Ding—
Clang~
Amid the faint chime of metal, a glittering golden coin was tossed into the three-legged, two-eared bronze cauldron, completing the final step of the [Luck-Changing Ritual].
This was something she'd obtained back then from the charitable gambling king Lannister, at the cost of writing off a one-thousand-gold-coin debt.
Next, the young madam drank the [Potent Luck Potion] that Madam Zhihua had prepared for her, then summoned the Children of the Jungle and layered a Fortune Spell on top.
The feeling of being favored by the whole world returned, as if Lady Pandora were watching over her from the unseen realm, channeling all the good fortune in the world into her with the mighty power of her sleeve.
Fortune: (41)
Li Fei closed her eyes, intoxicated, drawing several deep breaths before she could rein in her restless heart and undertake the last preparation before the draw.
She had carefully selected a black off-shoulder nightgown, its airy, fluttering hem swaying to outline her slender, graceful figure, complementing her snow-white skin beautifully.
Not only that, but Li Fei had also donned a succubus-horn headdress—after all, she had already seen through Miss System's aesthetic tastes and intended to cater to them.
Yet a little scheme as seemingly trivial as this might be more useful than 10 points of Fortune; the professional caliber of Miss Top Courtesan was on full display.
If it worked, that was a windfall; if not, no loss either—she could put such things to perfectly good use in everyday life anyway.
Li Fei smiled faintly at the full-length mirror, her gaze radiant, her rosy lips parting gently as, with a soft "mwah," she offered up a blown kiss:
"Miss System, am I pretty?"
"Come to think of it, you're the one who's kept me company the longest... In my heart, all the others combined don't matter as much as you."
"It would be wonderful if I could meet you."
"..."
Having rattled off, all to herself, a stream of sweet-talking flattery that may or may not have done any good, Li Fei finally pulled open the System Panel.
On the enormous wheel, the green portion now made up less than twenty percent, while silver claimed half the territory; gold also took up a third, and the rest was all dark gold.
Li Fei raised an eyebrow.
At first, an increase of just a few points of Fortune had been enough to produce immediate, visible changes in the wheel.
But this time, although her Fortune ceiling had risen quite a bit, the change in the wheel was rather limited. That meant that, as the Fortune base increased, the same number of Fortune points could no longer have a direct, intuitive impact on the draw panel—more would be required.
Her smile undimmed, she pressed her palms together and said:
"Please, Miss System!"
The wheel turned soundlessly, the different colors blurring into streaming light, gorgeous and enchanting.
The moment the wheel stopped, a dazzling golden glow filled Li Fei's vision.
[Obtained Spell-type Ability: Succubus Empress · Tail]
"Ah, this..."
After a brief moment of bewilderment, Li Fei decisively removed the little-devil headband, intending to personally test out the spell-type ability she'd just acquired.
[Succubus Empress · Tail]
Description: A symbol of the Succubus Empress's strength and beauty.
Once this spell-type ability is activated, the caster's lumbar spine transforms into Succubus Empress form, growing a Succubus Empress tail; mind-type spell effects +50%, balance +50%; the transformed area gains Strength +30, Constitution +30, Charisma +50, Agility +50, Explosive Power +10%, Nerve Reflex Speed +20%, Binding Force +30%, +100%, +100%; the empress's tail possesses extremely high flexibility, suppleness, physical resistance, spell resistance, regenerative ability, and gestational ability, and when it sways it can lower a target's willpower, producing a sustained enthrallment effect; those who come into contact with the tail will suffer mana erosion, falling into [Deep Focus], [Mind Melt], [*]... and other states, which can stack; the tail's erosion intensity is related to the caster's Charisma, Sequence rank, bloodline purity... and other conditions, and the erosion intensity can be actively reduced.
Consumes 1 point of mana per second.
Note: Can combine with Partial Transformation — Succubus (Horns)... to form the higher-tier spell-type ability: Full Transformation — Succubus Empress.
With a single thought from Li Fei, her childbearing-hipped silhouette became a more striking, voluptuous shape.
All along, Miss Top Courtesan's charm had carried the restraint and gentle softness of a classical Eastern woman—at first glance she could leave one stunned, but only after watching her for a while could one savor, from her every frown and smile, her gentle bearing, that nation-toppling allure, and fall before knowing it.
But the part transformed into the Succubus Empress was not so gentle: the deep collarbones, the willowy waist whose exaggerated elasticity could be felt through sight alone, and now that all-but-bursting silhouette from behind—there was a more direct, more lewd, more soul-stirring kind of charm.
