But Akane didn't view it that way. After all, Aoyama had modeled Denji's prototype after himself.
Thus, Denji's thoughts inside the manga mapped heavily to Aoyama's mindset.
Except like Denji... he preferred being on the passive side.
If that was true, shouldn't she follow Makima's model and take the initiative?
Just visualizing the highly tempting sequences Makima deployed in the panels made Akane's face flush, unable to replicate the posture with ease.
She genuinely didn't know how Aoyama managed to draw such high-allure panels so smoothly...
'Was it really possible that girls had already deployed such postures on him in the past?'
'And then, he'd simply spliced that knowledge into the Makima model?'
The thought sent a sudden jolt of panic through Akane.
Otherwise, it was incredibly hard to explain how Aoyama drew the sequence so flawlessly.
She stood up abruptly, a nervous energy propelling her out the door to find Aoyama directly.
---
Meanwhile...
Aoyama was at his apartment, browsing the System Shop.
Ever since getting caught lacking standard skills in prior rounds and forcing desperate gacha pulls, he had locked into a steady habit of checking the shop roster at set timeframes.
Starting now, that Old Scoundrel system would never trick another point out of him!
However, the system responded: [You burned under 20,000 points last rounds, unlocking multiple platinum skills and the exact Diamond-tier skill you targeted.]
This was a win-win outcome.
Okay, Aoyama just didn't enjoy gacha-style gambling.
Setting aside his previous life where his biological family was destroyed by gambling issues, leaving him on hard debt and costing his mother her life, just considering his high-risk bad luck made him a safety-net puller.
He simply couldn't enjoy gambling. Pulls counted as gambling; without knowing the Old Scoundrel system supported pay outs, he wouldn't touch them.
[Host: Hayashi Aoyama]
[Abilities: Hard Drive Memory (Diamond), Drawing Kaleidoscope (Master), The Game Creator (Master), Plain and Ordinary Appearance (Platinum), Legendary Musician (Diamond)]
[Points: 516,300]
[Current System Strategy Tasks:]
- Viral Sensation: Create a work in any category, receiving applause from 100,000 people. (Cleared)
- Peak Glory: Create a work in any category, receiving applause from 500,000 people. (Cleared)
- Absolute Trendsetter: Create a work in any category, receiving applause from 1,000,000 people. (593,447/1,000,000)
- Standing Ovation 2: Create a second work in any category, receiving applause from 10,000 people. (Cleared)
- Crowd Destroyer 2: Create a second work in any category, receiving applause from 50,000 people. (Cleared)
- Viral Sensation 2: Create a second work in any category, receiving applause from 100,000 people. (82,111/100,000)
- Household Name: Have 10,000 persons memorize your name. (Cleared)
- Trending Sensation: Have 50,000 persons memorize your name. (Cleared)
- Absolute Celebrity: Have 100,000 persons memorize your name. (Cleared)
- Global Icon: Have 500,000 persons memorize your name. (429,999/500,000)
- Natural-Born Talent: Showcase your auxiliary talents, mutating this world!
Following the massive success of Edgerunners, Aoyama's point allocation was growing to terrifying heights.
With previous gacha pulls and item purchases, his current balance sat above 510,000 points.
And he had just unlocked another Master-tier ability,[The Finishing Touch (Master)].
Crucially, it mapped to artistic skills, unlike previous unlocks that stood disconnected.
The effect of [The Finishing Touch (Master)] was basic yet gorgeous; increasing drawing precision was just a side bonus.
Another component was Aoyama pouring his own emotions into his drawings. Anyone viewing the panels containing poured affection would collapse into synchronized feeling.
For instance, when reading Fire Punch, readers would absorb the exact hollow ache directly in their hearts.
It was a powerful ability!
Faced with current month shop rotation, Aoyama scrolled items lists:
"Regulated Chemical: Hydrofluoric Acid," "Common Livestock: New Zealand Giant Turkey," "Handcrafted art: Horn Cup"... "Cutting Edge Tech: Smart-Integrated Supercomputing Server" ...
[Born to Work (Gold)], [Kansai Dialect Fluency (Platinum)], [Unspeakable Gnosis (Diamond)], [Arcane Arts & Shinto Mysteries (Platinum)]... [10,000 Ways to Exterminate a Clan (Bronze)]...
Aoyama ran a look over: "That supercomputing server looks fun to redeem for usage, or deploying as backup for Akane's focus."
"As for the remaining... that Shinto Mysteries one looks slightly interesting, mapping inside Onmyōdō training."
After all, downstream targets included works containing rooted Onmyōdō setups.
Well, loosely containing setups... even though that work's Onmyōdō looked closer to cult parameters.
Aoyama selected direct redemption right now, no point delaying. It was like skipping a unit in auto-battlers.
Right then, a doorbell chime erupted outside the flat. Aoyama closed the system overlay and rushed to release the lock.
Looking through the peephole: "Akane?"
Aoyama looked curious. Akane's face flushed slightly, brushing back fine hair. "Uhm... Aoyama, are you looking to eat dinner later?"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]