Chapter Forty-One: The Ice Dragon
It turned out that Illusion Sea was a high-level gamer. Although Hao Ren had been mentally prepared for this, he was nevertheless surprised. Hao Ren knew that Illusion Sea was fond of video games, but he hadn’t expected her to take such an interest in him, dragging him to play all sorts of games—and she was the one paying for everything.
King of Fighters, Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive—they tried them all. Yet, due to his lack of skill, Hao Ren couldn’t even secure two consecutive wins. He also discovered that some people were cheating by arranging matches with their friends who would deliberately lose to them, hoping to rack up rewards. However, the arcade’s mechanism intervened: at the ninety-ninth win, it wiped the record clean, much to their dismay.
But that was their own undoing and had nothing to do with Hao Ren.
The AI in these computers was so efficient that Hao Ren suspected the main system had imbued the game characters with their actual personalities and experience.
...
As it happened, Hao Ren’s guess was spot on.
He was diligent as well, and on the only machine he excelled at—Tekken 6—he’d reached ninety-nine consecutive victories. Hao Ren had mastered controlling Leo, executing Bajiquan so skillfully that even the advanced computer AI couldn’t withstand him.
Hao Ren, you boring fellow, just how long have you been hanging out in the real-world arcade?
At last, he faced the final boss of Tekken 6: Ice Dragon!
A crisp chime sounded, and the black cat’s scarf tumbled onto the seat.
Hao Ren suddenly vanished from in front of the arcade machine, finding himself transported to a place like an Egyptian tomb, standing upon a vast stone floor inscribed with strange patterns, surrounded by floating blue ice crystals and phosphorescent flames.
A monstrous Ice Dragon, four or five times larger than Hao Ren, stood upright and glared down at him, its icy breath continuously washing over his face.
“Coach! I demand to reload! I object to real-life PK!” Hao Ren screamed as the Ice Dragon’s massive front claw swept toward him.
Main System Square, Arcade Center.
“Where did that kid with ninety-nine consecutive wins go? He’s disappeared.” The crowd that had been watching Hao Ren chase after the rewards was suddenly in turmoil.
“It’s probably some sort of special quest—the ultimate trial,” said Illusion Sea, sitting on a cushion she’d somehow produced, sipping a cup of hot tea as though it didn’t concern her.
After about ten minutes, Hao Ren reappeared in the arcade center, accompanied by a knight clad in armor made of blue ice crystal.
Chime—the black cat hurriedly jumped into Hao Ren’s arms.
“So quickly? Is that the reward?” Illusion Sea had a sense that the blue knight was dangerous.
“Mm, thank you for today. I have other things to attend to, so I’ll be off.” Hao Ren hastily departed with the knight and the black cat, returning to the real world.
“This guy is really stingy—he won’t even tell us what the reward is.”
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“Exactly!”
“Tch, instead of envying others, wouldn’t it be better to work harder and earn a reward yourself?”
“Exactly!”
“Brother, whose side are you on? You’re like a fence-sitter.”
“Exactly!”
...
Back at home, the women were curious to see Hao Ren returning with two non-female creatures (at least in appearance).
“So cold!” Ya Ya touched the knight’s blue armor, finding its chill quite pleasant.
“Wow, so fluffy,” Jing Xiang disregarded the black cat’s protests, hugging it and burying it in her bosom.
Even as it was nearly suffocated, our black cat didn’t utter a sound.
“Where did you bring these from this time?” Saya questioned Hao Ren, who had just rescued the black cat.
“Shirley, take off the helmet,” Hao Ren addressed the armored knight.
“Allow me to refuse!” The voice from the helmet was melodious, though tinged with nervousness—a mature woman’s tone.
“As you can see, she’s rather shy,” Hao Ren shrugged.
Time flows backward...
Hao Ren rolled desperately, dodging the Ice Dragon boss’s first attack, then turned and bolted. But the space was enclosed; the Ice Dragon caught up in a few leaps, and even if Hao Ren had grown two more legs, it wouldn’t have helped.
Faced with the Ice Dragon’s imminent breath attack, Hao Ren gritted his teeth, gambled everything, and prayed that this upright Ice Dragon was female. Extending both hands, he invoked the compulsory Kampfer contract.
It worked, as expected. The Ice Dragon’s crystalline scales burst and scattered, and the eight-meter-tall beast transformed into a tall, voluptuous woman about one meter seventy, stark naked.
The Ice Dragon woman, still in the midst of her forward lunge, found Hao Ren’s hands clasping her two translucent, delicate dragon horns.
Both stood frozen in place.
The Ice Dragon woman’s face shifted through a range of emotions, her ice-blue hair swirling wildly; in the end, seemingly resigned, she grabbed Hao Ren’s head and kissed him.
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Stunned by the sudden assault, Hao Ren quickly recovered, wrapped his arms around her, and responded with fervor.
Bah! You beast! So crass!
Ahem—
Actually, Hao Ren had exploited a loophole in the main system. Coincidentally, the Ice Dragon was female, she was classified as a humanoid, Hao Ren had the ability to forcibly contract female humanoids, and he just happened to have a vacant slot in his Kampfer contract.
Well then, Hao Ren, luck is on your side.
“What’s your name?” After about five minutes of passionate kissing, Hao Ren finally remembered to ask.
“My name is Shirley, my master,” the Ice Dragon woman said, her cheeks flushed. The hard object pressing against her lower abdomen made her a little uncomfortable.
“Why did you do that so suddenly?” Hao Ren feigned innocence.
The Ice Dragon woman explained—it seemed to be some kind of Egyptian dragon contract—but Hao Ren didn’t really understand. Still, who wouldn’t be happy to win such an enthusiastic mature woman?
“We’ll soon leave this space. You can’t go around naked—would you like to stay in my Summoner’s Cabin for a while?”
The Ice Dragon woman shook her head, pointing with a slender finger at the shattered scales on the ground. A burst of magical light transformed them into a suit of ice-blue knight’s armor, which she donned as if she were putting on sacred raiments.
The dragon head on her right shoulder was so cool! Hao Ren’s eyes sparkled.
“This armor has such functions?” Hao Ren examined it curiously.
“Because player ‘Black Flame Dragon’ was the first to complete the trial of ‘King of Tekken Combat,’ the reward is maximized. You may unconditionally enhance and upgrade three of your talents or skills to level ten. You have three minutes to decide. A spatial loophole has been detected—the reward remains unchanged, and the loophole has been patched.”
Good, the reward wasn’t revoked.
Thank you, GM. If you happened to be a stunning mature woman in black stockings, I’d happily kneel and worship you.
...
Utterly shameless.
Hao Ren checked his skills—he had exactly three eligible for upgrade. He chose them.
“Summoning Link,” “Kampfer Contract,” “Summoner’s Cabin.”
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