At the same time, a tail grew out along her tailbone, twisting restlessly behind her.
It was entirely black, deep yet able to reflect light; about two fingers thick, one and a half meters long, ending in a heart shape.
Li Fei wriggled the abruptly appeared new organ, the sensation indescribable.
It was like having an extra leg—clearly foreign to her, yet bound to her by a close bloodline connection, easily within her control, transmitting back the warmth it felt, and the sensation of contact with the Black Veil.
"So weird."
After adapting for a little while, Li Fei realized that the tail's length could contract—one and a half meters was merely its default state.
Without dispelling the spell-type ability, she could fully withdraw the tail into her body, and the internal portion could turn fluid, causing her no discomfort; she could also stretch it out, up to three meters at most.
Its diameter, too, could swell to four fingers.
"Hsss..."
Li Fei stared at the swaying tail for a good while before curiously reaching out a hand, but the instant her fingertip touched the tail she shuddered as though electrocuted, nearly losing her footing.
No, no, that's not right...
Li Fei's brow furrowed.
As everyone knows, a Transcendent's evolution is an all-round metamorphosis from body to soul; with each Sequence breakthrough, any race only grows stronger, gaining longer lifespans and greater survival ability.
And succubi, at least, are a Transcendent race that reaches Sequence 5 upon adulthood, of the high-Agility, high-Intelligence growth type, especially adept at mind-type spells—particularly the enthrallment branch of mental magic. Though somewhat physically frail, their combat power is still quite respectable; it's only because their charm far outstrips their combat power that they've been forced to hide and vanish from sight.
A race like that couldn't possibly have a weakness and flaw as gaping as "grow weak and limp at the mercy of anyone the moment their tail is grabbed"—otherwise they'd have gone extinct long ago.
Just like Miss Chloe: although she greatly enjoyed the time when Miss Top Courtesan combed the pure-white feathers of her wings with her fingertips, when it actually came to battle, her wings would never become a burden—intact wings granted her astonishing explosive power and divine strength, letting her tank Tier-7 damage spells head-on; and even if her wings were beaten to tatters, down to nothing but the bare skeleton, it wouldn't impede her movement—she could even use bones hard as divine iron to ward off physical damage or to slice up enemies.
Or take Margaret: don't be fooled by how, the moment that fluffy, golden fox tail of hers is stroked, her eyes go all moist, making her seem docile and clingy, and how she flushes and pants when it's pressed and massaged—Miss Top Courtesan had heard that once that seemingly harmless, endearing fox tail unleashes its power, it can whip up a calamity-grade gale, on par with a banana-leaf fan.
Other people's "armrests" were that powerful—so there was no reason for this Succubus Empress to be such a flop, right?
After thinking it over, Li Fei poured a thread of mana into it.
—It was different now.
Almost instantly, the tail that would tremble at the touch of airy fabric, or even at a faint air current, switched into combat mode, swaying instinctively to some elusive, mystical rhythm, making her look even more bewitching, carrying a soul-snatching magic that worked in utter silence.
"So it is..."
Li Fei murmured, withdrawing the mana and instead infusing battle-qi.
At once, the tail let out swift, forceful air-cleaving sounds—"swish swish swish"—like a sky full of whip-shadows, displaying a deathly chilling lethality, and Li Fei's waist hadn't even exerted any force.
Finally, she infused both mana and battle-qi into the tail.
The slender, graceful tail no longer swayed; instead it curled high like a scorpion's, the heart-shaped tip poised horizontally above Li Fei's head, carrying a lethal sense of danger.
"Now that's more like it!"
Li Fei nodded in satisfaction.
A spell that's both strong and naughty—that's a good spell!
She had finally gotten the hang of grabbing her own tail; in combat mode, although her instincts remained sharp, it no longer brought her any sensation strong enough to make her legs go weak.
Steeling herself, Li Fei drew [Darknight] straight out and gave the tail a not-too-light, not-too-heavy slash.
It hurt—but it was about the same as having the flesh of her arm cut open by a blade, with no effect on her combat power at all—except that Miss Tail seemed a bit displeased, twitching in protest as if to make a show of it.
As everyone knows, a cat and a cat's tail are two separate species, and succubi have a similar trait: Miss Tail occasionally has her own thoughts and emotions in there.
"Sorry to put you through that."
A smile playing at the corner of her lips, Li Fei spent 1 Wealth Point straight from the mall on a roll of special bandages and tied a pretty bow on the tail.
