei runs into you two. Herta, flushed and feverish, chats with her like nothing happened.]
[Ruan Mei, worried by her friend's burning face and temperature, fusses over her. Herta brushes her off, eyes silently vowing murder at you.]
Jing Ye quietly watched the countless experiments scroll past, savoring the flickers of sensation the simulator returned.
Every session was recorded and stored, complete with tactile feedback. He could replay them as much as he liked.
Herta's hatred twisting into shame, her countless curses breaking into wordless gasps before she fainted—he never got tired of it.
Heh.
But soon, he understood why he needed that battle perk.
[You are so absorbed in your experiments with Herta that you fail to notice danger approaching.]
[Though Herta never reports you to her family, your existence still draws their killing intent.]
[You resist as best you can, using the scraps of magic you learned from those old books.]
[But the Herta family's power is beyond your imagination. They wield true sorcery and kill you easily.]
[Not just you—Herta dies, too.]
[And Ruan Mei.]
[With your last, fading consciousness, you see all three of your bodies laid out in the center of a ritual array.]
[You watch as the entire Herta family gathers, eyes blazing with fanatical heat, using your corpses as sacrificial components.]
[Simulation complete. Rating: C+.]
[Congratulations, host. You successfully turned Herta into a toy, but didn't live long enough to take that final step.]
Jing Ye frowned.
So he'd been right: something was very wrong with that family.
His perk, "Light Fingers," had clearly stolen intelligence from Herta. In other words, his self-taught magic had its roots in her, too.
And her family's magic was… much more advanced.
In a supposedly scientific world, that shouldn't make sense at all.
What had driven them to suddenly kill not just him, but Herta—their precious heiress—and even Ruan Mei?
What was that ritual he'd seen in his dying moments?
He'd thought the simulator was just a revenge fantasy machine. Turns out it came with plot, too.
Now it looked like that combat perk wasn't optional.
He was nowhere near done with Herta. He'd barely begun to make her twist and writhe.
And just tormenting Herta alone wasn't enough for him anymore.
To fill the stage, to secure his chance to see the grand finale—
He'd have to use "Equivalent Exchange".
[Simulation begins. At age zero, you…]
[When you first succeed in using Ruan Mei to threaten Herta, you conduct numerous experiments on her.]
[To use "Equivalent Exchange" and survive the Herta family's hunt, you decide to move that final step forward in your schedule.]
[Since the power of "Equivalent Exchange" scales with your evil deeds, you're no longer satisfied with experiments done in the privacy of your room.]
[Under Herta's nearly murderous glare, you pull her outside by the leash in your hand.]
-------
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