New Century Warriors

Chapter 34. Dowry, Part 1

Without a doubt, plagiarism is far more sophisticated than money.

Money is just money, but you can copy money. It's a very simple principle.

"Is this ridiculous or not..."

After laughing for a while, Lei Ye could only manage to utter these four words.

I'm at peace with it now.

Now it's reasonable no matter how strong his enemies are. The stronger the opponent, the stronger he becomes. It's always fair competition, and you can play no matter what.

So the question is, how should this skill be used properly?

He genuinely felt that Ye Lei's skill was even more overpowered than Mom's Money. Lu Mingfei barely managed to avoid dying, but she was practically immortal, as if she had entered invincible mode without even needing to die.

No matter how much Lei Ye checked himself, his skill bar remained unchanged; it was still the same old "Mommy".

"How many skills have you witnessed?" Ye Lei asked.

Lei Ye was about to say that he hadn't learned any of them when he suddenly realized that Ye Lei had said "had seen" rather than "had learned".

"...That's a lot."

During his five years on Line One, Lei Ye worked as a mercenary, wandering among various teams. He had personally witnessed at least once every spell that explorers of Hillius could use.

"Very good. All of these things you've seen have, in theory, become part of your skill set. Whenever you have some free time, take a moment to sort them out in your mind and figure out which skills might be useful. Also, try to recall the feeling I gave you earlier. It might save your life at a crucial moment." Ye Lei's tone was like a teacher explaining an important point of knowledge.

Just then, the roar of a monster came from below.

Judging by the airship's speed, it should be deep in the dense forest by now. Lei Ye poked his head out and saw a giant monster moving through the forest.

He aimed at the guy, silently going through all the powerful spells he remembered, even using the strength to tighten his anus, but his hands just wouldn't budge.

No, I don't understand how to use it.

Raino felt that the skill description was too vague again. The condition of "having some knowledge of and having witnessed it firsthand" should be very simple. The key is "you think a certain skill is very strong". To put it simply, it is entirely subjective. To put it more broadly, this skill is completely subjective and will generally not be triggered until the end of the level.

It seems that very powerful skills all have this problem, just like his mother's money, the skill descriptions are also very vague.

"The third dowry, I've already given it to you. It's an answer regarding your 'Mom's Coins.' I know the specific conditions for converting someone into 'Mom's Coins.'"

Although I was just thinking about this and it was brought up right away, it feels like we were on the same wavelength. But I hope you didn't secretly scold me.

"What is it?" Raino really wanted to know and immediately pressed for an answer.

"Well, let me leave you with one last little bit of suspense. I'll tell you tomorrow."

She put a finger to her lips and winked playfully.

They're building up the anticipation again...

Even if she's a riddle teller, Ye Lei is a good one. At least she gives clues quickly. She says she'll tell you in a short while, and she really does. She's incredibly honest. It's only tomorrow, so Lei Ye can tolerate it.

Ye Lei, who had just lowered her fingers, was no longer the serious person who had demanded that Lei Ye keep her words in mind. She put her hands on her hips, and her expression was more like a playful grin than a smug one.

"Alright, let's leave the serious business here. So, how about it, is my dowry impressive enough, little sister?"

Lei Ye gave a thumbs up without hesitation.

"Powerful! Dominant! Strong!"

Regardless of the one that can only be received by signing the little red book, the latter two dowries are of great significance to Lei Ye. Although they are just some information, one unlocked a new upper limit for him, and the other strengthened his past lower limit. Lei Ye felt like he had found a hidden profession in a game he had played for many years. The experience was completely refreshed.

Furthermore, Ye Lei didn't even consider these material things. The big house in Xierlius, the small shop they ran, and all sorts of other miscellaneous assets—it's no surprise that all of these were money Ye Lei fed to him.

Lei Ye could feel Ye Lei's sincerity towards him. He had never been treated with such heartfelt sincerity in his life. The more he thought about it, the more moved he became. He sincerely thought about giving in to this giant octopus. As long as she accepted that he was human, Lei Ye was determined to do so. He would teach Ye Lei how to live in this city, just like Lei Ye on Line 2. The two of them would be together, and even if she accidentally discovered her identity one day, Lei Ye would stand firmly on her side.

"Hey, by the way, do you have a mother?" Lei Ye suddenly asked.

Ye Lei looked stumped, lowering her hands from her hips, slightly taken aback.

"...No, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Lei Ye sighed, feeling only regret.

The thought of getting married has already made Lei Ye consider washing his wife's feet after the wedding. It's just a pity that he doesn't have a mother-in-law, so he won't have the opportunity to show his filial piety.

