"How can you talk like that, kid? This is a consensual transaction, how can you call it perverted?"
Li Ke stretched. Tanjie hadn't exerted any effort at all. Although it hurt a little, he was already winning at not being subjected to any other harsh treatment.
"But people who are obsessed with women will improve their strength very slowly."
Lottie complained again.
"Your weapon is powerful, but your stamina obviously can't keep up, right? And learning magic is very tiring and mentally taxing, big brother."
Although she was small, she could tell that Li Ke didn't want to marry Tanjie at all. Like those people in the Demon Realm, he simply wanted Tanjie's body.
The difference was that in the Demon Realm, people exchanged food and water, while in Arad, it was money. Actually, there wasn't much difference.
"Well... people need to vent, you know."
Li Ke spoke with certainty. He could sense that Tanjie was the kind of woman with a lot on her mind, and she harbored some inexplicable feelings for him.
He thought it was because he had complimented her on her beauty, but he wasn't entirely sure.
After all, it was too far-fetched for someone to fall for someone simply by calling them beautiful.
Tanjie's appearance was genuinely quite good—although the other women were also quite beautiful, and Galina was also very pretty.
But the problem was that Galina's poison was far too potent.
"But ten gold coins can buy a lot of things! And although I don't understand these things, ten gold coins can buy enough food to exchange for several beautiful women in the Demon Realm. You're really at a disadvantage."
Lottie tilted her head. Although Tanjie had a good figure, her personality and smell weren't good, and she was poisonous and also weak—in the Demon Realm, she was practically unsellable.
"There's no such thing as losing out in this kind of thing, it's just a matter of mutual consent."
Li Ke shook his head and spread his hands.
"All in all, I don't feel like I lost out."
Standing up, Li Ke shook his head, glanced at the two corpses that Tanjie's henchmen had already dragged away, and sighed.
He had planned to use this thing to recoup his losses, but since Tanjie had taken it, he wouldn't dwell on it.
"Let's go, let's go study."
Li Ke ruffled Lottie's hair and walked towards the inn.
Along the way, he bought some notebooks and normal books as Lottie suggested, then returned to their room. Under the innkeeper's disapproving gaze, he and Lottie entered the room and began their lessons.
Because it was a language Li Ke wanted to learn, and with the brooch to cheat with, Li Ke learned quite quickly, mastering the basics almost immediately.
It was indeed strange that a demon was teaching him Aradian.
After dinner, Lottie returned to the Mage's Guild residence, while Li Ke continued reviewing what he had learned that day.
However, looking at his nearly empty purse, Li Ke sighed.
"Money really isn't enough."
Flicking his purse, Li Ke decided to sell the iron ingots in his bag first thing tomorrow morning; only then could he ensure he wouldn't be eaten into poverty by Lottie.
While the child's food wasn't expensive and was easy to feed, the quantity was truly astonishing.
"Why does she eat so much, yet remain so short? Her appetite is really illogical."
Shaking his head, he put other thoughts aside, but this distraction also made Li Ke lose interest in continuing to learn the language of this world.
Looking at the skill book "Blood Mystique" in his Seven Days to Die system, he thought for a moment and decided to use it directly.
Although finding Kiri would be safer, not knowing her whereabouts and the awkwardness between them made direct learning the first step seem like the best option.
Isn't it better to improve one's strength as early as possible?
Li Ke gently placed his hand on the learning surface. The next moment, the same pain as before swept through his brain and body. However, unlike last time, this time he sensed something else.
He felt the blood energy he had experienced through countless training sessions, pushing his body to its limits, allowing him to easily perceive the blood energy possessed by those afflicted by the Kazan Curse, and the experience in using it.
Manipulating his own blood, manipulating the blood flowing from his enemies, how to make his wounds stopped bleeding, how to accelerate blood flow to increase his strength and reflexes, how to make blood flow quickly to rapidly restore stamina.
The skills and experience the nameless swordsman had spent over a decade learning surfaced directly in Li Ke's mind and were mastered!
Li Ke simultaneously heard the rushing rivers and streams of blood within his veins, and the powerful pounding of his heart!
After an unknown amount of time, he abruptly opened his eyes. Waves of dizziness assaulted his body, and he felt incredibly hot all over. His blood flow accelerated until he slowly slowed it down using a method that surfaced in his memory, finally bringing his body back to normal.
However, his head remained severely dizzy.
Yet, he couldn't help but complain.
"No wonder berserkers need Ghost Hands! This thing is just too convenient!"
Li Ke genuinely wanted to complain, because from his newly acquired experience and memories, Blood Mystique were extremely difficult to learn! And remarkably impractical!
How impractical?
The swordsman he had previously killed with his gun had been a Berserker for over a decade, yet remained a third-rate fighter! Furthermore, the Berserker Secret Techniques had caused him countless side effects.
Numbness in his hands and feet was bad enough, but his tongue had lost most of its abilities due to a single instance of accelerating his blood flow, rendering him unable to taste anything.
The reason for this was simple.
He frequently increased his blood flow speed and then abruptly returned it to its original rate, causing his blood vessels to burst.
However, not doing so was also impossible, because his capillaries couldn't withstand the high-speed blood flow for long. Maintaining this accelerated blood flow for an extended period would directly lead to his sudden death!
As for why Li Ke complained about the Ghost Hand?
Because the Ghost Hand didn't need to worry about bursting blood vessels or blood clots! The Berserker could completely rely on the Ghost Hand as his second heart, placing all the burden on it!
Furthermore, because the power of the Ghost Hand would invade the brain, it also protected the brain from damage caused by the rampant blood energy.
Therefore, without the Ghost Hand, it was virtually impossible for someone to master the Berserker's Blood Abilty of this world.