While she was at it, she also gave Miss Tail a more thorough, comprehensive checkup.
In its non-combat state, the texture was like jelly, with excellent elasticity, soft and delicate, slightly warmer than her palm, and able to tense up after exertion; once mana or battle-qi was infused, the surface gained a certain hardness while remaining supple, like a rubbery texture, and its color looked deeper as well.
Finally, she peeled open the tip—the inner core was tender-pink, dewy, and sticky, and merely contact with the cool air was enough to make Miss Top Courtesan's legs go weak.
Li Fei decisively dispelled the spell-type ability, eager to begin the next round of draws—only after finishing the draws could she go find Sister Ling'er and properly test out how the new spell-type ability worked, hehe.
"Sister System, thank you."
The cosplay-style drawing method worked wonderfully; Li Fei even changed how she addressed her, saying in a coquettish, dripping-sweet tone: "Go on~"
Three seconds later, a silver radiance filled Li Fei's eyes.
[Obtained Pocket Residence]
—Good stuff!
Li Fei examined the object in her palm, unable to put it down, her heart swept up once more in an unexpected wave of delight.
It was a pocket-sized model of a European-style villa, with white walls and red tiles, rows of slender columns rising up, looking light and splendid; fountains, swimming pools, and other facilities were all complete, exuding a romantic yet majestic beauty.
[Pocket Residence]
Description: After infusing mana, the pocket model can be enlarged into a 500-meter × 500-meter residence... with a maximum additional load capacity of five tons.
"This thing is probably even more valuable than Blazing Sun-grade equipment..."
All those days of classes had not been for nothing; after toying with the [Pocket Residence] for a while, Li Fei roughly estimated its price.
Clearly, even among silver prizes, values varied widely, and the [Pocket Residence] was a solid high-end luxury item—if put up for auction, the final price would be counted in the millions; generally speaking, only high-Sequence powerhouses could afford such a thing.
It wasn't that those powerhouses were rich fools; rather, whether on the Continent of Enlos or the Eastern Continent, anything involving "space" was outrageously expensive.
Take, for example, the storage equipment Li Fei had long coveted: even a basic model with a capacity of less than one cubic meter couldn't be had for less than a five-figure price.
It was precisely for this reason that the Transcendent armies were plagued by logistics problems—spatial equipment was both expensive and small in capacity; even the storage equipment held by high-Sequence powerhouses was more than enough for storing personal treasures and property, but mountains of weaponry and provisions, all carried along at once?
Even Martin Jack might not dare to play it that way!
The [Pocket Residence], meanwhile, belonged to a special category of spatial item, quite different from mainstream storage items.
The advantage of this type of item was that, beyond the "storage function," it had other functions as well—for instance, providing Transcendents with ideal living conditions, even out in the wilderness; secondly, such items often had very large capacities but with restrictions on load weight, unlike the common spatial rings, spatial bracelets, and the like, which had only "capacity" limits and no weight limits.
As for the drawbacks, those were obvious too:
It could not store items carrying Transcendent power.
The principle was complicated, and Li Fei didn't understand it, but the rough description the textbook gave was: shrinking a building of enormous volume down into a model just a few centimeters in length, width, and height was an extremely difficult technical feat—one had to first [Solidify] its space, then use various rituals, spells, and incantations to grant it the ability of [Free Resizing], and any extra Transcendent power would become an interfering factor.
After enlarging the residence, moving in with Transcendent items was no problem; but before turning it back into a pocket model, one had to remove all the Transcendent items, or the Pocket Residence might fail to shrink, or even collapse outright.
Such an enormous flaw led many high-Sequence Transcendents to prefer buying a couple more spatial rings to wear on their hands rather than buying a [Pocket Residence]—generally speaking, only filthy-rich aristocratic Transcendents would be so particular, willing to spend big on this kind of luxury to ensure they could maintain dignity and grace in any situation.
Naturally, Miss Top Courtesan was extremely satisfied with this item.
After all, the Transcendent items she needed to carry were nothing more than equipment, potions, and the like, and she had long grown accustomed to hiding such things in various places about her body—like the potion pouch at her waist, the leg garter for stashing cash, the belt strapped with crossbow bolts and a staff—while daggers were tucked into her sleeve-cuffs or boots, and when necessary even the valley beneath her neckline could hold a little makeup or some loose change; though it was a bit cold, it would warm up soon enough.