"That's ridiculous. Let me ask you, what kind of dowry can I expect?" Ye Lei asked.

"ah..."

This time, it was Raino's turn to be stumped.

Ultimately, the wedding was a seduction affair. He hadn't even considered the bride price, not even when he was happily celebrating Ye Lei's dowry. But when Ye Lei mentioned Lei Ye, he realized that not giving her a bride price was really not a good thing.

What will you give me? Five large gold coins?

I'd get beaten up for that.

Is there anything worth mentioning? It seems not.

Lei Ye scratched his head and racked his brains for a long time but couldn't come up with a solution. Then he saw Ye Lei slowly close her eyes.

She was pouting.

"mu——"

Even the most clueless Lei Ye could tell that she was asking for a kiss. He never expected that when she brought up something as pressure-inducing as the bride price, it turned out she was just asking for this.

He hesitated instinctively, feeling it wasn't quite right. He knew Ye Lei was someone he'd lived with for many years, but for Lei Ye, it hadn't even been two weeks since he'd met her. Was kissing her already a bit...?

But then he suddenly remembered the novels he had read and the regrets those characters had caused because of their hesitation. In an instant, he cleared his mind of all distractions, followed his heart, took a deep breath, and leaned in.

As an otaku author, Lei Ye had never experienced this feeling before, so he didn't know how to describe it. Anyway, they kissed.

When their lips parted, Ye Lei was extremely happy, as if she had received a Kinder Surprise egg from her mother at the end of her childhood. She ran away laughing and went to the table to peel meat for the people who were only focused on eating. Lei Ye noticed that her fair face was flushed.

Could the redness on the giant octopus's face be a disguised pigment?

Unbeknownst to him, Lei Ye didn't know much about marine life, but he had watched a documentary called "My Octopus Teacher." It was about a diving enthusiast who became friends with a baby octopus and watched her life in the sea every day, dodging the bites of paisley sharks, hunting crabs, and building a safe haven. Lei Ye was quite happy watching it until the baby octopus became an octopus mother, and the story suddenly came to an end. She gave most of her life essence to her child, then sank to the bottom and met her end.

Although it wasn't a story that Raino liked, Raino felt that if an octopus were personified, it would at least be a good mother, and all women who can be good mothers must be good women.

He touched his lips, as if the sensation from before still lingered.

...

On the way back, Lei Ye finally regretted not agreeing to Ye Lei's request to take on the goblin extermination mission.

If we were to go exterminate goblins, we could arrange for Loya to lead the charge, just like Ye Lei suggested; that would be very interesting.

Because of the presence of airships, area exploration commissions are not fun at all.

After dinner, they started working, but their job was to adjust the airship to fly at a low altitude and have Ais stand to the side. While enjoying the fun of flying in the sky, she would sniff the air and immediately know what monsters were nearby. She would then tell this information to Ye Lei next to her, who would then pass it on to Antorola next to her, who would then quickly write it down in her notebook.

Lei Ye was thinking about whether to take a walk around after landing, but Ye Lei said that since the child liked it, it was fine to leave it as is.

If that's the case, why bother teaching her CCB? Why not just teach her how to act cool?

As for Loya.

...To be honest, Lei Ye didn't pay attention to what Luo Ya was doing along the way. She seemed to have tried to talk to him a few times, but he was completely immersed in the pink bubble and ignored her completely.

So today's commission was practically just a matter of flying out and flying back. The only benefit was that the few people from Mori no Kawa on Line 1 got together and improved their relationships a little, which gave Raino a glimpse of the possibility of the Second Mori no Kawa regaining its former glory.

And so, I leisurely made my way home.

After landing, Antorola thanked the host for the day and then hurriedly left. The wedding was set for tomorrow, and she had a lot of things to do. It seemed like time was tight, but according to her, many people offered their support without reservation as soon as they heard that it was Boss Lei getting married. When Lei woke up tomorrow, he would see that part of the guild had been transformed into the most luxurious wedding venue in Hillius.

When she left, she dragged Loya away with her. This war criminal had not yet atoned for the sins she committed during the siege, and during this time she would be conscripted by the guild as labor at any time.

After sending Aisi back to her own room to rest, it became a situation where only the two of them were alone. Ye Lei took his hand and half-forcefully led him into the studio.

She took out a machine tool from her storage bag and placed it in the room, along with a small table. She then took out storage bags of various colors and arranged them neatly. Finally, she took out a large crystal, hung it in a corner of the room, and tapped it with wide eyes, as if to make sure it was working.

The illusion crystal—Rayno recognized it.

"You complained before that my Illusion Crystal wasn't as good as your little cube, so I've been upgrading it ever since. Now it can record sound too," Ye Lei explained while tightening the strap holding the Illusion Crystal.

