Looking at the secret manuals on the table, Ato sighed.
"I've been tricked."
It couldn't really be called being tricked, after all, they were free.
The only price he had paid was a blessing.
He opened 108 Chapters on How to Pursue a Woman. Sure enough, it was a guide on how to pursue women. After all, the book was literally called 108 Chapters on How to Pursue a Woman.
What dissatisfied Ato, however, was that there were only 108 chapters.
There wasn't a single chapter before that.
It had neither a beginning nor an end, and he didn't even feel like reading further.
As for the other book, Master Levi's Product: Thoroughly Understanding Women's Psychology, it was, uh, a guide to playing cards?
It referred to using micro-expressions and movements to see what cards female opponents had and when they would be able to win.
The goal was to achieve victory in every battle.
As for what to do if the opponent was a man.
There was one sentence in the book: "Treat him as a woman."
Simply put, it meant treating the other party as a woman. That way, this method could be used again.
Ato's evaluation was, "Useful, but not much."
The last one wasn't as outrageous as the previous two.
It really did contain 1,000 recipes, with descriptions of various ingredients and cooking temperatures.
The only problem was that there were some ingredients he had never even heard of.
For example.
Abundance Sweet Saliva, Ancient Sea Water, Vidyadhara Bodily Fluids... and all sorts of other strange things. Let alone having seen them, Ato had never even heard of them.
"I'll look for them when I have time."
After putting away the three secret manuals, Ato opened his phone, sent a "Good night" to the new friend he had just added, then washed up and went to sleep.
———
[Meanwhile]
As Elysia wandered around the Moth of the Flame Chasers with Levi, she heard the foolish laughter coming from behind her. She didn't even need to think to know that he was laughing because of the video they had just recorded.
She really didn't understand what was so funny about a blessing video.
"You don't understand, Elysia." Levi looked at Elysia mysteriously, repeating the words "you don't understand."
Elysia rolled her eyes at him.
"Yes, yes, yes, I don't understand. You understand everything."
Seeing that he ignored her and continued holding his phone and laughing, Elysia's expression turned cold.
"Give me my phone."
"No, let me watch it a little longer. It's so interesting!"
"Give it back!"
"Hey, hey, hey."
After snatching her phone back, Elysia smoothed her hair and, looking at the dejected Levi, wrinkled her nose.
"Hurry up. It's already so late."
She took the initiative to grab Levi's hand and walked forward.
Feeling the warmth in her palm, Elysia pursed her lips, and her mood became a little annoyed again.
'Come on! A beautiful girl is holding your hand!'
'Could you at least give me some reaction?!'
The thought had just occurred to her when Elysia felt the hand she was holding tremble unnaturally.
"What happened?" she asked, turning her head.
"I just got a chill."
"You got a chill?" Elysia's thoughts raced as she connected it with the fact that Levi was a pervert.
She suddenly realized something and frowned.
"Here?"
"Yes."
After replying, Levi couldn't help feeling a little puzzled. Did getting a chill depend on the location?
Was this something a person could control?
After hearing this, Elysia couldn't help leaning backward.
A little reaction was a good thing, but did he really need to react this much?
Someone might notice. That would be socially embarrassing.
Levi looked up at the sky. A waning moon hung above them, while the faint starlight was almost impossible to notice without looking carefully.
"It's a little cold here."
He was the Herrscher of Flames, yet he had almost caught a cold from the cold.
"Wait, you said that chill was because you were cold?"
"What else?"
Levi looked at Elysia the way one might look at Kiana, wondering if she had been infected by Kiana's virus.
A chill was caused by the cold. What else could it be caused by?
Elysia was silent for a moment.
"It's nothing."
She silently quickened her pace while pulling Levi along.
After some time, the two arrived at their destination.
Elysia used her fingerprint to open the sealed door, and voices came from inside.
"Are all the equipment ready?"
"Everything's ready, Doctor. It's just..."
"Speak."
"Do you really not need me, or anyone else, to assist you?"
"No."
Hearing the two voices, Levi's expression instantly became interesting.
Walking through the door, Elysia immediately shouted, "Doctor, look what I brought you!"
Mobius, fully dressed, turned toward the doorway. She wasn't surprised to see Elysia arrive.
She nodded slightly at her, then turned her gaze toward Levi, who was standing outside the door with a somewhat thin figure.
"Why are you standing outside? Come in."
Seeing that Levi was still standing outside without moving, Elysia smilingly dragged him inside.
During the process, Levi sternly questioned her, "What did you bring me here for?!"
"To be a volunteer. What else could it be?"
Elysia patted his back and comforted him.
"You should know that sacrificing yourself for humanity is a great thing!"
Like hell it was.
Looking at the various experimental equipment of all sizes inside the laboratory, Levi felt a blockage in his chest. Especially after seeing Mobius inject a tube of liquid into the man on the cart, his chest felt even more constricted.
'Maybe I should make a run for it.'
"Huh?" Elysia's surprised voice came from beside him. She stood beside Mobius without the slightest fear, her eyes wide as she looked at the man on the cart.
"Isn't this the one from before..."
"Mm-hmm."
Mobius nodded slightly.
Levi became curious and also moved to Mobius's side. He noticed that when he approached Mobius, she merely glanced at him before ignoring him again.
She showed no intention of driving him away and simply let him watch from the side.
Seeing the sleeping man's face clearly, Levi sucked in a cold breath.
"MacArthur!"
Elysia added, "Junior."
Levi said in shock, "Mobius, you captured him?!"
Mobius didn't answer. Blanca, who was organizing the equipment, corrected him, "His parents personally begged Doctor to bring him back to the laboratory. Otherwise..."
Someone like him wouldn't even qualify to be an experimental subject.
Because of her fondness for Elysia, Blanca was very unhappy with this second-generation official.
"Honkai energy adaptation experiment begins."
After saying this, Mobius put on her protective suit and pushed the cart toward the laboratory alone. As she closed the door, she glanced at Levi.
"He's in your hands, Blanca."
"Understood, Doctor."
Only after the laboratory door had completely closed did a trace of confusion appear in Mobius's eyes.
"That guy..."
Why did he seem a little familiar?
She shouldn't have met him before.
Mobius shook her head and transferred the person on the cart onto the operating table.
Outside the laboratory.
Elysia stared at the closed door, blinking repeatedly.
Seeing Elysia's curiosity, Blanca explained, "The Honkai energy adaptation experiment, simply put, is an experiment to make a person adapt to Honkai energy and coexist with it."
Because Elysia was a warrior of the Moth of the Flame Chasers, Blanca didn't specifically explain what Honkai energy was.
Everyone knew that Honkai energy caused Honkai disease, which currently had no cure.
However, based on existing data, Honkai energy possessed tremendous power. If humans could coexist with it, they would naturally be able to possess tremendous power as well.
For example, Elysia had an obvious presence of Honkai energy within her body. Combined with her close relationship with Mobius, the outside world generally believed that she was Mobius's secret experimental subject.
Blanca looked at Levi and waved him over.
"Me?"
"Mm. Come here."
"..."