"The people from the Blizzard Group have been way too enthusiastic lately. It's honestly getting a bit hard to handle…"
"Bowing and scraping, treating me like some kind of boss is one thing—but giving me houses and cars too? And that Lily even said she wanted to introduce me to someone…"
"What on earth is going on?"
"And Blizzard herself—she's even worse. She comes over every day to freeload meals. Has my place turned into her personal cafeteria now?"
Luo Yu muttered to himself while preparing dinner.
Though he sounded like he was complaining, he wasn't actually that annoyed.
Most things, he could still refuse.
The only thing he couldn't quite turn down—
Was Blizzard freeloading meals.
Mainly because the ingredients she brought were absurdly good.
Take today's haul, for example—
A nearly forty-centimeter-long spiny lobster, weighing around fifteen kilograms.
An almost eighty-centimeter sea eel, a full ten kilograms.
Fist-sized oysters—an entire basket of them.
The prep work was a pain, but eating them was pure bliss.
More importantly, even with his current income, he probably couldn't buy ingredients like these.
And although Blizzard came often, she usually only took a bite or two.
Most of the food still ended up in his stomach—so overall, he was the one benefiting more.
That made her even harder to refuse.
Ding dong—
The doorbell rang.
Luo Yu sighed.
He didn't even need to think about who it was.
Letting Blizzard in was inevitable—
But it was also about time for his daily energy harvest.
Staying at home and gaining energy every day wasn't a bad life at all.
It was just… now there was a freeloader.
Opening the door, he immediately saw Blizzard in a long white dress, eyes glowing as she peeked into the room.
"Today's ingredients look pretty good. I think I can already smell it~"
"Mr. Luo Yu, your cooking seems to get better every day."
"Heh… maybe."
"I'll go exorcise the monster first. You can sit inside for now…"
He had graduated from a top culinary school—how could his cooking be bad?
And compared to certain overly delicate island-style dishes, his food was far more satisfying.
It was only natural that Blizzard kept coming back.
"Mhm, go on then. I'll take care of myself—no need to worry~"
Hearing that, Luo Yu could only give a dry laugh.
Take care of yourself, she said—meaning she wouldn't hold back at all.
Sure enough, almost every time he stepped out, she'd start sneaking bites like there was no tomorrow.
As if stealing food somehow made it taste better.
Still, she was supposed to get a share anyway, so he let it be.
After another routine monster exorcism—
Luo Yu gained 5,200 energy.
Adding that to what he'd accumulated over the past half month, plus the 70,000 from Vaccine Man—
He now had 140,000 energy in total.
That was enough to unlock the next Extraordinary Technique.
"System, open the status panel."
Host: Luo Yu
Age: 20
Lifespan: 69
Combat Power: 72,800 (Dragon-level)
Abilities: Heavenly Talisman Codex, Comprehensive Talisman Manual, Qi Entity Origin Flow
Currently Deducing: Eight Extraordinary Techniques (26%)
Deduction Energy: 140,200
"Good. The natural increase pushed it up by one percent—saved me some energy."
"System, immediately accelerate the deduction of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques until a new ability is unlocked."
The system notifications sounded at once.
Ding! Accelerating Eight Extraordinary Techniques deduction…
Ding! Deduction progress has reached 37.5%. Consumed 115,000 energy.
Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Divine Machine Crafting!
The moment he heard it, Luo Yu was filled with joy.
After waiting and waiting—
The technique he'd been longing for had finally arrived.
Divine Machine Crafting.
In The Outcast, this art allowed the creation of countless magical artifacts—
Even storage-type treasures similar to spatial rings.
Village Chief Ma had once relied solely on his artifacts to fight five special operatives at once without losing ground.
That alone showed how terrifying artifact support could be in combat.
Recently, the Blizzard Group had been hunting monsters with increasing fervor.
But to Luo Yu, progress still felt too slow.
If he could equip them with powerful weapons—
Their efficiency would skyrocket.
With enough people working together, even challenging Demon-level monsters might become feasible.
At that point, earning tens of thousands of energy per day wouldn't be a dream.
Just thinking about it made him feel great.
Choosing to cooperate with the Blizzard Group really had been a masterstroke.
The more he thought about it—
The more he looked forward to their future performance.
He hurried back to the apartment.
From the kitchen, he immediately heard Blizzard repeatedly exclaiming, "So good!"
"Ahem. Miss Blizzard, come here for a moment. I need to talk to you about something important."
"Huh? What—can't it wait until I'm done eating…?"
"…Wait, you said important?"
She didn't even bother maintaining her image, rushing out of the kitchen with a curious look.
"What's going on? Why do you suddenly sound so serious?"
Luo Yu's mouth twitched.
She made it sound like he was never serious.
And there she was, holding a bowl of fruit salad mid-bite.
"I'm being serious."
"When I was exorcising the monster just now, I had an epiphany."
"I finally comprehended an artifact-refining method I could never fully grasp before."
"From now on, I'll be crafting artifacts."
"You and your group should start preparing the materials I'll need."
"And you'd better think ahead about what kind of weapons you want."
Blizzard's eyes widened instantly.
"Mr. Luo Yu… is that really true?"
"We already thought talisman-making was unbelievable…"
"Crafting weapons as powerful as your talismans—it can't be that easy, right…?"
Luo Yu smiled calmly.
"Words alone mean nothing. I'll let the results speak for themselves."
"Call your people over. Bring the best steel you can find."
"O–Okay! I'll call them right now!"
Blizzard hurriedly took out her phone and started sending messages.
Just moments ago she'd looked adorably dazed—
Now she was all business.
Efficient, decisive, commanding.
Not long after—
Cars pulled up outside.
Heavy footsteps echoed up the stairs.
Then the doorbell rang.
"Miss Blizzard, Mr. Luo Yu—we're here."
"We bought every top-grade steel we could find."
"We even managed to get some of Metal Knight's special alloy."
The door opened, and Lily reported first.
But then—
Everyone froze.
All eyes were locked onto Blizzard's mouth.
"Y–You guys… what's wrong?"
"Why are you all just standing there? Come in already."
They snapped out of it and filed in awkwardly.
A few of the male members began whispering among themselves.
"Did we… come at a bad time?"
"But… Miss Blizzard told us to come…"
"Cough… maybe she doesn't mind…"
"But why does the room smell kind of… fishy?"
…
At first, Luo Yu only felt something was off.
Then he heard the murmurs—and looked at Blizzard.
He nearly fainted on the spot.
Oh no.
She ate fruit salad… and didn't wipe her mouth.
This misunderstanding—
Was going to be huge.
The carefully cultivated image of being pure, detached, and ascetic—
Might just get completely shattered by this single scene.
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