"Speaking of which, where's my little square?"

"I'll give it to you later along with the third dowry." Ye Lei said without turning her head.

As she spoke, as if testing her voice, she brought her mouth close to the illusion crystal and uttered three words in succession in different tones.

"Genshin~Genshin-Genshin!"

"Oh, why are we suddenly talking about this..."

Lei Ye was still wondering what Ye Lei was up to when she suddenly uttered a word that shouldn't exist in another world, making it hard for him to stay calm.

Surprisingly, Ye Lei turned around with a very serious expression.

"Just remember this as a code, a code that belongs only to us."

"...What code? Are you implying that you're really awesome?"

Ye Lei didn't explain. After confirming that the Illusion Crystal was working, she began to introduce the storage bags she had just placed on the small table.

"This golden one is full of large gold coins. I haven't counted the exact number, but it's already piled up into a small mountain. You can count them yourself later."

"This black bag is full of rare metals, and its total value may be higher than this storage bag containing large gold coins. I heard you say that you wanted to build a mecha, so I have been keeping an eye on collecting materials. This should be enough, but to be honest, I don't think it's useful. Even if we build it, it will just be a big toy. Since we're going to build toys anyway, we might as well make more small ones."

"This contains all sorts of potions I've collected. Each bottle has a label with a brief description. Most of the potions I've chosen are quite strange, so you absolutely mustn't use them carelessly," she added after a moment's thought. "If you really want to try them out, you can mix them into Loya's drink."

She calmly and slowly recounted the contents of each storage bag to the Illusion Crystal. The more Lei Ye listened, the more shocked he became. He originally thought he had enough to hang on a street lamp, but he didn't expect Ye Lei's resources to be even more incredible. Even when he was using Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, he didn't dare to pile so many resources into his backpack, for fear that data anomalies would cause the game to crash. He wondered what Ye Lei had done in the past five years to be able to collect so many resources.

After saying this, she took out some materials from these storage bags, then put these colorful storage bags into the most inconspicuous storage bag, and casually tossed this priceless storage bag into Lei Ye's hand.

"Now it's yours."

Lei Ye was stunned. He had a bad feeling when she was explaining the storage bags earlier, and now that the storage bags were in his hands, the bad feeling reached its peak.

It felt like watching someone in front of you keep sticking little flags into your clothes.

Ye Lei didn't stop; she immediately started operating the machine tool again.

"Watch closely, A-Ye. Next, I will use the most meticulous techniques to complete the production of three commonly used high-level magical items, starting from scratch. As long as you can perfectly replicate my operation, you will be considered a master."

Sure enough, she began to demonstrate her superb skills as a top engineer. Various pre-processed materials flew around on the machine tools she controlled, being shaped into perfect parts.

It was less like making magical artifacts and more like watching a piano performance. Lei Ye watched Ye Lei's fingers fly across the keys like butterflies dancing.

Lei Ye watched her perfect performance in silence, but he couldn't feel happy at all.

He recalled a saying: one cannot judge the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

But he felt with absolute clarity how precious that moment was.

Because he couldn't stop the premonition that he was going to lose something.

In order to keep that "something", he silently took out the red booklet hidden in his pocket behind Ye Lei's back. This time, he did not hesitate and pressed his magic rune on it.

I'm starving!!!

The next second, Lei Ye jumped up with a scream.

For some reason, his body suddenly became so hot it felt like it was filled with magma. Lei Ye collapsed to the ground in pain, rolling around as if trying to extinguish the invisible embers on his body.

But then, it was as if an immense, overwhelming force accompanied his blood flow to every inch of his body, washing over his soul wave after wave like a tidal wave.

He struggled to lift his head and looked at Ye Lei, who had turned around after hearing the noise. She made no move to get up and help Lei Ye up; her small face was ashen, just like when they first met.

"What...did you...do?"

"It's about nationality. I changed your nationality," Ye Lei said calmly. "You are now a Xili citizen. This red marriage certificate was also obtained by me in Xili. Happy marriage, Aye."

Xili...

The word sounded a little unfamiliar, but Lei Ye immediately remembered it. At the end of Line 1, when he first met Ye Lei, he had a desire to buy an elf slave from that country. He couldn't remember what the elf looked like, but he was impressed by the reason she became a slave: marriage fraud. The slave trader said that the country was ruled by a young queen who had changed many outrageous laws, such as that as long as the couple registered their marriage, everything they owned would immediately become joint property.

He glanced at the marriage certificate in his hand, made of magical parchment, on which their magical runes were already pressed...

The contract was established, and he would take half of Ye Lei's evil power.