As for other commonly used items, like [Developing Dust], Spell Scrolls, and so on, those could be bought directly from the System Mall.
It was rather food and changes of clothing that, for her, were no small burden.
Originally, Li Fei had planned to get a cheaper spatial ring before rushing off to the Folded Space, to store water, food, and various daily necessities for emergencies—but the appearance of the [Pocket Residence] was no different from Miss System handing her a pillow just as she was getting drowsy: so very thoughtful.
All she could say was: the succubus plug-in had not been bought in vain!
"Well then, one last time, Miss System."
Like a cat, Li Fei licked her own tail.
Whether or not it was an illusion, the wheel seemed to spin a little faster.
Three seconds later, another wash of silver light filled her eyes.
[Obtained Arcane Technique: Charm Mark Symbol—Fireball Enhancement]
[Charm Mark Symbol——Fireball Enhancement]
Description: After arranging Charm Marks into the corresponding symbol, the lethality of Fireball can be enhanced; each Charm Mark increases Fireball damage by 0.2%, and the more Charm Marks, the higher the damage.
—Miss System, just how much do you like succubi?
Li Fei swept her eyes over the draw's contents and muttered soundlessly.
The [Charm Mark Reconfiguration] arcane technique she'd obtained from Melodia, though it cultivated very quickly and cost very little to train, had not been all that ideal in effect; those flashy, fancy occult symbols could only serve to add a finishing flourish, and their actual effect was still inferior to one whispered "Mommy" from Miss Top Courtesan, who had over 500 points of Charisma.
One could say that the greatest help that arcane technique had given her was simply letting Miss Top Courtesan master the knack of flexibly controlling the position and shape of Charm Marks, so that from then on she could arrange whatever rune she pleased.
By comparison, the Fireball-enhancement rune Miss System had given her was extremely simple and brute-force: discarding all buff effects such as casting speed, and pouring all the mana into enhancing Fireball damage!
Even with Miss Top Courtesan's current number of Charm Marks, a single Fireball would do triple damage!
Given time, one-shotting Tingbao with a single Fireball would surely be no problem.
"Goodnight, Miss System."
Seeing the drawing session come to a close, Li Fei sweetly bid goodnight, then casually tore the succubus-horn hair ornament off her head.
In terms of prize tiers, tonight's draw results were only average—just two silvers and one gold; given Miss Top Courtesan's current Fortune, it wasn't an especially extravagant ratio.
However, considering their actual value, this round of draws could be called a very rich haul.
A spell-type ability, a piece of spatial equipment, and an arcane technique—all extremely practical, unlike last time, when the [Natural Spring Water] and the [Black Veil] metal formula were still gathering dust, the gains from the [Shroud of Destiny] and the [Coordinates] were unstable, and even the mythic-grade equipment [Black-and-White Pendant] was in an [Unawakened] state.
All she could say was: rather than laboriously clinging to the Goddess Pandora's thigh, it was better to work the beauty trap on Miss System—hehe.
"Good work; tidy up and turn in early."
Li Fei pushed open the door and affectionately ruffled Ram's and Sasha's lovely hair, whereupon the two little sprites flew obediently into the room and began cleaning up the materials discarded after the [Luck-Changing Ritual].
The young madam, meanwhile, padded barefoot across the carpet back to her room. Passing the bedroom of Little Yawen's little family of three, she paused briefly, listening to Eva's laughter and Sofia's whimpers—some rooms weren't soundproofed, Eva's own choice.
"Not inviting me to play."
With a faintly sulky air, Li Fei returned to the master bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently caressed Su Ling'er's cheek.
Su Ling'er stirred awake leisurely, her lovely hair tousled, a trace of drowsiness still in her clear, wide eyes; her pale-yellow gauzy nightgown set off her milky skin in a tender, adorable way, like a little orange kitten just woken from sleep.
Then she discovered that the breathtakingly beautiful young madam was gazing at her with tender, affectionate eyes, still wearing fabric as lewd as that of a succubus captured alive by elves in a picture book.
"Wh-what is it?"
Su Ling'er pinched the thin blanket, her sleepiness vanishing in an instant, a blush rising on her face; under the young madam's gaze, alluring as spring water, she trembled, looking small, helpless, and pitiful.
"I just learned a new spell—want to try it?"
The young madam walked toward her step by step, her smile dignified yet radiant, her eyes and brows sparkling with charm.
Her jet-black tail swayed back and forth behind her, like a little dog frolicking heedlessly at the sight of its master.
____
________________________________________
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