"See! I told you I wasn't just being paranoid! This world really is a mess!" Chen Li said with some excitement, pointing to a pair of figures chasing each other across the sky.
"That... is what?" Jingliu asked, curiously observing the flying objects after getting out of the taxi.
"Oh, that's a Magical Girl and a Youma," Chen Li explained.
Taking a taxi for over ten kilometers without a single incident had made this world feel exceptionally strange to Chen Li.
Now, things were back to normal.
"In this world, Identity is Profession. Cloud Knight Sword Champion is a profession, and so is Magical Girl. Professions like Magical Girl, Bounty Hunter, and Darknight Hero can all gain experience by chasing and killing youma, monsters, ghosts, and goblins," Chen Li explained to Jingliu.
"Similar to battle merits, correct?" Jingliu nodded.
"More or less. After killing them, there's also a chance to obtain the Youma's Profession Voucher, which can be absorbed for more experience," Chen Li said.
Youma was an identity, and therefore, also a profession.
There were even people whose profession was Evil God.
The purpose of a Profession Voucher was to certify a person's profession.
If absorbed by someone with a hostile profession, it would grant experience. If absorbed by someone with a non-hostile profession, there was a minuscule chance of acquiring that profession.
This was also an extremely cost-ineffective method of obtaining a new "Profession."
As a result, youma were hunted down every day to the point where they were practically an endangered species.
And people frequently complained that there were far too few monsters and demons in this world.
---o---
"Why aren't you knocking?" Jingliu asked, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her sword.
The reason she was holding her sword was that she discovered she could gain experience just by carrying it on the street.
"Patrolling" was, indeed, part of a Cloud Knight's duties.
"Wait, let me get in the zone first," Chen Li said, turning his head as he stood before an apartment door.
"Alright, come in. The door's unlocked," a familiar voice suddenly sounded from the apartment's intercom, just as Chen Li was preparing himself.
"???" Chen Li froze for a moment.
He and Jingliu had snuck into the apartment building specifically to give his gaming partner a "surprise."
He never expected to be discovered so easily.
"What are you standing there for? Did you really think you could sneak up to my door without being noticed? You think my Lv22 [Shut-in] profession was leveled up for nothing?" The voice from the intercom was beautiful and pleasant, but the tone was filled with disdain.
It was a tone Chen Li was very familiar with.
"What the hell kind of profession is 'Shut-in'?" Chen Li had never heard of it.
But since he'd been found out, he simply pushed the door open and led Jingliu inside.
The moment he crossed the threshold, Chen Li felt a subtle, almost imperceptible resistance and a strange sensation of being scanned.
He entered the apartment, exchanged a glance with Jingliu, and they both put on the slippers that their friend had apparently prepared for them in advance before heading further inside.
The first thing Chen Li saw upon entering the living room left him momentarily stunned.
Never mind the peerless beauty with black, waist-length hair, dressed in a gorgeous kimono, sitting formally on the floor and staring at him with a slightly dazed expression... why was there a bamboo forest inside her apartment?
This was an interior design style that Chen Li absolutely loved!
"Hey, hey, look at me! Weren't you here to see me?" Kaguya Houraisan, who had been completely ignored, watched with a dark expression as Chen Li walked straight past her and crouched down to examine a newly sprouted bamboo shoot with curiosity.
This goddess is a celestial beauty! Am I not better to look at than that bamboo shoot?
You don't even give me a single glance. You're making me lose face.
---o---
"Tsk, I can't believe you're actually Kaguya Houraisan. I thought that was just your screen name," Chen Li said, clicking his tongue in wonder as he looked at the black-haired girl before him.
"If you never believed I was Kaguya Houraisan, then why did you call me 'Kaguya' every day? I thought you'd have some self-awareness," Kaguya said, rolling her eyes at him.
"Isn't the screen name I chose for myself also an anime character? You can call me that, too," Chen Li said, looking at Kaguya expectantly.
"...Who the hell gives themselves the screen name 'Dad', you bastard!" Kaguya said, unceremoniously flipping Chen Li the middle finger.
Although this was their first time meeting offline, the familiar tone and voice allowed Chen Li and Kaguya to relax completely after a brief moment of trading insults.
Mostly, it was Chen Li who found it strange.
An anime character had suddenly appeared in front of him and was giving him the finger! How incredible was that?
He really wanted to snap her middle finger off to see if it would hurt.
While there was a one-in-a-million chance that this person just happened to have similar abilities and looks and was merely cosplaying as Kaguya Houraisan...
...no matter how good the imitation, it was impossible to perfectly replicate the Entries: [Eternity], [Fleeting Moment], [Princess], [Sinner], [Immortal], and [Moon].
This was the result Chen Li saw after touching Kaguya Houraisan.
People, too, had [Entries].
It was just that under most circumstances, Chen Li would subconsciously avoid this fact—normally, he had no desire to cross that line and use a "person" to forge a Curio.
"Since you came all this way to see me, want to have lunch first?" Kaguya asked.
"Sure, but it looks like you only have enough food for one person," Chen Li said, glancing at the amount of food in the pot placed in front of her.
"Isn't there another pot? By the way, do you mind having some giblet soup?"
"Huh?" The moment he heard the words "giblet soup," Chen Li instantly had a bad feeling.
He then watched as Kaguya, sitting opposite him with a sly grin, emotionlessly plunged her hand straight through her own clothes and abdomen.
The splattering blood almost hit Chen Li in the face.
"???"
---o---
"For a first meeting with an online friend, don't you think you're being a little too open?" Chen Li said, pressing a hand to his forehead.
Even for someone like Chen Li, who had seen his fair share of bizarre sights, this scene made the corner of his eye twitch.
But he had to admire her immortality. A moment ago, her chest was wide open, and now, it had already recovered.
"Hahaha, look at you, acting like you've never seen the world. Scared you, didn't it? Serves you right. Who told you to scare me earlier?" Kaguya mocked as she stirred the giblet soup.
"When did I scare you? Don't make things up."
"Are you saying the mountain of corpses and sea of blood I saw behind you when I first laid eyes on you was just my imagination?" Kaguya retorted with a pout.
"Emmm... if you really are Kaguya Houraisan, then you'd naturally count as a ghost, goblin, monster, or demon." Chen Li quickly figured it out.
No wonder Kaguya's gaze had been dazed for a moment when she first saw him.
And here he thought she was stunned by his handsome face.
Tch, what a waste of emotion.
"Don't tell me you're thinking that maybe I wasn't scared, but was just stunned by how handsome you are?" Kaguya paused her stirring and looked at Chen Li suspiciously.